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Aug. 7 News

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:52:32 +0000

Editor's Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and alternative August 2026 news and views. See our News Reports section for coverage of earlier dates and years.

Note: Excerpts below are from the authors' words except for subheads and occasional "Editor's notes" such as this. Nearly all excerpts are drawn from news sources for which the Justice Integrity Project pays a subscription. Readers here are encouraged also to subscribe to these outlets also to receive their full coverage and to support their work.

Top Headlines

Construction at the White House ballroom in Washington has continued, despite legal setbacks.

New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Appeals Panel Blocks Ballroom Project, Setting Up Likely Supreme Court Fight, Zach Montague and Mattathias Schwartz, Aug. 7, 2026. What We’re Covering.
New York Times, Cassidy Will Back Blanche, Salvaging His Confirmation, Michael Gold and Carl Hulse, Aug. 7, 2026. The Louisiana senator, right, said that, despite reservations, he would back President Trump’s pick for attorney general, giving Republicans enough votes for a majority.Construction at the White House ballroom in Washington has continued, despite legal setbacks.
The Contrarian, Opinion: Bill Cassidy Still Can't Find His Spine, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 7, 2026. A senator with nothing to lose agrees to vote for the worst nominee ever for attorney general.

More On Trump Justice Department Abuses

David Hearn, center, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a piece of the Reflecting Pool’s lining (Reuters photo by Elizabeth Frantz).

New York Times, Judge Dismisses Former Olympian’s Felony Charge in Reflecting Pool Case, Chris Cameron, Aug. 6, 2026. The move ends the criminal case for David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, after prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.
New York Times, Investigation: How the Reflecting Pool Came to Mirror Trump’s Washington, Maxine Joselow, David A. Fahrenthold, Tyler Pager and Clarence Williams, Aug. 7, 2026. .A hospitality manager for the Trump Organization traveled to Las Vegas to find a solution to problems at a national landmark. This is the untold back story of the fallout.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Blanche on the Bubble, Bill Kristol, Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, Aug. 7, 2026. Will Bill Cassidy make it go pop? Hey, hope springs eternal.

News Roundups

A selection from images posted by President Trump on Aug. 1 as he devoted much of his workday to grandiose self-promotion and macho war-making fantasies.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Trump 'Detached' and 'Retreated into Denial' as Horrible Economic News is Released and Republicans see the 'Writing on the Wall', Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 7, 2026. Lots to cover this morning. I’m on my way to Mitch McConnell’s home to try to get more information about the senator from Kentucky’s current status. Meanwhile, horrible economic news came out this morning as the United States economy lost 23,000 jobs, the third-worst jobs month since the pandemic, and it comes as Republicans say Trump is officially detached and “retreated into denial” as his approval tanks, investigations prepare to launch, and he sees the writing on the wall for the midterm elections. It all comes as Senator Lisa Murkowski says she will vote no on Todd Blanche’s confirmation.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

The Reflecting Pool of the Lincoln Memorial, shown with heavy green algae despite a $14 million no-bid reconstuction contract by the Trump administration to a convicted criminal's company controlled by a Trump supporter (New York Times photo June 15, 2026).

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (Andrew Harnik photo for Getty Images).

New York Times, Investigation: How the Reflecting Pool Came to Mirror Trump’s Washington, Maxine Joselow, David A. Fahrenthold, Tyler Pager and Clarence Williams, Aug. 7, 2026. .A hospitality manager for the Trump Organization traveled to Las Vegas to find a solution to problems at a national landmark. This is the untold back story of the fallout. Continued from above.
New York Times, Trump Signs Executive Orders Targeting Birthright Citizenship, Maggie Haberman and Ann E. Marimow, Updated Aug. 7, 2026. The orders come after the Supreme Court ruled June 30 that President Trump’s previous efforts to end birthright citizenship were unconstitutional.
Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: This will not end well for Donald Trump, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 7, 2026. in direct defiance of the Supreme Court. He was joined by four of his closest advisers standing behind him, and a small group of journalists directly in front of him. While the men surrounding him struggled to explain what Trump had signed, and why it was legal, Donald Trump sat in his chair, leaning onto the Resolute Desk, with his left hand covering his right from the camera’s view, struggling to stay awake through the short 20-minute event. By the time the president was done talking and the press was being rushed out of the room, there was no question that Donald Trump believes he is above the Constitution and the truth.
Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 6, 2026 [Voting Rights, Then and Now], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 7, 2026. Sixty-one years ago, on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. The need for the law was explained in its full title: “An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, and for other purposes.”
New York Times, Prosecutor Sues Justice Dept. Over Dismissal After Right-Wing Influencer’s Claim, Alan Feuer, Aug. 7, 2026. Will Rosenzweig joins a growing list of former prosecutors and federal agents who have gone to court to contest the purge of law enforcement deemed disloyal.

More On U.S. Immigration Enforcement, Civil Rights

The Michael Fanone Show, Commentary: I Just Watched a MAGA Vigilante Pretend to Be ICE, Michael Fanone, Aug. 7, 2026. An armed Florida man rode a bicycle through an apartment complex hunting for “illegal Mexicans” — convinced an online security course made him a cop. The bodycam is something else.

Americans Fighting Oligarchs, High Tech, Corruption

The Hartmann Report, Commentary, Who Is the "Third Way" and Why Are They Fighting Progressives Instead of Republicans? Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 7, 2026. Third Way's multimillion-dollar offensive threatens Medicare for All, labor rights, climate action, and the progressive movement driving the party's energy.
New York Times, Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million in New Mexico Child Safety Case, Eli Tan, Updated Aug. 7, 2026. The penalty, imposed by a state judge, is on top of a $375 million fine ordered by a jury that found Meta misled users about the safety of its platforms.
Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: Lying Liars Lie to Each Other Too, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 7, 2026. A bad-faith government is also an incompetent government. There is no longer a presumption of regularity. Lately Donald Trump has been raging against several of his own appointees. He has publicly raged against his attorney general Jeannine Pirro, for admitting that the failure of the Reflecting Pool was due to shoddy work by Trump’s chosen contractors, and for dropping charges against David Hearn and supposed saboteurs. He has raged at RFK Jr. for not making a stronger case for the false link between vaccines and autism. And according to the Washington Post, Trump has privately raged at Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, for misleading him about the state of U.S. munitions, which have been critically depleted by his failed war on Iran. These may sound like unrelated stories, linked only by the fact they all involve presidential tantrums. In a larger sense, however, they are part of the same story — what happens when a government operates entirely in bad faith, never telling the truth about what it is doing or why. Inevitably, officials in such a government don’t merely lie to the public: they lie to each other too. As a result, they can’t govern effectively, even in the pursuit of evil.
Robert Reich via Substack, Opinion: The Enshittification of Everything (Part 2), Robert Reich, right, Aug. 7, 2026. And how to disempower the oligarchy. This is a continuation of the discussion I began last Friday. The Incredible Shrinking American Middle Class A half-century ago, America had the largest middle class in the history of the nation and of the world. America’s huge middle class has become a small shadow of what it once was. The bottom 90 percent are struggling to make ends meet. The richest 10 percent account for a large and growing portion of all consumption. The top one-tenth of one percent holds an increasing portion of all wealth. Today the great divide is not between left and right. It’s between democracy and oligarchy.

More On Iran and Ukraine Wars

New York Times Magazine, Iran and Ukraine Aren’t Just Wars About Energy. They’re Wars Targeting Energy, David Wallace-Wells, Aug. 7, 2026. Until recently, attacking civilian energy infrastructure was unacceptable. The dynamics of modern war have changed that. When, last month, President Trump threatened to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant, tit for tat, any time a missile or drone attacked an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, he was promising what would have looked, not very long ago, like an unconscionable act of military retribution: attacking energy infrastructure to impose pain on civilians. They used to call this kind of thing a war crime. But somewhat suddenly, it has become a nearly universal feature of 21st-century conflict.
New York Times, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan Sign Joint Defense Pact, Ben Hubbard, Aug. 7, 2026. The agreement treats an attack on any of the three countries a

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Candidate Field Set After Republicans Redrew Tennessee District Lines, Emily Cochrane, Aug. 7, 2026. Tennessee’s primary elections on Thursday came after Republican legislators carved up the state’s only majority-Black district in a bid to win all nine of the state’s House seats. Tennessee voters on Thursday settled on their congressional candidates for the November midterms, the first batch of politicians to run after the state’s Republican legislators redrew district maps this year.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion:What Vote By Sen. Bill Cassidy?, William Kristol, right, Aug. 7, 2026. With Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) announcement early this morning that she will oppose Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general, it all comes down to the senior Republican senator from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy.

More On U.S. Media, Religion

The Contrarian, Opinion: Undaunted in Kansas, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 7, 2026. A pastor defends real Christian values as the Democratic Senate nominee. The latest legacy media “take” — that Democrats are moving far left — defies reality. The party has always (but increasingly in the Trump era) established itself as the broadest pro-democracy coalition since the New Deal. One need look no further than red states to see that the party has made strides to embrace religious, rural, and center-right voters. In Kansas, for example, a senior Methodist pastor who heads a 24,000-member megachurch in deep-red Kansas won the Democratic Senate nomination on Tuesday.

More Global News

New York Times, Seized on Their Way to Gaza, Activists Tell of Abuse in Israeli Custody, Catherine Porter, Elisabetta Povoledo and Nimet Kirac, Aug. 7, 2026. In interviews, more than 20 people who tried to break an Israeli blockade described beatings, electric shocks and other abuse after being captured. Israel denied the accusations.
New York Times, Trump Administration Fast-Tracks Military Cooperation With Colombia, Annie Correal and Eric Schmitt, Aug. 7, 2026. The country’s new Trump-endorsed president takes office on Friday. Sweeping plans to target drug traffickers with U.S. help are already underway.

More On U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, Live Updates: U.S. Job Market Shows Unexpected Loss, Lydia DePillis, Aug. 7, 2026. Employers cut 23,000 positions last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.1 percent.

Top Stories

Construction at the White House ballroom in Washington has continued, despite legal setbacks.

New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Appeals Panel Blocks Ballroom Project, Setting Up Likely Supreme Court Fight, Zach Montague and Mattathias Schwartz, Aug. 7, 2026. What We’re Covering.

Ballroom Ruling: President Trump cannot continue building the ballroom he planned as a replacement to the East Wing of the White House without explicit approval from Congress, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday. The ruling does not immediately halt construction, but it is a blow to the president and all but guarantees that the Supreme Court will decide the fate of the ballroom, one of Mr. Trump’s signature projects. Read more ›
Blanche Nomination: Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, said that he would support Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, effectively saving the confirmation of President Trump’s pick after two other Republican senators said they would oppose him. Read more ›
U.S. Jobs Report: The labor market posted a modest loss of 23,000 positions in July, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.1 percent as thousands of people left the labor force. The economy is grappling with renewed tariffs and higher costs driven by war in the Middle East. Follow our live coverage ›

President Trump cannot continue building the ballroom he planned as a replacement to the East Wing of the White House without explicit approval from Congress, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday.

The ruling, by judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, dealt a blow to the president’s efforts to press ahead with the project and all but guaranteed that the Supreme Court will decide the ballroom’s fate. It upheld a lower court’s findings that no law or authority gave the president the power to raze and replace sections of the White House without congressional authorization.

The decision does not mean construction will halt immediately. The judges paused their ruling briefly to give the administration a chance to appeal. The lower court judge had similarly suspended his ruling to allow time for an appeal, and Mr. Trump has continued building uninterrupted, inviting reporters to tour the site and showcasing progress toward completion of the ballroom despite the court order.

Friday’s ruling was split, with Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee, and Bradley Garcia, a Biden appointee, forming a 2-to-1 majority, and Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, dissenting.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Judge Richard J. Leon, an appointee of George W. Bush, ruled in April that the ballroom project far exceeded the scale of the kind of minor changes presidents have traditionally made to the White House grounds, entering territory that required collaboration with Congress.

Judge Leon wrote that Mr. Trump had relied on claims that the construction was intended to bolster security at the White House to justify an extreme rebuild that would dramatically alter the grounds.

“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity,” he wrote then.

Judge Leon nevertheless deferred to Mr. Trump on what he has claimed is a critical upgrade of the military bunker below the White House, writing that he would allow construction below ground but not on the ballroom above it.

Since the ruling, Mr. Trump has seized on a series of security risks, describing them as evidence for the need for a secure facility where the East Wing stood. Those included an attempted assassination of Mr. Trump and other cabinet officials at an annual press gala and the arrests of several people in June who were charged with plotting to attack a mixed martial arts fight held at the White House on Mr. Trump’s birthday.

After the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the Justice Department submitted an unusual filing, written partly in the president’s distinct style rather than in drier legalese, insisting the order be lifted. It renewed those arguments again in a letter to the appeals court after.

“The ‘National Trust for Historic Preservation’ — which, again, is not a government agency of any type — never once denies that its lawsuit is motivated by an irrational desire to stop anything associated with President Donald J. Trump, which even Democrat elected officials have labeled as ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome,’ or T.D.S.,” the first filing said.

During oral arguments, the panel appeared uneasy with the Justice Department’s argument that the president could tear down public monuments.

In June, seven Republican senators joined Democrats in voting to block the construction on the project until Congress had formally authorized it, but the measure failed to secure the 60 votes needed to pass.

Senate Republicans aligned with the president also previously proposed, but ultimately retreated from, providing as much as $1 billion in public funds to help finance the ballroom and other security upgrades, a move that would put Congress on record as supporting the project. The Justice Department has argued in court that congressional efforts to set aside funds amounted to implicit approval of the project.

Mr. Trump had long maintained that the ballroom, estimated to cost at least $400 million, would be built at no expense to the public. But in June, the administration transferred roughly $350 million from the Secret Service to cover security upgrades at the White House, which appeared to be destined for the combined East Wing project.

An assortment of wealthy donors and corporations had pledged hundreds of millions to back the project, drawing warnings from watchdog groups about corruption. A report by the good governance group Public Citizen in May documented more than $50 billion in government contracts flowing to corporations that donated.

New York Times, Cassidy Will Back Blanche, Salvaging His Confirmation, Michael Gold and Carl Hulse, Aug. 7, 2026. The Louisiana senator said that, despite reservations, he would back President Trump’s pick for attorney general, giving Republicans enough votes for a majority.Construction at the White House ballroom in Washington has continued, despite legal setbacks.

Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, said on Friday that he would support Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, effectively saving the confirmation of President Trump’s pick after two other Republican senators said they would oppose him.

Mr. Cassidy, right, who lost his re-election bid to a Trump-backed challenger, said in a speech on the Senate floor that he had deep concerns about “apparent lawfare,” the phrase he has used to refer to the Justice Department’s targeting of the president’s political enemies.

But Mr. Cassidy said that after much consideration, he had come to believe that Mr. Blanche, who has served as the president’s personal lawyer, would be better positioned to push back against Mr. Trump’s norm-busting demands than an alternative.

“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,” Mr. Cassidy said. “But the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general, who may not run the department effectively under President Trump.”

He announced his decision hours after Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the second Republican to oppose Mr. Blanche’s confirmation, joining Senator Susan Collins of Maine. That threw the nominee’s fate into doubt, given that he could not afford additional Republican defectors, and intensified attention on Mr. Cassidy.

Ms. Murkowski said in a statement that she, too, harbored concerns over the “politicization” of the Justice Department. But the conclusion she reached was the opposite of Mr. Cassidy’s: She said that she feared that Mr. Blanche would “fail to check the worst impulses of this administration.”

Ms. Murkowski cited the department’s handling of the release of the Epstein files, which Mr. Blanche oversaw, and the settlement agreement that Mr. Blanche negotiated in Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the I.R.S., which included the creation of a $1.8 billion compensation fund that could have been used to pay Jan. 6 rioters.

“The country needs an attorney general who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Ms. Murkowski said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”

Ms. Collins, who is running for re-election in a state that Mr. Trump lost in 2024, said on Tuesday that she would vote against Mr. Blanche over similar concerns. Given the continued absence of Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who has been gone for nearly eight weeks because of illness, Mr. Blanche could only afford to lose two Republican votes and still win a majority for confirmation.

Ms. Murkowski, Ms. Collins and Mr. Cassidy are the only three remaining Republican senators in office who voted to convict Mr. Trump.

President Trump has pushed his nominee for Attorney Geneal Todd Blanche to create a special $5 tax on every American via Justice Department "settlement" for a $1.8 billion slush fund to reward his Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionists (some shown above) and create federal tax immunity via the Internal Revenue Service for any illegal acts that might have been committed by himself, his family and their hujndreds of money-making enterprises that have netted them billions of dollars in recent years.

The Contrarian, Opinion: Bill Cassidy Still Can't Find His Spine, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 7, 2026. A senator with nothing to lose agrees to vote for the worst nominee ever for attorney general.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who lost his primary but never misses an opportunity to show his moral spinelessness, announced on the floor he will vote to confirm Jeffrey Epstein file coverup architect Todd Blanche as attorney general. Disregarding Blanche’s role in an illegal, inexcusable effort to withhold evidence surrounding the worst pedophile scandal in memory and his long list of professional and ethical misdeeds, Cassidy dutifully fell in line.

We should keep in mind three takeaways. First, there are no Republicans with the courage and moral fiber to truly risk the wrath of the party. When the chips are down and a critical vote is needed, do not look for profiles in courage. Second, there is no better example of the necessity for voting Republicans out of power. Every vote for Republicans, including a batch of senators on the ballot in November, reminds us that the party has been stripped of moral decency, respect for the rule of law, and respect for truth. Finally, whatever differences exist among Democrats and whatever reservations voters may have about individual positions, they pale in comparison to the stark divide between the two parties. If we care about something as fundamental as protecting children from predators or maintaining the Department of Justice as a respected institution devoted to representing the American people, Republicans cannot remain in positions of power. They cannot be trusted to conduct oversight or properly exercise advise and consent. Never has the choice between governing visions been more vivid.

More On Trump Justice Department Abuses

David Hearn, center, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a piece of the Reflecting Pool’s lining (Reuters photo by Elizabeth Frantz).

New York Times, Judge Dismisses Former Olympian’s Felony Charge in Reflecting Pool Case, Chris Cameron, Aug. 6, 2026. The move ends the criminal case for David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, after prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

A judge in Washington dismissed a felony vandalism charge on Thursday against a former Olympic canoeist who had been accused of damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, ending an embarrassing saga for the Justice Department and the top prosecutor in Washington.

In a two-page order, Judge Todd E. Edelman of the Superior Court in Washington approved a request last week by federal prosecutors, led by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in the city, to drop the case against the Olympian, David Hearn.

The prosecutors had concluded in their request that the “widespread damage” to the pool’s blue lining was caused by a “botched” renovation ordered by President Trump ahead of America’s 250th anniversary earlier this year, contradicting Mr. Trump’s claim that vandals had cut the lining with knives.

Judge Edelman deferred the question of whether to prevent the charge from being brought again. Ms. Pirro’s office moved to dismiss it without prejudice, meaning it could theoretically be brought again, but Mr. Hearn’s lawyers had asked to dismiss it with prejudice.

“This whole thing has been really surreal and absurd,” Mr. Hearn said in an appearance on CNN Thursday evening. “I think a lot of people feel that way. Again, it’s a relief, but there’s a detachment to that relief of extreme concern for other people and for our country.”

Earlier this month, Ms. Pirro, an ally and friend of Mr. Trump’s going back decades, had echoed the president’s claims of vandalism, claiming in a televised news conference that there was “tremendous evidence” that Mr. Hearn, 67, had committed a felony, and noting that he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Three weeks later, Ms. Pirro told the court her prosecutors had been misled by the Interior Department, which had awarded a no-bid contract to a first-time government contractor to overhaul the iconic landmark. The pool’s new coating had actually started to peel almost immediately after the project’s completion, she said, adding that the Interior Department had kept that fact from prosecutors.

Ms. Pirro’s reversal incurred the wrath of Mr. Trump, in both public and private. Soon after she moved to drop the charges, Mr. Trump repeated his claim that the damage was caused by vandals, writing on social media “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” adding, “I don’t know what she was thinking?” On Monday, Mr. Trump accused Ms. Pirro in front of television cameras of “folding like an umbrella” and “choking” on the case.

The episode culminated in a consequential showdown in the Oval Office between Ms. Pirro, who appeared to be fighting for her job, and Mr. Trump, with Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, in attendance. Ms. Pirro told Mr. Trump that Mr. Burgum had misled him with a self-serving cover story for his own mistakes. Mr. Trump seemed considerably less angry by day’s end, and Ms. Pirro emerged from the meeting with her job intact, for now.Listen · 3:19 min

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (Andrew Harnik photo for Getty Images).

New York Times, Investigation: How the Reflecting Pool Came to Mirror Trump’s Washington, Maxine Joselow, David A. Fahrenthold, Tyler Pager and Clarence Williams, Aug. 7, 2026. .A hospitality manager for the Trump Organization traveled to Las Vegas to find a solution to problems at a national landmark. This is the untold back story of the fallout.

In January, the World of Concrete trade show drew 47,000 people to the Las Vegas Convention Center. One of them was the manager of a Trump Organization golf club in New Jersey, who had come seeking help with an enormous, unfamiliar task.

The manager, David Schutzenhofer, wanted ideas for how to fix the leaking, algae-ridden Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.

Several vendors told him they knew just the guy to call: Rodney Jarboe, the president of the Missouri-based company Creative Polymers. Mr. Jarboe had worked on a bridge at another federal landmark, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

In an interview, Mr. Jarboe said he first spoke in March with Mr. Schutzenhofer, who made clear that the work would be rushed. President Trump, Mr. Jarboe said he was told, wanted the renovation project done in time for the country’s 250th birthday on July 4.

“For this thing to be done in the time frame that was required, we almost had to have a contract and start manufacturing by the first week of April,” Mr. Jarboe said. “So it was a very tight deadline to make a decision.”

Those initial conversations about the Reflecting Pool, which have not previously been reported, kicked off an ad hoc plan by the Trump administration that involved coating the pool with a sheet of blue polyurea, which the president promised would make it beautiful. Within months, though, the pool was drained and ugly — the butt of jokes and memes.ImageA National Park Service employee inspecting a section of the pool that had peeled up last month.Credit...Andrew Leyden for The New York Times

Many of the details of the saga are reported in this article for the first time. They show that the pool, which was supposed to reflect the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, became a striking reflection instead of the second Trump administration’s willingness to skirt laws, expend millions of dollars, ignore facts and punish truth tellers in service of the president’s demands to put his mark on the capital. Continued below.

Ballroom Ruling: President Trump cannot continue building the ballroom he planned as a replacement to the East Wing of the White House without explicit approval from Congress, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday. The ruling does not immediately halt construction, but it is a blow to the president and all but guarantees that the Supreme Court will decide the fate of the ballroom, one of Mr. Trump’s signature projects. Read more ›
Blanche Nomination: Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, said that he would support Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, effectively saving the confirmation of President Trump’s pick after two other Republican senators said they would oppose him. Read more ›
U.S. Jobs Report: The labor market posted a modest loss of 23,000 positions in July, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.1 percent as thousands of people left the labor force. The economy is grappling with renewed tariffs and higher costs driven by war in the Middle East. Follow our live coverage ›

Friday’s ruling was split, with Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee, and Bradley Garcia, a Biden appointee, forming a 2-to-1 majority, and Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, dissenting.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Judge Leon wrote that Mr. Trump had relied on claims that the construction was intended to bolster security at the White House to justify an extreme rebuild that would dramatically alter the grounds.

“National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity,” he wrote then.

During oral arguments, the panel appeared uneasy with the Justice Department’s argument that the president could tear down public monuments.

U.S. Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche, currently acting attorney general and a former Trump criminal defense attorney before the president nominated him for Senate confirmation (Shown at U.S. Capitol on July 16, 2026).

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Blanche on the Bubble, Bill Kristol, Andrew Egger and Jim Swift, Aug. 7, 2026. Will Bill Cassidy make it go pop? Hey, hope springs eternal.

With America’s stockpiles of crucial munitions getting worryingly low, America’s adversaries seem to be getting interested in testing the boundaries of what they can get away with. Citing U.S. intelligence reports, the Wall Street Journal reports that Vladimir Putin is mulling the possibility of “testing NATO’s resolve” with a “limited assault” on a member country in the next few years. Hey, Vlad, there’s a lot going on over here—could you give us a minute?

In other news, we got some pretty disappointing jobs numbers today: The economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, while May and June’s reports were revised down by a combined 103,000 jobs more. The unemployment rate actually ticked down a hair, to 4.1 percent, as 260,000 people left the labor force. In other words, employers aren’t hiring and workers are starting to notice. To wit, this stat from the Journal: “In recent months, almost three in 10 of the unemployed have been looking to work for more than six months, the greatest share since the pandemic recovery four years ago.” Happy Friday.

News Roundups

A selection from images posted by President Trump on Aug. 1 as he devoted much of his workday to grandiose self-promotion and macho war-making fantasies.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Trump 'Detached' and 'Retreated into Denial' as Horrible Economic News is Released and Republicans see the 'Writing on the Wall', Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 7, 2026. Lots to cover this morning. I’m on my way to Mitch McConnell’s home to try to get more information about the senator from Kentucky’s current status. Meanwhile, horrible economic news came out this morning as the United States economy lost 23,000 jobs, the third-worst jobs month since the pandemic, and it comes as Republicans say Trump is officially detached and “retreated into denial” as his approval tanks, investigations prepare to launch, and he sees the writing on the wall for the midterm elections. It all comes as Senator Lisa Murkowski says she will vote no on Todd Blanche’s confirmation.

Lots to cover, and I just wanted to say thank you all for your support. I’m working on some exciting projects, including a live show that’s set to start nearly every night soon. We’re ramping up, not slowing down. Here’s the news:

Trump detached:

Trump’s own advisers say the president has retreated into denial as his approval rating cratered to 32 percent in a Quinnipiac poll, the lowest of his political career and worse than his standing after January 6, with 68 percent of voters saying he isn’t focused enough on the issues affecting most households. An insider told Axios he’s leaned into “the hobbies that distract from his terrible polling numbers,” while Maggie Haberman said roughly 70 percent of his bandwidth now goes toward construction projects and monuments, calling it “a legacy thing.” His three main preoccupations, war, tariffs, and building monuments to himself, all poll poorly and show no sign of winning over the public.

Trump’s distraction has cost Republicans their longtime advantage on economic trust, with a new Reuters poll finding voters now evenly split on which party handles fiscal responsibility better, erasing a nine-year GOP lead. Party leaders are privately frustrated that roughly $400 million sits untouched in Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, with insiders saying his refusal to spend on competitive races has sapped donor enthusiasm. Rather than shift strategy, Trump has focused on the SAVE America Act, a citizenship-documentation voting bill Republicans have repeatedly told him can’t pass, and he’s responded by blaming Senate Majority Leader John Thune and threatening to oust him.

Aides say Trump would rather show visitors renderings of his White House ballroom, his planned Triumphal Arch, the new Air Force One, Dulles Airport redesigns, or the South Lawn helipad than discuss policy. Senior congressional Republicans reportedly believe, based on their own numbers, that the party could lose the House and possibly the Senate, and have urged Trump to pivot to affordability messaging, though they privately doubt he’s capable of the change. Trump himself admitted in a Wednesday interview that Republicans likely face a midterm “bloodbath,” but shrugged off the implications, telling Punchbowl News, “They’re angry at Republicans. They’re not angry at me.”

Blanche:

Senator Lisa Murkowski announced Friday she’ll vote against Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, joining Susan Collins in opposition and, with Mitch McConnell out indefinitely and Democrats expected to vote no, putting a third GOP defection within reach of blocking the confirmation outright. Murkowski said despite “numerous constructive meetings” with Blanche, she lacks confidence he’d check “the worst impulses” of the administration, and she criticized what she called the “politicization” and even “weaponization” of the Justice Department, citing its handling of the Epstein files and skepticism that the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which she called a “slush fund,” is truly off the table.

Senator Bill Cassidy remains undecided, telling NBC News “no comment” on how he’ll vote. Blanche’s confirmation has already been rocky, with Sens. Cornyn and Tillis previously withholding support over the fund and audit-immunity concerns until Blanche provided written assurances and met privately with Epstein survivors, though survivor Dani Bensky called that meeting “not productive,” a characterization Blanche disputes. Democrats have separately criticized the DOJ for redacting survivors’ personal information while not doing the same for people who may have participated in the abuse, and have warned loopholes could still allow the weaponization fund to be revived.

Economy:

The U.S. economy unexpectedly shed 23,000 jobs in July, a sharp miss from expectations of +85,000 and the third-biggest monthly job loss since the pandemic hit in 2020. The unemployment rate actually fell to 4.1%, coming in below the 4.2% forecast. June’s already-weak jobs figure was also revised down by an additional 37,000 jobs, compounding the grim picture of a labor market losing momentum faster than economists anticipated.

Economist Justin Wolfers called new jobs data “a big kick in the guts,” noting payrolls came in far weaker than expected as the U.S. lost 23,000 jobs in July, badly missing forecasts of +80,000. He also flagged steep downward revisions to prior months, with May cut to +63,000 from +129,000 and June cut to +20,000 from +53,000, prompting him to urge people to “revise down your views substantially.” Wolfers explained the scale of the miss: the expected +80,000 gain versus the actual -23,000 print, combined with -103,000 in downward revisions to the prior two months, means the economy created roughly 200,000 fewer jobs over the past three months than previously believed.

Fox Business on the July jobs report: “Minus 23,000! No rebound for the July jobs report ... a disappointing jobs reports”

Other news:

Wisconsin police used the surveillance network Flock to track Edward Abrams-Phillips’s frequent trips across state lines to Michigan, where marijuana is legal, and cited that travel pattern in a criminal complaint as probable cause to search his car for weed once he returned to Wisconsin. Court records show police tracked his vehicle hitting multiple Flock cameras over the course of a day, from Wisconsin into Michigan and back, before intercepting and pulling him over near Green Bay. Abrams-Phillips was originally wanted for bail jumping tied to domestic violence charges, but that charge was ultimately dismissed, leaving him convicted only of the marijuana possession charge that stemmed from the Flock-enabled search. The case highlights how license plate reading networks like Flock, marketed to police for public safety purposes, are being used to build pretexts for searches based on lawful interstate travel to states with different drug laws.

All eight Flock license plate reader cameras in Winona, Minnesota, were found stolen Saturday, with police discovering the poles cut down and dumped nearby, part of a nationwide backlash against the surveillance technology that has already led 23 jurisdictions to cancel or reject Flock contracts over privacy concerns. Each camera costs $3,000 to replace, and none had recorded any activity before going missing, with police still searching for them as of August 4. Critics like Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, a former WWE wrestler, have warned the cameras enable warrantless tracking of people’s movements even though they’re not supposed to be used for surveillance without a warrant. The pushback comes amid reported cases of police misuse, including a Missouri officer who admitted using Flock to track his ex-wife’s location during their divorce without facing criminal penalties since Missouri law doesn’t prohibit it, and a Mooresville, North Carolina, officer who was arrested after allegedly using the system 31 times to track her boyfriend’s ex-wife.

Trump signed two executive orders Thursday aimed at narrowing birthright citizenship and cracking down on "birth tourism," just over a month after the Supreme Court struck down his earlier attempt to end automatic citizenship outright. The first order targets children born to foreign diplomatic staff, "alien enemies" including foreign terrorist organizations, and women who enter the U.S. solely to give birth for citizenship purposes, while also addressing U.S. territories if Congress changes the law there. The second order directs the State and Homeland Security departments to issue new rules against birth tourism, with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller arguing that misrepresenting tourism intent while planning to give birth constitutes visa fraud; notably, the administration's estimate of over 3.5 million such births annually vastly exceeds Census-based estimates of about 26,000 a year, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, right, once seen by staffers as a promising leader given his business and gubernatorial background, is now facing widespread internal criticism over a workplace described as secretive, dysfunctional, and hostile, with eight former officials and five industry lobbyists telling POLITICO the agency has lost thousands of staff and several top officials, including its Senate-confirmed legal counsel and former chief of staff. Staffers allege a culture obsessed with avoiding paper trails, including routine document shredding, disappearing Signal messages for scheduling, and Burgum's early push for an additional secure SCIF facility despite one already existing in the building, allegations Interior spokesperson Katie Martin denies, calling them "Fake News" driven by "Trump Derangement Syndrome." The dysfunction claims coincide with a public clash between Burgum and D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who abruptly moved to drop vandalism charges tied to the botched, over-budget Reflecting Pool renovation after concluding Interior officials misled prosecutors by withholding evidence that the damage stemmed from shoddy installation work rather than deliberate destruction.

ICE will begin equipping officers with body cameras nationwide by the end of September, but its policy gives the agency broad discretion to withhold footage of shootings and other serious incidents whenever officials decide release isn’t in the agency’s “best interests.” A review committee can recommend releasing video within 72 hours of an incident, but the ICE director can indefinitely block or delay release if he finds “specific and compelling circumstances,” with no elaboration on what qualifies. The rollout follows congressional pressure after two fatal shootings last month, in Houston and Maine, that weren’t captured on body cameras because officers hadn’t yet been equipped, despite Congress allocating $20 million for the cameras back in April.

The U.S. is battling several simultaneous salmonella outbreaks tied to contaminated eggs, recalled jalapeño peppers, and contact with backyard poultry and pet chameleons, sickening hundreds across dozens of states with at least one death reported. The egg outbreak has caused 98 cases and 26 hospitalizations in 17 states, linked to eggs from Midwest Poultry Services sold under brands like Simple Truth, Kroger, and Cal-Maine, while the jalapeño outbreak has sickened 345 people in 27 states, with most cases traced to Mexican-style restaurants like Chipotle and Qdoba between June and July.

Separately, backyard poultry contact has caused 814 illnesses across 44 states, including one death and 201 hospitalizations, with a quarter of cases in children under 5, while a smaller, now-closed outbreak tied to pet veiled chameleons sickened five children under 3 earlier this year. Salmonella symptoms, including cramps, fever, and sometimes bloody diarrhea, typically appear within six hours to six days of exposure and last four to seven days, and while most people recover without treatment, antibiotics are generally avoided since they can prolong how long a person remains contagious. Experts recommend basic food safety steps like cleaning, separating raw and ready-to-eat foods, cooking meat and eggs thoroughly, and chilling perishables quickly, along with keeping children under 5 away from chameleons and avoiding kissing or snuggling pet poultry and reptiles.

Rep. Andy Ogles has lost his Republican primary in Tennessee, NBC News projects, falling to Charlie Hatcher, the state’s former agricultural commissioner, despite Trump’s backing of Ogles. Hatcher won by rallying support from prominent establishment Republicans and is now a heavy favorite in the general election in the deep-red district. His loss adds to what’s been an unusually high number of incumbents losing renomination this primary season.

Investigators recovered the remains of 57 people, many in various states of decomposition, from South Chicago Chapel funeral home on the city’s Southeast Side Thursday, after state and city officials tipped off the Cook County medical examiner’s office to “decedents improperly stored” at the site. Police say a state regulator had already revoked the funeral home’s license Wednesday over a complaint that bodies weren’t being kept at or below the required 40 degrees, and during the inspection they found the remains scattered unrefrigerated throughout the building; the funeral director, Clark Morgan, initially refused to let officers back in without a warrant, then locked the doors and left, prompting fire personnel to force entry. State records show Morgan’s own funeral director license was revoked in 2024, and the business’s registered director, his wife Johanna Morgan, had her license temporarily suspended this week after regulators cited “deplorable conditions including rodent infestation” and maggot-infested bodies. Neighbors said they’d noticed a persistent, dead-animal-like odor in the area for about two months despite the funeral home appearing active, staging a funeral as recently as last week.

A car crash occurred live on-air during a traffic report, prompting the reporter to blurt out “oh sh*t” in real time.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S., dropped to a record-low water level of 1,040.5 feet on Thursday, surpassing the previous low set in July 2022 and marking its lowest point since the reservoir was created nine decades ago. Combined with Lake Powell, the two reservoirs haven’t been this depleted since 1957, before Lake Powell even fully filled, as experts describe them as the region’s “savings account” being drawn down after 25 years of persistent drought and river overallocation. Contributing factors include minimal snowpack last winter and one of the lowest runoff years on record, part of a more than 20-year downward trend that has exposed “bathtub rings” along the shoreline and even revealed a body in a barrel back in 2022. The decline comes as the seven states relying on the Colorado River remain locked in unresolved negotiations over water cuts, with a new 10-year federal operating framework potentially requiring lower basin states to collectively cut up to 3 million acre-feet annually, and two-year guidelines expected soon to specify roughly 20% cuts for those states through 2028. Experts warn even these measures may not be enough, with one calling the record low “not a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention.”

More On U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Justice

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (Andrew Harnik photo for Getty Images).

The Interior Department, led by Doug Burgum, handed out no-bid contracts and squelched doubts about the costs and risks. An employee from Mr. Trump’s private business life, Mr. Schutzenhofer, played an off-the-books role in government decisions. A top federal housing official, Bill Pulte, brought Mr. Trump memes that encouraged him to keep going.

And when Mr. Trump sought to blame the project’s failure on shadowy vandals, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, backed him up by charging members of the public with crimes, only to have the cases fall apart.

Then, in place of accountability, there were falsehoods on top of falsehoods, part of Mr. Trump’s longtime strategy of not admitting mistakes and treating concessions of error as signs of weakness.

To understand how the Reflecting Pool repairs veered off course, The New York Times reviewed dozens of internal government documents, including confidential reports raising concerns about the project’s costs and workmanship, and spoke to more than 20 people familiar with the project.

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, did not answer a list of emailed questions, but said in a statement: “For years, the Reflecting Pool sat neglected, plagued with algae and leaking millions of gallons of water. Fixing it was common sense. It’s another example of President Trump restoring our nation’s capital for the American people.”

The Interior Department has also defended its handling of the project, saying that it followed the law and used expedited processes to meet a tight deadline. “President Donald J. Trump is an expert builder who fixed the Reflecting Pool permanently before deranged people vandalized it,” Katie Martin, a department spokeswoman, said in a statement.

At the start of Mr. Trump’s second term, the Reflecting Pool had two longstanding problems. It leaked tens of millions of gallons every year. And it turned green, especially in the summer, as algae thrived in its stagnant, shallow water.

But neither Mr. Trump’s first administration nor the Biden administration had treated these issues as a crisis. They made plans to fix it, but never carried them out.

That changed last fall. The day before Thanksgiving, Mr. Trump suggested on social media that the Park Service would overhaul the Reflecting Pool after workers finished a routine cleaning.

To lead that effort, Mr. Trump tapped Mr. Schutzenhofer, who had run the president’s club in Bedminster, N.J., since 2006 — and had a background in hospitality but no formal training in engineering or architecture.

After attending the World of Concrete, Mr. Schutzenhofer settled on a plan to coat the pool’s concrete slabs with a polyurea liner, Mr. Jarboe said. Though the Park Service had not previously contemplated such a plan, it later described the liner in contract documents as a “seamless, monolithic, waterproof, antimicrobial and anti-algae system.”

But there was a problem of Mr. Trump’s making: The president’s steep tariffs on resins from China and other countries had limited the availability of polyurea coatings.

“Tariffs were reducing the amount of materials that could come into the U.S. to make this stuff,” Mr. Jarboe said.

To address this problem, Creative Polymers partnered with Rhino Linings, a California-based company that made large quantities of polyurea coating at its factory in Texas. Rhino was also attractive because it made a coating in a shade called “American flag blue,” and the patriotically named hue delighted Mr. Trump.In turn, a sales manager at Rhino called Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia-based company that had never won a government contract, and enlisted its help with applying the coating, according to a statement on the company’s website.

New York Times, Trump Signs Executive Orders Targeting Birthright Citizenship, Maggie Haberman and Ann E. Marimow, Updated Aug. 7, 2026. The orders come after the Supreme Court ruled June 30 that President Trump’s previous efforts to end birthright citizenship were unconstitutional.

President Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday aimed at limiting the number of people who are eligible for birthright citizenship and cracking down on “birth tourism,” in which women give birth in the United States to get automatic citizenship for their newborns.

The new orders came weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, rejected the president’s previous efforts to end birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants through executive orders.

During an Oval Office event, Mr. Trump told reporters that the June 30 Supreme Court ruling was a “very, very unfortunate decision.”

“This was done right after the Civil War,” Mr. Trump said of the constitutional amendment granting automatic citizenship to infants born in the United States. “This was for the babies of slaves, and what’s happening now? People are building businesses around it.”

It was not immediately clear how the twin orders could realistically be enforced. They would restrict those who could qualify for birthright citizenship, to exclude children of staff working for foreign governments but serving in the United States, and the babies of mothers who lie about their intentions for visiting the country while pregnant. There is a third category, for babies born in U.S. territories, but that would first require congressional action.

And then there are children whose parents are tagged by the government as being part of known terrorist groups or who are “alien enemies.”

Mr. Trump has criticized birthright citizenship for years, using it as a political tool as he has repeatedly tried to restrict legal immigration. He has talked about trying to end it since his first presidency. And in an unusual move, he attended oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case at the Supreme Court, a presidential first.

Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s top domestic policy adviser and the architect of much of his immigration platform, and Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, described the orders as important correctives to the current system.

“As the president mentioned, the 14th Amendment was passed exclusively in the aftermath of the Civil War, so to ensure that the children of slaves would be citizens,” Mr. Miller said. “It had no other meaning and purpose outside of that, and that’s been clear, obviously, since the day that it was passed.”

Mr. Scharf described “birth tourism” as “something that used to happen incidentally, where somebody who happened to be on vacation here went to labor early and had a baby,” a relatively narrow subset that has grown into “organized rings, at times criminal rings, setting up a system whereby” tens of thousands of people come to the country solely for that purpose.Video0:28CreditCredit...Associated Press

Mr. Scharf said among the actions being considered would be denying visas to visitors they suspect are coming to the country solely for delivering a child in the United States.

“There’s absolutely nothing in here that runs afoul of any of the Supreme Court’s opinions on the subject,” Mr. Scharf said.

A Department of Homeland Security official, who was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about the executive orders, threw cold water on the birth tourism order. There is nothing new in it from an enforcement perspective, the official said, because it simply restates existing law.

Mr. Miller said that Section 215A of the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the president the authority to engage in these new restrictions, when asked how the administration will determine the difference between “tourism” and “birth tourism.”

When a reporter noted that the president’s own solicitor general had been unable to tell the Supreme Court precisely how many people were benefiting from birthright citizenship, Mr. Trump replied, “I’ll tell you right now, hundreds of thousands, OK? Hundreds of thousands.”

(Pennsylvania State University scholars released a study about the time of the Supreme Court ruling that found that fewer than 0.3 percent of all births in the United States were to tourists, in any year.)

But Mr. Trump pressed on, “You have one man came in with a family head said he had 56 children. Another one came in. They said they had 98 children. This was not what it was for. This was meant for the babies of slaves. It was, it was right after one week or two weeks after the Civil War ended.” In fact, birthright citizenship was ratified as part of the 14th Amendment more than three years after the war ended.

Any renewed effort to prevent new classes of people from having babies in the United States who are automatically citizens would invite fresh rounds of litigation. There would likely be challenges, for instance, to who counts as “alien enemies” and invading armies — categories that lower court judges have already rejected in separate cases involving the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.

Federal immigration law gives the government broad power over entry into the United States, but the law also forbids discrimination in the issuing of immigrant visas. Limits on the entry of certain pregnant women from other countries, as the president’s order envisions, could also give rise to claims of discrimination.

In their final opinion of the Supreme Court’s term, the justices rejected Mr. Trump’s attempt to prevent babies born on U.S. soil to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents from being given citizenship automatically.

The decision was a major blow to Mr. Trump’s longstanding effort to limit the guarantee of birthright citizenship and the president wrongly suggested after the ruling that he could get around the court’s decision through legislation.

Five justices — a majority — found that birthright citizenship was guaranteed in the Constitution, meaning the president would likely need an amendment to change the long-held principle that nearly all children born in the United States are American citizens.

A sixth justice, Brett M. Kavanaugh, said he would have struck down the president’s order based on federal law, not the Constitution.

Soon after the court announced its decision on June 30, Mr. Trump said he would ask the justices to reconsider their decision, a long-shot request since the Supreme Court has not agreed to revisit an argued case in decades.

The deadline for such a filing passed last week without the president asking for a rehearing.

In response to the president’s orders on Thursday, Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement, “The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution. Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one.”

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: This will not end well for Donald Trump, Heather Delaney Reese, above right,Aug. 7, 2026. in direct defiance of the Supreme Court. He was joined by four of his closest advisers standing behind him, and a small group of journalists directly in front of him.

While the men surrounding him struggled to explain what Trump had signed, and why it was legal, Donald Trump sat in his chair, leaning onto the Resolute Desk, with his left hand covering his right from the camera’s view, struggling to stay awake through the short 20-minute event. By the time the president was done talking and the press was being rushed out of the room, there was no question that Donald Trump believes he is above the Constitution and the truth.

Over those few short minutes, the president was asked about the idea of prosecuting Dr. Anthony Fauci, triggering him to go on a long tangent defending Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro and saying that “maybe he (Dr. Fauci) should” be prosecuted. He confirmed that some war munitions were “a little bit tighter,” even after denying that earlier in the day on Truth Social and threatening people with prison for reporting that American munitions were running low.

But one of the more revealing moments was when Trump was talking about bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, and he injected a random thought about how much longer he might actually be president: “by the time I leave office, which could be a long time. Who knows? But it could also be fairly quick. They say two and a half years. We’re going to find out.” He said this on the same day that he shared his new favorite Trump 2028 campaign poster on Truth Social again.

Donald Trump was once again testing how far his enablers will allow him to stretch the rule of law. There might be people around him telling him there is no legal path to a third term, but he either can’t accept that answer or simply doesn’t care whether there is a legal path or not. And no matter why he keeps doing this, one thing it accomplishes every single time is creating chaos. Chaos is the one thing Donald Trump has always been good at, because he knows it works. It keeps us arguing about whether we should take him seriously and whether he could or would actually do what he is threatening to do, while the people around him quietly continue doing things that are very real and very dangerous behind the scenes.

The actual reason for the event in his office today was the signing of two executive orders limiting birthright citizenship, a constitutional right that has been the law of this country since 1868. On Trump’s first day back in office, on January 20, 2025, he signed his first executive order attempting to strip that right from children born on American soil to noncitizen parents. Lower courts called it unconstitutional, and on June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court agreed, ruling six to three in Trump v. Barbara that his order was unlawful. Five justices agreed that it violated the 14th Amendment, while a sixth, Justice Kavanaugh, struck it down on statutory grounds. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority and traced the history of birthright citizenship back through English common law and specifically called out the deliberate, broad language chosen by those who wrote the amendment after the Civil War. The Court said no.

Now, five weeks later, Trump sat in the Oval Office and said, “We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright. It was close.” But it was not close. It was six to three, and two of the justices who ruled against him were his own appointees.

He knew exactly what he was doing when he called it “close”. Because he needed that cover for what he did today, even after he was told no by the highest court in the land. He wrote this new order with slightly different language and presented it to us as if the prior ruling had actually given him permission. He had Stephen Miller, the architect of many of his worst policies, including his ones on immigration, stand behind him and say that Trump was “using the new ruling the Supreme Court issued to expand the definitions of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship.” But that is not what the ruling did by any stretch of the imagination. The ruling struck them down. Miller reframed the defeat as their authorization to try again.

Trump then told reporters that “hundreds of thousands” of people were exploiting birthright citizenship, even claiming that one man had his children born here to acquire US citizenship and that he “said he had 56 children” and another claimed he had 98. There is no evidence for any of this. His own Solicitor General, John Sauer, was asked during oral arguments at the Supreme Court how many people take advantage of birth tourism, and he could not provide a number. Now Trump appears to have invented these radical figures, and he said them with complete confidence.

Stephen Miller also added that this amendment “was done right after the Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves.” Miller continued that it “was passed exclusively in the aftermath of the Civil War so as to ensure that the children of slaves would be citizens. It had no other meaning and purpose outside of that.”

He said this with confidence too. But the reality is that the 14th Amendment was written in broad language on purpose. The men who drafted it rejected narrower versions, and the Supreme Court confirmed this five weeks ago. The idea that a constitutional amendment adopted to expand who counts as an American should now be used to shrink that definition is legally and morally wrong.

And we can’t forget about the “Trump Gold Card” program, which allows any foreign national with a million dollars to buy their residency in the United States with expedited processing. Because what Trump was really saying is that he only wants the “right” immigrants to come here. He only wants his favorite “type” of babies born into citizenship here. The constitutional promise that you belong here, because you were born here is a “disgrace” and a “scam.” But if you are wealthy enough, you can purchase your way in. That is the America Donald Trump and his enablers want.

The ACLU, whose attorneys won the case at the Supreme Court, responded within hours. Cody Wofsy, the lead counsel in Trump v. Barbara, said any new attempt to “rewrite” birthright citizenship “will meet the same fate as the last one.” We have to believe that he is most certainly right. These new executive orders will be challenged, and they will likely be blocked. But that is not the point for Trump. He didn’t do this because of any strong calling or care for our country. This was another gesture of his to show his loyal followers that no court, constitution, or precedent will stop him from doing what he wants. The law is simply an obstacle to outmaneuver for Donald Trump.

That wasn’t the only moment the President showed unearned defiance. When a reporter asked whether the Department of Justice should prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump did not hesitate. He went on a long and convoluted story about how Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, both of whom were convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing lawful subpoenas, were “two very decent people.” He said they were prosecuted “over something that essentially was never prosecuted before.” Then he turned his attention back to Fauci: “What he did is far more serious than a lot of crimes, frankly. But they prosecuted two people when nothing like that has ever taken place before.”

He is trying to convince us that the two men who refused to comply with Congress were treated unfairly, and therefore, a scientist and medical doctor should be prosecuted because Trump’s fan base has been trained to see him as the enemy.

Thank you to those of you who support this work with a paid membership. Your $5 a month is what allows me to keep writing every day and, just as importantly, to keep these posts free and accessible to everyone. Those who can pay are the reason those who can’t still have access. And right now, with so much at stake heading into the midterms, that matters more than ever. If you’re in a position to join, I’d be grateful to have you with us.Subscribed

What Trump is doing is what so many authoritarian regimes of the last century have done before. Scientists were often among the first to be targeted. In the Soviet Union, geneticists who contradicted state ideology were imprisoned or executed under Lysenko’s reign. In Nazi Germany, Jewish scientists were stripped of their positions, driven from their universities and forced into exile, while those who remained under Nazi rule faced persecution and, for many, eventually murder. The pattern is always the same. You do not silence scientists because they are dangerous; you silence them because they represent an authority that does not come from the leader. It comes from evidence, and evidence cannot be bullied, threatened, or ordered to tell a dictator only what he wants to hear. That is intolerable to men like Donald Trump because truth places limits on what they can convince people to believe, and they don’t want any limits to what they can say.

Earlier that morning, hours before the signing, Trump himself proved why he doesn’t want any limits on what he says when he posted this on Truth Social: “The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types.” He went on to say that “the ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!” He was responding to reporting, including from the Washington Post, that American weapons stockpiles were being strained by the Iran conflict. He called that reporting “treasonous,” a crime punishable with the death penalty.

Yet hours later at the signing, a reporter asked about munitions. And Trump said, “We have certain types of munitions that are very powerful that we have unlimited, virtually unlimited supply. We have others where it’s a little bit tighter.”

He acknowledged the same shortage he denied existed earlier when he threatened jail time for the “leakers” of these statements. He did not even seem to realize he had contradicted himself.

What happened today in the Oval Office, arguably one of the most powerful places on the planet, might make us want to shake our heads and ignore this clearly empty man. But this moment goes beyond that kind of response. It is overwhelmingly exhausting. And I’m sure many of us watching or reading about what he has done just want to check out. To walk away from his chaos and visible decline and just wait it out. It’s something I struggle with too. I think about the years we have lost and continue to lose, pushing back and carrying the weight of what could happen to our country if he keeps going and keeps destroying it. I think about why we do this. Why we go through everything he says and does. Why we fact-check someone who has never cared about facts or the truth.

This is why. First, because it is our job to bear witness, document, and make sure as many people know what is happening to energize them to vote. Plus, paying attention gives us a head start on what is coming, and it tells us where to put our energy.

Second, we do this because it reminds us that we are not alone. That there are others like us who see what is happening and who are refusing to bow down to a pseudo-king. It’s important to know that we are not losing our minds, that it really is as bad as we know it is.

And third, because knowledge is power, even when it is a painful load to carry. We have to know that we did everything we could to rid our country of this rot, so future generations don’t have to live through the days we are living through. Because no matter what happens, we can say we did not look away, and we did not stay silent.

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 6, 2026 [Voting Rights, Then and Now], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 7, 2026. Sixty-one years ago, on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. The need for the law was explained in its full title: “An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, and for other purposes.”

In the wake of the Civil War, Americans tried to create a new nation in which the law treated Black men and white men as equals. In 1865 they ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing enslavement except as punishment for crimes. In 1868 they adjusted the Constitution again, guaranteeing that anyone born or naturalized in the United States—except certain Indigenous Americans—was a citizen, opening up suffrage to Black men. In 1870, after Georgia legislators expelled their newly seated Black colleagues, Americans defended the right of Black men to vote by adding that right to the Constitution.

All three of those amendments—the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth—gave Congress the power to enforce them. In 1870, Congress established the Department of Justice to do just that. Reactionary white southerners had been using state laws, and the unwillingness of state judges and juries to protect Black Americans from white gangs and cheating employers, to keep Black people subservient. White men organized as the Ku Klux Klan to terrorize Black men and to keep them and their white allies from voting to change that system. In 1870 the federal government stepped in to protect Black rights and prosecute members of the Ku Klux Klan.

With federal power now behind the Constitutional protection of equality, threatening jail for those who violated the law, white opponents of Black voting changed their argument against it.

In 1871 they began to say that they had no problem with Black men voting on racial grounds; their objection to Black voting was that Black men, just out of enslavement, were poor and uneducated. They were voting for lawmakers who promised them public services, like roads and schools, that could only be paid for with tax levies.

The idea that Black voters were socialists—they actually used that term in 1871—meant that white northerners who had fought to replace the hierarchical society of the Old South with a society based on equality began to change their tune. They looked the other way as white men kept Black men from voting, first with terrorism and then with grandfather clauses that cut out Black men without mentioning race by permitting a man to vote if his grandfather had voted, literacy tests in which white registrars got to decide who passed, poll taxes, and so on. States also cut up districts unevenly to favor the Democrats, who ran an all-white, segregationist party. By 1880 the South was solidly Democratic, and it would remain so until 1964.

Southern states always held elections. It was just foreordained that Democrats would win them.

Black Americans never accepted this state of affairs, but their opposition did not gain powerful national traction until after World War II.

During that war, Americans from all walks of life had turned out to defeat fascism, a government system based on the idea that some people are better than others. Americans defended democracy and, for all that Black Americans fought in segregated units, and that race riots broke out in cities across the country during the war years, and that the government interned Japanese Americans, lawmakers began to recognize that the nation could not effectively define itself as a democracy if Black and Brown people lived in substandard housing, received substandard educations, could not advance from menial jobs, and could not vote to change any of those circumstances.

Meanwhile, Black Americans and people of color who had fought for the nation overseas brought home their determination to be treated equally, especially as the financial collapse of European nations loosened their grip on their former African and Asian colonies and launched new nations.

Those interested in advancing Black rights turned, once again, to the federal government to overrule discriminatory state laws. Spurred by lawyers Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley, judges used the due process clause and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to argue that the protections in the Bill of Rights applied to the states, that is, the states could not deprive any American of equality. In 1954 the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Republican former governor of California, used this doctrine when it handed down the Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregated schools unconstitutional.

White reactionaries responded with violence, but Black Americans continued to stand up for their rights. In 1957 and 1960, under pressure from Republican president Dwight Eisenhower, Congress passed civil rights acts designed to empower the federal government to enforce the laws protecting Black voting.

In 1961 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) began intensive efforts to register voters and to organize communities to support political change. Because only 6.7% of Black Mississippians were registered, Mississippi became a focal point, and in the “Freedom Summer” of 1964, organized under Bob Moses, volunteers set out to register voters. On June 21, Ku Klux Klan members, at least one of whom was a law enforcement officer, murdered organizers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner near Philadelphia, Mississippi, and, when discovered, laughed at the idea they would be punished for the murders.

That year, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which strengthened voting rights. When Black Americans still couldn’t register to vote, on March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama, marchers set out for Montgomery to demonstrate that they were being kept from registering. Law enforcement officers on horseback met them with clubs on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The officers beat the marchers, fracturing the skull of young John Lewis (who would go on to serve 17 terms in Congress).

On March 15, President Johnson called for Congress to pass legislation defending Americans’ right to vote. It did. And on this day in 1965, the Voting Rights Act became law. It became such a fundamental part of our legal system that Congress repeatedly reauthorized it, by large margins, as recently as 2006.

But in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts struck down the provision of the law requiring that states with histories of voter discrimination get approval from the Department of Justice before they changed their voting laws. Immediately, the legislatures of those states, now dominated by Republicans, began to pass measures to suppress voting by Democrats and, by extension, people of color. In the wake of the 2020 election, Republican-dominated states increased the rate of voter suppression, and on July 1, 2021, the Supreme Court permitted such suppression with the Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee decision.

On April 29 of this year, the Supreme Court continued the assault on the Voting Rights Act. In Louisiana v. Callais it rejected the longstanding interpretation that sometimes, in order to guarantee Black representation in government, states have had to create districts that are made up primarily of Black Americans. By a vote of 6–3, with the right-wing justices in the majority, the Supreme Court in April declared Louisiana’s construction of a majority-minority district unconstitutional under the Fifteenth Amendment. It was, they said, an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

A 2024 study by the Brennan Center of nearly a billion vote records over 14 years showed that the racial voting gap is growing almost twice as fast in places that used to be covered by the preclearance requirement. Another recent study showed that in Alabama, the gap between white and Black voter turnout in the 2024 election was the highest since at least 2008. If nonwhite voters in Alabama had voted at the same rate as white voters, more than 200,000 additional ballots would have been cast.

In 1957, when he was Senate majority leader, Lyndon Johnson called for the protection of Black voting, saying: “This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies.”

Upon signing the Voting Rights Act in 1965, he said to the American people: “I pledge you that we will not delay, or we will not hesitate, or we will not turn aside until Americans of every race and color and origin in this country have the same right as all others to share in the process of democracy.”

Trump on impeachment charges and remove him from office following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.

New York Times, Prosecutor Sues Justice Dept. Over Dismissal After Right-Wing Influencer’s Claim, Alan Feuer, Aug. 7, 2026. Will Rosenzweig joins a growing list of former prosecutors and federal agents who have gone to court to contest the purge of law enforcement deemed disloyal.

One day last September, a right-wing influencer named Natalie Winters posted what she billed as an “EXCLUSIVE” on social media: A federal prosecutor in Miami overseeing a fraud case against “MAGA patriots” had once written a blog with comments critical of President Trump.

Ms. Winters, who has hundreds of thousands of followers, addressed her message to the accounts of senior officials at the Justice Department. Her demands for the prosecutor, Will Rosenzweig, could not have been clearer: “Fire him,” her message said.

Less than three hours later, the department did exactly that. Mr. Rosenzweig, who during his career had consistently earned praise for his work, received an emailed letter signed by Pam Bondi, then the attorney general, dismissing him from his position at the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, effective immediately. No reason was provided.

On Friday, Mr. Rosenzweig sued the Justice Department along with Todd Blanche, who now runs the department, and Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, asking for financial damages and his job back. In doing so, he joined a growing list of former prosecutors and federal agents who have gone to court in an effort to fight back against the widespread purge of law enforcement officials deemed to be disloyal to the president.

During Mr. Trump’s second term, agents and prosecutors have been fired for any number of reasons. Some were seasoned veterans who lost their jobs while trying to protect subordinates from being dismissed. Others were accused, sometimes incorrectly, of having worked on criminal cases involving the president. Many worked on cases stemming from the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Rosenzweig’s firing was one of several that shared a different twist: right-wing commentators claimed to be behind them. On the morning after he was terminated, Ms. Winters reposted a message from another far-right influencer, Laura Loomer, announcing the news. Ms. Winters’s message, punctuated by a smiley-face emoji, declared: “Got this guy fired.”

Many of Ms. Winters’s posts have since been deleted, but lawyers for Mr. Rosenzweig included screenshots of them in their lawsuit. In the posts, she said that Mr. Rosenzweig had “smeared” Mr. Trump in his writings by calling him “mentally unfit” and a “white supremacist.”

Neither the Justice Department nor Ms. Winters immediately responded to messages seeking comment.

Ms. Loomer, in particular, has used social media to target several administration officials whom she has accused of disloyalty to Mr. Trump. By her own account, she played a central role in Maurene Comey, a daughter of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, losing her job as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan last summer. After Ms. Comey’s termination, Ms. Loomer celebrated online, taking credit for a “pressure campaign.”

Another seasoned prosecutor, Michael P. Ben’Ary, lost his job in October after an online influencer accused him of being “part of the internal resistance” in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia to charging Mr. Comey with the first indictment brought against him.

In a farewell letter to colleagues posted on the door of his office, Mr. Ben’Ary, who spent much of his career working on international terrorism cases, expressed concern that important personnel decisions were apparently being made in response to online posts.

“Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice sees in their social media feed that day,” he wrote.

It remains unclear why Ms. Winters referred to the defendants in the fraud case that Mr. Rosenzweig was overseeing as “MAGA patriots.” The three men — Marcelo Kochen, Michael Kochen and Sandro Herek — do not appear to have any obvious public connection to Mr. Trump. They were charged with cheating Medicare out of millions of dollars in false and fraudulent claims.

Michael Kochen and Mr. Herek were convicted and sentenced to prison last week. Marcelo Kochen had his case severed from the others and has not yet gone to trial.

In their lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, lawyers for Mr. Rosenzweig raised questions about how Ms. Winters had known that their client was working on the fraud case to begin with and was able to connect him to blog posts critical of Mr. Trump that had been written years earlier.

At the time Ms. Winters demanded that Mr. Rosenzweig be fired, the lawyers wrote, the Justice Department had never issued a news release about the case and the proceedings had received almost no attention in the news media.

Moreover, the lawyers wrote, Mr. Rosenzweig’s blog had been dormant at that point for nearly seven years, with no recent posts. And they were written before he had even applied to join the Justice Department.

“The primary source from which a member of the public might have learned about the case would have been through one of the parties,” the lawyers added.

Mr. Rosenzweig’s sudden dismissal came on the eve of the fraud case going to trial and threw his office into a “tailspin,” according to the lawyers. As the office scrambled to find a replacement for him, the government asked the judge overseeing the case to delay the trial. The defendants, who only one week earlier had also asked for a delay, abruptly changed course and insisted that the trial begin on schedule, seeking a tactical advantage.

Mr. Rosenzweig was observing Rosh Hashana on the day he was fired and did not see the email ordering his dismissal until nearly 8 p.m. He ultimately spoke with one of his supervisors who told him that Mr. Reding Quiñones had discussed his firing with officials in the office of the deputy attorney general, then led by Mr. Blanche, according to the suit.

The supervisor said it was after that conversation that the news about the dismissal “spread to Twitter,” the suit maintained. Mr. Rosenzweig’s lawyers acknowledged that they do not know whether the Justice Department received information about their client’s blog posts before Ms. Winters did or what effect the purported conversation between Mr. Reding Quiñones and Mr. Blanche’s office had on Ms. Bondi’s decision to fire Mr. Rosenzweig.

Regardless, Mr. Rosenzweig’s online writings criticizing Mr. Trump were “textbook examples” of speech protected by the First Amendment, his lawyers wrote.

“Mr. Rosenzweig published the blog posts as a private citizen, before he joined D.O.J., and his commentary addressed matters of public concern,” they added. “He did not make them pursuant to any official duty. Defendants terminated him because of that protected speech, or because of the political affiliation and beliefs they perceived from it.”

More U.S. Immigration Enforcement, Civil Rights

The Michael Fanone Show, Commentary: I Just Watched a MAGA Vigilante Pretend to Be ICE, Michael Fanone, Aug. 7, 2026. An armed Florida man rode a bicycle through an apartment complex hunting for “illegal Mexicans” — convinced an online security course made him a cop. The bodycam is something else.

In the age of MAGA and Trump, there’s been a rise in a very specific type of asshole — the man who believes that owning a gun, watching too much right-wing television, and taking an online security course makes him a law-enforcement officer.

The guy in the video I just watched was exactly that type. And he wasn’t pretending to be a mall cop or a security guard. He was pretending to be ICE — all while looking like some poor excuse for Batman on a fucking bicycle. By the end of the bodycam footage, the real police had to sit him down and explain that none of it was true.What happened

This went down at an apartment complex in Orange County, Florida. Deputies were called after witnesses reported that a man named Steven was riding around the property armed, claiming he was investigating undocumented immigrants.

When deputies approached, one of the first things they asked was whether he had a gun. His answer was yes. And then he immediately started lecturing the actual cops about Florida gun law.

Let that sink in. The deputy asks if he’s armed, and this guy responds by incorrectly explaining Florida gun law to a Florida sheriff’s deputy. That’s the first warning sign, and we’re barely twenty seconds in.

Then the deputy asks what he’s actually doing there, and Steven starts describing his personal immigration-enforcement operation.“It’s not illegal to be Mexican”

That is a sentence a trained law-enforcement officer had to say out loud to a 47-year-old armed man.

And notice — Steven isn’t describing evidence. He keeps saying “Mexican” as if that itself is the crime. He doesn’t know anyone’s immigration status. He doesn’t know whether anyone broke into anything. He sees Hispanic people in a heavily Hispanic community and decides he’s uncovered a conspiracy.

That isn’t police work. That’s racial profiling mixed with paranoia — and the firearm on his hip makes the whole thing exponentially more dangerous.

Then a witness tells deputies it went further than questions. According to that witness, Steven walked up to someone, claimed he was a police officer, flashed the gun under his jacket, and demanded access to an apartment so he could remove the “illegals.”

So the deputy asks the question that cuts right through the bullshit: Who employs you? What agency sent you? Where’s your jurisdiction? Who gave you the authority to enter apartments and detain people?

The answer to every one of those was nobody. He was riding a bicycle around a residential complex conducting an immigration raid that existed entirely inside his own head.SubscribedIt gets worse

Steven admits he saw an open apartment door and decided to approach it because he wanted to make sure there weren’t, in his words, “20 Mexicans” inside. Then he claims he could tell one man was a criminal just by looking at him.

“He looked like a criminal.” Based on what? His clothes? His skin? The fact that Steven decided he looked Mexican?

This is exactly why we have standards, training, probable cause, and constitutional limits on police authority. A badge doesn’t let a real cop invent crimes based on someone’s ethnicity. A security certificate sure as hell doesn’t let a random armed civilian do it.

But Steven thought he had authority — because he’d finished a course and submitted an application for a Class D security license. He was carrying the paperwork around like it was a federal credential. So the deputies asked him to show it.Where the fantasy collapses

A Class D license lets someone work as an unarmed security officer — when they’re actually employed by a licensed security company and assigned to a specific property. It doesn’t make you a cop. It doesn’t give you statewide jurisdiction. It doesn’t authorize immigration investigations. And it definitely doesn’t let you ride through random apartment complexes flashing a gun and ordering people to open their doors.

And here’s the kicker: the paperwork he was waving around only showed that the state had received an application. It wasn’t even proof he’d been licensed, let alone deputized as some kind of government patrol officer.

One deputy finally put it in terms even Steven might understand: “You can’t be driving around town, man, being like Batman.”

Exactly. You’re not Batman. You’re not ICE. You’re not Homeland Security. You’re not a sheriff’s deputy. You’re an armed civilian who decided that racism, paranoia, and an online course gave you the power to police your neighbors.

That deputy, by the way, deserves a raise. He stayed patient. He stayed calm. He explained the law without screaming, using examples the guy could actually follow: if you’re hired to work security at Disney, your authority exists at Disney. Off Disney property, it doesn’t mean jack squat. You don’t clock out and become the statewide Immigration Avengers. That’s not how any of this works.

The speech that mattered

Steven still wasn’t getting it. He kept insisting he wanted to help fight crime, patrol, stop illegal immigration. And that’s when the deputy delivered the most important thing in the entire bodycam:

Everything has a process. Florida lets us carry guns after the academy, field training, constant qualification, and ongoing legal education — because one bad decision with a firearm can destroy multiple lives. You can’t just do an online course and appoint yourself. Do this, and bad things are going to happen.

That’s the difference between a responsible cop and somebody playing cop. The deputy wasn’t protecting criminals. He was protecting everyone — the families in those apartments, his fellow deputies who’d have to respond if Steven pulled a gun on the wrong person, and Steven himself from making a life-ending mistake.

Owning a firearm doesn’t make you qualified to use one. Watching police videos on YouTube doesn’t make you a cop. Taking an online security class doesn’t prepare you to make a split-second decision about deadly force. Steven wanted all of the authority and none of the responsibility. That’s a terrifying combination.The arrest

Then the deputies went back over the witness statements — because this was never just a guy saying weird things. Witnesses said Steven identified himself as law enforcement while trying to get into an apartment to investigate undocumented immigrants. That’s when the conversation shifted from educating him to investigating whether he’d committed a crime.

Even in handcuffs, he didn’t get it. He kept asking, “Where’s your proof?” He kept insisting he’d done nothing wrong. He even called himself a cop.

And one deputy finally said the thing everyone watching was already thinking: “No. You’re a citizen.”

That’s it. There’s nothing wrong with being a citizen. But somewhere along the way, too many people started believing that enough cable news, enough Facebook posts, or one online course somehow deputized them to enforce immigration law themselves. It didn’t.Here’s what actually bothers me

Imagine you’re a Hispanic family living in that complex. An armed stranger rides up on a bicycle, flashes a gun, says he’s investigating immigration violations, and demands to come inside. You have no idea if he’s a real cop. You have no idea if he’s dangerous. You don’t know whether to comply, run, or defend yourself.

That is exactly how innocent people get hurt. And it’s exactly why impersonating law enforcement is taken so seriously — because the badge has to mean something. The public needs to know that when someone claims to be a police officer, they actually are one. Otherwise every criminal, extremist, and wannabe vigilante gets to invent authority for himself.

These deputies showed how professionalism is supposed to look. They stayed calm. They explained the law. They gave the guy every chance to understand it. And when the evidence showed he’d crossed into allegedly impersonating law enforcement, they arrested him. That’s how the system is supposed to work.

We don’t need self-appointed vigilantes riding bikes looking for people they’ve decided don’t belong. We need trained professionals who understand the Constitution, the law, and the enormous responsibility that comes with carrying both a badge and a gun.

The lesson here goes way beyond one bizarre arrest. The most dangerous people aren’t always the ones breaking the law on purpose. Sometimes they’re the ones who’ve convinced themselves they’re the heroes — while ignoring every limit the law places on them. And that’s exactly why those limits exist in the first place.

Americans Fighting Oligarchs, High Tech, Corruption

The Hartmann Report, Commentary, Who Is the "Third Way" and Why Are They Fighting Progressives Instead of Republicans? Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 7, 2026. Third Way's multimillion-dollar offensive threatens Medicare for All, labor rights, climate action, and the progressive movement driving the party's energy…

The Third Way has functionally declared their intention to purge the Democratic Party of progressives. They will not, in my opinion, get us the things progressive are working for and most Americans and the large majority of Democrats want:

— A national healthcare program that covers everybody— Free or affordable college— A clean environment and relief from climate wilding— Reasonable taxation for billionaires and corporations— Affordable housing and groceries— Widespread unionization and an increased minimum wage— An end to the brutality of ICE and the frantic construction of concentration camps.

These corporate Democrats just formally declared war on those candidates who eschew corporate money, and that has the potential to destroy our chances this fall. But to understand how this tear in the Democratic Party came about and why, a bit of history is vital:

In 1961, President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson had been pushing hard for expansion of the New Deal, with their centerpiece being a new program to provide healthcare for seniors that could eventually serve all Americans.

The program’s author, Robert Ball, was emphatic that his new “Medicare” program was designed so it could easily become a national healthcare system simply by reducing the eligibility age by a decade every year or two until everybody was covered.

This alarmed the crap out of Republicans and the insurance industry that backed them so much that actor Ronald Reagan — then working for General Electric doing a weekly GE Theater program beamed into millions of American homes nationwide — recorded a 33 RPM LP album called “A Time for Choosing” that argued that Medicare would cement the communist/socialist takeover of America.

My dad, a Republican activist, got a copy in the mail and I listened to it several times that year. I can still remember Reagan intoning with his so-smooth and authoritative radio announcer’s voice:

“One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. …

“Behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country until one day, as Norman Thomas said, we will awake to find that we have socialism.”

It was an all-out call-to-arms for Republicans to flood Congress with letters and calls opposing this new “socialist” program that the young Democratic president was advocating.

Reagan traveled over 250,000 miles across America that year, speaking to business groups from coast to coast, and his message was consistent with one of the last statements he made on that record:

“If you don’t do this and if I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”

Kennedy was assassinated before he could get the legislation passed, and, in the wake of that as the nation mourned, LBJ got both Medicare and Medicaid through Congress and into law.

Now convinced that America was on an irreversible path to tyranny, Republicans began looking for ways to finally, once and for all, destroy the Democratic Party that had so heartily embraced “socialism/communism.” Their target would be the single largest source of funding for Democratic candidates: labor unions, which had been legalized in 1935 by FDR.

That effort became real in 1981 when a newly elected President Reagan kneecapped PATCO, the air traffic controllers union, destroying it in a single week as he kicked off the Republican War on Labor™ that continues to this day.

Their explicit goal was to turn America into a single-party state with Democrats never again holding power in a meaningful way; this, the Brahmins of the Republican Party argued, would prevent the “creeping socialism” of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society from ever expanding any farther.

By 1985, Reagan’s Republican War on Labor™ had reduced union membership in the private sector from a high of 34.8% to a mere 14.6% of American workers. Democratic politicians were panicking, so a group of them got together and basically decided that there was merit to be found in the old cliché, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

That year they created the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), with its leadership made up of Al From (the principal founder), Bill Clinton, Sam Nunn, Chuck Robb, and Joe Lieberman.

They called the DLC strategy a “third way” to do politics; its program included:

— welfare “reform” to push people back to work— free trade (NAFTA)— deficit reduction by cutting social programs— financial deregulation for banks and real estate— support for globalization and shipping factories overseas— partnership with corporate America

That last part — the partnership with corporate America — became the cornerstone to Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign; by that time the unions had been so badly gutted that corporate money authorized by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 Bellotti decision became the key to funding his successful effort to become president. In the UK, Tony Blair was traveling down the same path.

Democratic politicians started choosing which industries to get into bed with. White collar industries were most favored, particularly banking, insurance, and pharma. The middle class was slipping away, but with the unions still largely dead there wasn’t a viable alternative to corporate support until the internet matured in the early 2000s.

Which came along during George W. Bush’s presidency, as social media grew and politicians took to the worldwide web in huge numbers.

Facing the possibility that Democrats might be able to fundraise directly from the public with this new internet thing, in 2005 a group of people including Jonathan Cowan, Matt Bennett, Jim Kessler, and Nancy Hale founded a new group associated with the Democratic Party called the Third Way.

Describing themselves as committed to “democratic capitalism,” they explicitly recommend Democratic politicians maintain relationships with wealthy donors, use capitalism as the framework for Democratic governance, create “partnerships” with business, and push “market-oriented solutions.”

And now they’re going to war with those Democrats who want to take the Party back to its FDR/LBJ New Deal/Great Society roots.

In an article titled “Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left,” The New York Times reports:

“‘We are preparing for the next war that is coming,’ said Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, a leading centrist Democratic group, revealing to The New York Times a new $15 million effort between now and 2028 to discredit democratic socialism.”

Third Way founder Cowen added, referencing Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan:

“It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states.”

The simple reality that Third Way understands is that on-the-take Republicans on the Supreme Court have — in 5-4 all-Republican-appointee decisions — legalized a corrupt oligarchic system where massive corporations, foreign governments, and morbidly rich individuals can essentially buy elections for their favored candidates.

What they miss is that most Americans — and a majority of Democrats (as we can see by recent progressive wins) — are absolutely sick of and disgusted by this system.

Instead of joining progressives in working to tear it down, they’re choosing to work to keep the corporate-owned Democrats in power and keep those unwilling to take PAC money out.

The majority (56%) of Americans and 77% of Democrats would like, for example, for the “socialist” Medicare program that Reagan warned us about to be available to all Americans.

But a recent Third Way memo, titled “Read This Before Supporting Medicare for All,” argues that Medicare for All has repeatedly failed politically, cites unsuccessful state-level efforts in Vermont, Colorado, California, and Oregon, and concludes that instead we should build on the corporate-run status quo:

“The Affordable Care Act is popular and provides a strong foundation on which to build.”

Democratic candidates have enough of a struggle against the hundreds of billionaire families who’ve thrown in with the GOP without their corporate-funded “allies” stirring up more controversy and dissension.

I’ve written before about how Greens and the Working Families Party have helped Republicans win elections; in this critical year when the future of American democracy is hanging by a thread, Democrats shouldn’t also have to be looking over their shoulders from Clinton’s Third Way wing of the party.

New York Times, Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million in New Mexico Child Safety Case, Eli Tan, Updated Aug. 7, 2026. The penalty, imposed by a state judge, is on top of a $375 million fine ordered by a jury that found Meta misled users about the safety of its platforms.

A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million and make changes to the way young people can use its platforms, the largest financial penalty yet against the tech giant in its ongoing legal battles over social media harm and addiction.

The ruling, issued late Thursday, was in addition to $375 million that Meta was ordered to pay in the same case in March, when a jury found that the company misled users about the safety of its platforms and enabled the sexual exploitation of young people.

The $567 million will go toward a fund to remedy damages caused by the company, including money for treatment of young people who have been harmed by social media.

“Although Meta is not alone in this regard, its social media platforms are a significant contributing factor to the current mental health crisis among New Mexico’s youth established by the substantial evidence in this case,” Judge Bryan Biedscheid, of State District Court in Santa Fe, wrote in the ruling.

Andy Stone, a Meta spokesman, said in a statement that the company disagreed with the ruling and planned to appeal.

“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content,” he said. “We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”

As part of the changes ordered in the judge’s ruling, Meta is prohibited in New Mexico from sending push notifications to the accounts of underage users on Instagram and Facebook between the hours of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. It also must limit the amount of time those users spend on its platforms to no more than 90 hours a month.

Meta is facing thousands of lawsuits across the country filed by teenagers, school districts and attorneys general claiming that its platforms, and features like infinite scroll, caused widespread harm. New Mexico was the first of dozens of states to take on the tech giant in court, and the company heads to a trial later this month in Oakland, Calif., to take on a case filed by attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey.

“For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” said the state attorney general, Raúl Torrez. “Today, Meta is paying for that choice.”

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: Lying Liars Lie to Each Other Too, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 7, 2026. A bad-faith government is also an incompetent government.

There is no longer a presumption of regularity

Lately Donald Trump has been raging against several of his own appointees. He has publicly raged against his attorney general Jeannine Pirro, for admitting that the failure of the Reflecting Pool was due to shoddy work by Trump’s chosen contractors, and for dropping charges against David Hearn and supposed saboteurs. He has raged at RFK Jr. for not making a stronger case for the false link between vaccines and autism. And according to the Washington Post, Trump has privately raged at Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, for misleading him about the state of U.S. munitions, which have been critically depleted by his failed war on Iran.

These may sound like unrelated stories, linked only by the fact they all involve presidential tantrums. In a larger sense, however, they are part of the same story — what happens when a government operates entirely in bad faith, never telling the truth about what it is doing or why. Inevitably, officials in such a government don’t merely lie to the public: they lie to each other too. As a result, they can’t govern effectively, even in the pursuit of evil.

Legal scholars have a term of art, the “presumption of regularity,” which means that one assumes that the government is generally honest when undertaking legal proceedings.

Thus, if the Department of Justice brings charges against an individual, the historical presumption has been that there must be a good basis for those charges. In other words, that they aren’t simply a vindictive prosecution of one of Trump’s perceived enemies. When DOJ succeeds in securing an indictment from a grand jury, the historical presumption has been that government lawyers secured that indictment honestly, presenting the grand jury with complete and accurate information.

Under Trump II, this presumption is no longer reasonable — and the courts have begun to acknowledge this reality. In a number of recent cases judges have demanded information about what the government told a grand jury or dismissed charges because the government was clearly engaged in vindictive prosecution. At this point the Trump administration’s word is worth nothing, or less than nothing.

The same is true on broader policy issues. After most of its initial tariffs were ruled illegal, the administration reimposed them by claiming that more than 60 nations are engaged in “unfair trade practices” because they aren’t doing enough to block “the importation of goods produced with forced labor.” It’s safe to say that literally nobody believes this rationale, or for that matter believes that the Trump administration has any objection to slave labor. It’s all being done in sneeringly bad faith.

Domestically, the administration is denying food stamps to millions of poor Americans, many of them children. The alleged rationale is that this is a crackdown on fraud. Yet the real rationale is that this administration doesn’t want to help anyone afford to put food on the table, whether or not they’re legally entitled to aid. Similarly, the administration has denied FEMA aid to blue states, not because the claims are fraudulent, but to punish blue states for being blue.

So this is an administration of lying liars. But we knew that. The new information is how much this administration lies to itself, and the disasters this creates.

Trump’s war on Iran has been an epic disaster on many fronts. One of the most damning is the fact that the U.S. military has squandered a huge share of its precision munitions, drastically undermining national security in a matter of months. One obvious question is why Trump didn’t move much sooner to conserve interceptor missiles etc., either by calling off the whole war or at least by calling off actions that used up already depleted stockpiles of weapons like ATACMs.

Most attempts to answer that question focus on deranged Trump syndrome — his pathological inability to admit failure, which has led him to double down even as he runs out of ammunition. But it now appears that a contributing factor may be that he didn’t know how bad things were, because Hegseth lied to him, telling him that the munitions problem had been “fixed.” Hegseth, you won’t be surprised to learn, blames his own deputy, Stephen Feinberg. And to be fair, it’s quite possible that Hegseth’s staff were misleading him even as he misled Trump. Last week, in a post about the Putinization of the U.S. military, I cited a Telegraph article about a “culture of silence” at the Pentagon, in which nobody wants to tell Hegseth things he doesn’t want to hear.

It’s liars all the way down. The fact is that it isn’t possible for an administration to be completely dishonest with the courts and the general public while being honest with itself. Do you believe that when Trump boasts about $18 trillion in foreign investment, Kevin Hassett, the administration’s top economist, quietly tells him, “Just between you and me, Mr. President, that number comes out of nowhere, and even the investment promises we have received are vaporware”?

Of course not. This is an administration in which to serve is to abase yourself constantly, rendering fealty to Dear Leader, lying to your colleagues and lying to the American people. And if this administration doesn’t like the official government reports that are detailing the many disasters it has caused, it just quashes them .

So the Iran War is just the most visible of many ongoing, self-inflicted disasters perpetrated by this administration. Furthermore, Americans should be prepared for more chaos and mendacity, because we are governed by people who, just like Trump, are unwilling to acknowledge the truth. Unfortunately, things can get worse – and they probably will.

Some of the world's richest and most politically powerful oligarchs-- including Mark Zuckerberg of META, towards the left, Amazon's Jeff Bezos at center and Space X leader Elon Musk towards the right -- celebrated Donald Trump's 2025 Presidential inauguration in the company of Trump's prospective enablers who would help enable the oligarchs government contracts, political power and related money-making with minimal regulation or other obstacles, including future Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert Reich via Substack, Opinion: The Enshittification of Everything (Part 2), Robert Reich, right, Aug. 7, 2026. And how to disempower the oligarchy.

This is a continuation of the discussion I began last Friday.The Incredible Shrinking American Middle Class

A half-century ago, America had the largest middle class in the history of the nation and of the world.

Then, those on the “left” wanted stronger social safety nets and more public investment in schools, roads, and research. Those on the “right” sought greater reliance on the “free market.”

But as power and wealth have moved to the top in America (and, to a lesser degree, in other “rich” nations, almost everyone else — whether on the old right or the old left — has become disempowered and less secure.

America’s huge middle class has become a small shadow of what it once was. The bottom 90 percent are struggling to make ends meet. The richest 10 percent account for a large and growing portion of all consumption. The top one-tenth of one percent holds an increasing portion of all wealth.

Today the great divide is not between left and right. It’s between democracy and oligarchy.

The word “oligarchy” comes from the Greek word oligarkhes, meaning “few to rule or command.” It refers to a government of and by a handful of exceedingly rich people who control the major institutions of society and therefore have most power over other people’s lives.

Oligarchs may try to hide their power behind those institutions, or try to justify their power with platitudes about the public good, or try to excuse their power through philanthropy and “corporate social responsibility.” But no one should be fooled. Oligarchs wield power for their own benefit.

Even a system that calls itself a democracy can become an oligarchy if power becomes concentrated in the hands of a corporate and financial elite. Their power and wealth increase over time — as they make laws that favor themselves, manipulate financial markets to their advantage, and create or exploit economic monopolies that put even more wealth into their pockets.

Modern-day Russia is an oligarchy. A handful of billionaires there control most major industries and dominate politics and the economy.

What about the United States?

America has experienced oligarchy three times in its brief history.

The first was at the nation’s start. Many of the men who founded the United States were slaveholding white oligarchs. America didn’t have much of a middle class. Most white people were farmers, indentured servants, farmhands, traders, day laborers, and artisans. A fifth of the population was Black, almost all enslaved.

A century later, a second oligarchy emerged, the robber barons. They were men who amassed fortunes through their railroad, steel, oil, and financial empires — men such as J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Andrew Mellon. They ushered the nation into an industrial revolution that vastly expanded economic output.

They also corrupted government, brutally suppressed wages, generated unprecedented levels of inequality and urban poverty, pillaged rivals, shut down competitors, and made out like bandits — which is why they earned the sobriquet “robber barons.”

World War I and the Great Depression of the 1930s eroded most of these robber barons’ wealth. And most of their power was eliminated after the elections of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

For the next half-century the gains from growth were more widely shared, and democracy became more responsive to the needs and aspirations of average Americans.

Although America created the largest middle class the world had ever seen, there was still much to do — civil rights and voting rights for Black Americans, wider economic opportunities for them and for women and Latinos, protection of the environment. Yet by almost every measure the nation was making progress.

A third American oligarchy emerged starting around 1980. Since then, the share of the nation’s wealth owned by the richest 400 Americans has quadrupled (from 0.8 percent to 3.7 percent).

The richest 130,000 Americans and their immediate families now own as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent — 117 million — combined. The three richest Americans own as much as the entire bottom half of the population.

The only other country with similarly high levels of wealth concentration is Russia.

All this has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the political power of the super-wealthy and an equally dramatic decline in the political influence of everyone else.

Unlike income or wealth, power is a zero-sum game. The more of it at the top, the less of it anywhere else.

The average American now has little or no effect on public policy. Giant corporations, their CEOs, and a handful of extremely rich people have more influence than any comparable group since the robber barons.

Big Money in Politics

The power shift that’s occurred in America since around 1980 is directly related to a tsunami of big money into politics.

In the 2024 election, just 300 billionaires (and their immediate family members) donated more than $3 billion to candidates — almost 20 percent of all contributions to federal elections in 2024, either directly or through political action committees.

Billionaire families gave an average total of $10 million each in 2024, roughly equal to what 100,000 typical political donors gave, combined. One of them — Elon Musk — devoted a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump’s reelection. (This doesn’t count money that billionaires contributed through dark money groups that do not have to disclose their donors.)

Five presidential elections ago, adjusting for inflation, the share of billionaire spending on elections was almost zero — 0.3 percent, to be precise. That was before the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that lifted many remaining campaign finance restrictions.

Corporate lobbying has also soared. The voices of average people have been drowned out.

Meanwhile, and largely because of this vast power shift, taxes on the wealthy and on corporations have been slashed. Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill of July 2025 cut taxes for the richest 10 percent of Americans by more than $14,700 per year, per household, and cut taxes for the richest 1 percent of Americans by more than $50,000 per year.

Meanwhile, safety nets for the poor and middle class have unraveled. About 3 million fewer Americans have access to Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage than they did before the second Trump regime, due to higher premium costs. Approximately 4.5 to 5 million fewer Americans receive food stamps. Public investments in education and infrastructure have also waned.

The “free market” has been taken over by crony capitalism, corporate bailouts, and corporate welfare.

The American oligarchy is back, with a vengeance.

Not all wealthy people are culpable, of course. I am not advocating class warfare, although America’s latest oligarchy has waged it against everyone else.

The abuse has occurred at the nexus of wealth and power, where those with great wealth use it to gain power and then utilize that power to accumulate more wealth. This is how oligarchy destroys democracy.

As oligarchs fill the coffers of political candidates and deploy platoons of lobbyists and public relations flaks, they buy off democracy. Oligarchs know that politicians won’t bite the hands that feed them.
As long as the oligarchy is in control of America, there will be no meaningful response to the failure of most people’s paychecks to rise, nor to climate change, nor to the emerging dangers of Artificial Intelligence, nor racism, nor the soaring costs of health insurance, college, childcare, and housing.
These would require resources from the oligarchs or their corporations, which they don’t want to provide. As long as they control the purse strings, the oligarchs are unwilling to bear tax increases. They want their taxes to continue to drop.
As long as the oligarchy is in control, there will be no antitrust enforcement to puncture the power of their giant corporations. Instead, their corporations will continue to grow larger, raise prices for consumers, and become more politically powerful.
As long as the oligarchy is in control, there will be no meaningful constraint on Wall Street’s dangerous gambling addiction. The gambling will grow.
As long as the oligarchy is in control, there will be no limits to CEO pay, and Wall Street hedge fund and private equity managers will rake in billions more.
As long as the oligarchy is in control, government will dole out even more subsidies, bailouts, and loan guarantees to big corporations, and it will continue to eliminate protections for consumers, workers, and the environment.

The propagandists and demagogues behind the oligarchy (Donald Trump included) are pouring salt into some of the nation’s oldest wounds. They’re stoking racial resentments, describing human beings as illegal aliens, fueling hatred of immigrants, and spreading fears of communists and socialists.

This strategy gives the oligarchy freer rein: It distracts Americans from how the oligarchy is looting the nation, buying off politicians, and silencing critics.

The only way to disempower the oligarchy is for the rest of us to join together and take power back. This will require a multiracial, multiethnic coalition of working-class, poor and middle-class Americans fighting for democracy and fighting against concentrated wealth, power, and privilege.

We must get big money out of politics. End corporate welfare and crony capitalism. Bust up monopolies. Stop voter suppression. And strengthen the countervailing powers of labor unions, employee-owned corporations, worker cooperatives, state and local banks, and grass-roots politics.

This agenda is neither “right” nor “left.” It is the bedrock for everything else America must do.

More On Iran and Ukraine Wars

New York Times Magazine, Iran and Ukraine Aren’t Just Wars About Energy. They’re Wars Targeting Energy, David Wallace-Wells, Aug. 7, 2026. Until recently, attacking civilian energy infrastructure was unacceptable. The dynamics of modern war have changed that.

When, last month, President Trump threatened to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant, tit for tat, any time a missile or drone attacked an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, he was promising what would have looked, not very long ago, like an unconscionable act of military retribution: attacking energy infrastructure to impose pain on civilians.

They used to call this kind of thing a war crime. But somewhat suddenly, it has become a nearly universal feature of 21st-century conflict. Iran has been targeting energy infrastructure around the Persian Gulf since the very first day of fighting in February. Ukraine and Russia have been striking each other’s oil refineries and power grids for several years now. In Gaza, Israel has destroyed much of the electricity distribution network, periodically blocked the arrival of fuel and struck nearly every hospital and medical facility in the region. In Sudan, there have been drone attacks on power plants, substations and fuel depots from both sides in the ongoing civil war, plunging the country into blackouts and humanitarian crisis. In Yemen, the Houthis are firing on tankers in the Red Sea to restrict the flow of oil through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and are reportedly planning strikes against the largest oil production facility in Saudi Arabia, in a bid to pinch global markets ahead of the American midterm elections.

At West Point’s Modern War Institute, they are calling it the age of energy warfare. All around the world, civilian power supply — technically off-limits, according to international law, wherever that still applies — has become a “frontline target” in a new kind of conflict, four experts wrote in the report, published last month. Electricity plants, substations, transmission grids — military planners have always taken note of these systems, along with hospitals and water systems and other logistical features of civilian infrastructure. But for decades it has been rare for great powers to openly target energy supply, and often a kind of humanitarian outrage followed when anyone did, which meant that a broad expectation of civility prevailed. “Such sanctuary,” the authors of the West Point report wrote, “is over.” Energy infrastructure has become a much more common target, particularly as conflicts drag on in regions temptingly full of power plants and pipelines. “All of a sudden,” says Morgan Bazilian, an energy-systems scholar at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and an author of the report, “our distaste for anything outside of the rules of war doesn’t look all that strong.”

The change is partly technological, with drones and other autonomous weapons making it much easier to strike behind enemy lines, much harder to defend against such attacks and perhaps less pressing to consider whether they constitute violation of some high-minded norms. For decades, military analysts liked to talk about “fourth-generation warfare,” in which stronger national militaries found themselves engaging with nonstate actors — insurgents, terrorists, mercenaries and private contractors. But the battles of the war on terror now seem like relatively distant memories, and attacks on energy systems have emerged as one striking harbinger of what’s to come. We may be watching the arrival of a fifth generation, in which even superpowers act a bit more as insurgents do, in which the line between open fighting and economic conflict grows harder to discern and in which the prohibition against strikes on nonmilitary targets begins to look more like a relic of an earlier age.

Last Thursday, the United States dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on a family home on Iran’s Qeshm Island without any apparent military connection. That same week, Minnesota officials concluded that a cyberattack on municipal drinking-water systems was most likely the work of Iranian hackers.ImageFirefighters at the site of an oil reservoir in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, where a fire, according to local authorities, was caused by a Ukrainian drone attack.Credit...Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service/Associated Press

There are more wars than there used to be — worldwide, the number of conflicts has nearly doubled over the last 15 years. These wars are bloodier, too, with the annual death toll more than twice as high in the 2020s as it was in the 2010s and nearly five times as high as in the 2000s.

In the rich and relatively secure countries of the world, we were a bit slow to note the changes, persistent in the faith that war had grown rarer, more moral and more circumscribed. According to this logic, wars happened within an international legal order grounded in the Geneva Conventions and enforced by superpowers who liked to see themselves as moral actors on the world stage. Total war was a thing of the past, we may have told ourselves, with even relatively ugly battles now governed by relatively strict rules of engagement. And while brutal conflict may have persisted in places like Syria or Sudan, up in the unipolar north, we believed, we dispatched our fighter jets like gentlemen.

The invasion of Ukraine was an alarming break — not just the first true land war in Europe in a generation but one that quickly recast the shape of war for the generation to come. In the fall of 2022, Russia launched more than a thousand missile strikes against Ukrainian power plants and substations, autotransformers and the electric grid itself, according to Ukrainian officials; the W.H.O. had also tallied 700 strikes against hospitals and other health care facilities in the first nine months of the war.

Then came the drone revolution. In Ukraine, drones have remade the battlefield so thoroughly that the front is now effectively frozen, a next-generation form of trench warfare, with the frontline “kill zone” so clouded by drones that on average — according to the head of the C.I.A., at least — new Russian arrivals are killed within a half-hour. Robots and drones are now seizing territory on their own. Small drones target soldiers relieving themselves in outhouses and drive individuals out of homes into exposed air. Ukraine recruits gamers to be drone operators, “Ready Player One”-style, then manages campaigns in part by posting gamified performance metrics on public points-based leaderboards. Russia now has a similar program.

In certain ways, drones have made war more precise. But they have also helped widen the scope of conflict. The front may be effectively frozen, but Ukrainian drones are now frequently striking Russian energy targets that not very long ago seemed not simply too far to reach but beyond the pale as well. Between 2022 and 2024, Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure roughly doubled. Between 2024 and 2025, they doubled again. Early in the war, Ukraine was successfully targeting faraway Russian energy infrastructure perhaps a couple of times a month; for most of last year, it has averaged about 12 times each month. Drone pilots are now reportedly instructed by military planners to hit particular chimneys, identified as especially vulnerable nodes, to knock out production or distribution for longer.

Just in the past few months, Ukrainian drones and missiles have targeted Russian oil refineries, oil depots and oil export facilities. They’ve targeted Crimea’s electric grid and the Black Sea tanker fleet. Outside Moscow, Ukraine hit an oil refinery that supplies more than a third of the capital’s fuel supply, knocking operations offline through the end of the year. Early last month, it struck the country’s largest oil refinery — located in Siberia, 1,750 miles from Ukraine. A few weeks later, it hit one 1,500 miles from the front. The damage to these refineries, visible from space, lingers for months; many of those targeted over the last year are still struggling to restore even half of their previous production.

All told, these strikes have taken out between one-third and one-half of Russia’s entire oil refining capacity, some estimates suggest, and half the country is now dealing with fuel shortages and rationing. Within Russia, the result is what the defense analyst Michael Kofman has called a “genuine fuel crisis.” In Crimea, coupons for limited amounts of gas were selling out within minutes, only to be resold at significant markup. In June, all such sales were suspended — one of more than 50 regions in Russia where sales are being limited. Consumer prices grew five times as fast in June as they did in May, according to the Russian central bank, but energy prices aren’t the only way the new rules of war have hit home. Ukrainian drones have targeted civilian apartment complexes deep behind the front and are now routinely striking distribution centers of the Amazon-style retailer Wildberries.ImageAn oil storage facility hit by a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran on March 8.Credit...Vahid Salemi/Associated Press

In Ukraine and Russia, where pipelines and supply chains figured in earlier conflicts, energy warfare now looks like an endless volley of missiles and drones, some ending in spectacular midair interceptions and others in apocalyptic scenes of explosive fire and billowing Vantablack smoke.

In Iran, we are seeing something different — not just energy warfare but energy war, a conflict fought over and within energy markets, with military operations designed primarily to shape global prices and global supply of fuel. After Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in March, Dmitri Medvedev, the former president of Russia, compared the “Hormuz weapon” to a nuclear arsenal. But it works only if the price of gas becomes painful for American customers. The United States launched its war to destroy Iran’s nuclear program and degrade its military, but for months now the White House has been primarily focused on liberating all that fuel and bringing it to market.

In the very first days of the war, Iran targeted not just American regional military facilities but also oil refineries and gas fields, pipelines and export terminals, and especially the oil tankers idling in fear in the strait — not to mention hotels and malls and airports around the region. Now and again, Iran has also targeted desalination plants that provide up to 90 percent of drinking water to U.S. allies in the region. Iranian leadership appears to be in no hurry to negotiate an end to hostilities, preferring to press its strategic advantage and secure a perpetual claim on the strait and all global energy flows passing through it.

At first, the United States and Israel appeared more focused on traditional military targets, that first-day double-tap attack on the school in Minab aside. But in March, a strike on Tehran’s oil depots blanketed the city of 10 million in clouds of toxic airborne petrochemicals. And as the war drew on, the United States and Israel have struck oil depots and gas fields, electric grids and even individual power lines — in addition to imposing their own blockade of the strait to restrict Iranian exports. Lately, Iran has claimed that they’ve been targeting desalination plants, too.

This harm to ordinary people is one price of a long stalemate. The price of oil spiked with the first strikes and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but it never got as high — or as painful — as most experts feared. For stretches of the spring and summer, it wasn’t even clear whether the conflict was active or governed by cease-fire or the ambiguous “memorandum of understanding.” Energy flows would only partly and tentatively resume; prices would drift downward without ever returning to prewar levels. Diplomacy was conducted through leaks, often false, designed to push traders or reassure investors. In nearly six months, American missile stockpiles have been woefully diminished, American troops have been forced to evacuate from bases in the region, and American claims to hegemonic control over regional energy flows have been decimated. It’s a worse defeat than Vietnam, Foreign Policy has declared, and yet that defeat shows up much more clearly in energy markets than on the battlefield.

On July 29, a Central Command intelligence officer sent a message to military analysts, desperately soliciting ideas “for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran.” The next day, Trump pledged the harshest assault on Iran’s energy infrastructure since the war began, then backed off in the hope of re-establishing the prewar status quo of an open strait — which may require an acknowledgment that Iran is now in control of it. In February, the world’s premier military tried to launch a conventional display of air-power dominance. Iran responded with energy warfare. Energy warfare won.

New York Times, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan Sign Joint Defense Pact, Ben Hubbard, Aug. 7, 2026. The agreement treats an attack on any of the three countries as an attack on all. Saudi Arabia has recently faced drone and missile strikes that it has blamed on Iran’s allies in Yemen and Iraq.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a new pact on Friday committing to collective defense against attacks on any of the three nations, Saudi Arabia said, entering an agreement that could reshape the strategic layout of the Middle East.

“The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The pact, it said, “stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.”

A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the agreement had been signed, adding that it pledged mutual support only for defense and was not directed against any other country.

The idea for a pact bringing together Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan evolved this year as wars and instability across the Middle East led many countries to explore new ways to enhance their security without relying on the United States and other Western powers.

Fueling this thinking were the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran; new attacks on Saudi Arabia that it has blamed on Iran’s allies in Yemen and Iraq; concerns about Israel’s expanding military actions; and doubts about the reliability of the United States as a defense guarantor for its Middle Eastern partners.

The pact, dubbed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, was signed on Friday in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, right, and Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif.

While Egypt participated in early discussions about such a pact, it was not mentioned as a participant on Friday.

The text of the agreement was not immediately made public.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry’s statement said that in addition to a commitment to mutual defense, the agreement “further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three States.”

The Turkish official said that other regional countries could join the pact and that it did not cancel or replace any other diplomatic or security agreements to which the individual signatories were already parties.

The new agreement between the three powerful countries, whose combined territory extends into Europe and Asia, could shift the power balance in the Middle East.

Turkey has a large military and a growing defense industry, known for producing everything from artillery shells to advanced drones and selling them to a wide range of countries.

Pakistan, too, boasts a strong military and a nuclear arsenal. And Saudi Arabia’s huge oil reserves give it financial heft, alongside its long coasts on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

But each country also brings its own conflicts and security problems, which its partners may hesitate to get involved with.

Turkey, a NATO member, has long-running territorial disputes with Greece in the Aegean Sea as well as an increasingly acrimonious relationship with Israel.

Pakistan manages tensions with India, also a nuclear power, and instability in neighboring Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia sits across the Persian Gulf from Iran, which has launched missile and drone attacks on the kingdom in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli attacks. It must also deal with the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have launched attacks in the Red Sea in support of Iran, their key ally and supporter.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Candidate Field Set After Republicans Redrew Tennessee District Lines, Emily Cochrane, Aug. 7, 2026. Tennessee’s primary elections on Thursday came after Republican legislators carved up the state’s only majority-Black district in a bid to win all nine of the state’s House seats.

Tennessee voters on Thursday settled on their congressional candidates for the November midterms, the first batch of politicians to run after the state’s Republican legislators redrew district maps this year.

The new lines slice through Memphis, where most of the state’s Black voters live, in a bid to eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held seat. The map was approved in early May, shortly after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by making it much harder to draw district lines with race as a factor.

Here’s how the primary races turned out.

The redrawing of district lines included an effort to shore up the seat of Representative Andy Ogles, a firebrand conservative known for anti-Muslim rhetoric and unusual campaign finances.

But Mr. Ogles, who had secured President Trump’s endorsement, lost to Charlie Hatcher, a former Tennessee agriculture commissioner, in an upset in the Fifth Congressional District. Mr. Hatcher will face Mayor Chaz Molder of Columbia, Tenn., who won the Democratic primary.

Both Mr. Hatcher’s farm and Mr. Molder’s home were drawn just outside the district in May.

The district, which had included some of liberal Nashville and surrounding Davidson County, now stretches west to include part of Memphis. Without Democratic votes in Nashville, Mr. Molder has leaned on his family’s connections to western Tennessee for the much tougher run ahead.

But Mr. Hatcher is viewed as a tougher opponent in a general election than Mr. Ogles, given Mr. Ogles’s embattled reputation in the state and Mr. Hatcher’s support from more centrist, establishment Republicans.

Justin Pearson will run in a newly Republican district.

Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District, centered on the majority-Black city of Memphis, has long been represented by a Democrat, but Steve Cohen, the longtime occupant of the seat, opted not to seek re-election after Republicans carved up the city and drew a new district favoring their party.

State Representative Justin J. Pearson, who won national attention after he was briefly expelled from the legislature for protesting a lack of gun regulations in 2023, had already challenged Mr. Cohen when the district was solidly Democratic. Mr. Pearson decided he would still try his luck with the newly drawn lines. On Thursday, he defeated State Senator London Lamar, a Democrat backed by Mr. Cohen.

“I will always put you first,” he told a raucous crowd in Memphis.

He will face State Senator Brent Taylor, a Memphis Republican who has rankled many Democrats in the city with his conservative views and his defense of the Trump administration. Mr. Taylor is favored to flip the seat.

“The voters chose a fighter who will never back down and who represents the values of this redrawn district — one that already showed its colors by supporting President Trump by a decisive margin,” Mr. Taylor said in a statement.

There is no love lost between the two men from their time in their General Assembly. On Thursday, Mr. Pearson called Mr. Taylor a “spineless bootlicker,” while Mr. Taylor framed the race as “the fight against evil.”

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion:What Vote By Sen. Bill Cassidy?, William Kristol, right, Aug. 7, 2026. With Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) announcement early this morning that she will oppose Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general, it all comes down to the senior Republican senator from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy.

With Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) announcement early this morning that she will oppose Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general, it all comes down to the senior Republican senator from Louisiana, Bill Cassidy.

Cassidy could join Murkowski in opposition. They had, after all, met together with Blanche on Wednesday. This morning Murkowski cited “the politicization—even weaponization” of the Department of Justice that “accelerated” during this administration as her reason for opposing Blanche. Cassidy had already said prior to that meeting that he was “very concerned about the weaponization of the Justice Department” under Blanche. All Cassidy has to say now is that Blanche didn’t satisfy his concerns, as he didn’t satisfy Murkowski’s.

And Cassidy owes Trump nothing. After he voted to convict Trump in the February 2021 Senate impeachment trial, Cassidy was targeted by Trump, and was crushed in the Republican primary earlier this year by a Trump-backed challenger.

What’s more, at the beginning of Trump’s second term, after much public agonizing, Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, provided the decisive vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health of Human Services. He’d received several assurances from Kennedy about what Kennedy would do and wouldn’t do as secretary—assurances that Kennedy has subsequently broken. So you’d think Cassidy would have plenty of reason to resolve not to be fooled again.

But will he so resolve? Will he do the right thing? Or will he follow in the footsteps of his Republican colleague, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis?

Tillis was elected to the Senate in the same year as Cassidy, in 2014. A businessman who had entered politics a decade before and had become Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, he ran for the Senate that year with the backing of Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and the Chamber of Commerce. He was the establishment pick. And after he defeated a couple of Tea Party Republicans for the nomination, he seemed set to be a relatively centrist North Carolina senator.

Then came Trump. Tillis joined the vast majority of his colleagues in years of accommodation, appeasement, and acquiescence. In February 2021, he chose not to follow Cassidy or, for that matter, his fellow Republican senator from North Carolina, Richard Burr, in voting to convict Trump. But Burr wasn’t planning on running for re-election in 2022, while Tillis was focused on his bright political career ahead.

Nonetheless, by June 2025, his lack of true Trumpist zeal meant that he would face a likely primary challenge from the Trump wing of the party. So Tillis announced he wouldn’t run for re-election.

A couple of weeks ago, Tillis demanded as a condition of his support that Blanche meet with the Epstein survivors whom he’d shunned for eighteen months. Once Blanche’s behavior in that meeting turned out to be utterly disrespectful of the survivors, it would have been easy for Tillis to announce his opposition to Blanche, which would have killed the nomination.

But Tillis caved.

You might think that such a record of repeated capitulation to Trump would induce Tillis to slink off quietly into the sunset. But he didn’t even have the dignity for that. Instead, as the publishing house HarperCollins announced yesterday, he has written a book.

According to HarperCollins, How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents brings us Tillis “outspoken and uncensored.” The book is a “bare-knuckled, darkly funny wake-up call,” a “sharp, no-BS book, “ “a bracing tonic to stiffen spines.” Tillis “pulls no punches” about the “spineless Republican yes-men (and -women), and the weirdos of the MAGA world,” about “the grifting sycophants and useful idiots in Trump 2.0.”

As the kids used to say, gag me with a spoon.

Underscoring the absurdity of it all is the book jacket. It features as examples of the sycophants and idiots of Trump 2.0, photos of Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Pete Hegseth. Tillis voted to confirm all three to their Cabinet posts, along with every other Trump nominee.

Does Cassidy now look at Tillis—and the other pathetic, gag-inducing Respectable Republicans™—and find it just too much? Is it possible that this morning Bill Cassidy is saying to himself: Don’t be Thom Tillis? Or does he too decide that he can write a post-Senate memoir about fake courage without displaying actual courage when he could make a difference?

AROUND THE BULWARK

Amy Acton’s Prescription for Ohio: Bipartisanship… The Democratic candidate for governor explains why voters are exhausted by the rancor of politics—and shares her vision for renewal with JIM SWIFT in Cincinnati.

Trump’s Fabricated World Is Crashing…SAM STEIN and Kansas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee ADAM HAMILTON join TIM MILLER to discuss his sleeper race everyone is waking up to.

Did you miss Adrian Carrasquillo’s Reddit AMA? No worries, you can catch up on it here.

Did MAGA Infiltrate the Green Party in Michigan? ‘Welcome to the ballot, random internet stranger.’ Be sure to read BRENDAN HARTNETT and SAM STEIN in a special Press Pass.

Banks Knew About Jeffrey Epstein and Looked Away… SEN. RON WYDEN joins CATHERINE RAMPELL on Bulwark Takes to discuss his yearslong investigation into Epstein’s finances.

Quick Hits

BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, AGAIN: When it comes to throwing out constitutional amendments via executive order, Donald Trump has a simple philosophy: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Two months after the Supreme Court tore up his last attempt to restrict birthright citizenship as “facially unconstitutional,” Trump signed a pair of executive orders attempting to nibble around the edges of which infants born on U.S. soil automatically qualify as citizens. Here’s the New York Times:

And then there are children whose parents are tagged by the government as being part of known terrorist groups or who are “alien enemies.”

Given how tightly the summer’s ruling has tied the administration’s hands on this matter, most of yesterday’s signing ceremony was simply an occasion for grumping. Stephen Miller fumed that the 14th amendment had been passed “exclusively . . . to ensure that the children of slaves would be citizens,” and that it “had no other meaning and purpose outside of that.”¹ But there may be some policy levers left to the administration. For example, White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf suggested that they were considering guidance to deny visas to visitors who they suspect are entering the country for the purpose of delivering a child here.Subscribed

PRESIDENT CARLSON?: Could Tucker Carlson run for president? At the very least, he’s plainly trying to keep the possibility on people’s minds. The former Fox News broadcast star raised eyebrows this week after photos were released of him eating dinner at his Maine home with several exiled MAGA dissidents, including Rep. Thomas Massie, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and former administration official Joe Kent. “We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise,” Greene posted. “The movement has begun.”

Then, on Wednesday, Carlson released a 90-minute livestream containing what he described as a a ten-point program for “whatever comes next”—a program marrying typical MAGA and MAHA impulses (America should be “sovereign,” “beautiful,” “healthy,” and “united”) with populist attacks on the sort of open corruption and foreign adventurism Trump has embraced (one set of rules must apply to everyone, even presidents, and government officials should be punished for lying to citizens).

There was a lot more to it than that, some of which JVL, Andrew, and Will Sommer discussed on video yesterday. But we have a feeling we’re going to be hearing a lot more from Tucker in the days and weeks to come.

LOSING ALLIES: The list of Republicans calling on Rep. Max Miller to suspend his re-election campaign and resign from Congress continues to grow. Yesterday, two more senators joined the chorus: Jon Husted, who serves alongside Miller’s father-in-law Bernie Moreno as Ohio’s other senator, and Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy. Husted’s statement was more diplomatic—Miller, he said, ought to resign “to focus on what is in the best interest of his daughter”—while Sheehy’s was somewhat less so:

This guy is clearly a degenerate sociopath. Max should step aside and seek help. Staying in this race makes it far more likely we lose this seat and hand Democrats a majority to impeach President Trump.

It’s already too late for district Republicans to hold a special election to replace Miller as their nominee, but party leaders could still replace him in the ballot if he were to drop out before Monday. Miller continues to insist he’s being railroaded and doesn’t intend to drop out. But our old colleague Marc Caputo reports for Axios that not everybody is convinced he’ll stick with it: “Republicans privately expect that Miller will drop his re-election bid by the end of this week, according to two sources.”

More On U.S. Media, Religion

The Contrarian, Opinion: Undaunted in Kansas, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 7, 2026. A pastor defends real Christian values as the Democratic Senate nominee.

The latest legacy media “take” — that Democrats are moving far left — defies reality. The party has always (but increasingly in the Trump era) established itself as the broadest pro-democracy coalition since the New Deal. One need look no further than red states to see that the party has made strides to embrace religious, rural, and center-right voters.

In Kansas, for example, a senior Methodist pastor who heads a 24,000-member megachurch in deep-red Kansas won the Democratic Senate nomination on Tuesday. Rev. Adam Hamilton will face incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), a MAGA foot soldier who has rubber-stamped every unfit nominee, approved every unpopular Donald Trump policy, and parroted every right-wing talking point. Marshall remains the prohibitive favorite to win his re-election in a state that has not had a Democratic senator since FDR was president. That said, Cook Political Report has moved the race from “solid” to “likely” Republican.

Hamilton’s candidacy, regardless of its odds, reaffirms the diverse leanings of the party and serves as an important reaffirmation that no party has a lock on God. “A band of white Democratic pastors have a striking message ahead of November’s US midterm elections: Republicans have hijacked Jesus for political gain, and we’re not going to stand for it,” Barron’s reported last month. “[T]hese ministers are so fed up with President Donald Trump, and particularly his policies against immigrants, that they’re running as Democrats in November to rein him in.” Hamilton, together with Texas Senate nominee James Talarico, are among the most prominent of these religious leaders pushing back against MAGA’s obnoxious claim that Democrats aren’t real Christians.

“The Christians we’re hearing in Washington don’t reflect the Jesus of the Gospels,” Hamilton told AFP. Like many other Americans (regardless of faith), he has been unnerved by the “crassness and mean-spiritedness” that is “inconsistent with the values that I’ve preached for 36 years.” He added, “I want to stand up and be heard saying: ‘This is not OK.’”

White Christian Nationalists who form the backbone of the MAGA movement are outraged that a pro-choice, professed progressive Christian would challenge their claim to theocratic dominance. Paul Raushenbush, CEO and president of the Interfaith Alliance, tells me, “It is painfully ironic that those who claim to care so much about ‘Christian values’ and a ‘Christian nation’ are getting bent out of shape when a pastor such as Rev. Adam Hamilton becomes the Democratic candidate for Senate in Kansas, alongside other moderate to progressive faith leaders running in other races across the country.” He adds, “It should be common knowledge that no single political party has a lock on religion. American history is full of people of faith being active in the political arena for both conservative and progressive causes.”

Raushenbush continued, “What is driving the Christian Nationalist movement nuts right now is that progressive faith leaders are claiming their proud tradition in America and running — and winning — on a moral vision for our inclusive, just, and diverse democracy that clearly attracts voters across partisan divides.”

Hamilton’s initial campaign announcement video made standard issue critiques about affordability and an unnecessary war, but also pitched his dedication to “serving people outside the walls of our church.”

He challenged fellow Kansans who would bring a meal to a neighbor or drive a friend to a doctor to care about federal food assistance and access to affordable healthcare. In other words, he argues that virtue in one’s private life should raise concerns about right-wing policies and politicians that inflict pain on communities and abuse vulnerable people.Subscribed

Kansas may not be entirely out of reach in the current political environment. Kansas has had female, Democratic governors (e.g., Joan Finney, Kathleen Sebelius, or incumbent Laura Kelly), and just defeated overwhelmingly a MAGA-backed ballot proposal to amend the state constitution and subject state supreme court justices to direct election. “The move came after the Kansas Supreme Court dealt conservatives some setbacks in recent years, including a 2019 ruling that the state constitution protected the right to an abortion,” NBC News explained. “Voters sided with that decision three years later after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.” Opponents of the ballot gambit made clear that this was really an effort to come after abortion rights, which — even in an overwhelming Republican state — voters have staunchly supported. Hamilton’s pro-choice stance may therefore not be an insurmountable barrier for him. In setting out his position at the onset of the campaign, Hamilton said, “As a pastor for 38 years, I have cared for women and families facing difficult decisions around pregnancy. I acknowledge there is a moral tension surrounding the topic of abortion, but I do not believe that politicians should be making these decisions for women.”

Hamilton has no shortage of popular issues on his side, including his staunch opposition to tariffs, which have crashed soybean sales to China (from $12B in 2024 to practically zero in 2025) and sent Kansas’s economy into recession. Marshall is unmoved. As Greg Frazier, a former official at USDA and Office of the United States Trade Representative, recently wrote:

Instead of sticking up for their constituents, Marshall and [Rep. Tracey] Mann cheer meaningless trade announcements. Marshall said the president “found a way to break through and gain access” to the Australia beef market. In reality, that market has essentially been open for years. Mann recast a Trumpism: “This is the art of the deal.”

The art of the deal? That’s not what experts say: “US beef processors will be lucky to move $1-2 million worth of beef annually into Australia, compared to the $4 billion worth of beef Australia sent to the US last year.” Meanwhile, President Trump has said the US will begin buying beef from Argentina.

Hamilton’s mix of common-sense policy initiatives, genuine religious faith, and superb communication skills — matched with Trump’s lousy economic record and declining approval in the state (dropping a net 16 points since taking office in 2025) — have unnerved MAGA Republicans who must now spend money and justify their disastrous records. For Democrats and the broader pro-democracy coalition, Hamilton offers a unique opportunity to undermine Republicans’ fake piety, arrogance, and governing malpractice.

Hamilton’s undaunted, unbowed, and unqualified defense of his faith brings a much needed rebuke to a MAGA movement, whose actions suggest that Christian faith rests on cruelty, conspiracies, hate-mongering, racism, and misogyny. Win or lose, Hamilton deserves recognition and credit for taking the fight to authoritarian bullies.

More Global News

New York Times, Seized on Their Way to Gaza, Activists Tell of Abuse in Israeli Custody, Catherine Porter, Elisabetta Povoledo and Nimet Kirac, Aug. 7, 2026. In interviews, more than 20 people who tried to break an Israeli blockade described beatings, electric shocks and other abuse after being captured. Israel denied the accusations.

When Arno Meyns tried to sail to Gaza in May, Israeli forces intercepted his boat at gunpoint, took him to an Israeli ship and, he said, shoved him into a darkened shipping container.

Barefoot and soaked in seawater, Mr. Meyns found up to four men waiting there to attack him, he said.

“They started kicking me right away. It was dark. They punched me, too. They stopped for a moment, and then started again,” said Mr. Meyns, 34, a Belgian who is a captain for small commercial vessels.

Mr. Meyns was among more than 400 activists on a flotilla of roughly 50 boats who were apprehended on the Mediterranean Sea by Israel as they tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

The stated goal of the activists, who sailed from Turkey on May 14, was to bring food and humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged enclave. In reality, many expected to be detained, like those who had participated in similar flotillas, before reaching the territory. They hoped that media coverage of their journey would call attention to Israel’s restrictions on supplies to Gaza, which tightened after the war began — and which later contributed, experts said, to famine in parts of Gaza.

The activists were captured days after setting sail. Interviews with activists and statements from Israeli officials both show that they were then held by Israel for roughly three days, first at sea aboard Israeli vessels, and later in the Port of Ashdod.

There, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, walked among them, taunting them in a video he posted to social media. At least two of the activists were immediately deported to Greece, while the rest spent the night in prison in southern Israel before being deported to Turkey, they said.

After the detainees arrived in Turkey, the flotilla’s organizers soon announced that the detainees had made “numerous reports of physical abuse” as well as “deeply disturbing accounts of sexual humiliation and degrading treatment carried out by Israeli forces.”

More than 50 were brought by ambulance to hospitals from the airport in Turkey, according to a lawyer for the flotilla. Over the following days, activists began returning to their home countries, where they often sought more treatment and gave more detailed accounts of their detention to international news outlets. Their accusations spurred condemnations from global leaders and investigations by prosecutors in countries including France and Italy, and by police officers in Australia.

Israel denied the accusations, saying that the activists had been treated in accordance with the law. They released brief videos showing activists hugging each other in detention and receiving water from an Israeli officer.

In the months that followed, we separately interviewed 24 activists, all but one of whom spoke on the record. We also reviewed records provided by medical authorities in Australia, France, Italy and Turkey. All of the activists gave consistent accounts of a pattern of abuse, first aboard the Israeli vessels and then on Israeli soil.

New York Times, Trump Administration Fast-Tracks Military Cooperation With Colombia, Annie Correal and Eric Schmitt, Aug. 7, 2026. The country’s new Trump-endorsed president takes office on Friday. Sweeping plans to target drug traffickers with U.S. help are already underway.

Colombia’s new president campaigned on promises to crush his country’s powerful drug traffickers with the help of the United States.

He takes office Friday, but his plans to partner with U.S. forces are already underway and could make Colombia a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s efforts to militarize the fight against drug trafficking across the region.

After Colombian officials from the incoming administration traveled to Washington last month, a senior U.S. defense official announced a new military partnership with Colombia that he said would take a historically strong alliance “to new levels.”

And the president-elect, Abelardo De La Espriella, has named Medellín the hub of President Trump’s new regional anti-trafficking alliance, the Shield of the Americas.

The Trump administration has made targeting traffickers in Latin America a priority. Blaming cartels and drug gangs for America’s overdose crisis and for fueling violent crime, his administration has designated two dozen groups in the region as terrorist organizations and has authorized using lethal force against them.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, Live Updates: U.S. Job Market Shows Unexpected Loss, Lydia DePillis, Aug. 7, 2026. Employers cut 23,000 positions last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.1 percent.

The labor market posted a modest loss in July, as businesses shed jobs in the face of renewed tariffs and higher costs driven by war in the Middle East.

Democrats are quickly seizing on the poor jobs report, which arrived only days after President Trump boasted that the U.S. had “the greatest economy we’ve ever had.”

“That might be true for his billionaire donors,” said Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, citing the president’s past comments. “For everyone else, Trump’s tariff taxes and disastrous Iran war are raising costs, slowing growth, and hurting the job market.”Colby SmithAug. 7, 2026, 8:40 a.m. ET2 minutes ago

The Fed has in the past year paid closest attention to the unemployment rate as the best way to gauge the health of the labor market. Monthly jobs growth has bounced around a lot in the past year given changes in the supply of workers that has occurred.

The unemployment rate slipping to 4.1 percent could help officials from reading too much into this downbeat report, but overall this takes some of the pressure off of the central bank to immediately raise interest rates.

Aug. 6

Top Headlines

New York Times, A Growing Number of Election Deniers Hold Key Local Roles in Midterms, Nick Corasaniti and Alexandra Berzon, Aug. 6, 2026. These officials oversee or help administer elections in counties across the nation where competitive House and Senate races will determine control of Congress.

News Roundups

President Trump published an image of himself as a military leader flanked by World War II Generals George Patton, at left and Douglas MacArthur. But Trump received six draft deferments during the Vietnam War for reportedly trumped-up claims of bone spurs, thus avoiding actual military service because of his father's wealth and influence (Aug. 4 graphic on Trump Truth Social).

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: McConnell Leaves Hospital, Judge Hauls Blanche to Court Over Epstein, Trump Fumes Over Munitions Issues, and much more, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 6, 2026.Todd Blanche’s nomination is hanging in the balance again as he’s hauled into court to explain why he hasn’t complied with a judge’s order on the Epstein files. Mitch McConnell was allegedly released from the hospital to his home, but I have questions. Trump is fuming over the fact that America is running out of munitions. And so much more.
MeidasTouch Network, Thursday Afternoon News Updates: Trump's Munitions Disaster, Legal Crises, + More, Ben Meiselas, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Here's the news: Trump’s scheduling is entirely closed to the press; The U.S. has reportedly burned through its precision missile stockpile. Trump’s calling it “fake news,” but also demanding prosecution of whoever leaked that info; Iran’s parliament considers a hardline bill to formalize control over the Strait.
The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Important Update: Pentagon in 'Crisis' as Trump Lashes Out Over Munitions Shortages and GOP to Push Votes Over McConnell Absence, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 6, 2026. It’s a busy morning focused on the Pentagon, which held a crisis meeting to address the shortage of munitions the United States currently has. Trump also accidentally admitted the U.S. is running low on weapons in a late night rant, where he threatened to hunt down leakers.

More On U.S. Election Results, Strategies

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: Fed Up With Trump's Failures And Betrayals, The American People Are Giving Us A Chance To Lead Again. It's An Opportunity We Must Seize, Together, Simon Rosenberg, Aug. 6, 2026. Greater MAGA Continues To Weaken: Failed wars are doing significant harm to the political projects of Trump, Putin, Bibi. A flailing and unpopular Trump appears to be on the verge of formally accepting his surrender to Iran, perhaps driven by heavy pressure from the Gulf Arab states who are so desperate to return to normalcy and start rebuilding from the devastation of Trump’s failed and illegal war. This will be a blow to Bibi in Israel too as it establishes Iran as a far more powerful regional player, confirming what a strategic disaster the war has been for both the US and Israel.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Our Chaos Agent President Has Another Big Card to Play, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 6, 2026. We got lots of important elections stories this week, but none stranger than the outcome in the Republican primary for Michigan’s swingy 8th district, where Trump’s endorsed candidate, Navy veteran Amir Hassan, endured a shocking loss to a man named Tom Smith—who wasn’t even running anymore, having dropped out of the race last month.

Trump Team Governance, Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: We are watching Donald Trump implode, Heather Delaney Reese, above, right, Aug. 6, 2026. At 5:08 this evening, with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” blaring through the speakers at Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada, the President of the United States emerged from behind the bright blue curtains with a noticeably fuller head of hair, freshly dyed the familiar shade of orange he was known for in the past. He spoke for an hour and sixteen minutes, but very little of that time was spent on working families or tax cuts. Instead, he delivered a speech that marks an all-time low for any American president in our nation’s history. He bounced from one outlandish claim to the next, attacking Democrats by saying their cities are “filthy dirty all the time. The cities stink, they smell.” He claimed that people who drive electric cars are “diseased.” And once again, he turned his attention to one of our closest allies and neighbors, calling Canada and the Canadian people “nasty.” That was just the beginning of a speech that disgraced the office of the presidency.
The Contrarian, Opinion: A Winning 4-part Plan to Turn Up the Heat on Trump enablers, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Republicans must pay a price for spinelessness. Donald Trump’s Republican allies rarely are forced to respond to their cult leader’s meandering, incoherent screeds and nonstop blunders. As candidates gear up for the sprint to the midterm elections, Democrats must pierce the protective cocoon that spares Republicans embarrassment and scrutiny. They would be wise to employ four avenues of attack to bring the fight to Republicans. First and foremost, holding every Republican responsible for the specific horrors that have unfolded under a president to whom they have completely deferred is essential when running against politicians who refuse to accept blame for the foreseeable result of their votes. The same arguments apply to non-incumbent MAGA candidates who have endlessly cheered Trump from the sidelines and would rubber-stamp his policies if elected.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Good News Trump Won’t Mention, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Crime is plunging, but he can’t handle that truth. Monday was a day ending in the letter “y,” so Donald Trump spent much of the day boasting about how great he is and whining about not getting credit. At this point most observers tune his rants out. However, the screed at the top of this post has received some attention, possibly because it was marked by a kind of purity: every one of Trump’s bombastic claims was completely, verifiably false. I was struck, however, by the fact that Trump didn’t mention one important thing that has been going right: crime has been plunging.
The Bulwark, News and Comment: Capital One Just Dropped an Atomic Bomb on Trump, Aug. 5, 2026, Sam Stein, right, and Andrew Weissmann discuss the Justice Department’s dismissal of charges over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, potentialecourse for Olympian David Hearn, and Trump’s response.
All Rise News, News and Comment: Reflecting pool damage, Adam Klasfeld, right,Aug. 5-6, 2026. Tonight’s legal roundup kicks off with a deep dive into reflecting pool revelations. Later in the newsletter: New Mexico authorities sue the Trump ustice Department seeking evidence for their Epstein investigation, and the White House is still spinning the Russia probe. Despite his cascade of lies surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Donald Trump turned out to be right about one thing. Someone actually took a knife to the sealant, but it wasn’t Olympic athlete David Hearn. It wasn’t any “vandal,” and there was no criminal conspiracy.
New York Times, A Trans Woman Brandished a Firearm. Gun Rights Devotion Disappeared, Jack Healy, Aug. 6, 2026. Gun-friendly Wyoming has a “stand your ground” statute that allows people to use force to defend themselves. So why is a trans woman being prosecuted after being shoved to the ground?
Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: U.S. Senator makes SHOCKING admission when confronted by reporters, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 5, 2026. At 11:11 yesterday morning, a weary United States senator stepped into a Capitol Hill hallway lined with reporters and confirmed just how dangerous this moment has become. John Cornyn, the senator Trump recently rejected for not being loyal enough, had just voted to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, and when the cameras turned to him, he admitted, “There’s nothing we could do to rein in the president.” He didn’t say they chose not to. He said there was nothing they could do. One of 100 people elected specifically as a check on executive power told the American people they were powerless.
New York Times, Bunny Dolls and Disturbing Allegations: Max Miller’s Strange CNN Interview, Michael M. Grynbaum, Aug. 5, 2026. In a 23-minute appearance with the anchor Jake Tapper, the Ohio Republican made an unusual effort to rebut a multitude of allegations that have threatened his re-election bid. Representative Max Miller, the Ohio Republican facing a pileup of allegations that he emotionally and physically abused his ex-wife and his toddler daughter, submitted to a live on-air interrogation from CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. For Mr. Miller, the 23-minute appearance was a high-stakes attempt to confront the questions surrounding his personal conduct, as he tries to salvage his flailing re-election campaign amid mounting calls for him to drop out of his state’s Republican primary.
Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Judge Edelman Will Give Davey Hearn the Last Word, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 6, 2026. Judge Todd Edelman has issued an order dismissing the case against Olympic canoeist Davey Hearn, but reserving whether he should do so with or without prejudice for more briefing.
Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: DOJ Invokes Trump v. US to Protect Todd Blanche’s Fixer, Aakash Singh, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right,), Aug. 5, 2026. The Chicago US Attorney’s Office has submitted its objection to requests from the Broadview 6 that there be some kind of further punishment — discovery, contempt, an investigation — for the misconduct on the case.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Trump’s Midterms Spitball, Andrew Egger, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Nobody can say with much certainty what will happen in the November midterms. After all, polling is broken and the world is crazy. But with Election Day just three months away, we can start to hazard a few confident guesses. Donald Trump is less popular than ever, having squandered his second year back in office on a fruitless, expensive war, an elections bill that has been DOA for months, and a cornucopia of vanity projects and self-enrichment schemes. If Trump loses the Republican trifecta this November, he will close out the most favorable years of his second term with few durable victories. It’s amazing, given his Napoleonic aspirations, his total contempt for laws and norms, and his desperate thirst to punish nemies high and low. But when it comes to actual points on the board, the first half of Trump 2.0 is shaping up a lot like the first half of Trump 1.0: Fewer border crossings, one big tax-cuts bill, and… that’s it. The big difference, of course, has been in the amount of damage inflicted.
New York Times, Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left, Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 6, 2026. One moderate group says the progressive wins are “deeply troubling” and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism. The embattled establishment of the Democratic Party searched furiously for a political reset after Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s progressive victory in Michigan handed the party’s long-dominant moderate wing its most painful defeat of the year.

More On Iran War

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Iran Has Embarrassed Trump And Made Him Dangerously Unstable, Jason Easley, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Trump's failed Iran war has caused him embarrassment, and now the president is lashing out in an even more unstable way as his failures mount.

Threats To Europe

New York Times, Europe’s Control of Its Fate Is Tested by Iran and Ukraine Wars, Wildfires and Migration, Michael D. Shear, Aug. 6, 2026. A brutal summer has exposed how much Britain, France, Spain and other European countries are under pressure from forces largely out of their control.

Russian War Against Ukraine

New York Times, If Phones Are Buzzing, It’s Time to Take Shelter in Ukraine, Constant Méheut and Olha Konovalova, Aug. 6, 2026. Overhead, the skies were reverberating with the thud of missiles and the whine of drones. But most of the people taking shelter in a Kyivsubway station one night last month were looking down at their phones, following social media channels that track attacks in real time.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Cathy Young, Aug. 6, 2026. Ukrainian drones are still methodically taking out online retail warehouses and oil refineries across Russia. But on Saturday night, it was an upscale Italian restaurant in Moscow that was the target. The dramatic strike was timed for a birthday bash being held for a member of Russia’s top brass.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, Bessent Declares Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor ‘Dead,’ Alan Rappeport, Aug. 5, 2026. Despite data to the contrary, the Treasury Secretary made the case that the K-shaped economy no longer exists. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the impact of inflation on lower-income Americans, declaring this week that the “K-shaped” economy — shorthand for the divergent fortunes of the rich and poor — is a thing of the past.

More On U.S. Congress, Governance

New York Times, Fauci Faces Contempt of Congress Vote on Thursday, Jan Hoffman, Aug. 5, 2026. A Senate panel scheduled a vote after Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions at a hearing last week. Here are the legal issues involved.
Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 5, 2026 [Congressional Power To Tax], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 6, 2026. On August 5, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a new tax to help fund the United States government during the Civil War. Far more than writing a traditional revenue act to address the catastrophic war that had demonstrated its horrors just two weeks earlier at the Battle of Bull Run, Congress deliberately constructed the law to shift ownership of the American government away from the bankers who had previously provided Treasury funds, to the American people.
Democracy Docket, Election deniers push false voter fraud claims in Michigan, Andrew Wyrich, Aug. 5, 2026. MAGA is obsessed with Michigan’s elections right now and spreading false claims about mail voter fraud. Meanwhile, pro-voting advocates in Missouri are suing after a GOP official rejected an effort to give voters a say on the state’s gerrymander.
Politico, Back in action, Tom Kean Jr. faces a new source of scrutiny: His stocks, Joey Fox, Aug. 5, 2026. The New Jersey Republican says he has no personal involvement in any stock transactions, but that hasn’t muted Democratic criticism.
CATO Institute, DOpinion: DSA’s Own Leaders Reveal Just How Far Outside the Mainstream the Movement Really Is, Rikki Schlott, Aug. 3, 2026. The Democratic Socialists of America are out of touch with normal Americans.

U.S. Media, Education, Sports, Religion

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: Senate Republicans launch network of fake news sites, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 6, 2026. One Nation, the Senate GOP's primary dark money group, is producing propaganda masquerading as journalism.

Top Stories

New York Times, A Growing Number of Election Deniers Hold Key Local Roles in Midterms, Nick Corasaniti and Alexandra Berzon, Aug. 6, 2026. These officials oversee or help administer elections in counties across the nation where competitive House and Senate races will determine control of Congress.

In December 2020, Heidi Stirrup, the Trump White House liaison to the Justice Department, was barred from the agency’s headquarters for pressuring staffers to give up sensitive information to support claims — ultimately unfounded — of election fraud.

Roughly a month later, Ms. Stirrup was appointed to the Prince William County electoral board in Virginia. Since 2025, she has served as chair of the board, which oversees elections in a majority Democratic county that touches two congressional districts.

Ms. Stirrup, who did not respond to a request for comment, is one of at least 25 county-level election officials who have taken office across the country since the last major federal election in 2024 and — through public statements or actions — have aligned with the broader election-denier movement, according to a Times review of a new database from Voting Rights Lab, a nonprofit voting-rights organization.

These officials — ranging from Virginia to Ohio to Nevada — have all come to office since President Trump returned to power and all currently play roles in elections in counties that are home to key House, Senate or statewide midterm races this year. All have either publicly espoused false conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump won the 2020 election or that American elections are rife with fraud, or taken direct action to support those theories.

This surge in election-skeptic officials adds to the ranks of at least 69 who were already in office across different states, the database review, along with a New York Times analysis, shows. They include county election directors, members of election boards, and members of various county governing boards with the power to canvass and certify the vote. Most took office after the 2020 election, when Donald Trump and his allies began to ramp up their election fraud rhetoric.

Among those officials, 41 have taken direct action to interfere with elections, such as trying to delay or deny certification, or have direct ties to activist election-denier groups. Roughly 60 people posted or shared messages on social media — some repeatedly and others just once — questioning the election results in 2020 or supporting other conspiracy theories.

Some examples: In Nevada, Jim Hindle, who was indicted on a charge of serving as a fake elector in 2020 in a case that is still pending, has been the clerk in Storey County since 2022. In Arizona, Kathleen Gomez, who said she would not have certified the 2024 election, took office in Cochise County in 2025.

These local officials could prove to be critical allies to the president as he seeks greater control over the electoral process in part, by his own admission, to stave off a rough midterm cycle for Republicans.

Tammy Patrick, chief programs officer for the National Association of Election Officials, said these officials’ roles risked lending legitimacy to false theories. At worst, they could try to interfere directly with results.

“What we’re seeing now is the sort of thing that people have long worried about,” Ms. Patrick said. Still, she added, such election interference is rare.

There are thousands of local election officials across the country, and an examination of every local election worker is a near-impossible task. The Times’s review offers a look at a slice of a wide universe of officials, but the number of those with ties to the election-denier movement is larger. And the election skeptics identified by The Times are still a fraction of the country’s local election officials.

While their authority varies state to state, many of these local officials have broad authority over election policies that directly affect voting, such as early voting locations. Others help maintain state voter lists, with the power to remove eligible voters from the rolls.

Election experts noted that the strength of the American electoral system is its decentralized nature, making a broad attack nearly impossible. But the growing number of activists serving in local election roles could create a significant disturbance, they said.

“Every state runs its own elections, under its own laws with its own local officials,” said Samantha Tarazi, the chief executive of Voting Rights Lab. “There’s no switch in the Oval Office that changes how an election turns out.”

The list of local officials aligned with the election-denial movement combines a compilation by the Voting Rights Lab and additional analysis by The Times. Here are some examples.

More On U.S. Election Results, Strategies

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: Fed Up With Trump's Failures And Betrayals, The American People Are Giving Us A Chance To Lead Again. It's An Opportunity We Must Seize, Together, Simon Rosenberg, Aug. 6, 2026. We have a clear shot now to win the House and Senate. We need to go for it people!

Been a week! The proud plucky patriots of this remarkable community gathered last night for our weekly get together. It was a lively affair, as they all are. A video recording and rough transcript are above. Here is some of what we discussed:

Greater MAGA Continues To Weaken: Orban fell [in Hungary]. Failed wars are doing significant harm to the political projects of Trump, Putin, Bibi. A flailing and unpopular Trump appears to be on the verge of formally accepting his surrender to Iran, perhaps driven by heavy pressure from the Gulf Arab states who are so desperate to return to normalcy and start rebuilding from the devastation of Trump’s failed and illegal war. This will be a blow to Bibi in Israel too as it establishes Iran as a far more powerful regional player, confirming what a strategic disaster the war has been for both the US and Israel.

It is becoming clearer every day what historic and undeniable fuck ups these three vainglorious, corrupt, and fanatical strongmen are.

Zelenskyy has become the leader of the Free World, Putin continues to lose his war, and Bibi’s coalition trails in the upcoming October elections (Oct 26).

While we have much work to do the weakening of these three is a critical step in our ultimate mission here which is to see a new birth of freedom here, and everywhere, in a world of predatory strongmen and oligarchs. And here we celebrate the wins when they come, acknowledge the progress we make each day - and the weakening of these three is clear undeniable progress everyone….

Trump’s Regime Has Failed And The Election Is Trending Towards Us - The signs of his failure and betrayal are all around us - failed war/higher prices/weaker America, tariffs/higher prices/damage to small businesses and farmers, gutted health care system/rising premiums, slower economic growth, slower job growth, a not ready for prime time new Fed Chair who bombed on his first big day, rising utility bills, millions losing SNAP benefits, rejection of the inhumanity and lawlessness of mass deportation, unprecedented corruption and disregard for rule of law, gilded statues/outrageous ballrooms/palaces in the sky. There is Trumpian failure, illiberalism, betrayal as far as the eye can see.

And Americans have had it with him and them, and are putting their trust and faith back in us. It is not just that their standing has eroded. Our standing has improved, and the country is ready to put us back into power, to give us a shot to govern and lead again. Let’s go through the data….

In recent polling Trump has crashed through floors and found new bottoms:

Consumer sentiment is lower today than it has been in 65+ years of tracking in the University of Michigan survey:

The generic ballot has started tilting into blue wave territory. In the Fox poll Dems were the first party to hit 53% in their polling in their 30 years of polling tracking back to 1996.

We continue to lead in most Senate battleground polls. My assumption is that as the party rallies around Abdul El-Sayed he will open up a modest lead against Rogers in Michigan. 3 new polls in Texas have Talarico up 2, 3, and 5…..

In poll after poll Democrats are now more trusted on the issues voters care about most. In this recent Fox poll we lead by 9 on the economy, a big lead, and the first time we’ve led on the economy in Fox News polling in 20 years:

Today the FiftyPlusOne/Strength In Numbers forecast has us with an 87% chance of winning the House:

And a 54% chance of winning the Senate:

What all this data and analysis tells us is that we have a shot to have the election we all want to have. Now we need to put our head down and make it happen, everyone!!!!!

A New Democratic Party Is Being Born, And Our Goal Should Be To Make It Better Not Just New And Different. We are clearly in a period of growth, evolution, change, experimentation as a pro-democracy movement, something that here we have welcomed and encouraged.

I still think many on our side and in the establishment simply do not understand the nature of the conflict America finds itself in today. Trump and his global allies are playing a different game than we are used to. They have invented a whole new deeply illiberal game with all sorts of new pieces and rules. We have been slow, dangerously and recklessly, slow in recognizing how the rules of the game have changed.

It’s why whatever happens next, it is time for the Democratic Party’s generational wheel to turn and for new leaders who are not steeped in and hobbled by old ways to take the helm. We are facing a new battlefield, and more contemporary strategies, tactics, alliances and leaders are required in this next stage of the fight. Now is a time for re-invention, re-imagination, and risk-taking. We need to build a new politics for the American center-left, a more modern one, one more suited to the opportunities and challenges in front of us, a more “networked” one as my friend Joe Trippi would say.

But as we furiously build anew we must also retain our focus on what matters most right now, in this election, which is helping the 40-50 top Senate and House candidates win and take as much as power away from MAGA as we can. As the data shows above we are on cusp of having the election we all want to have and cannot lose focus. As we say in our new daily Hopium mantra:

There is nothing Trump and MAGA wants more than for us to be fighting with each other and not with him. We have one job now: elect as many of these wonderful candidates running for the House and Senate as we can. It’s where our focus must be. It’s a year of opportunity for us across the country. We must seize it, together.

Part of what I talked about last night was that as we build our new and better party, and win these mid-term elections, there are two urgent things we must work on, together, as a family:

Jews must become comfortable in the Democratic Party again, and the creep of antisemitism into our discourse must be confronted, and aggressively challenged
We must demand that those in the DSA who seek to become influential in the Democratic Party create a clearer and definitive break from the extremism and illiberalism of the DSA itself

On point one we will be bringing in guests in the coming weeks to help guide this community through a necessary conversation about where the line is between opposing the Israeli government and become anti-Jewish. There are too many people in our family who do not seem to know where that line is today, even here in the Hopium community. So we will help as we do here to inform, not inflame, and work to get us to a better place.

The second point is in my view is non-negotiable. The national co-chair of the DSA is an avowed communist, a Marxist-Leninist. The national DSA has backed Putin, Maduro, Hamas-Iran, arguably the most illiberal and repressive -- and in two cases genocide-seeking -- regimes in the world. This politics has no place in our pro-democracy big-tent. Be here, be part of our world, be progressive, be left, but create a political affiliation and movement that loses the ugly, extremist baggage of the national DSA.

In just the past few days, we’ve seen leaders of the new more muscular left distance themselves from this illiberal, extremist politics: a welcome development. Bernie Sanders called for Abdul El-Sayed to distance himself from Hasan Piker. Bernie refused to endorse Francesca Hong, a DSA member running for Governor in Wisconsin who is comically running as fast from her old DSA views as she possibly can (this stuff never works). William Lawrence, a DSA member who just won his House primary in MI-7, said yesterday that he let his DSA membership lapse a few weeks ago. People are running away from the DSA brand for it is poisonous politics, antithetical to the core beliefs of our pro-democracy movement, and can be used by Trump and the right to tarnish all our candidates in an election we are on the cusp of winning.

Be left, be progressive, but do not bring the DSA and all of its outrageous baggage into our vibrant, virtuous, pro-democracy family.

That’s what we talked about last night. It was a meaty discussion, and I am proud that we can have hard, challenging conversations here at Hopium. Hope you will watch, share it with others, hit like so more will see it, and yes, my friends, it is now time to do what we do here at Hopium…..

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Our Chaos Agent President Has Another Big Card to Play, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 6, 2026. We got lots of important elections stories this week, but none stranger than the outcome in the Republican primary for Michigan’s swingy 8th district, where Trump’s endorsed candidate, Navy veteran Amir Hassan, endured a shocking loss to a man named Tom Smith—who wasn’t even running anymore, having dropped out of the race last month.

Smith carried the primary 50 percent to 33 percent, and was as surprised as anyone. Appearing at a GOP unity lunch yesterday, he had this to say: “I’m Tom Smith. I’m running for the 8th congressional district to unseat communist Comrade Rivet, and I’ll need your help to do it.” Those were his full remarks.

For most GOP candidates, Trump’s endorsement is a golden ticket to the lizard-brain love of the GOP base. Sometimes, however, it’s apparently not enough to overcome a different kind of lizard-brain difficulty: running against a man named Tom Smith when your name is Amir Hassan. Happy Thursday.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: McConnell Leaves Hospital, Judge Hauls Blanche to Court Over Epstein, Trump Fumes Over Munitions Issues, and much more, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 6, 2026.Todd Blanche’s nomination is hanging in the balance again as he’s hauled into court to explain why he hasn’t complied with a judge’s order on the Epstein files. Mitch McConnell was allegedly released from the hospital to his home, but I have questions. Trump is fuming over the fact that America is running out of munitions. And so much more.

We’ve got some big deep dives coming up soon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I will be relentless in pursuit of the truth. I will never trade access to the White House for the truth.

Epstein:

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is escalating pressure on the DOJ over its handling of Epstein files in a lawsuit brought by MeidasTouch reporter Katie Phang against Acting AG Todd Blanche, scheduling an August 13 status hearing after finding the department still hasn’t complied with key portions of his earlier orders. Sullivan specifically faulted the DOJ for failing to provide documentation supporting its claims that certain redacted names belong to victims, ruling the government’s mere assertion that attorneys had requested victim status “does not comply with the Court’s Order.” He also renewed scrutiny of the FBI’s withheld handwritten interview notes, rejecting DOJ’s argument that they’re too similar to already-released typed reports, and noting the government has already published comparably sensitive draft indictments. The order reflects Sullivan’s ongoing insistence, dating to his July ruling, that the Epstein Files Transparency Act requires substantiated justifications for redactions rather than conclusory claims from government lawyers.

The third issue Sullivan flagged involves the Transparency Act’s requirement that every redaction come with a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress, a deadline the DOJ and Phang’s team now dispute whether the department has already missed. This latest order comes amid a broader pattern of DOJ struggles in the case: the department missed its June deadline to formally answer Phang’s complaint, and rather than responding, it filed a motion asking Sullivan to retroactively pause all deadlines and grant 60 additional days after preliminary injunction proceedings conclude. Phang’s legal team countered that the government is technically in default since it never sought an extension, and asked Sullivan to compel an answer by August 10 instead of allowing a belated motion to dismiss. Notably, the DOJ’s extension request was filed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Taken together, Sullivan’s Thursday order signals he remains unconvinced by the DOJ’s explanations across all three disputes and wants direct, in-person answers rather than written assurances. At the August 13 hearing, DOJ attorneys will need to explain why victim redaction documentation still hasn’t been produced, why handwritten FBI notes remain withheld despite the court’s prior order, and when the department intends to satisfy the Transparency Act’s public-justification requirement for every redaction. The judge’s language throughout the order suggests growing impatience with what he sees as the government’s pattern of incomplete or evasive compliance. The case adds to a rough stretch for the DOJ this week, as it simultaneously fends off accusations of missed deadlines and default in the broader Phang litigation.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday that most constituent mail and calls her office receives oppose confirming Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, though she declined to say how she’ll vote, telling reporters she’ll issue a formal statement rather than answer “in little dribs and drabs.” She raised concerns about Blanche’s settlement shielding Trump, his family, and his businesses from certain IRS audits, saying constituents ask “how is that right?” and that it “sure seems like” preferential treatment.

On allegations that Blanche was dismissive toward Epstein survivors during DOJ meetings, Murkowski said she’s heard conflicting accounts from both sides but stressed survivors deserve to be heard, recalling a handwritten note from an Alaska survivor asking to talk with her. With Susan Collins already a no vote and McConnell absent, Blanche can lose no more than two Republican votes if Democrats stay unified, putting intense pressure on Murkowski as one of the Senate’s most independent Republicans.

Mitch McConnell:

I’m still digging on this one because the statement doesn’t fully add up, and there’s still no video of McConnell. Senator Mitch McConnell says he’s been discharged from the rehabilitation center where he’d been recovering after a fall and will continue his recovery at home, thanking Kentuckians and medical staff and saying he’ll keep up an “intensive regimen of physical therapy” while staying engaged with Senate business. But nearly two months after his June 14 hospitalization, and weeks after his July 12 statement revealing he’d fallen, been briefly unconscious, and developed pneumonia, there’s still no video of the 84-year-old speaking or moving, only two photos released by his office. McConnell, who is 84 and not running for reelection, has offered no timeline for when he’ll physically return to the Capitol, even as Republicans face vote scheduling problems in his absence.

The lack of any video, combined with his office’s pattern of sparse, repetitive statements and camera-shy staff, is exactly why questions about the severity of his condition keep resurfacing rather than going away with this announcement. His July statement ruled out broken bones, a concussion, heart attack, stroke, tumors, or hemorrhage, but offered no real detail on what actually caused the fall or unconsciousness in the first place. Being “discharged to continue recovery at home” after a rehab stay is a normal medical step, but for a sitting senator this consequential to GOP vote counts, and this opaque about his condition for two months, it raises as many questions as it answers. I’ll keep pressing on this and update as I learn more.

Other news:

Trump has privately fumed over media reports on the U.S.'s dwindling munitions stockpile, believing the disclosures make America look weak just as he's pushing Iran toward a deal, according to six officials familiar with a tense Camp David Cabinet meeting last week. CNN reported the military has burned through nearly 80% of its THAAD interceptor inventory and roughly half its Patriots since the war began, numbers that also worry Gulf allies who rely on U.S. air defense systems and fear being exposed to Iranian retaliation if Trump escalates further; Iran has reportedly warned regional nations that renewed U.S. strikes would trigger attacks on energy and desalination facilities. Trump insisted on Truth Social that the U.S. has "massive amounts" of munitions while simultaneously vowing "long term jail sentences" for whoever leaked the stockpile data, tasking the Justice Department with hunting down what he calls "treasonous" leakers, though officials say his anger is directed at leakers rather than Defense Secretary Hegseth, whom he publicly praised.

The official White House Instagram is now posting Spider-Man-style ICE propaganda showing immigrants literally trapped in webs before being deported.

Federal appeals judge Jennifer Mascott, appointed to the 3rd Circuit in October 2025, spent months actively running Washington PR firm Adfero, which she inherited from her late husband Jeff Mascott, overseeing staffing, client relations, and marketing signoffs even while serving as a full-time judge, according to 14 former employees and clients. Her hands-on leadership, including firing top staff, requiring approval on materials, and steering the firm toward more partisan GOP-aligned consultants, triggered mass resignations and the loss of major clients like PhRMA, ultimately forcing Adfero to shut down on June 30 after two decades in business. Judicial ethics experts say the arrangement falls into a legal gray area since judges may retain family businesses but are barred from activities that consume excessive time or exploit judicial prestige, with one expert noting Adfero's work "sending out a message" for clients makes her situation especially unusual compared to a typical family business.

A federal judge has temporarily paused an order requiring Trump to hand over detailed financial records to the BBC in his libel suit over the network’s 2024 January 6 documentary, giving Judge Roy Altman time to weigh Trump’s bid to narrow the lawsuit. Trump’s lawyers want to drop claims that the documentary harmed his business interests and focus solely on reputational harm, a shift that could undercut the BBC’s argument that it needs his financial records at all. The BBC counters that Trump’s business value is still relevant since his public reputation is tied to his success as a businessman, and notes his proposed amended complaint still seeks $10 billion in damages, an amount they say would be hard to justify on reputational harm alone. The dispute centers on an edited clip of Trump’s January 6 speech that the BBC has apologized for but still says isn’t defamatory. The case is one of several Trump has brought against media outlets, alongside a separate $10 billion suit against the Wall Street Journal over its Epstein birthday-book reporting and now-withdrawn subpoenas against New York Times reporters.

Trump signed two executive orders Thursday targeting birthright citizenship and birth tourism, calling the Supreme Court’s earlier block of his original order “very unfortunate” and arguing people are “buying their way in” through automatic citizenship. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said the first order expands categories of people ineligible for birthright citizenship, including “alien enemies,” members of foreign terrorist organizations, and those acting on behalf of foreign governments, while the second bans birth tourism outright by denying visas to those seeking to enter the U.S. to give birth or who organize such trips, which Miller called “a fraud on the American system.” Trump said the administration would enforce the orders with “very big crackdowns” and expressed confidence they’d survive legal challenges, while Staff Secretary Will Scharf said the orders rely on “legally validated means” that avoid conflicting with the Supreme Court’s ruling. The text of the orders had not been released as of publication, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

John Gannon, a 75-year-old lifelong Republican and Texas businessman who voted for Trump, now says he regrets that decision after his fiancée, Venezuelan-born Yasmin Suarez Reyes, was arrested by ICE agents at Houston’s airport in late July while the couple prepared to fly to a furniture industry convention. Suarez Reyes, who entered the U.S. legally in 2023 under the Visa Waiver Program using her Spanish citizenship and later filed a still-pending asylum application, had a valid work permit and Texas driver’s license, but was detained for deportation processing after her original entry authorization lapsed. Her attorney, Anne Kennedy, another lifelong Republican, said Suarez Reyes has no criminal record and would have had a path to a green card had she been able to marry Gannon first; she’s currently held at a Texas detention facility. Gannon, choking up, described his fiancée as “good as gold” and said he’d ask Trump directly, “What are you doing?” arguing ICE should target actual criminals rather than “destroying families.” Her case is part of a broader wave of airport arrests under Trump’s deportation crackdown, which drove ICE detentions to a record monthly high in July, often ensnaring immigrants in legal gray areas with pending cases and expired status rather than criminal backgrounds.

Trump’s Truth Social has seen its mobile app’s daily active users plunge from 436,000 in July 2025 to just 261,000 a year later, according to SimilarWeb data cited by the Financial Times, dwarfed by X’s roughly 130 million and Facebook’s over 2 billion daily users. The White House defended the platform as Trump’s “authentic voice,” while TMTG head Kevin McGurn insisted the company’s business model “absolutely stands up” even after Trump eventually exits as its main draw, saying his goal is attracting more creators to the service. Trump launched Truth Social in 2022 after being permanently banned from Twitter following the January 6 riots, and though his account was reinstated after Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022, Trump rarely posts there. The user exodus comes as TMTG’s new $100,000-a-month premium tier, offering Wall Street firms early access to Trump’s market-moving posts, has drawn sharp backlash from finance executives, with one calling it “scandalous” and another telling NPR that “in another administration, this would be considered criminal.”

Trump warned that if Abdul El-Sayed “succeeds,” Democrats would gain four senators, eight congressmen, sweep electoral and popular votes, and end up with a 23-justice “stacked” Supreme Court, claiming he would become “the last Republican President” despite what he calls a great job in office. The numbers are exaggerated and don’t track with how Senate, House, or Supreme Court composition actually work, there’s no mechanism for a single candidate’s win to produce that scale of shift, and the current Court has nine justices, not 23.

The FCC voted 2-1 along party lines to eliminate the 39% cap on how much of the U.S. television audience a single company’s stations can reach, a rule in place since 2004, replacing it with a case-by-case review process. Republican Chairman Brendan Carr called the cap “outdated,” arguing it hobbled local broadcasters while national streaming and social media platforms face no similar restrictions, but the sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, called the move “unlawful on its face” and warned it merely shifts leverage to large national station groups rather than protecting genuinely local broadcasters. The decision is a major win for Nexstar Media Group, the country’s largest local TV station owner, which is pursuing a $6.2 billion acquisition of rival Tegna that would reach over 60% of U.S. households, though a federal judge has paused that deal amid an antitrust lawsuit from eight state attorneys general.

Scientists at Stanford and the Arc Institute used an AI model called Evo, trained on roughly nine trillion nucleotides across the tree of life, to design entirely new viral genomes rather than just replicate existing ones. After training Evo specifically on the harmless bacteriophage Phi X-174 and its close relatives, researchers generated 700,000 candidate genomes, synthesized 285 of them, and found 16 produced viable new viruses that infected bacteria, some multiplying even faster than the natural virus. The viruses pose no threat to humans since researchers deliberately excluded any training data on viruses that infect people, animals, plants, or fungi as a safety precaution. Experts called the result a milestone with potential upside for medicine and biotechnology, but also warned it underscores how far the science has outpaced any regulatory guardrails, especially since a new NIH policy on high-risk life science research doesn’t clearly cover AI-generated pathogens that don’t yet have a known “entity of concern” to flag them. One biosecurity researcher summed up the core problem: “What is the risk of what I’ve never seen before?”

Sen. Bernie Moreno told CNN he sent his daughter Emily Moreno, granddaughter, and wife “out of state to a secure place” amid escalating abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller, Emily’s ex-husband, who denies wrongdoing. Miller disputed the claim, showing CNN emails in which Emily communicated flight details and arranged a video visit with their daughter, and his spokesperson said Emily simply took the child to see family in Florida, calling the “bunker” characterization misleading. Moreno had already said over the weekend that Miller “should not serve” in Congress and called him “a danger to my daughter.” The dispute follows police videos CNN obtained in June in which Emily emotionally described abuse allegations, including that Miller once held a gun to her, while Miller has denied ever abusing her and separately called her “manipulative” and alleged she struggles with mental illness; Miller vowed Tuesday to remain in his reelection race.

The National Treasury Employees Union, representing career IRS auditors, has joined a lawsuit challenging a controversial settlement that would grant Trump and his family members immunity from certain IRS tax audits, arguing the carveout is unlawful and unconstitutional. The amended complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, calls the arrangement “an unprecedented, unlawful, and breathtakingly corrupt attempt” by Trump and his cabinet to secure benefits unavailable to other Americans, and stems from the same underlying case that produced the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” for those who claim to be victims of political targeting, including potentially Jan. 6 rioters. Both the audit carveout and the fund originated from a lawsuit Trump’s family filed against the government over the leak of his tax returns by a former IRS contractor who was later imprisoned.

Senate Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-5 along party lines to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a contentious hearing last week, declining to answer questions more than 100 times. Chairman Rand Paul argued Fauci couldn’t claim the privilege because he received a preemptive pardon from Biden before leaving office, and said the committee would immediately refer the matter to the DOJ and the U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, though any prosecution would require a grand jury indictment and a full Senate vote likely wouldn’t clear the 60-vote threshold. Fauci’s attorney called the vote “a crude political stunt,” and Georgetown law professor Abbe Smith said Republicans’ legal theory about the pardon negating his Fifth Amendment rights is shaky, noting the scope of preemptive pardons remains legally untested.

Ukraine struck oil refineries deep inside Russia, including facilities in Bashkortostan and Yaroslavl over 700 miles from the front, along with Russian military patrol boats and “shadow fleet” vessels in the Black Sea, part of Kyiv’s ongoing campaign to undermine Moscow’s wartime economy and cause fuel shortages. Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed at least three civilians and wounded 22 others overnight, following a Wednesday blitz that killed 17 people in the Kyiv region, as Zelenskyy scrambles to secure more Patriot interceptor missiles from NATO allies since supplies have been depleted by the separate Iran war. The UN reported that 1,396 civilians were killed and nearly 8,000 wounded in Ukraine in just the first half of this year, a 37% jump from last year, while Zelenskyy also announced Ukraine is accelerating development of its own ballistic missile and anti-ballistic defense capabilities, expecting results this year and next. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned escalating attacks from both sides, citing record civilian casualties and growing destruction on both Ukrainian and, increasingly, Russian territory.

MeidasTouch Network, Thursday Afternoon News Updates: Trump's Munitions Disaster, Legal Crises, + More, Ben Meiselas, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Here's the news.

Trump’s scheduling is entirely closed to the press
The U.S. has reportedly burned through its precision missile stockpile. Trump’s calling it “fake news,” but also demanding prosecution of whoever leaked that info
Iran’s parliament considers a hardline bill to formalize control over the Strait
Houthi missiles kill dozens of Saudi-backed troops in Yemen
Russian destruction in Ukraine
Pentagon officials are still begging China
Republicans remain laser-focused on something not on any American’s mind: Dr. Fauci
A Meidas Exclusive: New Mexico’s congressional delegation is demanding answers after a Pentagon GPS jamming was linked to a fatal medical plane crash
In a loss for Trump, a federal judge freezes discovery in Trump’s defamation suit against the WSJ
Trump, terrified of the BBC, files an emergency motion to stop the network from getting his financial records in his $10B suit
DOJ misses its deadline to respond to Katie Phang’s Epstein-related lawsuit

As a thank you, I’m opening up this recap to everyone today

Where’s Trump?

Trump landed back in DC late last night. Oddly enough, today he shut down the White House to the press. Every single event on the calendar, whether policy meetings, intelligence briefing, etc—all closed press. Trump stepped off Marine One with his “human printer” Natalie Harp by his side. And side note: is Trump rocking new hair? What’s up with that wig?

So what’s Trump been up to? You know how it goes by now. He was raging on Truth Social, this time about “leakers.” As we’ve been warning about, the corporate media has now confirmed that U.S. munitions are running dry due to the Iran War. So Trump naturally called all these reports “fake news,” while simultaneously vowing to prosecute the “leakers.”

Reuters and CNBC have reported the U.S. has used “virtually all” of its long-range precision missiles in the Iran war. CNN reported nearly 80 percent of interceptors for a key missile defense system are gone. Not good.

The Washington Post then reported that this resulted in a screaming match between Trump and Hegseth at Camp David over the shortage, as well as a crisis meeting at the Pentagon.

Trump’s basically doing what he just did to Jeanine Pirro: he’s not hunting down liars or trying to solve the issue at hand, but rather he’s trying to prosecute those who are actually telling the truth.Iran Knows His Game by Now…

While Trump was in Vegas, Iran continued to position itself to formally control the entire Strait of Hormuz. According to Iranian state media, Iran's parliament is considering a bill that would ban U.S. and Israeli vessels from the strait entirely, deny transit to any country that's caused Iran damage until it's compensated in full, and put Iran's military in charge of monitoring all shipping through the region. Iran is also reportedly close to a separate deal with Oman over the strait that has nothing to do with the United States, because Trump has no involvement in it. He's never been a dealmaker. He's a deal wrecker. What he's trying to do now is find a way to take credit for something he had no hand in.

Asked directly in a Fox 5 interview why this time would be different with Iran, all he could offer was, "it may be or may not be."

In Vegas, Trump always played the “greatest hits.” He pivoted straight to transgender athletes and “men in women's sports,” insisting Democrats will “overturn” his policies if they win back power. Meanwhile at his rally he also spent time explaining to the crowd that nobody apparently knows the word "dumb" doesn’t have a B in it. He got a little mixed up on his “dumb” line. With a B.

This is all Trump and MAGA have to offer at this point. They’ve taken a wrecking ball to everything, so now they’re resorting to the same tired strategies of fear mongering, racism, and attacking trans people.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Important Update: Pentagon in 'Crisis' as Trump Lashes Out Over Munitions Shortages and GOP to Push Votes Over McConnell Absence, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 6, 2026. It’s a busy morning focused on the Pentagon, which held a crisis meeting to address the shortage of munitions the United States currently has. Trump also accidentally admitted the U.S. is running low on weapons in a late night rant, where he threatened to hunt down leakers.

It comes as Republicans will have to reschedule votes because of Mitch McConnell’s absence (I’ll be following up on his hospital status today). I also spoke with top national security and foreign relations senator Jeanne Shaheen this morning about all things Iran, where the billions we’ve received from Venezuela have gone, and much more.

A couple of quick things. First, many of you have noticed I’ve posted less on TikTok. That’s because my posts are being completely throttled and taken down, which is why I’m investing heavily here instead.Also, a few of you have unsubscribed. Someone cancelled their subscription to my Substack and gave feedback that matters to me. I talk about my family and working with a four-month-old because it’s authentically me. It’s my life, and I love this job more than anything.To those who’ve subscribed to help me do this as a career, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you can, please subscribe today.

Here’s the news:

United States munitions:

Trump lashed out in a 12:34 a.m. Truth Social rant about “treasonous leakers” after the Washington Post reported he’d berated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David over concerns the Iran war had seriously depleted US arms stockpiles. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had initially dismissed the story as “100% fake news,” but Trump’s own furious response, insisting the US has “massive amounts” of munitions “especially of certain types,” effectively confirmed the clash had happened. He also claimed weapons were being shipped in as needed and that defense companies were building record numbers of plants, while vowing to hunt down the “leakers” and pursue “long term jail sentences” against them.

According to the Post, Hegseth, right, reportedly shifted blame for the shortages and communication failures onto his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, who received an angry call from Trump on Friday evening and then hastily convened a “crisis” meeting with top Pentagon officials that same night. Trump reportedly told Feinberg the shortages were affecting his decisions on whether to expand military operations in Iran, pressed him on how the Pentagon would fix the problem, and threatened to fire him during the call. Separately, Hegseth had already clashed publicly with CNN this week over a broadcast banner reporting the US had used nearly 80% of its air-defense interceptors in the Iran war, calling the report “NOT TRUE.”

This is only the latest in a string of embarrassing leaks to plague the Trump administration this year, including revelations from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book “Regime Change” about secret Situation Room meetings held without Trump’s knowledge to contain fallout from the botched release of the Epstein files. That book excerpt reportedly triggered a “massive leak hunt” inside the White House, led in part by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and FBI Director Kash Patel. A separate leak controversy emerged after Trump abruptly switched planes returning from a NATO summit in Turkey, reportedly over security concerns about his Qatar-gifted Air Force One, prompting another internal investigation into who disclosed the information to the press.

Families of sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, now nine months into a deployment and five months into combat operations against Iran, are raising alarms about exhaustion, safety, and poor living conditions on the carrier, including moldy showers, broken laundry facilities, food shortages, and shortages of basic supplies like toothpaste and soap. The crew has had only two brief port calls since leaving San Diego in November, including a record-breaking 208 consecutive days at sea before finally pulling into Oman in July, and multiple family members describe worsening morale, with one saying the ship’s doctor warned people could start “losing their minds” without a port stop soon.

Navy 5th Fleet spokesperson Cmdr. Joseph Hontz acknowledged periodic supply shortages and water issues but insisted the ship remains fully mission-capable, disputing claims of holes in the flight deck and chronic problems, while families, including some who voted for Trump, say the reports are accurate and are questioning both the deployment’s toll and the broader necessity of the war. Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., whose district includes the Lincoln’s home port, said she’s deeply concerned about the crew’s mental health and called on Trump to end the war and bring service members home, as the Lincoln continues supporting airstrikes on Iranian military targets and enforcing a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran war:

Strait of Hormuz talks: Iran says a deal with Oman to reopen the strait of Hormuz is nearing completion, with reports indicating Tehran would control inbound shipping traffic while Oman oversees outbound vessels, a major shift from the strait’s pre-war status as an open international waterway carrying a fifth of global oil and gas. Iranian sources pushed back on Trump’s claims that a deal is imminent, saying key details remain unresolved, and Iran has said reopening the strait depends on the US lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. Trump told Fox News the strait “is going to be open very soon.” Meanwhile, Houthi forces in Yemen said they struck two more Saudi oil tankers, the eighth and ninth since their blockade began, and shipping traffic through both Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait dropped sharply. Pakistan, a mediator in the broader conflict, said it hopes the Hormuz deal will help revive stalled US-Iran talks.

Lebanon-Israel violence escalates: Two Israeli reserve soldiers were killed and four seriously wounded in an explosion in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Zoun, marking the first Israeli deaths since June’s fragile truce with Hezbollah. Separately, an Israeli strike on the town of Tebnine killed one person and wounded 12, while overnight strikes on Burj al-Shamali near Tyre injured eight more, prompting the Israeli military to issue its first evacuation order in over a month for the village of Mansouri. Despite the violence, a third day of US-mediated ceasefire talks between Lebanon and Israel resumed in Rome, though Israel had cut short the previous day’s session by three hours, citing alleged “misleading leaks” from the Lebanese side. Rights groups also concluded that an April Israeli strike that killed journalist Amal Khalil and injured colleague Zeinab Faraj was a war crime, alleging Israel knew they were civilians and delayed rescue efforts for hours. Turkey’s foreign minister and a coalition of regional powers, including Jordan, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, jointly condemned Israel’s escalating attacks.

West Bank settler charged: Israeli prosecutors charged settler Yinon Levi with reckless manslaughter, armed trespassing, and property damage over the July 2025 killing of Palestinian community leader Awdah Hathaleen, a teacher and activist featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.” Rights group B’Tselem called it the first Israeli indictment for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank since the October 2023 attacks, noting settlers and soldiers have killed at least 1,100 Palestinians in the territory since then. Levi had previously been sanctioned by the US and other Western governments over settler violence, but Trump lifted those sanctions after taking office. Separately, 19 Democratic senators and representatives sent a letter accusing the Trump administration of fostering “a climate of impunity and unbridled violence” in the West Bank, demanding restored sanctions on extremist settlers and independent investigations into the deaths of nine American citizens killed there since 2022. The letter argues Trump’s promise not to allow Israeli annexation of the West Bank has been undermined by settler expansion on the ground.

Gaza tensions and regional reaction: Turkey’s foreign minister accused Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of not wanting peace, pointing to continued Israeli military actions in Gaza and Jerusalem even after Trump’s announced roadmap for the second phase of the Gaza peace plan. His comments echoed a joint statement from the foreign ministers of Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt condemning what they called Israel’s escalatory attacks in Gaza. The criticism reflects broader regional frustration that ceasefire and peace efforts are being undermined by continued violence on multiple fronts, including Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza simultaneously. This coincides with the deepening Hormuz standoff and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, illustrating how the conflict has metastasized across several fronts at once. Diplomatic efforts, including the Rome talks and Pakistan-mediated Iran negotiations, continue in parallel even as strikes and casualties mount on the ground.

Other news:

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who lives next door to Mitch McConnell, admitted he still knows almost nothing about the 84-year-old Kentucky senator’s condition nearly two months after McConnell suffered an apparent fall and cardiac arrest on June 14, saying simply “he’s still in the hospital, doing rehab” and “I don’t know anything.” Tuberville warned McConnell’s prolonged absence is hampering the GOP’s ability to pass Trump’s agenda in the Senate, potentially delaying votes on a third reconciliation bill and the confirmation of Acting AG Todd Blanche, since Republicans may lack the votes without McConnell present. McConnell’s office, led by camera-shy chief of staff Terry Carmack, has fueled speculation by offering minimal updates, releasing only two “proof-of-life” photos in July showing McConnell seated with wife Elaine Chao, with still no video or images of him standing or speaking. Tuberville had already called weeks earlier for the office to release a video, saying “somebody needs to do something,” and reiterated that McConnell would need to return before the Senate’s five-week August recess begins Friday.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney turned a teleprompter malfunction into a jab at Trump during a Toronto housing policy press conference Wednesday, quipping, “Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy” after announcing the technical glitch. The line referenced Trump’s UN General Assembly speech last September, when a stalled escalator and teleprompter issue derailed what was billed as his major foreign policy address, prompting him to complain on stage and later claim on Truth Social he’d suffered “three very sinister events,” including a supposedly disabled sound system, while demanding a UN investigation and arrests. The UN dismissed the claims, saying the escalator’s safety mechanism had been triggered by a videographer with Trump’s own delegation and that operating the teleprompter had been Trump’s team’s responsibility.

At a Trump event at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas Wednesday, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo was met with jeering from someone in the crowd as he began speaking about Officer Austin Abdelnabi, a Las Vegas police officer killed in the line of duty. Lombardo paused to address the reaction directly, saying “No, no, we’re not booing. We’re not booing him. He’s the officer that passed away here recently,” before leading the audience in a moment of silence. Abdelnabi was fatally shot Tuesday while responding to a call in the southeast valley; Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the officer was ambushed by the shooter, who was then killed by police. The moment happened just ahead of Trump’s appearance at the event, which was focused on his “no tax on tips” policy push ahead of the midterms.

NATO says it’s working to urgently get Ukraine the air defenses it needs after Kyiv failed to shoot down a single Russian ballistic missile during a Wednesday attack that killed at least 17 people, even as Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted 98 of 115 drones launched overnight. Zelenskyy warned that Russia is ramping up missile production ahead of winter, when Moscow typically renews strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid, with an adviser estimating Russia can now launch 100 ballistic missiles a month; Zelenskyy also suggested stalled Western missile supplies might be a deliberate pressure tactic to make Ukraine “more willing to compromise” in peace talks. The core problem is a severe shortage of Patriot interceptors, the only system capable of downing Russian Iskander-M, S-400, and Zircon missiles, which Zelenskyy says has been driven largely by the US-Israel war on Iran; the AP estimates the US Patriot inventory has fallen at least 65% since before that conflict began, even as the Pentagon insists its stockpiles remain deep.

The U.S. suspended all government operations in Michoacan, Mexico, citing a “threat to U.S. interests,” including a halt to the avocado inspections required for exports to the United States. Michoacan’s governor said the pause was meant to protect workers following recent cartel-related arrests, notably that of “El Poncho” (Alfonso Fernández Magallón), a local cartel leader in the avocado-growing region around Los Reyes, who had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head. Michoacan supplies roughly 80% of U.S. avocado imports, a $3.65 billion industry in 2025 that supports about 200,000 local jobs, and exports have surged 35% this year, making any disruption to the “green gold” trade economically significant. State security officials said 300 personnel were deployed to the area as a precaution, even though no direct incidents involving inspectors have been reported, and this isn’t the first time cartel violence and extortion threats have forced a suspension of U.S. inspections in the region.

A new survey of over 30,000 Americans by the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility and the WK Kellogg Foundation found that 60% define a better life primarily as achieving greater financial security, meaning being able to afford basics like housing, food, and healthcare without constant worry. Despite that modest-sounding goal, 40% of respondents describe themselves as “financially vulnerable” or “struggling to meet basic needs,” with 90% citing grocery and food costs as their top concern, followed by housing, transportation, and healthcare, a finding that echoes a recent Harris poll showing 95% of Americans believe the country is in an affordability crisis. This financial strain stands in stark contrast to record highs in the stock market and surging AI investment, prompting McKinsey’s JP Julien to note that macroeconomic indicators alone don’t capture how people actually experience the economy day to day. While 60% of respondents said government at the local, state, or federal level bears responsibility for helping people get ahead, only 30% said government institutions have actually been helpful, with friends, family, and employers ranked as more meaningful sources of support.

North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile toward waters off its east coast on Thursday from the Wonsan area, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, the latest in a series of weapons tests this year. Japan’s Defense Ministry confirmed detecting a possible ballistic missile launch with no impact in or near Japan, while South Korea said it has stepped up surveillance and is coordinating closely with the U.S. and Japan. The test comes as North Korea continues expanding its nuclear and missile arsenal since Kim Jong Un’s diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019, with experts saying Kim seeks international recognition as a nuclear state to pressure for sanctions relief. Kim has increasingly shifted focus toward naval capabilities, including a nuclear-powered submarine and, last month, tests of a nuclear-capable cruise missile aboard a new destroyer, while also calling for ICBMs capable of underwater launches and deepening military ties with Russia through weapons and troop support for its war in Ukraine.

Australia granted citizenship to Iranian soccer players Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, who sought asylum in March after an Iranian state TV commentator branded them “wartime traitors” for skipping their national anthem at the Women’s Asian Cup. Both women, now playing for Brisbane Roar in Australia’s A-League, described the citizenship ceremony as one of the happiest moments of their lives, though Immigration Minister Tony Burke’s office declined to explain why their process was fast-tracked, since refugees typically must hold a valid visa for four years first. The pair were among seven Iranian players who initially accepted asylum, though five later reversed course and returned to the team for undisclosed reasons; their case drew international attention, including public calls from President Trump for asylum to be granted and a phone call he made to Australian PM Anthony Albanese on the matter. Their fast-tracked citizenship could also make them eligible to play international soccer for Australia going forward.

A federal judge dismissed Alex Murdaugh’s lawsuit seeking $600,000 in legal fees from former court clerk Becky Hill, whose misconduct led South Carolina’s Supreme Court to overturn his murder convictions earlier this year. Judge Richard Gergel ruled there was no causal link between Murdaugh’s legal expenses and Hill’s actions, since she played no role in initiating the criminal charges against him; Murdaugh’s attorneys filed notice to appeal within hours. Despite the overturned convictions, Murdaugh remains imprisoned, serving concurrent 40-year federal and 27-year state sentences after pleading guilty to stealing roughly $12 million from his clients, with his murder retrial now scheduled for April. Investigators say Murdaugh, addicted to opioids at the time, killed his wife and son to divert attention as his financial schemes were unraveling, a case that has since spawned a streaming miniseries, bestselling books, and numerous podcasts.

The U.S. military confirmed there was no white phosphorus leak at Osan Air Base in South Korea, days after Pyeongtaek city officials urged residents to evacuate and avoid skin exposure over a suspected leak on July 28. Investigators determined the crystallization and residue found during a routine munitions inspection was actually non-hazardous surface corrosion from environmental exposure over time, not the controversial incendiary substance, and no injuries occurred. City officials had lifted the evacuation alert after the military completed decontamination work, and the base commander thanked the community for its patience while the matter was resolved. The incident comes amid persistent anti-American sentiment tied to the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, underscored this week by eight South Korean students detained for allegedly breaking into the base while shouting anti-U.S. slogans.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced that at least 308 people abducted in separate attacks in northern Nigeria were rescued, calling it the “largest rescue operation ever” carried out by security forces in a single day. The rescued include 163 people taken from the Woro community in Kwara state back in February and 145 kidnapped mostly from Niger state, all freed from a forest and now receiving medical care; the government did not disclose details of the operation itself. Tinubu praised the “intelligence-led operation” as evidence of improved coordination among security services and commended the personnel involved. Abductions, often targeting schools, are common in Nigeria, where armed groups known as bandits, largely former herders who clashed with farming communities over resources, carry out raids and kidnappings for ransom across the northwest and north-central regions, compounding a separate insurgency that has persisted in the northeast for more than a decade.

Trump Team Governance, Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: We are watching Donald Trump implode, Heather Delaney Reese, above, right, Aug. 6, 2026. At 5:08 this evening, with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” blaring through the speakers at Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada, the President of the United States emerged from behind the bright blue curtains with a noticeably fuller head of hair, freshly dyed the familiar shade of orange he was known for in the past.

As Donald Trump made his way to the podium, he stopped several times to catch his breath through pursed lips, staring off into the crowd that had gathered to hear him speak about “Working Families Tax Cuts.”

He spoke for an hour and sixteen minutes, but very little of that time was spent on working families or tax cuts. Instead, he delivered a speech that marks an all-time low for any American president in our nation’s history. He bounced from one outlandish claim to the next, attacking Democrats by saying their cities are “filthy dirty all the time. The cities stink, they smell.” He claimed that people who drive electric cars are “diseased.” And once again, he turned his attention to one of our closest allies and neighbors, calling Canada and the Canadian people “nasty.” That was just the beginning of a speech that disgraced the office of the presidency.

Trump opened with a moment of silence for Officer Austin Abdelnabi, a 30-year-old Marine veteran and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty just the day before. Trump called him “an incredible young man” and said, “Austin died a hero and he will never be forgotten.” It was exactly the kind of thing a president should do. But later, when Governor Joe Lombardo spoke to the crowd and mentioned Officer Abdelnabi’s name, the audience loudly booed. The Governor had to pause his remarks to correct them: “No, no, we’re not booing him. He’s the officer that passed away here recently.” That moment was shared all over social media within minutes.

The general consensus was that the crowd heard an Arabic-sounding name and responded negatively because the president had just spent a considerable amount of time attacking Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee. He said he was a communist, said he was “full of shit,” called him “a man of hate,” and said, “He doesn’t love Israel. He doesn’t love Jewish people, he hates them. He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart and there’s not a fricking thing he can do about it.” That is why a fallen officer’s name got booed while the Governor was honoring him.

From there, Trump went deeper into his unhinged public meltdown. He complained to UFC executive Dana White, who had welcomed him onstage, that “I’m not getting credit from the fake news for what I’ve done. I never have gotten credit. I don’t get any credit for anything.” This earned boos from the audience for the press, feeding into his groundwork for dismissing any critical or negative coverage they may give him. He continued, “Well, this is all on live television. Every word, if you make one little mistake, one little exaggeration, they go after you with, now, when Biden made mistakes, that’s all he did is make mistakes, nobody ever went after him.” After nearly 19 months in office, Trump is still obsessed with Biden.

And then the lies really started to come. He claimed that “440,000 tipped workers right here in Nevada saved an average of $10,000 on their taxes” and told the crowd that Democrats would terminate the policy if they ever took office. What he did not mention is what independent tax policy groups have been saying for months: that most Americans are paying more, not less, under his second term, and that the Congressional Budget Office estimates the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will result in roughly 10 million Americans losing health coverage over the next decade, including about 70,000 from Nevada. The bill cuts $911 billion from Medicaid, a program approximately 800,000 Nevadans rely on. But inconvenient facts never mattered much to Trump.

He told the crowd he had “lifted nearly 100,000 Nevadans off of food stamps” and added, “they don’t want to be on food stamps because they’ve got new jobs.” Another lie not supported by any facts or evidence. He retold his story about a Las Vegas waitress who inspired the no-tax-on-tips policy, and he could not help himself: “beautiful waitress came over. I’m not allowed to say that today, but I’ll say it anyway. She was beautiful. What can I say, she was beautiful.”

He gloated about the Fertitta brothers, who own Red Rock Resorts, and Phil Ruffin, whom Trump called “a money machine.” Pointing Ruffin and his wife out in the crowd, he shared that they were “loaded.” And when Governor Lombardo was at the microphone, he took it farther, saying with no apparent irony: “Quite often, when the press and the media run him (Trump) down, they think about, you know, he’s taking care of his billionaire friends, but those billionaire friends provide jobs. And unless you take care of them, those jobs are absent.” He stood at an event about tax cuts for American families and said that taking care of billionaires is how the economy thrives. And the crowd cheered. That is what a cult rally looks like.

Trump then moved on to what he is now calling “a big military complex” at the White House, which is really the ballroom and bunker that he is building where he tore down the East Wing of the White House. He has recently started changing the language used for this project because “military complex” sounds like a necessary national security concern and “ballroom” sounds like a vanity project for a man who enjoys creating shrines to himself. He also told the crowd, “I’ve been sued, I think I’ve been sued more times than any human being in history,” as though this were evidence of the unfair persecution he faces, as opposed to the natural consequence of his own actions. He wants to be seen as a martyr, a good man who is constantly being taken down by evil, rather than the reality that he is sued more than most people on this planet because he deserves to be sued.

He also admitted, without even realizing what he said, that Republicans are greedy. While talking about the Big Beautiful Bill, he said: “And now we’re asking for more because, you know, we’re greedy and we’re asking for a lot of other things.”

He told the audience that Melania “hates it when I use the term” for what he sees on the sidewalks of Democratic cities, that “she hates it when I imitate no men in women’s sports,” and that she told him his weightlifter impression “is not presidential.” His response: “Well, it may not be presidential, but I won the election in a landslide, so I don’t know, right?” He said “Melania says hello to everybody, by the way,” and mentioned her movie as if she was now a Hollywood Star. What he did not say was where she was. Melania Trump has barely made a dozen appearances all year. Journalist Joanna Coles described it as a “vanishing act.” She didn’t attend Lindsey Graham’s funeral, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, or Trump’s trip to China. There are speculations that she is trying to distance herself from her husband ahead of the midterm elections and the investigations that could soon follow.

He went off on a bizarre rant about electric vehicles, saying that their drivers “have a disease. You know, it’s a disease, it’s called, like, they get screwed up. They’re driving and they realize their battery’s getting low, and they start thinking about it when it’s three-quarters full.” He called them “crazy.” Then, immediately after, he declared, “And I like electric cars.”

He told the crowd that “the radical left wants to ban a thing called gasoline.” Yet there has been no call by Democrats to ban gasoline. He said this to scare people, and like nearly everything said today, offered no evidence or proof.

He stood in front of working families and lied about the Trump Accounts, the baby savings program where newborns receive $1,000 from the government. He told the crowd: “Think of it, a child, in many cases, they’re born into pretty close to poverty, or they’re poor, they don’t have money. They start off with $1,000 and it’s going to duplicate, and they can end up with $100,000, $200,000, $300,000.” The government’s own website, TrumpAccounts.gov, estimates that the $1,000 with no additional contributions would grow to approximately $6,000 in 18 years. Newsweek calculated about $5,560 at a 10% annual return. NPR cited a financial analyst who put it at just under $4,000 at 8%. To reach the $200,000 figure Trump threw around, a family would need to contribute the maximum $5,000 every single year for 18 years. The families he is targeting, the ones “born into pretty close to poverty,” do not have $5,000 a year. They are living paycheck to paycheck, and he is selling them a lie that has real consequences.

He talked about elections. He said, “If you had fair and strong elections, they would lose 25 percent of their base. They would never be elected again. And I’m trying to explain that to Republicans, but some of them don’t quite understand it. They don’t understand it because they’re good people. They don’t know how crooked these people are. I’ve dealt with a lot of crooked people in my life. They don’t know how bad these people are. We got to get the Republicans to be tougher.” He is openly saying that if elections were run the way he wants them run, which he calls “fair and strong,” Democrats would never win again. He is calling for the elimination of political competition and democratic election procedures.

He said he wants to fire Supreme Court justices. Speaking about the three liberal justices, he said: “They’re like glue, they never veer. And in many ways, I respect that, I must tell you. They’re horrible for our country. It’s too bad they’re on, a couple of them just don’t belong. I’d like to fire them; I’d fire them if I could.” Then he realized what he had just admitted and he tried to walk it back immediately: “I’m just responding for the meeting. I’m just responding to them. They’ll say Trump wants to fire the judges.” The President of the United States told a cheering crowd of people that he would fire Supreme Court justices if he could. He just shared his desire to dismantle a co-equal branch of our government. Once again reminding us that he wants to be an autocrat plain and simple.

And then he started down the most dangerous part of his entire speech. Donald Trump called Democrats “communists” more than a dozen times. He said, “Communism is the greatest threat to our country in its history, including even World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, 9/11. I think it’s the greatest threat.” He said, “I could be the greatest communist in history,” then explained what communism (Democrats in power) would mean for our country: “At the end of the year, you’ll have nothing but death, squalor, poverty. You’ll have a life of hell.” He declared, “Together, we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism in America once and for all.” He kept going from there with his made-up scare tactics about the “communist platform.” He said of Democrats/Communists, “They have officially endorsed defunding the police, defunding the United States military, abolishing and giving up prisons, they do not want prisons. Because nobody deserves to be in prison, even a person that’s killed 10 people.” He claimed “the Communist platform also calls for legalizing heroin and fentanyl,” and then, he trailed on about fentanyl coming in by sea is down 97%. He even called the remaining 3% of drug runners “the bravest human beings on earth,” prompting someone in the crowd to shout “You’re braver” at the President of the United States, who smiled at the “compliment”.

What we saw in this speech was the president imploding from within. He knows his approval ratings are close to the lowest at any point across both of his terms. He knows the economy is destroying American lives, and that he is running out of scapegoats to blame for his own incompetence. He has already gone after immigrants, transgender people, the press, courts, democrats, and the “deep state.” And none of it has helped with his popularity or the Republicans’ odds of keeping control of Congress. So now he is desperately grasping for anything that might help. Including calling half the country communist.

Communism is not just a word. It carries the weight of an estimated 100 million deaths in the 20th century under brutal regimes in the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, and elsewhere. For anyone who grew up during the Cold War, communism was a very real threat. It was the great enemy of many of our childhoods. Like so many others, I remember watching the Berlin Wall fall on television and seeing the relief in the faces of adults who believed a dangerous chapter of history was finally coming to an end. On a trip to Germany just before the world shut down in 2020, I took my family to trace the history of that era. We visited Checkpoint Charlie and stood beside the remnants of the Berlin Wall. We saw the architecture that kept the people of East Berlin from even seeing the other side, and we heard stories of families separated for decades. Vietnam is still a living wound for our parents’ generation, with many who never fully recovered from what they experienced and witnessed. The word triggers something deep and visceral, and Trump knows it. That is why it has become such a central part of his strategy to divide us and create a fear that only he can claim to save us from.

But what he is calling communism has no resemblance to what any elected Democrat in the United States has ever proposed. The furthest-left organization with any meaningful presence in American politics, the Democratic Socialists of America, advocates for universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage, stronger labor unions, and a regulated market economy with a strong social safety net. This is what exists in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Germany, and Australia. These are capitalist countries with private property, free elections, free press, and individual rights. They also have universal healthcare. Democratic socialism is not Marxism. It is not Leninism, Stalinism, or Maoism. It does not call for the abolition of private property, one-party rule, or the elimination of markets.

Trump does not care about any of these distinctions because he knows his most diehard followers will just take him at his word. The Washington Post reported that the communist messaging push is coordinated across Trump, Vice President Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and RNC Chairman Joe Gruters. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News, “This is not your granddaddy’s Democrat Party. These are communists.” Johnson said on Fox News, “It’s communism, socialism, those are deviations of Marxism. This is communism, and it has led to the murder of innocent people, tens of millions of them in the 20th century alone.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio called progressive movements “an encroaching darkness” and “the enemies of civilization.” Stephen Miller said, “The leftist is fundamentally motivated by envy, by hatred, by jealousy. The leftist looks at what is beautiful and what is good and what is natural and is filled with envy and hatred.”

What we can call this moment is McCarthyism. It is the same tactic Senator Joseph McCarthy used in the 1950s when he destroyed careers, ruined lives, and created a climate of fear where simply being accused of communist sympathies was enough to lose everything. McCarthy did not need to prove anyone was actually a communist to destroy them. The accusation was enough.

This is the tradition that Trump is drawing from when he stands at a podium and calls more than half the country communists. The irony of this moment is that the party that resembles communism the most is the Trump-led Republican Party. Because Trump’s own administration has demanded and been given U.S. equity stakes in private corporations.

He ended the speech by once again awkwardly dancing to YMCA and making kissing faces into the crowd as the song played. It was, in its own way, the perfect closing to Donald Trump’s state of mind. He attempted to portray enormous strength while underneath the act everything is falling apart.

We are watching Donald Trump implode. Every new target and lie to create fear is evidence of it. And in some sad and twisted way, that should give us hope. Not the kind of hope that means everything is fine, because it is absolutely not fine. But the desperation he is showing is real. He knows that when Democrats take back Congress in November, his unchecked power ends. He knows that there will be hearings, oversight, and a constitutional path to his removal through impeachment. That is what he is most afraid of, and it is why he is willing to say anything just to keep his base angry enough to show up in November. But what he forgets is that we are seeing all of this too, and more people are sick of the lies and the chaos, and they too will be showing up in November.

The Contrarian, Opinion: A Winning 4-part Plan to Turn Up the Heat on Trump enablers, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Republicans must pay a price for spinelessness.

Donald Trump’s Republican allies rarely are forced to respond to their cult leader’s meandering, incoherent screeds and nonstop blunders (e.g., repeatedly escalating the conflict with Iran and then retreating behind imaginary new negotiations; abandoning abusive, failed prosecution while continuing to threaten innocent Americans). Republican politicians’ infamous professions of ignorance — ‘I didn’t hear him say X’ — and jaw-dropping excuses, coupled with generally weak legacy media interviewers, allow them to escape commenting on, let alone taking responsibility, for the nonstop outrages emanating from the Oval Office.

As candidates gear up for the sprint to the midterm elections, Democrats must pierce the protective cocoon that spares Republicans embarrassment and scrutiny. They would be wise to employ four avenues of attack to bring the fight to Republicans.

First and foremost, holding every Republican responsible for the specific horrors that have unfolded under a president to whom they have completely deferred is essential when running against politicians who refuse to accept blame for the foreseeable result of their votes. The same arguments apply to non-incumbent MAGA candidates who have endlessly cheered Trump from the sidelines and would rubber-stamp his policies if elected.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), for example, eagerly voted to dump tens of billions into a rogue, unhinged and lawless DHS. More than 50 people have died while being detained by ICE, in addition to the ICE killings on our streets, including in her home state. These did not happen by accident. She also could have stopped the big, ugly bill from reaching the floor, but instead she allowed massive cuts to healthcare and to SNAP to go through, helping to pay for billionaires’ tax cuts.

Likewise, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) rubber-stamped the egregiously unfit Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (and refused to support his removal after Signalgate). He has done nothing as Trump wasted tens of billions, sacrificed the lives of 18 brave American military personnel, depleted our munitions, and lost free navigation of the Strait of Hormuz. In failing to exercise his constitutional obligations, Sullivan is as responsible as Hegseth for widespread Pentagon mismanagement, exclusion of qualified women and non-white officers from promotions, and potential war crimes.

Indeed, every House and Senate incumbent (e.g. Ohio’s Sen. John Husted, Nebraska’s Pete Ricketts, Kansas’s Roger Marshall, South Dakota’s Mike Rounds ) on the ballot bears blame for a host of other horrors — mass closings of rural hospitals, measles outbreaks, decimation of the rural economy, fires overwhelming DOGE-reduced emergency responders, devastation of veterans’ services, wholesale cuts to SNAP that leave millions without food assistance, deprivation of emergency relief services, ever-escalating prices aggravated by tariffs (which Congress could have short-circuited), the plethora of health and disease disasters spawned by DOGE cuts and RFK, Jr. nuttery, a generational loss of scientific research, etc. — because they slashed popular, critical programs, confirmed (in the case of senators) unqualified nominees, allowed DOGE to run wild, and refused to conduct rudimentary oversight. Americans died and suffered because Congressman X or Senator Y didn’t have the nerve to stand up to the president.

Second, Democrats must learn to ignore and redirect Republican-spewed nonsense, just as Texas Senate nominee James Talarico has ably demonstrated. “James Talarico is determined not to let his GOP challenger Ken Paxton’s and Republicans’ attacks on his masculinity define him in what has emerged as one of the party’s loudest tactics in the crucial Senate race,” Politico reported. “The Texas Democrat is working to position himself as a candidate focused on issues he says men actually care about instead of speculation about his diet, sexuality and religious beliefs.”

Talarico has turned the narrative against juvenile, morally deficient MAGA Republicans — specifically their scandal-plagued nominee, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who, among other sins, gave a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal to a child sex abuser. In the absence of any data showing the childish attack on his masculinity is moving any voters, Talarico “has focused on issues he says affect many men — like lowering housing costs, stopping corporate landlord rent manipulation and curbing the influence of billionaire mega-donors in politics.”

He could go a step further and simply denounce the insanely stupid, irrelevant attacks as evidence of a candidate and party lacking the maturity to serve. (He comes close when he declares “I don’t think guys my age are really concerned about that kind of thing… You’ve got these old guys lathered up in their fake tans throwing cheesy nicknames at each other.”) Frankly, a party that stands by a president found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and cannot dump Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), credibly accused of spousal and child abuse, has some nerve trying to impugn its opponents’ masculine virtues.Subscribed

Third, Democrats should respond in a similar vein to another ludicrous Trump smear, namely that they’ve become “communists,” a term decades removed from the Cold War. (Sometimes ridicule is the only appropriate response to a gang who apparently thinks Dr. Strangelove is a contemporary documentary.)

Democrats would be smart to remind voters that “communism” insults are the last-ditch defense of desperate MAGA candidates shilling for a corrupt regime in which oligarchs rig the system to get out of jail, exempt themselves from taxes, avoid accountability for misconduct, and shift business costs onto the backs of ordinary Americans (e.g., higher electricity prices to subsidize data centers, higher gas prices to pay for Big Oil, lost access to healthcare coverage to pay for tax cuts for billionaires). Labeling what MAGA zombie politicians are up to (i.e., taking marching orders from a failing, decrepit president who acts like the Berlin Wall still stands) has its virtues.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, Democrats must call for an end to Republicans’ protection racket for a mind-boggling array of highly suspect conduct: tolerance for accused sexual predators; Trump family conflicts of interest; felony pardon scams; crypto grift; Cabinet self-enrichment; FCC shady dealings; strong-arm money grubbing from corporations; Trump foreign real estate schemes; a Qatari Air Force One scandal; harassment of journalists to shield further Trump embarrassment; Justice Department misconduct; Trump’s spasm of self-reverential DC monument construction; and Venezuela oil money profit taking. Forcing every Republican on the ballot to own up to their part in the stomach-turning reign of authoritarian greed will be an essential component of Democrats’ midterm campaign. (And, of course, millions of documents required by law to be disclosed remain locked up, with no finding of contempt or criminal referral against acting AG Todd Blanche and his Epstein cover-up operation, thanks to Republican lackeys.) This monstrous corruption can only end when Democrats get the gavels, subpoena power, and, yes, the majority required to threaten impeachment.

Poll numbers showing public disgust with Trump’s MAGA rule and giving Democrats a strong advantage should encourage Democrats but not lull them into complacency. If they tie individual Republicans to disastrous results, avoid stupid distractions, deflect MAGA name-calling, and vow to end MAGA’s corruption free-for-all, they can win decisively. At stake is nothing less than halting our slide into authoritarian chaos.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Good News Trump Won’t Mention, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Crime is plunging, but he can’t handle that truth.

Monday was a day ending in the letter “y,” so Donald Trump spent much of the day boasting about how great he is and whining about not getting credit. At this point most observers tune his rants out. However, the screed at the top of this post has received some attention, possibly because it was marked by a kind of purity: every one of Trump’s bombastic claims was completely, verifiably false.

I was struck, however, by the fact that Trump didn’t mention one important thing that has been going right: crime has been plunging. Jeff Asher reports that the number of murders, which rose in the aftermath of Covid but has been declining ever since, is now approaching lows not seen since the 1960s in a number of big cities, with New York probably the safest it has ever been (the numbers in parentheses are the most recent year murders were this low):One might have expected that Trump, whose inaugural address in 2017 was devoted to “American carnage,” the wave of violence supposedly sweeping U.S. cities, would be celebrating low crime and taking credit. Indeed, every once in a while the Trumpified Justice department puts out a press release attributing falling homicides to Dear Leader’s guidance. But nothing from Trump himself.

Just to be clear, Trump does not in fact deserve credit for falling crime. The bump in murders 6 years ago took place mostly on Trump’s watch, and the big decline began on Joe Biden’s:Murders, rolling 12-month total. Source

Indeed, while there is no consensus about what caused the big decline in crime, many observers give partial credit to social support programs made possible by Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act. If they’re right, by the way, the drastic spending cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the attack on any kind of social spending — having failed to gut funding for Head Start, the administration is trying to sabotage the program, seemingly out of sheer spite — could well show up as an uptick in crime a few years from now.

Yet while Trump isn’t responsible for falling murder rates, claiming credit for anything good that happens on his watch (while blaming others for everything bad) is his normal behavior. Why, then, is he silent about the good news on crime?

The answer is threefold. First, Trump (along with much of his party) hates American cities, and isn’t open to hearing anything good about them. Second, he (again along with much of his party) has an image of what life is like in our cities that is 40 years out of date. Finally — and again in accord with his party — he wants to punish people, and acknowledging good behavior would get in the way.

About city-hatred: During a Monday White House event Trump went off on a tangent about “blue cities” in which he declared

What do they have in common? They’re all dirty. They’re filthy, dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty.

This wasn’t really a comment about “blue cities,” it was an attack on American cities in general, since almost all major cities — 9 of the top 10, with 95 percent of their combined population — have Democratic mayors. And as usual, try to imagine any public figure saying something similar about rural America.

Also, what would Trump know about what American cities are like? When was the last time he walked around a major city? For what it’s worth, here’s a picture I recently took of New York’s gross trees:

About living in the past: When Trump gave his “American carnage” speech, it was obvious that he was still stuck in a vision of urban life as it was in 1989, when he demanded the death penalty for the Central Park Five, wrongly convicted of an assault on a jogger. (Trump refuses to this day to acknowledge that he was wrong.) The epic decline in crime that took place in the years that followed clearly escaped his attention. To put his anachronistic vision in context, here’s an enlarged and annotated panel from Jeff Asher’s post about plunging crime:

Murders through June of each year

Obviously urban crime hasn’t disappeared. But obsessing about it at this point is wildly out of date. Next thing you know Trump is going to start ranting about the Communist menace. Oh, wait.

Fundamentally, however, the reason Trump can’t claim credit for, or even acknowledge, falling crime isn’t ignorance. It is, instead, as Adam Serwer memorably put it, that the cruelty is the point. Punishment isn’t a means to an end, a way to fight crime; it’s an end in itself, with crime only a rationale.

And if one wants to inflict pain — deporting, imprisoning, and, yes, shooting people — it’s necessary to claim that those people are doing terrible things. They’re dirty, they’re disgusting, they’re criminals. Acknowledging that crime is plunging, even while falsely claiming credit, would undermine the case for cruelty.

So Trump can’t talk about the fact that crime is down, not even falsely to claim credit, even though falling crime is one of the few ways in which America really is doing much better than it was a few years ago. Instead he must claim that “Radical Left” pollsters — like, for example, Fox News — are hiding his immense popularity, and that his Iran debacle was a great victory.

The Bulwark, News and Comment: Capital One Just Dropped an Atomic Bomb on Trump, Aug. 5, 2026, Sam Stein and Andrew Weissmann discuss the Justice Department’s dismissal of charges over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, potential recourse for Olympian David Hearn, and Trump’s response.

They also examine Todd Blanche’s Senate confirmation prospects, the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund and tax-immunity agreement, Capital One’s anti-money-laundering claims involving Trump Organization accounts, and Anthony Fauci’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment before Congress.

All Rise News, News and Comment: Reflecting pool damage, Adam Klasfeld, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Tonight’s legal roundup kicks off with a deep dive into reflecting pool revelations. Later in the newsletter: New Mexico authorities sue the Trump Justice Department seeking evidence for their Epstein investigation, and the White House is still spinning the Russia probe.

Despite his cascade of lies surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Donald Trump turned out to be right about one thing.

Someone actually took a knife to the sealant, but it wasn’t Olympic athlete David Hearn. It wasn’t any “vandal,” and there was no criminal conspiracy.

As it turns out, a National Park Service engineer cut off a stretch of loose liner to mitigate the damage of a botched installation job, Hearn’s lawyers have just revealed.

“On July 13, the USAO-DC special agents photographed damage throughout the pool, accompanied by a National Park Service (NPS) engineer who informed the agents that he had personally cut loose liner or coating with a knife to prevent further peeling,” Hearn’s attorneys wrote in a 28-page filing.

Hearn explained that there was a good reason for that: “The government’s own engineer determined that it was better to cut off the peeling sections than to let them flap around.

”Possible Action Item: Support civil society

The Trump Justice Department was forced to move to dismiss the case against Hearn and others because defense attorneys made pursuing the prosecution untenable.

Civil society groups came to Hearn’s defense, including the Democracy Defenders Fund.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for Washington, D.C., led by ex-Fox personality turned top prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, asked a judge last week to dismiss Hearn’s indictment. Prosecutors also have dropped cases against others accused of similar crimes. The government admitted that a “rushed and flawed installation process” by contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings was to blame, not vandalism.

Despite those admissions, prosecutors asked to dismiss Hearn’s indictment “without prejudice” — meaning that the government could pursue the charges again later.Hearn’s attorneys opposed that request on the grounds that it would let the government revive a “politically motivated prosecution,” and they noted that Trump has been clamoring for that outcome.

“That is particularly true when the President of the United States has already voiced his vigorous disagreement with USAO-DC’s dismissal of the case against Mr. Hearn — saying that the U.S. Attorney ‘choked,’ ‘folded like an umbrella,’ and ‘made a mistake,’ and doubling down on the false claim that the damage was caused by vandalism — and has previously not hesitated to insinuate himself into cases that historically have been the exclusive province of the DOJ,” the filing states.

On Tuesday, The New York Times revealed the backstory of Pirro’s Oval Office meeting with Trump and Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum. Prosecutors blamed the Department of the Interior for allegedly providing “less than fulsome information” about the case. Burgum continued to defend Trump’s discredited theory about vandals, and Pirro brought a white box of evidence into the White House to defend the decision.

Hearn’s defense team took on the narratives of both parties, slamming Pirro’s “unprofessional and unethical” actions and stating that the Justice Department and Interior Department worked “hand-in-glove” on the investigation.Before Hearn ever visited the pool, prosecutors had access to photographs and videos of damage to the reflecting pool, and they received a “Damage Assessment” showing peeled sealant far away from any area Hearn touched.

From the DOI Damage Assessment (Image via court filing)Hearn’s filing suggests that Pirro has bigger concerns than holding her job, stating that she “wholly disregarded DC Bar and DOJ ethics rules” by violating the defendant’s presumption of innocence by opining on his guilt and discussing the evidence during a press conference and on her old right-wing cable network.If the judge doesn’t immediately dismiss the case with prejudice, Hearn seeks a ruling opening up the grand jury records.Watch my video breakdown of this development here.Share

New Mexico sues Blanche over Epstein probe

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, right, swore under oath that he would cooperate with a criminal investigation by state prosecutors in New Mexico into Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme.

“We’re continuing to work with them,” Blanche testified.

The state’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez apparently has little confidence in Blanche’s response, filing a federal lawsuit against him and the Justice Department that he leads seeking access to evidence needed for their investigation.“

New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” Torrez said in a statement. “We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”

Epstein’s Zorro Ranch outside of Santa Fe was one of several properties in which survivors reported sexual abuse.In a 40-page federal lawsuit, Torrez emphasizes that several administrations failed victims, and he describes the Trump Justice Department’s noncooperation with New Mexico authorities as their third betrayal.

First, prosecutors reached a 2008 non-prosecution agreement with Epstein that hid the lenient terms from survivors, and then there was the bungled rollout of the investigative files, exposing sensitive victim photographs and information while filling other documents with excessive redactions.

Now, Torrez said: “USDOJ and Acting Attorney General Blanche are refusing to facilitate the investigation of state law crimes by hiding information about Epstein and his co-conspirators from Attorney General Torrez and state law enforcement, when New Mexico is one of few jurisdictions that still may have an opportunity to hold Epstein’s associates accountable or otherwise provide some sense of justice to survivors.

”The lawsuit states that federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to stand down in 2019, the year of Epstein’s indictment in New York.This past May, New Mexico sent a formal demand for evidence — known as a Touhy request — seeking, among other things, unredacted versions of certain documents released from the Epstein files.

“NMDOJ’s Touhy request informed USDOJ that NMDOJ is currently ‘investigating potential felony offenses’ under New Mexico’s state criminal code, ‘including but not limited to homicide, kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexual contact, and human trafficking,’” the lawsuit states, referring to an unverified anonymous tip that two girls were strangled and buried at Zorro Ranch.

New Mexico authorities allege that some of the requested files conceal information at the heart of their investigation, including notes from an FBI interview with a witness stating: “The first assault happened in New Mexico; EPSTEIN and [REDACTED] were both there in the room.”

Read the lawsuit in full here.

‘Wittingly or unwittingly’Throughout Trump’s second term, a pattern has emerged. The White House or its allies release a stash of once-sensitive or declassified documents, claiming that the files support popular MAGA conspiracy theories, damage one of Trump’s enemies, or both.

Then, upon scrutiny, the documents reveal information damaging to Trump and his conspiracy theories.

Disgraced journalist John Solomon, a figure from Trump’s first impeachment who is now serving on a White House task force, gave a prime example of the practice on Wednesday. He released declassified documents revealing that the FBI feared Trump had been “wittingly or unwittingly” manipulated by the Russian government.

The FBI investigation described in the documents has a quirky code name: “Oxferd comma,” intentionally misspelled for undisclosed reasons. Dated one day before Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel, the declassified FBI memo found “an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States.”

“The goal of the investigation is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and /or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and / or a violation of federal criminal statutes,” the memo continues. “In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and /or conspired to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.”

Mueller ultimately did not find enough evidence to charge Trump with a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government, but his findings fell far short of Trump’s claim of “COMPLETE AND TOTAL EXONERATION.”

“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the Mueller report found.

Mueller found that the Trump campaign “welcomed” the Kremlin’s election interference, charged 34 people and three companies in connection with his investigation, and convicted eight of them. The report showed that Trump’s campaign shared internal polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the GOP-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee described as a Russian asset.

The former special counsel also found that Trump may have obstructed justice at least 10 times, but he declined to reach a traditional prosecutorial judgment because he couldn’t indict a then-sitting president. The FBI memo cited Trump’s firing of James Comey as one of those possible instances of obstruction which prevented prosecutors from getting a “complete picture” from the investigation.

“Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” the report concluded.Even though the FBI’s memos were consistent with Mueller’s findings and evidence, Solomon suggested that the declassified memos could support an ongoing “grand conspiracy” investigation into Trump’s enemies. You can read the memo in full here.All Rise News is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

New York Times, A Trans Woman Brandished a Firearm. Gun Rights Devotion Disappeared, Jack Healy, Aug. 6, 2026. Gun-friendly Wyoming has a “stand your ground” statute that allows people to use force to defend themselves. So why is a trans woman being prosecuted after being shoved to the ground?

When Rihanna Kelver goes on road trips or ventures out alone to photograph the rural night sky, she often packs a small teal handgun. Being a transgender woman in Wyoming is not easy, she said, but owning a gun sure seemed like it would be.

Then one night last September, Ms. Kelver, 28, drew her gun after she had been pushed down in the street during a brief confrontation with three men in the college town of Laramie, according to police reports and surveillance video. Wyoming’s “stand your ground” law is supposed to offer legal protections to gun owners who draw in self-defense, yet Ms. Kelver was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent, charges that carry up to 15 years in prison.

The case has touched off an impassioned debate in one of the country’s most gun-friendly, staunchly Republican states about whether the Second Amendment applies when the person holding the gun is transgender.

“I had to defend myself,” said Ms. Kelver, who transitioned as a high schooler in Laramie and has been an outspoken activist for trans rights. “I don’t know how it wasn’t reasonable, given the dangers and threats trans people hear every day.”

The county attorney in Laramie said gender and sexual orientation had played no part in his decision to prosecute the case, and a judge found there was enough evidence to take it to trial.

Ms. Kelver says she would not have been charged if she had been a biological female shoved to the ground by a group of men.

Interest in guns and firearms training soared in L.G.B.T.Q. communities after President Trump’s 2024 election win, as Americans who had never previously considered owning a gun worried about political violence or losing their rights to a more aggressive second Trump presidency.ImageA downtown street scene at dawn.Laramie, Wyo., a left-leaning college town, may be L.G.B.T.Q. friendly, but it still lives under the shadow of the murder of Matthew Shepard.Credit...Daniel Brenner for The New York Times

Then last August, a 23-year-old trans woman killed two children in a shooting spree at a Minneapolis church, prompting a wave of right-wing figures to call transgender people mentally ill and violent, and question whether they should be allowed to own guns at all.

Ms. Kelver said she grew up around guns and went target shooting with her grandfather in Colorado. A friend gave her the .380 subcompact pistol that fit neatly into a hip pack a few years ago after some men in a pickup truck harassed her as she took photos at night in a deserted stretch of Wyoming.

Wyoming’s permissive gun laws made that simple. Wyoming does not require gun owners to register their weapons and allows people to carry firearms concealed or in the open without a permit. The state’s Firearms Freedom Act declares that guns made and kept within state lines are exempt from federal regulations, and its “stand your ground” law allows people to use force to defend themselves if they reasonably believe their safety is threatened. The law says they do not have a duty to retreat if they are not the initial aggressor.

Laramie, a city of 30,000 where bike shops and galleries put rainbow stickers in their windows and Pride Fest fills a park every year, is still living in the shadow of Matthew Shepard. In 1998, Mr. Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, was brutally beaten by two men and left tied to a fence in a field, bringing an avalanche of outside scrutiny and soul-searching crashing down onto Laramie.

Ms. Kelver’s supporters around town worry that the case could divide the town anew, undercutting years of progress and reopening old wounds.

“They’re charging Rihanna because she’s a trans woman,” said Nichol Bondurant, a high school teacher who dressed in white as a wide-winged angel in the wake of Mr. Shephard’s murder to thwart anti-gay protesters who flocked to Laramie then. “Gun rights don’t say you have to fit a political affiliation.”

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: U.S. Senator makes SHOCKING admission when confronted by reporters, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 5, 2026. At 11:11 yesterday morning, a weary United States senator stepped into a Capitol Hill hallway lined with reporters and confirmed just how dangerous this moment has become.

John Cornyn, the senator Trump recently rejected for not being loyal enough, had just voted to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, and when the cameras turned to him, he admitted, “There’s nothing we could do to rein in the president.” He didn’t say they chose not to. He said there was nothing they could do. One of 100 people elected specifically as a check on executive power told the American people they were powerless. Except it simply wasn’t true. Minutes earlier, he had been handed a near-perfect chance to stop it. If Cornyn or fellow Republican Thom Tillis had voted no, Blanche’s nomination would have died in committee. That’s all it would have taken.

Both men had nothing to lose. Cornyn already lost his primary after Trump endorsed his opponent. Tillis chose not to run again. They were two of the freest men in the Senate, with no reelection to worry about and no base to appease, and they still could not bring themselves to say no. Tillis even admitted during the meeting, “Nobody is clean here,” and then voted yes anyway.

This is Todd Blanche, Trump’s personal defense attorney during the trial that ended in 34 felony convictions, who, as acting attorney general, has fired more than 200 prosecutors who worked on Trump cases, moved to vacate the convictions of January 6 leaders, indicted James Comey over an Instagram post, and said that if Trump replaced him, he would respond, “Thank you very much. I love you, sir.” More than 1,200 former DOJ officials from 14 administrations wrote to oppose him, saying his guiding star is “fealty to the President, not the Constitution.”

But history offers a warning that every Republican in Congress should be hearing. There is a pattern with Trump and his lawyers, and it never ends well for the lawyers. Michael Cohen went to prison and was disbarred. Rudy Giuliani was disbarred, found liable for $148 million, and declared bankruptcy. John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Kenneth Chesebro all either disbarred, convicted, or both. Blanche is walking the exact same path, either too deep to see it or believing he will be the one Trump spares. No one ever is. When the tide turns, and it will, the American people will hold every enabler accountable, and they will scramble to rewrite their own histories. This was their moment, and they let it pass. But there is a way we rein in the president even when those elected to do so refuse. We show them with our votes in November.

New York Times, Bunny Dolls and Disturbing Allegations: Max Miller’s Strange CNN Interview, Michael M. Grynbaum, Aug. 5, 2026. In a 23-minute appearance with the anchor Jake Tapper, the Ohio Republican made an unusual effort to rebut a multitude of allegations that have threatened his re-election bid.

It was the cable news equivalent of tweeting through it. Or trying to.

Representative Max Miller, the Ohio Republican facing a pileup of allegations that he emotionally and physically abused his ex-wife and his toddler daughter, submitted to a live on-air interrogation from CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

For Mr. Miller, the 23-minute appearance was a high-stakes attempt to confront the questions surrounding his personal conduct, as he tries to salvage his flailing re-election campaign amid mounting calls for him to drop out of his state’s Republican primary.

For Mr. Tapper — who personally booked the interview — it was an opportunity to pin down Mr. Miller about his reaction to several shocking allegations. And while Mr. Miller remained defiant, insisting he would not abandon his candidacy, he repeatedly evaded, deflected or struggled to respond to Mr. Tapper’s queries.

Afterward, many reviews, even within Mr. Miller’s own party, were not kind.

The congressman cannot keep “litigating this on national TV day after day,” Scott Jennings, one of CNN’s lead Republican commentators, said on the network hours later. He called on Mr. Miller to drop his bid for re-election. “Mr. Miller, whatever you think your future is going to be,” Mr. Jennings said, “put your family first.”

Mr. Miller’s team decided to book one lengthy interview with a newscaster they believed would be tough but fair with their candidate, according to a person with knowledge of their discussions about strategy. The team also wanted to pick a news outlet that could not be dismissed as too friendly to the candidate, the person said.

Mr. Miller is seeking a third term. He has denied the accusations from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno; the couple divorced in 2024 and have been embroiled in a custody battle. Ms. Moreno has said that her ex-husband held a gun to her head and threw hot water from a skillet at her, and fractured their daughter’s collarbone; Mr. Miller has said without evidence that Ms. Moreno has mental health problems and has called her a liar and stalker.ImageMax Miller walks with Emily Moreno behind him.Mr. Miller with his now ex-wife, Emily Moreno, in 2022.Credit...Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Associated Press

Mr. Miller is a former aide to President Trump, who has warned the congressman that the allegations were politically problematic but has stopped short of calling for him to abandon the race. During his CNN appearance, Mr. Miller compared his own defiance to that of the president, who refused to leave the 2016 presidential race after leaked audio surfaced in which he bragged about groping women.

“People in the media, very much like yourself and others, said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States,” Mr. Miller told Mr. Tapper. “But guess what? He stayed in and he was resilient.”

With the screen split between Mr. Tapper in his studio and Mr. Miller in Los Angeles, the CNN anchor opened the interview by asking about a claim that Mr. Miller had refused to give his daughter a favorite stuffed animal. Senator Bernie Moreno, also an Ohio Republican and the father of Mr. Miller’s ex-wife, told reporters about the doll on Tuesday.

“Let’s start there, with your former father-in-law’s story today about your daughter and the little blue bunny doll that she cannot sleep without,” Mr. Tapper said. “If it’s true, that sounds like emotionally abusive behavior toward a toddler to refuse to give it to her.”

Mr. Miller bobbed and weaved, criticizing Mr. Moreno, until Mr. Tapper interrupted. “It’s not really the issue, though, right?” the anchor said. “The issue is — the one I asked you about is — did you hold this doll hostage?” (Mr. Miller said “no” before returning to his harangue about his father-in-law.)

At one point, Mr. Tapper ticked through abuse accusations leveled by three women against Mr. Miller. The congressman tried to interrupt to criticize one of the women. Mr. Tapper replied, “Hold on, because I’m not done with the list of women that have accused you of violence.”

Mr. Miller also would not specify the last time he had used illegal drugs.

Another notable exchange occurred when Mr. Tapper brought up a picture of Mr. Miller’s toddler that was included in a file posted online Sunday by the congressman in an effort to rebut the allegations. Lawyers for his ex-wife accused Mr. Miller of disseminating an image that could be considered as child sexual abuse material. The image was eventually removed after being viewed at least 204,000 times.

“It is shockingly reckless behavior by you and your team,” Mr. Tapper said.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s shockingly reckless,” Mr. Miller replied, adding, “This is being taken very much out of context. There was no genitalia of my daughter that was exposed.”

The ugly allegations, along with Mr. Trump’s reluctance to call for Mr. Miller to leave the race, have left Republican Party officials scrambling to determine a path forward, with a House seat up for grabs that could be crucial in the party’s effort to retain control of the chamber.

Mr. Tapper concluded the interview by asking if “anyone in your life” is telling Mr. Miller that “it really might be in the best interests for your daughter and for your own mental health to drop out.”

“My daughter is going to grow up one day, and she’s going to see all of this,” Mr. Miller said. “And she’s not going to see that her father caved to political and social media pressures for something that he never did.”

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Judge Edelman Will Give Davey Hearn the Last Word, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 6, 2026. Judge Todd Edelman has issued an order dismissing the case against Olympic canoeist Davey Hearn, but reserving whether he should do so with or without prejudice for more briefing.

ORDERED that the Government’s Motion to Dismiss the Indictment is GRANTED IN PART; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that this case is DISMISSED, and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the government’s request for a dismissal without prejudice and the Defendant’s request for dismissal with prejudice are HELD IN ABEYANCE, and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the government may file a Reply to the Defendant’s Response to Government’s Motion to Dismiss the Indictment, not to exceed 15 doublespaced pages, on or before August 18, 2026; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendant may file a Sur-Reply, not to exceed 10 double-spaced pages, no more than 7 days after the filing of any government Reply.

There are several notable aspects to this.

First, he notes that Hearn has moved for the case to be dismissed with prejudice, in part to prevent Trump from demanding it be refiled, but that as an alternative, Hearn would like the grand jury transcripts that this motion to dismiss may have been an attempt to stave off.

1 In the alternative, the defense requests that the Court grant the Defendant’s pending Motion for Disclosure of Grand Jury Minutes and Legal Instructions or conduct an in camera review of the requested materials before ruling on the Government’s Motion.

You might think the order for more briefing is just an invitation for DOJ to do what they should have done from the start, to dismiss the case with prejudice.

Except that, remarkably, Edelman has built in a chance for Hearn to respond to whatever the government files. To fact check it, perhaps. He describes how, barely three weeks after indicting Hearn, DOJ claimed it had learned new stuff, as if for the first time.

Approximately three weeks later, on July 31, 2026, the government filed its Motion to Dismiss the Indictment (“Government’s Motion”). The Government’s Motion describes in considerable detail information the government reportedly learned from the Department of the Interior after the return of the Indictment that “strongly suggest(s] that a rushed and botched installation [of the lining] by AIC, the primary contractor, led to the damage to the lining of the Reflecting Pool,” Gov’t Mot, at 18, and that has led the government to conclude that “it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,”

Of course, Hearn has debunked all of that. They always had a photo in their possession showing that the flap of liner they accused Hearn of ripping was ripped before he got there — they just were lying to judges about where it came from and, possibly, when it was taken. They had notice no later than July 10, barely a week after the indictment, that Interior knew the earliest damage was not vandalism. DOJ’s own agents sussed out the pool on July 13, but Jeanine Pirro claimed they only checked it on on July 17 (or maybe on July 16).

Edelman has built in a sur-reply for Hearn, as if he fully expects he may be lied to, ten pages due a week after DOJ files.

Normally, judges permit or invite sur-replies if the moving party adds new details in their reply, but Edelman has built that in, and told DOJ he has built that in.

Not only that, Edelman plans to have a hearing about this. While he replaced a pretrial hearing that had been scheduled for September 11, his order says his staffers will contact the parties to schedule a hearing on the pending motions.

‘The undersigned’s chambers will contact counsel to schedule a hearing on the pending motions.

Motions, plural. Which therefore presumably includes the request for grand jury transcripts, as well as Hearn’s demand he get his phone back.

Jeanine Pirro utterly botched the game theory of this dismissal in every way. And for the life of me, I can’t imagine how she improves on her abysmal performance thus far.

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: DOJ Invokes Trump v. US to Protect Todd Blanche’s Fixer, Aakash Singh, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right,), Aug. 5, 2026. The Chicago US Attorney’s Office has submitted its objection to requests from the Broadview 6 that there be some kind of further punishment — discovery, contempt, an investigation — for the misconduct on the case.

There are some gaping holes in the argument, which I’ll return to.

But there’s one part of the argument that deserves immediate attention.

In the Broadview 6 requests, they asked for discovery on the role of Todd Blanche’s fixer, Aakash Singh, noting both that he was the instrument of the vindictive prosecution against Kilmar Abrego, and that his reported conduct — that is, dismissing grand jurors who object to a case — is precisely what happened in this one.

Any documents, communications, and records between any member of the Front Office or any AUSA in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh5 or Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche relating to the investigation, decision to charge, the proposed indictment, the grand jury proceedings, or the postindictment proceedings in this case before the Court. From September 19, 2025 through May 31, 2026. (This request includes cell phone records from any cell phone used for such communication with Mr. Singh.)

5 The request regarding Aakash Singh is well-supported based upon publicly available information regarding Mr. Singh’s direct involvement in matters of this type, including presentations made to grand juries.

First, publicly available reporting indicates that Mr. Singh has played a central role in guiding the prosecution of “top administration targets such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, James Comey, and Don Lemon” and, of particular note here, in seeking “to dismiss [grand] jurors who presented hurdles” when “grand juries refused to indict . . . following mass street arrests.” Ben Penn, In-Your-Face DOJ Aide Rides Prosecutors for ‘Chief Client’ Trump, Bloomberg Law, Feb. 19, 2026, (emphasis added).

Second, Mr. Singh engaged in numerous substantive—and now Courtdocumented —communications directly with the prosecution team in the Abrego Garcia case. Ex. A, Court Order in Case No. 25-cr-115, M.D. Tenn. (Dkt. #312) (identifying numerous specific communications to and from Mr. Singh and the assigned prosecutor related to that prosecution, as well as Mr. Singh’s involvement, oversight, and direction to the prosecution team, at pp. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, and 32). [emphasis original]

The DOJ response objects to this request in a number of nested ways. There’s no evidence of contempt, Judge April Perry is not competent to conduct an investigation, and much of this is privileged, among other arguments. Blah blah blah.

But the Todd Blanche’s DOJ did something that it has generally stopped short of doing, in spite of all the various ways DOJ has invoked expansive authority this term.

It invoked Trump v. US.

Separately, as the Supreme Court recently held, “[i]nvestigative and prosecutorial decisionmaking is ‘the special province of the Executive Branch,’” and so even the “President may discuss potential investigations and prosecutions with his Attorney General and other Justice Department officials to carry out his constitutional duty to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593, 620 (2024) (quotations and citations omitted). Thus, members of the Executive Branch are constitutionally required to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” and it is entirely appropriate for them to “decide which crimes to investigate and prosecute.” Id. (quoting U.S. Const. Art. II, § 3). Although the Supreme Court in 2024 made clear that the law permits such interactions, as already noted and consistent with Department policy, in this matter, the United States Attorney reported the Office’s charging decision to Main Justice shortly before the first grand jury presentation in this case. R. 110 at 4, n.2.15 Former Defendants are not entitled to any communications relating to charging decisions or any other intra-agency or interagency communications, including those with other individuals in Main Justice or federal law enforcement, because the law disallows their access to such communications both as a matter of separation of powers and privilege.

In a footnote, it implicitly (with the citation to In re United States) threatened Judge April Perry with a mandamus petition if she went there, even while not answering the unnamed counsel’s question (because the answer is limited to charging decisions, not — for example — grand jury tactics on how to obtain abusive indictments).

15 On July 15, 2026, counsel for one of the former Defendants sent an email to the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking whether the Office “still stands” behind its assertion that there were “no communications” “with anyone outside the USAO” regarding “who and what to charge” or its “investigatory or charging decisions.” R. 110 at 3 (bold in original, italics added). The Front Office is not aware of any communications in which it took direction from anyone outside the U.S. Attorney’s Office regarding its decisions as to what investigatory steps the local prosecution team would take or who the local prosecution team would charge when prosecutors went into the grand jury to indict this case. Out of an abundance of caution, the Office notes there was a virtual meeting on September 27, 2025, among Main Justice lawyers, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office, lawyers from at least one other U.S. Attorney’s Office on the West Coast, and many federal law enforcement agencies where the September 26 “Broadview” incident was mentioned (and a public video played) as part of a broader discussion of incidents and conduct against ICE during that time. To the Front Office’s knowledge, the virtual meeting did not mention the identity or political affiliation of any person. It was only later when Chicago FBI agents assigned to the case began investigating the matter that the Office learned the identity of some of the people involved in the incident. Moreover, as would be expected in the normal course, there were discussions between the Office and Main Justice regarding such things as case updates, especially given the publicity the case generated after it had been charged. These privileged discussions are not only permitted but are contemplated. See supra 19; In re United States, 398 F.3d at 618 (“How the United States reaches its litigating positions, who said what to whom within the prosecutor’s office, and so on, are for the Attorney General and the President to evaluate. The Judicial Branch is limited to assessing counsel’s public deeds.”).

In May, Jack Goldsmith argued that this type of reliance is precisely what Trump might try, but we really hadn’t seen it yet.

In an article published last year, I argued that the decision would be less important for its immunity holding than for its rulings “on the President’s exclusive removal power and exclusive power over investigation and prosecution.” I claimed that while it was “hard to predict” how the Supreme Court would treat these rulings,

it is not hard to predict how the executive branch will use the Trump rulings, at least until they are later revised by courts. In litigation it will invoke them in support of broad presidential power. It will also invoke them inside the executive branch, in many contexts outside of judicial review, in deciding which executive branch actions are lawful, and in deciding, relatedly, which congressional statutes to disregard as unconstitutional.

I speculated in particular that the executive branch would rely on Trump to expand its law enforcement discretion and its authority over removal, presidential supervision, and executive privilege.

It is still early, but to date the public record shows that Trump has had less formal impact than I anticipated.

Now we have, in an instance in which elected Democrats and Democratic candidates are testing whether the misconduct used to indict them came from the top.

In an instance where there’s good reason to believe the past instrument of Todd Blanche’s vindictive prosecution had struck again.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Trump’s Midterms Spitball, Andrew Egger, right, Aug. 6, 2026. Nobody can say with much certainty what will happen in the November midterms. After all, polling is broken and the world is crazy.

But with Election Day just three months away, we can start to hazard a few confident guesses. Donald Trump is less popular than ever, having squandered his second year back in office on a fruitless, expensive war, an elections bill that has been DOA for months, and a cornucopia of vanity projects and self-enrichment schemes. If Trump loses the Republican trifecta this November, he will close out the most favorable years of his second term with few durable victories. It’s amazing, given his Napoleonic aspirations, his total contempt for laws and norms, and his desperate thirst to punish enemies high and low. But when it comes to actual points on the board, the first half of Trump 2.0 is shaping up a lot like the first half of Trump 1.0: Fewer border crossings, one big tax-cuts bill, and… that’s it.

The big difference, of course, has been in the amount of damage inflicted. Trump has dragged America from crisis to crisis, rattling the global economy, our international alliances, the rule of law, and our norms against political and personal corruption. And there’s one area where Trump could still do immense harm before next year—in the administration of the coming elections.

In March, Trump issued an executive order that was a naked attempt to clamp down on mail-in voting. It ordered the U.S. Postal Service to draft new rules refusing to deliver ballots to voters not on federally approved citizen lists—and not to deliver ballots at all in states that refuse to hand over their voter rolls.

That order has been stayed for months, although there have been legal wrinkles. Although one court ruled that the White House doesn’t have this sort of controlling power over elections, full stop, another ruled that because the USPS hasn’t finalized its rules, those rules are not yet eligible for legal challenge. Last month, the administration asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay, arguing that until the rules are in place, states can’t prove they’d be harmed by them. And this week, the litigants—23 states and the District of Columbia—asked the court to leave the stay in place, arguing that lifting it “would allow the federal government to rush out an unprecedented, legally indefensible voter-verification and ballot-interception program that would, among other things, give the U.S. Postal Service far-reaching new powers and responsibilities.”

That outcome is, of course, exactly what the federal government hopes to achieve. Its explicit argument is that the court shouldn’t just rule in their favor, but should do so with haste—since how else will they be able to get the new voting regime up and running in time for the midterms? “Absent a stay,” Solicitor General John Sauer argued in his petition to the court last month, “there will not be sufficient time to obtain appellate relief before the November election.”

If the justices were to agree, it would be a recipe for instant election chaos. Democratic states would immediately be presented with a terrible dilemma: Do they submit to a partial federal takeover of their elections—handing over their voter rolls to Stephen Miller and co. for God-knows-what federal purpose, allowing the White House final administrative say over who gets a ballot mailed to them and who doesn’t? Or do they resign themselves to carrying out their elections in November without the assistance of the Postal Service—essentially giving themselves over to the “no mail in ballots” world that Trump has actually wanted all along?

It’s a grim prospect, and yet one that people seem to be sleeping on. “I think everyone agrees that it’s not going to be implemented for 2026,” Notre Dame Law School professor and elections expert Derek Muller told VoteBeat this week. “The logistics are so horrific.”

I would love to find these sentiments reassuring. But I also wonder whether some of these cheerful assumptions have been overtaken by events. In a normal world, with normal people in charge, the “there’s no non-insane way to try to do this” line of reasoning would make me pretty confident the federal government wouldn’t try. But the administration keeps insisting they want to try, and I’m not sure there’s anything in their track record to suggest that “if you do this, there will be total chaos” is a significant deterrent. In fact, it’s an encouragement.

To be clear, I’m not saying this crisis is very likely. If I were a betting man, I would expect the Supreme Court to take a safe line here, abstaining from taking any action that might throw election administration into chaos right as people start voting.¹

But it’s not exactly difficult to construct a counterfactual possibility—one where the Court, in its law-nerd wisdom, rules in Trump’s favor on the narrow procedural question of standing and hands the administration broad ambiguous discretion in how to move forward with implementation. If they do decide that the legal challenges against the president’s order are not yet ripe, we may all suddenly be waking up to a world where Trump has broad leeway to cause election chaos in blue states and the only question left is: Well, would he do it?

The Supreme Court could put the whole thing to bed tomorrow. Even if they allow the executive order to go forward on procedural grounds, the states could quickly sue again after the USPS begins implementation and a lower court could move to freeze the administration once more.

Would it affect the outcome of the midterms? Perhaps not. Mass confusion and chaos could end up harming Republicans more than Democrats, who remain more motivated to vote by any means possible. But we don’t really know how it would bounce in terms of actual results.

Is it all still enough to keep me up nights until this whole thing is resolved? I’m afraid so. It’s amazing how thin the guardrails are everywhere you look with folks like this in charge.

New York Times, Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left, Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 6, 2026. One moderate group says the progressive wins are “deeply troubling” and is planning a $15 million effort against democratic socialism.

The embattled establishment of the Democratic Party searched furiously for a political reset after Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s progressive victory in Michigan handed the party’s long-dominant moderate wing its most painful defeat of the year.

Some strategists urgently pressed to adopt a sharper edge to tap into the fury among Democratic voters that was felling its centrist candidates. Others wanted to attack democratic socialism, undercutting a budding movement now set to have far more than a toehold in the next Congress. Yet another young democratic socialist ousted an incumbent congressman in Detroit on Tuesday.

“We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” said Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, a leading centrist Democratic group, revealing to The New York Times a new $15 million effort between now and 2028 to discredit democratic socialism.

Dr. El-Sayed’s win was not the blowout that some pre-election polls had predicted. But his narrow nomination in one of the country’s signature swing states still represented a critical moment for the party’s middle, which had previously sought to cast the far left’s successes as contained within the country’s most urban and liberal corridors.

Their fear: Dr. El-Sayed was paving a path for a progressive to seize the party’s presidential nomination in 2028 — and then go on to lose the general election.

“It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states,” Mr. Cowan added.

Most party leaders — from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York to former Vice President Kamala Harris — quickly embraced Dr. El-Sayed’s Senate candidacy, given the stakes of the Michigan seat at the play. But some moderates see the emerging left as a danger.

The fact that Democrats recently put Michigan in the early lineup of presidential nominating states — a race just 18 months away — only heightened the significance of Dr. El-Sayed’s victory.

For now, the next big test is only a week away. In Wisconsin, Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist and state assemblywoman representing the progressive hotbed of Madison, has emerged as the party’s front-runner for governor in another key battleground race.

More On Iran War

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Iran Has Embarrassed Trump And Made Him Dangerously Unstable, Jason Easley, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Trump's failed Iran war has caused him embarrassment, and now the president is lashing out in an even more unstable way as his failures mount.

Some in the media are starting to wake up to the reality that the daily breaks from reality the country is witnessing are not just Trump being Trump, which seems to be the common mentality among the mainstream media as they have figured out that Trump is the cash cow and ratings boon that they hoped for in 2024.

The biggest corporations in media have gone from breathlessly following Trump’s every move and word to desensitizing the country to the president’s behavior by downplaying it, or in most cases, ignoring it.

Not everything is Trump being Trump.

Sometimes, there are warning signs that something is wrong or the situation is getting worse.

The president’s reaction to the criminal charges being dropped in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case should have been a major red flag.

Even after his own administration dropped the case and admitted that it wasn’t vandalism that caused the Reflecting Pool damage, but Trump's own handpicked contractor, the president has for days continued to insist that vandals caused the damage.

The reason for this, according to new reporting, is that Trump is feeling constant pressure and embarrassment over the Iran war.

No matter how many times Trump claims that the war is over, or that a deal to end the war is right around the corner, the conflict drags on, with Trump getting humiliated by the Iranians.

Jonathan Lemire wrote in The Atlantic:

There was a reason Trump reacted so strongly to those two humbling moments, some people close to him told me. And that’s because they came against the backdrop of the near-daily humiliation that the president has been suffering at the hands of Iran. The war is not going well. A conflict that Trump thought might take a few weeks at most has now stretched into its sixth month, and, try as he might, he can’t get out of it. He has declared victory many times and threatened to wipe Iran off the map nearly as often. Neither has happened. At this point, his unfulfilled threats—with Iran calling his bluff—have almost become a dark running gag.

The past few days, in a way, have been a microcosm of the whole conflict: Over the weekend, Trump came close to ordering a new wave of attacks, but walked them back after calls from regional allies, including Saudi Arabia, and fears of how Iran might respond. Instead, Trump said he would give diplomacy another chance, claiming that good progress was being made and that the Strait of Hormuz would soon be open. But Tehran denied that any negotiations were happening. And then another ship was attacked in the strait. Trump reacted in fury, posting that the Iranian regime was “unbelievably duplicitous,” when decades of history would suggest that Tehran was, in fact, very knowably duplicitous.

But how Trump will respond next to this ongoing embarrassment remains unknown. He’s made the war deeply personal.

Trump’s humiliation in the Middle East has made him even more unstable at home. A man who has been consistently embarrassing and failing in public now seems to have finally felt embarrassment, and it is making him even more mentally broken.

Trump has lived his adult life convincing himself of the delusion that he is a winner, but with the Iran war, he is in a situation where he keeps being made to look like a loser.

Over the last decade, experts have warned of many situations that could make Trump even more dangerously unstable, but one that never came up was the president losing a war that he started and being embarrassed almost daily by Iran.

The economy and Trump’s approval ratings are both in the dumpster, and with a midterm election blowout potentially coming, this president is facing the one thing he has hidden from for decades.

Reality.

Threats To Europe

New York Times, Europe’s Control of Its Fate Is Tested by Iran and Ukraine Wars, Wildfires and Migration, Michael D. Shear, Aug. 6, 2026. A brutal summer has exposed how much Britain, France, Spain and other European countries are under pressure from forces largely out of their control.

Once again in recent days, Europe has seemed to be watching from the sidelines as its destiny is shaped by outside forces.

Would President Trump choose to restart a massive war with Iran and drive up the cost of oil? Would global warming drive wider and worse wildfires, even as several already raged across the continent? Would a sudden, unexplained surge of people across the Moroccan border into a Spanish exclave — almost all of whom were immediately sent back — divide the bloc’s leaders and fuel the far right?

It has already been a brutal summer for Europe: two wars, record heat, rising inflation and deep anxiety about food, energy and security. The back-to-back crises are prompting calls for joint action, urgent Zoom meetings between different groups of presidents and prime ministers, and political hand-wringing in parliaments from Poland to the United Kingdom.

But like so much else that has happened in the past several years, many of Europe’s challenges are out of its control.

The Iran war — a conflict that most of Europe never wanted — has disrupted life across the region, driving up the price of gas, groceries and travel. The continent’s leaders have pledged to help secure the passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz once the fighting ends. And yet, they seem destined to hear about the next stage of the war from Mr. Trump’s social media feed.

Europe has been unable to resolve the war in Ukraine after more than four years of bloodshed. Its achievements in cutting emissions to combat climate change are overshadowed by the actions of the United States and China. The future of A.I. is being shaped largely elsewhere. Right wing populism has risen, fueled by migration, inequality and misinformation.

“No matter how you look at it, measure it, this is a difficult, unsettling time for Europe,” said Richard Haass, who served for two decades as the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He said Europe is partly a victim of circumstance, but also is responsible for its lack of authority over its own fate.

Russian War Against Ukraine

New York Times, If Phones Are Buzzing, It’s Time to Take Shelter in Ukraine, Constant Méheut and Olha Konovalova, Aug. 6, 2026. Overhead, the skies were reverberating with the thud of missiles and the whine of drones. But most of the people taking shelter in a Kyiv subway station one night last month were looking down at their phones, following social media channels that track attacks in real time.

Every few seconds, an alert appeared. Drones approaching Kyiv. Ballistic missiles launched. Air defense at work. Then, at 2:01 a.m., Kyiv Sky, a popular channel, posted the update everyone had been waiting for.

A small crowd headed up the stairs out of the station — smokers yearning for a cigarette, couples tugging dogs on leashes and others just seeking fresh air on a warm summer night. All kept their eyes on their phones, just in case. Suddenly, Kyiv Sky pushed out a new alert.

The crowd hurried back underground. Minutes later, explosions from Ukraine’s air defenses echoed. Everyone in the station was safe — and already back on their phones, waiting for the next opening to go outside.

This is how Ukrainians have learned to game Russian air attacks over nearly four and a half years of war: using dozens of Telegram social media channels, with residents often following several at once to piece together the clearest minute-by-minute picture of the danger.

The alerts have become all the more important as the war, nearly deadlocked on the front, is increasingly fought through the skies.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, Cathy Young, Aug. 6, 2026. Ukrainian drones are still methodically taking out online retail warehouses and oil refineries across Russia. But on Saturday night, it was an upscale Italian restaurant in Moscow that was the target. The dramatic strike was timed for a birthday bash being held for a member of Russia’s top brass.

A woman entering with a gift box was stopped by a security guard; when he tried to inspect the box, it set off a massive explosion. General Alexander Chaiko, 55, who was also celebrating his recent appointment as commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, survived the explosion and may be unhurt. But five people are dead—reportedly including another unnamed Russian general—and nineteen are injured.

Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility; but it had very good reasons to hunt Chaiko, whom it considers a war criminal. At the start of the Russian invasion in early 2022, he was in command of troops advancing on Kyiv. That operation included the nearly month-long occupation of Bucha and other nearby towns, with its well-documented horrors. Chaiko was likely on the ground when these atrocities were committed. There’s also an intercepted audio in which he apparently gives orders to bomb a village and “wipe it off the face of the earth.”

Yet the method chosen to target him made civilian casualties inevitable—prompting some normally pro-Ukraine exiled Russian commentators, such as TV-RAIN host Mikhail Fishman, to call the bombing a terrorist attack. Others such as military analyst Yuri Fedorov strongly disagreed, arguing that the killing of a combatant can never be described as terrorism regardless of collateral damage.

There are troubling ethical issues beyond that. The courier, who died instantly, almost certainly thought she was delivering an ordinary gift box. Was she an innocent victim? Yes. But defenders of Ukraine’s actions in this case have responded that Russia is taking innocent lives in Ukraine every day. Just yesterday, a barrage of Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv before dawn, taking advantage of Ukraine’s severe shortage of interceptors and leaving at least 17 people dead and dozens injured.

Curiously, while the Russian government condemned the Moscow restaurant attack (and, preposterously, tried to claim it was meant to intimidate Italians living in Russia), its reaction has been fairly low-key. State television has barely mentioned it. Maybe that’s because, while the bombing makes Ukraine look morally gray, it also makes Russia look weak—unable to protect its generals or keep downtown Moscow safe from explosions. And while Russians may blame Ukrainians, many of them also know that it was Vladimir Putin who brought them this war.

AROUND THE BULWARK

The Self-Inflicted Decline of American Leadership… Team Trump is inadvertently convincing America’s allies that they need one another more than they need us, argues MATT GURNEY.
The Summer of ICE… ADRIAN CARRASQUILLO takes your questions today at 3 p.m. EDT in the r/politics subreddit. Ask him about his reporting on the recent fatal ICE shootings and the broader political and policy implications surrounding immigration enforcement in the Trump era.
The Supreme Court’s Archaeology of Authority… While the Roberts Court’s favorite new legal test promises objective facts, what it actually delivers is unchecked judicial power, writes ERIC SCARFFE.
Capital One Just Dropped an Atomic Bomb on Trump… On The Illegal News, ANDREW WEISSMANN joins SAM STEIN to discuss the Justice Department’s dismissal of charges over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the potential recourse for former Olympian David Hearn—who was accused of vandalism—and Trump’s response.
Pod Save Michigan… The polling was way off, but suburban Dem voters in Michigan nonetheless showed that they’re sick of the party establishment and enraged by Trump, the war, the lies, and the corruption. JANE COASTON joins TIM MILLER on The Bulwark Daily.

Quick Hits

THE OTHER GUY: Rep. Max Miller’s re-election campaign may be dying a death of a thousand self-inflicted cuts, but there’s one guy who’s surprisingly uninterested in twisting the knife: his Democratic opponent, ironworker Brian Poindexter.

Poindexter piled on Miller’s uncomfortable Sunday livestream, tweeting that “no one credibly accused” of the sorts of allegations Miller faces “belongs in the halls of power.” Now, however, Poindexter seems eager to turn the page. “I’m not necessarily running against Max Miller. I’m running for working families,” he told Politico in an interview yesterday. “We’re continuing to build bridges with people who have abandoned the Democratic Party. . . . Our message stays the same.”

For months now, Democrats have been caught in an electoral Catch-22: Desperate to win back young, white American men, they’re working hard to shed their image as a party of HR ladies and lanyard dorks. But the difficulty is that the active effort to do this is itself pretty lame—there’s nothing less cool than a guy (or party) who’s obviously extremely concerned about flaunting his masculinity. (See, we can be manly! Watch me chug a beer and split a log!) Until now, some of the coverage around Poindexter—through no fault of his own—has reflected this awkward status quo. An Atlantic profile of him last month ran under the headline “The Return of the Democratic Manly Man.”

But Miller’s scandal makes the conversation around “manliness” feel very different in Ohio-7: Voters will be choosing between a guy who works with his hands and a guy who allegedly hits women with them.

BURYING THE HATCHET: Abdul El-Sayed’s efforts to successfully run a progressive campaign in a purplish Michigan will come down, in large part, to his ability to unify the Democratic party.

That’s because of the extraordinarily bitter slugfest that broke out between him and moderate Rep. Haley Stevens during the primary—the sort of contest that can result in the losers’ voters nursing hurt feelings all the way to the general election. But El-Sayed and Stevens wasted no time burying the hatchet yesterday.

“I love Michigan and am so proud to have put up my hand to serve,” Stevens tweeted. “I spoke with Abdul a few moments ago to offer him my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers this November.” El-Sayed quickly responded, thanking Stevens for running a good race: “Putting up your hand to participate in democracy is no easy thing. . . . What unites us is so much bigger than what divides us.”

Good stuff, although not everybody felt quite the same way. As El-Sayed and Stevens were having their lovefest, a viral clip from the night before of leftist streamer and El-Sayed surrogate Hasan Piker was also bouncing around social media: “You are all unbelievably Islamophobic pieces of shit,” Piker said of Stevens supporters. “You literally called the dude a fucking terrorist for months on end and called him a sexist, misogynist, terrorist, bad candidate, fake doctor when he has two fucking degrees. And now you’re going to sit there and be like, ‘You really gotta come to me now.’ What are you talking about? Do you wanna win or not? Lock the fuck in.”

Hours later, El-Sayed kinda-sorta threw Piker overboard. “He’s a streamer. I’m focused on trying to win a race,” he said.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, Bessent Declares Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor ‘Dead,’ Alan Rappeport, Aug. 5, 2026. Despite data to the contrary, the Treasury Secretary made the case that the K-shaped economy no longer exists.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the impact of inflation on lower-income Americans, declaring this week that the “K-shaped” economy — shorthand for the divergent fortunes of the rich and poor — is a thing of the past.

The comments came at a moment when consumer sentiment remains low and voters continue to give President Trump negative marks on his handling of the economy. With midterm elections in just three months, Mr. Bessent has continually tried to talk up the economy. But despite promises of lower prices, the U.S. has continued to confront inflationary pressures that have been amplified by tariffs and the war in Iran, which has increased the cost of gasoline.

Mr. Bessent suggested that those economic concerns are overblown.

“I got sick of hearing about this K-shaped economy,” Mr. Bessent said on CNBC on Tuesday. “I can say here definitively, the K-shaped economy is over.”

The Treasury secretary said that the economy is now no longer K-shaped but is forming the letter “C” — with wage gains among the bottom quarter of earners starting to outpace gains among the top fourth of earners. Dismissing downbeat consumer sentiment as a function of misinformation about the economy, Mr. Bessent said that Americans would soon start experiencing relief as a result of the tax cuts that Republicans enacted last year, a message he and other administration officials have been delivering for months.

The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment explaining which set of wage data Mr. Bessent was referring to. However, the U.S. economy has for years confronted historically high levels of wealth inequality that will not easily be reversed by small improvements to wage growth at the bottom of the income scale.

This week the S&P 500 hit a record high — a boon to investors and corporate America that Mr. Trump hailed on Wednesday during a speech in Nevada.

“The stock market has set 74 all-time highs just since our short time that we’ve been back,” Mr. Trump said of his second term. “The typical American 401(k) is up much more than $30,000 and setting records day after day, week after week.”

Yet consumers remain on edge and the Trump administration risks making the same political mistake that the Biden administration made by downplaying concerns about inflation and the cost of living.

The war with Iran has slowed the economy this year and Mr. Trump has not delivered on his promise to lower prices. On an annual basis, inflation is up 3.7 percent, well above the central bank’s long-term target of 2 percent. Inflation in the second quarter was especially high.

Rising prices, particularly for gasoline, hurt low-income households the most. At the same time, signs of economic strength such as the surging stock market tend to enrich wealthy investors.

While wages are an indication of the trajectory of the economy, many economists look at consumption data and other measures to illustrate how Americans are faring.

A Moody’s Analytics analysis in June argued that the K-shaped economy is firmly intact because the top 20 percent of earners accounted for nearly 60 percent of spending, outpacing inflation, in the first quarter of this year. Spending by the bottom 80 percent fell short of inflation.

“No wonder most Americans are upset with their financial situations and the broader economy,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.

Although some analysts contend that Mr. Zandi’s methodology exaggerates the spending gap, other studies confirm the overall picture that the K-shaped gap between the richest and the poorest remains intact.

A report by the Bank of America Institute, which relies on customer deposit account data, found that after-tax wage growth in April increased 6 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. That was the highest rate of growth since 2021. With wage growth for low-income earners increasing by just 1.5 percent that month, the gap between the top and bottom ends of the income scale was the largest since 2015.

The National Retail Federation said last week that it was encouraged that spending among high and low-income earners on discretionary items, rather than nonessential staples, was holding up well in 2026 despite shaky consumer sentiment. However, the industry group expressed concern that the trend might not hold up for the rest of the year.

“As long as gas prices remain high, softening wage growth coupled with sticky inflation mean that the second half of the year might not be as rosy as the first half,” said Mark Mathews, chief economist at the National Retail Federation.

Mr. Bessent previewed the case that the Trump administration will be making to Americans this fall, highlighting the new measures that exempt taxes on tips and overtime for some workers and deductibility of auto loans. A steadying labor market has also improved the finances of many low and moderate-income households.

“We think that the American people will be feeling that over time,” Mr. Bessent said.

Although the provisions that Mr. Bessent mentioned are targeted at lower-income Americans, most of the 2025 tax law benefited corporations and the rich. According to the Tax Policy Center, nearly 60 percent of the tax benefits go to those with annual incomes of about $217,000 or more.

More On U.S. Congress, Governance

New York Times, Fauci Faces Contempt of Congress Vote on Thursday, Jan Hoffman, Aug. 5, 2026. A Senate panel scheduled a vote after Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions at a hearing last week. Here are the legal issues involved.

A Senate committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to hold Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the scientist who led the country’s Covid response, in contempt of Congress for declining to answer questions during a hearing last week.

But if the resolution passes, will the courts uphold it?

Dr. Fauci invoked his constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment to remain silent, refusing to respond to a single question during the three-hour session of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Republicans on the panel, led by the chairman, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, say that he is ineligible for Fifth Amendment protection. The reason, they say, is that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. granted him an unconditional pardon for public service actions during a period that includes the pandemic.

Many people, including Trump administration officials, and even the president himself, have invoked the Fifth Amendment. But the case is unique, legal scholars say, because of the tension between the reach of a presidential pardon and that of the Fifth Amendment.

If Dr. Fauci is ultimately held in contempt, the potential consequences could be grave. Here are some things to know.Why did Mr. Biden pardon Dr. Fauci?

Almost immediately after President Trump was elected to a second term in 2024, Republicans vowed to pursue several prominent figures, among them Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, for his management of the pandemic. On his last day in office, Mr. Biden issued Dr. Fauci, and others, an unconditional “pre-emptive pardon” that protects him from federal prosecution for his actions from 2014 through Jan. 19, 2025.Why did the Senate committee seek his testimony?

There were many pandemic-related issues that senators sought to explore. They accused Dr. Fauci of funding research that led to the creation of the coronavirus and of lying to Congress about it under oath, allegations that Dr. Fauci has long denied. They sought to hold him responsible for school lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates, and other Covid-era restrictions imposed by states, communities and employers.Is Dr. Fauci eligible to plead the Fifth?

This is the question at the heart of the legal debate.

Republican senators on the committee contend that because Dr. Fauci had a presidential pardon, he was already protected: By refusing to answer their questions, he had effectively violated their subpoena of him. “You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you’ve been pardoned, as you very well know,” Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, told Dr. Fauci at the hearing.

Legal scholars say the issue is not that clear.

Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University Law School, said that the impact of pardons on a witness’s ability to invoke the Fifth was “murky,” noting that there is little case law on the issue.

“There are good-faith arguments that his pardon would afford him effective immunity,” rendering Dr. Fauci ineligible for the Fifth Amendment protection, Mr. Turley said in an interview. He noted that there were also claims that Dr. Fauci’s opening statement could be construed as waiving his Fifth Amendment privilege, negating the cloak of immunity granted by the pardon itself.Editors’ Picks

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Other scholars maintain that Dr. Fauci’s invocation of the Fifth was proper because he was legally vulnerable. His pardon period ended roughly 18 months before the Senate hearing, from which fresh, contemporaneous charges could have emerged. Mr. Paul has said for years that Dr. Fauci belongs in prison.

Pleading the Fifth Amendment is an acceptable strategy, “given the pretext of the investigation, which is that they are looking for a way to put him in jail, and given the president’s own track record of vindictive prosecutions,” said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law who is an expert on the pardon power.

In his opening statement to the committee, Dr. Fauci essentially said he believed that the purpose of the hearing was to capture evidence against a preselected defendant.

If the committee wanted frank testimony and a full exploration of unresolved pandemic questions, senators could have offered him limited or full immunity covering the testimony, a number of law experts said.

Not doing so “debunks their claim that he’s completely protected by presidential pardon,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, who is a constitutional law professor. “It’s only because they imagine that he can still be prosecuted that they wouldn’t offer him immunity.”Are other actions covered by the Fifth Amendment but not the pardon?

Yes. The presidential pardon applies only to federal prosecutions, not those brought by states. The Fifth Amendment applies to both.

Shortly after Dr. Fauci refused to testify last week, officials in Alabama, Louisiana and Florida vowed to commence state investigations against him. What happens next?

If the committee votes that Dr. Fauci should be held in contempt, the case will go to the full Senate for a vote, or possibly be directly referred to federal prosecutors. They in turn would probably convene a grand jury and seek an indictment. If they succeeded, Dr. Fauci would be charged with the misdemeanor of criminal contempt, for which a conviction could result in fines and a prison sentence of up to a year.

A Federal District Court judge in the District of Columbia would decide whether the case should go forward, a ruling likely to address whether Dr. Fauci was entitled to plead the Fifth.

Many scholars predict the case will end there, if not sooner.

Professor Turley, who maintains that the impact of Dr. Fauci’s actions and the many entries in his diary raise questions about his thinking that should have resulted in a robust hearing, believes that courts are more likely to side with Dr. Fauci’s right to invoke the Fifth. But, he said, “having the right to do something does not make it the right thing to do.”

Professor Wehle also thinks Dr. Fauci will prevail, in part because the Fifth Amendment was intended to shield witnesses against overbearing government prosecution.

If a court did say that Dr. Fauci could not claim the Fifth, she said, the precedent would be truly upending.

“That would say you take the Fifth at your own risk of going to jail,” she said. “And that turns the Fifth Amendment upside down.”

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 5, 2026 [Congressional Power To Tax], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 6, 2026. On August 5, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a new tax to help fund the United States government during the Civil War. Far more than writing a traditional revenue act to address the catastrophic war that had demonstrated its horrors just two weeks earlier at the Battle of Bull Run, Congress deliberately constructed the law to shift ownership of the American government away from the bankers who had previously provided Treasury funds, to the American people.

Over the next four years, the Republican Congress would put taxes on virtually every product in the country and then, to guarantee that “the burdens will be more equalized on all classes of the community, more especially on those who are able to bear them,” as Senate Finance Committee chair William Pitt Fessenden (R-ME) put it, they invented the nation’s first income tax.

In 1861, Congress levied a 3% tax on income over $800; in 1862, concerned that the level of taxation necessary to pay for the war would be too much for most Americans to bear, Congress placed a general tax at 3% and created a progressive income tax. It taxed income over $600 at 3% and income over $10,000 at 5%.

“The weight must be distributed equally,” Representative Justin Smith Morrill (R-VT) said, “not upon each man an equal amount, but a tax proportionate to his ability to pay.” In 1864, Congress revised those numbers upward. They put general taxes at 5% and raised the income tax brackets to 5% for income from $600 to $5,000 and 7.5% for income from $5,000 to $10,000.

Morrill thought it was important for the federal government to collect the tax directly to illustrate that people were supporting the United States of America, not individual states, as they might think if states collected the taxes. The federal government had a right to “demand” 99% of a man’s property for an urgent necessity, he said. When the nation required it, “the property of the people…belongs to the Government.”

Indeed, the new taxes did cement loyalty to the United States. With their money behind the war effort, Americans became more and more committed to their cause. As the war costs mounted, far from objecting to taxes, Americans asked their congressmen to raise them out of concern about the growing national debt. In 1864, Senator John P. Hale (R-NH) said: “The condition of the country is singular…I venture to say it is an anomaly in the history of the world. What do the people of the United States ask of this Congress? To take off taxes? No, sir, they ask you to put them on. The universal cry of this people is to be taxed.”

Enlisting more than 2 million soldiers and sailors into the war effort, moving them, equipping them, and arming them eventually cost the United States more than $5 billion. Taxes paid for about 21% of that cost.

Although Republicans invented the American income tax, party leaders in the modern era have turned against it.

In 1980, Republican president Ronald Reagan won the White House by promising that tax cuts would create such dramatic economic growth that Americans would be able to continue to fund popular programs despite those cuts. During the presidential campaign, Reagan’s rival for the Republican nomination, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency George H.W. Bush, called this promise “voodoo economics,” and he was right: the promise that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would pay for themselves never materialized. Instead, the national debt rose dramatically.

But the idea that tax cuts were a reliable solution to slow economic growth became Republican dogma.

Rejecting the principles Republicans laid down in the 1860s, Republican leaders ever since have taken the position that taxes do not build the country, but destroy it. Despite the rising national debt, that ideology continued into the modern era. In 2017 the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered income tax rates across the board and offered most tax relief to the wealthy and corporations, became President Donald J. Trump’s signature law.

Those tax cuts eroded the revenue base of the U.S. government, sending the debt soaring. Nonetheless, in July 2025, Republicans passed Trump’s signature economic measure for his second term—the law they call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—making permanent the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations they passed in Trump’s first term. They offset some of the costs of that measure with dramatic cuts to programs that help the American people, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Even with those offsets, economists estimate that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will add more than $4 trillion to the national debt in the next ten years. And now, Trump’s war on Iran is adding yet more strain to the national budget. But, rather than restoring the tax base Republicans have cut away—or even passing a wartime tax—the Trump administration maintains that cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse” will solve the problem of the growing debt.

Election results from yesterday suggest that the era of tax cuts as a solution to economic concerns may be coming to an end.

Voters in Missouri resoundingly rejected a Republican proposal to eliminate the state income tax and to replace missing revenue with a higher sales tax. The vote was not close: 83.3% of voters opposed the measure while only 16.7% were in favor, despite the fact that groups in favor of eliminating the tax—many of which kept their donors secret—outspent those in favor of keeping it by a margin of more than two to one.

Democracy Docket, Election deniers push false voter fraud claims in Michigan, Andrew Wyrich, Aug. 5, 2026. MAGA is obsessed with Michigan’s elections right now and spreading false claims about mail voter fraud. Meanwhile, pro-voting advocates in Missouri are suing after a GOP official rejected an effort to give voters a say on the state’s gerrymander.

Also: Attorneys who prosecuted Jan. 6 rioters asked the Senate to stop confirming President Donald Trump's election-denying judicial nominees to lifetime seats.

All that and more is on the docket today. See you tomorrow!Icon-Banner_NEWS2

Trump and the rest of MAGA are already pushing conspiracies about Michigan mail voting

It didn’t take long after polls closed in Michigan’s primaries for Trump and prominent MAGA figures to start spreading false claims of mail voter fraud.

Michigan’s Senate race could determine control of the chamber, so it’s no surprise the president and top election deniers are already trying to undermine faith in the state’s elections.

More from Michigan: Democrat who combats Trump’s lies advances, but so do election deniers in Republican primaries

Mike Rogers — a former U.S. congressman who has mused about putting law enforcement at the polls and claimed a 2024 election was stolen from him by fraud — won Michigan’s Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat.

Meanwhile, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D), an opponent of Trump’s anti-voting agenda, won the Democratic nomination to be the state’s next governor. She’ll face off against Rep. John James (R), who opposes virtually everything she stands for.

Politico, Back in action, Tom Kean Jr. faces a new source of scrutiny: His stocks, Joey Fox, Aug. 5, 2026. The New Jersey Republican says he has no personal involvement in any stock transactions, but that hasn’t muted Democratic criticism.

Tom Kean Jr. is pursued by reporters while walking with his wife, Rhonda.

During his four-month medical absence from Congress this spring, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. gave few indications of where he was or what he was doing, but there was one action he was still regularly taking: signing off on his stock transaction reports.

The New Jersey Republican — who revealed in June that he had been hospitalized for depression — submitted four periodic transaction reports over the course of his absence, as he was required to do by law. Those reports are now becoming a political issue in Kean’s competitive reelection bid, one that Democrats are trying to use to highlight Kean’s extended disappearance without making light of the serious mental health issue that caused it.

Kean told POLITICO in a phone interview that he has no personal involvement in any transactions, having delegated all authority to his financial advisers. He only learns of any decisions made regarding his assets, he said, when he’s presented with transaction reports awaiting his signature; anyone who claims he’s personally making trades or acting on insider intel is “peddling false, debunked information.”

“I don’t involve myself in any investment decision at any point,” Kean said. “That’s my policy from the time that I entered Congress. It is blind to me.”

But his Democratic foe, former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, is arguing that Kean should still be held accountable for the trades made in his name, especially the ones that took place when he was missing from Congress. Bennett and her husband do not own any individual stocks, she said, having shifted all of their investments into index and mutual funds last year.

“At the end of the day, it’s his signature on the form,” Bennett said. “He can say whatever he wants, but he is responsible for these stock trades that are happening.”

Kean’s stocks have quickly become a core part of Democrats’ messaging in New Jersey’s 7th District, a crucial swing seat: Bennett mentioned them in her very first statement after Kean revealed his depression diagnosis, and Democratic super PACs have aired ads claiming Kean is more interested in his bottom line than his constituents. “He can trade stocks but can’t show up to work?” one shadowy PAC’s ad asked in June.

The attacks, sure to continue through the fall, put Kean in a difficult position. He says that he’s gone above and beyond to remove even the whiff of impropriety — but with voters across the political spectrum saying that they believe politicians are only looking out for themselves, those nuances may not matter.

Stock trading by members of Congress has come under far greater scrutiny in recent years, prompting several thus-far unsuccessful attempts to limit it or ban it outright.

Some members’ stock indiscretions have been investigated and penalized by Congress’s ethics committees, and even members who haven’t been accused of wrongdoing, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have still drawn unflattering attention thanks to their stock portfolios. In a Pennsylvania swing district that borders Kean’s seat, stock trades have become a campaign issue for Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan.

CATO Institute, DSA’s Own Leaders Reveal Just How Far Outside the Mainstream the Movement Really Is, Rikki Schlott, August 3, 2026. The Democratic Socialists of America are out of touch with normal Americans.

That was made abundantly clear by a July interview with a DSA co-chair, during which she affirmed that the organization is far more radical than many voters may realize. Fox News’s Shannon Bream asked Megan Romer of the DSA to respond to a list of the most fringe reforms in the organization’s platform with a “true or false” response. She agreed that the group supports the following proposals:

“Abolish the Senate”“Replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them”“Abolish ICE”“Abolish borders” “Defund the Pentagon”“Government or public ownership of large corporations”

She wasn’t embarrassed to be the face of the DSA’s radicalism. In fact, she responded with an enthusiastic “absolutely” to several positions. The only qualification she gave was that abolishing borders and prisons would be “part of a long-term program.”

The DSA has been experiencing success in elections nationwide in recent years. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made history by summarily defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. More recently, affiliates of the DSA pulled off several surprise primary victories, including Mamdani-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier, who unseated an incumbent in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th House District, and Janeese Lewis George, a self-described socialist who won the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, DC.

But this doesn’t mean that large swaths of Americans are eager to burn down all of our institutions, nationalize corporations, and restart the government from scratch. In fact, according to a national survey from the Cato Institute in collaboration with Morning Consult, the DSA’s proposals are totally out of sync with the vast majority of Americans’ views.

The poll found that just 17% of American adults strongly agreed when presented with the statement, “We cannot fix the problems in our government; we need to tear it down and start over.” Among self-identified Democrats, that percentage ticked up just slightly to 19%. That’s pretty slim support for the DSA’s “raze it to the ground” attitude.

The survey found that the vast majority of Americans agree that our country has a lot of good to offer: 79% of respondents had a favorable view of the Constitution, and an even larger 86% were grateful to be Americans. All available metrics seem to point to the conclusion that Americans, regardless of their affiliation, understand that we have something precious to protect — even if our nation is imperfect.

Still, socialism is proving seductive to voters. The survey also found that many Americans—37% of all respondents—had a positive view of socialism and that a full 61% of Democrats would consider backing a socialist candidate. Even 24% of Republicans said the same. “This helps illuminate recent wins by candidates using the Democratic Socialists of America label in Democratic primaries over the past few weeks,” Emily Ekins, Vice President for Policy and Society at the Cato Institute, wrote in a recent blog post summarizing the survey results. But it’s worth asking what exactly the typical voter believes socialism to be and whether they’d still be supportive if they understood what exactly the DSA stands for.

Romer’s Fox News interview should be a wake-up call for those voters casually flirting with socialism, and it will no doubt feature heavily in campaign messaging coming from the Republican Party as we head towards elections this fall. Though the clip is a salient admission of what the DSA stands for, it’s important to remember that this is not what all Democrats, or even all “leftists,” believe. In reality, Americans have a lot in common—including love for the country and a desire to preserve our Founders’ vision.

U.S. Media, Education, Sports, Religion

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: Senate Republicans launch network of fake news sites, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 6, 2026. One Nation, the Senate GOP's primary dark money group, is producing propaganda masquerading as journalism.

The Alaska Navigator bills itself as “independent news covering the Last Frontier.” On June 10, the outlet published an article headlined, “As Fentanyl Deaths Rise in Alaska, Sullivan Pushes Tougher Penalties and Enforcement.”

The piece, which has no byline, reports that Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) — who is locked in a competitive campaign against Democrat Mary Peltola — “is leading efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and support law enforcement agencies confronting the epidemic.”

Curiously, although Sullivan has been in the Senate for more than a decade, the piece cites only one piece of evidence: Sullivan’s vote for the HALT Fentanyl Act in March 2025. Sullivan was one of 84 senators to vote for the bill, which classified fentanyl-related substances as schedule I narcotics. But Sullivan did not lead the effort to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act. He was not the bill’s sponsor or one of its 16 original co-sponsors. (Sullivan became a co-sponsor on March 6, 2025, about a week before it passed the Senate).

The Alaska Navigator also reports that “Retired Alaska Wildlife Trooper Director Doug Massie, who spent 25 years in law enforcement… credits Senator Sullivan with supporting tougher penalties for traffickers and policies aimed at reducing the drug’s impact on communities throughout the state.” But there is no direct quote from Massie, who is running for the Alaska state legislature as a Republican, or an explanation of why Sullivan deserves credit. There is no record of Massie making a public statement about Sullivan on fentanyl or any other topic.

Both the content and tone are highly unusual for an independent news outlet. That is because the Alaska Navigator is not an independent news outlet. Rather, it is a website fully controlled by One Nation, a dark money group that works in concert with the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the super PAC of Senate Republicans. One Nation has directly contributed over $70 million to the SLF this political cycle.

Other content published by Alaska Navigator includes “Senator Dan S. Sullivan’s Legislative Record of Supporting Alaska’s Veterans,” “Sen. Sullivan’s tax policy helps Alaska businesses thrive,” and “Opinion: Dan Sullivan has earned another term by delivering for Alaska.”

One Nation has ensured that Alaskans see this content by spending tens of thousands of dollars on Meta ads promoting Alaska Navigator articles since June. These ads further distort reality. For example, the fentanyl article was promoted with an ad declaring there was a “New Bill to Crack Down on Fentanyl Trafficking, Supported By Dan Sullivan.” But the only bill mentioned in the article was the HALT Fentanyl Act, which was signed into law in July 2025.

While the ad discloses it was paid for by One Nation, it does not disclose that Alaska Navigator is owned and operated by One Nation. That fact is only revealed in small, faint type at the very bottom of the Alaska Navigator website.

Alaska Navigator’s domain, thealaskanavigator.com, was registered on March 20, 2026. The website, however, includes an article dating back to January 2026, making it appear more established. That article was added using a tool called FakerPress, according to the website’s source code. FakerPress markets itself as “a clean way to generate fake and dummy content.”

The fake Alaska news outlet is one of at least six operated by One Nation in states with key U.S. Senate races. Popular Information identified these sites through disclosures in their Meta advertisements. The other five sites in the network include:

Maine Policy Updates (“Maine’s News Source”)
Ohio Pulse (“Your trusted source for local news, investigative journalism, and community stories across the Buckeye State”)
Iowa Voice (“Stay Informed. Stay Iowa”)
Peach State Post (“Georgia’s Premier News Source”)
New Hampshire Daily (“An independent news organization dedicated to covering the stories that matter most to Granite State residents”)

Collectively, One Nation has spent between $198,900 and $274,640 promoting these sites on Meta platforms. Maine Policy Updates has been operating since January, but most of the ad spending for the other sites began in June.

Iowa Voice features a story headlined, “Iowa Farmers Say Potential ‘Death Tax’ Threatens Family Succession Plans.” The piece praises Ashley Hinton, the Republican candidate for Senate, for being “an original cosponsor of the Death Tax Repeal Act, legislation that would permanently repeal the federal estate tax.” The piece highlights that supporters of the bill believe it would “make it easier for family farms and small businesses to remain in family hands across multiple generations.” The piece does not mention that the estate tax impacts only 0.3% of farms. It also does not quote or paraphrase a single farmer.

Other content on these sites mirrors One Nation’s TV ads. A July 30 article on Peach State Post falsely suggests that Senator Jon Ossoff opposes increasing the Child Tax Credit. A One Nation political ad, which has blanketed the state over the last several days, contains the same attack.

The sites attempt to appear more legitimate by cutting and pasting content from actual news outlets. The Peach State Post recently published a story under the headline “Former Atlanta city officials Bickers, Beard who were convicted in corruption cases denied clemency by Trump.” At the end of the piece it says, “Read more here” and links to 11Alive, an Atlanta news website. But the story on Peach State Post contains the full text of 11Alive’s story. There is nothing more to read. There is no indication that Peach State Post secured permission to repost 11Alive’s work. The article is presented as Peach State Post’s original work.

One Nation, which is organized as a 501(c)(4), is not required to disclose its donors. So it is unknown who is bankrolling its fake websites or other activities.

One Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aug. 5

Top Headlines

New York Times, Primary Elections Live Updates: El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary, Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 5, 2026. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, right, a progressive, defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in a Senate primary that had divided the Democrats, according to The Associated Press.. The party sees the seat as key to its hopes of winning control of the chamber.
New York Times, Primary Elections Live Updates: Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens Project Unity After a Divisive Race, Tim Balk, Katie Glueck, Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 5, 2026. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s speech Wednesday morning after he was declared the winner of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary was more geared toward party unity and reaching out to supporters of his opponent, Haley Stevens, than the one he delivered at his campaign party late Tuesday night.
The Contrarian, Opinion: Michigan Nail-Biter, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 5, 2026. On target to be one of the most expensive U.S. Senate primary races in history, Democrats’ Michigan contest did not turn out to be the rout for physician, former public health official, and progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed that a slew of polls suggested.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: It’s Still a Blue Wave, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 5, 2026. The fundamentals still apply after Tuesday night’s primaries. And they look good for Democrats.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Democrats Sweep GOP-Backed Initiatives, Trump Embarrassed in Michigan, UFC Loses $30 Million on Trump Fight, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 5, 2026. A very busy night of election news. Republican-backed ballot initiatives in red states fell across the board. It comes as Trump faces major embarrassment after his endorsed candidate in a Republican primary lost to someone who had already dropped out of the race.

More On Middle East Wars

New York Times, News Analysis: After Trump’s Board of Peace Made a Plan for Gaza, the Bombings Grew Worse, Isabel Kershner and Adam Rasgon, Aug. 5, 2026. President Trump announced a proposal aimed at achieving the disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel ramped up attacks on the Palestinian enclave.
New York Times, Houthis Threaten to Expand Red Sea Attacks, and Claim Strike on Saudi Tanker, Euan Ward and Ismaeel Naar, Aug. 5, 2026. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the claim by the Houthis, who are backed by Iran and have vowed to close “all access routes” to Saudi oil shipments.

More On Michigan U.S. Senate Race

Robert Reich via Substack, Opinion:The Real Meaning of El-Sayed's Victory, Robert Reich, right, Aug. 5, 2026. It's not what you're hearing. With the victory of progressive Abdul El-Sayed over Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic primary yesterday, prepare yourself to hear enormous quantities of bullsh*t about the Democratic Party now being “taken over” by “Democratic Socialists.” Oh, p-l-e-a-s-e. Michigan Democrats didn’t choose El-Sayed because he’s “unabashedly left wing” or a Democratic Socialist (in fact, he’s not).They chose him because he’s a fighter — at a time when America needs fighters willing to stand up to the worst tyrant who has ever occupied the Oval Office.
The Triad Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The Case Against El-Sayed Doomerism, Jonathan V. Last, above, Aug. 5, 2026. He could win. But it won’t be a gimme. Let’s get under the hood on the numbers to understand if Democrats are taking a big risk on the youngblood. Start with this: El-Sayed should beat Mike Rogers, the former longtime congressman who is the Republican nominee, because Michigan is a fairly Democratic state.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (Andrew Harnik photo for Getty Images).

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: What Did Jeanine Pirro Know and When Did She Know It? Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 5, 2026. Davey Hearn has responded to Jeanine Pirro’s motion to dismiss his indictment with a two part ask: Predictably, to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, so Trump can’t fire Pirro and install someone else who’ll recharge Hearn. In conjunction with that, if Judge Todd Edelman feels like he needs more information before deciding whether to dismiss without (as Pirro requested) or with (as Hearn countered) prejudice, he should consult grand jury transcripts or simply turn them over to Hearn.

U.S. Social Justice, Health Care, Food, Economy

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: An Explosion of Misery, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Making American hungry and uninsured again. Contrary to what Trump administration officials say, we are not experiencing explosive economic growth. We are, however, experiencing an explosion in misery — and Donald Trump deserves full credit.
New York Times, The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids, Helen Ouyang, Aug. 5, 2026. The modern health care system requires the work of caregiving to fall to whoever else lives in a household — even if they’re kids. Members of the baby boom generation are aging into the years when they are likely to need daily assistance at home, while increased housing costs are packing more families into multigenerational homes. Federal cuts to Medicaid, the country’s main payer for long-term aid at home, will force some people from the program and reduce home care for others. And even for those who remain eligible — or who can pay for it themselves — support may be elusive: Last year, the home care waiting list for Medicaid beneficiaries alone topped 600,000. Nearly one-third of all home care aides, who typically make less than $17 an hour, are immigrants, and the Labor Department projects about 766,000 openings every year. Inevitably the work falls to whoever else lives in the household — even if they’re children.

More Global News

New York Times, How the Ukraine War Became a Fight for the Skies, Marc Santora, Graphics by Josh Holder, Aug. 5, 2026. Russia and Ukraine are producing ever larger numbers of innovative aerial weapons, hoping for a breakthrough as ground combat is largely frozen.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: About Last Night, William Kristol, right, Aug. 5, 2026. It would be nice to be able to draw some novel, surprising, or dramatic conclusions from last night’s election results. But sometimes the truth is messy and prosaic. The fact is that the results were a mixed bag. And they don’t seem to me to change anything much about what’s likely to happen in November.
The New Republic, Morning Line Analysis: Democratic Primary Update, Staff Reports, Aug. 5, 2026. Abdul El-Sayed is leading Haley Stevens in Michigan as counting continues, but it sure wasn’t the 14-point blowout pollsters predicted! Early Wednesday morning, the AP had El-Sayed up by 19,403 votes out of 1,512,740 cast.
New York Times, North Carolina Republican Drops Re-election Bid After Ethics Rebuke, Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 5, 2026. Chuck Edwards made the announcement after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured for “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staff members.
Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: Some Notes On Why The Polling Was So Off In Michigan, Simon Rosenberg, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Our paid subscribers will gather tonight at 7pm ET to go through what we’ve learned from the elections last night. My initial take on last night -- as both the Establishment and progressives/new left had wins last night -- the most important news continues to be that we have a real, legit shot at winning both the House and Senate this November.
New York Times, Arizona’s Democratic Governor Set to Pick a Republican Running Mate, Sejal Govindarao, Kellen Browning and Reis Thebault, Aug. 4, 2026. Gov. Katie Hobbs, locked in a competitive re-election battle, plans to tap a moderate former mayor of Mesa, Ariz., John Giles, to serve as her lieutenant governor if she wins in November
New York Times, Pro-Israel Democrat Fends Off Democratic Socialist’s Comeback Attempt in Missouri, Kellen Browning, Aug. 5, 2026 (print ed.). Representative Wesley Bell beat Cori Bush, his predecessor, in a rematch. He will be a heavy favorite in the safely Democratic district in November.

More On U.S. Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Psycho Congressman, Qu’est-ce Que c’est? Andrew Egger, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Things are quickly going from terrible to unsustainable for Max Miller. The congressman, who has long faced serious, troubling allegations of domestic abuse, became a national spectacle this week after he tried to refute the allegations in a bizarre livestream. Incomprehensibly, he decided to take another bite of the apple yesterday afternoon, going on CNN for a lengthy interview with Jake Tapper.
The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Alex Padilla Has A Bombshell New Bill That Would Allow The American People To Sue TrumpS, Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced new legislation that would allow Americans to sue the president for ill gotten gains after he leaves office.

U.S. Media, Education

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: CBS News reverses course, airs story on 9/11 families supporting Mamdani, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Last week, CBS News New York falsely reported that “thousands of 9/11 victims’ families are asking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend this year’s solemn remembrance ceremony.” The article appeared to be based on misinformation promoted by the New York Post.
Status with Oliver Darcy, The Ellison Credibility Crisis; More Brain Drain at '60'; Pirro's Pool Plunge, Oliver Darcy, Aug. 4-5, 2026. The Paramount boss tried to convince the public he can be trusted with CNN. But staffers inside the network torched his Times essay in brutal comments to Status, pointing to his disastrous record at CBS News.
Lincoln Square Media, Opinion: Stop Letting Trump Write Your Headlines, Susan J. Demas, right, Aug. 5, 2026. The corporate media's ubiquitous "Trump says" framing is coverage fit for the king he imagines himself to be. Almost every day, Donald Trump unleashes a blitzkrieg of lies. And almost every day, members of the beltway press give him the benefit of the doubt simply because he occupies the Oval Office. We’ve been watching his routine for a decade, and yet somehow, the corporate media still has no idea how to cover him — or any of the other pathological liars in power.
Letters from Leo: the American Pope & US Politics, With Leo XIV’s Approval, Roche Shuts the Door on the Ultratraditionalists, Christopher Hale, Aug. 5, 2026. A Spanish daily now reports the cardinal’s January liturgy document was commissioned and approved by the pope himself, with “not a single comma” changed. Rome’s direction is unmistakable.The old Mass has been a battlefield since Paul VI promulgated the reformed liturgy in 1969.

Top Stories

New York Times, Primary Elections Live Updates: El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary, Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 5, 2026. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in a Senate primary that had divided the Democrats, according to The Associated Press.. The party sees the seat as key to its hopes of winning control of the chamber.

Dem. Primary Candidate Votes Percent Pct.

El-Sayed 740,943 +48.48%

Stevens 726,045 +47.51%

In a contentious race that divided the party, Dr. El-Sayed overcame $60 million in outside money supporting Ms. Stevens, including about $32 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a hard-line pro-Israel group whose involvement became a source of frequent conflict in the contest.

Dr. El-Sayed, right, will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a general election clash for an open battleground seat that could determine control of the Senate.

Dr. El-Sayed and his allies argued that his populist rhetoric would energize voters across the political spectrum who are unhappy with the status quo. But Democratic leaders had rallied around Ms. Stevens, left, a centrist and fierce ally of Israel, fearful that the left-wing views espoused by Dr. El-Sayed, a former public health official and proponent of universal health care, could imperil the party’s chances of defending an crucial open seat.

Speaking to supporters in the hours before the race was called, Dr. El-Sayed said that if he won the primary, “we’ll have taken $70 million on the chin and kept fighting back.” In a nod to the divisive nature of the primary, he added: “Tomorrow, we begin to mend fences.”

Elsewhere, results were mixed in closely watched Democratic primaries. In Missouri, the establishment struck back at the progressive left, with Representative Wesley Bell fending off a primary challenge from former Representative Cori Bush, a democratic socialist.

Ms. Bush, a critic of Israel and member of the so-called Squad — a group of progressive women of color in Congress — was ousted from her St. Louis seat by Mr. Bell two years ago and had been attempting a comeback.

But progressives scored a victory in a Michigan Democratic primary that included Lansing, where William Lawrence, an organizer, beat two centrist Democrats in a House race. He will face Representative Tom Barrett, a Republican, in the fall — a competitive contest that will test whether left-wing populism is viable in swing districts.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

Michigan race: In Detroit, voters went to the polls to choose whether to back Representative Shri Thanedar, a second-term Democrat, or the democratic socialist challenging him, State Representative Donavan McKinney. The race was unresolved as of early Wednesday morning.
A Pacific primary fight: Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an outspoken and vulnerable centrist Democrat who faced challenges from her left and right in the state’s top-two primary system, advanced to a general election against a Republican in her district in southwestern Washington State.
Control in Kansas: Cindy Holscher, a populist Democratic state senator, and State Senator Ty Masterson, who was endorsed by President Trump, will battle for the Kansas governorship after winning their respective parties’ nominations. The winner will replace Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat, who is leaving office because of term limits.
Key House matchup set in Virginia: Democratic primary voters chose former Representative Elaine Luria to face Representative Jen Kiggans, a Republican, in a House race expected to be one of the most competitive in the country this fall. The district is home to several military bases, and both women are Navy veterans.

New York Times, Primary Elections Live Updates: Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens Project Unity After a Divisive Race, Tim Balk, Katie Glueck, Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 5, 2026. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s speech Wednesday morning after he was declared the winner of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary was more geared toward party unity and reaching out to supporters of his opponent, Haley Stevens, than the one he delivered at his campaign party late Tuesday night.

He ended his remarks on Wednesday on lofty terms, saying the race is about “who we are as a country” and saying, “My story in America is about as unlikely as it gets.”

In his speech, El-Sayed, right, sought to reach out to Jewish voters after a campaign in which he regularly attacked the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and in which Haley Stevens said he wanted to blame his “problems on Jewish Americans.” He continued to attack AIPAC in the speech, but said “to all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith, or any faith at all, or no faith at all, I want you to know that my commitment to your safety — to Jewish safety — is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”

El-Sayed, turning to the general election, said Republicans intend to “drag us into the mud” with attacks on his identity. But he said whether Michigan residents supported Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in 2024, they should support him if “you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your groceries.”

El-Sayed said at his rally that he had a “great conversation” with Haley Stevens this morning. He acknowledged that they had a bitter campaign, but hailed her as “one of the most committed public servants” and said there was far more that unifies them than divides them.

In a Truth Social post, President Trump called El-Sayed’s win “great news for the Republican party.” “As usual, the Polls were way off on this one,” Trump wrote. Referring to Haley Stevens, he wrote: “She was not expected to do nearly as well as she did. Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!”

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is holding a small rally in downtown Detroit. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state lawmaker who ran for Senate but suspended her campaign last month, has joined him at the event. She endorsed El-Sayed early this morning.

Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who had been neutral in the primary, congratulated Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday morning.

“It’s been a long primary, but now it’s time to gear up to beat Mike Rogers (again) and win up and down the ticket,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “There is nothing more important than the mission of the next 90 days: uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check on President Trump.”

It was a high-profile victory for the ascendant political left — though the rancorous race was ultimately far closer than polls had suggested, with Dr. El-Sayed leading by less than a percentage point Wednesday morning. Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a general election clash for an open battleground seat that could determine control of the Senate.

Much of the conventional wisdom had been that the $32 million in American Israel Public Affairs Committee spending for Haley Stevens came at a political cost for her in Michigan. Perhaps it did. But given how close the race between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Stevens ended up being, a few people have brought up to me this afternoon the possibility that AIPAC might have been smart to actually spend even a little more, so as to push her over the top.

The Contrarian, Opinion: Michigan Nail-Biter, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 5, 2026. On target to be one of the most expensive U.S. Senate primary races in history, Democrats’ Michigan contest did not turn out to be the rout for physician, former public health official, and progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed that a slew of polls suggested.

By early Wednesday morning, with more than 95% of the vote counted, El-Sayed was leading Rep. Haley Stevens by less than 1.5 percentage points and roughly 20,000 votes. NBC News called the race for him, but other outlets have not as of this writing. The winner will face Rep. Mike Rogers, a loyal Trump foot soldier who has shown zero inclination to oppose his unpopular war or his government of, by, and for the oligarchs.Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Senate from Michigan, speaks at a campaign event Tuesday night. His race remains too close to call. (C-SPAN)

A spate of polls had shown El-Sayed pulling away following a final debate appearance in which he vowed to dismantle ICE — Stevens clung to the notion it could be reformed — and bashed Stevens over her reliance on AIPAC money and her vote against cutting off military aid to Israel. But by any measure, Stevens vastly outperformed polling, a caution against over-reliance on polling and assumptions about “electability” based on them. (It also suggests that pollsters failed to pick up on her strength among working-class, rural and African American voters.) If El-Sayed does hang onto win, his victory will come despite — or maybe because of — the flood of tens of millions in dark money spent on Stevens’s behalf, much of it spent by a shadow AIPAC-related group (the “United Democracy Project”).

Democrats desperate to put the primary acrimony behind them might find a silver lining: the unexpected closeness of the result seemed to have triggered some much-needed humility and magnanimity rather than chest-thumping. El-Sayed told his supporters, “However much we might disagree with our Democratic opponent, there is so much more that unites us than divides us.” He added, “Whatever happens tonight, we have a responsibility to assure that we unite to make sure that Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate.”

While pundits and partisan axe-grinders told us for weeks the race turned on an ideological schism in the party, ordinary voters, even in primaries that attract the most partisan segment of the electorate, choose between real candidates, not partisan manifestos. And what motivates them is not necessarily where they precisely stand on the left-to-right spectrum. Savvy political analyst Karen Finney observed:

National coverage of Michigan has turned this primary into a proxy war over Israel and Gaza while voters are drowning in medical debt, premiums, and everyday costs. Ignoring the full dynamics erases the stakes for voters and obscures what people across MI & the country are saying about their anger over costs and daily struggle.

The real takeaway may be rather simple: Find the most talented campaigner with the most focused message who successfully channels voters’ righteous anger directed at corrupt insiders and who expresses an unambiguous commitment to economic populism. An El-Sayed victory also would be another reminder that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is remarkably inept when it comes to evaluating the campaign skills and the public appeal of candidates. A Stevens loss (in the wake of Maine Gov. Janet Mills’s spectacular failure to knock off Graham Platner during the primary) would no doubt add momentum to those calling for a Senate leadership makeover.

Though legacy media and the MAGA-friendly punditocracy will insist the outcome of the race is evidence of — you guessed it! — “Democrats in disarray,” this is how primaries work. They test the relative strengths of candidates in a tough battle and begin the process of forging consensus for the general election. The only issue for Democrats now is to hold the seat.

Stevens’s defenders were adamant that El-Sayed will prove to be “too far left” for the general election, but it is not clear that right-left distinctions are going to be the determining factor in November. Though Republicans will be anxious to portray El-Sayed as another “socialist,” he is not a democratic socialist, and he has not been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. His economic populist message, vow to end ICE, and other domestic positions are fully within the Democratic Party’s mainstream — and align with voters across the board who reject Trump’s policy stances.

El-Sayed and his supporters have a point when they dispute a cramped definition of “electability” in today’s political environment, where not only Democrats but also independents are looking for aggressive, bold leadership. El-Sayed has shown he can energize young voters and those disaffected with both parties; if he is the winner of yesterday’s primary, he will need to build out the pro-democracy broad-tent coalition.

Meanwhile, two moderates, former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam and onetime Ukraine ambassador Bridget Brink, split the vote in Michigan’s 7th, allowing progressive newcomer William Lawrence to cruise to victory. Though some Democrats fear Lawrence would match up poorly in a critical red-to-blue pickup opportunity against Rep. Tom Barrett (R), his message, which focused heavily on halting the influx of data centers and passing universal healthcare, excited younger voters. Again, “electability” in today’s politics may turn out to be something more than ideological inoffensiveness.

In addition, Christina Hines, an outstanding candidate and chief of the Special Victims Unit and the Appeals Division at the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office, which prosecutes sexual predators, cruised to victory in the winnable open 10th Congressional District (Republican incumbent John James is vacating the seat to run for governor), stressing an anti-corruption message and universal healthcare.

Michigan’s Senate race, however, will remain the premier race in the state and among the most hotly contested Senate matchups nationwide. Democrats would be wise to embrace former Wisconsin Democratic state chairman Ben Wikler’s advice. He explained in a recent New York Times interview that whatever differences Democrats have, they are united by a “central theme ... connecting with voters about the lived experience of a country that feels like they cannot afford it — and delivering ideas about how they can change that.” Democrats do best when they make the case that, under Republicans, “our federal government works for a cabal of far-right billionaires and not for working people.”

Focusing on widely popular, unifying themes and forcing Republicans to defend Trump’s toxic record will be the key to success in Michigan and elsewhere. If El-Sayed does emerge the winner and maintains that focus, Democrats will prevail in Michigan, go a long way toward securing a Senate majority, and set the groundwork for victory in 2028, which is essential to recapturing our democracy from the clutches of a fascist, corrupt MAGA regime.

It is worth noting contests in three other states. Former Squad member and former congresswoman Cori Bush, arguably the most extreme anti-Israel candidate running in any state on Tuesday, lost decisively in her bid to recapture her seat in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. MAGA maneuvers to impede progressives in Missouri (an amendment requiring referenda to win in every congressional district) and in Kansas (a ballot measure forcing state Supreme Court justices to be re-elected, an attack on the independent-minded justices who ruled for abortion rights) failed by double digits. Voters are tired of MAGA tactics designed to hamstring opposition to their unpopular policies.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: It’s Still a Blue Wave, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 5, 2026. The fundamentals still apply after Tuesday night’s primaries. And they look good for Democrats.

Now that Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general has made it out of committee, the race is on to figure out which Republican senators get to take a show vote against him without imperiling his nomination. It’s a tricky thing, given that Blanche can only afford to lose two. The first, unsurprisingly, is Susan Collins, who said yesterday that Blanche “has taken several actions that have further eroded” the Justice Department’s independence. She’s not kidding!

Who the lucky second abstainer will be remains to be seen: Lisa Murkowski has said she is still weighing her decision. Bill Cassidy has been mum. But it can only be one. Happy Wednesday.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Democrats Sweep GOP-Backed Initiatives, Trump Embarrassed in Michigan, UFC Loses $30 Million on Trump Fight, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 5, 2026. A very busy night of election news. Republican-backed ballot initiatives in red states fell across the board. It comes as Trump faces major embarrassment after his endorsed candidate in a Republican primary lost to someone who had already dropped out of the race.

Meanwhile, UFC lost $30 million on the White House UFC fight, Trump is rolling back endangered species protections, Republicans are standing by Max Miller despite the abuse allegations, and much more.

I’m sitting down with Senator Wyden this afternoon for a major interview, all things Epstein, and we’ll have a major Epstein announcement on the criminal investigation in New Mexico. Stay tuned on all fronts.

Bari Weiss killed the critical Epstein related interview with Senator Wyden. I’m doing that interview today. You won’t want to miss it. I will never stop talking about Epstein.

Here’s the news:

UFC lost roughly $30 million staging its Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn in June, an invite-only gathering of about 4,300 people, including President Trump and VP JD Vance, marking 250 years of American independence and coinciding with Trump’s 80th birthday. Initial costs were projected above $60 million, partially offset by sponsorships and media exposure, and the loss was anticipated by UFC’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings. Despite the one-off loss, TKO reported UFC’s overall second-quarter revenue rose 29% year-over-year to $535.7 million, boosted by a new $7.7 billion, seven-year Paramount deal that carried the White House event exclusively on Paramount+ and drew an average of 34 million viewers worldwide, making it one of the most-watched MMA events ever. High-roller packages reportedly cost up to $1.5 million for special access, though UFC hasn’t confirmed exact pricing, and a free public viewing event was also held nearby at Ellipse Park.

Trump announced his administration is rolling back protections under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, claiming “radical climate activists” had exploited the law to unreasonably block oil, gas, timber, housing and military activities. The change relaxes the legal definition of “harm” to habitats, reversing an interpretation the Supreme Court upheld in 1995 to protect spotted owls; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the law had become a “regulatory trap,” while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it would benefit fishermen burdened by broad regulations. Environmental groups strongly condemned the move: Earthjustice’s Kristen Boyles said there’s no scientific, legal, or public support for it, and advocates from Oceana and the Center for Biological Diversity warned it could be a “death sentence” for species like monarch butterflies, wolverines, and Florida manatees, since habitat loss is the leading cause of extinction. The rule change was first proposed last year and formally adopted in July before Trump touted it publicly this week.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, above, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reportedly had a heated shouting match in front of Trump on Monday over the Reflecting Pool debacle, after Pirro dropped vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn. Pirro brought boxes of evidence to the Oval Office showing Burgum’s department had known the damage stemmed from a “rushed and flawed” contractor installation rather than sabotage, and privately called Burgum an “incompetent liar” for allegedly withholding that information until after Hearn’s indictment. Trump himself was furious with Pirro for dropping the case and publicly accused her of “folding like an umbrella” and choking in front of a “vicious” judge, though sources say he seemed noticeably calmer by the meeting’s end. Trump has continued pushing the vandalism claim despite the contradicting evidence, and when asked Tuesday whether he’d fire Pirro, he said he “hasn’t made a determination.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, right, broke his silence on domestic abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller, calling them “serious” but insisting the House Ethics Committee investigation must “play out” before any disciplinary action, since “we don’t take disciplinary action against members for allegations.” The allegations, from Miller’s ex-wife Emily Moreno, include holding a gun to her head and breaking their daughter’s collarbone; Miller denies wrongdoing, calls the claims “politically motivated,” and requested the Ethics probe himself, which now also covers alleged illegal drug use.

Trump said he hopes Rep. Max Miller is “able to work it out” and that he “feels badly for him,” when asked for comment on Miller.

According to Reuters, a proposed Iran-Oman deal would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a major concession, though sources say key details remain unresolved and pushed back on Trump’s claims that an agreement is imminent. The main sticking point is Iran’s role over outbound ships, and Iran is reportedly seeking fees of 5-7% on cargo value, versus Oman’s proposed ~3% and Washington’s insistence on no fees at all; making fees “voluntary” is floated as a possible compromise, though implied threats could pressure shippers to pay anyway. Trump said talks are “moving along nicely” and warned Iran would be “hit really hard” if it backs out again, but this comes after months of U.S. strikes failed to break Iran’s grip on the strait, and Reuters separately reported the U.S. Army has used nearly all its long-range precision missiles. Meanwhile, Houthi forces in Yemen struck a Saudi-flagged tanker in the Red Sea Wednesday, part of an ongoing campaign against Saudi oil shipping that has kept regional tensions and oil prices elevated even as crude sits near its lowest levels since early July.

Election results:

Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, has won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary over establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens, despite being outspent nearly 9-to-1 (roughly $65 million in outside money favored Stevens, including over $30 million from an AIPAC-affiliated group). He’ll face Republican Mike Rogers in November in a race seen as pivotal to Senate control, with Trump predicting Rogers will fare better against El-Sayed than he would have against Stevens. El-Sayed ran on Medicare for All, criticism of corporate PAC money, and campaigned with Bernie Sanders and AOC despite not being formally DSA-affiliated; he also drew scrutiny for leaked donor-call remarks about targeting Democrats like Sen. John Fetterman. Gov. Whitmer’s late endorsement of Stevens failed to stop El-Sayed’s momentum, and third-place finisher Mallory McMorrow has since endorsed him for the general election, calling for party unity.

Trump’s endorsed candidate in Michigan’s 8th congressional district Republican primary, Amir Hassan, is on track to lose by more than 17 points to Thomas J. Smith, even though Smith dropped out of the race last month and remained on the ballot only because it was too late to remove his name. Smith has since endorsed a different Republican, Al Lemmo, who was pulling around 16% of the vote. With about 99% counted, the loss marks another instance of a Trump endorsement failing to sway voters, despite the president’s backing typically being seen as a strong advantage. The winner will go on to face Democratic incumbent Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet in the competitive Flint-area district this November.

Kansas voters rejected a GOP-backed constitutional amendment that would have replaced the state’s current judicial appointment system with direct elections for state Supreme Court justices. Currently, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly appoints justices from a list vetted by a nonpartisan commission, with justices then facing retention votes; Republicans pushed the change after the court ruled in 2019 that the state constitution protects abortion rights, a decision voters upheld in 2022. The campaign drew over $12 million in ad spending, with opponents outspending supporters more than 2-to-1, arguing the measure would inject partisan money and politics into the courts, similar to costly Wisconsin judicial races. Supporters framed it as giving voters more direct say, but Democrats and some Republicans, including state AG Kris Kobach’s past comments, suggested the real goal was enabling anti-abortion justices to be seated more easily. Critics also noted Republicans placed the measure on the lower-turnout August primary ballot rather than the November general election.

Missouri voters rejected Amendment 4, a Republican-backed measure that would have required citizen-led constitutional amendments to win a majority in every congressional district rather than just a statewide majority, a change critics said would have made Missouri’s initiative process “functionally dead” and the strictest in the country. The push came after voters used the current simple-majority system in recent years to pass progressive measures on abortion rights, Medicaid expansion, marijuana legalization, and paid sick leave (the last of which the GOP-controlled Legislature later repealed). Opponents outspent supporters roughly $6 million to zero on broadcast ads, and the same anti-Amendment 4 campaign also opposed a separate measure to eliminate income taxes in favor of higher sales taxes. The effort followed Missouri Republicans’ recent redrawing of the state’s congressional map to eliminate the lone Democratic-held district, and a competing referendum to undo that map was separately blocked from the ballot by the Secretary of State. Missouri joins other GOP-led states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah, that are pursuing similar efforts this year to raise the threshold for citizen-initiated constitutional changes.

Rep. Wesley Bell defeated former Rep. Cori Bush in a St. Louis Democratic primary rematch, with Bell’s campaign and allies outspending Bush roughly 27-to-1, including $2 million in ads from AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC attacking Bush’s Israel criticism. Bell tried to frame the race around local issues, telling voters “the M in Missouri doesn’t stand for Middle East,” while Bush countered that outside money was “buying candidates” and that Missourians weren’t happy about it. Some Democratic voters cited corporate/dark money influence as their reason for backing Bush despite the race not being framed around it in Bell’s messaging, while Bush ran ads linking Bell to AIPAC and prioritizing Israel aid over tornado recovery funding for Missourians. This is a repeat of 2024, when the same AIPAC-linked super PAC spent $9.3 million to help Bell first unseat Bush. Bush said a loss wouldn’t set back the progressive movement, and flatly ruled out ever voting for a Republican when asked if she’d support Bell in November.

Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 7th District, beating out more moderate rivals former Ambassador Bridget Brink and retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, and will now face GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in one of the nation’s most closely watched swing seats (Trump won it by just 1 point in 2024). A mysterious super PAC spent over $1 million boosting Lawrence and attacking Maasdam, fueling Democratic worries that Republicans helped him win because they see him as an easier general-election opponent.

Other news:

According to NBC News, the Pentagon’s policy chief is drafting a new classified U.S. nuclear strategy, according to five sources familiar with the plans, that emphasizes the potential use of shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons in the event of a regional war with China or Russia. The classified document is meant to inform the president’s nuclear options during a crisis.

Reuters has confirmed that FBI Director Kash Patel, left, has built new law enforcement partnerships with China and Russia over the past 15 months, exchanging personnel and intelligence to jointly combat fentanyl trafficking, cyber fraud, and child exploitation networks, a major break from decades of treating both countries primarily as adversaries and espionage threats. The cooperation has produced concrete results: “Operation Sand Dollar” in May led to a joint FBI-China-Dubai raid on a cyber scam center yielding 300 arrests and $300 million seized, while separate operations with Chinese authorities resulted in arrests tied to fentanyl precursor chemicals and a child sexual abuse materials network taken down with an FBI Omaha field office. Patel insists the partnerships are narrow, reciprocal, and won’t replace core alliances like Five Eyes, and says FBI facilities deploy surveillance and vetting for foreign visitors from adversarial nations.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is not actively considering a public inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s activities in Britain, despite victims’ minister Alex Davies-Jones saying on BBC Newsnight that the PM was “looking into” such an inquiry and “taking this very seriously.” A separate inquiry into allegations against former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, who faces more than 400 sexual abuse allegations spanning 1977-2014 (with London police investigating claims from at least 156 complainants), is also reportedly under consideration, though not confirmed as a formal public inquiry either.

The Trump administration has refunded about $100bn (60%) of the $165bn collected under the “liberation day” tariffs, after the Supreme Court ruled those levies illegal in February. Despite the tariff income, the federal deficit has actually grown, hitting $1.37tn in the first nine months of the fiscal year, up 2% from 2025. Last month Trump imposed a new round of tariffs (10-12.5%) on over 80 countries under Section 301 of the Trade Act, targeting countries accused of forced labor practices. This week a coalition of 25 states sued the administration, arguing the new tariffs are just a pretext to reinstate the levies the Supreme Court already struck down, and are asking the Court of International Trade to block them and order refunds.

China announced new economic countermeasures against the U.S. Wednesday, including case-by-case export controls on drones and related technology, and a trade ban on six American entities (including Applied DNA Sciences and Human Rights in China), in response to recent U.S. restrictions like the FCC’s Chinese drone import ban and Homeland Security adding 43 Chinese companies to a forced-labor import blacklist. China’s Commerce Ministry said the U.S. moves violated agreements reached between Xi Jinping and Trump and warned of further sanctions if Washington adds new restrictions, while framing its own response as restrained. Beijing also barred Compliance Testing LLC from doing business in China for working with the FCC, is investigating potential security risks from imported printing software and office equipment, and moved to block U.S.-based auditors from providing CCC safety certifications for electronics, effectively forcing American manufacturers to use non-U.S. certifying bodies.

The FAA is investigating a Tuesday air-traffic incident in which Trump’s Marine One helicopter departed the White House while air-traffic controllers failed to halt commercial flights at Reagan National Airport, as protocol requires. An Envoy Air regional jet bound for Pensacola took off around the same time and apparently lost required separation from Marine One, though sources say the two aircraft weren’t converging and neither was involved in a “dangerous close call”; both landed safely. A separate regional flight was diverted around the airport out of caution during the incident, and the FAA plans to convene a Safety Review Team. The episode is notable because the FAA imposed strict helicopter-jet separation rules around Reagan National after a January 2025 mid-air collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet killed 67 people, a crash the NTSB attributed to systemic FAA safety failures.

North Carolina Republican congressman Chuck Edwards announced he won’t seek re-election after the House ethics committee found he “fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment” by singling out two young female staffers for gifts and special attention. He’ll finish his current term, ending in January. The bipartisan panel had recommended censure, which would require Edwards to stand in the House well while a rebuke is read aloud; the investigation found no evidence of sexual activity or advances, but concluded his conduct likely violated the House’s harassment rules, and noted he hadn’t taken responsibility for the harm caused. Edwards was already seen as vulnerable in November’s midterms, with forecaster Sabato’s Crystal Ball recently rating his western North Carolina district a “toss-up.”

A four-ton discarded section of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, left in space since it launched a Firefly Aerospace lunar lander in January 2025, is believed to have unintentionally slammed into the moon on Wednesday at roughly 5,400 miles per hour. NASA said the impact was expected to carve out a crater about 60 feet wide and 12 feet deep, though astronomers weren’t able to immediately confirm the collision, possibly because the impact site was near the moon’s visible edge. The rocket stage ended up on this trajectory after burning its remaining fuel and drifting uncontrolled, with SpaceX’s Julianna Scheiman explaining that a mix of solar activity and gravitational forces pulled it toward the moon; NASA and SpaceX are now discussing ways to prevent similar impacts in the future. Experts say the crash poses no danger to Earth and could offer minor scientific value, though software developer Bill Gray noted it “does highlight a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware is disposed of.” The news comes as SpaceX posted a smaller-than-expected loss and a revenue surge in its first earnings report as a public company, though shares still fell on investor skepticism about the company’s ambitious promises.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pick for permanent Army chief of staff, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, faces resistance from Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who worry he’s only held four-star rank for six months versus the typical 18-month tenure before taking the top job. Committee chairman Sen. Roger Wicker reportedly told Hegseth back in May that LaNeve lacked the votes, and Sen. Joni Ernst is among those raising concerns; LaNeve has been serving in an acting capacity since Hegseth fired the popular Gen. Randy George in April, and Hegseth can keep him there indefinitely since there’s no statutory time limit. LaNeve’s rise reportedly stems partly from impressing Trump on a 2025 video call (”Is this man central casting, or what?”) and from being championed by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, after which he was elevated over predecessor Gen. James Mingus.

The UN’s World Food Programme warns that a developing “super El Niño” could push about 50 million more people into acute hunger by the end of 2027, adding to the 225 million already facing severe food insecurity across 45 countries. Central and South America, the Caribbean, and southern Africa are expected to be hit hardest, while South and Southeast Asia face reduced rainfall threatening agriculture. This El Niño is shaping up to be the strongest in 70 years, amplified by climate change, and experts say the worst impacts in southern Africa won’t hit until the 2027-28 “lean season” after harvests are exhausted. The WFP is budgeting at least $80m for early warning and anticipatory relief efforts, though data collection gaps due to funding cuts have complicated preparation, and officials stressed that food-exporting countries avoiding export bans will be key to preventing wider price spikes.

Vladimir Tkachuk, director of the Uraldronzavod factory near Yekaterinburg that manufactures Russia’s “Upyr” (Ghoul) drones, was badly wounded and hospitalized in grave condition after his car exploded late Tuesday, according to Russian state media. No details on the explosion or suspects have been released. Tkachuk had built the team that developed the cheap, jamming-resistant Upyr drone, praised by Russian troops. Russian authorities routinely blame Kyiv for attacks on military-linked officials since the 2022 invasion, and this incident follows Saturday’s deadly bombing at a Moscow restaurant that killed five, which Russia’s embassy in Rome attributed to Ukraine; some unverified Russian media reports claimed that attack targeted a Russian general celebrating his birthday there.

More On Michigan U.S. Senate Race

Robert Reich via Substack, Opinion:The Real Meaning of El-Sayed's Victory, Robert Reich, right, Aug. 5, 2026. It's not what you're hearing.

With the victory of progressive Abdul El-Sayed over Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic primary yesterday, prepare yourself to hear enormous quantities of bullsh*t about the Democratic Party now being “taken over” by “Democratic Socialists.”

Or as the reliably establishment New York Times described what’s at stake, “can an insurgent candidate, with unabashedly left-wing positions, win in a moderate state?”

Oh, p-l-e-a-s-e.

Michigan Democrats didn’t choose El-Sayed because he’s “unabashedly left wing” or a Democratic Socialist (in fact, he’s not).They chose him because he’s a fighter — at a time when America needs fighters willing to stand up to the worst tyrant who has ever occupied the Oval Office.

Corporate Democrats — such as Haley Stevens, along with Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries — aren’t up to the task because they won’t bite the corporate hands that feed them campaign money. They won’t criticize the billionaire class. They refuse to see how big money has corrupted America.

Yet it’s big corporations and the billionaire class that are supporting Trump’s neo-fascism. They’ve sucked up to Trump for corporate welfare, giant tax cuts, tariff exemptions, antitrust acquiescence, and war contracts. They’ve given Trump hundreds of millions for his inauguration, his ballroom, his 250th birthday, his superPAC. Jamie Dimon and Wall Street; Elon Musk and his billionaire bro’s; Brad Carp and his corporate lawyers; Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and the Ellisons — all have sold their integrity for huge profits.

They’ve created media empires that won’t criticize Trump, financial empires that feed Trump’s crypto, energy empires that feed off Trump’s war, and legal empires that allow Trump to ride roughshod over the rule of law.

Which is why America desperately needs people in Congress who will fight against Trump and his sycophants. The Democratic Party isn’t being taken over by Democratic Socialists. There’s no civil war between progressives and moderates. This isn’t about Israel or Netanyahu. We aren’t witnessing an ideological battle between the “left” and the “center.”

We’re seeing America wake up to the tyranny that’s engulfed us, and to a crisis of affordability that’s causing most Americans to struggle financially while fueling the biggest stock market rally in history. When corporate America and Wall Street are unleashed — when the president of the United States has made an implicit deal with the moneyed interests to back him and his authoritarian regime in exchange for tax cuts, deregulation, monopolization, and pay-to-play corruption — of course prices soar and wages stagnate. Tyranny is the handmaiden of the moneyed interests. The Democratic Party’s mega-donor class may be horrified by the rising tide of progressive populism overtaking more than a few primaries this cycle. It spent tens of million of dollars on Stevens — making the Michigan primary one of the most expensive in American history. Too bad. It’s time that the Democratic Party’s mega-donor class recognizes that its real choice is between democracy and tyranny, between an economy that works for all or one that works for a small sliver at the top. If the mega-donor class chooses the latter, it may be acting in its narrow self-interest, but it will also be acting against the future of this nation.

The Triad Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The Case Against El-Sayed Doomerism, Jonathan V. Last, above, Aug. 5, 2026. He could win. But it won’t be a gimme.

1. Michigan

The Associated Press this morning called the Michigan Senate Democratic primary: Abdul El-Sayed won a much closer than expected victory over Haley Stevens.

Let’s get under the hood on the numbers to understand if Democrats are taking a big risk on the youngblood.

Start with this: El-Sayed should beat Mike Rogers, the former longtime congressman who is the Republican nominee, because Michigan is a fairly Democratic state.

The current governor of Michigan is a Democrat and Democrats have held the governorship for 16 of the last 24 years.¹

Since 1979, Democrats have held both of Michigan’s Senate seats for the entire period, with the exception of a single Senate term when Spencer Abraham was elected in the 1994 Republican wave.

That’s an incredible run.

Here are the ten Senate elections since Abraham broke the streak:

You can see a clear pattern of Republicans gaining ground since 2014—but Democrats have still performed well. They’ve won open seats; they’ve won in midterm elections when Republicans are surging nationally. They’ve won in presidential years when Republicans captured the White House.

They’ve even won an open seat while Trump was carrying the state at the presidential level.

What this tells us is that Michigan is a Democratic state. With an open seat, in a good environment for Democrats, without Trump at the top of the ticket, any replacement-level D should win this Senate seat.²

Probably by > 1.5 percent.

Translation: El-Sayed would have to be worse than a generic Democrat—by at least 1.5 points—in order to lose.

Is he?

Start with El-Sayed’s positives.

He’s an excellent speaker and a real political talent.
He ran an insurgent campaign, going from near the rear of the pack to the front.
He beat the entire state Democratic establishment that came out to oppose him.
He was outspent by close to 11 to 1.

That’s a lot of positives. And here’s another one: El-Sayed turned out a lot of voters.

The last time Michigan Democrats had a semi-competitive primary was in 2024. Elissa Slotkin romped with 76 percent of 934,000 votes.

More than 1.5 million people voted in yesterday’s primary. In a primary race in a state where the total number of eligible voters—of both parties—is around 8 million, that’s a lot of excitement; a lot of energy. You have to give El-Sayed credit for a lot of it.

And yet . . .

El-Sayed dramatically underperformed his polls. The last batch of polls had El-Sayed ahead by +13 on average. His worst poll in the final days had him at +8.

As of this writing, he’s ahead by just about 1 percent.

Not the end of the world, maybe. But concerning.

Also concerning is the voting pattern. This race had become a referendum on El-Sayed. He was the main character. He was so far ahead and had so much energy behind his campaign that the question for Democrats wasn’t so much Stevens vs. El-Sayed, but, “Are you sure you want to roll with this guy?”

When Slotkin beat Mike Rogers in 2024, she won by a total of 19,000 votes out of 5.6 million votes cast.

How did she do it? She rolled up huge margins in Wayne, Washtenaw, and Ingham Counties where she won with Saddam numbers. She dominated 8 of the 11 most populous counties.

But she also hung on in the rural counties. Slotkin only dropped below 30 percent in a handful of rural outposts. The difference between hitting 30 percent, or falling to 20 percent, in a county with 5,000 voters isn’t much—500 votes.

But again: She won by 19,000 votes, total. And there are a lot of those small, rural counties.

So the blueprint for a Democrat winning Michigan is:

Absolutely crush with the black vote in Wayne, Oakland, and other dense urban counties, but also . . .
Find every vote you can in the small, rural counties. Lose by 30 points, not 40 points.

El-Sayed only did half of that.

Look at that list up top 👆. El-Sayed lost Wayne and Oakland by >6 points. This tells us that he wasn’t able to excite the African-American voters who are the foundation of the party in Michigan. (Our Jonathan Cohn had his eye on this possibility, and wrote about it last week.)

Now maybe El-Sayed turns out those voters in November. But remember: He doesn’t just need huge turnout in those counties—he needs to absolutely crush the margins.

I am slightly concerned with El-Sayed’s numbers in Macomb, too. Macomb is an affluent white Detroit suburb where Mike Rogers did very well in 2024. El-Sayed lost Macomb by 7 points. He’s going to need to get a bunch of votes out of there and probably can’t afford to lose Macomb by >10 points.

On the rural counties, it’s a mixed bag for El-Sayed.

He did well in places like Iron and Marquette Counties while Stevens won most of the rural counties. But El-Sayed stayed competitive. He didn’t dip below the 30 percent mark anywhere. This suggests to me that rural Democrats are not totally opposed to him. They’ll listen to his pitch and if he connects, then maybe he can get the numbers he needs from the hinterlands.

The final concern for El-Sayed is that Mike Rogers has done this before.

Democrats are dismissive of Rogers as a carpetbagging empty suit. Fair enough. But Rogers ran statewide two years ago and earned a lot of votes. He’s been tested in a high-profile, big-time campaign. There won’t be any bombshells blowing him up. Two years ago he got 48.3 percent of the vote against a quality Democrat. The guy has already convinced 2.7 million Michiganders to pull the lever for him once.

How much is that worth? We have a comp.

In 2018, Republican John James ran for Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat. He got 45.76 percent of the vote—good enough for 1.9 million votes.

Encouraged by this showing, James ran it back in 2020 for the other Michigan Senate seat. He ticked up to 48.22 percent and 2.6 million votes.

This isn’t straight apples-to-apples. But it’s close. It’s hard to picture Rogers doing much worse in 2026 than he did in 2024. Without Trump at the top of the ticket, he could lose some altitude. But he probably has a hard floor of 47 percent.

Bottom line: We have a bunch of conflicting signals here.

This should be a winnable seat for Democrats in a very good environment.
El-Sayed has real strengths as a candidate.
But he also has work to do, especially with African-American voters.
Mike Rogers may not be the tomato-can people expect.
And the race might turn out to be a close-run thing, determined by less than 50,000 votes.

All in all, I like his chances; but it isn’t a gimme.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (Andrew Harnik photo for Getty Images).

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: What Did Jeanine Pirro Know and When Did She Know It? Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 5, 2026. Davey Hearn has responded to Jeanine Pirro’s motion to dismiss his indictment with a two part ask:

Predictably, to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, so Trump can’t fire Pirro and install someone else who’ll recharge Hearn. In conjunction with that, if Judge Todd Edelman feels like he needs more information before deciding whether to dismiss without (as Pirro requested) or with (as Hearn countered) prejudice, he should consult grand jury transcripts or simply turn them over to Hearn.

Normally, the motion to dismiss would moot the grand jury transcript request, but this is similar in posture to what happened with the Broadview 6. And besides, Pirro left herself open for that request by moving to dismiss without prejudice, and Hearn explains more about the abuse of the grand jury in his response.

In it, Hearn described two previously unidentified pieces of evidence that seem to prove that Pirro came to understand that Hearn’s prosecution was shit — and came to learn that via different means — than her claimed excuse, that Interior stalled on turning over relevant information. And he described two problems with discovery which might explain the real reason why Pirro wants out of this case now.

Before I get there though, Hearn makes an argument that could be important going forward (especially given the way Doug Burgum has blabbed his mouth). He argues that Interior is not just the victim agency — the Park Service whose reflecting pool was allegedly damaged. But because Hearn was arrested by the Park Police, which is part of Interior (and reports to Burgum), Interior is part of the investigative team, as well. If Judge Todd Edelman agreed, that would make the evidentiary problems described below more problematic. To be sure, DOJ consistently succeeds in arguing against such claims, but given the suspect testimony from Park Police, might not be able to do so here. That is, this is an assertion we may see again.

As a reminder, DOJ’s Motion to Dismiss lays out the following timeline to explain Pirro’s purportedly belated discovery her case was shit:

June 19: Hearn arrestedUnspecified date: DOJ [makes] dozens and dozens of requests for information [are made]July 2: Grand jury indicts and Pirro makes unhinged comments at a press conference just in time for July 4July 10: The pool is drainedJuly 17 (or maybe July 16, though Hearn does not correct this date): Prosecutors accompany Hearn’s expert and realize, as if for the first time, that the pool is riddled with damageAfter July 17: Interior provides DOJ with the materials they did not produce beforehand which takes days to readJuly 31: Almost two weeks later, prosecutors decide they have to dismiss the case

Hearn adds at least three new details to that timeline (in bold):

That is, Pirro (or at least her prosecutors) had to have known both that Interior knew there had been prior damage (which is precisely how their equivocating witness had originally testified before he was sent back to the grand jury to testify that Hearn had done $1,000 of damage) before July 10 and had to have known what it looked like by July 13, four days earlier than DOJ claims.

The MTD is thoroughly dishonest about the timeline, claiming they didn’t learn things until around July 19 that they had notice of no later than July 10. So why attempt to claim they couldn’t have known until at least nine days later than they did?

Before I speculate about that, let me first describe the two big discovery problems Hearn described.

In this post I noted (based on WaPo’s reporting; note my screen cap below reflects my time zone and so a June 25 date) that the Park Police had released that video that Trump keeps posting on June 24, purporting to be looking for leads for an incident that happened at a different part of the pool an hour before Davey Hearn showed up.

Hearn’s filing notes that it was actually shared earlier: First with Jesse Watters, for an “exclusive” piece that aired on June 23. Then in a Department of Interior post from the same day pointing to the Watters piece. Then the Park Police BOLO above, on June 24. And then, over and over, especially on August 1 in response to the MTD, by the President. Everyone got that video, starting with Fox News!

Except Hearn (shown above, and at lower right during his days as a three-time Olympic athlete representing the United States).

As Hearn notes, “To this day, Mr. Hearn never received this CCTV footage from the government.”

Whether or not Interior was really withholding materials from DOJ, it was giving relevant information to Pirro’s former colleague at Fox News that it did not provide to Hearn.

I can see why having to explain why Fox was getting stuff that Hearn was not might have been persuasive to Pirro.

But the other discovery problem is potentially far more damaging. I keep posting this image, which DOJ explained confidently in its MTD was taken by a Parks Service employee who was not involved in the conflict with Hearn at 2:55PM, over an hour before Hearn showed up. It shows the flap of liner Hearn was accused of causing, already loose before he showed up.

In this post, I speculated that this photo may be one of the ones Hearn wanted more detail about in a discovery request submitted on July 27.

I was right.

A footnote explains that, in addition to the filing I referenced, there were two other requests pertaining to this photo.

14 The government had previously represented, including in sworn testimony presented to the grand jury that indicted Mr. Hearn, that the photograph was taken by a different NPS employee, but has apparently altered this incorrect factual assertion following requests for information about the photographs, including metadata, made by the defense. See Def.’s Mot. Rule 41(g) and Mot. Compel and accompanying Sealed Exhibit C; Def.’s Mot. for Disclosure and accompanying Sealed Exhibit 2. The government never provided the defense with complete metadata for its alleged “before” and “after” photos before moving to dismiss this case. [links added]

Not only didn’t DOJ ever give the metadata to Hearn (possibly hiding their knowledge that the flap was there before Hearn showed up), but they made an affirmative, sworn misrepresentation about who took the photo, seemingly in both the affidavit to seize Hearn’s phone (Exhibit C above) and the investigative witness in the grand jury (Sealed Exhibit 2 above).

Note there are two witnesses whose testimony Hearn has shown need for, MR, the witness describing the harm Hearn purportedly did, and MF, the investigative witness who summarized the unsworn testimony of the Parks Service employee who accused Hearn. The MF transcript mentions the photo.

DOJ seems to have claimed, in both the grand jury testimony and the affidavit, that the primary witness against Hearn (described as W-1 in the MTD) took both the before and the after photos. But in the MTD, they say a third Parks Service employee, identified as W-3, took the photo — again, more than an hour before Hearn showed up. (And I wonder whether W-3 is MR, the guy who testified about harm.)

But that would mean W-3 knew the damage was there a full hour before Hearn arrived.

I can see why Hearn invited Edelman to review the grand jury transcripts, even though they would otherwise be mooted. Because DOJ went to great lengths to blame this on Hearn, both by keeping Hearn’s accuser out of the grand jury and (apparently) by claiming she took a photo that someone else took an hour earlier.

From the start, Norm Eisen, right, has been arguing that DOJ dropped the case because of the court filings they had filed, not any new information. And certainly, the June 30 report and the July 13 pool visit show that DOJ already had the information that the MTD claims they only got after July 17.

But now look at the timeline with Hearn’s filings:

June 19: Hearn arrestedUnspecified date: DOJ [makes] dozens and dozens of requests for information [are made]June 30: Interior completes a report, “Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Damage Assessment” that describes pealing for which Hearn accused as possible vandalism “after initial peeling”July 2: Grand jury indicts and Pirro makes unhinged comments at a press conference just in time for July 4July 9: DOJ seizes Hearn’s phoneJuly 10: Hearn requests his phone back, pointing to non-disclosure of his own photo and the games played with the before and after onesJuly 10: The pool is drainedJuly 10: DOJ provides the Damage Assessment to HearnJuly 13: DC Special Agents photographed damage throughout the poolJuly 16: Hearn moves to dismiss the indictment because Interior drained the poolJuly 17 (or maybe July 16, though Hearn does not correct this date): Prosecutors accompany Hearn’s expert and realize, as if for the first time, that the pool is riddled with damageAfter July 17: Interior provides DOJ with the materials they did not produce beforehand which takes days to readJuly 27: Hearn requests grand jury transcripts which show DOJ’s harm witness could not attribute damage to HearnJuly 28: Hearn clarifies that DOJ has still not provided key metadata for the before and after photos (as well as one sent by a third party)July 28: Hearn reveals he has just gotten a second transcript for the harm witness, showing he was brought back into the grand jury to claim Hearn did $1,000 of damageJuly 31: Prosecutors move to dismiss the case

In WSJ’s story on the drama involving Pirro, it reveals that prosecutors had warned her not to charge a felony against Hearn.

Belying her public confidence were questions career prosecutors had privately raised about the wisdom of bringing a felony case, according to people familiar with the internal discussions.

Even in spite of that warning, prosecutors played games when pursuing that felony, hiding problems with both their primary witnesses.

WSJ also reveals that Pirro is paying career prosecutors $25,000 to stick around — the kind of financial incentive that might lead a prosecutor to fiddle with the grand jury to do what she demanded.

Last month, Pirro offered prosecutors in her office a $25,000 retention bonus to stay for the next two years, according to people familiar with the matter.

In her post-indictment press conference on July 2, Pirro insisted that an assessment of the evidence led to the felony charge, as opposed to the misdemeanor for which Hearn was originally charged.

What did Jeanine Pirro know when she falsely claimed the evidence directed her choice to get a felony indictment and falsely claimed she had a witness who would prove Hearn did $1,000 of damage?

What did Jeanine Pirro know and when did she know it.

Betcha $25,000 we might yet find out!

U.S. Social Justice, Health Care, Food, Economy

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: An Explosion of Misery, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Making American hungry and uninsured again.

Contrary to what Trump administration officials say, we are not experiencing explosive economic growth. We are, however, experiencing an explosion in misery — and Donald Trump deserves full credit.

I want to talk about food stamps and health insurance, two areas where things have gotten dramatically worse just in the past year and are continuing to get worse. There's going to be a lot more hungry people in America, especially hungry children, by the end of this year, and a lot more people without health insurance or with inadequate health insurance. And it all can be tied directly to legislative action or inaction on the part the Trump administration and its allies.

Here's what has happened. So we have what everybody still calls food stamps, though it's officially Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But we have a situation now where the One Big Beautiful Bill didn't exactly cut the rate of benefits, but what it did was to impose work requirements.

You might say, well,shouldn't people who can work work? Yeah, but that's not really what's happening. What's happening is that people who can work and do work —because among those who can work who are receiving food stamps, the vast majority do in fact work — must show proof of work. And that is, for many such people, a basically impossible burden.

I mean, think of who is likely to be on food stamps. They may well be irregularly employed. They certainly may not have a job where they can call up the HR department and get the necessary forms. They are also presented with a complicated paperwork requirement. We're talking about people who are, to some extent, lacking in formal education. But above all — I've never been poor, thank God — but as everyone who's studied or been poor can tell you, the biggest issue of poverty in some sense is the cognitive burden, the constant struggle to just make ends meet, which is a huge burden on everything else.

So you're imposing a bureaucratic hurdle, really a bureaucratic barricade in front of exactly the people least able to get across it. So of course, we're seeing a lot of people losing nutritional assistance with millions of those people children.

Health insurance is a rather different story. The Affordable Care Act made a huge positive difference to many people's lives — in this case some people I do know quite well, small business people and so on. But the way it was set up, there are subsidies to help you purchase insurance through the exchanges. The subsidies are means tested. I could not get a subsidy for health insurance, nor should I. So they fade out with income. But as originally set up, they faded out too quickly with rising income, and there was a cliff at 400% of the poverty line, no more subsidies, which was clearly bad policy. And they knew that at the time. It was just that trying to scrape together enough votes to get that thing enacted was hard.

So during the Biden years, the subsidy program was improved. It became somewhat more generous, but more important, it no longer had a cliff. It just gradually faded out.

Unfortunately, that was not a permanent change. It wasn't enacted into legislation for forever. There was a cutoff date. Why? Well, two words, Joe Manchin. But in any case, obviously, Trump and Republicans in Congress refuse to even contemplate extending those enhanced benefits. And so a lot of people are now faced with vastly higher costs if they want to retain their health insurance.

Interestingly, these are not the poorest. The poorest are going to be on Medicaid and even people a little bit above that are still going to have the full subsidy. But it's people in the middle class whose income is a little above 400% of the poverty line and suddenly have no subsidy available. That is a hardship for, again, millions of people.

So far we know that enrollment on the exchanges that were set up to buy health insurance has dropped by about three million so far. Probably a lot more to come. And probably that understates the loss because people trying to save money because things are more expensive are in many cases stepping down to less comprehensive plans. So there's an increase in the number of underinsured too. Which means that a large number of Americans who had adequate health insurance no longer do.

How should we think about all of this? The Trump administration has put out a report on the decline in Affordable Care Act enrollment, which is really a blood-boiling document because it portrays the big rise in enrollment that took place during the Biden years as a problem because it was an increase in fraud.

Now, is there fraud? Yes, there's fraud in the Affordable Care Act. Is there fraud in the food stamp program? Yes — there's fraud in every program, public and private sector as well. There's fraud in the endless pasta deal at Olive Garden. There's fraud in frequent flyer schemes. There is no reason to believe that there is significant fraud in the sense that it's a significant, important part of any of these programs.

And one thing that you always want to bear in mind when we're talking about these means-tested programs is how cheap they are. The average food stamp recipient receives $187 a month in nutritional assistance — $187 a month, a little over $2,000 a year. Maybe one way to put that in context is to say that Donald Trump's East Wing Ballroom Project, the one that is so far still just a hole in the ground and hopefully will never be finished, is costing $600 million. So that project alone, that scam, because we know that there's a lot of corruption involved, that is the equivalent of food stamps for 300,000 people for a year.

So the things that we're talking about here are, it's not really about the money. It is one of those “the cruelty is the point” stories. And we could go on about that, but clearly the fact that a lot of people are going to suffer is not an unintended byproduct of these policies. It is kind of, in some ways, the goal.

It's also enormously destructive, not just for people's lives now, but for the future.

One of the best established facts about the benefits of government spending is that nutritional and health assistance to children pays off for society as a whole. That children who received food stamps or Medicaid in their early years grow up to be healthier, more productive adults who pay more in taxes and are less likely to need government assistance. The rates of return on both the food stamp program and Medicaid, the original aid for health care for the poor, are enormous. They're far bigger, far better substantiated than almost anything else you can do.

If you ask, you know, what do we know about the payoff to infrastructure investment? Well, we think it's pretty big, but... that's not based on solid evidence. The evidence on these programs is enormous.

So by cutting back on these programs, by creating this explosion of misery, they're not only making millions of Americans much, much poorer than they were, they're also making the country as a whole substantially poorer in the long run. It's an anti-growth policy. But of course, the cruelty is the point.

And here we are. Many things happen to the economy, many things happen to society that are outside the control of the guy in the White House. Many bad things aren't really the fault of the party in power. This is absolutely, totally Donald Trump's fault.

New York Times, The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids, Helen Ouyang, Aug. 5, 2026. The modern health care system requires the work of caregiving to fall to whoever else lives in a household — even if they’re kids.

Isabella Myricle Robinson was 15 and hanging out in her bedroom, surrounded by her stuffed Hello Kitty dolls, when she heard her mother, Rosa Seda, cry out. She raced into her mother’s room and found her lying on the floor. Rosa didn’t seem to be breathing. “Mama, wake up!” Isabella screamed. She shook her mother’s head from side to side and told her to breathe. “I honestly thought that she was gonna pass away right there,” she says. Rosa had collapsed after her doctor called her with bad news: Her breast cancer had spread to her brain.

By then, Isabella had already been caring for her mother for a year and a half. “It all went downhill from 14,” she says. After Rosa’s right breast was removed, Isabella would skip school to milk the tube that drained her post-op fluid, even as she feared pulling the tube out. She would change Rosa’s bandages and help her bathe, sort her pills morning and night and spray the bathroom with Lysol so her mother wouldn’t pick up an infection. At Rosa’s medical appointments, where Isabella took notes, she learned how cancer spreads. “I don’t even know how that physically is possible to have cancer in your bloodstream,” Isabella told me. “But that’s what the doctors say.”

In 2024 and 2025, Rosa had two operations on the tumors in her brain, leaving Isabella to tend to new surgical wounds and make sure her mother didn’t fall. Isabella scheduled Rosa’s doctor appointments and filled out medical forms.

Isabella, who lives outside Atlanta, is one of an estimated four million children in the United States caring for an adult family member who is sick or disabled or old, according to a 2025 report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving. That figure is an extrapolation from surveys of adult caregivers that include only children who are reported as additional helpers; it doesn’t capture those who provide care by themselves or attend to siblings with medical needs.

The health care system is adding to these pressures. Financial incentives are shortening hospital stays, and services that used to be provided on the wards are left to those at home. “People are being discharged without the resources they need to be able to care for their loved ones,” says Michelle Bolden, a nurse who founded the nonprofit Call for Caring. “We send them home to manage Foley catheters or wounds or g-tubes — all types of things. And there’s minimal amount of training that’s done.”

Federal cuts to Medicaid, the country’s main payer for long-term aid at home, will force some people from the program and reduce home care for others. And even for those who remain eligible — or who can pay for it themselves — support may be elusive: Last year, the home care waiting list for Medicaid beneficiaries alone topped 600,000. Nearly one-third of all home care aides, who typically make less than $17 an hour, are immigrants, and the Labor Department projects about 766,000 openings every year. Inevitably the work falls to whoever else lives in the household — even if they’re children.

Children in this role not only have different worries — in Isabella’s case, turning in her algebra homework, making it to practice with her majorette team — they also lack access to the state or federal resources available to their adult counterparts. This invisibility, the result of societal blind spots, leaves them with few places to turn.

More On Middle East Wars

New York Times, News Analysis: After Trump’s Board of Peace Made a Plan for Gaza, the Bombings Grew Worse, Isabel Kershner and Adam Rasgon, Aug. 5, 2026. President Trump announced a proposal aimed at achieving the disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel ramped up attacks on the Palestinian enclave.

Soon after President Trump announced a new plan last week to deliver peace and security in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave instead experienced a spike in deadly Israeli bombings, which threatened to undermine hopes for long-awaited progress.

On Sunday, Israeli strikes killed 18 people, according to the health ministry in Gaza, making it one of the deadliest days there since a troubled cease-fire came into force in October. Gaza health ministry data from the conflict does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israeli strikes a day earlier killed at least two people and damaged warehouses for medical supplies, Palestinian officials said. And on Monday, the Israeli military struck a car on a beachside road, killing two, according to Gazan officials. No new Israeli strikes have been reported in Gaza since Monday evening.

With many of the plan’s details still unclear, including a timetable for the Hamas disarmament at its heart, the 15-point plan released by Mr. Trump’s Board of Peace — which also calls for an Israeli withdrawal and a new administration in Gaza — risks being undone before the specifics are worked out.

On Monday, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office, Doron Spielman, pushed back against the terms of the agreement, which Israel had not signed. “The version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s positions,” he said in a statement. He added, “Israel has conveyed its comments and concerns on the proposed framework to our American counterparts.” He said the concerns centered on the issue of Hamas disarmament.

Nickolay E. Mladenov, a veteran Bulgarian diplomat who is the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, leveled rare criticism at Israel over its attacks. ImageNickolay E. Mladenov, left, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, attending a meeting of the Palestine Donor Group at the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels in July.Credit...Pool photo by John Thys

“Two days of strikes across Gaza have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies that people depend on,” he said in a statement posted on social media on Sunday. He said that the attacks came after “intense efforts” by the mediators to reach a deal and that he and his team were “working around the clock with the parties, mediators and regional partners to de-escalate.”

In a joint statement on Monday, three countries that have served as mediators — Qatar, Egypt and Turkey — condemned what they described as “the ongoing Israeli violations” in Gaza.

Hamas said in a statement that “entire families” were wiped out on Sunday, and it accused Israel of “a deliberate escalation” aimed at blocking the plan.

The Israeli military has said that its strikes in recent days have targeted Hamas fighters and weapons infrastructure. It also said it had taken steps to mitigate harm to civilians.

Since the October cease-fire, Israel has steadily stepped up attacks across the Gaza Strip. In July, the military carried out almost daily strikes and named at least 50 militants it said it had eliminated, including what it said were Hamas members who had participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. That attack ignited the war in Gaza, which has left more than 70,000 dead, according to officials, and much of the enclave in ruins.

New York Times, Houthis Threaten to Expand Red Sea Attacks, and Claim Strike on Saudi Tanker, Euan Ward and Ismaeel Naar, Aug. 5, 2026. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the claim by the Houthis, who are backed by Iran and have vowed to close “all access routes” to Saudi oil shipments.

The Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia in Yemen, said Wednesday that they had struck a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea, and they threatened to intensify attacks there in an effort to close “all access routes” to Saudi oil shipments.

The Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said the group had fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi tanker called Wafa near the Saudi port city of Yanbu, though he did not say when the attack had occurred. The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claim.

The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi shipping last month. The territory they control in Yemen is near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway that leads into the southern end of the Red Sea.

The group claimed on Wednesday to have attacked eight ships linked to Saudi Arabia since the blockade. The strikes have forced some shipping companies to reroute to the northern part of the Red Sea. The group’s latest threat suggested that it would pursue Saudi tankers there also, in waters heading toward the Suez Canal, another crucial artery for global trade. The global oil price, after two days of declines, jumped 1 percent on Wednesday, to about $80 a barrel.

The Houthis and Saudi Arabia are longtime adversaries. In 2015, Saudi Arabia assembled a military coalition that failed to oust the Houthis from power after the group seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, setting off a devastating civil war.

That conflict settled into a fragile stalemate, but last month tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia escalated rapidly, with an exchange of strikes.

The Red Sea has taken on greater importance in recent months after fighting between the United States and Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital corridor for oil and gas shipping in the Persian Gulf. That disruption led Saudi Arabia to reroute about 70 of its oil through pipelines to port cities on the Red Sea, where the Houthis are now concentrating their attacks.

That workaround, which included putting oil on ships that passed the Bab al-Mandab Strait, did not fully replace traffic disrupted by the Strait of Hormuz, but it helped. Since the Houthis threatened to block Saudi exports, ship traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait has fallen by nearly half.

The Saudi-led coalition has for the most part not publicly confirmed or denied specific Houthi claims of attacks. Since the blockade was announced, the coalition has struck the Houthi-controlled port city of Hudaydah, saying it targeted “legitimate military targets” used to threaten commercial vessels.

More Global News

New York Times, How the Ukraine War Became a Fight for the Skies, Marc Santora, Graphics by Josh Holder, Aug. 5, 2026. Russia and Ukraine are producing ever larger numbers of innovative aerial weapons, hoping for a breakthrough as ground combat is largely frozen.

As the front line in Ukraine calcifies into a bloody deadlock, the future trajectory of the war is being shaped in the skies.

This air war is an all-encompassing contest stretching from a few yards above scorched tree lines to satellites in low-earth orbit. Its physical toll is etched in fire across the landscape by missiles and drones, though much of the fight remains unseen, in the race to deploy artificial intelligence and control a spectrum of radio waves.

Ukraine is using exploding drones to hit Russian oil facilities from Siberia to St. Petersburg and Russian ports from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Day after day, the warehouses of Russia’s largest online retailer are going up in flames, and Russia-occupied Crimea is being plunged into darkness. Ukraine is striking Russia far more often than it did earlier in the war, including attacks with cruise missiles on military targets hundreds of miles from the front.Ukrainian strikes in RussiaSep. 2025UKRAINERUSSIA Moscow Kyiv St Petersburg Voronezh Rostov-on-Don Volgograd Saratov Kazan Samara Ufa YekaterinburgStrikes per location51025

Note: As of Aug. 3. Includes Ukrainian drone and missile attacks inside Russia. Strikes within 60 miles of the border are not shown. Source: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data. The New York Times

At the same time, Russia is setting monthly records for its own aerial onslaughts, exploiting gaps in depleted Ukrainian air defenses to deadly effect.

In July, Moscow fired at least 126 ballistic missiles — a wartime high, according to a New York Times analysis of Ukrainian Air Force data. About 400 civilians died last month in Russia’s barrages, which included cruise missiles and drones, making it the deadliest month since April 2022.

Before dawn on Wednesday, at least 17 more people were killed in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in an attack that included 24 ballistic missiles and four hypersonic missiles. None of those missiles were shot down, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.Russia’s ballistic missile strikes on Ukraine hit a record high in July50ballistic missile strikes126202420252026100

Source: Daily operational reports from the Ukrainian Air Force, compiled by The New York Times.How the Ukraine War Became a Fight for the Skies - The New York Times

Beyond the human toll, the Russian assaults have forced Ukraine to suspend vital grain and steel shipments from its seaports. The attacks have also shattered already-ravaged infrastructure, spawning fears that the country could be headed toward another winter of scarce heating and electricity.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is essentially two wars in one.

One is waged around the clock by infantry soldiers and drone operators in hide-outs along the 800-mile front. Russia is still trying to capture Ukrainian land, at a cost of tens of thousands of soldiers’ lives every month, and it is inching forward in the eastern Donbas region. Ukraine, for its part, is still defending its territory with its own outnumbered army and trying to regain land where it can, including in the south.

The other war comes in waves through the skies. It is aimed at distant cities and military sites in both countries, often in the dark of night, and has grown deadlier for both Ukrainians and Russians.

The objectives of these aerial assaults go beyond purely military goals. Kyiv is seeking to deepen the economic pain for the Kremlin, bring the war home to Russians and force President Vladimir V. Putin to accept a cease-fire on terms he does not dictate. For Moscow, it is a continuation of a yearslong campaign to wear down Ukrainian resolve and render cities unlivable.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: About Last Night, William Kristol, right, Aug. 5, 2026. It would be nice to be able to draw some novel, surprising, or dramatic conclusions from last night’s election results. But sometimes the truth is messy and prosaic. The fact is that the results were a mixed bag. And they don’t seem to me to change anything much about what’s likely to happen in November.

The highest profile race was the Michigan Democratic Senate primary. The polls suggested that the leftist insurgent, Abdul El-Sayed, would easily defeat the establishment candidate, Haley Stevens, perhaps by double digits. It looks early this morning that El-Sayed will likely eke out a victory by a percentage point or two.

It’s a good reminder that polling in primaries can be unreliable. More importantly, it probably means Republican Mike Rogers, who almost won his senate race against Elissa Slotkin in 2024, has better odds than he otherwise would have had this November. But the national environment will still help the Democratic nominee, and it’s also the case that some swing voters may be more attracted to the change El-Sayed represents than put off by some of his left-of-the-mainstream views. So while this is a chance—very likely the only one—for a Republican Senate pickup, it’s by no means guaranteed.

You know what is guaranteed? The quality journalism you’ll get at The Bulwark. Sign up NOW to gear up for the midterms:Subscribed

On the other hand, the continuing cascade of news about Rep. Max Miller’s horrifying personal behavior, combined with his determination to stay in the race for his Ohio congressional seat, makes me more convinced than ever that Democrats will have a better-than-expected cycle in that state—and that Sherrod Brown could very well win the Senate race there.

Put that together with likely Democratic pickups in North Carolina and Maine, and decent opportunities for victory in Alaska, Iowa, and Texas, and I think Democrats have a pretty good chance—I’d say slightly better than 50-50—of controlling the Senate.

And there are other states that aren’t being much discussed that could well be in play. Last night, Kansas Democrats nominated a strong moderate, Alan Hamilton, to take on a weak Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall. At the same time, voters in that state soundly defeated a Republican-backed measure to change the way Kansas Supreme Court’s judges are selected—a measure that was really a referendum over the court’s more liberal decisions, especially on abortion rights. By the way, that topic could return more centrally to the electoral conversation this year after the recent emergence of a recording by Todd Blanche assuring faith leaders that he’d work to extend anti-abortion measures nationally.

I’d also note that the Democratic nominees have withdrawn from Senate races in South Dakota and Idaho, clearing the field for moderate and attractive independent candidates to stand as the alternative to the Republican nominees. The same thing may well happen soon in Montana. One or more of those races might become competitive. In these cases, Democratic parties are behaving responsibly, putting their pride and narrow self-interest aside, and trying to rise to the moment by making it easier for voters to elect candidates not burdened by the Democratic brand but who, as senators, would help check Donald Trump.Subscribed

Meanwhile, nothing that happened in House primaries last night—a mixed bag of progressive and moderate victories—changes the broader electoral landscape. We are today where we were a few days ago when Ron Brownstein said on our Bulwark on Sunday podcast that “like Bogart, I believe the fundamental things apply.”

One fundamental thing that applies is that the party of the incumbent president hasn’t maintained control of the House in an off-year election since 2002. Voters like their checks and balances! Another fundamental is that special elections have produced consistent and marked Democratic overperformances over the past year and a half.

And the most significant fundamental is that Donald Trump’s approval is so far underwater. He’s far worse off than George W. Bush in 2006, or Barack Obama in 2010, or Joe Biden in 2022, or than he himself was in 2018. In all those instances, the House flipped. Trump’s not going to escape the same fate.

The task for Democrats isn’t complicated. They need to focus on the fundamentals and keep on fighting Trump. They also need to prepare for a desperate Trump administration and Republican party to do whatever they can to tilt the playing field. But on this front, Democrats seem to be getting better prepared, and courts and voters seem increasingly alert to the danger. Yesterday, for example, public outrage forced Republicans in important Tarrant County, Texas to back down from a scheme to drastically reduce the number of voting locations, including cutting early voting locations on college campuses.

It’s no time to relax, and it’s no time to panic. Ron Brownstein’s Casablanca reference made me think of World War II, which in turn reminded me of the famous British World War II poster: “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Good advice then, good advice now.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics

The New Republic, Morning Line Analysis: Democratic Primary Update,Staff Reports, Aug. 5, 2026. Abdul El-Sayed is leading Haley Stevens in Michigan as counting continues, but it sure wasn’t the 14-point blowout pollsters predicted! Early Wednesday morning, the AP had El-Sayed up by 19,403 votes out of 1,512,740 cast.

WHERE ARE THE OUTSTANDING VOTES?: The AP said early Wednesday that the remaining votes were from Wayne County (Detroit and environs). Around 55,000 votes remained uncounted. Stevens led in Wayne by 4.8 percent, but to win, she’d need to capture about 68 percent of the uncounted ballots. So by the time you read this, AP may have called it.

AND COME NOVEMBER?: If El-Sayed manages to defeat Republican Mike Rogers in the general election, it’ll upend decades of conventional wisdom about how Dems win swing states, and the Democratic Party will change direction, period. If he doesn’t win, the establishment will close ranks hard in 2028.

PROGRESSIVE V. MODERATE SCORECARD: Far from indicating a clear direction, Tuesday’s overall results mostly reinforced the party’s divide. Progressives did well in two Michigan congressional primaries (although one of them was still too close to call on Wednesday morning). But Wesley Bell dusted Cori Bush in Missouri. More moderate candidates won House primaries in Virginia. In Kansas, the more liberal candidate won the gubernatorial matchup, while the more moderate choice took the Senate nod. And so on.

HEARTENING: Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected a GOP-led initiative to phase out the state’s income tax, 80 to 20 percent. And 59 percent of Kansas voters said nyet to a GOP proposal to change how state Supreme Court justices are chosen.

UP NEXT: Wisconsin and Minnesota vote next Tuesday. We’ll see until then whether Francesca Hong’s Thanksgiving skepticism cuts away at her large lead in the polls (her main challenger is Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley). In Minnesota, the key race is for Tina Smith’s Senate seat. There, the more liberal Peggy Flanagan leads centrist Angie Craig pretty comfortably; but Flanagan, in addition to progressive backing, has some more establishment support, too, so that race doesn’t track precisely as a left v. center showdown.

JOHN CORNYN DOES HIS SUSAN COLLINS IMITATION: The Texas senator yesterday, on Todd Blanche’s promise to kill the slush fund: "In this case, we have no alternative but to take his word for it."

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: Some Notes On Why The Polling Was So Off In Michigan, Simon Rosenberg, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Our paid subscribers will gather tonight at 7pm ET to go through what we’ve learned from the elections last night.

My initial take on last night -- as both the Establishment and progressives/new left had wins last night -- the most important news continues to be that we have a real, legit shot at winning both the House and Senate this November.

This data continues to remarkable, impressive, inspiring no matter how many times you see it:

Sensing the opportunity in front of us the DCCC announced last night they were expanding their list of targeted GOP seats from 46 to 58.

The Michigan Senate race remains too close to call this morning (elections are not called until the Associated Press makes the call):

What happened with the polling? Here is what I wrote to you on Sunday:

Many of you have asked about the Michigan Senate primary. I have no idea what is going to happen but my guess is that the primary will be closer than some of the polling we’ve seen this week.

Here’s the full analysis from Sunday. Lots in here to chew on:

…….Many of you have asked about the Michigan Senate primary. I have no idea what is going to happen but my guess is that the primary will be closer than some of the polling we’ve seen this week. As we have gotten a lot of polling in recent days, including a new one this morning from a highly regarded pollster EPIC-MRA, let’s see what we can make of all the data.

In the past few days we’ve gotten three general election polls in the Senate race. All three have Stevens leading Mike Rogers, all three have El-Sayed trailing Rogers. Stevens outperforms El-Sayed by an average of 7 points in these three general elections polls:

Here’s how I break down the primary polling we’ve seen since the beginning of June:

Let’s assume El-Sayed is ahead in the primary despite the lack of high quality, independent polling here. That El-Sayed is polling better in the primary than the general would be consistent with what we’ve discussed here - there are no examples of “new left”/Bernie progressives winning in a battleground race for governor, Senate, or the US House in recent years. While we know this politics can win in Democratic primaries in deep blue areas those of us in “the establishment” have concerns about how well it will perform in battleground general election campaigns for it appears to be built for Democratic primary audiences and not the broader electorate.

As I said in my talk this week Stevens has been endorsed by Michigan elected officials who have won statewide general elections. Those who have won those tough races there believe Stevens to be a better general election candidate, something the polling here seems to confirm.

In these general election polls El-Sayed is performing way below the partisan lean of the state, as Platner did in Maine even in his best polls, and DSAer Francesco Hong is in Wisconsin right now (she trailed in a recent general election poll). El-Sayed is running far behind Jocelyn Benson, our candidate for governor, as Platner trailed our candidate for Governor in Maine, Hannah Pingree, before dropping out:.

So what this polling suggests is that if El-Sayed were to win the primary he will have work to do to bring the party together -- a party that he has repeatedly attacked - and forge a better general election message if he is to beat Mike Rogers this November.

I also want to note the El-Sayed campaign and their allies have deployed a tactic in this race that’s been used by Republicans in recent years, and not by us - flooding the zone with favorable polls to shape the narrative of the race. In the past month 5 of the 12 primary polls released in Michigan have come from the El-Sayed campaign or their ideological allies - almost half. In those polls he leads by an average of 15 points. In June they released three additional general election polls. So if I counted correctly El-Sayed’s world released 8 of the 18 polls we’ve seen in Michigan these past two months - 44%, again almost half. This was a major effort to shape the understanding of the race. I’m not sure there has been anything like this on our side of the game in recent years.

As we’ve discussed here the decline of legacy media means that our understanding of elections will be, unfortunately, increasingly shaped by partisan or ideological actors using polls, prediction markets, and on-line manipulation to ferociously manufacture “consent” or as Renee DiResta called it recently a “majority illusion.”

For more on this new wild west of narrative shaping polls see:

This smart analysis from Bill Scher in the Washington Monthly, The Platner Collapse Is a Cautionary Tale About Polling
This NYT deep dive into the fake Republican polling in 2022, The ‘Red Wave’ Washout: How Skewed Polls Fed A False Election Narrative (gift link)

My review of the failed effort to flood the zone with juiced GOP polls to red wave the NJ Governor’s race last year

New York Times, Arizona’s Democratic Governor Set to Pick a Republican Running Mate, Sejal Govindarao, Kellen Browning and Reis Thebault, Aug. 4, 2026. Gov. Katie Hobbs, locked in a competitive re-election battle, plans to tap a moderate former mayor of Mesa, Ariz., John Giles, to serve as her lieutenant governor if she wins in November

Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona, a vulnerable Democrat running for re-election, plans to tap a longtime Republican and former mayor of a Phoenix suburb to serve as her running mate, according to two people familiar with the decision.

John Giles, a former mayor of Mesa, Ariz., is expected to be announced in the coming days as Ms. Hobbs’s lieutenant governor nominee. Neither Ms. Hobbs nor her campaign would confirm the choice, and nothing is final until an announcement.

But the apparent pick is a nod to bipartisanship in a campaign that will pit Ms. Hobbs, a low-key Democrat, against Representative Andy Biggs, a fiercely partisan Republican with President Trump’s endorsement.

Ms. Hobbs’s narrow victory four years ago was secured with the backing of moderate Republicans and independent voters who have recoiled against hard-line Republican nominees in each of the last two election cycles.

Reached at his home in Mesa, Mr. Giles would not confirm or deny that he had joined the ticket, but a person close to the campaign and another close to Mr. Giles said the choice had been made.

Arizonans for the first time this November will elect a lieutenant governor running on the same ticket as the governor, thanks to a 2022 ballot measure that created the lieutenant governor position.

Calli Jones, a spokeswoman for the Arizona secretary of state’s office, said the office told all governor candidates last Friday that their lieutenant governor picks must be submitted by Aug. 7 to ensure the office has enough time to print their names on the November ballot.

Arizona has emerged as a critical swing state since President Trump carried it in 2016, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won it in 2020, and Mr. Trump won it back in 2024. Ms. Hobbs defeated Kari Lake, a close Trump ally, by less than a percentage point in 2022, the same year another hard-right ally of the president’s, Blake Masters, lost his Senate bid. Ms. Lake lost her own Senate bid in 2024.

Mr. Biggs, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, will again try to expand an appeal to the state’s Trump base into a broader winning coalition. Last week, Mr. Biggs announced his own lieutenant governor pick, Sine Kerr, a former state lawmaker, dairy farmer and strong conservative.

A spokesman for Ms. Hobbs’s campaign, Michael Beyer, said only that the campaign had held multiple events with Mr. Giles “since he became the first endorsement in our Arizona Over Party coalition,” a cohort of dozens of Republicans and independents backing the governor’s re-election.

Mr. Giles, who endorsed Kamala Harris two years ago, told The New York Times last year that he had discussed the lieutenant governor role with Ms. Hobbs in 2024. He rebuffed her initial overtures, as did Jimmy McCain, the son of longtime Senator John McCain of Arizona, according to three people familiar with the outreach to Mr. Giles and Mr. McCain.

Last year, Mr. Giles told The Times that he was skeptical of how much the selection of a moderate Republican like himself would help Ms. Hobbs broaden her appeal if she faced Karrin Taylor Robson, another moderate Republican who was at the time running for governor. But Ms. Taylor Robson dropped out of the Republican primary in February after polling far behind Mr. Biggs.

A longtime critic of Mr. Trump, Mr. Giles spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 2024, urging moderates to vote for Ms. Harris and saying he felt “more at home here than in today’s Republican Party.” He is one of many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have drifted away from the Republican Party in the Trump era.

New York Times, Pro-Israel Democrat Fends Off Democratic Socialist’s Comeback Attempt in Missouri, Kellen Browning, Aug. 5, 2026 (print ed.). Representative Wesley Bell beat Cori Bush, his predecessor, in a rematch. He will be a heavy favorite in the safely Democratic district in November.

Representative Wesley Bell of Missouri, a moderate pro-Israel Democrat, fended off a primary challenge from a former congresswoman and democratic socialist on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, in a loss for the surging socialist movement.

Former Representative Cori Bush, Mr. Bell’s predecessor in the St. Louis district, had hoped to add to the high-profile victories that socialists have notched over Democratic incumbents this year in New York City and Denver.

But Mr. Bell, a former prosecuting attorney and city councilman, held on.

He rose to prominence after the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo., which erupted after a white police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager. In 2018, Mr. Bell ousted the county prosecutor who declined to indict the officer.

In 2024, amid a backlash against progressive politics, Mr. Bell took on Ms. Bush, a member of the so-called Squad — a group of progressive congresswomen of color — and an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. He defeated her in the Democratic primary, but since then, Democratic voters have shifted toward Ms. Bush’s tough stance on Israel, which gave her confidence in a potential comeback.

Her bid fell short, however, with Mr. Bell’s deep-pocketed allies spending heavily to stop her, just as they did in 2024. That included more than $2 million from a super PAC associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group. Mr. Bell’s allies painted Ms. Bush as ineffective and highlighted her vote against former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s infrastructure bill. Mr. Bell will be a heavy favorite in the safely Democratic district in November.

The loss was a setback for democratic socialists, who have gained a foothold in Democratic primaries this year as the party’s voters, fed up with establishment politicians, have shifted toward more liberal positions and the populist, outsider pitches of socialist candidates. In June, socialist candidates ousted three Democratic incumbents, including the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The political careers of Mr. Bell and Ms. Bush, who are Black, were both shaped by the Ferguson protests; Ms. Bush was an activist and organizer of them.

More On U.S. Governance

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Psycho Congressman, Qu’est-ce Que c’est? Andrew Egger, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Things are quickly going from terrible to unsustainable for Max Miller. The congressman, who has long faced serious, troubling allegations of domestic abuse, became a national spectacle this week after he tried to refute the allegations in a bizarre livestream. Incomprehensibly, he decided to take another bite of the apple yesterday afternoon, going on CNN for a lengthy interview with Jake Tapper.

It couldn’t have gone worse. Tapper began the interview by asking about a new allegation from Miller’s former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who said Miller had recently refused to return a treasured stuffed animal—a blue bunny—to his daughter, who can’t sleep without it.¹ Tapper wanted to know: Was that true? Miller responded:

Jake, I would agree that if that were true that would be incredibly disturbing and that the senator would be right. However, he has taken two years to publicly acknowledge for me to resign from my seat. Why is that, Jake? If he truly believed—look, I’m a father to a two and a half year old daughter. I believe that you’re also a father to children. And I don’t know if you’re also a father to a daughter. But what I can tell you is that if my daughter came to me and she said ‘my ex-husband did x, y, and z,’ and then I waited because I was nervous that a political livestream was going to expose a deeply and personal embarrassing matter to the senator, for him to take that action. Sadly, this has nothing to do with my daughter, Jake, and that’s what this entire thing is about. This is nothing more than an individual who is being politically vindictive in talking about a blue bunny.

It went on and on like this, for 22 painful minutes. Miller was utterly unconvincing in his denials, strange and offputting in his tone and approach, and seemed unable to speak in complete sentences, stringing together semi-related fragments of talking points at random.

Not only did he fail to offer reasonable rebuttals to the accusations already out there against him, he somehow managed to find new reasons for voters to be apprehensive about his candidacy and character. When was the last time, Tapper wondered, that Miller had used illegal drugs? “The last time, I don’t know—I would have to say the last time I had illegal drugs would have been, I don’t know, several years ago. I mean, I don’t have a timeframe on it, but I don’t use illegal drugs.”

“Two?” Tapper prompted. “Twenty?”

“No, Jake, this is what they’re doing, okay? This whole needles thing. . . .”

Any half-sane person who found himself in this situation would go straight off the air and into monastic life or the Witness Protection Program. Miller, on the other hand, says he’s determined to stay in the race. And the only people who could perhaps change his mind—House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump—seem determined not to force the issue.

Twice this week, Trump has made it clear where his sympathies lie: “It’s a very sad thing,” he said Monday. “I know Max. He’s a good person. I’m going to let the families figure that out.” Last night, he added: “I hope he’s able to work it out. I feel badly for him.” Johnson, meanwhile, is holding his tongue pending the results of an Ethics Committee investigation. “There’s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time, it’s not my business to get engaged in it,” Johnson told Politico in an interview published this morning. “We have to allow this process to play out. It’s just begun.”

The trajectory of the next few months thus seems basically set. Miller insists he isn’t dropping out, and Republicans are basically out of time to replace him. The guy who went on Jake Tapper last night is not winning re-election in a R+5 district in a blue-wave year. He will run and lose and that will be the end of it—including the House Ethics Committee investigation. These obscene humiliations will last only a few more months at most. The stain on Trump and Johnson, however, will remain.

AROUND THE BULWARK

Vivek Ramaswamy Gets a Reality Check at the County Fair… He handled the hecklers. Explaining how he would pay for all his promises was harder, JIM SWIFT reports from Owensville, Ohio.
TNL LIVE Election Night Coverage… With Sarah on vacation, JVL, SAM, and TIM gathered to discuss last night’s primary election results. Things stayed mostly on the rails.
The Saddest Congressman in America… On Bulwark Takes, SARAH MATTHEWS joins WILL SOMMER to dig into the creepy details of Rep. Chuck Edwards, who suspended his campaign this morning, and why GOP colleagues stayed quiet.

Quick Hits

DANGEROUS SKIES: Earlier this year, a medevac plane took off from Roswell, New Mexico, and flew into the side of a mountain, killing everyone on board. Now, thanks to new reporting from Wired, we know why: The plane had been disoriented and was relying on old-school navigational instruments due to GPS jamming from a nearby U.S. military exercise.

Wired called the tragedy “the first time that GPS jamming has contributed to the crash of a civilian plane in the United States,” but “there’s no reason to think it will be the last.” As drone-based combat becomes the new normal in military conflicts around the world, the U.S. military needs to spend more time training on anti-drone measures, which includes GPS jamming. Such jamming can’t be microtargeted, meaning exercises like the one earlier this year end up jamming GPS hundreds of miles beyond their training area. The military tries to take countermeasures—nearby planes were on notice that their GPS systems wouldn’t work, and the White Sands Missile Range, where the event was held, is one of the most sparsely populated places in the continental United States. But regardless, a few planes, like the ill-fated medevac, are likely to be flying nearby. When they do, they’re forced to rely on pre-GPS navigational instruments and techniques—instruments demanding a much higher degree of skill and familiarity to operate safely, and which today’s pilots rarely if ever use.

“Living in a world with drones of both the friendly and unfriendly variety is going to take a lot of adjusting,” Wired notes. “Historically, major changes in aviation take place only after crashes that kill a large number of people. But a sufficiently motivating catastrophe may not be far off.” Read the whole thing.

ShareCheap ShotsSubtle stuff from the NRSC. Having referred to him up to this point as "Abdul El-Sayed" in its press releases, the committee this morning goes with "Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed"

If there’s anyone in this sordid story who deserves a collective apology, it’s Moreno. The senator has taken a lot of grief over his silence on Max Miller until now, but his explanations for that silence are rock solid: “What my daughter’s been through, what my daughter’s going through. . . . You’ve got to remember, when you don’t have kids and you get divorced, you can just say farewell. You never have to see each other again. But when you have a child, you have to coparent with that individual for the rest of your life. That means scheduling pickups, scheduling drop-offs. This is not something that you can just say, I’ll never have to deal with this guy again. My daughter lives in constant fear of this man . . . . You can’t fathom what that makes me feel like, when a dad’s number one job is to protect your kids. And to have this whole thing out in the public like this is not what I wanted to do, and it’s not what my daughter wanted to do.”

New York Times, North Carolina Republican Drops Re-election Bid After Ethics Rebuke, Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 5, 2026. Chuck Edwards made the announcement after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured for “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staff members.

Representative Chuck Edwards, Republican of North Carolina, announced overnight that he was dropping his re-election bid.

“After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my re-election campaign,” Mr. Edwards wrote on social media at 3:32 a.m. Wednesday. “I will complete my current term.”

The decision came after the House Ethics Committee had recommended on Monday that he be censured for “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.”

The ethics committee report detailed how Mr. Edwards would make “comments” about the women’s “appearance and dress,” shower them with “lavish and recurrent gifts,” invite them to “intimate dinners and vacations” and send notes about his “effusive affection.”

The report said it had found no evidence Mr. Edwards had engaged in sexual activity or “explicitly propositioned” the women but both were “made uncomfortable with his behavior.”

Democrats have nominated Jamie Ager, a fourth-generation farmer with a local political lineage, to try to flip the seat. Mr. Ager’s brother is in the State Legislature, and his grandfather represented the western North Carolina region in Congress.

Democrats had been bullish on their chances against Mr. Edwards, despite the Republican tilt of a district that supported President Trump by 10 percentage points in 2024. It was not immediately clear who would replace Mr. Edwards on the ballot.

The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, Alex Padilla Has A Bombshell New Bill That Would Allow The American People To Sue TrumpS, Jason Easley and Sarah Jones, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced new legislation that would allow Americans to sue the president for ill gotten gains after he leaves office.

If you have been paying attention this week, you may have noticed that Democrats are introducing a lot of legislation related to Trump and corruption.

On Monday, Democrats introduced legislation that would come after Trump for abuse of presidential pardon power and the selling of pardons, which are reportedly going for $2 million each.

On Tuesday, Democrats unveiled legislation that was more directly aimed at Trump and allowing people to get some of the money back that Trump is taking under corrupt pretenses.

Republicans and the current administration seem to view corruption as not a crime, and those who may view it as a crime see it as a victimless crime that doesn’t harm anyone.

This point of view is the opposite of the truth.

Corruption by any public official takes public funds that could be used for the common good and places them in someone’s pocket. Republicans say that there are no funds for hungry children or health insurance subsidies, but Trump has public funds to hand out to his family and allies through no-bid government contracts. That is the policy cost of corruption.

Corruption also undermines trust and faith in government.

Trump is engaging in a third kind of corruption: using his office to make money for himself and his family through schemes like memecoins and his latest, selling access to his Truth Social posts early for insider trading.

This latest scheme has caught the attention of Sen. Alex Padilla, right, who has a bill to hit Trump right in the wallet.

Sen. Padilla’s legislation would ban Trump from selling insider access to his Truth Social announcements.

Sen. Padilla said, “This is out in the open – Donald Trump is the most corrupt President in American history. Despite already being the richest president in history, President Trump’s number one priority in office is to make himself richer while everyday Americans struggle to make ends meet. Selling access to his market-moving social media posts is just one example of the brazen corruption we’ve seen coming out of the Oval Office – and I am fighting back to put a stop to it. Americans deserve a government that works for them, not one that’s for sale to hedge funds and Wall Street banks that can afford the subscription fee.”

According to Sen. Padilla’s office, the legislation would:

Ban the President, Vice President, and related entities – including partnerships or companies with members of their family – from selling nonpublic information, which is explicitly defined to include “application programming interface” (API) data feeds that provide presidential information in ways that are not available for the general public. Penalties are up to two times the profit from the transaction and/or 5 years in prison.

Ban any third-party entity from purchasing any such nonpublic information, including exclusive data feeds, as defined in the legislation. Penalties for buyers are set at up to two times the profit gained from the transaction.

Toll the statute of limitations for conduct while a president is in office and provides for a civil right of action for disgorgement to get ill-gotten gains back for the American people.

The third bullet point deserves our attention.

The American people would be allowed to sue Trump in civil court to get money back that they lost through his corrupt actions.

Let’s say someone loses all of their retirement account because of Trump’s insider trading scheme. They could sue Trump to get their money back.

If this legislation became law, Trump would be buried in lawsuits the moment that he left office.

There is plenty that Congress can do to not just stop corruption, but to make him pay for his corrupt actions.

Presidential immunity doesn’t cover actions taken as a private citizen or civil court.

Padilla’s legislation won’t pass tomorrow, but once Democrats get full control of the government again, Trump could be in a world of hurt.

U.S. Media, Education

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: CBS News reverses course, airs story on 9/11 families supporting Mamdani, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 5, 2026. Last week, CBS News New York falsely reported that “thousands of 9/11 victims’ families are asking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend this year’s solemn remembrance ceremony.” The article appeared to be based on misinformation promoted by the New York Post.

After inquiries from Popular Information, CBS News New York changed their story, but failed to include an editor’s note about the correction. The main CBS News accounts on Instagram and X, which have millions of followers, also quietly removed posts based on CBS News New York’s reporting. “Once we were told that CBS News New York’s reporting was inaccurate, we took our post down,” a source inside CBS News told Popular Information.

This week, CBS News New York has radically changed their coverage. A segment that aired Monday highlighted that many people who lost a family member on 9/11 are “defending Mayor Mamdani’s inclusion in this year’s solemn remembrance ceremony.”

The story features an interview with Elizabeth Miller, who lost her father on 9/11, and serves as the project director of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. “Mayor Mamdani has assured 9/11 families that he wants to be there to honor our loved ones and I think he should be allowed to do that,” Miller told CBS News New York. Her group represents 250 individuals who lost family members during the terrorist attack.

CBS News New York notes that the petition seeking to ban Mamdani has attracted 72,000 signatures “from the public.” The network has spoken to “two petitioners” who lost family members on 9/11 and support the petition. The New York Post, which assigned ten reporters to the task after Popular Information exposed its errors, has now identified ten individuals who are family members of 9/11 victims and signed the petition.

In an interview with Popular Information last week, one of those individuals, Giovanni Galante, who organized the petition, described Mamdani as “a Muslim that has thoughts to get rid of all Jewish people, and to agree with 9/11.” A statement by September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, aired in the new CBS News New York segment, said the group “strongly condemn[s] the anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment underlying the effort seeking to prevent him from being at Ground Zero.”

Mamdani plans to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony. “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them,” Mamdani said.

Lincoln Square Media, Opinion: Stop Letting Trump Write Your Headlines, Susan J. Demas, right, Aug. 5, 2026. The corporate media's ubiquitous "Trump says" framing is coverage fit for the king he imagines himself to be.

Almost every day, Donald Trump unleashes a blitzkrieg of lies. And almost every day, members of the beltway press give him the benefit of the doubt simply because he occupies the Oval Office. We’ve been watching his routine for a decade, and yet somehow, the corporate media still has no idea how to cover him — or any of the other pathological liars in power.

Now it’s true that some stories knock down Trump’s absurd claims in the body of the story. But the headline (often the only thing readers actually absorb) usually does Trump a tremendous favor by writing the story on his terms, with his words.

It’s the “Trump says” framing — and it’s everywhere.

Trump says he’s canceling the Iran strikes because a deal is pending. Trump says vandals are responsible for the Reflecting Pool turning green. Trump says he can keep imposing tariffs regardless of what the Supreme Court ruled. Even when Iran says there’s no deal. Even when the courts have already shut him down. The headlines still give his baseless assertions instant legitimacy.

Take the Reflecting Pool that Trump had painted “American flag blue” this summer (courtesy of $15 million in no-bid contracts, including to a prominent donor). For weeks, he insisted “Criminal, Radical Left Vandals“ cut the waterproof lining and caused the algae bloom because they “truly hate our Country.”

Interior officials had already told reporters, before Trump ever made the vandalism claim, that the outbreak was caused by residual algae sitting in the supply lines during construction. Then last week, his own U.S. Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, quietly dropped the charges in three more of the vandalism cases, including one against former Olympian David Hearn.

Trump’s response wasn’t to acknowledge he’d been wrong — it was to bash Pirro because she “folded like an umbrella,” adding, “I guess she choked.” (No one will be surprised if Judge Jeanine is out of a job soon, following in the footsteps of other high-profile women in his orbit).

The real story is that the administration manufactured criminal prosecutions to cover up for their own incompetence and corruption. Not that Trump “says” there are vandals. (Confused old men say a lot of things).

The tariff coverage follows the same pattern. The Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump doesn’t have the authority to impose tariffs under the emergency powers law he invoked. He kept slapping them on anyway, prompting twenty-five states to sue the administration over what they call a pretext for reinstating the very tariffs the Court struck down.

Meanwhile, Trump is out there posting, “Thank you, Mr. Tariff!” and taking credit for a narrowing trade deficit, while research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds that nearly 90 percent of tariff costs land on American businesses and consumers, not on foreign exporters. A headline that leads with, “Trump says tariffs are working” without that context isn’t news. It’s a glorified press release for the regime.

Trump’s claims about the Iran war are far worse because of the stakes. We’ve had 18 troops die in the conflict and hundreds of others injured. At the dignified transfer for four slain servicemembers last month, Trump had the audacity to speak for the dead and declared that their dying wish was that “we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” There’s zero evidence that these words were said, but the credulous headlines, of course, tell a different story.

We’re now months into “peace is right around the corner” coverage. Trump has declared the Strait of Hormuz open for business over and over again (even though the facts said otherwise). He’s teased an imminent deal with Iran dozens of times since the war began.

This past weekend, he announced on social media that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked the U.S. to “hold off any attack” because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.” Iran’s own semi-official news agency called that claim “simply a new lie.” Days later, Iran’s foreign ministry was still denying that any direct negotiations were happening at all.

Every time Trump pulls this trick, some reporter dutifully writes the story as if it’s totally gonna happen this time because the president insists it will. Even when those stories include basic facts and experts are quoted disputing his assertions, the piece is still framed around whatever Trump says — it’s his narrative.

It’s coverage fit for the king Trump imagines himself to be.

Trump also surrounds himself with people who are genuinely gifted liars. Pete Hegseth was a Fox & Friends host before he was Defense Secretary (so selling nonsense on camera is one of his few discernible talents). But even he has largely stopped holding press conferences on the Iran war as it’s dragged on, because he no longer wants to answer for the administration’s myriad mistakes (even to a revamped Pentagon press corps featuring such heavyweights as the Gateway Pundit and Epoch Times).

RFK Jr. built his career on anti-vax conspiracies, so he fits in perfectly with Trump’s crew. When Dana Bash pressed him on CNN about measles cases hitting a 35-year high after years of him stoking vaccine skepticism, the HHS Secretary didn’t own any of it. Instead, he angrily attacked the media over COVID and invoked Anthony Fauci as the real villain.

JD Vance has already told us how all this works. Confronted by Bash in 2024 about the vile claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating pets, Vance admitted he’d made it up to bolster his campaign’s deportation agenda. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention ... then that’s what I’m going to do,” he declared.

When people tell you who they are, believe them. And the media should cover them accordingly.

I’ve been sounding the alarm about how the media covers Trump’s lying since 2015. It’s been a profound challenge for journalists, most of whom simply aren’t trained on how to effectively report on a politician who lies with such abandon, about everything from his golf game to fallen soldiers.ArticlesWhy Trump’s War on the Press Is Different This TimeSusan J. Demas·Jul 26Why Trump’s War on the Press Is Different This Time

Donald Trump spent Friday night at a party in his own honor, in a ballroom he built, thrown by the very press corps he’s spent over a decade trying to destroy.

But the corporate media has had 11 years to get it together. And they still haven’t figured it out. Look at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in July, an event that’s supposed to celebrate the First Amendment and honor excellence in journalism. Giving Trump such a powerful platform turned out to be the incredible self-own we all knew it would be, as he devoted an hour attacking reporters and political rivals (replete with fat and trans “jokes”) before putting on a “Trump 2028” hat and threatening to violate the Constitution by running again.

When WHCA leadership talks about needing to “normalize the relationship” with the White House, that’s waving a white flag. You’re letting the world’s most powerful liar set the terms of engagement.

Journalists are trained to chase facts, not to win debates. That’s a different skill set, and it’s one reason why interviews with practiced liars often go so badly for the press. When NBC’s Kristen Welker pushed Trump on evidence for his 2020 election fraud lies, he simply got up and left, telling her “you’re a one-sided crooked network” (and adding a bit of his signature sexism: “I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”

Welker looked pathetic in the aftermath, begging him not to end the interview. “Mr. President ... please, I traveled all the way to Wisconsin,” she implored.Subscribed

That’s the bind: when your job demands access to the White House, pressing the liar-in-chief can carry a steep cost. And these days, a lot of corporate newsrooms aren’t willing to pay it.

But here’s the thing. We know the M.O. of Trump and his allies — and that’s precisely why there’s no excuse for headlines that uncritically repeat what they say. We’ve witnessed Trump’s act for over a decade now. We know he’ll lie about everything big and small, without hesitation. We know Hegseth, Vance, and Kennedy will do the same. That should change how reporters prep for interviews and how editors write headlines. It shouldn’t inspire journalists to try and “normalize” relations or beg them for sitdowns where they can lie with impunity.

Journalism exists to tell the truth and speak truth to power. We’re supposed to inform the public, not function as stenographers for the powerful. Every time a headline launders an unverified or disproven claim into “Trump says” framing, the line between reporting and propaganda gets a little blurrier.

And that’s exactly what Trump is counting on.

Status with Oliver Darcy, The Ellison Credibility Crisis; More Brain Drain at '60'; Pirro's Pool Plunge, Oliver Darcy, right, Aug. 4-5, 2026. The Paramount boss tried to convince the public he can be trusted with CNN. But staffers inside the network torched his Times essay in brutal comments to Status, pointing to his disastrous record at CBS News.

Early Tuesday morning, The New York Times published a guest essay from David Ellison, in which the Paramount boss and Oracle scion made his case—yet again—for his proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. In the piece, Ellison recycled his usual pro-merger talking points, but he also curiously identified what he believes to be the real reason a dozen states have sued to block the deal.

"I believe this fight is not really about market share," Ellison wrote, but is about "the news," specifically whether he can "be trusted as a steward of Warner's CNN."

As he worked to persuade the public that he would be a good owner of the Ted Turner-founded news behemoth, in addition to CBS News, Ellison insisted he does not wish “to bend their newsrooms” to his views. However, in the very next paragraph, Ellison stated that he would like to see these organizations "reflect the whole world, not one side of it.” On one hand, he insisted he has no intention of meddling in the news. On the other, he signaled that he does have some views about the news, apparently that one side of the political equation deserves fairer treatment. The wink and nod is rather clear.

In any event, Ellison's essay was not well received inside CNN. In fact, if the Paramount chief had hoped to win over some of the network’s deeply skeptical journalists he would like to lead, he appears to have failed spectacularly. On Tuesday, I spoke with 10 CNNers, ranging in seniority across the company.

Status Scoop | The ‘60’ Brain Drain: The exodus of behind-the-scenes talent continues to eat at “60 Minutes” ahead of the newsmagazine’s fall debut. The most recent departure? Status has learned that Madeleine Carlisle—a well-regarded associate producer at “60 Minutes,” who also happens to be the daughter of Stephen Colbert—resigned from the program…

Letters from Leo: the American Pope & US Politics, With Leo XIV’s Approval, Roche Shuts the Door on the Ultratraditionalists, Christopher Hale, above, Aug. 5, 2026. A Spanish daily now reports the cardinal’s January liturgy document was commissioned and approved by the pope himself, with “not a single comma” changed. Rome’s direction is unmistakable.

Cardinal Arthur Roche seemingly settled a year of speculation about Pope Leo XIV and the traditional Latin Mass in a single sentence.

“No, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum,” the Vatican’s liturgy chief told The Tablet in an interview published July 29.

Traditionis Custodes is Pope Francis’s 2021 decree restricting the traditional Latin Mass. Summorum Pontificum, Benedict XVI’s 2007 ruling, had given priests wide latitude to celebrate it.

Roche, who has led the Dicastery for Divine Worship since May 2021, grounded the claim in the altar itself. The traditional Latin Mass is “a very complex area,” he said, and an important one, “because the Eucharist is the sacrament of unity: it’s the place where we should all be able to be together to celebrate Mass.”

Four days later, the Spanish daily La Razón went further. Citing anonymous Vatican sources, the paper reported on August 2 that Roche’s consistory document (the one traditionalist media spent the winter dismissing as one man’s crusade) was written at Leo XIV’s request. The pope read it himself, the sources said, and approved it; not one comma changed.

The traditionalist press erupted. Diane Montagna, the movement’s most dogged chronicler, pronounced the report woefully inaccurate; Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco (Leo named him to the Church’s highest court on July 25) went on EWTN to question how well Roche knows the pope’s mind. If the restrictions stand, the archbishop warned, some of the faithful “will then go to these other groups that are not in full communion with the See of Rome.”

He did not need to name the group.

Six decades of war over the Mass

The old Mass has been a battlefield since Paul VI promulgated the reformed liturgy in 1969. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who rejected the Second Vatican Council’s reforms, built the Society of St. Pius X around the 1962 Missal.

When he consecrated four bishops without papal permission in 1988, Rome declared him excommunicated. Benedict XVI spent years trying to close the breach. He lifted those excommunications in 2009 — two years, as it happened, after his decree Summorum Pontificum gave priests broad freedom to celebrate the old rite without asking their bishops.

Francis judged that experiment a failure. His July 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes found that Benedict’s concession had been raised as a banner against the Council itself, and it handed bishops (and Rome) control over where, and by whom, the 1962 Missal could be used. Roche arrived at the worship office less than two months before the decree landed; he enforced the new rules, then tightened them with rescripts of his own.

Leo inherited the battlefield and said, for more than a year, almost nothing in public. His one extended comment came in September 2025, in an interview with Crux: the liturgy, he lamented, had become “a political tool” in a Church so polarized that “people aren’t willing to listen to one another.”

His actions told the rest. I reported in January that his first consistory deferred every Latin Mass hope while the pope launched a catechesis series calling Vatican II the Church’s “guiding star.”

When the cardinals gathered again in June, he kept the liturgy off the agenda a second time. La Razón’s sources describe that June meeting bluntly: the old rite is a matter “that a vocal minority wants to stir up.”

None of this has made Leo XIV cruel. In March, he sent a message to the French bishops, through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, asking for “concrete solutions” and the “generous inclusion” of Catholics sincerely attached to the Latin Mass.

“It is troubling that a painful wound continues to open within the Church concerning the celebration of the Mass, the very sacrament of unity,” he wrote.

Cardinal Raymond Burke got permission to celebrate the 1962 Missal in St. Peter’s Basilica in October 2025. The superiors of the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King (two traditional communities in full communion with Rome) found a warm welcome when they came to see the pope.The tent at Écône

The Society of St. Pius X tested Leo XIV’s goodwill when they announced plans to consecrate four new bishops without papal approval.Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández warned on May 13 that the ordinations would constitute “a schismatic act.” Leo followed with a June 29 personal letter to the society’s superior general pleading with its members to “please turn back.”

They refused.

On July 1, in a tent outside the society’s seminary in Écône, Switzerland — 38 years to the day after Rome declared Lefebvre excommunicated — Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta consecrated the four men anyway before a crowd of some 15,000 faithful.

The next day the Vatican declared the society’s bishops and priests in schism and excommunicated, and it extended the penalty to any layperson who formally adheres to the group.

No pope had ever gone that far against the society; John Paul II’s 1988 declaration touched only the bishops involved.

If you put the sequence together, the shape of Leo’s pontificate comes into better focus. A canon lawyer by training, Leo begged the ultratraditionalists to come home, then signed the harshest decree in the society’s history when they marched into schism instead.

He told the French bishops to treat the faithful who love the old rite with generosity. The faction that wields that rite against the Council received a different answer.

Unity, in Leo’s mind, has never meant surrender to extremists.

According to Pope Leo XIV, the Second Vatican Council remains the Church’s “guiding star,” whatever the SSPX dissidents decide.

Leo travels to France next month, where the traditionalist pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres drew roughly 20,000 mostly young walkers this spring. He will meet them as a father rather than a combatant. The restorationists mistook his patience for weakness, and the excommunication decree makes that painfully clear.

The Church is moving forward, and the pope is holding the door open for everyone willing to walk through it.

At Letters from Leo, we stand with Pope Leo XIV and with every Catholic who believes the Eucharist belongs to the whole people of God rather than to whichever faction shouts loudest. The schism at Écône was a bid for a smaller and purer Church, one facing permanently backward. Leo answered it with a father’s grief and a shepherd’s firmness.

This community exists to tell that story honestly, free of the rage merchants and the nostalgia trade, rooted instead in the Gospel’s stubborn insistence on communion.

People across this country are hungry for a Catholicism that is neither a museum nor a weapon. That hunger has made this the fastest-growing Catholic community in America. In a Church wounded by six decades of liturgy wars, we choose the wholeness Leo is building.

Aug. 4

Top Headlines

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Oligarchs are Doubling Down on Republicans, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 4, 2026. And Democrats should make the most of it.Inauguration Day 2025 looked and felt like a coronation, as Donald Trump was installed in a position of immense, unprecedented power. Since he had returned to office despite the Jan. 6 insurrection, it was obvious that time-honored checks and balances on presidential authority wouldn’t apply to him. And the megabillionaires who had spent vast sums to assure Trump’s victory had no qualms about appearing as the new MAGA oligarchy. Through their political and monetary fealty to Trump, they had positioned themselves to dictate policy, free from petty democratic constraints and concern for public welfare. They evidently expected that they would spend years effectively ruling the nation in their interests, along with the president they had bought.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Ground Control to Major Don, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 4,2026. The United States, Reuters reports today, has used “virtually all” its stockpile of long-range precision missiles during five-plus months of conflict in Iran. Happy Tuesday.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Bombshell Epstein Report Reveals Trump/CBS Cover-Up of Money Trail, Military Runs out of Munitions, DOJ Drops More Cases, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 4, 2026. I told you there would be major Epstein news today, and we have it: a new report from Senator Ron Wyden details how big banks failed to report Epstein’s suspicious transactions for decades, and how the Trump Administration and CBS are working to cover it up. Follow the money. That’s what we do today. Meanwhile, Todd Blanche is set to move forward in the confirmation process today, Epstein survivors are speaking out, Trump is seeking reparations for himself, and the U.S. military is quickly running out of munitions.

More On Epstein Files, Trump Team Coverups

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The GOP’s Blind Eye to Abuse, William Kristol, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, will likely be confirmed later this week on another party-line vote by the full Senate. So the man who directed the Trump administration’s Jeffrey Epstein coverup, who flew to Florida to meet with Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell right after the notorious Trump birthday card to Epstein became public, and who a week later presided over her move to the low-level federal prison facility, will become attorney general of the United States.
New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Senate Committee Votes to Advance Blanche Nomination, Michael Gold, Aug. 4, 2026. What We’re Covering. Blanche Nomination: After a week of uncertainty and finger-pointing, Todd Blanche’s path to confirmation as attorney general was narrowly approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning. Mr. Blanche broke an impasse by committing — in writing — to changes to an agreement that settled President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S. Critics say Mr. Blanche’s pledges leave loopholes.
MeidasTouch Network, TOTAL Chaos ERUPTS IN SENATE as Dems GO NUCLEAR on BLANCHE!! Ben Meiselas, right, Aug 4, 2026 (video). MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Democrats blasting Trump and Republicans for pushing through Todd Blanche’s nomination while they engage in massive crimes and cover up.

More On Iran War

New York Times, An Emerging Deal Could Cement Iran’s Control of Strait of Hormuz, David E. Sanger, Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt, Aug. 3, 2026. The deal would address President Trump’s most urgent political problem by allowing ships to move again. But it would give Iran strategic leverage it did not have before the war.
New York Times, How the War in Iran Is Complicating Trump’s Agenda at Home, Erica L. Green, Aug. 4, 2026. As President Trump heads to the West Coast to talk to Americans about the economy, the war in Iran is driving up costs and polls show the already unpopular conflict is losing support.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 4, 2026 [Trump's Cash for Thugs Plan], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Just before midnight last night, news broke that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had rescinded the order of May 18, 2026, establishing a $1.776 billion slush fund for those who claimed that the Department of Justice under former president Joe Biden had persecuted them. The fund was widely perceived to be a way to pay off those convicted of crimes related to their attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. What Blanche’s order did not do was to change the terms of the nonprosecution order providing that the Department of Justice would not prosecute Trump, his sons, the Trump Organization, or their associates for crimes related to tax returns filed before May 19, 2026. At stake is at least $100 million it appears Trump owes to the American people from previous tax shenanigans that turned up in audits.
Daily Beast, SCOTUS deals T final humiliation on birthright citizenship after he missed deadline, Erkki Forster, Aug. 4, 2026. The Supreme Court has officially closed the door on a cause that Donald Trump made one of his biggest second-term priorities.

Trump Rules For U.S Oligarchs, Supporters

New York Times, White House Whipsaws Silicon Valley (and Itself) Over A.I. Rules, David McCabe, Mike Isaac, Ana Swanson and Kate Conger, Aug. 4, 2026. The Trump administration has struggled over how to approach to “open source” models, which are freely available to download and favored by Chinese companies. Trump administration officials have struggled over the past few weeks with what to do about artificial intelligence. In particular, a group that includes White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have debated whether or not to take a far more interventionist approach to “open source” A.I. models, which are freely available to download and modify, said more than a half-dozen current and former tech and government officials and other people familiar with the matter.
New York Times, Guest Essay: David Ellison: Let’s Set the Record Straight on the Paramount-Warner Deal, David Ellison (chief executive of Paramount Skydance), Aug. 4, 2026. Many people have weighed in on Paramount’s agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery — media analysts, power brokers, political commentators, competitors and, of course, lawyers. For a transaction of this size, that is expected and appropriate. The one person you haven’t heard from is me.
Pro Publica, FCC commissioners face ethics complaints for taking luxury gifts from Paramount. Corey G. Johnson, Commissioners accepted the gifts while the FCC reviewed the company's megamergers. Two government watchdog groups have demanded investigations into whether Federal Communications Commission members violated ethics requirements by accepting luxury gala tickets from Paramount as the company sought government approval for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Hartmann Report, Commentary: It’s Worse Than You Think for the Middle Class, Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Since Nixon, Republicans have shifted wealth from working Americans to the morbidly rich. Dems should repeat that simple affordability message everywhere, every day, without apology or hesitation…

More On Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

New York Times, Workers Disassemble Parts of Trump’s White House Helipad, Photos Show, David A. Fahrenthold, Aug. 4, 2026. Last week, construction workers had begun to decorate the new South Lawn helipad with a giant presidential seal. By Tuesday, the design was gone.
Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump's derangement is getting worse, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 3-4, 2026. At 1:44 p.m. this afternoon, the cameras went live, and the world instantly saw the 18 women and two men who had been packed into the Oval Office directly behind the President of the United States, who was sitting and staring off into space with a confused look in every direction.

U.S. Health Care Policy

New York Times, Spotlight on Fauci Said to Boost Book Sales for Kennedy and His Publisher, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Aug. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his son, and Senator Rand Paul have all written books criticizing Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. All were published by a company led by a close Kennedy adviser.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Live Updates: Michigan’s Senate Battle Leads a Five-State Primary Slate, Tim Balk, Aug. 4, 2026. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, faces Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in the Democratic primary for Senate. Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and Washington are also voting today. Here’s the latest.
New York Times, Inside the Spending of One of America’s Largest Super PACs, Jennifer Medina, Matt Zdun and Martín González Gómez Aug. 4, 2026. In recent years, AIPAC has more than doubled the amount it spends in political campaigns, while rarely mentioning Israel. Its biggest test yet, the Michigan Senate primary, comes Tuesday.
The New Republic, Why everyone’s watching Michigan’s Black voters today, Michael Tomasky, Aug. 4, 2026. All eyes on the Michigan Democratic Senate primary battle today between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens. El-Sayed has opened up a substantial lead. CNN’s Harry Enten yesterday: "He’s up to a 98 percent chance, according to the Kalshi prediction markets, way up like a rocket compared to where he was on April 3, when he had just a 28 percent chance a few months ago." El-Sayed was in Detroit Monday; Stevens, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Below, our Emma Janssen reports on the all-important Black vote, which could hold the key to the outcome.
Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: Is this the most dishonest ad of 2026? Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims, right, Aug. 4, 2026. An opaque nonprofit affiliated with Senate Republicans, One Nation, has blanketed Georgia over the last five days with a new ad attacking Senator Jon Ossoff (D). The group has spent $1.7 million in less than a week, delivering 78 million impressions of the ad across the state, according to data from AdImpact.
New York Times, Ronald Lauder, a Billionaire G.O.P. Backer, Closes His Wallet, Nicholas Fandos, Aug. 4, 2026. Ronald S. Lauder, a major funder of conservative political causes, has not given a single dollar this year to Republicans in his home state, and his super PAC has gone idle.
New York Times, Arizona’s Democratic Governor Set to Pick a Republican Running Mate, Sejal Govindarao, Kellen Browning and Reis Thebault, Aug. 4, 2026. Gov. Katie Hobbs, locked in a competitive re-election battle, plans to tap a moderate former mayor of Mesa, Ariz., John Giles, to serve as her lieutenant governor if she wins in November.
New York Times, Pro-Israel Democrat Fends Off Democratic Socialist’s Comeback Attempt in Missouri, Kellen Browning, Aug. 4, 2026. Representative Wesley Bell beat Cori Bush, his predecessor, in a rematch. He will be a heavy favorite in the safely Democratic district in November.

More Global News

Checks & Balances, Analysis and Opinion:The Crime of Aggression, and what the U.S., and the World, Risks Losing in Ukraine, Cliff Smith, Aug. 4, 2026. Russia's aggression against Ukraine is a clear violation of international law.

More On Trump Justice Dept. Reflecting Pool Abuses, Debacle

President Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (Andrew Harnik photo for Getty Images).

New York Times, Pirro Meets With Trump at the White House After He Said She ‘Choked’ in Reflecting Pool Case, Erica L. Green, Katie Rogers, Tyler Pager and Maggie Haberman, Aug. 4, 2026 (print ed.). President Trump said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., “folded like an umbrella.” For now, her job appeared to be safe, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Trump and Pirro BOTH Screwed Up by Rushing to Beat July 4, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 4, 2026. As noted in this post, WaPo has a worthwhile piece on Trump’s pressure on Jeanine Pirro regarding the reflecting pool.

More On U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

The Contrarian, Opinion: Words & Phrases, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 4, 2026. 'Trump's thriving economy’ is a disaster. Donald Trump keeps insisting that the economy under his watch is the “greatest” ever, declaring during a trip to Michigan last week that “Michigan is thriving,” and “America is winning like never before.” This is batty.
Lincoln Square Media, Opinion: There Is No Bottom: Max Miller, Jim Jordan, and a Party That Chose Power Over a Child, Kristoffer Ealy, Aug. 4, 2026. There is a pattern here for MAGA, and it isn’t subtle: the accusation is never disqualifying.
The Hartmann Report, Commentary,It’s Worse Than You Think for the Middle Class, Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Since Nixon, Republicans have shifted wealth from working Americans to the morbidly rich. Dems should repeat that simple affordability message everywhere, every day, without apology or hesitation…

More On U.S. Media, Education,

New York Times, Questions Mount Over a Star Scholar’s Life and Career, Jennifer Schuessler and Alexandra Alter, Updated Aug. 4, 2026. A knife-wielding masked man. A pig’s head outside his parents’ door. Running 30 marathons in 35 days. The Cambridge professor Jason Arday, accused of plagiarism, says he’s been through it all. Not everyone believes him.

Top Stories

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Oligarchs are Doubling Down on Republicans, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 4, 2026. And Democrats should make the most of it.

Inauguration Day 2025 looked and felt like a coronation, as Donald Trump was installed in a position of immense, unprecedented power. Since he had returned to office despite the Jan. 6 insurrection, it was obvious that time-honored checks and balances on presidential authority wouldn’t apply to him. And the megabillionaires who had spent vast sums to assure Trump’s victory had no qualms about appearing as the new MAGA oligarchy. Through their political and monetary fealty to Trump, they had positioned themselves to dictate policy, free from petty democratic constraints and concern for public welfare. They evidently expected that they would spend years effectively ruling the nation in their interests, along with the president they had bought.

Now, a year and a half later, the oligarchs’ victory celebrations look premature. Newly elected presidents usually experience a few months of positive net approval, but Trump’s “honeymoon” barely lasted a month. He is now plumbing new depths of public disapproval:

Furthermore, Trump’s plunge is like a vortex pulling the entire Republican Party down with him. G. Elliott Morris’s model gives Democrats an 85 percent chance of taking the House despite extreme GOP gerrymandering. He also gives the Democrats a 55 percent chance of taking the Senate, despite its overrepresentation of small, rural states that strongly tilts its composition towards the Republicans.

And you know what has an even worse approval rating than Donald Trump? AI data centers:

There are substantive reasons to oppose these centers, but beyond concerns over rising electricity bills, pollution, water depletion and noise, the controversy over data centers has become a proxy for public backlash against the power of the broligarchs and their disregard for the welfare of ordinary Americans.

According to historical experience, this kind of massive shift in public sentiment should have induced hedging on the part of the big money. That is, based on past patterns we would have expected billionaires to give more money to Democrats during the midterm elections compared to the 2024 election as a way to maintain influence if the balance of power in Washington shifts.

But that’s not what is happening this time: instead, oligarchs are doubling down on MAGA. An analysis by the Washington Post finds that megadonors have already spent more than $1.6 billion on the November midterms. Here’s how that spending breaks down:

What’s the rationale here? Why are the billionaires doubling down in support of a hugely unpopular president and his hugely unpopular agenda?

This partly reflects a change in the nature of billionaires’ relationship with the extreme right. Twenty years ago American conservatism was dominated by a “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” strategy in which corporations and the wealthy used racism and bigotry to advance their goals — tax cuts and deregulation — without necessarily being racists and bigots themselves. Today Elon Musk isn’t putting on a show of being a neo-Nazi, because that’s who he really is.

Beyond that, Trump’s second presidency is so pervasively corrupt, abusive and destructive that it will be virtually impossible for anyone who supported him to move on and rehabilitate themselves. Outside of MAGA, who will ever be willing to trust Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos again? Frankly, what political hopeful would be stupid or venal enough to associate with them?

Indeed, I believe and hope that if Democrats regain power, they won’t repeat past mistakes by trying to “move on” from the corruption and scandals of the previous regime. It’s now clear that Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, enabled Trump’s return to power by slow-walking the investigation of January 6th. Earlier, Barack Obama let Republicans off the hook by not pursuing the lies that led to the Iraq war. Let’s hope that this time the Democrats, once in control of one or both houses of Congress, will quickly initiate investigations, hearings and, where warranted, prosecutions. And it’s unlikely that Trump’s billionaire money men will escape unscathed.

So rather than trying to mollify the Democrats and defuse the coming political reckoning, the billionaire class is opening the money taps, going all out to prevent Democrats from being elected. And why not? For Musk, the Koch Brothers, Ken Griffin, Alex Karp and others hundreds of millions is pocket change, while billion-dollar business interests and, in some cases, possible criminal charges are at stake.

Rather than being daunted by the flood of billionaire money, Democrats should treat this as a campaign theme. Robert Reich had a good post yesterday titled “The Stink of Musk,” arguing that “Musk’s money shouldn’t be viewed as a problem. It’s an opportunity.” If Musk supports a candidate, that in itself can be used as an argument that said candidate is not on the side of ordinary Americans.

Reich is not only right, but the strategy of highlighting oligarch support as a reason not to vote for politicians can and should extend beyond Musk money. A case in point: when Forbes magazine finds it noteworthy that the likes of Ken Griffin, Stephen Schwarzman and Paul Singer are pouring large sums into Susan Collins’s campaign in Maine, there is an obvious case to be made that Collins is working for the billionaire class and not the working class, the middle class, or even the bottom 99 percent.

Just as the billionaires have come to the obvious realization that there is no turning back on MAGAdom, Democrats must also realize that there is no turning back on opposition to the billionaire agenda. Any failure to address corporate tax giveaways, shrinking paychecks, loss of healthcare, epidemics, loss of SNAP benefits and, yes, predatory data centers, will be perceived by ordinary Americans for the betrayal that it is. We, as a country, are at an unavoidable fork in the road. Perhaps we should extend some thanks to the billionaire class for clarifying that.

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: The Oligarchs are Doubling Down on Republicans, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 4, 2026. And Democrats should make the most of it.

And you know what has an even worse approval rating than Donald Trump? AI data centers:

What’s the rationale here? Why are the billionaires doubling down in support of a hugely unpopular president and his hugely unpopular agenda?

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Ground Control to Major Don, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger, Aug. 4, 2026. The United States, Reuters reports today, has used “virtually all” its stockpile of long-range precision missiles during five-plus months of conflict in Iran.

But we probably won’t be needing them anyway—after all, you only need missiles when you get involved in wars, and our peace-loving president wouldn’t do a thing like that. Happy Tuesday.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Bombshell Epstein Report Reveals Trump/CBS Cover-Up of Money Trail, Military Runs out of Munitions, DOJ Drops More Cases, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 4, 2026.

I told you there would be major Epstein news today, and we have it: a new report from Senator Ron Wyden details how big banks failed to report Epstein’s suspicious transactions for decades, and how the Trump Administration and CBS are working to cover it up. Follow the money. That’s what we do today. Meanwhile, Todd Blanche is set to move forward in the confirmation process today, Epstein survivors are speaking out, Trump is seeking reparations for himself, and the U.S. military is quickly running out of munitions.

I told you I would never stop talking about the Epstein files, and I meant it. More interviews are coming. I cannot stop until survivors get the justice they deserve. Here’s the news:

Epstein: Follow the Money:

A new bombshell report from Senator Ron Wyden reveals that JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America systematically failed to report Jeffrey Epstein’s suspicious transactions for nearly two decades despite knowing he was a convicted sex offender with ties to human trafficking and now, the Trump Administration is covering it up. JPMorgan filed just seven SARs totaling $4.3 million between 2002 and 2016, then retroactively flagged over 5,000 wire transfers worth $1.3 billion only after Epstein’s 2019 arrest, six years after the bank had already terminated him as a client in 2013 over money laundering concerns. Deutsche Bank, which took over as Epstein’s primary bank from 2013 until his death, similarly waited until after his arrest to flag $250 million in suspicious transfers, despite compliance staff catching his attorney Darren Indyke repeatedly asking how to withdraw cash without triggering government alerts. Bank of America waved through $170 million in wire transfers from billionaire Leon Black to Epstein for supposed “tax advice,” only flagging them as having “no apparent economic, business or lawful purpose” nearly eight months after Epstein’s arrest.

Leon Black was overwhelmingly Epstein’s largest funding source, providing 90% of the roughly $184 million in revenue Epstein’s shell company Southern Trust reported between 2013 and 2017, and USVI’s settlement with Black explicitly states Epstein used that money to partly fund his sex trafficking operations there. Top JPMorgan executives, including Mary Erdoes (now the bank’s Asset and Wealth Management CEO) and Jes Staley (former investment bank CEO), maintained close personal contact with Epstein for years, with unsealed emails showing Staley telling Epstein “say hello to Snow White” and wanting to give him a “long heartfelt hug,” while a 2012 exchange between two executives joked about the “nymphettes” at Epstein’s house. Even after JPMorgan formally cut ties with Epstein in 2013, Erdoes personally approved continuing to work with him informally so he could keep serving as an intermediary to Leon Black, and banker John Duffy coached Epstein on withdrawing cash through his aviation account instead of personal accounts to avoid scrutiny.

Despite these findings, virtually none of the bankers involved have faced consequences, Erdoes remains employed with total compensation exceeding $50 million this year, and most others named in the report still hold senior positions at JPMorgan or Bank of America. The report also reveals that Senator Wyden taped an interview about this investigation with then-60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi in March 2026, but CBS News leadership under Bari Weiss fired Alfonsi shortly afterward and the segment has not aired. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has refused three separate requests to turn over the Treasury’s Epstein files to the Senate Finance Committee, even though the same records were reportedly given to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee, and Senate Republicans, including Finance Chair Mike Crapo, blocked Wyden’s bill (PETRA) that would have forced their release.

Wyden’s report calls for DOJ and Treasury investigations into all three banks and named executives, criminal probes into Epstein aides Darren Indyke, Richard Kahn and Harry Beller (who control his $100 million estate and remain unquestioned by DOJ), and new legislation requiring annual compliance attestations from banks serving ultra-wealthy clients, harsher penalties for bankers who fail to report suspicious activity, and mandatory disclosure when banks quietly offboard high-risk clients. Total settlements paid out by the banks and Epstein’s estate related to his crimes now exceed $900 million, but Wyden notes this figure is likely understated given evidence of dozens or possibly hundreds of additional secret NDA settlements between victims and wealthy Epstein associates that have never been made public.

Todd Blanche/Department of Justice:

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is poised to advance toward Senate confirmation after rescinding the order that created Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund on Sunday, a move that won over holdout Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. The senators said they secured a “legally enforceable document” ending the fund and limiting audit protections, and pledged to vote his nomination out of committee. However, Blanche’s rescission only killed the May order implementing the fund, not the underlying settlement provision requiring its creation, and the settlement itself can only be modified with written agreement from Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization, none of whom signed Sunday’s order. Blanche also clarified that Trump’s audit protections apply only retroactively and only to the named plaintiffs, narrower than the original agreement’s language covering any “related or affiliated” individuals or companies, though Trump had complicated talks Saturday by threatening to revive the fund if Blanche wasn’t confirmed. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for Tuesday.

Epstein survivors release powerful statement ahead of Todd Blanche's confirmation vote today. Senator Tillis and Cornyn refused to sit down and meet with them. "The message was unmistakeable: they wanted us to go away. We are not going away."

Beyond dropping the felony case against former Olympian David Hearn, prosecutors in Jeanine Pirro’s office also moved to dismiss misdemeanor charges against three other people accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool: Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby, and Cameron Thiers. Prosecutors said new evidence, including internal Interior Department documents, showed the damage came from a botched contractor installation rushed ahead of America 250 events, not vandalism, though Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have insisted the damage was caused by vandals. Attorneys for the defendants described the ordeal as a “nightmare,” with one client fired from his government contracting job and forced to move after his arrest, and said they’re considering legal action against the government, calling the case a fabricated crime and “the epitome of the politicization of the criminal justice system.” Trump has publicly criticized Pirro for dropping the cases, saying she “choked,” even as she was seen visiting the White House hours after his comments.

While defending his administration’s now-dead $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, Trump told reporters he is personally deserving of “reparations,” calling Obama and Biden’s presidencies “corrupt” for what he described as unfair treatment. The fund grew out of Trump’s settlement of his own $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over leaked tax returns showing his family evaded up to $500 million in taxes, a settlement a federal judge called “self-dealing” last month since Trump, as head of the executive branch, effectively settled a case against himself; Acting AG Todd Blanche confirmed Sunday the fund is dead after Republican senators threatened to sink his confirmation over it.

On a private call with faith leaders last week, as his confirmation hung by a thread, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told anti-abortion supporters the Justice Department was working with federal health agencies and the White House “so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state,” vowing “victory will be soon, and it will be permanent.” He suggested specific action was coming on telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery of abortion pills, saying the administration is “putting practices and policies in place” to stop shipments to states where the procedure is banned, remarks that go well beyond what he told the Senate Judiciary Committee at his July confirmation hearing and directly conflict with Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge to keep the federal government out of the issue. Blanche didn’t specify whether he’d use FDA safety regulations or the long-dormant 1873 Comstock Act, a distinction that matters because Comstock could be used to block mail delivery of both abortion pills nationwide, while the Biden DOJ’s 2022 legal opinion protecting doctors who mail the pills is now under “thorough review” by Trump’s Justice Department.

Iran war:

According to Reuters, The U.S. military has used up “virtually all” of its ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles during the five-month Iran war, according to three sources familiar with the data, along with roughly half its global Tomahawk cruise missile supply, raising concerns about American readiness for future conflicts with adversaries like Russia or China. CENTCOM has nearly exhausted the land-based missiles it had before the war began but has been able to reload from stockpiles elsewhere in the military, according to a fourth source, and officials say the drawdown reflects a decision to rely on these precision weapons rather than riskier piloted airstrikes.

Defensive stockpiles have also been hit hard, with a CSIS report estimating about 65% of Patriot interceptors and at least 38% of THAAD interceptors expended since February, figures two sources say match internal U.S. data, and military leaders have reportedly warned Trump for weeks that dwindling supplies factored into his decision not to launch another major offensive inside Iran, though a U.S. official disputed that account and attributed the pause to pressure from Gulf states. The White House pushed back, with Trump saying the U.S. has “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and touting record production, while Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the military “has everything it needs.” Raytheon has reached a tentative multi-year deal with the Pentagon to boost Tomahawk production as the war, still unauthorized by Congress, continues without a declaration of war or AUMF.

Trump said that Iran has a “last chance” to strike a deal on the Strait of Hormuz, warning that if an agreement isn’t reached “today or tomorrow,” the U.S. could launch major airstrikes. He wants Iran to quickly reach terms with Oman restoring shipping through the waterway but rejected any deal letting Tehran charge transit fees, saying flatly “there’s not going to be charging.” The comments come as talks appear stalled, with Iranian officials insisting Tehran has the right to regulate maritime traffic and an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warning U.S. warships and bases face “serious danger” unless Washington lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Bloomberg reports little sign of progress in the Oman-mediated negotiations despite Trump’s latest ultimatum.

Trump accused ExxonMobil and Chevron of “making too much money” from the energy market disruption caused by his war on Iran, saying at the White House Monday that the companies should “give some of that back to the public” and cut consumer prices. The comments came after both companies reported massive quarterly profits: Chevron posted a record $12.2 billion, a fivefold jump from last year, while ExxonMobil reported $14.5 billion, double the prior year and its highest since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with U.S. oil companies making more than $26 billion combined in the quarter.

Trump spoke just hours before BP reported its own profits had doubled to $5.7 billion, and BP’s CEO responded to his criticism by noting the company sells “a global commodity” whose price is set by the broader market. Climate campaigners also blasted the earnings as “obscene,” and Trump’s complaints follow weeks of pressure on retailers to lower gas prices and a DOJ investigation he ordered into potential price gouging, even as U.S. gas still averages $4.11 a gallon despite oil prices falling well off their post-war peak of $126 a barrel.

Other news:

A 37-year-old Spokane resident with a prior manslaughter conviction, Aaron Farinacci, was arrested Monday in connection with the largest of three wildfires burning in the region, taken into custody by a SWAT team after a judge signed a warrant on a first-degree arson allegation. Authorities say a witness saw a man matching his description near the Old Trails Fire acting suspiciously shortly before it started Saturday morning, and deputies detained and questioned Farinacci that same day about a half-mile from the origin point, finding waterproof matches and a butane lighter on him before releasing him. Detectives later linked him to the fire and determined its origin matched exactly where witnesses saw him kneeling in the grass; prosecutors say he had previously been questioned over “arson-related behavior” but never charged, and has a 2012 manslaughter conviction from Arizona. The Old Trails Fire, at 3,619 acres, is the largest of the three Spokane-area blazes that have destroyed roughly 700 structures and forced 67,000 evacuations, with no evidence so far tying Farinacci to the other two fires; he’s due in court Tuesday.

Twenty-five states sued the Trump administration Monday over its latest tariffs, arguing they’re a pretext for replacing the import taxes the Supreme Court struck down in February. The U.S. last month imposed double-digit tariffs, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, on 59 countries and the EU under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, citing failures to crack down on forced-labor imports, after Trump’s earlier IEEPA-based tariffs were ruled illegal and his subsequent temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expired July 24. New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading the coalition of Democratic-led states, said the administration is “once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses” after its Supreme Court loss, while the White House defended the move as lawful, noting Section 301 tariffs survived court challenges when Trump used them against China in his first term.

Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a 41-year-old man from El Salvador, died Saturday at Delaney Hall, an immigration jail in Newark, New Jersey, where he’d been held since his arrest on June 18, ICE said. His official cause of death is pending further medical examination, and ICE maintains he “received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals” while in custody, though Democratic officials including Sen. Cory Booker are questioning whether the death was preventable and renewing calls to close the facility, which has faced months of protests over conditions. It’s the second death at Delaney Hall since Trump’s second term began, after a December death ruled natural by a medical examiner, and one of at least 56 deaths in ICE custody nationwide during this term, with detainees at the facility previously staging a hunger strike over complaints of denied medication. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said her administration is still working to understand the circumstances but says it continues to face obstruction in trying to conduct a full health inspection of the facility, which is run by private contractor Geo Group.

A drone struck a crowded beach in the Russian resort town of Gelendzhik on Monday, killing seven people, including three children, and injuring 58 others, according to Russian officials. Moscow accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians, calling it a war crime, and launched a barrage of retaliatory strikes, while Ukrainian officials didn’t confirm responsibility but didn’t deny it either, with a Ukrainian security official arguing Russian air defenses shot the drone down onto the beachgoers and blaming Putin, saying “it was Putin who killed these Russians” for starting the war. The strike comes amid an intensifying Ukrainian campaign to push attacks closer to Moscow, targeting shipping vessels, oil sites, and ammunition depots, as Russia has also killed at least 377 Ukrainians in July alone, the deadliest month since April 2022, with fresh strikes early Tuesday killing two children and an elderly woman in Sumy and two more people in Zaporizhzhia. Shipping has increasingly been caught in the crossfire too, prompting Turkey to call for enhanced navigational safety Tuesday after a Turkish-owned vessel was hit, following similar complaints from India last month over attacks that killed its nationals.

Ukraine and Russia are locked in a battle to destroy each other's energy infrastructure, a fight Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal told POLITICO will define any future peace talks, describing it as "the 12th round" where each side hopes the other collapses first. Ukraine's long-range strikes have knocked out about 40% of Russia's primary oil refining capacity, and Kyiv hopes that pressure, combined with allied sanctions, will force Putin to end the war this fall, though Ukraine is bracing for another brutal winter campaign if talks fail, this time targeting water supplies rather than just electricity and heating. To survive the winter, Ukraine needs PAC-3 interceptors for its Patriot systems, but U.S. stocks are low due to the Iran war, pushing Kyiv and allies to lobby countries like Spain and Greece to donate theirs, while Ukraine is also racing to build protective infrastructure covers and distribute smaller, harder-to-target modular generators.

More On Epstein Files, Trump Team Coverups

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: The GOP’s Blind Eye to Abuse, William Kristol, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, will most likely be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning on a party-line vote. He’ll likely be confirmed later this week on another party-line vote by the full Senate.

So the man who directed the Trump administration’s Jeffrey Epstein coverup, who flew to Florida to meet with Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell right after the notorious Trump birthday card to Epstein became public, and who a week later presided over her move to the low-level federal prison facility, will become attorney general of the United States.

There are major figures in both the Democratic and Republican parties who were closely tied to Jeffrey Epstein. The whole Epstein story sheds a terrible light on a not insignificant part of the American elite. But right now, it’s only the Republican party that’s voting to continue the coverup. It’s only the Republican party that’s voting to ensure that there will be no further federal investigation of the Epstein matter nor prosecution of—or even accountability for—other wrongdoers.

Which brings us to Representative Max Miller, the former Trump White House aide, now a Republican congressman from Ohio’s 7th congressional district. Miller has been unconvincingly, to say the least, defending himself against spousal and child abuse charges from his ex-wife, whom he married in 2022 at Donald Trump’s golf club in New Jersey. For now, at least, Miller says he’s not resigning from Congress, or even giving up on his re-election bid this year.

But on Sunday, Republican senator Bernie Moreno, father of Miller’s ex-wife, finally spoke up, supporting his daughter’s account of the abuse and saying that his former son-in-law isn’t fit to serve in Congress. A few other Republican senators volunteered yesterday that they believe their colleague. And President Trump apparently phoned Miller last night to raise the possibility of him ending his re-election bid because his seat may be in jeopardy. Miller would need to withdraw before Wednesday in order for a special primary election to be scheduled to replace him on the ballot.

But Trump has had nothing critical to say about Miller’s actual behavior. Rather, he expressed empathy for him. And Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan last week said of Miller, “I know Max is a good man.” Jordan apparently stands by that judgment.

Meanwhile, we’ve heard nothing from the conspicuously pious speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. As for the other Republicans from Miller’s home state, Politico reported the following last night:

Notably still silent was GOP Sen. Jon Husted, Ohio’s other senator, who while leaving the Capitol Monday did not respond to reporters’ questions about whether Miller should resign. Other Republicans in the Ohio House delegation are also staying quiet for now. Almost every House Republican from the state either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on Moreno’s statement.

So some Republicans like Max Miller. Some are concerned because they think he may lose the seat. Some are concerned because the daughter of a fellow senator is involved. But if Miller had abused someone who wasn’t the daughter of a senator, and if there were no electoral repercussions, would any of them have spoken up to condemn his behavior?

No.

It would be unfair to say the Republican party is pro-abuse. But it might be fair to say they seem to be anti-anti-abuse. They seem happy to turn a blind eye to abuse. They certainly don’t seem to get too upset about the abuse of women.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. It is, after all, Donald Trump’s party.

MeidasTouch Network, TOTAL Chaos ERUPTS IN SENATE as Dems GO NUCLEAR on BLANCHE!! Ben Meiselas, right, Aug 4, 2026. The MeidasTouch PodcastMeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Democrats blasting Trump and Republicans for pushing through Todd Blanche’s nomination while they engage in massive crimes and cover up.

Democratic senators unleashed on Donald Trump's acting attorney general, Todd Blanch, and they unleashed on their Republican colleagues in the Senate during a hearing that just took place.

This was the Judiciary Committee in the United States Senate to confirm Todd Blanche and to send his nomination for afull vote before the United States Senate. I want to show you what went down. Democratic Senator White House led the way. And let me show you here as he calls out Todd Blanch and Donald Trump for their cover up of the Epstein Files.Let's play this clip. Let's start with the Epstein files where Todd Blanch participated in the coverup, continues to participate in the cover up and is responsible for a massive screw up of the release of the documents.

New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Senate Committee Votes to Advance Blanche Nomination, Michael Gold, Aug. 4, 2026. What We’re Covering.

Blanche Nomination: After a week of uncertainty and finger-pointing, Todd Blanche’s path to confirmation as attorney general was narrowly approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning. Mr. Blanche broke an impasse by committing — in writing — to changes to an agreement that settled President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S. Critics say Mr. Blanche’s pledges leave loopholes. Read more ›
Iran War: Negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are making progress, American and Qatari officials said Tuesday. Qatar, which has acted as a mediator between Iran and the United States, said that draft language of a deal was being circulated, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed optimism about the talks but added that nothing was final yet. Read more ›
Reflecting Pool: Jeanine Pirro appears to be safe in her job as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia after an Oval Office meeting with Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Mr. Trump had hours before railed about a decision to drop charges of vandalism in the Reflecting Pool case. Read more ›

With Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general advancing to the full Senate, Senator John Curtis, a Utah Republican who was seen as a possible holdout, said that he would vote to confirm. Curtis met with Blanche last week to address a number of concerns, including the so-called anti-weaponization fund.

“I’ve been pleased with his receptivity and understanding of the issues raised by my colleagues and me,” Curtis said in a social media post.

With Senator Mitch McConnell absent, Blanche can afford to lose only two Republicans on a party-line vote. Other Republican senators, including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have said they are still weighing a decision.

Reporting from WashingtonThe vote paves the way for Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general.VideoSenate Committee Advances Blanche’s Nomination for Attorney General1:18The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Tuesday to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general after he reached an agreement with two Republican holdouts late Sunday.CreditCredit...Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

Todd Blanche, whose role in a much-criticized deal to resolve President Trump’s lawsuit against the I.R.S. nearly scuttled his confirmation as attorney general, cleared a crucial hurdle on Tuesday after the Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved his nomination.

After a week of uncertainty, Mr. Blanche was confirmed by a 12-to-10 vote along party lines, exemplifying a widening schism over the direction of a department at the center of Mr. Trump’s effort to punish and humiliate his perceived enemies.

Mr. Blanche, the president’s former defense lawyer and the acting attorney general, broke an impasse over his confirmation after he reached an agreement with two Republican holdouts on the committee late Sunday. Mr. Blanche released written assurances that he would kill a proposed $1.8 billion compensation fund that could have been used to pay Jan. 6 rioters and limit the scope of a deal granting broad tax immunity to Mr. Trump and his family.

Mr. Blanche’s nomination now advances to the Senate floor, with a vote possible as early as this week. He is expected to be confirmed, even though several Republicans have yet to commit to supporting him.

Two lame-duck Republicans, Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted with their party’s majority on the committee after briefly defying the White House over concerns about the highly unusual fund and a tax immunity deal that could save the president $100 million.

Former department officials have said that Mr. Blanche’s written assurances can be easily reversed, or evaded. The department has broad authority to dispense cash to Mr. Trump’s allies through existing department processes. Tax experts said that the new limits on his immunity agreement do nothing to keep Mr. Trump and his family from an enormous windfall offered to no other taxpayers.

Mr. Cornyn acknowledged on Tuesday that the concessions offered in exchange for his vote could be reversed by Mr. Trump but said he hoped Mr. Blanche would hold the line. He called Mr. Blanche a “stabilizing force” in the department who had earned enough trust with the president to tell him “hard truths,” even if he was ignored.

He concluded with a plea, asking Mr. Blanche “not to be afraid to capitalize on that earned trust when necessary for the good of the country.”

The committee vote represents a de facto endorsement by Senate Republicans of Mr. Blanche’s actions in running the day-to-day operations of a Justice Department that has surrendered much of its independence to the White House on his watch.

Republicans like Mr. Cornyn have been willing to put aside their deep concerns about Mr. Blanche’s lack of independence for the sake of partisan comity. They also see him as the best choice they could possibly get from a White House whose first pick, in November 2024, was Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman who had once been accused of sex trafficking.

Incensed Democrats, speaking before the vote took place, said that committee Republicans had frittered away their one chance to reassert independence and rule of law at the department — and constrained their objections to narrow questions while ignoring whether Mr. Blanche was fit to serve.

“Instead of serving the American people and upholding the rule of law and the Constitution, Mr. Blanche has aided and abetted the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee.

More On Iran War

New York Times, An Emerging Deal Could Cement Iran’s Control of Strait of Hormuz, David E. Sanger, Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt, Aug. 3, 2026. The deal would address President Trump’s most urgent political problem by allowing ships to move again. But it would give Iran strategic leverage it did not have before the war.

Iran and Oman are closing in on an agreement to reopen shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian and American officials, but if the accord goes into effect it could come at a high price — ratifying Tehran’s control over what, before the war, was an open, international waterway.

As described by officials familiar with the emerging accord, vessels heading into the Persian Gulf will transit a channel controlled by Iran, and close to its coast. Ships leaving the Gulf will travel on a channel near Oman.

Iranian officials say that while there will be no tolls charged the agreement includes a “service fee” to cover the environmental impact of the shipping, security for the cargo ships and tankers, and staffing. Revenues would be divided equally between Iran and Oman, two Iranian officials said.

But a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations said on Monday that the Iranian account was “not accurate,” and said that any “temporary” routes established through the strait would not involve approvals or permissions by Iran, and would involve no tolls.

For President Trump, the deal, if it happened, could address his most urgent political problem allowing ships to flow again. For their part, Iranian officials said the strait would remain closed, despite any agreement, until the U.S. lifts its naval blockade against Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf and both countries return to the 14-point plan laid out in the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.

The U.S. could ease the market pressure even further, some officials said, if it decided to issue exemptions on sanctions against Iran so it could legally sell and deliver oil.Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox.

But if, ultimately, Iran asserts continued control over the passageway, the opening might come with a geopolitical cost. Iranian officials say they are designing the accord to ratify their capacity to control the strait and therefore retain strategic leverage that they did not employ before the war.

New York Times, How the War in Iran Is Complicating Trump’s Agenda at Home, Erica L. Green, Aug. 4, 2026. As President Trump heads to the West Coast to talk to Americans about the economy, the war in Iran is driving up costs and polls show the already unpopular conflict is losing support.

The war in Iran, along with a cycle of threats and walk-backs, has upended President Trump’s domestic agenda at a dire political moment.

Americans are facing rising gas prices; Republicans in Congress are being forced to fund and defend an unpopular war that they never voted to approve; and with the midterm elections looming, polls show cratering support for a war that has no end in sight.

Mr. Trump will hit the road this week for a swing through the West Coast to talk about the economy and sell his agenda to the American people. Here are three domestic hurdles Mr. Trump is facing because of the war.Pain at the Pump

Mr. Trump’s war in Iran has driven up the cost of oil around the world, and Americans are paying, on average, more for gas than they have since 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Gas prices on Monday were at a national average of $4.10 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. The increase has raised the cost for drivers by more than 37 percent since the war began at the end of February. And it compounds a cost-of-living crisis caused by persistently high inflation that Mr. Trump struggled to address before the war even started.

Trump Rules For U.S Oligarchs, Supporters

New York Times, White House Whipsaws Silicon Valley (and Itself) Over A.I. Rules, David McCabe, Mike Isaac, Ana Swanson and Kate Conger, Aug. 4, 2026. The Trump administration has struggled over how to approach to “open source” models, which are freely available to download and favored by Chinese companies.

Trump administration officials have struggled over the past few weeks with what to do about artificial intelligence.

In particular, a group that includes White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have debated whether or not to take a far more interventionist approach to “open source” A.I. models, which are freely available to download and modify, said more than a half-dozen current and former tech and government officials and other people familiar with the matter.

Senior officials have considered a range of actions, including using sanctions, a trade blacklist against Chinese companies that make these open-source A.I. models, or even banning U.S. cloud companies from doing business with them, said five of the people, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. But after an outcry from Silicon Valley, they appear to have changed their minds and instead are focused on promoting American A.I. models to be more competitive, the people said.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration’s A.I. plans may become clearer. The White House has invited U.S. tech companies to discuss a framework that would allow the government to review new A.I. models for cybersecurity issues before they are released publicly, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.

“This is all happening so fast,” said Senator Jon Husted, Republican of Ohio, last week after he met with the chief executives of Nvidia and OpenAI. “I don’t know that I have any definite conclusions about any of it.”

The whiplash is a sign of the Trump administration’s conflicting impulses when it comes to A.I. and the difficulties of handling such a quickly developing and powerful technology. The White House has aggressively intervened in swathes of the economy over the last 18 months, from media to computer chip manufacturing to mining. But A.I. is changing rapidly and the government has scrambled to determine how to put its thumb on the scale.

President Trump began his second term as an unabashed A.I. booster, peeling back regulations and forging close relationships with A.I. companies and start-ups. But that changed in June when Mr. Trump issued an executive order that would give the government oversight over new A.I. models. Since then, the technology has continued to evolve quickly.

The most recent debates were prompted by a surge in powerful new Chinese A.I. models, which are known as “open source,” where the public can see the underlying computer code, or “open weight,” where companies reveal the calculations used to generate answers to questions.

In Silicon Valley, the response to these Chinese A.I. models varied wildly. OpenAI and Anthropic, which generally do not share the underlying technology of their models, pushed the government to rein in their Chinese rivals, citing national security.

Media mogul Larry Ellison (New York Times photo), with his son shown below..

New York Times, Guest Essay: David Ellison: Let’s Set the Record Straight on the Paramount-Warner Deal, David Ellison (above, chief executive of Paramount Skydance), Aug. 4, 2026. Many people have weighed in on Paramount’s agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery — media analysts, power brokers, political commentators, competitors and, of course, lawyers. For a transaction of this size, that is expected and appropriate. The one person you haven’t heard from is me.

There is a reason for that. I believe that anyone who oversees a news organization — I am chief executive of Paramount, which owns CBS — shouldn’t put a finger on the scale, especially on matters involving his own company. So, when California’s attorney general, 11 other state attorneys general and, a day later, the Writers Guild of America sued to stop the deal, I stayed quiet. I quickly learned such restraint has costs. While I was silent, others were happy to write my story for me. No more.

The states claim this deal will give one company too much influence over theatrical releases and cable operators, while the W.G.A. argues that our combined market power will hurt writers. Both suits imagine a Hollywood that no longer exists — an industry ruled by a handful of legacy studios.

Add up every hour Americans spend watching television, and a combined Paramount-Warner would account for less than 20 percent of all watch time — competing every day against Netflix, Amazon, Apple, which are all companies whose resources dwarf ours. Include YouTube’s user-generated content in that math and our share would drop to around 13 percent. A combined company would account for just 18 percent of the domestic box office over the past 12 months and only 22 percent on average over the past two years. Those are not the numbers of a company that can dictate what audiences watch or what writers get paid.

I believe this fight is not really about market share. If it were, it wouldn’t have been reviewed or approved by regulators reflecting 65 countries, including the United States, the European Union and China. I believe a plainer worry sits beneath the briefs and the news releases: the news. The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN. There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions.Sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter Get expert analysis of the news and a guide to the big ideas shaping the world every weekday morning. Get it sent to your inbox.

Unfortunately, I can’t give anyone a view into my heart and mind, but I can share this: I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views. I believe that news should be based on facts and truth.

Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle. That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it. And it requires independence. Our journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause. These were founding principles for both CNN and CBS News, for legends like Ted Turner and Edward R. Murrow, and it is exactly that kind of independence that has always fueled the greatness of “60 Minutes.”

There is much ground to recover. By Gallup’s latest measure, just 28 percent of Americans trust the news — the lowest ever recorded. The temptation is to say the problem lies elsewhere. Our obligation is to look inward and say: We can do better. We are in a moment when Americans trust few institutions, but journalists haven’t always helped their case by refusing to engage with critiques.

Trust can’t be argued back, but it can be earned back — story by story, day by day. In an age when so much of what fills our screens is machine-generated or engineered to enrage, journalism from real reporters matters more than ever. That is the work I intend to pay for, patiently, for a long time.

Which brings me to what we aim to build. The Paramount-Warner deal began with the movies. I have loved film since I was old enough to sit still for one, and scenes from the movies have shaped who I am: a boy riding a bicycle silhouetted against the full moon, twin suns setting over the desert, jets dogfighting off the California coast. Behind each of those moments stands real money, real risk and hundreds of brilliant artists who tell stories and who count on movies to keep them employed.

That machinery is in trouble. Hollywood is losing ground to technology platforms whose algorithms reward the loudest voices. The work is leaving, especially from California — where I grew up and where I’m raising my family — draining the deepest pool of creative talent ever assembled.

I understand that promises from an executive in the middle of a merger invite skepticism. So judge us by the year we just had.

Since I took over Paramount, we have nearly doubled our theatrical slate from eight films last year to 15 and greenlit 40 new or returning series for Paramount+, our streaming service. You can expect 90 series from our television studios in 2026. We raised our content investment by $1.5 billion. We did that before the deal was signed and any lawsuit was filed, because making more is the whole point of the company we are building.

The commitments we have made for the proposed Paramount-Warner extend that trajectory: 30 theatrical films a year; 170 television series annually, for our own platforms and for our competitors’; more than $30 billion in annual content investment. I have learned better than to promise hits. In my own career, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” met financial expectations, “Top Gun: Maverick” exceeded them and “Terminator: Dark Fate” fell short. I am proud of all these films, but nobody can dictate what audiences will love. What I can promise is the work, and more of it.

A deal this size is lived out in public, and I have felt every bit of that. I don’t ask to be taken at my word; the commitments are in writing, and the work will be on screens where anyone can judge it.

Hollywood’s story can have a happy ending only when we connect with our audience. It’s the audience — the American people — who have the final say in whether a movie succeeds or fails, whether a news organization thrives or withers and therefore whether our industry succeeds or fails. I want to build a company with the strength and resources to deliver for those audiences who turn to us, for the storytellers who rely on us and for the country that dreamed this all up.

Pro Publica, FCC commissioners face ethics complaints for taking luxury gifts from Paramount, Corey G. Johnson, Aug. 4, 2026. Commissioners accepted the gifts while the FCC reviewed the company's megamergers.

Two government watchdog groups have demanded investigations into whether Federal Communications Commission members violated ethics requirements by accepting luxury gala tickets from Paramount as the company sought government approval for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The complaints filed by Democracy Defenders Fund and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington cite a recent ProPublica investigation that detailed how CBS or its parent company, now Paramount, have for years given FCC commissioners tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala, which the television network sponsors. The commissioners accepted the gifts even as the FCC was reviewing or about to review major Paramount business decisions, including two megamergers.

Commissioner Olivia Trusty’s most recent financial disclosure said Paramount gave her two tickets to the December 2025 honors gala that together were worth more than $12,000. Trusty was one of two commissioners who voted last year to approve Paramount’s merger with another media company, Skydance.

ProPublica’s investigation found FCC members had long enjoyed a night out at the Kennedy Center courtesy of CBS or its parent company. Seven of the 10 commissioners who served since 2016 accepted tickets worth more than $260,000, according to a ProPublica analysis of ethics disclosures.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s financial statements show he has reported accepting honors gala tickets from CBS or its parent company eight times since his 2017 appointment to the commission, totaling over $75,000 in gifts.

Carr, right, who also voted in favor of the Paramount-Skydance merger last year, sat with his wife in a private skybox at the December gala with Paramount CEO David Ellison and other executives from Paramount and CBS. Such seats sold for $125,000 a ticket, according to Kennedy Center guidelines.

Carr disclosed on his latest financial statement that he accepted tickets from Paramount for himself and a guest to the 2025 gala and reception worth $12,390. Carr did not respond to a request from ProPublica to clarify the apparent difference in value between those tickets and the skybox seats.

The FCC only released Carr’s disclosure late on Friday, more than a month after ProPublica had first requested it. The document says the agency certified it on June 22.

Federal ethics rules ban employees from taking gifts from any entity that does business with, is regulated by or seeks official action from their agency.

“The federal gift regulations and the gratuities statute exist to ensure that government decisions are made on the merits, free from the influence of private benefits,” the Democracy Defenders Fund said in its complaint. “The public must have confidence that the FCC’s merger review process is not compromised by self-dealing or the appearance of impropriety.”

Carr, Trusty and the FCC did not respond to requests for comment. The agency’s inspector general declined to comment. An FCC spokesperson previously told ProPublica that agency ethics officers have for years cleared commissioners to accept the tickets, finding it consistent with ethics law. And Paramount’s chief of communications said it was a decades-long “CBS practice to invite government officials from both parties” to the Kennedy Center show. Carr last year defended the FCC’s approval of the Paramount merger with Skydance, saying it “advances the public interest.”

The FCC’s review of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is one of the final federal hurdles facing a historic consolidation of two of the five largest film studios in Hollywood. The deal would unite Paramount Skydance with Warner Bros., bringing under the control of one company Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services; CBS and CNN; and scores of other major broadcast channels, cable networks and digital platforms.

Four ethics experts told ProPublica that by accepting the tickets, Trusty and Carr had compromised the FCC’s impartiality and should not take part in any upcoming decision on Paramount’s proposed merger.

The Democracy Defenders Fund — led by Norman Eisen, former ambassador to the Czech Republic and White House ethics czar under President Barack Obama — filed its grievance on Thursday with the federal Office of Government Ethics, the FCC’s inspector general and the FCC’s ethics office.

The group said the investigation should examine whether Carr and Trusty broke rules on accepting gifts or broke criminal laws prohibiting federal officials from accepting illegal gratuities.

Carr and Trusty should be required to repay Paramount the “fair market value” of any improper gifts and the federal ethics agency should refrain from certifying Carr’s annual disclosure report until he can prove that he has complied with ethics laws, Democracy Defenders Fund wrote. Its letter to the FCC and the Office of Government Ethics also requests that Carr be disqualified from further participation in the commission’s decision on the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

The nonprofit organization noted that hours after last year’s honors gala ended, Paramount announced it was launching its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, a move that would later result in a merger agreement that requires FCC approval. About three months later, Carr publicly endorsed the deal on CNBC, promising swift approval.

“The facts that have been reported raise serious questions about the integrity and impartiality of FCC Chairman Carr in particular matters involving Paramount,” including the attempted merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, the letter said.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the other group that filed a written protest, requested an FCC inspector general probe of the luxury gifts.

“The reported gifts to FCC officials from businesses that are not only subject to agency regulation but presently engaged in billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions that must be approved by the commissioners themselves are extremely concerning threats to the integrity of FCC operations,” the CREW letter stated.

CREW, founded in 2003 as a nonpartisan organization dedicated to government accountability and ethics, is headed by Donald K. Sherman, a former House Ethics Committee attorney and special assistant to President Joseph Biden.

“Government officials have the power to make decisions that impact huge swaths of the American people,” Sherman said in a statement about the organization’s demand for an inspector general investigation. “With this tremendous power comes a higher ethical standard that apparently wasn’t met. The IG can and must get answers for the public.”

The proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has drawn a flurry of legal opposition.

California, New York and 10 other states filed a lawsuit seeking to block the merger under federal and state antimonopoly laws. The Writers Guild of America, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Public Interest Project filed similar court challenges in recent weeks.

Paramount has recently agreed to pause its merger until the litigation is resolved or until June 1, 2027, whichever comes first.

The Hartmann Report, Commentary: It’s Worse Than You Think for the Middle Class, Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Since Nixon, Republicans have shifted wealth from working Americans to the morbidly rich. Dems should repeat that simple affordability message everywhere, every day, without apology or hesitation…

“Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.” — Abraham Lincoln

A July 2026 CNN/SSRS poll found that 71 percent of Americans believe Trump and his regime have not gone far enough to lower the price of everyday goods, leaving the middle class screwed.

A Trump-voting caller to my show yesterday, along these same lines, tried to mansplain to me that things really aren’t that bad, and that the numbers I’ve been using to describe the economic destruction by Reaganism are exaggerated.

For years I’ve been documenting the destruction of the American middle class at the hands of the GOP and neoliberal politicians (including some corporate Democrats).

I wrote about it extensively and did a deep dive into the problem and its causes in my books Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class, The Hidden History of the American Dream: The Demise of the Middle Class, The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America, and, just last month, Who Killed the American Dream?

As a result of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society “socialist” programs, about two-thirds of American families were in the middle class with a single paycheck by 1973 as reported by The New York Times; today that number could be as low as a third of us, depending on your definitions.

And that’s where things get confusing, with statistics flying fast and furious (although everybody agrees Reaganomics has whacked working people), raising the question: What actually constitutes the middle class?

Pew, for example, uses the definition of middle class as people falling in the middle of the bell-curve of income distribution. By that definition, Pew says 61% of Americans lived in middle-income households in 1971 and by 2023 that had declined to 51% of us. This skewing of statistics is driven in large part by the massive wealth being accumulated by a few thousand American families, particularly the morbidly rich billionaire class.

Pew defines middle income as household income between two-thirds and twice the national median, adjusted for household size, and its historical figures are based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey data.

But does being “in the middle of the income distribution curve” mean that people in the “middle” today — even if it’s a smaller percentage of Americans — enjoy the same “middle class” lifestyle and opportunities as they did at the beginning of the Reagan Revolution?

This is where it gets sticky. If, instead of defining the middle class as those people in the middle of the income distribution you defined it by what that income buys, an entirely different picture emerges.

As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote in his 1991 book The Work of Nations:

“America has been the first nation in history in which the majority of its citizens considered themselves middle class. … For three decades after World War II, America created the largest middle class the world had ever seen.”

Even Pew acknowledged the problem with their income distribution numbers:

“Being middle class can refer to more than just income, be it education level, type of profession, economic security, home ownership or social and political values.”

Two years ago, The Washington Post surveyed Americans about what the middle class meant to them and who they thought was in it. The paper found broad agreement among the majority of Americans who say you’re only in the middle class if you have:

— A secure job (93%)— The ability to save for the future (91%)— The ability to afford a $1000 emergency (90%)— The ability to pay all bills on time without worry (90%)— Comprehensive health insurance (89%)— The ability to retire securely (87%)— A job with paid sick leave (73%)— The time and money for vacations (67%)— Own your own home (60%)

By that definition, the Post found:

“Just over a third of Americans met all six [top] markers of a middle-class lifestyle. While about 9 in 10 Americans had health insurance, only three-quarters had health insurance and a steady job. With each added measure of financial security, more Americans slipped away from the middle-class ideal.” (emphasis added)

And, with a nod to the difference between being in the middle of the income distribution and being able to live the lifestyle middle class people could when Reagan came into office, they added:

“Researchers often define the middle class based on income, in part because income data is frequently collected and easy to access. But that income doesn’t guarantee a middle-class lifestyle.”

And then there’s the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States. Using the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances, the Post’s authors doubled down on their assertion that the number of Americans today in the middle class is even lower than the 41% to 47% stat that I’ve been citing:

“Since 2017, the earliest year of comparable data, between 32 and 40 percent of Americans met all six measures, with a low in 2017 and a high in 2021.” (emphasis added)

The Brookings Institution also talks about various definitions of the middle class, one of them arguing it encompasses:— stable employment— home ownership— retirement savings— ability to weather emergencies— intergenerational mobility

Depending on the selected definition and using the Fed’s numbers, Brookings calculates that between 23% and 48% of households would count as being in the middle class today.

And the Fed points out that just defining the middle class by a family’s position within the income distribution curve can be confusing and even deceptive. Their Survey of Consumer Finances and wealth surveys show that a family can earn a “middle income” but still have:

— no emergency savings— no retirement assets— little or no home equity— heavy debt

Which is probably why Pew’s earlier work using Federal Reserve data showed that median middle-income family wealth fell dramatically after the Bush Crash of 2008 and has remained far below what previous generations accumulated ever since.

Finally, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the middle class much as I do, by economic resilience, asking whether families can:

— withstand financial shocks— accumulate wealth— afford housing— educate their children— retire securely

Their conclusion was straightforward: many households traditionally labeled “middle income” no longer enjoy the security once associated with being in the American middle class.

And that’s also the conclusion of 71% of Americans, according to the new CNN/SSRS poll I mentioned earlier.

Set aside the pissing wars about what is and isn’t the middle class and simply consider Reagan’s war on unions, his slashing top income tax rates for corporations and the morbidly rich, and the Republican Party’s 45-year all-out attack on programs that support the bottom half of Americans.

These GOP policies have ripped the guts out of average American families’ ability to have — even with two full-time paychecks — the lifestyle that the majority of Americans enjoyed in 1981 when Reagan was sworn into office.

This is what Republicans do, and have been doing since Nixon’s era: move wealth from working class people into the money bins of the morbidly rich. The Rand corporation says it is now over $70 trillion that the rich have stolen from the working class.

That’s also the essence of the Democrats’ “affordability” message and needs to be repeated as often and as widely as possible.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 4, 2026 [Trump's Cash for Thugs Plan], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 4, 2026. Just before midnight last night, news broke that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had rescinded the order of May 18, 2026, establishing a $1.776 billion slush fund for those who claimed that the Department of Justice under former president Joe Biden had persecuted them. The fund was widely perceived to be a way to pay off those convicted of crimes related to their attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

What Blanche’s order did not do was to change the terms of the nonprosecution order providing that the Department of Justice would not prosecute Trump, his sons, the Trump Organization, or their associates for crimes related to tax returns filed before May 19, 2026. Last night, Blanche reiterated that the nonprosecution order applies “only retroactively,” but that was always the case.

At stake is at least $100 million it appears Trump owes to the American people from previous tax shenanigans that turned up in audits. It’s possible there are other irregularities, but if so, under this order, we would not know: the order says that the IRS will not audit the tax returns of Trump and his associates before the May 19 date. Ron Filipkowski of MeidasNews noted: “Pretty convenient that Trump gets immunity from IRS audits for the year where he made, by far, the most money of his entire life in shady deals all over the globe.”

And, as legal analyst Barb McQuade noted, even the promise to kill the slush fund is hollow. Last week, the Department of Justice paid $1.2 million to Paul Vaughn, who was convicted in 2024 of violating the FACE Act, which bans “force or threat of force or… physical obstruction” that “intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with… any person… obtaining or providing reproductive health care services.” While Vaughn claimed he was arrested for praying, in fact he blocked the doors of a reproductive health care clinic in Tennessee.

Vaughn’s payoff shows that the Department of Justice will simply give out “individual settlements instead of one designated fund,” McQuade wrote.

Nonetheless, Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, who sit on the Judiciary Committee and were openly opposing Blanche, this morning issued a joint statement saying they will now support Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, allowing the nomination to move out of the Judiciary Committee to the full Senate.

Legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted that “[i]n their statement, Sen[ator]s Cornyn and Tillis refer to this one pager as a ‘binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury.’ But this isn’t an order nor does it bind anyone.”

The top-ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, constitutional law professor Jamie Raskin of Maryland, released a statement titled “Blanche’s Empty Promises Do Nothing to Kill [the] Slush Fund, Stop the Flow of Money to Convicted J6 Felons and MAGA Allies, or End Trump Family Super Pardon.” He called for “six patriotic House Republicans” to join with House Democrats to pass a discharge petition that would force a vote on stopping the “unconscionable” deal.

Now the rest of Republican senators have to decide whether Blanche’s fig leaf gives them enough plausible deniability of support for paying off violent Trump supporters and Trump’s IRS immunity to confirm Blanche’s nomination to become the attorney general tomorrow. While the focus has been on Tillis and Cornyn, Semafor’s senior Washington editor Elana Schor told MS NOW on Sunday that other Republican senators were quietly cheering Tillis and Cornyn on. “If the Senate voted on this fund today there would be almost 60 votes to kill it, maybe 70,” she said.

In The Freedom Academy with Asha Rangappa, counterintelligence scholar Rangappa suggests the Republican senators have gone so far down the road of enabling Trump that they will simply rubber-stamp Blanche. If “you’ve confirmed Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Kristi Noem, you’ve funded ICE, you’ve stood by while Trump hollowed out the [intelligence community], fired thousands of people, drained the U.S. Treasury, hijacked the country’s semiquincentennial, trashed the White House lawn for a WWE event, and drained the reflecting pool. Twice…. Is Todd Blanche really going to be THE LINE?” she asks. “Come on.”

Rangappa is probably right that Senate Republicans will vote to confirm Blanche. But the cost of enabling Trump has risen as his job approval ratings have tanked. Only about a third of Americans approve of his job performance, numbers that rival those of President Richard M. Nixon just before he resigned. Confirming Blanche, who clearly works for Trump alone, carries with it the fact that Blanche appears to have been the person most responsible for ignoring the Epstein Files Transparency Act. According to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, Blanche essentially admitted he had violated the law when he failed to address allegations brought by independent journalist Katie Phang, who sued for access to documents she claimed were unlawfully redacted.

The judge is now reviewing those documents to see if the redactions were proper. If not, their exposure after Republican senators have put Blanche in the position of the top law enforcement official in the country would make the senators appear complicit in the Epstein files cover-up. While that issue has fallen out of the headlines since Trump began his war on Iran, it is an issue MAGA Republicans elected Trump to expose and could easily reignite.

And then there is the increasingly erratic behavior of Trump himself. This morning, he posted: “My REAL Polling Numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been, and why wouldn’t they be with the biggest tax cuts and employment numbers EVER, the biggest outside Investment in America in World history, a totally secure Border, a giant Victory in Venezuela, the Denuclearization of Iran, unparalleled respect and success throughout the World, and much more? Don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers. They are Crooked and Corrupt, just like the Country Destroying Dumocrats are Crooked and Corrupt. VOTE REPUBLICAN FOR GREATNESS IN AMERICA!”

This version of Trump’s America is as fantastical as his post yesterday of an AI image of himself writing on a map of the U.S. with presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, or of himself dressed as a svelte Elvis the day before.

Indeed, Saturday was quite a day of posting on social media for the president of the United States. In addition to portraying himself as Elvis, he posted a flattering picture of himself with the caption: “President Trump ages in reverse!,” himself as a Continental Army officer, a split portrait with his face as one half and George Washington as the other, and a “Trump 2028” poster.

Trump has given Republican senators little reason to give him cover. He has been openly feuding with Republican senators over things he wants Congress to do for which Republican leadership can’t find enough votes.

Those include the SAVE America Act, which would dramatically rework voting in the U.S. and which Trump seems to think would enable Republicans to win the 2026 midterms. But even if the Republicans nuke the filibuster so they could pass it without any Democratic votes—something they don’t want to do—it’s not clear they have enough votes for a simple majority. To get his way on the SAVE America Act, Trump hamstrung Republicans by refusing to sign a popular housing bill, which had to become law without his signature, hurting Republicans’ ability to claim credit for the measure.

Trump also wants a major supplemental funding bill for the enormously unpopular Iran war, which the Republicans would prefer not to pass before the midterms.

Manu Raju and Sarah Ferris of CNN reported yesterday that Trump is barely communicating with Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) except through the media. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on July 23 that Trump’s “patience is running out” with Thune, and Raju and Ferris note that Senator Lindsey Graham’s death on July 11 hampered communication as the South Carolina Republican was close to both Trump and Thune.

Now the infighting appears to be getting worse. “We need to be talking up the wins, talking about how crazy Democrats are, and instead we are knifing each other,” a Republican senator told the CNN reporters.

The infighting between Trump and Republican senators was muted this weekend compared to the fighting between Trump and cabinet members. After U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro moved to dismiss criminal charges against David Hearn, the U.S. Olympian the Justice Department indicted for vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, both Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum took to social media to challenge her.

Trump repeatedly posted on social media that “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro” and posted a video of the reflecting pool in broad daylight, with the workers skimming algae in it and people around it, focusing on what seemed to be a young man briefly kneeling by the pool as “proof” the “material is being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!” Alayna Treene of CNN reported today that Trump is furious with Pirro and is considering firing her.

Pirro blamed the Interior Department for the mistaken indictment, and Burgum fought back, supporting Trump’s version of events. He posted that the “evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool. Some of these acts were even caught on camera.” Unlike Pirro, Burgum did not have to defend his statements in a court of law. He did, though, get corrected by community notes, which pointed out that the Department of Justice had stated that damage to the pool came from a “botched contractor installation.”

And the fight between cabinet members paled in comparison with the extraordinary fight playing out between Republican federal lawmakers from Ohio, where Representative Max Miller on Sunday took to social media to post a twenty-minute video he apparently thought would exonerate him from well-supported stories that he abused his baby daughter and wife. The video delivered such eye-poppingly classic examples of abuse that it seemed to prove his guilt rather than his innocence. Documents he posted to accompany the video also supported the stories.

After Miller released the video, his former father-in-law, Senator Bernie Moreno, who had remained silent about the stories, finally made a public statement on social media calling Miller’s behavior “increasingly erratic and dangerous” and saying the representative—who is running for reelection—“needs serious psychological help” and “should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Miller responded with what seemed to be a reference to stories that MAGA Republican Moreno is gay: “You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus,” Miller wrote. “This is all political.”

Daily Beast, SCOTUS deals T final humiliation on birthright citizenship after he missed deadline, Erkki Forster, The Supreme Court has officially closed the door on a cause that Donald Trump made one of his biggest second-term priorities.

The Supreme Court has put a decisive end to one of President Donald Trump’s signature crusades after he missed the deadline to seek a rehearing.

When the court struck down Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship for millions of Americans in a 6-3 ruling at the end of June, it started a 25-day clock for the president to seek a reversal of the decision, which he vowed to do.

“I will be asking for a Rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, IMMEDIATELY,” the 80-year-old president declared on Truth Social last month. “This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change their absolutely insane decision.”

But that deadline came and went without the Trump administration submitting such a filing.

Now, the Supreme Court has put the final nail in the coffin, issuing a certified judgment and affirming a lower court ruling that had blocked the president’s executive order seeking to ban automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to parents in the country temporarily or illegally.

Under the court’s standard procedures, the clerk issues a certified judgment about 32 days after the initial ruling, according to SCOTUSblog.

This means the cause Trump made one of the biggest priorities in his second term—one he personally carried into the Supreme Court chamber, making history as the first sitting president to attend oral arguments—has reached the end of the road.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A rehearing was always a long shot, requiring at least one of the justices who ruled against Trump to change their mind, and a majority of the court to agree to revisit the case. The Supreme Court has not reheard an argued case in over 50 years.

Still, the Supreme Court was not united in its opposition to Trump’s efforts to gut the citizenship protections guaranteed under the 14th Amendment, which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States “are citizens of the United States.”

The court’s ultra-conservative wing of Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito dissented, signaling they would have overturned a century and a half of citizenship rights.

And while Kavanaugh voted with the majority, he took the unusual step of filing a partial dissent, saying Trump’s executive order did not violate the Constitution but that it did “contravene a federal statute.”

After the court issued its ruling in June, Trump suggested that Congress “can easily make it up” with legislation to end birthright citizenship, saying, “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!”

He was wrong: the court’s majority decision rests on constitutional grounds, meaning that it would indeed take a constitutional amendment to undo it, according to the Associated Press.

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

Workers at the site of the helipad on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday, top, and on Tuesday. (MediaPunch, via AP Images; Allison Robbert for The New York Times

New York Times, Workers Disassemble Parts of Trump’s White House Helipad, Photos Show, David A. Fahrenthold, Aug. 4, 2026. Last week, construction workers had begun to decorate the new South Lawn helipad with a giant presidential seal. By Tuesday, the design was gone.

President Trump has been building a huge new helipad at the White House. But on Tuesday, workers seemed to be reversing course on the project.

As of last week, the helipad appeared to be nearing completion. After starting work in June, workers had built a circle 100 feet in diameter in the middle of the green expanse of the South Lawn. They were starting to add the finishing touches in granite, laying out the lettering of the presidential seal along the edge of the pad.ImageThe lettering on the helipad appeared nearly complete last Thursday.Credit...Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press

But then, on Sunday, photos showed that some of the lettering had been removed. Where it had said “Seal of the President of the United States,” only “eal of the” was left in place. By Tuesday, photos of the helipad showed all the granite letters were gone: It was back to what appeared to be bare concrete.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had ordered contractors to redo weeks of work on the project, unhappy that the helipad — like the South Lawn it sits on — had a noticeable slope.

A White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, declined on Tuesday to say why the helipad’s lettering had been removed, or what would be changed about the project.Lettering of the presidential seal had been removed from the helipad by Tuesday.Credit...MediaPunch, via AP Images; Allison Robbert for The New York Times

Mr. Trump has said he needs a helipad on the South Lawn to accommodate a new kind of helicopter now used to transport him, under the call sign Marine One. The new helicopters, made by Sikorsky, produce engine exhaust so hot that it can scorch the grass.

“For years, the White House has desperately needed a proper Helipad on White House grounds that will allow the President to land safely and also protect the beautiful South Lawn grass from the fierce exhaust fumes of the incredible Marine One,” Mr. Ingle said in a statement.

Lockheed Martin, which owns Sikorsky, has said it is paying to build the helipad as a donation. Mr. Trump said it would cost between $5 million and $6 million.

The change would alter the character of the South Lawn, which has been used for social gatherings and White House events. Mr. Trump did not seek permission to build the helipad from Congress or from the architectural review panels that often vet projects in Washington’s monumental core. The White House has said that “operational upgrades” like this one do not need outside review.

AROUND THE BULWARK

Don’t Believe Todd Blanche About Trump’s Slush Fund From Hell… The attorney general nominee did not kill off Trump’s egregiously corrupt fund, even if he duped Sens. Cornyn and Tillis into thinking he had, warns PHILIP ROTNER.
Is Jeanine Pirro About To Be Fired? On Bulwark Takes, TIM MILLER and SAM STEIN give their takes on Trump’s chaotic press conference in the Oval Office on Monday, where Trump defended Rep. Max Miller.
What the Hell Happened to Sean Duffy’s Road-Trip TV Show? Three months after it was announced, the secretary of transportation’s summer show—funded by companies he regulates—hasn’t aired a single episode, WILL SOMMER reports in False Flag.
RFK Jr.’s CNN Meltdown Was Even Worse Than You Think… On Bulwark Takes, WILL SALETAN dismantles RFK Jr.’s disastrous CNN interview, exposing one false claim after another on COVID, vaccines, Anthony Fauci, Donald Trump, and the media.
The Attack We Knew Was Coming… Effectively defending against cyber threats against critical infrastructure requires a long-term commitment of political will, writes MARK HERTLING.

Quick Hits

FRESH IDEAS WANTED: The Trump administration is in difficulties. Neither of its tried and re-tried strategies for dealing with Iran—pressuring them with sanctions and bombs or sweet-talking them by stopping the sanctions and bombs—seem to be getting anywhere. Some fresh brainstorming is in order. Why not crowdsource it?

“We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran,” reads the email sent by a CENTCOM intel officer to “a broad group of military analysts” last week, per a new report from CNN:

The crowdsourcing-style query, which military officials said was unusual over email, is one sign of the limited — and potentially unpalatable —options available to Trump to force Iran into a deal on his terms. Hoping to find an alternative, the official at CENTCOM kicked off the brainstorming session via email to see if anyone had a better idea. The second source said CENTCOM is looking at everything, acknowledging it needs to reevaluate the strategy.

We at The Bulwark often crowdsource, as well: for story ideas, tips, even the best ways to increase our subscriber count (SUBSCRIBE!). Fortunately for us, lives, the price of oil, and America’s standing across the globe aren’t on the line.

As for CENTCOM’s search for Iran answers, Bill offered one. Hey, no bad ideas in a brainstorm!

BAD BOSS ALERT: Max Miller isn’t the only Republican House member with a developing personal scandal. The House Ethics Committee on Monday released the results of their investigation of Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), finding that he violated the House code of conduct “by failing to adhere to the spirit of rules prohibiting sexual harassment of and unwanted advancement to House staffers.” The report continues:

Representative Edwards engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers. While Representative Edwards denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, his pattern of behavior would lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such, including providing the young women with lavish and recurrent gifts, making comments regarding their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations, sending notes regarding his effusive affection, and inviting them to other activities as a way to spend time together.

The committee’s report, which you can read here, “found no evidence,” it said, that Edwards had ever propositioned any of his staffers. He was, however, “aware that his excessive attention toward the young women had led to rumors and innuendo in the office.” Is it too much to ask for just a few more normal people in elected office?

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump's derangement is getting worse, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 3-4, 2026. At 1:44 p.m. this afternoon, the cameras went live, and the world instantly saw the 18 women and two men who had been packed into the Oval Office directly behind the President of the United States, who was sitting and staring off into space with a confused look in every direction.

As he sat there, shoulders slumped forward in his tall leather chair, he stared off past the reporters, seemingly unaware that everyone was waiting for him to begin. Seconds later, like a light switch had been flipped, the president came to life, and he began to read his remarks line by line from his three-ring binder.

The 56-minute event was supposed to be about the signing of an executive order establishing the President’s Military Spouse Commission, but instead, with military family members packed in behind him, he spent just 14 minutes discussing the commission, followed by 42 minutes on long tirades that had nothing to do with why everyone was gathered there today. He declared that, “I know Europe better than anybody, better than the people that run it.” He went on a strange rant about trees in “blue cities,” saying, “Their trees are all gross.” And then, apparently thinking he was being thoughtful and cautious about Iran, he said, “I want to give them every last chance before decapitation.”

The women who stood in that room today represented the military family community. Many are married to people who are willing to die for this country. Their families carry the burden of moving every two to three years. Of having to rebuild their lives from scratch each time they do. Setting down temporary roots in a new city, state, and sometimes even a new country. They give up their own careers and raise children alone through deployments that stretch for months on end. They manage households with lower pay than many in the private sector, navigate new school systems, and hold families together while the person they love is far away and often in harm’s way. That is the sacrifice these families face to keep the rest of us safe. That is what real patriotism looks like.

Those families deserved this event and this commission. They deserved a president who could sit in that chair, listen to their stories, really understand their challenges, and commit to doing something meaningful about the housing shortages, employment gaps, and child care issues that make their lives even tougher. A president who dedicated more time to listening and sharing that it’s not just the service member that serves. Their whole family does. Instead, they got 14 minutes of words someone else wrote, bizarre ramblings where President Trump called his decision to add one dollar to a military bonus to make it $1,776 “one of my genius ideas,” and then 42 minutes of unhinged ranting about reflecting pools, grass seed, swimming pool liner, intimidation and attacks on reporters.

This is who is commanding our armed forces. A struggling man who described the ongoing war with Iran as “working out very well, very very well.” Even though we have already lost at least 18 American service members in the war and more than 420 have been wounded. And he said that in front of military families.

But it wasn’t just Trump’s confusion or long-winded comments. He also demanded loyalty test performances today. During his opening remarks, he turned to Desiree Thompson Sayle, a longtime White House staffer who manages public correspondence, and he started talking about how the public sends gifts and money to the president, then said, “I should be able to get it,” while those closest to him laughed along with him. “They won’t give it to me. I should be entitled to it.” Then he turned back to Desiree. “I have one question. How do I compare in terms of response with other presidents of the past?” “No comparison, sir,” she said. “Is it good or bad?” he pressed. “No, it’s good. Actually, it’s very good.” “It’s very good. We do. Okay. We do great,” he repeated, before going further. “A little more than Sleepy Joe?” “A little bit more. Yes,” she confirmed. He closed with, “I think so. Thank you. Thank you.”

He was beaming after fishing for a compliment about being better than President Biden in the middle of an event about military families who have given everything. And then came the questions from the press. Trump has always been hostile toward reporters he cannot control, but today he was more direct. Before a reporter could finish a question, he would ask, “Who are you with?” If the answer was One American News, he praised the question. “Very friendly question. I like her. Who are you with? One American News? Very good. Good question. A good group.” If the answer was the Washington Examiner, he offered approval. “Good. You’re doing good. They’ve been very nice to me.” But when a reporter identified as being with MS NOW, he instantly attacked. “What a terrible show that is. They have the worst people on that channel.” And later, “That’s the failed MSNBC, right? The failed, they failed. They gave it a new name. You know why? Because nobody watched it.” And later, when that same reporter tried to ask another question, he was met with, “You’re fake news. Don’t ever talk again. You’re fake news. One of the worst in the business. Fortunately, nobody watches you.”

The worst moment for Donald Trump came when he was asked about Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a former Fox News host and one of Trump’s most loyal allies. Trump is still very troubled that Pirro dropped the vandalism charges against Olympian David Hearn after her office determined the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was caused by poor contractor installation, not anyone intentionally cutting the liner, as Donald Trump repeatedly lies about. President Trump spent more time publicly ranting about her than he did discussing military families. He said she “choked,” and that she “folded like an umbrella.” He said he was “really disappointed.” CNN reports he is “furious” and that it is “highly likely she’s removed from her job.” She was seen leaving the White House hours later. And when a reporter asked whether her position was safe, he refused to answer and attacked the reporter instead.

One of the most disappointing exchanges came when Trump was asked about Representative Max Miller of Ohio, who faces allegations from his ex-wife of pouring scalding water on her, holding a gun to her head, and their 2-year-old daughter’s collarbone fracturing while in his care. When a reporter asked whether Miller should resign, Trump quickly responded. “He’s a good person,” before adding, “I’m going to let the families figure that out.” There was also no mention that Miller’s former father-in-law, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, is a Trump loyalist as well. CNN reported that Trump allies are privately pushing the president to tell Miller to drop his reelection bid. Not because of what he is alleged to have done, but because they need that seat to stay Republican. They are worried about losing it in November, not about what he may have done.

When asked about Iran, Trump claimed, again, that he had called off a massive strike at the last moment because Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar all called and asked him not to attack. He said the strike would have been “harder than any attack since World War II.” He said it would have left “essentially very little left. There’d be nothing left.” He said that there was even some begging.

This is at least the fifth time since April that he has called off strikes to pursue talks. CBS News confirmed no new negotiations with Iran are actually planned. Iran’s foreign ministry denied any talks were taking place. This is the cycle that Trump follows. Threaten annihilation. Pull back. Claim they pleaded for an extension. Repeat. And while he stays in this loop, life becomes less affordable for people around the globe, not just here in the states.

Of course Trump couldn’t miss an opportunity to go after his political opponents. He once again called Democrats communists. He called the Michigan Democratic primary “a communist versus a socialist.” He called the new mayor of Washington, D.C., “a communist.” He claimed Democrats want to abolish the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the presidency. None of which is true. But the word “communist” still carries weight in this country. He is summoning the Cold War, McCarthyism, and generations who hear the word communism and instinctively fear it. And Trump is using it the same way every authoritarian before him has, as a label to make us stop seeing each other as fellow human beings and instead as threats.

Maybe the hardest part to hear came when he insulted a very large majority of our allies. His comment wasn’t just ridiculous; it was embarrassing for our whole country. Sitting in the Oval Office of the White House, a reporter from GB News asked about immigration in the UK, and Trump responded: “I know Europe better than anybody, better than the people that run it.” He then called the United Kingdom “essentially a bankrupt country.” And he added that “Any country with windmills is a loser.”

Like many of us, I have walked the streets of cities all across Europe. As a travel writer, and as someone who just loves seeing new places and meeting new people. Trump’s claim to know Europe better than its leaders, better than the people who live there, who can trace their roots back as far as the records go, is preposterous. Donald Trump, in no uncertain terms, is the least knowledgeable person at every table he sits at. He is incapable of having gained any knowledge because learning requires humility. It requires the ability to sit with someone who sees the world differently and absorb what they know instead of insisting you already know it better. Trump has never done that. He has never walked into a room, or a country, or had a conversation and come out having learned something from someone else. He sees himself, even now in visible decline, as the person who already knows everything.

His arrogance is not just embarrassing; it is dangerous. Because the leaders of those countries still have to sit beside him and do their absolute best to keep the peace at all costs. They have to encourage him to end his war and not start more. They are counting down the days until he is out of office and, no doubt, holding their breath, waiting for the next move he makes to keep destabilizing the entire planet.

U.S. Health Care Policy

New York Times, Spotlight on Fauci Said to Boost Book Sales for Kennedy and His Publisher, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Aug. 4, 2026 (print ed.). Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his son, and Senator Rand Paul have all written books criticizing Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. All were published by a company led by a close Kennedy adviser.

A few hours after Dr. Anthony S. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right in refusing to answer questions from Senate Republicans last week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to social media to plug a book he published about Dr. Fauci in 2021, declaring it “the #1 non-fiction hardcover best-seller.”

Later that day, Mr. Kennedy went on television to say much the same thing. “I wrote a book about Anthony Fauci in 2021,” he told the Fox News host Sean Hannity. “It was the biggest selling book of 2021. It sold 1.4 million copies.”

Mr. Kennedy’s mini book tour came as Republicans accused Dr. Fauci of enriching himself by enlisting staff and colleagues to enter contests with cash awards, including a $1 million prize that government ethics officials allowed him to keep. But Mr. Kennedy; Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who chaired the hearing; and even Mr. Kennedy’s son Robert F. Kennedy III have all published critical books about Dr. Fauci whose sales may have gotten a boost from the negative public attention the men have helped generate against him.

Mr. Kennedy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on behalf of the secretary or of his son. Mr. Paul’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.ImageDr. Anthony Fauci at his hearing last week with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, during which he invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to answer questions from Senate Republicans.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

All three books are published by Skyhorse Publishing, whose founder Tony Lyons is a close adviser to Mr. Kennedy and runs a political action committee and other groups supporting the secretary’s agenda. Mr. Paul’s book was published in 2023 by Regnery Publishing, which was acquired by Skyhorse in December of that year. (Skyhorse also recently published a memoir by the actress Cheryl Hines, Mr. Kennedy’s wife.)

“‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ is the most important book in a generation,” Mr. Lyons said in an interview on Monday, referring to the work of the elder Mr. Kennedy. He said royalties from the book, which paints Dr. Fauci as being in the pocket of a corrupt pharmaceutical industry, went to Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit Mr. Kennedy founded to advance his crusade against environmental toxins and vaccines, and not to Mr. Kennedy himself.

“He wasn’t doing it for money. He wasn’t doing it for power. He wasn’t doing it for fame. So please write that,” Mr. Lyons said.

Ethics experts say that Mr. Kennedy, his son and Mr. Paul did not cross any legal or ethical lines, but several said the secretary and the senator did cross a threshold for hypocrisy by using their platforms to sell books about Dr. Fauci while accusing the scientist of profiting from his own public service.

“It’s pretty rich,” said Donald Sherman, an expert in government ethics at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group.

Kathleen Clark, an expert in government ethics and law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said that the book promotion “may not be a legal conflict, but it is a conflict, and it may help explain their actual motivations.” She likened the hearing to a “publicity event for Skyhorse Publishing.”

The hearing led to a spike in sales for Mr. Kennedy’s book, according to the MAHA Report, a newsletter published by MAHA Action, an advocacy group headed by Mr. Lyons. The book is selling for $32.50 on the group’s online store.

Mr. Paul must adhere to Senate ethics rules, which bar most outside payments but exempt book royalties and advances. His 2023 book “Deception: The Great Covid Cover-Up” accuses Dr. Fauci of funding research in China that led to the coronavirus pandemic, and lying about it to Congress — accusations that Dr. Fauci denies. Mr. Paul has twice referred Dr. Fauci to the Justice Department for prosecution, and those allegations were a central focus of last week’s hearing.

Mr. Paul reported a total of $275,000 in royalties from Regnery Publishing: $185,000 in 2023 and $90,000 in 2024.ImageSenator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, during last week’s hearing, which focused in part on Mr. Paul’s accusations that Dr. Fauci funded research in China that led to the coronavirus pandemic, and lied about it to Congress — accusations that Dr. Fauci denies.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

On Wednesday, the panel Mr. Paul chairs, the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is scheduled to vote on whether to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify.

Mr. Kennedy used his personal X account, which has nearly 6 million followers, and not his official government account, to promote his Fauci book. As a cabinet secretary, Mr. Kennedy faces more restrictions than the senator; he must abide by the ethics filing he submitted to win Senate confirmation.

Mr. Kennedy previously had a consulting agreement with Skyhorse Publishing but pledged in the filing to terminate it. In a separate financial disclosure, he reported that the company had paid him $451,000 in consulting fees for “author introductions, book ideas and forewords to other authors’ works & bonus.”

His ethics filing said the publisher paid him royalties for “several books,” without naming them. His financial disclosure showed that he received a $1,000 advance for his 2023 book “Vax-Unvax: Let The Science Speak,” and that Ms. Hines had received a $600,000 advance for her memoir.

In addition, Mr. Kennedy disclosed that he was entitled to an advance of $1 million to $5 million for two upcoming books, “Unsettled Science” and “A Defense of Israel,” and up to $15,000 for another yet-to-be published book, “America’s Path Back to Moral Leadership.”

“During my appointment,” Mr. Kennedy promised, “I will not engage in any writing, editing or promotional activities associated with these books and will not provide any other services under the publishing agreement.”

Of the three authors, Mr. Kennedy’s son has the greatest amount of freedom. As a private citizen, he may publish what he pleases. His book, “The Confessions of Anthony Fauci,” bills itself as a “fictional memoir.” It is published almost in a diary format, with Dr. Fauci talking directly to the reader.

In his X message to his followers, Mr. Kennedy called his own Fauci publication “the most censored book of the decade,” complaining that bookstores and libraries refused to carry it, and major newspapers declined to review it.

He singled out The New York Times, asserting that the paper had refused to publish a paid advertisement for the “The Real Anthony Fauci” and listed the book as No. 7 on its best-seller list, “even though it outsold any other book by thousands of copies.”

A spokesman for The Times said that the paper published an advertisement for the book on Page 5 of its Dec. 19, 2021, Book Review section.

The Times does not disclose its precise methodology for ranking books, saying only that the rankings “reflect unit sales reported on a confidential basis by vendors offering a wide range of general interest titles in the United States.” The spokesman declined further comment.

Mr. Kennedy’s book made The Times’s weekly best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction 19 times since it was published in 2021. Its highest rank on the hardcover nonfiction list was No. 7. It also reached No. 5 on the combined print and e-book nonfiction list.

Dr. Fauci’s 2024 memoir, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” spent seven weeks on The Times’s best-seller list that year, twice reaching No. 1 in both hardcover nonfiction and in combined print and e-book nonfiction.

In a diary he kept on his government computer, which Mr. Paul released publicly, Dr. Fauci wrote that he had mentioned Mr. Kennedy’s book to a lawyer, Don Walker, before its publication, saying it would undoubtedly be “a very scandalous book.” Mr. Walker, he said, “was adamant that should do nothing about this since Bobby Kennedy has absolutely no credibility.”

That was five years ago, long before anyone envisioned Mr. Kennedy would become health secretary.

New York Times, Inside the Spending of One of America’s Largest Super PACs, Jennifer Medina, Matt Zdun and Martín González Gómez Aug. 4, 2026. In recent years, AIPAC has more than doubled the amount it spends in political campaigns, while rarely mentioning Israel. Its biggest test yet, the Michigan Senate primary, comes Tuesday.

In less than five years, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has become one of the biggest spenders in American elections, flooding the airwaves in congressional races across the country.

Since its first involvement in elections, the amount of money AIPAC-affiliated political action committees have spent on campaign advertising and outreach to voters has more than doubled, from $29.3 million to $67.2 million, with much of it spent in Democratic primaries.

The group’s biggest test yet will come in Tuesday’s Democratic Senate primary election in Michigan. AIPAC has spent more than $30 million on ads and outreach promoting Representative Haley Stevens over her opponent, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, according to the Federal Election Commission. Dr. El-Sayed, who has run a sharply anti-Israel campaign, has made the group’s involvement a key part of his criticism of Ms. Haley’s candidacy.

The spending — in Michigan and across the country — marks a significant shift for the group, which for decades was a bipartisan lobbying organization focused on influencing federal legislation and sending members of Congress to Israel. But, alarmed by what it saw as a rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment from Democrats, the group quickly became a major player in federal elections.

In 2022, AIPAC created a super PAC that has spent more money on TV, radio and digital ads in federal elections over the past three election cycles than any other special interest group not linked to a political party, according to a Times analysis of data collected by AdImpact, a media tracking firm. AIPAC’s rapid growth in election spending, both through its super PAC and other new affiliated organizations, makes clear how significant the issue of Israel has become in American politics — but also how complicated.

Some of the campaign advertisements produced for AIPAC are aimed at supporting candidates the group sees as pro-Israel. Others are designed to defeat candidates the group views as out of step with its policy agenda.

But one factor unites them: Almost none of the ads mention Israel.

Between April 2022 and the end of last month, AIPAC funded 109 TV and digital ads in American elections, according to a New York Times analysis.

But only six of those ads refer to Israel.

The ads financed by AIPAC-related groups have most commonly focused on issues that polling suggests are bigger priorities for many voters — including abortion rights and the economy — even though they were specifically intended to boost candidates who support Israel. The strategy, which is used by other political groups too, has at times allowed AIPAC to obscure its involvement in campaigns.

When AIPAC supporters moved to create their super PAC, called United Democracy Project, in 2022, they were keenly aware of both the rising cost of political campaigns and the growing number of candidates who were critical of U.S. support for Israel. After the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, donations from individuals to United Democracy Project spiked, helping it to ramp up its political efforts. So far in primary elections this year it has outspent various super PACs funded by the A.I. and cryptocurrency industries, two other powerful groups, on campaign advertising.

Much of AIPAC’s money, through the United Democracy Project and other smaller political action committees, has been spent in Democratic primaries. Because it views itself as bipartisan, the group has rarely spent money in general election races where it would be forced to pick between a Democrat and Republican.AIPAC spending in primaries and general elections

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Live Updates: Michigan’s Senate Battle Leads a Five-State Primary Slate, Tim Balk, Aug. 4, 2026. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, faces Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in the Democratic primary for Senate. Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and Washington are also voting today. Here’s the latest.

One of this year’s biggest primary elections is underway in Michigan, where two Democratic Senate candidates with deep policy disagreements are facing off in a major test of the party’s direction.

The bitter, expensive race pits Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, against Representative Haley Stevens, a centrist supported by party leaders. The winner will defend the seat of Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring, in a battleground state that could determine control of the Senate. Along with Michigan, four other states are holding primaries on Tuesday: Kansas, Virginia, Washington and Missouri.

In Michigan, Dr. El-Sayed, a proponent of universal health care and a forceful critic of U.S. military aid to Israel, plans to spend Tuesday campaigning in the Detroit area, according to his campaign. Ms. Stevens, who casts herself as a bipartisan antidote to Washington dysfunction and a strong ally of Israel, is starting the day on the campaign trail in Western Michigan and will make her way to Detroit by the evening, her campaign said.

The candidates have spent weeks trading attacks, sometimes in strikingly personal terms. In an interview with an activist published in recent days, Dr. El-Sayed called Ms. Stevens the “the least capable candidate in America” as he assailed her support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose main super PAC spent tens of millions of dollars to back her. Ms. Stevens responded by writing on social media that he wanted to “blame all” of his “problems on Jewish Americans.”

The winner will take on former Representative Mike Rogers, who is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.

In Detroit, voters are also choosing whether to back Representative Shri Thanedar, a second-term Democrat, or the democratic socialist challenging him, State Representative Donavan McKinney. And in a swing congressional district that includes Lansing, two centrist Democrats and a progressive are battling to determine who will take on Representative Tom Barrett, a vulnerable Republican who has sought distance from President Trump.

Here’s what else to watch for:

A Missouri comeback? Former Representative Cori Bush, a democratic socialist, lost two years ago to Wesley Bell, a Democrat who was lifted by spending by pro-Israel groups. Now Ms. Bush is trying to wrest back the solidly blue St. Louis-area seat from Mr. Bell.
Heavy AIPAC-tied spending: The Senate race in Michigan has been deluged by about $60 million in outside spending for Ms. Stevens. More than half came from AIPAC’s super PAC arm, and that funding became a core issue in the contest.
Control in Kansas: With Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat, leaving office because of term limits, Democrats and Republicans have piled into the race to replace her. State Senator Ty Masterson has Mr. Trump’s endorsement in the Republican primary. Two state lawmakers are running against a mayor in the Democratic primary.
A Pacific primary fight: Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an outspoken centrist Democrat, is trying to fend off primary challengers in her southwestern Washington State district.

The New Republic, Why everyone’s watching Michigan’s Black voters today, Michael Tomasky, Aug. 4, 2026. All eyes on the Michigan Democratic Senate primary battle today between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens.

El-Sayed has opened up a substantial lead. CNN’s Harry Enten yesterday: "He’s up to a 98 percent chance, according to the Kalshi prediction markets, way up like a rocket compared to where he was on April 3, when he had just a 28 percent chance a few months ago." El-Sayed was in Detroit Monday; Stevens, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Below, our Emma Janssen reports on the all-important Black vote, which could hold the key to the outcome.

POSITIVE SIGN?: Both candidates say they will attend a unity rally in Detroit this Friday, per MS NOW’s Willie Geist this morning. Will they appear on the stage together? Worth watching.

THE "THUG FUND": Said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal: "[John] Cornyn and [Thom] Tillis seem to have gotten nothing. The tax immunity deal is still unlimited in terms of tax control liability, and the slush fund, or the thug fund, as I call it, is still alive and well so far as Donald Trump is concerned." MS NOW’s Lisa Rubin on Morning Joe this morning, talking about Blanche supposedly rescinding the order that created the fund: "This is nothing more than me scribbling something on a napkin."

AND DON’T FORGET: This is the same Blanche who’s perverted the department to do Trump’s bidding at every turn, indicting James Comey over seashells and giving Ghislaine Maxwell a cozy life. He makes Pam Bondi look independent. The DOJ is going to be a political assault weapon in Blanche’s hands.

REP HIT: Everybody’s focused on Jeanine Pirro in the Reflecting Pool disaster, and rightly so. But what about Interior Secretary Doug Burgum? His own department found there was no vandalism, and yet he’s still sticking to the vandalism story!

Reached at his home in Mesa, Mr. Giles would not confirm or deny that he had joined the ticket, but a person close to the campaign and another close to Mr. Giles said the choice had been made.

Arizonans for the first time this November will elect a lieutenant governor running on the same ticket as the governor, thanks to a 2022 ballot measure that created the lieutenant governor position.

New York Times, Pro-Israel Democrat Fends Off Democratic Socialist’s Comeback Attempt in Missouri, Kellen Browning, Aug. 4, 2026. Representative Wesley Bell beat Cori Bush, his predecessor, in a rematch. He will be a heavy favorite in the safely Democratic district in November.

But Mr. Bell, a former prosecuting attorney and city councilman, held on.

The political careers of Mr. Bell and Ms. Bush, who are Black, were both shaped by the Ferguson protests; Ms. Bush was an activist and organizer of them.

More Global News

Checks & Balances, Analysis and Opinion:The Crime of Aggression, and what the U.S., and the World, Risks Losing in Ukraine, Cliff Smith, Aug. 4, 2026. Russia's aggression against Ukraine is a clear violation of international law.

Let’s start by conceding something important:

International law, as it relates to aggressors waging war and human rights abusing governments, is deeply flawed, and is not always, or even usually, applied consistently.

Particularly in recent decades, deadly breaches of international law have been ignored or explained away for politics. Other times, it is flipped on its head and used against victims for flimsy reasons by unscrupulous actors. No good-faith observer of international law denies any of this.

This needs to be clarified in order to make an important point: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is simply different, in terms of method, scale, and intent.

Russia’s unprovoked and illegal war on Ukraine, which also includes staggering amounts of flagrant human rights abuses and war crimes, violating every concept of law in existence, is more dangerous to the international system than anything that has happened since World War II. It represents a vital threat to American interests, and the very concept of international law.

I have seen this first-hand. As both a lawyer and a freelance journalist, I visited Ukraine last year and personally witnessed the devastating consequences of Russia’s unbridled war of annihilation against Ukraine.

This seems intuitive to most Americans. Seeing countless thousands of troops and tanks rolling across Europe viscerally seems different than, say, the latest flair up between India and Pakistan (even if they are both nuclear armed powers) or internal fighting between various groups in Sudan. Some people may still call this point “Eurocentric,” or even racist. But this is not because the toll of lives lost or crimes committed across other conflicts are less tragic or horrific. It is because prosperity, democracy, and the freedom of movement worldwide is undergirded by the system of international laws and norms set up predominately by the US and Europe in the aftermath of World War II. Putin’s war is an intentional, and direct, challenge to that order.

Those most directly affected agree, and have taken measures to push back. The Council of Europe chose to set up a Special Tribunal for the Crime of aggression against Ukraine due to jurisdictional issues with the International Criminal Court specifically to document and punish Russian crimes.

The Special Tribunal, and the United Nations, agrees that this is no ordinary breach of international law. The Tribunal cites the U.N. General Assembly, which found in 2022 that “(T)he military operations of the Russian Federation inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine were on a scale that the international community had not seen in Europe in decades,” and found Russia “In violation of Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations,” that is, the section of the U.N. Charter which requires states to “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” The Special Tribunal refers to the crime of aggression, the planning and launching of an illegal war, which is also universally thought to be part of customary international law as well as the U.N. Charter.

While in and of itself the Special Tribunal will have only indirect impact, this finding is of key importance. It raises the alarm and explains just how high the stakes are.Upgrade to paid

The reason for this is that many if not most of the major conflicts in the post-World War II era are not situations where one party uses force to seriously threaten the independence of another state. Most are either internal civil wars of various sorts (even if outside powers end up getting involved), or what is known as “Gray Zone” wars. “Gray Zone” wars are defined by military and security experts as “intense political, economic, informational, and military competition more fervent in nature than normal steady-state diplomacy, yet short of conventional war.”

There are notable exceptions of course. For example, the 1991 and 2003 Iraq Wars were conventional wars. But the 1991 war was a response to Iraq’s unquestioned crime of aggression against Kuwait, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 687 authorized the conflict. While the political and moral calculations for the 2003 Iraq War will likely be debated for decades, it remains true that, particularly after the unanimous passage of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, it had more legal legitimacy than most wars. Other conflicts, such as the Six Day War against Israel by its Arab neighbors in 1967, were borne out of clear aggression, and were turned back swiftly. In other words, none of them were anything like Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Conversely, numerous conflicts across the Middle East being propagated by Iran are implemented by non-state actors--most notably violence committed by Hezbollah and Hamas--with varying degrees of independence. These are good examples of the kind of “Gray Zone,” conflicts that have dominated international violent conflict since World War II. Another example is the war with ISIS, a hybrid conflict that included numerous different elements of a civil war, terrorist tactics, as well as traditional military methods.

The Ukraine War itself started as a “Gray Zone,” conflict. As one Brookings Institution scholar explained, Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, which was the real start of the conflict with Ukraine, began with “the appearance in Crimea and eastern Ukraine of seemingly professional soldiers in Russia-style combat uniforms with Russian weapons but without identifying insignia,” leading to the installation of a pro-Russian government in Crimea and a sham-referendum to give Russia a faux-legal status in Crimea, even if it was widely condemned as a fraud by most states and international organizations.

Russia’s change of tactics between the illegal seizure of Crimea in 2014, and the full-scale invasion of 2022, shows just what is at stake. As appalling and illegal as Russia’s de-facto annexation of Crimea was, Russia understood, in 2014, that a brazen and undeniable violation of the crime of aggression was too much to risk.

Indeed, this is precisely why many experts doubted that Russia would actually invade in the first place. One regional expert, Dr. Harun Yilmaz, explained it this way: ”Russia is amassing a large number of troops along the border. Has it changed its approach? That is unlikely. Despite Western predictions of an imminent invasion, it is questionable that the intended target of the Russian military mobilisation is Ukraine.”

Dr. Yilmaz wrote this on February 9th, 2022, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched just 15 days later.

The fact that Dr. Yilmaz was wrong doesn’t discredit him. He made common-sense arguments about how Russia had operated in the Syrian Civil War, and the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict, and came to the reasonable conclusion that a straight-up invasion of Ukraine was too costly when other, lesser tactics were available to it.

Putin obviously believed otherwise. It was a flagrant dismissal of the U.N. Charter. The full-scale invasion was not simply an erosion of the crime of aggression, it was a direct challenge to its existence.

Unfortunately, under the Biden Administration, the U.S. did far too little, far too slowly, to change Russia’s behavior. Worse still, during the Trump Administration, the U.S. has often made the problem significantly worse. Whether it is freezing intelligence sharing in a fit of diplomatic pique, or an opulent reception for Putin on American soil, when he should rightly have been arrested for war crimes, the Trump Administration has de-facto rewarded Russian aggression rather than punish it. The Administration’s erratic behavior has further signaled to Russia that it sees no real threat to international laws or norms, or doesn’t care about them, and that the White House can be manipulated by flattery from the Kremlin.

Fortunately, thanks to a mix of amazing Ukrainian innovation, sufficient action by the European Union, and the Trump Administration allowing Europe to buy American weapons for Ukraine, Ukraine has turned the tide. An unambiguous Russian victory is now unlikely. Also, key influencers that have sway in the Trump Administration have become significantly more pro-Ukraine, and the Senate recently overwhelmingly passed an important Russia sanctions bill that would have a real impact.

There is no final authority in defining international law when it comes to the crime of aggression. The mechanisms and institutions of international law, such as the UN Security Council, or the International Criminal Court, are either compromised by Russia’s power over them, or otherwise institutionally incapable of acting. The Special Tribunal may be useful for internal political and legal purposes in the European Union, but it will do nothing on its own to change Russia’s behavior in the long run.

Thus, if the crime of aggression is to meaningfully exist, the forces of freedom and the rule of law must enforce it. That means, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine must fail, on terms Russia’s leadership will understand. This will involve doing everything to diminish Russia’s military ability to an absolute minimum, degrading its economy to the point of collapse, and isolating it diplomatically, to an extent that that stops future leaders in their tracks. If this does not happen, aggressors will know there is no real crime of aggression.

Should that come to pass, it will be a disaster for international laws and norms on a scale not seen in most American’s lifetimes.

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: Is this the most dishonest ad of 2026? Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims, right, Aug. 4, 2026. An opaque nonprofit affiliated with Senate Republicans, One Nation, has blanketed Georgia over the last five days with a new ad attacking Senator Jon Ossoff (D). The group has spent $1.7 million in less than a week, delivering 78 million impressions of the ad across the state, according to data from AdImpact.

Almost nothing in the ad is true. More than once, the ad attacks Ossoff for positions that have actually been pursued by Senate Republicans.

“$2,100. That’s three months of groceries,” the ad states. “$2,100. That’s the tax increase Jon Ossoff supported. Ambitious and liberal, Ossoff voted with national Democrats to gut your child tax credit. He even voted for higher taxes on Social Security recipients earning under $75,000. A $2,100 tax increase on Georgia families.”

“Jon Ossoff doesn’t care about people like us,” the ad concludes. “Tell Senator Ossoff to stop voting for higher taxes.”

These claims are all false. Ossoff did not vote to “gut your child tax credit.” He provided a key vote to pass the largest child tax credit (CTC) expansion in history, over the vehement opposition of Senate Republicans, and advocated to make it permanent.

Ossoff voted against President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), over concerns about deep cuts to Medicare and other programs. While the OBBBA did include a small increase to the CTC, it left “out many of the poorest children from its full benefits,” according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Further, the ad claims Ossoff supported a “tax increase” of $2,100, making it harder for working Americans to provide groceries. But this is another reference to Ossoff’s vote against the OBBBA. Far from easing the burden at the grocery store, the OBBBA reduced household resources for Americans struggling to make ends meet.

According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), under the law, the poorest ten percent of households will see resources reduced by around $1,200 per year on average between 2026 and 2034, while the wealthiest households will see resources increase $13,600 per year. Additionally, the Penn Wharton Budget Model found that the OBBBA “will make most households worse off because they will lose more from the spending cuts and negative economic effects of higher debt than they will gain from the tax cuts,” estimating that the law “will make households with incomes in the bottom 80 percent worse off over their lifetimes.”

The law also included massive health care cuts. The cuts cut federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) “spending by $990 billion over the next ten years,” according to the CBO. The CBO estimated that the OBBBA “will increase the number of people without health insurance in 2034 by 10 million.”

Finally, the ad claims that Ossoff “voted for higher taxes on Social Security recipients earning under $75,000.” But the OBBBA did not change the tax treatment of Social Security income. Rather, it created an additional $6,000 deduction for seniors, regardless of whether or not they collected Social Security. It begins phasing out for taxpayers with incomes over $75,000 and will expire in 2028.

Ossoff is running for reelection in a competitive race against Representative Mike Collins (R-GA). A win for Collins would be a major pickup for Senate Republicans as they aim to maintain a majority in the Senate.

There is no information about who is funding the ad, as One Nation does not have to disclose its donors. The group’s primary purpose is to keep the names of its donors secret. The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the Super PAC that is associated with One Nation, can accept unlimited contributions and has more flexibility on how it can spend the money. The key difference is that the SLF has to report its donors to the Federal Election Commission.The history of Republican opposition to expanding the Child Tax Credit

Despite the ad’s claims, it is Republicans who have opposed meaningful expansions of the CTC while Ossoff has supported such expansions on multiple occasions.

In 2021, as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the CTC was increased to a maximum of $3,600 for each child under six and $3,000 for each child aged six to 17. Most importantly, the law made it so that low-income families could claim the entire credit. As a result, 19 million more children received the maximum benefit and child poverty dropped to a record low of 5.2 percent. The ARPA was passed without support from a single Congressional Republican.

Ossoff voted in favor of the ARPA and said he supported making the CTC expansion, which was set to last only one year, permanent.

Later in 2021, the Biden administration sought to extend the expansion through its signature Build Back Better (BBB) policy. The plan was to revert to the pre-pandemic $2,000 maximum after one year, while leaving in place the provision that allowed low-income families access to the maximum credit. However, CTC expansion became a target for corporate lobbyists and Republican lawmakers. Republicans argued that by including low-income families, the expanded CTC would “lead many lower-income Americans to work less or entirely sever their connection to work.”

Ultimately, a trimmed-down version of the BBB which did not include the CTC provision was passed in 2022. When the expanded CTC lapsed, 3.7 million children fell into poverty.

Recognizing the impact of the CTC on child poverty, a bipartisan group of legislators in the House passed a plan in 2024 to make a small change allowing more low-income families to claim the full CTC. However, Senate Republicans opposed the bill, saying it would make then-President Joe Biden “look good” and that “all Republican leverage will be lost.” The opposition was led by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), who criticized the measure as a “subsidy” instead of a tax relief, providing undeserved relief to families who don’t contribute to the tax base. After allowing the bill to languish in committee for several months, the Senate ultimately rejected the bill 48-44, with all but three Senate Republicans voting against it. Ossoff voted in favor of the CTC expansion.

New York Times, Ronald Lauder, a Billionaire G.O.P. Backer, Closes His Wallet, Nicholas Fandos, Aug. 4, 2026. Ronald S. Lauder, a major funder of conservative political causes, has not given a single dollar this year to Republicans in his home state, and his super PAC has gone idle.

For decades, Ronald S. Lauder, the billionaire cosmetics heir and philanthropist, has been something like a one-man bank for Republicans in New York.

He personally funded a campaign to impose term limits in New York City, helped pay for a lawsuit to overturn the state’s gerrymandered congressional map and, just four years ago, plowed close to $13 million into races that helped Republicans flip the House.

Now, in the middle of another crucial midterm election year, Mr. Lauder, 82, appears to have abruptly closed his political checkbook, and the ramifications for the conservative movement he has nurtured in his home state could be significant.

He has yet to make a single donation to Republicans in his home state this year, according to campaign finance records. The super PAC he long maintained to advance Republican candidates and causes is also sitting idle.

And behind the scenes, Mr. Lauder has quietly dismissed a stable of well-paid advisers, ad makers and other consultants who regularly reported to his personal office in the Estée Lauder headquarters overlooking Central Park in Manhattan. Some had been with Mr. Lauder since 1989 when he ran his own quixotic race for mayor.

His motivation is not entirely clear. Three associates said that Mr. Lauder recently confided in them, saying that his adult children have stepped in to try to reduce his lavish spending on politics, art and philanthropy and suggesting reluctantly that he could not spend what he once did. The associates pointed to public securities filings showing that his stake in the family business, Estée Lauder, has lost at least $1.2 billion in value as the stock plummeted 77 percent from its 2021 high.

A person close to the Lauder family did not dispute that Mr. Lauder’s political spending was being curtailed, but said it was not because of a financial pinch.

Rather, the person said that he and his adult children had agreed that he would simplify the reach of his activities — involving extensive travel, large paid staff and public speeches — as he prepared for the last years of his life in order to prioritize art and philanthropic projects that could secure his legacy.

More On Trump Justice Dept. Reflecting Pool Abuses, Debacle

New York Times, Pirro Meets With Trump at the White House After He Said She ‘Choked’ in Reflecting Pool Case, Erica L. Green, Katie Rogers, Tyler Pager and Maggie Haberman, Aug. 4, 2026 (print ed.). President Trump said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., “folded like an umbrella.” For now, her job appeared to be safe, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

President Trump met with Jeanine Pirro at the White House on Monday, hours after saying that she had “choked” when she concluded that the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was not the work of vandals, as the president has claimed.

Ms. Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., arrived at the White House on Monday afternoon and was taken to meet with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting. She was not fired by Mr. Trump, nor did she offer her resignation in that meeting, according to two people briefed on the outcome.

Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, was also at the White House when she arrived. Mr. Burgum has in recent days joined Mr. Trump in railing against Ms. Pirro’s decision to drop charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist who was accused of pulling up a two-square-foot piece of the pool’s lining. Both men assert that the damage to the pool has been the work of vandals and not “the result of a botched installation and not vandalism,” as Ms. Pirro indicated in a Friday court filing.

The decision to drop the charges set Ms. Pirro — a longtime ally and loyal appointee of a president — on a collision course with Mr. Trump, who has made sure to inflict consequences on people within his orbit who contradict his claims. In her filing, Ms. Pirro openly undermined Mr. Trump’s narrative that the Reflecting Pool’s peeling liner was caused by people slashing its coating with knives.

Speaking earlier Monday in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump grew angry when asked whether he had spoken with Ms. Pirro about her decision. He went on to say that he believed that Ms. Pirro was intimidated by an “unfriendly” and “vicious” judge while pursuing a vandalism charge, and he lashed out at a reporter when asked whether he was reconsidering her role. He later ignored a question directly asking whether he was considering firing her.

“I guess she choked,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t know what the hell happened.”

The president said that he believed she “made a mistake” — echoing his initial reaction to the decision — and reiterated his claim that “there was vandalism.”

In her filing, Ms. Pirro sought to dismiss a felony charge against Mr. Hearn. She said that her prosecutors had been misled by the Interior Department, which had awarded a no-bid contract to a first-time government contractor to repair the landmark.

In other words, Ms. Pirro’s filing confirmed what Mr. Trump had dismissed for weeks when he tried to convince the public that any problems that crept up during the renovations — from algae blooms to peeling liner — were a result of vandalism and not shoddy contract work.

Prosecutors in Washington are also dropping charges against three more defendants who had been accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Along with Mr. Hearn, prosecutors moved to drop charges against three others: Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Cameron Thiers, who all were charged with destruction of property less than $1,000.

Norman L. Eisen, one of Mr. Hearn’s attorneys, said in a statement released shortly after the filing that the charges against Mr. Hearn amounted to abuse of government power.

“The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim,” he said on Friday. “The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”

But in the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Trump said that the real miscarriage of justice was Ms. Pirro’s decision to backtrack.

“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” he said. “She folded like an umbrella, and people get away with things. It’s a disgrace.”

Mr. Trump personally visited the site of the Reflecting Pool renovations, praising it as one of his proudest beautification projects, which would serve as an iconic complement to his July 4 speech. On the holiday, Mr. Trump announced that while the “pool looks great, despite all it went through with the Vandal Thugs,” the administration would “quickly drain and fix the damage done right after this big weekend.”

But on Monday, Mr. Trump appeared for the first time to acknowledge that he was unhappy with the job, which he has always held was more economical and durable than any attempted renovation by other presidents. He maintained on Monday that of his projects, “one of the biggest jobs” was the Reflecting Pool, adding, “We did a great job.”

“So now I’m not saying I was 100 percent thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing,” he said. “We wanted to get it open for July 4, and we got it done. But in addition, there was vandalism.”

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Trump and Pirro BOTH Screwed Up by Rushing to Beat July 4, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 4, 2026. As noted in this post, WaPo has a worthwhile piece on Trump’s pressure on Jeanine Pirro regarding the reflecting pool.

It confirms that Pirro not only knew about but reviewed the motion to dismiss against Davey Hearn before it was filed; I had my doubts.

Pirro reviewed and signed off on the motion after speaking with Michael Spence, the chief of the unit handling Superior Court cases in the U.S. attorney’s office, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

It reveals that Trump lashed out at Pirro, in part, because she did not warn him prosecutors were going to drop the case, something that would have been done by a memo to Blanche who could then inform Trump in a DOJ that was not hopelessly corrupt.

[T]he president soon grew angry for another reason: Pirro did not give the White House a heads-up about dropping the charges, a White House official said. The president spoke with her by phone Saturday to discuss the decision, a call first reported by CNN.

Both revelations may be of use for Hearn’s lawyers as they try to get some accountability for the false charges.

On that note, the piece even includes Norm Eisen’s comments, contesting Pirro’s insinuation that they didn’t already know their case was shit, more prominently than most stories on this.

Norm Eisen, a lawyer for Hearn, said he did not accept the claim that the Justice Department was unaware of evidence indicating Hearn’s innocence. Eisen cited public photographs and reports demonstrating that the damage probably stemmed from contractor errors.

“The idea that Jeanine Pirro and her office were somehow hornswoggled by Interior is not credible,” Eisen said.

Where the story goes awry is in holding either Pirro or Trump accountable for their own corruption.

To be sure, WaPo lays out the evidence of Trump’s failures. It starts its story with four paragraphs describing Trump’s boasts about being able to repair the reflecting pool when others could not.

Standing on the basin of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool in early May, President Donald Trump promised to fix the leaks and other problems that had long plagued one of the capital’s most recognizable landmarks.

“It’s going to last, I would say 50 years,” he said. “It’ll last, it’s going to last a long time.”

Trump vowed to finish the job in time for July Fourth celebrations on the National Mall. He and his aides cast the project, launched with a multimillion-dollar no-bid contract and without the normal review process, as a demonstration of how quickly the longtime real estate magnate could transform Washington.

Trump’s changes instead lasted a few days.

But when it quotes Trump expressing displeasure with the contractor who, Trump said, was rushing, it doesn’t circle back and remind readers that the contractor was rushing — and had been picked via a no-bid process that excluded better qualified contractors — because “Trump vowed to finish the job in time for July Fourth celebrations on the National Mall.”

“I’m not saying I was 100 percent thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing,” he said in the Oval Office, noting that workers had a tight deadline.

The contractor whose rush job resulted in a failed renovation was rushing because Trump demanded and paid him extra to do so.

The rest of the story — describing how Trump, “believed he could personally drive the project, having transformed the relationship between the White House and National Park Service staff,” and also describing how that was possible because DOGE cuts left “fewer experienced officials between junior staff and political appointees” — provides abundant reason to blame Trump for everything:

The DOGE decision to fire qualified peopleThe determination to get the pool done by July 4The choice of the unqualified contractorThe exclusion of people with knowledge on historic preservation from the project

It shows all the things Trump did wrong (and WaPo has led on this story from the start) and contrasts them with Trump’s promise he could do no wrong. It even notes that Hearn’s “charges gave administration officials cover for their claim that the pool’s problems stemmed from deliberate damage,” something I noted in real time.

But it doesn’t quite say that Trump is angry because he himself failed. It doesn’t call out Trump for blaming the contractor for the rush he himself demanded.

There’s great reporting on Trump’s failures in here, but it ultimately lands its punch only through subtle irony that will be widely missed in this day and age.

And by treating the MTD uncritically, the piece pulls even more punches against Jeanine Pirro.

Its coverage of Pirro’s role focuses on what the MTD claims she could have seen, even while noting it took Hearn’s expert visit on July 16 (WaPo doesn’t correct what appears, based on a Hearn filing submitted the same day as the visit, to be an incorrect date) before any prosecutors — it says Pirro did so herself — visited the pool that had been drained almost a week earlier, on July 10.

The pool was drained again July 10 for more repairs.

[snip]

She visited the pool on July 1 to inspect the damage, according to court records. When a grand jury indicted Hearn the next day on a felony charge of destruction of property — the sole felony vandalism charge pursued in connection with the pool — Pirro gave a news conference and later a Fox News interview in which she described him “forcefully and violently” tugging at the liner with both hands and shouting at a Park Service employee who told him to stop.

“I didn’t charge anything harshly,” she told reporters at the time, adding that “there was tremendous damage.”

But inside the U.S. attorney’s office, frustration was building with Interior officials, who had yet to furnish the information prosecutors were requesting about the damage to the pool. All the prosecutors had were a set of “bare-bones” police reports from the Park Service officers who had arrested Hearn and three other defendants who were charged with misdemeanor offenses, according to a Justice Department filing.

When Hearn’s defense team toured the site on July 17 [sic], Pirro visited again. With the pool drained, prosecutors could see the damage more clearly, according to her office’s court filing.

And that’s Pirro’s excuse for charging Hearn, on July 2, even though the public (and, as WaPo links, the WaPo itself) had recorded abundant damage before Hearn came along. The full paragraph complaining that Interior didn’t hand over all its records — paraphrased in WaPo’s timeline — really lays it on thick. Prosecutors [made] dozens and dozens of attempts [were made] to get responsive information from the Park Police.

At the outset of the investigation into the damage at the Reflecting Pool, USAO-DC received barebones police reports from the United States Park Police (“USPP”) which is an agency within the DOL and under the jurisdiction of the DOI. The government requested “everything,” including all reports, all statements, witness statements, defendant’s admissions, citation notices, photographs, body worn camera footage, and surveillance footage, to include any and all inculpatory and exculpatory material from DOI relating to the instant case and the other cases where USPP had taken reports of vandalism related to the Reflecting Pool. Indeed, prosecutors specifically involved in the cases related to the Reflecting Pool made dozens and dozens of communications were made in an effort to identify and obtain the materials necessary to have all information to evaluate the case. After significant demands by USAO-DC, USPP provided the police reports and body-worn camera for roughly 10 individuals associated with the Reflecting Pool.

Only after the July 17 visit to the pool (which probably happened on July 16) did Interior turn over records that showed the entire case was shite, Pirro’s filing claims. And because of the volume, it took “days” to read them all (but still almost two weeks and multiple damning filings before they dropped the case against Hearn).

It was at that time that USAO-DC first became aware of the significant damage throughout the pool and accordingly requested all documents from DOI concerning the how the pool was lined and all records regarding the installation of the lining.

Based on this request, USAO-DC received 695 megabytes of additional documents from DOI, which took days to review.

But here’s what the timeline actually shows.

Even if you buy prosecutors’ improbable claims that they lived in DC metro and remained ignorant of the coverage of the pool’s problems before Hearn’s arrest, even if you excuse their failure to walk the 1.4 miles to check out the pool after it was drained on July 10, even if you believe the pool visit was on July 17 and not July 16, in spite of the court filing with a July 16, 6:27PM timestamp (or if you suspect there was a second visit with Pirro herself on July 17), prosecutors still knew their case was shit by July 17, the day before Speedy Trial Act would have required them to charge Hearn.

Sure, given the other slovenliness exhibited by prosecutors, it might be a reach to assume they would have done the due diligence that Hearn’s prosecutors forced them to do if they had not already charged him.

But even granting all the fluff built into prosecutors’ timeline, they still had time to test the evidence before charging Davey Hearn. They still had time to get the evidence from Interior before the STA would have expired.

Instead, Jeanine Pirro rushed out to get the indictment and do a press conference (Michael Spence, who signed the MTD, attended) on the last business day before July 4. After wailing about anarchy (and, later in the presser, refusing to answer questions about January 6), Jeanine Pirro made this presser indicting 3-time Olympian Davey Hearn on fabricated charges about America’s Declaration of Independence from tyranny, all the while boasting about expert evidence just over three hours after her expert had altered their testimony upon being recalled before the grand jury.

This is not the way of a civilized society. It is anarchy.

[snip]

The other part of that executive order was to make DC beautiful, and as part of that, in anticipation of the celebration of 250 years of American history, the President — as you heard from him — has been able to improve and to clean up 50 parks, more than 48 monuments that have been repaired, 22 fountains have been returned to service, and these monuments and fountains must be protected. And those who decide they want to do harm will be held accountable.

[snip]

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia remains committed to protecting our national resources, our monuments and our parks from vandals, and we are especially committed to doing so in advance of our 250th Anniversary.

This press conference was dialed up to serve Trump’s plans for the Fourth and the way we can prove that is that prosecutors confessed in their motion to dismiss that they didn’t yet have all the evidence they had been asking for when they indicted Hearn in time for a pre-holiday press conference.

They didn’t wait for the evidence.

They indicted Davey Hearn so Jeanine Pirro could have her pre-July 4 press conference.

Everything that went wrong with the reflecting pool, including the damage to the pool itself and the fabricated charges against Davey Hearn, went wrong for two reasons: Trump’s unprecedented corruption, and his rush to include the reflecting pool in his Narcissistic hijacking of the Nation’s celebration of independence.

And both Trump and Pirro should be held accountable for that.

U.S. Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

The Contrarian, Opinion: Words & Phrases, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 4, 2026. 'Trump's thriving economy’ is a disaster. Donald Trump keeps insisting that the economy under his watch is the “greatest” ever, declaring during a trip to Michigan last week that “Michigan is thriving,” and “America is winning like never before.” This is batty.

Last week, two doses of rotten economic news underscored how delusional Trump’s thinking is, and provided evidence that Americans should not expect sunny economic times anytime soon.

First, “Mortgage rates jumped to their highest level in a year, dealing another blow to a long-stalled housing market that shows little sign of recovering,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.66% this week, up from 6.58% the week prior, according to Freddie Mac. That marked the fourth consecutive week of rising rates, as intensifying conflict in the Middle East pushed up inflation expectations and a divided Federal Reserve sowed doubt about the path of interest rates.”

Trump’s “sock puppet,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ken Warsh, who Trump moved heaven and earth to install (after firing and attempting to prosecute greatly respected former Fed chairman Jerome Powell) to obtain lower interest rates, not only has failed to deliver, but has triggered the opposite effect. Warsh spooked the markets after his appearance at the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting, when he failed to convince investors that he is serious about fighting inflation.

Once more, Trump’s preference for sycophancy over merit or experience has come back to haunt him. “The verdict from one of the most closely read Fed watchers in the business was blunt. ‘Warsh didn’t convey the message clearly or explicitly, and the bond market puked on him,’” Wall Street Journal reporter Jon Hilsenrath wrote. “The evidence sat right there on the screen: the 30-year Treasury yield jumped as much as 14 basis points to nearly 5.23%, its highest level since 2007. A 19-year high, delivered in the hours after the chairman stepped down from the podium.”Subscribed

Meanwhile, economic growth has slowed under Trump. “Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through June period, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation,” CNBC reported. “Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a growth rate of 1.8%, following the 2.1% increase in the first quarter.” Separately, “the personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s primary forecasting gauge, fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.7%.”

Trump’s pathological narcissism — specifically, his insistence on surrounding himself with mediocre flunkies who refuse to challenge his delusional thinking, paired with his inability to admit error or accept any facts that reflect poorly on him — prevents him from taking any measures to change course. He will never acknowledge that his poor economic policies (exacerbated by his inflation-fueling war) have produced results far worse than his Democratic predecessors. Instead, he doubles down on the very things that create economic pain (tariffs, extending the war); insults voters by insisting their affordability crisis is fictional; and laughably blames former president Joe Biden, who has not been in office for more than 18 months and produced, on average, over 300,000 jobs per month.

No wonder Trump’s approval ratings have fallen off a cliff, hitting new lows in multiple surveys. In poll after poll, voters say Trump is not concerned about the right things. And who can blame them for thinking that Trump is not listening to their concerns, when he spends so much time spinning conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, obsessing over prosecuting enemies, raising prices by implementing new tariffs, making healthcare more expensive, and fixating on an unwinnable forever war that raises fuel prices and accomplishes nothing for the American people?

Republicans, who lack the nerve to challenge Trump’s self-destructive policies, will bear the burden in November of voters’ anger over an economic agenda that has been rubber-stamped. Rather than provide relief to millions who have lost healthcare coverage, or restore SNAP benefits to 4 million Americans (including 1 million children), their toadyism to Trump and the billionaire donor class has prompted them to throw tens of billions at rogue, murderous ICE storm troopers and an unprecedented $1.15 trillion on the Pentagon (which the Senate has blocked for now). As Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy put it, “This budget tells you everything you need to know about what the Republican Party really stands for: unlimited taxpayer dollars for war and handouts to billionaires, and not a penny left over to help the American families who can’t afford to buy groceries or fill up their gas tank.”

Trump’s unbridled corruption only heightens the accurate perception that Trump views the presidency as his personal money-making operation, the results for ordinary Americans be damned. In refusing to lift a finger to stop the orgy of self-enrichment, Republicans have aggravated the populist anger bubbling over nationwide.

Recall that the same interplay between economic malpractice and corruption spelled the end of Trump’s pal, former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán earlier this year. As in Hungary, Americans are feeling both poor economic performance and revulsion over self-dealing. Voters understand that Trump is interested in maximizing his wealth (which he has boosted by more than $2B since returning to office), not improving family finances for the American people. By a stunning 49-19 percent margin (the outsized undecided tally likely reflects Republicans too browbeaten to admit their guy is a crook), Americans label Trump “corrupt.” Trump and his right-wing media enablers can no longer conceal the glaring contrast between ordinary Americans’ economic hardship and the unprecedented self-enrichment Trump and his oligarch pals are reaping.

In sum, Trump’s personal economy may be “thriving,” thanks to $2B in ill-gotten gains since returning to office, but Americans are not. Republicans have every reason to fear they will pay a political price for this rotten economic record, unmitigated corruption, misguided priorities, and gross incompetence. And they should. In ceding their constitutional obligations and becoming yes-men for a fetid, corrupt, and thoroughly incompetent president, they have proven themselves unworthy of voters’ trust. Voters’ only recourse will be to throw them out of office en masse in November.

#Me Too, Domestic Assault Abuses

Lincoln Square Media, Opinion: There Is No Bottom: Max Miller, Jim Jordan, and a Party That Chose Power Over a Child, Kristoffer Ealy, Aug. 4, 2026. There is a pattern here for MAGA, and it isn’t subtle: the accusation is never disqualifying.

The Republican Party has never found an allegation it couldn’t rationalize its way past, so long as the man accused of it could still deliver votes. They heard the Access Hollywood tape and put Donald Trump in the White House anyway. Roy Moore, accused by multiple women of pursuing them as teenagers, came within a percentage point of winning a Senate seat in Alabama, of all places, before Doug Jones narrowly stopped him. Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh both sit on the Supreme Court today, lifetime appointments, having cleared confirmation hearings over sworn testimony the party decided it would rather not fully hear.

There is a pattern here, and it isn’t subtle: the accusation is never disqualifying. For a lot of these MAGA men, it is practically a badge of honor, proof that the deep state, the media, feminists, prosecutors, former girlfriends, current wives, teenage girls, or whoever else drew the short straw that week must be terrified of how effective they are. The allegation becomes campaign merchandise. The scandal becomes persecution. The victim becomes a Democratic operative with suspiciously good timing. It is never a moral emergency; it is an inconvenience to be managed, a news cycle to be outlasted, and a talking point to be handed to the guy with the microphone and the practiced shrug. This week, that guy was Jim Jordan, and the man he was shrugging for was Max Miller.

According to court filings, police records, and reporting from Rolling Stone, Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno — the daughter of sitting Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno — has accused him of scalding her chest and stomach with hot water from a skillet, holding a gun to her head, and shoving her into a wall hard enough to knock her to the floor. She has also alleged that their toddler daughter suffered a fractured collarbone and that a child-protection specialist observed bruising resembling a handprint. The county investigation into the injury did not produce a formal finding of abuse, and Miller has denied the allegations as false and politically motivated, because apparently even a toddler’s broken collarbone can be fed into the MAGA persecution machine.

But the child is not a footnote in this story or another exhibit for lawyers to slide across a table during a custody fight. She is the story. According to the same reporting, the little girl told her mother that “Daddy’s house is scary” and, more plainly, “Daddy kill you.” A two-year-old does not invent that sentence structure. She repeats what she has absorbed.

So when Jim Jordan sat down across from CNN’s Kasie Hunt this week and was asked directly whether Max Miller should resign, here was the full weight of his moral courage: “Look, this is a family matter. I know Max is a good man. I was up campaigning for him. I hope he wins re-election. He’s done a good job as a member of Congress, and we should all pray for his family.”

Read that answer again and notice who receives Jordan’s concern. Max is a “good man.” Max deserves reelection. Max has done a good job. Emily Moreno does not even get a name. Neither does the two-year-old girl who allegedly said that “Daddy’s house is scary” and “Daddy kill you.” Jordan folds both of them into the soft, politically convenient abstraction of “his family,” as though this were an awkward Thanksgiving argument and not a set of allegations involving a gun, scalding water, a fractured collarbone, and a terrified child.

Jordan is not praying for a two-year-old who told her mother that her father was going to kill her. He is praying for the containment of a political problem.

I’ll pray for the family, too. I’ll pray they get away from this lunatic as quickly as possible.

What made Jordan’s performance genuinely something to watch, and not just the usual Republican non-answer, is what happened next. Hunt reminded him that he’d spent the previous month on Newsmax explaining that Democrats defending Graham Platner were only “about maintaining power” and would “take any crazy position” to keep it. Asked why that standard didn’t apply to his own colleague — a man he’d just finished bragging about campaigning for — Jordan stumbled, first claiming he hadn’t “heard all this,” then pivoting to relitigate Platner’s old scandals as if that answered the question. It didn’t. It was a man caught between two versions of himself, neither of which he was willing to defend out loud.

This, incidentally, is not the first time Jim Jordan has been the last man standing between a credible abuse allegation and the people who could have stopped it. Jordan spent eight years as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State, where team doctor Richard Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male student-athletes, dozens of them wrestlers Jordan coached personally. Multiple former wrestlers have said for years, on the record and again in a 2025 HBO documentary, that it was common knowledge in the locker room, and that some of them told Jordan directly. Jordan’s answer, every single time for going on a decade now, has been a version of the same three words: never heard it. It is genuinely something to behold, watching a man build an entire political identity out of never once having heard the thing everyone around him says he heard.

Jordan is not the only Republican auditioning for the role of Human Sandbag. House Speaker Mike Johnson was recently asked point-blank why his conference was still sheltering both Miller and Florida Rep. Cory Mills, who is facing domestic violence and fraud allegations of his own, when Democrats had already cut Platner loose. “The key word there is ‘allegation,’” Johnson replied, with the smug little precision of a man who thinks finding the noun in a sentence counts as moral leadership. Apparently, once you identify something as an allegation, your work is done. No need to weigh the evidence, protect anyone, or develop a principle. Just circle the vocabulary word, collect your House speakership, and go home.

Johnson treats “allegation” like a magic spell Republicans can say three times to make women, police reports, court filings, and frightened children disappear. It is the same trick he uses whenever reality becomes politically inconvenient: lower his voice, arrange his face into that concerned substitute-pastor expression, and explain that the real problem is everyone asking him about the problem. Mike Johnson has the moral clarity of a hotel Bible in a room where something terrible just happened: technically present, completely unopened, and of no practical use to anybody.

Ohio Senator Jon Husted, asked the same question by HuffPost, said nothing at all. He stood in an elevator and let the doors close on the reporter mid-question. In its own way, that was the most honest answer any of them gave. Husted did not pretend to have a principle. He simply pressed the button marked Get Me the Hell Away from This and let modern engineering provide the accountability.

But the silence that actually stopped me, for months, was Bernie Moreno’s. This is not some distant Republican colleague being asked to weigh in on a member of his caucus. This is the girl’s grandfather. This is HIS OWN FUCKING DAUGHTER alleging a gun was held to her head and his granddaughter suffered a fractured collarbone. And for months, the entirety of what Senator Moreno offered publicly was that he loved his daughter and that her safety and his granddaughter’s safety were his top priority. That was the kind of statement a senator releases when he wants credit for possessing basic human emotions without risking anything politically. For months, “I love my daughter” counted as courage, provided he said it slowly enough and left out the name of the man she says terrorized her.

No condemnation. No call for Miller to step aside from the campaign. No acknowledgment that a man in his own family, a man he sees at Republican Conference dinners while everyone pretends the room does not smell like moral sewage, allegedly did this. For months, a sitting United States senator had more leverage over Max Miller’s political future than almost anyone alive, and he chose to spend none of it.

That finally changed this weekend, and credit where it’s due: when Bernie Moreno actually spoke, he said something. “As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help,” Moreno wrote. “He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter. If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives.” That is not a mealy-mouthed non-statement. That is a father calling the man his granddaughter is afraid of a danger, in public, by name. It needed to be said, and he finally said it.

But notice what actually moved him to say it. Not the gun. Not the scalding water. Not the fractured collarbone. Not two years of his own daughter and granddaughter living through this. What finally produced a statement was Max Miller posting his own video hours earlier, denying everything, dumping a cache of documents onto the internet, and suggesting his ex-wife was the one with the mental health problem — all of it landing conveniently days before the Aug. 5 deadline for Ohio Republicans to pull him off the ballot. This piece was one Sunday statement away from being published with Bernie Moreno having said nothing at all, because that is what two years of this looked like right up until the moment it could no longer be avoided. He didn’t find his spine. He found his deadline.

And Max Miller, given the one moment his father-in-law finally stood up for his own kid, responded exactly like the pathetic, entitled piece of shit he has spent this entire saga proving himself to be. “You know this isn’t true,” Miller wrote back, “and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus. This is all political.” Sit with the audacity of that for a second. The man accused of holding a gun to his ex-wife’s head and breaking his toddler’s collarbone looked at the one family member who finally said this has to stop and accused him of doing it for the cameras. That isn’t a defense. It’s a confession dressed up as an accusation, from a man who has learned exactly one move from the party that raised him: when you’re caught, don’t reflect, don’t apologize, just accuse whoever is holding you accountable of doing it for political reasons. It’s the same move Jim Jordan makes. It’s the same move Mike Johnson makes. Max Miller didn’t just get investigated by this party’s culture of impunity. He graduated from it.

Donald Trump, for his part, still couldn’t quite bring himself to catch up to his own party’s senator. Asked aboard Air Force One whether Miller should resign, Trump said he’d “look at it.” “I mean, so far,” he added, “it’s accusations.” A father-in-law who watched this up close for two years just called the man a danger to his own family. The President of the United States, informed of that, promised to look into it. That is the entire distance between a Republican who finally found a conscience and a Republican who has never once needed one.

And the cult leader already told him, years in advance, exactly what he thinks. Donald Trump has called Miller “a great guy” and personally championed his run for Congress, and he did it knowing full well what his own former press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, says happened to her. Grisham has written that she told both Donald and Melania Trump directly that a fellow White House staffer had become physically abusive with her — a description that, as multiple outlets have reported, fits Miller precisely. According to her account, Trump later tried to soften the breakup by suggesting Miller had merely been “really upset,” because in Trump’s moral universe, abuse is apparently just a bad mood with better tailoring. Grisham told him flatly: “That’s bullshit.” She was right. “Really upset” is what you call a man who throws his golf club. It is not a defense for a man accused of terrorizing women.

Trump has known what kind of man Max Miller allegedly is since before most of Ohio had ever heard his name. He endorsed him anyway.

U.S. Media, Education

New York Times, Questions Mount Over a Star Scholar’s Life and Career, Jennifer Schuessler and Alexandra Alter, Updated Aug. 4, 2026. A knife-wielding masked man. A pig’s head outside his parents’ door. Running 30 marathons in 35 days. The Cambridge professor Jason Arday, accused of plagiarism, says he’s been through it all. Not everyone believes him.

For Jason Arday, it has been a breathtaking climb to the top of the ivory tower.

Raised in South London by Ghanaian immigrant parents, Arday says he was diagnosed with autism at age 3, was nonverbal until he was nearly 12 and couldn’t read or write until he was 18. He went on to get his Ph.D. in education, and claims to have had to relearn the contents of his dissertation weeks before defending it after losing his memory following the removal of a benign brain tumor.

In 2023, when he was 37, Arday became the youngest Black professor at the University of Cambridge in its history. That appointment, trumpeted by Cambridge, inspired a spate of glowing media coverage on both sides of the Atlantic highlighting his dramatic life story, including his claims to have once run 30 marathons in 35 days to raise millions of British pounds for charity.

Arday has also told the press that his academic successes brought darker attention, including the delivery of a severed pig’s head to his parents’ home and repeated visits to his office by a masked intruder, once while wielding a knife.

Next week, Simon & Schuster will publish Arday’s memoir, “Great and Unfortunate Things,” under its 37 Ink imprint. In the lead-up to the book’s publication, Arday has found his academic integrity and claims about his biography increasingly under fire.

Concerns about some of Arday’s work had circulated quietly in scholarly circles since the appointment at Cambridge catapulted him to academic celebrity. But they exploded into public view late last month, after a scholar known for racist views about intelligence published a lengthy article in his newsletter questioning parts of Arday’s remarkable personal story and leveling extensive charges of plagiarism against him.

The accusations quickly drew widespread media coverage in Britain, which initially broke down along familiar culture-war lines. To the right-wing media, Arday was a “diversity poster boy.” To supporters, including prominent academics and politicians who signed a petition of support that quickly drew thousands of signatures, he was the victim of a racist smear campaign.

But over the weekend, as questions about his work and personal story continued to mount, a different debate emerged. Is Arday a victim of a campaign to discredit Black scholars? A fabulist whose tales of extreme adversity the academic establishment deemed too good to check? Or both?

So far, Arday’s publisher and university have stuck by him, even as the media has surfaced other questionable assertions — like an apparent claim in a 2022 interview that he had been part of the British documentary series that included the film “Seven Up!,” which began before he was born.

Aug. 3

Top Headlines

New York Times, Blanche Gives G.O.P. Senators Written Assurances on Trump’s I.R.S. Deal, Michael Gold, Andrew Duehren and Hari Raj, Aug. 3, 2026. Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general has been held up over concerns about a planned $1.8 billion fund for Trump allies and the president’s immunity from tax scrutiny.

Selling Out Taxpayers, Justice

A Trump Family Portrait -- Taxes on their billions in bribes and grifting to immunized this week by Senate Republicans voting for Trump-enabling Attorney General Nominee Todd Blanche?

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Senate Republicans Rush to Immunize Money Launder-in-Chief’s Tax Crimes, Emptywheel(Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 3, 2026. Overnight, Todd Blanche tweeted out documentation showing what he promised John Cornyn (and with him, Thom Tillis) to get their endorsement to be the top law enforcement officer in the U.S.
The Contrarian, Opinion: Trump Searching for a Way Out to Confirm Blanche, Jennifer Rubin, right,Aug. 3, 2026. Cornyn and Tillis disgrace themselves. Donald Trump had stubbornly refused to let weak-kneed Republican senators figure out a workaround to confirm acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) were locked in a bizarre negotiation last week to tweak Trump’s slush fund — partially for insurrectionists — and his tax immunity scam as the price for confirming Blanche. Fixing blatantly illegal and unethical deals was supposed to grease the skids to confirm him, despite Blanche’s role as a chief architect of the Jeffrey Epstein file cover-up scheme, plus repeated instances of unethical conduct that have sullied the department’s reputation. In what was surely one of the most demeaning “negotiations” ever undertaken by a U.S. senator, Cornyn struggled to extract a DOJ promise to limit Trump’s tax scam as the price for confirming Blanche.

News Roundups

President Trump and his nominee to become U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney defending him from criminal and civil verdicts and now the key operative in devising payoffs and immunities for the Trump family.

Protectors of the Public: U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell (from left), officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, and Capitol Police Pfc. Harry Dunn are sworn in Tuesday before testifying before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack (Pool photo by Oliver Contreras via Getty Images).

The Parnas Perspective, Monday Morning News and Commentary: Tump DOJ Executes 'Sham' Deal to Immunize President and his Sons and get Todd Blanche Confirmed, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Share This Everywhere. I have a really important update this morning, and I need your help spreading it, because the media is misreporting what happened while Americans were asleep. Todd Blanche announced a “deal” with Republican senators to “kill the weaponization fund.” But the truth is far more sinister. The deal isn’t actually a valid agreement. It protects Trump and his sons from IRS audits. It’s a classic bait and switch on the American people and on the senators who think they got a win, and I break it all down.
The Parnas Perspective, ESunday Evening News and Commentary: Important Sunday Update: Bank Shuts Trump Accounts Over Anti-Money Laundering Issues as America Stands Alone on World Stage, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 2, 2026. We now have confirmation: Donald Trump is the first president in history to have had hundreds of bank accounts shut down by a financial institution over concerns flagged under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Meanwhile, large corporations are pocketing massive tariff refunds. Consumers will not see a dime. And Republican Rep. Max Miller, facing horrific allegations of abusing his wife, doubled down today, actually questioning why Emily would have offered to cook him dinner just days after an alleged assault. Yes, seriously. On top of it all, RFK Jr. refused to say whether the United States is even prepared for the next pandemic.

Gutting Rights, Income For Most Americans

The Hartmann Report, Commentary, Killing Unions: The Greatest Political Heist in American History, Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 3, 2026. They didn't rob a bank. They robbed entire generations by dismantling the one institution powerful enough to stand up to corporate America…Yesterday I published Chapter 9 from my new book "Who Killed the American Dream?" detailing how nearly a half-century of Reaganomics have left the middle class in this country in tatters. All of these changes — literally every single one — has come about because Republicans working in service to America’s morbidly rich oligarchs were successful in using treason to seize political power in 1980, and then used that power to gut the Democratic Party’s single largest source of funding.

More On Iran War

New York Times, For Iran, Trump’s Reversal on Escalation Shows Who Has the Upper Hand, Erika Solomon, Aug. 3, 2026. By expanding the arena of fighting in the region, experts say, Tehran sent a warning about the dangers of a widening war.
Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: How China Won the Iran War, Paul Krugman, right,Aug. 3, 2026. Trump has shattered American power, and Beijing is picking up the pieces. Make America Great Again? Hah. Donald Trump has weakened us with astonishing speed. Under his “leadership” America’s influence, reputation and credibility have peeled away like the liner in the Reflecting Pool.
New York Times, Opinion: The War That Could Swallow the World, David French, right, Aug. 3, 2026 (print ed.). The only thing worse than President Trump starting an unconstitutional war is President Trump losing control of that war. On Wednesday, NBC News reported that Trump “erupted” at members of his national security team over the Iran War. According to the report, his advisers can’t agree on a path forward. But how could they? Every path to victory risks dangerous escalation, while continuing the present course risks strategic defeat.

More On U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 1, 2026 [Misleading Grand Juries To Target Opponents], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Friday’s dismissal of the Department of Justice case against David Hearn for vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool came days after Hearn’s lawyers asked for transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment.
New York Times, News Analysis: Trump’s Meddling in Justice Dept. Causes Problems of His Own Making, Alan Feuer, Aug. 3, 2026. In the past week alone, President Trump’s interference has imperiled one criminal case, set the stage for sanctions in a second and hindered the confirmation chances of his pick for attorney general.

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

A selection from images posted by President Trump on Aug. 1 as he devoted much of his workday to grandiose self-promotion and macho war-making fantasies.

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump is a very sick man, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 2, 2026. At 9:23 this morning (Saturday, Aug. 1), the White House abruptly dismissed the press traveling with the president of the United States while he was away for the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. With the cameras now gone, just three hours later at 12:32 p.m., Donald Trump would share the first of 42 posts on Truth Social in a span of less than 3 hours and 15 minutes. Among the flood of posts, he shared an AI-generated image of himself kissing Jesus on a golden crucifix. He shared a “TRUMP 2028” campaign poster, a fake image of himself walking beside a handcuffed alien on a military base, and a renewed threat to invade Greenland. He didn’t stop there. He posted a painting of himself as the commanding general, leading Revolutionary War soldiers into battle with his mouth open in a battle cry, while flames consumed the battlefield behind him, and a battered American flag flew overhead. This is how he sees himself. Not as a president spending the weekend at his golf course, but as a warrior king leading his nation into battle, one he would have never had the courage to actually fight in. That fantasy is not harmless, because right now he is leading us deeper into a real war where real people have died.

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Author of Democrats’ 2024 Autopsy Says Party Left Out Key Chapter, Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 3, 2026. A dispute over the chapter between the author and the Democratic National Committee has added to the party’s turmoil as it tries to look forward, not backward.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: GOP Sheep to the Midterm Slaughter, Bill Kristol, Andrew Egger and Joshua Tait, Aug. 3, 2026. How much of an eyesore will Donald Trump’s coveted Triumphal Arch be?
New York Times, Michigan’s Tense Democratic Senate Race Poses a Big Test for a Divided Party, Reid J. Epstein and Sam Easter, Aug. 3, 2026. Progressives hope momentum by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed will give them a signature victory. Centrists warn that picking him will backfire in November. Acrimony is everywhere.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Of Lemons and Lemonade, William Kristol, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Late last night, the American people were handed a lemon: A capitulation by Republican senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina that makes confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general likely. On the other hand: There is lemonade to be made here. The fact that the entire Senate Republican conference will have to cast a high-visibility vote to confirm Todd Blanche can help in turning the Senate Democratic.
New York Times, Kay Granger, Pathbreaking Texas Congresswoman, Dies at 83, Katharine Q. Seelye, Aug. 3, 2026. She was the first Republican woman from the state to be elected to Congress. It caused a stir in 2024 when she was discovered to be residing in a senior living facility while still in office.
New York Times, Max Miller,, Accused of Abuse, Is Not Stepping Aside. Here’s What We Know, Annie Karni, Aug. 3, 2026. The Ohio Republican who is seeking a third term defiantly denied domestic abuse allegations ahead of a deadline to replace him on the ballot.
New York Times, What Kind of Democrat Does It Take to Win in Conservative Kansas? Mitch Smith, Aug. 3, 2026. In a conservative state with a history of electing Democratic governors, the debate over which brand of Democrat can win sounds different.
Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: JD’s Roman Holiday, Joshua Tait, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Those of us who spend a lot of time observing right-wingers have been predicting an outbreak of internecine conflict. Certain sectors of the right are this closeto dusting off images of mitre-headed bishop crocodiles ambling ashore to turn America into a Catholic theocracy. This isn’t a reaction to the first American pope; it’s a fight about the ideological makeup of right-wing elites and, as is often the case, Vice President JD Vance’s place among them. Vance, right, has a long-running game of footsie with post-liberalism and the theocratic Catholicism of “integralist” intellectuals like Adrian Vermeule, who may not have a large electoral coalition but have openly strategized about installing conservative Catholic elites in the government and administrative state. The aim is something like a government of, by, and for Catholic converts, and Vance is their blue-eyed boy.
Lincoln Square Media, Opinion: Trump’s New Red Scare Isn’t About 2026. It’s About 2028, Susan J. Demas, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Now that enough voters are clearly fine with the DSA that “socialist” doesn’t pack the punch that it used to, Trump has to reach for a scarier word.

U.S. Wildfires, Environment

New York Times, Spokane Wildfires Destroy Hundreds of Buildings as Thousands Evacuate, Christina Morales, Updated Aug. 3, 2026. Firefighters were hopeful that improving weather conditions in Washington state could help efforts to contain the blaze, which officials described as the largest natural disaster in the history of Spokane.

U.S. Media, Education, Sports, Religion

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: UPDATE: After the Mamdani 9/11 smear, a cover-up, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Media outlets pushed a false narrative about the number of family members of 9/11 victims who signed a petition targeting Mamdani — and then tried to cover their tracks. As Popular Information first reported last week, a New York Post headline falsely declared on its July 26 cover: “Thousands of 9/11 families demand Mamdani be banned from 25th-Anniversary.” Reporter Rich Calder reported in the New York Post print edition, which has a circulation of about 120,000, that the petition “has collected 3,515 signatures in a little over a week, most from victims’ family members.” This was false, according to the version of the story that was posted online. That article claimed that the petition “has collected over 1,100 signatures in a little over a week, including from at least 300 victims’ families.”

Global Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, U.S. and Japan Coordinated to Help Stabilize the Yen, Joe Rennison and Kiuko Notoya, Updated Aug. 3, 2026. U.S. and Japanese officials confirmed that the Treasury Department had moved last week to prop up the currency, which had been trading near four-decade lows.

Global News

The GEO Network via YouTube, Moscow's Kaliningrad Land Bridge Is Gone: Putin CORNERED as NATO Seals the Belarus Border, Staff Report, Aug. 3, 2026. The New Iron Curtain has officially fallen. By sealing the last remaining border crossings with Belarus, Latvia and NATO forces have completely severed Moscow's critical land bridge to Kaliningrad. What started as a desperate hybrid warfare campaign using weaponized migrants has now backfired, leaving Putin's most strategic exclave entirely cornered.

Top Stories

New York Times, Blanche Gives G.O.P. Senators Written Assurances on Trump’s I.R.S. Deal, Michael Gold, Andrew Duehren and Hari Raj, Aug. 3, 2026. Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general has been held up over concerns about a planned $1.8 billion fund for Trump allies and the president’s immunity from tax scrutiny.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, confirmed in writing on Sunday night that the Justice Department would abandon elements of the deal it struck with President Trump to resolve his lawsuit against the I.R.S., conceding to demands from Republican senators who had threatened to block his nomination as attorney general.

The Republican holdouts, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, had vowed that they would not confirm Mr. Blanche for the role unless he provided written assurances that the Justice Department had formally killed a planned $1.8 billion fund to pay those who claim they were unfairly persecuted by the government.

The senators also insisted that Mr. Blanche narrow the scope of the sweeping immunity from I.R.S. scrutiny that was granted to Mr. Trump, his family and their businesses under the same agreement.

Mr. Blanche posted two documents on social media on Sunday night: a signed memo in which he said that the Justice Department was formally rescinding an order that created the so-called “anti-weaponization fund” and an unsigned statement in which the agency clarified the terms of the I.R.S. protections.

Mr. Blanche’s announcement comes just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote to advance his nomination on Tuesday, and could potentially clear his path to be confirmed.

“My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions,” Mr. Blanche wrote. “We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Cornyn, Natalie Yezbick, said in a statement that Mr. Cornyn had reached an agreement with the Justice Department that included a “formal order permanently terminating the fund” and a “binding written document” limiting the scope of the audit settlement. Representatives for Mr. Tillis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Blanche posted the documents after days of negotiations over his confirmation. Though the senators had been negotiating with Mr. Blanche in a bid to end the impasse, Mr. Trump in recent days had complicated their efforts by pushing publicly for the restoration of the fund.

“Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday. He added that he would keep Mr. Blanche, his former defense lawyer, as acting attorney general if the Senate failed to confirm him.Mr. Trump’s comments appeared to validate the senators’ fears. In a social media post, Mr. Tillis wrote that Mr. Trump “clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against.”

Though Mr. Blanche promised lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that the fund was dead, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Tillis had urged him to take that position in writing.

In his social media post, Mr. Blanche included a copy of a memo establishing that the $1.8 billion fund “is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.”

“Although the Acting Attorney General has repeatedly advised Congress through testimony, including under oath, as well as in written responses, that the Fund is not moving forward, and the Department has repeatedly represented to district courts that the Fund is not moving forward, today’s order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026 order,” read a statement from the attorney’s general office also posted by Mr. Blanche on Sunday.

Mr. Blanche posted a second statement saying that only Mr. Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization would be immune from audits, excluding a broader pool of Trump family members and their associates who appeared to be eligible for protection under the original Justice Department deal. Mr. Blanche also stipulated that their future tax returns could still be audited — another one of Mr. Cornyn’s demands.

Still, even in its new form, Mr. Blanche’s order for the I.R.S. to abandon any audits of Mr. Trump’s previous tax returns is an unprecedented and potentially illegal benefit to a sitting president, worth potentially tens of millions of dollars in lower taxes and avoided penalties.

The audit immunity and the fund — which the Trump administration said was established to compensate those it says were victims of “weaponization” under Democratic administrations — have faced criticism since their inception.

Democrats have slammed both provisions as corrupt handouts to the president and his allies, and many Republican senators privately expressed outrage that the fund could be used to reimburse people who were charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.

Mr. Trump sued the I.R.S. in January, initially demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns during his first term. The Justice Department, which represents the I.R.S. in federal court, never contested Mr. Trump’s suit, instead agreeing to settle, even though lawyers at the I.R.S. thought the government had a clear defense against the president’s claims.

Selling Out Justice, Taxpayers

A Trump Family Portrait -- Taxes on their billions in bribes and grifting to immunized this week by Senate Republicans voting for Trump-enabling Attorney General Nominee Todd Blanche?

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Senate Republicans Rush to Immunize Money Launder-in-Chief’s Tax Crimes, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 3, 2026. Overnight, Todd Blanche tweeted out documentation showing what he promised John Cornyn (and with him, Thom Tillis) to get their endorsement to be the top law enforcement officer in the U.S.

One document purports to rescind the Terrorist Slush Fund, attempting to moot the lawsuits in Floyd v. DOJ (the EDVA one moving towards discovery), but remaining silent about the Trump v. IRS case Trump appealed on Friday.

Another unsigned document describes that DOJ interprets the tax immunity provision to apply to Trump, his corporate person, and his spawn retroactively, but no one else.

The documents have little legal weight (and I would be surprised if Blanche submitted the declaration in Floyd that Judge Leonie Brinkema has demanded).

But as David Kurtz presciently described, it meets the terms of John Cornyn’s demands, and Cornyn’s spox has signaled this is all it took for the Senator to cave.

Cornyn seems to be aiming to keep the immunity deal intact but to limit it to the retroactive immunity everyone already understood to be part of the deal, not prospective immunity, which an expansive interpretation of the loose language of the agreement might have allowed. Cornyn also apparently wants to make sure no one else gets the benefit of the immunity deal other than the parties to the lawsuit — Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Org.

At this point, you should be saying WTF?

[snip]

If the reporting on Cornyn’s demands is correct, then Trump, Don Jr., Eric, and their company still get the $100 million gift from the President’s own administration to himself. And locking that in has the political (though not legal) effect of Senate Republicans publicly ratifying the corrupt bargain by voting to confirm Blanche.

In another worrying sign that Cornyn isn’t really asking for much, both sides seem perplexed that things haven’t gotten worked out yet and confident that they can iron out whatever differences remain over the precise language.

“It’s not a big ask,” Cornyn said yesterday, in what may be the understatement of the week.

Many outlets, such as the NYT, are under-reporting the value of this benefit to Trump.

In addition to the hundreds of millions disclosed in the tax returns that Charles Littlejohn leaked to the NYT, Trump spent the transition and first term of his Administration — the period covered by this tax amnesty — accepting billions of dollars in bribes.

Worse still, this immunity comes in the wake of Friday’s court filing from Capital One, disclosing that they cut Trump and his corporate persons off from banking in 2021 because of signs they were laundering money.

To the contrary, those documents and Plaintiffs’ own allegations make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs’ accounts for anti-money laundering (“AML”) reasons. The closures were the result of months of analysis and a careful review by Capital One’s AML team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance. Capital One never publicized the termination decision nor its confidential internal process giving rise to the closure, and it permitted Plaintiffs several months (and granted several extensions) to find new banking services, which they did.

In short, just days after learning that their liege has recently been laundering money, the Senate GOP is rushing to sanction DOJ’s illegal decision to pardon Trump for those crimes.

The Contrarian, Opinion: Trump Searching for a Way Out to Confirm Blanche, Jennifer Rubin, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Cornyn and Tillis disgrace themselves. Donald Trump had stubbornly refused to let weak-kneed Republican senators figure out a workaround to confirm acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) were locked in a bizarre negotiation last week to tweak Trump’s slush fund — partially for insurrectionists — and his tax immunity scam as the price for confirming Blanche. Fixing blatantly illegal and unethical deals was supposed to grease the skids to confirm him, despite Blanche’s role as a chief architect of the Jeffrey Epstein file cover-up scheme, plus repeated instances of unethical conduct that have sullied the department’s reputation.

In what was surely one of the most demeaning “negotiations” ever undertaken by a U.S. senator, Cornyn struggled to extract a DOJ promise to limit Trump’s tax scam as the price for confirming Blanche. Trump resisted, threatening to yank the nomination and leave him in the acting role. (It is unfathomable why that, which would have spared the Senate from enabling another grossly unfit nominee, would have been so objectionable.) No matter how much Cornyn struggled to let Trump have his lackey as the permanent AG, Trump kept pulling the rug out from under him, leaving Cornyn whining, “They know what they need to do, but they simply refuse to do it.”

On Friday, Trump vented his anger at the dissenting senators and, worse, appealed a federal court judge’s ruling dismissing a scam lawsuit designed to bless his slush fund and tax-immunity scheme for Trump and his family. It did not take long for Tillis to figure out that Trump had effectively conceded that the “so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it.” As the New York Times reported, the appeal “would also have a more practical effect: rolling back the judge’s efforts to seek disciplinary actions against Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers and Mr. Blanche and other department officials.”

By Saturday, Trump seemed determined to prove Cornyn and Tillis’s concerns correct, reviving his earlier threat to leave Blanche as acting AG so he could keep his slush fund and immunity. “Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against,” Tillis responded on social media. By Sunday evening, however, it appeared Blanche had struck a deal to dump the slush fund and curtail the immunity scheme.

All but MAGA sycophants have figured out the game here. Conservative attorney Andy McCarthy aptly observed:

The irony is that Todd Blanche can’t be confirmed for the very reason that he shouldn’t be confirmed: He is willfully running interference for something tawdry that President Trump is insistent on doing under the guise of Justice Department authority, namely, establishing the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund. An attorney general fit for the job would resign rather than be a part of that.

Trump’s antics had been a finger in the eye to Cornyn and Tillis, to the Republicans in the Senate stuck defending the objectionable nominee, and most of all to the Epstein survivors. Cornyn and much of the legacy media seem to think he is exercising some sort of admirable judgment by leading the charge to hold out against a slush fund and immunity deal (that could well be voided by a subsequent Congress and/or president or challenged in court). In a jaw-dropping expression of intellectual dishonesty and moral vacuity, Cornyn maintained his negotiations were “about making sure that we maintain the integrity of our justice system.” Really? Confirming the man prepared to violate the Epstein Files Transparency Act and who signed off on the deals Cornyn cannot stomach would “maintain the integrity of our justice system”? It’s hard to imagine a more damning revelation of his lack of any moral compass.

Finding a “solution” to fix a corrupt bargain Blanche helped author obviously will not redeem Blanche’s intellectual or moral deficits, and, more to the point, would treat the Epstein survivors, once again, as collateral damage. Squabbling over the immunity deal is not some sort of principled stance, but rather a cynical ploy to elevate Blanche.

Let’s not forget the essential reason to reject Blanche: his role in tormenting Epstein survivors to serve his boss’s personal interests. In a letter to the two senators, a group of them previously declared, “Both of you have records of standing with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. A vote to confirm Todd Blanche would be a vote against those survivors.” As they aptly put it, confirmation would “reward someone who has refused to take responsibility for the harm they have caused, failed to provide meaningful answers and shown no credible commitment to pursuing the full truth.” It matters not one whit whether Trump also retains his corrupt tax immunity deal.Subscribed

In sum, finding an “out” to confirm Blanche (which now seems all but assured) would only slam the door shut on any accountability for Epstein enablers (including Trump’s minions) and the corrupt Trump DOJ that has bottled up evidence. In evaluating this entire despicable exercise, let’s dispense with the plaudits for Tillis and Cornyn, who have doggedly tried to facilitate a deal to ram through the most morally objectionable AG nominee in history.

And while we are taking stock, let’s not forget that nearly all other Republican senators have supported Blanche, demonstrating their own unfitness for office, contempt for the rule of law, and utter disregard for not only those who Epstein sex trafficked but for all such survivors — who will now think twice or three times before coming forward to implore authorities to investigate the predators who traumatized their lives.

If Blanche gets through, no one would have any doubt that the DOJ under his watch will be nothing more than Trump’s personal vendetta machine — a crumbling shell of its former self, and a disgraceful symbol of the Trump regime’s attack on democracy, the rule of law, and simple decency.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Monday Morning News and Commentary: Tump DOJ Executes 'Sham' Deal to Immunize President and his Sons and get Todd Blanche Confirmed, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Share This Everywhere.

I have a really important update this morning, and I need your help spreading it, because the media is misreporting what happened while Americans were asleep. Todd Blanche announced a “deal” with Republican senators to “kill the weaponization fund.” But the truth is far more sinister.

The deal isn’t actually a valid agreement. It protects Trump and his sons from IRS audits. It’s a classic bait and switch on the American people and on the senators who think they got a win, and I break it all down.

I don’t normally call out the media’s reporting, but this is a real blind spot, and it’s what happens when reporters aren’t lawyers. Look at this deal from a legal perspective and the alarm bells start going off, the same way they did for me. Here’s the news:

Blanche cuts a “sham” deal with Senators:

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche rescinded the DOJ’s controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” late Sunday in a bid to advance his stalled confirmation.

The fund, meant to potentially compensate Trump allies and Jan. 6 rioters, had been holding up his nomination on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blanche formalized in writing what he’d already testified to the committee: the fund won’t move forward, no directors were appointed, no money was transferred, and no claims were paid.

He said in a statement on X, “My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions. We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regards to the May IRS settlement. The Department always welcomes and appreciates productive engagement with all members of Congress.”

The fund traced back to a May settlement between Trump and the IRS after he sued over the leak of his tax returns, with a federal judge later dismissing his related $10 billion lawsuit, marking the first known instance of a sitting president reaching such a settlement with his own government. Two retiring Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, had demanded written assurances the fund was truly dead before they’d support Blanche. But, this agreement does not end taxpayer settlements to January 6th defendants. In fact, the Department of Justice has already paid out settlements to defendants, like Ashli Babbitt, and has other tools to do so. In addition, there is theoretically nothing prohibiting Blanche from executing another order after Cornyn and Tillis leave office rescinding today’s deal.

It’s also not fully clear that this amendment is valid. The terms of the original settlement agreement require signatures of all parties to execute a valid amendment. Donald Trump, his sons, and representatives of the Trump Organization have not signed today’s amendment.

Senator Cornyn’s spokesperson Natalie Yezbick confirmed the senator reached an agreement with the DOJ, stating in full: “Sen. Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice, which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti-weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the President, and the IRS.” Tillis had not yet commented but previously said he’d follow Cornyn’s lead.

Both Cornyn and Tillis are leaving the Senate largely because of Trump, with Cornyn having lost his primary after Trump endorsed challenger Ken Paxton and Tillis announcing retirement after Trump threatened him with a primary challenge. Cornyn said he wasn’t alone among Republicans in wanting the fund killed, with many in the conference worried it could hurt them politically ahead of the midterms and hand Democrats an edge to retake the Senate. Still, some legal experts caution the fund could theoretically be resurrected through a new order despite the written agreement. Blanche’s confirmation isn’t fully secured either, as other Republicans, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have raised separate concerns about his past role as Trump’s personal attorney and his statements on the Jan. 6 attack, meaning a handful of GOP defections could still derail his path to confirmation in the narrowly controlled chamber.

Iran War:

Trump officials have run out of options, and it shows: a senior US Central Command officer emailed a broad group of military analysts last week asking for “new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran,” an unusual crowdsourcing request that military officials called out of the ordinary. According to CNN, a second source confirmed CENTCOM is reevaluating its entire strategy and looking at “everything.” The email came just before Trump threatened new strikes on Iran, only to call them off over the weekend after Saudi Arabia’s crown prince personally called him urging de-escalation. Despite weeks of US airstrikes aimed at degrading Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and forcing Tehran back to the table, there’s still no deal in sight. CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Timothy Hawkins defended the outreach as consistent with the command’s “long history of thinking and working in innovative ways.”

Trump has been weighing intensifying strikes on Iran’s remaining nuclear sites, including Pickaxe Mountain, but sources say bombs alone likely can’t destroy facilities buried deep underground, meaning any real destruction would require ground troops, a risk Trump has so far refused to take. Eighteen US service members have already been killed in the fighting, and Trump’s own military leadership has acknowledged the limits of air power, with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine telling lawmakers last month, “Air power has its limits.” One option under consideration is a symbolic “fireworks”-style strike on the same or similar sites hit a year ago, aimed at giving Trump a face-saving exit without actually eliminating Iran’s nuclear program. Both the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency have separately assessed that the current bombing campaign is unlikely to shift Iran’s negotiating position. Even a CENTCOM plan for one to two weeks of heavy bombardment targeting Iran’s missile capabilities wouldn’t resolve the central issue driving the war: Iranian claims over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran is denying Trump’s claim that new US-Iran talks would begin Monday, after he called off what he described as the “biggest attack since World War II” over the weekend in hopes of striking a deal on the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said “we currently do not have negotiations with America,” clarifying Iran is instead in talks with Oman over a temporary safe shipping route through the strait. Trump insisted Iran faces no deadline to reach an agreement, telling reporters “we’re ready to go anytime we want” but that he’d “rather make a deal” since he’s “not looking to kill people,” continuing a months-long pattern of threatening major strikes only to pull back at the last minute. The reversal followed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s phone call urging de-escalation, as well as a State Department warning for Americans in the Middle East to consider leaving amid the six-month-old conflict that has expanded into the Red Sea and Egypt despite Trump’s early predictions it would end “shortly.”

Trump has held off on further escalation partly due to Caine’s warnings about dwindling air-defense interceptor supplies, plus concerns from other officials about mass civilian casualties if he strikes infrastructure like bridges or water desalination plants. He could still escalate by sending troops to occupy Kharg Island or seize Iran’s highly enriched uranium, but doing so would break his 2024 campaign promise not to send Americans “to fight and die in stupid foreign wars that never ends.” The alternative, accepting an indefinite cycle of strikes and counterstrikes, risks becoming exactly the kind of “forever war” Trump has long criticized, with no clear resolution over Hormuz. One source close to the planning summed up the bind: “At the end of the day, POTUS will want a deal, so he’ll continually look for ways to get tough and get out of this. You need creative minds at times, especially if you’re running out of conventional options.” Trump himself framed his goal simply at a Friday Cabinet meeting: “I think we just want to win. We’ll be hitting them very hard, and you know, at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”

Japan:

The US dollar weakened sharply against the Japanese yen Monday after Trump and Japan’s finance minister confirmed a rare joint market intervention, the first of its kind between the two countries in 15 years. The dollar had been trading above 163 yen, hitting 40-year highs, before falling below 160 yen last week amid suspected regulatory action, then dropping about 1% to 156.34 yen after the official announcement. Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama confirmed the ministry purchased yen in coordination with the US Treasury to “counter excessive volatility and disorderly movements” in the currency, adding the government wouldn’t hesitate to act further if needed. The yen’s prolonged weakness has fueled inflation in import-dependent Japan, and earlier unilateral efforts to prop up the currency had failed to move the exchange rate.

Trump framed the intervention as a favor to a close ally, saying Sunday that Japan “wanted a little bit of help, and we’re always there for Japan,” joking that Japan has “been very good to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor.” He said the US also got a “financial benefit” from the move and called it “a signal of friendship” that’s “good for the world economy.”

Analyst Neil Newman of Astris Advisory Japan told NBC that such open acknowledgment of intervention is rare, noting the last comparable instance followed Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. Newman said a weaker dollar makes American goods more competitive in Japan, suggesting genuine aligned interests behind the unusual US-Japan cooperation.

Other news:

MAGA figures are turning on DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, accusing him of being too soft on immigration just months after he replaced the fired Kristi Noem in March. Tensions boiled over after Mullin spoke at the National Governors Association Summer Meeting in Oklahoma City, distinguishing between legal and illegal immigrants and calling for reforms to employment visa programs to address labor shortages, saying “this narrative that it steals American jobs is true in some industries. It’s not true for all industries.” Former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino attacked Mullin for touting 900,000 naturalizations over the past year, invoking “great replacement” rhetoric by claiming “80% of legal immigrants will vote Democrat.” MAGA podcaster Jake Posobiec told Politico there’s a “growing wave among MAGA to find a DHS secretary who puts deportations first.”

A Guardian investigation found that Trump administration DHS officials have quietly sought court orders to force-feed at least 10 hunger strikers in ICE detention since 2025, definitively carrying out the procedures on at least three detainees and probably on two more, while five others broke their strikes right before forced treatment began. The procedures, which rights groups call torture, included force-feeding via a tube inserted through the nose, intravenous forced hydration, and involuntary blood draws, with one Kurdish asylum seeker at a Texas facility subjected to force-feeding for nearly eight months until his deportation. Detained immigrants aren’t guaranteed legal representation in the emergency court proceedings that authorize these procedures, and in six cases reviewed by the Guardian, detainees had no lawyer present as judges quickly granted DHS’s requests, often while the person was held in solitary confinement.

A Washington Post investigation found that at least 50 law enforcement officers nationwide have been charged with or accused of misusing Flock’s network of over 120,000 AI license-plate cameras, most often to stalk women without their knowledge, including wives, girlfriends, exes, or new partners of exes. The investigation centers on Marci Bakely, a Georgia woman whose ex-boyfriend, police chief Michael Steffman, searched her license plate roughly 600 times over 13 months before being arrested on stalking and harassment charges; he died by suicide in April before facing trial.

Other documented cases include a Kansas police lieutenant fired for tracking his ex-wife and their children, a Florida officer who told his girlfriend “the police are already here” after threatening her with his gun, and a Wisconsin officer who used Flock to check whether his girlfriend had visited an abortion clinic. The Post found that Flock gives police departments wide latitude over oversight settings, with many agencies conducting minimal auditing, and in some cases officers continued using the system even after being flagged for misuse, while punishments varied widely due to a patchwork of state laws and no federal regulation. Flock has said abuse is “inevitable” given its scale but pointed to new voluntary “audit assistance” tools as a fix, while critics like the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation argue basic safeguards, such as requiring a case number for every search, remain optional rather than mandatory.

The family of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker who froze to death at a Pittsburgh bus shelter in early March, plans to sue the US government and other entities within the next two to three weeks, according to attorney Joseph Murphy. Michel had spent six months in Washington County jail following a mental health crisis and knife incident before a judge dismissed the charges; ICE then arrested her at a subsequent immigration hearing, drove her away from home, and released her alone in south Pittsburgh wearing summer clothes in 20°F weather. Surveillance footage, first published by Pittsburgh’s Public Source, showed she sat at the bus shelter for roughly 24 hours before being found unresponsive and later dying at a hospital; Pennsylvania officials ruled her death a homicide caused by hypothermia, noting she suffered from untreated severe mental illness and a significant language barrier at release.

Cuba’s electricity grid collapsed late Sunday, plunging the island’s roughly 10 million residents into darkness in the fourth nationwide blackout since July, according to state-owned grid operator Union Electrica de Cuba. The crisis stems largely from a US-imposed oil blockade that followed Washington’s January 3 ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, cutting off Cuba’s primary fuel supplier, while imports from Mexico have also been halted amid mounting US pressure. The collapse coincides with Havana cautiously opening its tightly controlled energy sector, having recently authorized its first foreign-backed fuel import venture and allowed nearly 200 Cuban businesses into wholesale fuel distribution. The grid operator gave no further details on the outage’s scope or expected duration in its social media posts.

Israel has formally conveyed concerns to the US about the proposed Hamas disarmament deal, with Netanyahu spokesperson Doron Spielman saying “the version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s position,” marking the first clear public pushback from Netanyahu’s office since Trump unveiled the agreement last week. Spielman insisted the “indispensable first step” is “genuine, verifiable, and irreversible demilitarization of Hamas,” while Hamas maintains its agreement to disarm is conditional on a full Israeli withdrawal and end to “all forms of aggression.” The dispute follows a deadly weekend in Gaza, where Israeli strikes killed at least 26 people, including 19 on Sunday alone, with the Israeli military saying it targeted Hamas militants and infrastructure, including weapons storage facilities. Trump had claimed Friday that Israel was “very happy” about the deal, but Nickolay Mladenov, head of Trump’s Board of Peace, said the recent strikes “have killed civilians and destroyed medical supplies that people depend on,” while Gaza’s health ministry reports more than 73,300 deaths since the war began and over 1,200 since last October’s ceasefire.

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Important Sunday Update: Bank Shuts Trump Accounts Over Anti-Money Laundering Issues as America Stands Alone on World Stage, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 2, 2026. We now have confirmation: Donald Trump is the first president in history to have had hundreds of bank accounts shut down by a financial institution over concerns flagged under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Meanwhile, large corporations are pocketing massive tariff refunds. Consumers will not see a dime. And Republican Rep. Max Miller, facing horrific allegations of abusing his wife, doubled down today, actually questioning why Emily would have offered to cook him dinner just days after an alleged assault. Yes, seriously.

On top of it all, RFK Jr. refused to say whether the United States is even prepared for the next pandemic.

As we close out another weekend, here’s a preview of what’s coming this week: the Senate votes on Todd Blanche’s nomination Tuesday. Tomorrow, I’m heading back to Mitch McConnell’s “rehab facility.” And I’m working on launching a nightly live show, so stay tuned.

None of this reporting happens without you. No corporate owner is funding this, no advertiser is shaping what I cover. That only works because readers like you decide it’s worth supporting. Here’s the news:

Trump’s Bank Accounts Frozen:

Capital One formally linked its 2021 closure of Trump Organization bank accounts to anti-money laundering concerns for the first time, marking the first instance any bank has publicly tied such concerns to Trump’s business. The disclosure came in a Friday court filing as Capital One sought to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of illegally “debanking” the Trump Organization for political or religious reasons. The bank stated that “documents and Plaintiffs’ own allegations make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs’ accounts for anti-money laundering (’AML’) reasons,” while stopping short of directly accusing Trump’s businesses of illegal money laundering. Capital One said the closures resulted from “months of analysis and a careful review” by its AML team following bank policies and federal regulatory guidance.

The dispute traces back to March 2021, when Capital One first notified the Trump Organization it intended to close more than 300 affiliated accounts. In response, the Trump Organization and Eric Trump filed suit in a Florida federal court in March 2025, alleging the closures stemmed from Capital One’s “woke” politics and a desire to capitalize on public sentiment following the January 6 Capitol riot. The court has dismissed the complaint twice already, though it has allowed the plaintiffs to file amended versions each time. Capital One argued the latest July filing “suffers from the same fundamental flaws as their prior two pleadings” and called the political-pretext claims “misguided” and based on “cherry-picked quotations.”

The case fits into a broader pattern of Trump-era pressure on major banks over alleged political discrimination, or “debanking.” Trump signed an executive order in August 2025 targeting discriminatory debanking practices and filed a separate lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase in January on similar grounds. This isn’t the first clash between Trump and Capital One either; during his first term in 2019, he sued both Capital One and Deutsche Bank to block them from handing financial records to a Democrat-led congressional probe. Notably, reports at the time indicated Deutsche Bank’s own anti-money laundering staff had flagged suspicious transactions that executives allegedly ignored, though the bank denied this.

Republican Congressman Max Miller:

U.S. Rep. Max Miller, left, an Ohio Republican, and his estranged father-in-law, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, another Ohio Republican.

Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno publicly called for his son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller, to resign from Congress, breaking his prior silence on abuse allegations against his daughter Emily and their 2-year-old granddaughter. In a Sunday X post viewed nearly a million times within 90 minutes, Moreno said the two years since his daughter and Miller split have been “pure Hell” for his family amid an ongoing custody battle. He wrote that “out of concern for the safety of my family,” he had hoped to keep the matter private, but Miller’s “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior” made that impossible. Moreno said Miller has privately admitted needing “serious psychological help,” calling him “a danger to my daughter” and saying he “holds his breath every minute” Miller has custody of their granddaughter.

Moreno’s statement came directly after Miller posted a 25-minute livestream denying the allegations and vowing to stay in his November re-election race. Miller, sitting in front of a blurred background featuring what appeared to be children’s drawings, opened by saying, “I have never abused our daughter,” and framed his response as protecting his daughter rather than defending himself. Slurring his words and speaking in a monotone throughout the stream, he accused Moreno of having mental health issues and lying, and questioned why Emily would have offered to cook him dinner and invited him to the playground with their daughter just days after an alleged assault. Legal proceedings between the couple have reportedly produced testimony alleging Miller was violent toward Emily and that their daughter suffered a broken collarbone under unexplained circumstances.

Moreno’s reversal marks a shift after he spent weeks avoiding direct comment, even telling reporters just last week that he “didn’t know” whether Miller should remain on the ballot. Despite the allegations, Miller retains President Trump’s endorsement, with Trump calling him “a fantastic Champion” for Ohio in a May Truth Social post and declaring “HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!” A spokesperson for Miller declined to comment on Moreno’s statement. Moreno closed his post by saying he owed it to his wife, daughter, and granddaughter to “speak the truth now,” explicitly stating Miller fails to meet the “basic standards of character” required for elected office.

Tariff Refunds:

Amazon disclosed that it received about $600 million in tariff refunds during the second quarter after the Supreme Court ruled in February that many of Trump’s tariffs, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, were illegal, and said it plans to return some of that money to customers. CFO Brian Olsavsky said Amazon’s refund was “limited” because the company pre-positioned inventory ahead of the tariffs and isn’t the importer of record for most items sold on its platform, since third-party sellers, who account for over 60% of marketplace goods, handle their own imports. Amazon had previously stayed quiet on whether it would seek refunds at all, prompting a May class-action lawsuit alleging the company was avoiding refunds to “curry favor” with Trump, who’d said in April he’d “remember” companies that didn’t seek refunds.

Apple received an estimated $2.19 billion in tariff refunds this quarter, which Tim Cook announced during his final earnings call as CEO on Thursday, and the windfall inflated the company’s gross margin by about 2 percentage points to 50.1%, boosting diluted earnings per share by 11 cents. Without that one-time boost, Apple would have missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations, and its stock dropped after the report, per CNBC. The refund follows the Supreme Court’s February ruling that the Trump administration lacked authority to impose tariffs unilaterally under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, striking down Trump’s signature tariff policy and making companies like Apple eligible to recoup fees already paid. Apple had previously disclosed paying more than $3.3 billion in tariff costs, and was a notable target of Trump’s trade pressure, including a Truth Social threat of 25% tariffs specifically aimed at the company over his push for domestic iPhone manufacturing, which most experts say isn’t technically feasible.

RFK Jr.

RFK Jr. and Dana Bash clashed for roughly 15 minutes on CNN’s State of the Union after she asked how his department would prepare for the next pandemic. Kennedy launched into a defense of constitutional rights he claimed were “dismantled” during COVID-19 lockdowns, prompting Bash to repeatedly try to redirect him back to the public health question. When she said she wanted to move on, Kennedy snapped, “Of course you do, because you were part of the problem!” accusing her of practicing “press malpractice” by not showing skepticism toward authority and instead “beating up” COVID dissenters. The two talked over each other multiple times before Bash calmly asked whether he wanted to attack her or actually discuss public health, which only escalated the argument further.

The conversation grew more heated when it turned to measles and vaccines, with Kennedy accusing Bash of rolling her eyes at him. When Bash asked directly whether he wanted people to get the MMR vaccine, Kennedy smirked and said he’d already answered, then told her “I know you’re flustered now, and it’s frustrating.” Bash pushed back that she wasn’t flustered but frustrated, explaining that as HHS secretary, his rhetoric contributes to vaccine hesitancy that causes real harm. Kennedy responded by asking whether her job was to end vaccine hesitancy or tell the truth, setting up another circular exchange about journalistic responsibility.

The interview reached its most dramatic point when Kennedy accused Bash of citing science “like a parrot” while physically lunging across the table. After Bash noted that vaccine-autism links have been studied extensively and repeatedly disproven, Kennedy snarled that she was just repeating talking points and claimed he had “actually read the science” himself. The two continued talking over each other with raised voices, with Bash eventually declaring “I’m not debating nonsense,” while a visibly agitated Kennedy blamed public trust in Dr. Fauci for poor pandemic-era public health outcomes. The segment ended shortly after with Kennedy insisting Bash’s job was to “tell the truth” while she demanded to know if she was “allowed to talk.”

Other news:

Trump finds himself facing frustration from virtually every direction over his handling of the Iran conflict. Saudi Arabia and Qatar areupset that peace hasn’t materialized, while the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain feel he’s being too dovish, and Israel is angered that he called off today’s planned strikes. Iran, meanwhile, is furious over continued threats and what it sees as breaches of the memorandum of understanding, even as the broader world reels from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Americans grapple with soaring gas prices. Neocons, for their part, are frustrated that the conflict hasn’t produced regime change in Tehran. The takeaway: when literally every stakeholder, hawks, doves, allies, and adversaries alike, is angry at once, that’s a sign something has gone badly wrong.

A wildfire burning northwest of downtown Spokane, Washington, has damaged more than 600 structures, with officials still working to determine how many were homes, businesses, or schools. The blaze, listed at 5,390 acres as of Sunday, is officially called the Spokane Area Fires and is being managed as three separate incidents: the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire, and the Autumn Lane Fire. California Interagency Incident Management Teams, which specialize in complex wildland-urban fires threatening development, took command of the response after arriving Saturday night. Evacuation areas remain closed until authorities determine it’s safe for residents to return, and verified social media footage showed a local sports complex engulfed in flames after being surrounded by smoke.

Two firefighting helicopters collided Sunday while battling a massive wildfire west of Athens that has already destroyed more than 100 homes, with footage appearing to show one helicopter’s rotor striking the aircraft above it before crashing in flames; one crew was found safe while a search-and-rescue operation continued for the second. The fire near Porto Germeno crossed a mountain toward the settlement of Veniza and a military firing range, igniting unexploded ordnance, while firefighters worked to protect the coastal town of Megara (population roughly 30,000), and more than 10,000 hectares have reportedly burned so far; a separate blaze also forced evacuations on the island of Kefalonia. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledged that “the force of nature and the intensity of weather conditions exceed all human planning,” as Greece emerges from a period of relative calm even as fires in France and Spain showed signs of easing over the weekend.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 Palestinians across Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Khan Younis on Sunday, marking the deadliest single day in weeks despite Trump’s Thursday announcement that Hamas had agreed to disarm as part of implementing last year’sceasefire deal. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the government would give Hamas a chance to disarm but was “very sceptical” it would happen, adding there had been no deal to halt attacks and that Israel, which already controls 70% of Gaza, might need to take full control if Hamas doesn’t comply. Among the dead were a couple and their 9-year-old son killed in a strike on a house in Mawasi, another couple and child killed in a Gaza City apartment strike, and two people killed near the Egyptian mission’s office; the Israeli military said some strikes targeted Hamas commanders and “military operatives.” Since the October ceasefire, at least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes compared to four Israeli soldiers, according to respective tallies, and a senior Hamas official accused Israel of using escalation to “impose facts on the ground by force” even as Trump’s Board of Peace released a 15-point roadmap for finalizing the agreement.

An Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire Sunday morning while carrying 271 people from Surabaya to Makassar, killing at least five and leaving 41 unaccounted for as of Sunday afternoon, with 225 passengers and crew rescued by nearby vessels. The fire broke out between 6 and 7 a.m. off Sumenep regency near Madura island; the ferry operator reported it about an hour later, and authorities lost contact with the captain after learning the vessel was burning. Footage showed thick black smoke and flames engulfing much of the ship while terrified passengers in life jackets clustered on deck, some jumping into the sea, before a tugboat and passing vessel began evacuations around 10 a.m. The cause remains under investigation, and rescue efforts were complicated by rough seas, a slow six-hour transit time for search boats from Surabaya, and a nearby cargo ship unable to approach closely due to its flammable cargo; the Indonesian Navy has also deployed a warship to assist. Indonesia’s vast island ferry network is frequently plagued by disasters, which are often attributed to weak safety enforcement.

Gutting Rights, Income For Most Americans

The Hartmann Report, Commentary, Killing Unions: The Greatest Political Heist in American History, Thom Hartmann, right, Aug. 3, 2026. They didn't rob a bank. They robbed entire generations by dismantling the one institution powerful enough to stand up to corporate America…

Yesterday I published Chapter 9 from my new book "Who Killed the American Dream?" detailing how nearly a half-century of Reaganomics have left the middle class in this country in tatters.

— Houses in 1981 — when Reagan was sworn into office and kicked off the neoliberal Reagan Revolution — cost about 3 times an individual worker’s annual paycheck; today it’s roughly 10 times.

— It was that decade when productivity stopped tracking payroll for the first time in almost a century; if workers today were paid based on the same productivity formula as they were that year and for most of a century before, the average salary would be $100,000 a year, about twice what it is today. If the federal minimum wage had simply tracked inflation since 1964 it would be around $14 nationally now, also about twice what it is today.

— Drugs were cheap, hospitals and health insurance companies were non-profits, college was free or cheap, and because anti-monopoly laws were enforced until Reagan stopped the antitrust cops in 1983 both suburban malls and downtown main streets were filled with local family-owned businesses.

All of these changes — literally every single one — has come about because Republicans working in service to America’s morbidly rich oligarchs were successful in using treason to seize political power in 1980, and then used that power to gut the Democratic Party’s single largest source of funding.

And the biggest factor in facilitating all of these decades of GOP rule since was that single variable: the 1980s destruction of America’s labor unions.

Mention unions today and the media will yawn, but they were the key component to building the world’s first middle class that reached more than half a nation’s population by the 1960s.

In 1981, two-thirds of us were in that middle class with a single paycheck; today it’s between 41 and 47 percent of us (depending on whose numbers you use) and it requires two full-time paychecks. The single largest reason for this change is Reagan’s intentional destruction of America’s labor unions.

Unions funded Harry Truman’s run for the White House, as they did JFK’s, LBJs, and Jimmy Carter’s. In the pre-Reagan Revolution era, there was roughly equal financial firepower between the two political parties; Republican campaigns were funded by big corporations and oligarchs, while unions paid most of the bills for Democrats.

The billionaires who funded the Heritage Foundation and other rightwing think tanks in the 1980s knew that the key to Democrats getting elected was union money. FDR had legalized unions with the Wagner Act in 1935 and even though Republicans had pushed through the despicable Taft-Hartley anti-union “right to work for less” act over Truman’s veto in 1947, unions were still growing and wealthy.

So, when Heritage issued its Project 2025-like “Mandate for Leadership” action plan for the Reagan administration in 1981, it carried an extensive section on how Reagan and Republicans across the nation could cripple the union movement.

Most people figured this was just because the big companies that helped fund these think tanks wanted cheaper labor, and that was certainly part of it. But the biggest and most audacious reason Reagan took their advice was purely political: to eliminate the largest source of campaign cash Democrats could tap into.

And it worked.

When Reagan came into office about a third of us had good union jobs, which meant about two-thirds of us had the middle class equivalents of union pay and benefits because the unions set the local wage and benefit floors that employers had to match to compete for workers.

But by 1992, Reagan’s and GHW Bush’s efforts — along with Red state governors and legislators who’d adopted the Taft-Hartey “right to work for less” provisions — had reduced private sector union density to a mere 11 percent of us.

With the unions hanging on by their fingernails, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton faced a real dilemma that year: where could he find enough big money to fund a presidential campaign?

The internet was then pretty much nothing more than AOL and CompuServe and nobody was using it for fundraising with any success. And most of the morbidly rich supported the GOP’s efforts to cut taxes on billionaires and gut regulations that protected average people so they weren’t inclined to help out Democratic candidates.

What Clinton came up with was a “Third Way” that meant getting into bed with “clean industries” like banking, insurance, and pharma rather than the “dirty industries” like oil, mining, and chemicals that Republicans had embraced for decades. The new mantra for Clinton’s signing NAFTA, keeping income tax rates below 50%, and other Reaganista neoliberal policies was, he argued, that white- and pink-collar jobs should replace blue-collar factory work and this transformation of the workplace would be a good thing overall for Americans.

To make it work, Clinton had to abandon many of the traditional positions of the Democratic Party, dating back to FDR’s 1930s New Deal.

There would be no re-embrace of unions in his or Obama’s equally neoliberal administrations by passing Card Check or other progressive policies that made it easier to join and stay in a union. The “era of big government” was declared dead, as was “welfare, as we know it.”

As a result, the biggest difference today between so-called “centrist” or “moderate” Democrats and their progressive challengers is grounded in this dynamic.

Progressives know that without a strong union movement no middle class encompassing more than half a nation’s population is possible. And they know that unions have historically served as the organizing nexus for both protest and reform movements across modern history. Unions today, for example, often lead protest movements across Europe.

“Moderate Democrats” on the other hand, are happy to take money from big corporations (and AIPAC) that fight unions every step of the way; as a result, they’ve either resisted or only offered lip service for passage of the Pro Act and other pro-union efforts to rebuild America’s middle class.

Unions have always been the singular engine that creates and sustains a middle class in every country where that’s happened, throughout history.

In the 14th century when a third of Europeans died in the Black Plague, the resulting labor shortage caused workers to band together into guilds, the first modern labor unions. Those guilds set the price of labor high enough that Europe’s first middle class emerged, giving working class people the free time to explore music, philosophy, literature, and science. The result is what we call the Renaissance.

The same thing happened in the 1960s here in America with a musical and cultural renaissance, when Russell Kirk and his colleagues believed that the country was suddenly falling apart with students burning draft cards, women demanding equality in the workplace, and Black people pushing back against endemic police violence with both the Civil Rights movement and lighting cities on fire when cops beat or killed unarmed people. (Contrary to what Limbaugh told you, every single “riot” in that era was the result of, and in reaction to, a specific act of unprovoked police violence.)

A revitalized union movement will not only raise the standard of living for working Americans; it’ll also provide the exus for organizing against fascism, another reason why Heritage doubled down against them with Project 2025, which recommended stripping union rights from government workers, something Trump has now done.

Unions could also protect us from AI-related job losses and work America toward a universal basic income if that’s what will be necessary as the world changes with the AI revolution.

Americans living in states that have had strong union movements within living memory understand this dynamic well; it’s why Abdul El-Sayed got the endorsement of the United Auto Workers, Michigan’s largest union, and is doing so well in this Tuesday’s primary against Haley Stevens, who’s proud to take money from union-busting corporations and calls voters concerned about her campaign finance issues “zombies.”

Given that Trump and/or Vance will probably wield a veto pen for the next two-and-a-half years it’s premature to demand that Congress pass the Pro Act or a newer version that overturns Taft-Hartley and re-enshrines union rights today, but two years is also a perfect amount of time to begin building a strong consensus and pro-union movement within the Democratic Party.

The most powerful force to fight oligarchy and the GOP’s neofascism long term — and to bring back America’s middle class — is to rebuild America’s unions.

More On Iran War

New York Times, For Iran, Trump’s Reversal on Escalation Shows Who Has the Upper Hand, Erika Solomon, Aug. 3, 2026. By expanding the arena of fighting in the region, experts say, Tehran sent a warning about the dangers of a widening war.

When President Trump appeared to back down once again from a threatened military escalation against Tehran, he offered fresh fodder to the narrative Iranian officials are eager to promote: They are not the ones who fear war — Mr. Trump is.

Iran’s leadership believes it has found the world’s Achilles’ heel. With the help of regional militia allies, Tehran spent the past week underscoring its ability to threaten several of the world’s most critical energy facilities and waterways.

It has continued to up the ante in its face-off with Washington over when and how to stop their renewed hostilities and return to a short-lived deal to start peace negotiations, which fell apart last month.

When Mr. Trump signaled in recent days that a major escalation was imminent if no concessions were made, two former Iranian officials said Tehran’s leadership told him to go right ahead.

“They are ready for the war, and they won’t back down,” said Amir al-Mousawi, a former Iranian diplomat, who said he had met over the weekend with the team surrounding Iran’s head negotiator and speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Mr. al-Mousawi described an exchange of messages between U.S. and Iranian officials sent over the weekend through Pakistani and Qatari officials, in which he said Mr. Trump vowed a severe attack on civilian infrastructure like power plants if the Iranians did not restart negotiations.ImageThe United States and Israel may have wiped out much of the top layers of Iran’s leadership, like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but to little effect.Credit...Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

The Iranians refused, he said, unless Washington returned to the previously agreed “memorandum of understanding,” which many experts say was in Iran’s favor.

“‘We have no problem with war at all, and we are ready for the big confrontation,’” Mr. al-Mousawi said the Iranians told the Americans. “Trump told the Iranians: ‘I will hit the power in Iran.’ So, the Iranians said: ‘If you strike, we strike.’”

Iranian officials have spotted a pattern in Mr. Trump’s attempts to shape negotiations, said Sasan Karimi, a former senior Iranian government official and a professor of Iranian studies at the University of Tehran.

“Whenever their messages are exchanged, Mr. Trump starts to pressurize the situation by threatening Iran, so he can try to get further concessions,” he said. “But Iran is not so easily manipulated.”

On Sunday, Mr. Trump said he had relented from his planned escalation after Iran and other Middle Eastern countries requested a delay because the “perimeters of a deal” had been agreed to.

Yet, there are no outward signs of any return to U.S.-Iranian negotiations. What does appear to have happened is that Saudi Arabia and Qatar expressed concerns over their ability to adequately defend their oil and gas facilities, according to two regional diplomats.

The official Saudi news channel said on Sunday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, had recently spoken with Mr. Trump to stress “the necessity of prioritizing dialogue to de-escalate tensions” and “prevent a wider conflict.”

Recent strikes in the region reflect the severity of those concerns.

Two weeks ago, the Houthis, an Iran-aligned militia force in Yemen, blockaded Riyadh’s use of the Bab al-Mandab waterway in the Red Sea. The Saudis had been piping oil to their west coast port on the Red Sea in order to circumvent Iran’s stranglehold on global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the primary route for oil shipments out of the Persian Gulf.

Then last week, drones struck two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, in an attack Riyadh attributed to Iran-backed militias in Iraq. A day later, two ships caught fire in Damietta Port in Egypt, in what the Egyptian authorities said appeared to have been a drone attack and was widely seen by regional analysts as yet another strike by Iran or its proxies.

Paul Krugman via Substack, Political-Economy Commentary: How China Won the Iran War, Paul Krugman, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Trump has shattered American power, and Beijing is picking up the pieces.

Make America Great Again? Hah. Donald Trump has weakened us with astonishing speed. Under his “leadership” America’s influence, reputation and credibility have peeled away like the liner in the Reflecting Pool.

The disintegration of U.S. power was well underway before Trump started his war on Iran, but the pace of decline has accelerated sharply since the magnitude of our defeat started becoming apparent.

And when future historians write about this tale of self-immolation, they may well do so in Mandarin.

China hasn’t been a direct combatant in the third Gulf war, and its support for Iran has, until recently, been discreet. (China is now reportedly preparing to send Iran advanced munitions — Phillips O’Brien suggests that it is “going in for the kill.”) But China has clearly relished our humiliation. And both the way the war has played out and China’s role have drastically shifted the global balance of power in China’s favor.

China has been a serious geopolitical rival to the United States for some time. China’s manufacturing sector overtook the US in 2010, and the gap has continued to grow (I’ll explain the line labeled “US+EU” shortly):

And China’s role as the workshop of the world inevitably gives it a great deal of geopolitical influence.

However, there were a number of factors that, two years ago, arguably still gave an America a power advantage despite China’s economic weight and manufacturing prowess. These factors included:

· America still led the world in science and cutting-edge technology

· The U.S. military appeared to have vastly better weapons and leadership than any other nation’s

· The dollar’s dominant role in international transactions gave the United States enormous financial clout, including the ability to cut other nations out of the global payments system

· Above all, the U.S. wasn’t alone. We were the leader of history’s most successful alliance system, nations bound together not just by mutual interests but by shared democratic values

Yet Trump and his lackeys have quickly squandered all of these advantages.

A great deal has been written about the Trump administration’s attack on science, which is a topic largely separate from the Iran war. As one recent discussion put it, Trump officials

have orchestrated a series of attacks on scientists and their laboratories, implemented through funding cuts, grant interruptions, and immigration restrictions. Scientists are gravitating to Canada, Europe, and China, and we are rapidly losing the depth of our innovative and essential scientific community.

The undermining of other U.S. sources of strength was also underway before the Iran war, but the war has accelerated the downward spiral.

Even before the bombing of Iran began, some observers worried about the state of the U.S. military. Had U.S. military leaders adapted to the new world — revealed by the war in Ukraine — of cheap, ubiquitous drones? How much damage had the pro-testosterone, anti-intellectual leadership of Pete Hegseth already done? Now we know the answers to these questions, and America’s military reputation has nose-dived.

Oh, and as a December 2025 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies points out, a Chinese supply chain underpins “the architecture of modern drone warfare.”

America’s dollar-linked financial power has also sharply declined. True, as I wrote a month ago, “The dollar’s role as the dominant currency for ordinary business is not under threat.” However, the war has demonstrated that, thanks in large part to China’s underlying economic power, America’s ability to weaponize the dollar has been greatly reduced:

Iran was able to continue selling oil (until the U.S. temporarily imposed a military blockade) and buying essential imports, despite U.S. financial sanctions, by taking payment in yuan and using those yuan to buy Chinese goods. Ships that paid Iran for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz also paid in yuan (or in cryptocurrency, whose only real use case remains criminal activity.) The details are complicated, but using yuan essentially allows those designated by the U.S. government as rogue actors to fly under our financial radar.

Finally, the war has really put the nail in the coffin of the U.S.-centered alliance system.

America’s alliances have been a fundamental source of global strength since World War II. The line labeled “US+EU” in the chart on manufacturing value added is an indication of how much these alliances used to strengthen us: It shows that even now the US and the democracies of the European Union combined produce more manufactured goods than China, a lead that would be larger if I included the UK, Japan, Canada, etc.

But Trump began torpedoing our alliances on day one. Discussions of the Trump tariffs, even critical ones, don’t emphasize enough the fact that every one of these tariffs broke international agreements made by the United States in the past. So Trumpian tariff policy, by itself, was an announcement to the world that agreements with the U.S. government are worthless. Add to this the demands that Canada become the 51st state, that Denmark hand over Greenland, and so on, and America had thoroughly lost the trust of its former friends even before the Iran war.

Then came the war. And in the past five months the U.S. has shown itself both erratic and ineffectual. Trump launched a war that, in addition to creating death and destruction, cut off much of the world’s oil supply without so much as consulting other nations. Once the war began, America proved both incapable of imposing its will on Iran and unable either to open the Strait of Hormuz or to protect regional allies.

So now the world neither trusts nor fears us. The chart at the top of this post, drawn from the Pew survey of global attitudes, shows views of the US and China in multiple countries. Even many of our oldest allies, the nations that helped us win World War II and the Cold War, now have a more favorable opinion of China than they do of us.

Let’s be clear: The end of U.S. leadership and China’s growing geopolitical ascendancy are bad things. China is a corrupt autocracy, with little respect for human rights and none at all for democratic values.

But people around the world have concluded that the Chinese are serious people, and that we are not. So America lost the war — and China won.

New York Times, Opinion: The War That Could Swallow the World, David French, right,Aug. 3, 2026 (print ed.). The only thing worse than President Trump starting an unconstitutional war is President Trump losing control of that war.

On Wednesday, NBC News reported that Trump “erupted” at members of his national security team over the Iran War. According to the report, his advisers can’t agree on a path forward. But how could they? Every path to victory risks dangerous escalation, while continuing the present course risks strategic defeat.

This was always the most likely outcome. The president chose to take on a much more powerful country than, say, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 2003, while using far less force than we employed to topple the Iraqi government.

What did he expect would happen?

Oh right, we know. He thought he could topple a vicious, deeply embedded authoritarian regime with a few targeted airstrikes and a fantasied popular uprising. As he has said many times, he expected a version of his Venezuela outcome, and when the Venezuela strategy failed, if strategy is the word, there was no real Plan B — other than to bomb Iran more and hope for capitulation.

In fact, we’re planning to do that yet again. Or maybe we’re not.

On Friday, Trump said he was ordering a new round of airstrikes. And what was his reasoning? “You know at some point,” Trump said, “they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”

On Saturday, he’d changed his mind. “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“I have agreed,” he added, “for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”

But the problem we face right now is something well beyond deals. America has been so powerful for so long that we are accustomed to being in control of events. We start wars when we want and — crucially — we believe that we can end them when we want.

When I was in Iraq, as terrible as that war was, we knew it was contained. We were fighting an enemy that had minimal ability to harm Americans outside of Iraq. The same was true in Afghanistan once we and our allies destroyed Al Qaeda’s strongholds.

In both conflicts, the fighting was brutal, and we can and should debate the wisdom of both wars. But our great-power rivals were largely absent.

There is no such thing as a safe war — any war can spin out of control — but the combination of American power, enemy weakness and Russian and Chinese restraint meant that Americans could sleep secure in the knowledge that the chances of a catastrophic escalation were extremely remote.

That is no longer the case. The world is walking a path toward a world war, and no one — including the president of the United States — seems to be in command of events.

Consider recent events. Not only does Iran continue to strike American bases effectively; it has relentlessly attacked American partners across the region. These attacks are doing immense damage to oil and gas facilities and — combined with Iran’s continued control over the Strait of Hormuz — are placing the world economy at risk.

The Houthis have entered the conflict, expanding the fighting into the Red Sea, and now Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning a large-scale attack on Houthi territory, including, potentially, the use of ground forces to attempt to break the Houthi shipping blockade.

Ukraine struck an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea, the immense body of water that borders both Russia and Iran. Ukraine said it did this because the ship was carrying military equipment between the two countries.

Russia and China may be assisting the Iranian military by providing satellite imagery and other assistance that renders Iranian missile and drone attacks more effective. Reuters has also reported that China is sending Iran hundreds of surface-to-air missiles.

NATO reported last week that a Russian missile crossed the border and exploded (harmlessly, thank God) in Polish territory. Several Russian drones have crossed the border since the start of the Ukraine war, but this is the first known Russian missile impact.

Speaking of Russia, it is reportedly considering whether to try to reverse the fortunes of its war in Ukraine through mass mobilization, which would mean conscripting potentially hundreds of thousands of new soldiers to throw against Ukrainian lines.

And of all this is taking place against the backdrop of two grim military realities for America. First, Iran has demonstrated that American planes and American bases are more vulnerable to attack than many of us imagined. This level of damage to American facilities would have been unthinkable when I was in Iraq.

Al Qaeda had no long-range missile capability, and not even Saddam Hussein, at the height of his powers before Operation Desert Storm, could strike across the region as effectively as Iran has since the start of the war.

Iran has taken grievous losses, including much of its top leadership. But the crucial difference with the United States is that the Iranian regime simply doesn’t care about losses in men or matériel in the same way we do.

Both the United States and Israel have repeatedly decapitated the leadership of jihadist organizations, with little lasting effect. Iran has shown again and again that it will expend the lives of its citizens to retain power or to secure a strategic advantage. In fact, the regime seems to relish slaughtering the almost impossibly brave citizens who do rise up in protest.

Second, we’re running out of interceptors, such as our Patriot antimissile systems, and other advanced munitions. While I don’t want to see a single drone or missile penetrate our defenses and strike an American or allied target, I also know that even a successful intercept can be a mini-defeat.

If you’re using a $4 million weapon that’s difficult to manufacture to destroy a $35,000 drone that can be easily built at scale, it’s only a matter of time before your defenses are degraded and your skies are open to enemy attack.

The Trump administration has put forward two contradictory messages — that there’s no shortage of missiles in the American inventory and that the shortage is Joe Biden’s fault (because he helped to arm Ukraine and launched airstrikes against the Houthis).

The administration is certainly acting as if our stocks of munitions are perilously low. We’re engaged in an on-again, off-again conflict (Friday, on; Saturday, off) that has been filled with unusual pauses.

Let’s put all this together: The initial American strategy failed, the war with Iran is consuming the entire region, Iran and Ukraine are risking a face-off, there is evidence that both Russia and China are escalating their military commitments, American munitions stocks are dwindling and Trump is raging.

I’ve often wondered what it was like to be alive in the summer of 1914, much less in 1938 and 1939. When did people start to realize that the world was on the brink of catastrophe? Speak up too soon or too frequently, and you look ridiculous — like the Chicken Little of world war. Speak up too late, and you live (if you live) with bitter regret.

I’m not trying to predict anything, and I hold out hope for de-escalation. I know there are still serious people in the American government (whether they have Trump’s ear is a different question) and in allied governments across the world.

But we can analyze the events and trends of the moment, and right now all the momentum is toward greater escalation. And we absolutely cannot do what Trump asks, which is to “just sit back and relax” and trust that “it will all work out well in the end.”

I do not think that world war is inevitable, nor do I think it is probable. But it is more possible now than it has been at any time since the end of the Cold War, and the American government is led by the worst rulers in the modern history of the United States.

Congress, the only branch of government that possesses the power to intervene, has been prostrate before the president. The threat of a primary loss is all it takes to completely remove the spine from a typical Republican member of Congress.

It’s often said that your average American voter doesn’t really care that much about foreign policy. In general, that’s true — until there’s a catastrophe. When that happens, though, foreign policy isn’t just the main thing; it’s the only thing that truly matters.

Our future may depend in part on American voters deciding to give Congress a spinal transplant. But that requires us to do something that democracies have rarely, if ever, done successfully — see the catastrophe coming and act decisively before a terrible war swallows the world.

More On U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 1, 2026 [Misleading Grand Juries To Target Opponents], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Friday’s dismissal of the Department of Justice case against David Hearn for vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool came days after Hearn’s lawyers asked for transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment.

The lawyers noted that the government’s only witness testified that the pool was already damaged before Hearn went near it, and that the witness could not quantify the cost of any damage Hearn might have done over and above the cost of repairing the existing damage. The lawyers told the court there were “irregularities in the government’s presentation of the evidence to the grand jury” that “call into question whether the grand jury was misled.”

The Department of Justice has been caught repeatedly misleading grand juries or committing misconduct in getting indictments. Hearn’s lawyers were suggesting that the Department of Justice engaged in the same misconduct in the indictment of David Hearn for damaging the bottom of the reflecting pool.

In their filing, they noted that a judge and former federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia had recently stated that “[g]enerations of presidential administrations and public officials” have reinforced the idea, called the “presumption of regularity,” that public officials do their jobs properly, operate in good faith, and follow correct procedures. But, the judge noted, “In just six months, the President of the United States may have forfeited the right to such a presumption.”

On July 28, J. David McSwane, Pratheek Rebala, and Carla Astudillo of ProPublica reported that judges across the country are calling out lawyers for the Department of Justice, questioning whether they can be trusted to tell the truth and whether they are operating according to centuries-old norms. Judges have called behavior by Department of Justice lawyers “unlawful,” “unethical,” “unseemly,” and otherwise dishonest.

The degradation of the Department of Justice, which is charged with defending the rule of law for the American people, into an instrument of Trump’s political wrath has been illustrated in the fight over the confirmation of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to attorney general.

Before going to the Department of Justice, Blanche was Trump’s personal attorney. He led Trump’s criminal defense team in the case of falsifying records to cover up hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, as well as his defense against the two cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith: the one indicting him for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and the one indicting him for retaining classified documents after leaving office.

Since he took over for former attorney general Pam Bondi, Blanche has openly flouted the law in order to do Trump’s bidding. He secured indictments against people Trump perceives to be enemies, including former FBI director James Comey for posting on Instagram a picture of seashells arranged to form the number “8647.”

On July 29, Devlin Barrett and Alan Feuer of the New York Times reported that the Secret Service agents who interviewed Comey in May 2025 were told to send a summary of that interview as quickly as possible to Trump on Air Force One. Trump’s close involvement in the case, the authors wrote, “is one of the most glaring examples to date of the degree to which Mr. Trump now directs federal law enforcement actions.”

On July 28, Comey’s lawyers filed motions to throw out on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution the federal charges Blanche brought against him. They noted that Trump had repeatedly made it clear he wanted Comey indicted, even going so far as to put his former special assistant Lindsey Halligan into office as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where she indicted Comey just four days later. (That appointment was later found to be invalid.) The filings from Comey’s lawyers appear to show that FBI officers engaged in warrantless surveillance of Comey.

Like the lawyers in the Hearn case, Comey’s lawyers suggested that “irregularities in the grand jury process influenced the grand jury to return an indictment.” Like Hearn’s lawyers, they asked the court to “disclose the transcripts and audio recordings of all proceedings before the grand jury in this case” or to review them himself to make sure they followed the law. In a previous case against Comey, they note, Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick found that the government’s actions raised “genuine issues of misconduct” that were “inextricably linked to the government’s grand jury presentation.”

Blanche’s indictment of Comey to please Trump colors another of his actions: he backed the deal Trump made with the Department of Justice to establish a $1.776 billion slush fund to pay off those convicted of committing crimes surrounding Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Blanche put his name to the second half of that deal that seems to be being eclipsed by the slush fund but is clearly Trump’s main interest: an agreement between Trump and the Department of Justice promising to drop any pending claims against Trump, his oldest sons, or the Trump Organization for past illegalities in tax returns, and promising not to conduct audits of Trump’s tax returns.

That slush fund/nonprosecution deal has been a sticking point for Blanche’s Senate confirmation to attorney general, as two Republican senators—John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina—want him to put in writing that the deal is as dead as he claimed it is in his confirmation hearing before they agree to support his nomination. But he has refused to do so. On Thursday, Trump suggested he was willing to withdraw Blanche’s nomination until Cornyn and Tillis are out of office, leaving him as acting attorney general.

Then, at 7:03 Friday morning, Trump threw a monkey wrench into this fight by posting that in fact, he emphatically supports the slush fund. He appears to reject the idea that it is dead, and seems to be counting on Todd Blanche to implement it, exactly as critics have said.

Trump seems to have been thwarted from getting his way quietly by putting Blanche in as attorney general without any promise to kill the slush fund and its accompanying promise not to prosecute Trump or his associates for crimes associated with their tax filings. And so, on Friday, Trump filed notice that he and the rest of the parties to the “agreement” will appeal the July 13 ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. She said that the suit that led to the $1.776 billion slush fund and the accompanying nonprosecution promise was filed to “manipulate the judicial process.” Williams said the Justice Department could not claim the deal it made with the Trumps was a judicial agreement.

At 7:32 Saturday morning, Trump posted: “If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED. Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT”

New York Times, News Analysis: Trump’s Meddling in Justice Dept. Causes Problems of His Own Making, Alan Feuer, Aug. 3, 2026. In the past week alone, President Trump’s interference has imperiled one criminal case, set the stage for sanctions in a second and hindered the confirmation chances of his pick for attorney general.

From the moment President Trump was re-elected, he has muscled his way into the driver’s seat at the Justice Department, leaving tread marks on its time-honored independence from the White House by demanding, and sometimes directing, investigations into his enemies.

But his tight grip on the steering wheel has often threatened to lead the department off a cliff.

Last week offered a particularly vivid portrait of the consequences of Mr. Trump’s meddling, which, in the span of only a few days, imperiled one criminal case, set the stage for sanctions in a second and gummed up the chances that his pick for attorney general will be confirmed by the Senate.

Mr. Trump has long believed that he is his own best adviser and that, as the leader of the executive branch, he enjoys complete control over the agencies beneath him. But there is a reason the department in charge of federal law enforcement has traditionally stood outside of the president’s personal purview, said Norman L. Eisen, a lawyer involved in some of the recent cases who, earlier in his career, worked on the Obama administration’s “no contact” policy with the Justice Department.

“When presidents meddle in the department,” Mr. Eisen said, “it tends to disrupt its normal functioning.”

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion:In His Tax Fraud Appeal, Donald Trump Says His Failsons Are Just Like Hunter Biden, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 3, 2026. I’m genuinely delighted not just that Trump has appealed Judge Kathleen Williams’ order imposing sanctions for the fraud he conducted in her court, but how he has asked for a stay in her ruling, to which she responded by asking the amici she appointed to weigh in again.

THIS MATTER is before the Court on the Expedited Motion to Stay the Sanctions Order and Related Proceedings Pending Appeal (DE 114 ) (“Motion”), filed by Plaintiffs President Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and The Trump Organization, LLC, together with their attorneys Alejandro Brito and Daniel Epstein. In the twenty-four-page Motion, Plaintiffs and their attorneys seek a stay of the Court’s July 13, 2026 Order (DE 106 ) pending appeal and request an expedited ruling from this Court by August 5, 2026. Accordingly, and in light of the fact that Defendants do not intend to appear or file a response to the Motion, the Court requests that the amici curiae previously appointed by the Court on April 29, 2026 (DE 43 )–John Gleeson, David A. O’Neil, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Faith E. Gay, Philippe Z. Selendy, and Corey Stoughton–submit a response identifying relevant legal authority and addressing the multiple issues raised in Plaintiffs’ and their attorneys’ Motion to assist the Court in resolving this matter.

We’re in the Make Attorneys Get Attorneys stage of things, but a single lawyer — DLA Piper’s Chris Oprison — appears to be representing both Trump’s lawyers who were sanctioned, Alejandro Brito and Daniel Epstein, and Trump, his corporate person, and his failsons, replicating one of the problems in the initial suit, the treatment of purportedly different entities as one.

The motion is, in part, a messaging vehicle (of the sort Trump has already been sanctioned for in SDFL). It mentions the word “collusion” (which, based on Xitter traffic, has probably been sent out to propagandists to repeat over and over) 12 times, even though Williams only used it (three times) in her opinion to refer to accusations 35 former government officials made — just twice — in their own intervention. even though Williams spoke of improper purpose and the government officials spoke of fraud.

Settlement became proof of collusion, even though there was none, potential (weak) defenses became proof that the claims were fictitious, which they were not, and ordinary professional relationships became proof of coordination, which did not exist.

[snip]

On May 29, 2026, the Court ordered Plaintiffs to brief their position on certain issues, “including (1) the charges of collusion and whether the Parties are truly adverse; (2) the assertion that the dismissal in this case was premised on deception by the Parties; and (3) the question of whether the case should be reopened because the Court was the ‘victim of a fraud.’”

[snip]

The Sanctions Order’s incorrect findings of collusion, improper purpose, and bad faith all flowed from its threshold legal error on Article III adversity.

[snip]

Moreover, disagreement over an “unprecedented” constitutional question cannot support findings of collusion, improper purpose, and bad faith—much less career-altering sanctions against counsel for advancing the contrary view

[snip]

The Court appointed six amici, devoted nearly thirty pages to the issue, and then wrongly declared the contrary position “so obvious and so insurmountable” that advancing it established collusion, improper purpose, and bad faith.

[snip]

The Sanctions Order’s Purported Indicia of Collusion Do Not Support Its Findings, But Rather Repackage Its Erroneous Theory of Adversity

Every circumstance the Sanctions Order incorrectly invoked as evidence of collusion is consistent with a genuine controversy resolved by settlement.

[snip]

The duration and docket volume of unrelated cases do not establish collusion here.

[snip]

Plaintiffs filed on January 29, 2026. The Sanctions Order nevertheless wrongly treated counsel’s appearance at Littlejohn’s October 2023 plea hearing as notice to every Plaintiff of every disclosure, without addressing the later IRS notices. At most, that theory supplied a disputed limitations defense. See Aloe Vera of Am., Inc. v. United States, 699 F.3d 1153, 1160 (9th Cir. 2012) (The date of discovery applies to “knowledge of each particular disclosure” rather than “by a single generalized event.”); Bancroft Glob. Dev. v. United States, 330 F. Supp. 3d 82, 95-97 (D.D.C. 2018) (refusing to dismiss a complaint on statute of limitations grounds). This did not establish knowing misconduct or collusion.

The remaining circumstances are further removed from collusion.

[snip]

With respect to Mr. Brito, the Court acknowledged that he “did not sign the ‘settlement agreement,’ but his name appears on it,” which is not evidence to support any erroneous finding of collusion, nor can it rightfully serve to support the Court’s sanctions against Mr. Brito.

[snip]

The May 29 Order directed Plaintiffs to respond to accusations of collusion, adversity, deception, and fraud on the Court. D.E.65 at 2-3. It never ordered Mr. Brito or Mr. Epstein to show cause. It never identified any act by either Attorney as sanctionable. It never advised their professional standing, bar status, or ability to practice in this District was at stake.

The entire motion argues a straw man, collusion, rather than addressing the question at issue, whether there was any adversity between the parties.

It does so in a filing that dodges the primary issue: Whether Donald Trump, with the claims of authority he has made in both the Slaughter case (where he won the right to fire people granted independence by Congress) and an Executive Order signed at the beginning of his term, can claim to be adverse from his own DOJ. The stay request doesn’t mention either of those.

Instead, Oprison (who as Associate White House Counsel helped George W Bush defend against the US Attorney firing scandal) relies heavily on US v Nixon, a case in which there was an Independent Counsel of the sort that Trump — and Aileen Cannon in this District — ruled was unlawful, though he quoted it just once.

The cases that actually govern this dispute confirm adversity. Nixon requires courts to “look behind names that symbolize the parties to determine whether a justiciable case or controversy is presented.” 418 U.S. at 693. For that reason, Nixon found adversity between the President in his personal capacity and an instrumentality of the Executive Branch.

In fact, the part of Nixon that Oprison quotes actually supports Judge Williams, because it describes precisely the kind of analysis she did to find that there was no adversity between Trump and the Executive he has made far more unitary than it was in 1974 (when Nixon was issued) or 2006 (when Oprison argued Bush could fire Senate confirmed US Attorneys).

He views the present dispute as essentially a “jurisdictional” dispute within the Executive Branch which he analogizes to a dispute between two congressional committees. Since the Executive Branch has exclusive authority and absolute discretion to decide whether to prosecute a case, Confiscation Cases, 7 Wall. 454 (1869); United States v. Cox, 342 F.2d 167, 171 (CA5), cert. denied sub nom. Cox v. Hauber, 381 U.S. 935 (1965), it is contended that a President’s decision is final in determining what evidence is to be used in a given criminal case. Although his counsel concedes that the President ha delegated certain specific powers to the Special Prosecutor, he has not “waived nor delegated to the Special Prosecutor the President’s duty to claim privilege as to all materials . . . which fall within the President’s inherent authority to refuse to disclose to any executive officer.” Brief for the President 42. The Special Prosecutor’s demand for the items therefore presents, in the view of the President’s counsel, a political question under Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186 (1962), since it involves a “textually demonstrable” grant of power under Art. II.

The mere assertion of a claim of an “intra-branch dispute,” without more, has never operated to defeat federal jurisdiction; justiciability does not depend on such a surface inquiry. In United States v. ICC, 337 U. S. 426 (1949), the Court observed, “courts must look behind names that symbolize the parties to determine whether a justiciable case or controversy is presented.” Id. at 337 U. S. 430. [my emphasis]

The motion for a stay mentions Charles Littlejohn — the guy who, under Donald Trump, leaked the tax returns of Trump that all previous Presidents have released willingly — 25 times in the filing. It mentions Alina Habba, whose intervention in Littlejohn’s sentencing triggered the statute of limitations, just twice, and neither time by name, making it impossible, in theory, to distinguish her from the counsels appealing because they — like Habba before them — got sanctioned for their bullshit lawsuit.

In reaching that conclusion, the Sanctions Order wrongly treated the claims of the other plaintiffs—Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and The Trump Organization—as “parenthetical” to those of President Trump. Id. at 22 n.29. The Sanctions Order did not separately analyze those Plaintiffs’ injuries, statutory claims, or notice of the disclosures. The Court also concluded that Plaintiffs’ claims were untimely, incorrectly measuring the limitations period from the appearance of President Trump’s counsel at Littlejohn’s plea hearing, without regard to when each Plaintiff received IRS notice of the disclosures at issue. Id. at 5, 37. The Court relied on judicially noticed news reports, public commentary, and other materials outside the record to find information and make erroneous conclusions about the Parties’ and the Attorneys’ motives.

[snip]

The Sanctions Order’s statute of limitations analysis also fails. D.E.106 at 5, 24 n.31, 37, 43, 50. The Complaint alleged separate discovery dates for each Plaintiff, beginning with President Trump’s January 29, 2024, IRS notice and extending into 2026 for The Trump Organization. D.E.1 ¶¶ 76-86. Plaintiffs filed on January 29, 2026. The Sanctions Order nevertheless wrongly treated counsel’s appearance at Littlejohn’s October 2023 plea hearing as notice to every Plaintiff of every disclosure, without addressing the later IRS notices. At most, that theory supplied a disputed limitations defense. See Aloe Vera of Am., Inc. v. United States, 699 F.3d 1153, 1160 (9th Cir. 2012) (The date of discovery applies to “knowledge of each particular disclosure” rather than “by a single generalized event.”); Bancroft Glob. Dev. v. United States, 330 F. Supp. 3d 82, 95-97 (D.D.C. 2018) (refusing to dismiss a complaint on statute of limitations grounds). This did not establish knowing misconduct or collusion.

And it’s in that context in which Oprison makes a stupid move in his otherwise best point. In her opinion, Judge Williams dispensed with Trump’s corporate person and his spawn in a footnote, in significant part because then, as now, they are not treating themselves as a party distinct from Trump.

29 Counsel for Plaintiffs points to the other Plaintiffs—Donald J. Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, LLC—as having separate, disinterested claims from those of President Trump, establishing a viable case or controversy. However, these Plaintiffs share the same attorney, the same parent company, and the same parent and have not espoused any different or distinct view of this matter or this “Settlement.” Accordingly, the Court will treat their role as parenthetical to that of Lead Plaintiff President Trump.

Williams’ logic may be sound, but this was a rather cavalier treatment. Oprison relies heavily on any separate claims the failsons might have to argue there was adversity that never manifested in the IRS lawsuit.

But then he invokes Hunter Biden — the lawsuit Hunter filed because IRS investigators splayed his records all over creation, including on TV, which Littlejohn never did, but which he dropped because he went broke.

Further, the Sanctions Order’s theory is indefensible as to Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and The Trump Organization. None exercised authority over the IRS or Treasury. Yet the Court wrongly treated their claims as “parenthetical” because of shared counsel, family or corporate ties, and a common litigation position with the President. D.E.106 at 22 n.29. That reasoning would disable all Presidents’ family, friends, former colleagues, and affiliated businesses from asserting private rights against the Executive Branch whenever their interests align with the Executive Branch. That is untenable. Article III does not extinguish private statutory rights through association with the President. See, e.g., Biden v. IRS, No. 1:23-cv-02711-TJK (D.D.C. filed Sept. 18, 2023) (suit by Hunter Biden against the IRS, during President Biden’s term, for the alleged unauthorized disclosure of his tax-return information).

And I’m interested in that not just because this is a totally inapt example. Hunter didn’t file with his Daddy, after all. He paid — or rather stiffed, which is the matter of ongoing litigation — his own lawyer in the case. The disgruntled IRS agents didn’t reveal Joe Biden’s tax returns because … they were already public. And Hunter was prosecuted using the kind of protections against unitary government that Trump has completely destroyed.

Hunter Biden never got to avenge the mistreatment of him by the IRS because he went broke. But now Oprison has invited him to tell that story, to explain (as Hunter has been doing non-stop on Xitter of late) how he was never even accused of the kinds of corruption the Trump failsons commit on a daily basis. He certainly never got to lay out how Donald Trump personally intervened in the criminal case against him with both Bill Barr and Jeffrey Rosen, a violation of the same law, 26 CFR 7217, that Williams raised to describe the criminal violations at issue here.

After Rudy released the “laptop,” President Trump led chants of “Lock him up” about Hunter Biden.In the wake of the laptop release in mid-October 2020, Trump raised the Hunter prosecution with Bill Barr.Bill Barr admitted having personal knowledge of how information from Scott Brady got shared with Weiss’ team, including on October 23.In December 2020, after the investigation into Hunter was publicly revealed as a tax investigation but while Trump was still President, Trump tweeted twice more about the investigation.On December 27, 2020, in the same hours-long phone call where Trump first floated replacing Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, Trump also raised the Hunter Biden investigation.During his January 6 speech, Trump claimed that if more people had known about the contents of the “laptop,” he would have won and he also taunted, “Where’s Hunter?”Trump posted about Hunter on March 31, 2023 after learning about the Alvin Bragg indictment.Trump posted about the Hunter Biden plea deal three times on the day it was released on June 20, 2023, in one case calling it “The Hunter/Joe Biden settlement.”On June 24, after the IRS agents’ transcripts were released, Trump made two more posts suggesting allegations against Hunter tied to Joe.On June 26, Trump linked to a post falsely claiming that Hunter had shared classified documents with “foreign regimes.”

Like all else with this lawsuit and much of what Trump has done lately, I’m not sure Trump is going to like where this could go.

Fox News, Hunter Biden claims under oath that his family is broke amid fight over $17M legal bill, Robert Schmad, Aug. 1, 2026. A deposition transcript reveals Biden owes $17M to law firm Winston Taylor for criminal and congressional defense work

Hunter Biden concedes he shouldn't have joined Burisma board when pressed on validity of allegations

Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, said during an interview on the ‘Arm Chair Expert’ podcast Tuesday he should have never taken the job on Burisma's board.

In a recently released deposition transcript, Hunter Biden claimed his family is broke and he’s being crushed by legal fees.

The deposition is related to an ongoing lawsuit between Biden and firm Winston Taylor for unpaid legal bills. Winston Taylor, which has a history of representing leading Democrats, claims the Biden scion owes it $17 million from representing him in criminal prosecutions, congressional investigations and defamation suits against his critics.

"My family doesn't have any money, and it's not their debt anyway," he said, according to the transcript. "I don't own anything of any value other than — and I don't know the value of it — my paintings which I painted myself. So, that's it. And I don't even have any other assets at all — stocks, bonds, anything like that, savings accounts."

Claims that the Biden family may be strapped for cash are reflected in other reporting.

The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2025 that former President Joe Biden is having far more trouble cashing in on his time in the White House than his predecessors.

Upon leaving office, the former president had accrued roughly $800,000 in personal debt and was burdened with increased property taxes on their $2.7 million Delaware home, according to a source familiar with his finances. Biden also has had trouble booking paid speaking engagements, a common source of funds for former presidents, owing to his unpopularity and fears of angering President Donald Trump.

Claims that the Biden family may be strapped for cash are reflected in other reporting. (Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press )

Former President Joe Biden, however, pulls in more than $400,000 a year in government pensions from his time in Congress and the White House, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

Hunter Biden’s claimed lack of assets follows years of partying and substance abuse.

The former president’s son reportedly spent large sums of cash on crack cocaine, alcohol, stays at luxury hotels, prostitutes and expensive jewelry for his brother’s widow, whom he was romantically involved with. His spending habits could help explain how he blew through the wealth he accumulated selling paintings and pulling in a seven-figure salary while employed by the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

"I don't have any assets. I don't own a car. I don't own a phone," Biden said in the deposition, which took place in February but was released by Biden’s new lawyers in recent days.

Biden argues that Winston Taylor knew he would be unable to pay his legal fees when it agreed to take him on as a client and claims the parties agreed to "work something out." The law firm, meanwhile, says that it tried to connect Biden with donors in the Democratic ecosystem to help him cover his legal bills.

The younger Biden won a comparatively small legal victory in July when a judge awarded him $1.7 million in a defamation suit. Winston Taylor, however, has sought to put a lien on the judgment, and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who was ruled against, is believed to be overseas, making collection complicated.

Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

A selection from images posted by President Trump on Aug. 1 as he devoted much of his workday to grandiose self-promotion and macho war-making fantasies.

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump is a very sick man, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 2, 2026. At 9:23 this morning (Saturday, Aug. 1), the White House abruptly dismissed the press traveling with the president of the United States while he was away for the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. With the cameras now gone, just three hours later at 12:32 p.m., Donald Trump would share the first of 42 posts on Truth Social in a span of less than 3 hours and 15 minutes.

The president’s public meltdown began when he posted his disappointment with one of his appointees, “I don’t know what she was thinking?” before he jumped straight into more delusional and dangerous images. Among the flood of posts, he shared an AI-generated image of himself kissing Jesus on a golden crucifix. He shared a “TRUMP 2028” campaign poster, a fake image of himself walking beside a handcuffed alien on a military base, and a renewed threat to invade Greenland.

He didn’t stop there. He posted a painting of himself as the commanding general, leading Revolutionary War soldiers into battle with his mouth open in a battle cry, while flames consumed the battlefield behind him, and a battered American flag flew overhead. This is how he sees himself. Not as a president spending the weekend at his golf course, but as a warrior king leading his nation into battle, one he would have never had the courage to actually fight in. That fantasy is not harmless, because right now he is leading us deeper into a real war where real people have died.

He also shared a fake image of his face merged with President George Washington’s, split straight down the middle, under the words “250 Years / In God We Trust.” It was a deliberate attempt to place himself alongside the founder of the American republic. Because he sees himself as his equal and inseparable from the nation itself. He’s saying he is Washington and he is the republic.

He posted a map of South America with Venezuela filled in as an American flag and labeled “51st State.” He shared an actual photograph of himself stepping out of a golf cart, hunched forward, a white USA hat in his hand, looking every single day of his eighty years, but with the caption “President Trump ages in reverse!”

Then there was the created image of himself as Elvis Presley in his iconic white rhinestone jumpsuit, with a deep V-neck and with his chest exposed, and a bald eagle embroidered across his heart. In it, Trump, masquerading as Elvis, stands in front of a microphone as though he is about to perform for a waiting crowd. And I couldn’t help but think about the irony of Trump choosing Elvis in this moment, knowing that he spent his final years overmedicated and isolated, surrounded by enablers who told him what he wanted to hear while his body and mind deteriorated. And how Elvis died alone in a bathroom at Graceland while the people closest to him pretended everything was fine. If Trump was trying to choose a metaphor for where he is right now, he could not have picked a more accurate one.

He just kept going. He posted an image of himself as a young man in a military school uniform, seated across a table from present-day Trump, with the caption “Same Guy. Even more energy now!” Present-day Trump is staring adorably at younger Trump. But what the image actually shows is the distance between who he was and who he has become. The young man in the uniform is upright, sharp, but not too far away from bone spurs and draft deferments. The man sitting across from him is eighty years old, and struggling. The fact that he felt compelled to post this, to insist publicly that nothing has changed, tells us everything about what he is afraid of. People who are fine do not need to prove they are fine. People who are declining do.

Trump’s distraction machine was on overdrive today, but none of these were without at least some truth. Like the creepy image of himself looming over a small Greenlandic village, peering down from the clouds, captioned “Hello, Greenland!” He has shared this one multiple times before, but we can’t dismiss it as just a distraction. It is a threat with real consequences. And when taken in the context of what he said just yesterday: that the United States will have “operational control” of Greenland before he leaves office, we have to believe he is serious. Denmark, a NATO ally whose territory Greenland is, has said no over and over again. The people of Greenland have said no. But accepting no to anything is not something Donald Trump is known for. The President of the United States posted an image of himself hovering over the homes of people of a sovereign nation, like a predator surveying prey, because he thinks the entire island and everyone on it already belongs to him. This is what Trump’s imperialist dreams look like.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Author of Democrats’ 2024 Autopsy Says Party Left Out Key Chapter, Shane Goldmacher, Aug. 3, 2026. A dispute over the chapter between the author and the Democratic National Committee has added to the party’s turmoil as it tries to look forward, not backward.

After months of resistance, the Democratic National Committee finally relented this May and published a draft of its autopsy of what had gone wrong in the 2024 election, saying it was releasing the unfinished document “in its entirety” in the interest of transparency.

But, according to the man who wrote the autopsy, there was a missing chapter.

The chapter raised pointed questions that were notably absent from the draft that the party put out, both about President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ill-fated decision to run for re-election and the sway of an operative class that had become “generationally wealthy off politics” while steering Democratic strategy.

Paul Rivera, the author of the autopsy, provided the chapter to The New York Times and spoke publicly for the first time about the party’s efforts to analyze its 2024 losses. Both he and party officials agreed that the process had been messy and at times contentious. He said that the draft released by the party had been compiled from work he submitted in November and December.

But he said that the draft omitted a chapter titled “What Happened in 2024,” which he said he had printed out and placed in a three-ring binder that he personally handed to the party’s chairman, Ken Martin, in January.

Mr. Martin sharply disputed that account, denying in a written statement that he was ever provided with the missing chapter.

“That is false,” Mr. Martin said. “This alleged report section was not in any binder I reviewed.” He added, “If we had this in May, we would have released it with the rest of the report.” He declined a request to be interviewed.

The disputed “What Happened” chapter addressed several politically delicate subjects that were not included in the draft the party published in May:

It questioned Mr. Biden’s decision to seek re-election in the first place: “Is there a single point of failure for 2024? Perhaps it is a decision of the President to seek re-election instead of passing the torch.”

It analyzed the party’s loss of support among Hispanic, Black, Asian American and Native American voters, which had been mostly missing from the public draft.

And it pointedly raised the concern that most senior Democratic strategists in 2024 were “financially secure” and thus removed from the challenges facing many Americans. “It is therefore possible the people ‘in the room’ at the highest levels of 2024 decision making misunderstood the mood and practicalities facing everyday America,” the report read.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: GOP Sheep to the Midterm Slaughter, Bill Kristol, Andrew Egger and Joshua Tait, Aug. 3, 2026. How much of an eyesore will Donald Trump’s coveted Triumphal Arch be?

A National Park Service assessment found that the planned 250-foot arch will intrude on the views from “dozens of historic sites around the capital,” per new reporting from the Washington Post. But look on the bright side: Think of all the flexibility you’ll have finding a good seat to watch them knock it down later. Happy Monday.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: Of Lemons and Lemonade, William Kristol, right, Aug. 3, 2026. I’ve never had much interest in Dale Carnegie, the relentlessly upbeat and optimistic American self-help guru. I’ve ignored advice during my time in Washington that I could benefit from studying his 1936 bestseller, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." I’ve resisted the counsel of some friends, concerned for my well-being in the age of Trump, to take a look at his 1948 treatise, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living."

I’m too old to change my ways. No Dale Carnegie for me.

But perhaps some Democratic politicians could benefit from a dose of Dale? They are, after all, in the business of trying to win friends and influence people.

They might take a glance at the famous passage from How to Stop Worrying on lemons and lemonade. Carnegie warns against the attitude of the person who, finding life has handed him a lemon, gives up and says: “I’m beaten. It is fate. I haven’t got a chance.” Then, Carnegie writes, “He proceeds to rail against the world and indulge in an orgy of self pity.”

By contrast, Carnegie explains—using a phrase he helped popularize—when a wise man is handed a lemon, he asks, “How can I turn this lemon into a lemonade?”

Late last night, the American people were handed a lemon: A capitulation by Republican senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina that makes confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general likely. Blanche provided them a fig leaf, a written order formally rescinding the proposed $1.8 billion fund for alleged victims of political prosecutions and a statement allegedly limiting the provision of the agreement that shields Trump, his sons, and their businesses from tax claims.

These assurances will presumably be enough for Blanche to make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday on a straight party-line vote. He’s then likely—though not certain—to get the 50 votes he’ll need to be confirmed by the whole Senate, probably at the end of the week.

So this lemon will be added to a whole bushel of other lemons in Trump’s cabinet. Todd Blanche will join Jay Clayton, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Markwayne Mullin as confirmed leaders of the key national security agencies of Trump’s executive branch. Having loyal and determined apparatchiks like them in positions of real power for the next two and a half years is not a good thing.

On the other hand: There is lemonade to be made here. Trump’s polls have been sinking. Republicans are almost certain to lose the House this fall, and the Senate majority is up for grabs. Democratic control of both houses would help check Trump’s authoritarian schemes. And the fact that the entire Senate Republican conference will have to cast a high-visibility vote to confirm Todd Blanche can help in turning the Senate Democratic.

Assuming Mitch McConnell remains absent, Republicans can only afford two defections in the Senate. They may lose Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. So incumbent GOP senators in tossup or somewhat contested races, like Jon Husted in Ohio, Dan Sullivan in Alaska, Ashley Moody in Florida, Roger Marshall in Kansas, and Pete Ricketts in Nebraska will have to vote to confirm Blanche. And Republican candidates in open seats like Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, and Montana will presumably have to express support for Blanche.

It’s possible there will be a revolt among a few GOP senators against this man who sought to shovel taxpayer money to the January 6th assailants, who has initiated and presided over blatantly political prosecutions, and who was at the very center of the Jeffrey Epstein coverup. On this last front, Epstein survivor Dani Bensky put it bluntly last week: “You can’t say that you want to make sure that sex offenders and sex traffickers are behind bars and then vote for him. Every vote for Blanche is really a vote against survivors.”

If there is a revolt and Blanche loses, it will be an embarrassment for Trump. But if Blanche is confirmed, it could do more damage to Republicans. It will be visible proof, if proof were still needed, that if Republicans are left in control of the Senate, there will be no check on Trump’s coverups and corruption and lawlessness.

So Democrats need to make this next week as visible and painful for the GOP as possible. They should drag out matters on the Senate floor to keep the issue of Blanche front and center as long as possible, and then hammer his confirmation during the recess as a key example of the truth that a Republican Senate will never stand up to Trump.

I see only one obstacle to this exercise in lemonade-making. Needless to say, it’s been created by the Democrats themselves. Yesterday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Appropriations Committee vice chair Patty Murray announced their support for a continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11. They envision cooperating with Republicans to bring it to the floor and pass it this week.

Leave aside that, in my judgment, it’s a bad agreement on substance—with no restrictions on Trump’s war, on lawlessness at the Justice Department, or on the behavior of ICE agents.

But it’s also politically foolish. Funding for the government doesn’t run out for two more months. There’s plenty of time to deal with this question in September. Why allow Republican senators to go home for recess taking credit for a bipartisan budget deal? Why give them what they will tout as an example of successful bipartisan governance under Republican leadership?

This shouldn’t be complicated: First, Democratic senators should kill the deal on the continuing resolution. Then they need to use the Blanche confirmation to highlight the truth that a Republican Senate will simply be a rubber stamp for Trump over the next two years. Todd Blanche may well get confirmed. But if they don’t get in their own way, Democrats can turn that sour lemon into sweet, tart lemonade.

New York Times, Michigan’s Tense Democratic Senate Race Poses a Big Test for a Divided Party, Reid J. Epstein and Sam Easter, Aug. 3, 2026. Progressives hope momentum by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed will give them a signature victory. Centrists warn that picking him will backfire in November. Acrimony is everywhere.

Democrats’ nastiest, most expensive Senate primary will culminate on Tuesday in Michigan, a pivotal midterm battleground where an insurgent progressive is looking to defeat an establishment-backed moderate in a contest serving as a referendum on the party’s future.

The race between Representative Haley Stevens and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, is charged by tensions over Israel, how to fight President Trump and the G.O.P., and what makes a candidate electable. The result will factor into the fight for Senate control in November, and may have ramifications that extend to the next presidential contest.

While polls conducted the last month have shown uncertainty in the competition, several recent public surveys showed Dr. El-Sayed leading, and he is increasingly seen by Democrats as the favorite as voters prepare to make their picks. In the final stretch, the candidates are speaking about each other in sharply critical terms. Their supporters can be even more severe.

“It’s the threats. It’s the ugliness,” said Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan, a Democrat who is neutral in the Senate primary. “You have to worry about security. You don’t know who could try to disrupt. Events are very scary right now.”

In a recent interview with Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, founder of MuslimGirl.com, Dr. El-Sayed called Ms. Stevens “the least capable candidate in America.” Ms. Stevens responded on social media in part by saying, “Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.”

The race has divided prominent Democrats and drawn a flood of outside money, nearly all of it to help Ms. Stevens, including more than $60 million in pro-Stevens super PAC ads.

For the Democratic Party’s left, the race is a chance to notch its most significant victory yet in a primary season when progressive, anti-establishment candidates have made inroads . For centrists, the race is an opportunity to steer the party toward what it sees as a stronger blueprint for November.ImageHaley Stevens speaks during a Get Out The Vote Rally for her Senate campaign at Local 98 in Madison Heights, Michigan on Sunday.Credit...Nic Antaya for The New York Times

Ms. Stevens, a moderate from the Detroit suburbs who was first elected in the 2018 Democratic wave, says she is best equipped to prevail in November against former Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate who does not face primary opposition. She and her allies are emphasizing her focus on Michigan and casting Dr. El-Sayed as someone more interested in his national image, with views that could alienate swing voters.

Dr. El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator if elected this fall, is a progressive who lost the 2018 primary for governor and in the years since has written a book and hosted a podcast. He is positioning himself as a champion for the working class and as a fighter against corporate interests. He wants to abolish ICE and is sharply critical of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which through its main super PAC has spent more than $30 million on ads backing Ms. Stevens.

In the final weekend of campaigning, the candidates traded more blows, with Dr. El-Sayed accusing Ms. Stevens of running a “flailing” campaign and Ms. Stevens arguing that she was the “only candidate who can keep Michigan blue.”

The harsh tenor of the race has the party on edge on the eve of the primary.

“It just strikes me that he’s maybe in a dark spot and throwing shots,” Ms. Stevens said of her rival during a recent interview at a campaign stop in Muskegon.

At a moment when Democrats across the country are in a fierce debate over Middle East policy, the two candidates could not be farther apart on what the U.S. relationship with Israel should look like.

Ms. Stevens says she does not believe that Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have committed genocide in Gaza. She voted to continue funding Israel’s military without conditions and makes no apology for the millions AIPAC has spent on her behalf.

“If she was running against Benjamin Netanyahu, I wouldn’t even consider her,” said Osama A. Siblani, the publisher of The Arab American News in Dearborn. “Haley Stevens is a miserable person. She is a loser. She should not be in the Senate.”ImageAbdul El-Sayed speaking to protesters in Romulus, Mich., in June.Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Dr. El-Sayed said in an interview last month that he did not believe that Israel should exist as a Jewish state. When a suburban Detroit synagogue was attacked in March, he released a video condemning the violence with a caveat noting it was inspired by Israel’s actions in the Middle East, which infuriated some local Jewish officials.

“We can and must condemn the attack on Temple Israel and we can and must condemn the violence 6,000 miles away,” Dr. El-Sayed said then. “And we can and must condemn the broken politics that allows leaders to make war that they pretend has no consequences.”

Jordan Acker, an elected University of Michigan regent who backs Ms. Stevens, said that if Dr. El-Sayed is elected to the Senate, Michigan’s Jewish community will be at risk.

“His language has allowed license for people to act against the Jewish community in this state,” Mr. Acker said. “Abdul has more work to do with reassuring the Jewish community in Michigan that they will be physically safe if Abdul is in government.”

Democrats have become increasingly critical of Israel in recent years, and Michigan’s primary will provide a fresh measure of views in the party.

AIPAC and its allies have flooded the airwaves with ads boasting of Ms. Stevens’s ties to former President Barack Obama (she worked on his rescue of the Detroit automobile industry) and bashing Dr. El-Sayed for once writing a skeptical opinion essay about Michelle Obama.

“The role of AIPAC spending in this race is a symbol of the broader problem,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, the center-left Jewish lobby that endorsed a third candidate in the race, Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out in early July. “It’s been really destructive. We think this level of engagement is not in any way good for Israel.”A bitter contest and divergent strategies

Both sides agree on one thing: Holding the Michigan seat being vacated by Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring after two terms, is essential for any hopes of winning a Senate majority in November. Democrats must retain their seats and flip at least four Republican-held ones to take control of the chamber.

New York Times, Kay Granger, Pathbreaking Texas Congresswoman, Dies at 83, Katharine Q. Seelye, Aug. 3, 2026. She was the first Republican woman from the state to be elected to Congress. It caused a stir in 2024 when she was discovered to be residing in a senior living facility while still in office.

Kay Granger, the first Republican woman from Texas to be elected to Congress, who went on to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee, died on Sunday at her home in Fort Worth. She was 83.

Her son J.D. Granger said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.

Ms. Granger left Washington in 2024, during her final year in the House, and moved into an independent living facility in Fort Worth — an arrangement that her office did not disclose for months.

When a conservative website broke the news in December 2024, Ms. Granger’s son Brandon told The Dallas Morning News that she had been experiencing “dementia issues.” In a statement at the time, Ms. Granger said she had been navigating “unforeseen health challenges that have progressed since September and made travel to D.C. difficult.”

The news caused a stir in Washington, coming as several older members of Congress also faced health issues and the Republican majority in the House was razor-thin.

Ms. Granger was a local Republican official in Fort Worth and the city’s first female mayor before she was elected to Congress in 1996, when she won the seat once held by former Speaker Jim Wright, a Democrat. She served for nearly three decades and became the dean of the Texas delegation, the largest state delegation in the Republican conference.

She was a member of the Appropriations Committee for most of that time, rising to become the committee’s ranking Republican and, for about a year, its chairwoman.

A defense hawk, Ms. Granger steered lucrative contracts to the major defense manufacturers in her district, including Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin, which built the much-debated F-35 fighter jet there. She established a reputation as an influential defender of the F-35, saying the jet was critical to the nation’s national security despite its exorbitant price.ImageKay Granger speaking into a microphone onstage. An F-35 plane is positioned behind her.Ms. Granger speaking at a Lockheed Martin F-35 production facility in Fort Worth in 2015. A defense hawk, she steered lucrative contracts to the major defense manufacturers in her district.Credit...Laura Buckman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In October 2023, at 80, she announced she would not seek re-election in 2024, without specifying a reason. But her colleagues told reporters that as someone who had long favored robust spending on defense, she was frustrated by far-right Republicans who wanted to limit spending and focus on hot-button cultural issues.

In April 2024, Ms. Granger stepped down as Appropriations chairwoman. She said she wanted to give the committee time to make a seamless transition for the coming fiscal year.

She appeared at the Capitol in November 2024 for a ceremony honoring her tenure on the committee. The next month, The Dallas Express, a conservative website, reported that Ms. Granger had been residing in the independent living facility for several months. She had not voted in Washington since July.

New York Times, Max Miller,, Accused of Abuse, Is Not Stepping Aside. Here’s What We Know, Annie Karni, Aug. 3, 2026. The Ohio Republican who is seeking a third term defiantly denied domestic abuse allegations ahead of a deadline to replace him on the ballot.

Representative Max Miller, the Ohio Republican whose re-election campaign is in jeopardy amid allegations that he abused his ex-wife and toddler daughter, defiantly denied those claims on Sunday and refused to drop out of his race for a third term.

In a livestream that lasted about 20 minutes, Mr. Miller appeared agitated and at times seemed to be laboring to read from a script as he categorically denied the accusations by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno.

The lengthy public statement prompted Ms. Moreno’s father, Senator Bernie Moreno, also an Ohio Republican, to issue a public rebuke of Mr. Miller, saying for the first time after a yearslong legal battle that his son-in-law was not fit to serve in Congress.

The intraparty family conflict has burst into public view days before a Wednesday deadline for replacing Mr. Miller on the ballot in the election for a seat that was once considered a lock for Republicans but now appears competitive.What are the accusations against Max Miller?

Mr. Miller and Ms. Moreno divorced in 2024 and have battled in court ever since in a custody battle that has included accusations of child abuse, stalking and the filing of restraining orders.

Ms. Moreno has said that Mr. Miller scalded her chest and stomach by throwing hot water from a skillet at her body; held a gun to her head; pushed her against a wall and hit her head; and fractured their daughter’s collarbone and bruised her shoulder.

According to court documents, their daughter at one point told Ms. Moreno, “Daddy kill you.”

Mr. Miller has denied the charges and leveled his own against Ms. Moreno. He has said without evidence that his wife suffers from “significant mental health challenges” and called her a liar, a stalker and a dangerous individual who has made him and their daughter unsafe.

In his appearance on Sunday, Mr. Miller also contended that Ms. Moreno’s claims were not credible because she at times made friendly overtures to him after the episodes of alleged abuse.

“If I had assaulted her,” he said, “would she have offered to cook me dinner six days later?”

He also noted that he retained joint custody of their daughter after years of legal battles, citing that as proof that the courts do not consider him a threat to his family.

“If these accusations were true, I would be in jail,” he said.How has Senator Bernie Moreno responded?

For months, Mr. Moreno remained silent in the face disturbing details that emerged from court documents that alleged abuse against his daughter and granddaughter. In recent days, he has been heavily criticized online for failing to call for Mr. Miller to resign or end his re-election campaign, in what Democrats said was a sign of allegiance to his party over his own family.

But on Sunday, after Mr. Miller’s defiant livestream, Mr. Moreno broke his silence in an emotional and unequivocal post on social media that hinted at the personal toll the saga has taken on his family.

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Mr. Moreno wrote. He added, “I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”

He continued: “He should not serve in the House of Representatives. I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”

Mr. Moreno, people close to him said, has been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for the litigation against Mr. Miller, and had been held back from speaking out against him by his daughter.How have other Republicans responded?

Most Republicans have not criticized Mr. Miller or called for his resignation, many of them noting that the allegations against him have not been proved.

The politics are clear: Republicans are keenly aware that every seat matters as they stare down an electoral map that shows them at risk of losing their House majority. Mr. Miller holds a seat in Ohio’s Seventh Congressional District, once a reliable Republican stronghold that Mr. Trump won by double digits in 2024.

It is not clear whether Mr. Moreno’s unequivocal denunciation of Mr. Miller’s fitness for office will change that in the coming days.

Speaker Mike Johnson has so far sidestepped questions about the situation by noting that any such claims should work their way through an official process run by the House Ethics Committee.

“The key word there is ‘allegation,’” Mr. Johnson has said of Mr. Miller’s case. Mr. Johnson’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday about Mr. Moreno’s denunciation of Mr. Miller.

New York Times, What Kind of Democrat Does It Take to Win in Conservative Kansas? Mitch Smith, Aug. 3, 2026. In a conservative state with a history of electing Democratic governors, the debate over which brand of Democrat can win sounds different.

Kansas Democrats are used to losing.

No Democrat has carried the state in a presidential election since the 1960s. Nearly a century has passed since a Kansas Democrat won a U.S. Senate election. And not only are far more Republican voters registered in Kansas than Democrats, Democrats are also outnumbered by voters with no party affiliation at all.

Still, something unusual happens when Kansans elect a governor: They often pick a Democrat.

With a two-term incumbent, Gov. Laura Kelly, barred by term limits from running again, Democratic primary voters are searching for her successor. Those voters know that it takes a particular kind of Democrat to win in Kansas, and that Republicans see the state as one of their best opportunities to flip a governorship.

Like in other places where Democrats are defending open seats, the three-way race for the Kansas nomination has been defined by questions of electability, party values and how to navigate the Trump era. But unlike other primaries across the country that have pitted more moderate Democrats against democratic socialists, including for U.S. House in New York and governor in Wisconsin, the debate in Kansas has played out across a much narrower ideological spectrum.

In interviews across Kansas, Democratic voters said they were looking for a candidate who has broad enough appeal to win centrist and even conservative voters in November. But as they rattled off their fears about President Trump’s governance, some of those voters said they worried, too, about a blurry line between bipartisanship and capitulation.

“Here in Kansas, we all recognize that we have to nominate a moderate Democrat,” said Kelm Lear, who leads the Riley County Democratic Party and has not endorsed a candidate. “But we want to make sure that a moderate Democrat isn’t someone who will bend the knee on our core values.”

No matter who wins the primary on Tuesday, a difficult general election fight awaits.

On the Republican side, Mr. Trump has endorsed Ty Masterson, the president of the State Senate, who helped engineer overrides of dozens of Ms. Kelly’s vetoes on bills ranging from transgender issues to election policy. Billboards showing Mr. Trump and Mr. Masterson side by side are plastered along Interstate 35, and Mr. Masterson is seen as a front-runner in a competitive primary.

On paper, the Democratic candidates for governor seem a lot alike.

The two who have led in polling, Cindy Holscher and Ethan Corson, are both state senators from the same county in suburban Kansas City who largely hew to the party line on social issues. Both have been described as moderates. And both won in legislative districts that Republicans had previously carried. The third candidate, Mayor Curt Skoog of Overland Park, is also a suburbanite with moderate politics.

Despite their similarities, the candidates have run sharply contrasting campaigns that have won over very different types of Democratic voters, echoing in some ways a broader national fight over the party’s direction.

Ethan Corson, in a dark suit, leans forward to talk to a man seated on a pew.Mr. Corson campaigning at Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Wichita.Credit...Christopher Smith for The New York Times

Mr. Corson is seeking to replicate the middle-of-the-road playbook that Governor Kelly used to win in Kansas, in no small part by telling everyone he can that Ms. Kelly has endorsed him. He has defended Ms. Kelly’s efforts with Republicans to create incentives to draw large businesses to Kansas. And though he has pledged to stand up to the president when needed, Mr. Corson has also extolled the virtues of working across the political aisle.

Ms. Holscher has won over many in the progressive base by embracing economic populism and presenting herself as a rival of “the establishment.” She has called for a moratorium on data centers and criticized a Kelly-backed deal that provided incentives for the Kansas City Chiefs to move across the state line from Missouri. In an interview, she described some legislative Republicans in Kansas as “fascist.”

Even as Mr. Corson has racked up campaign donations and prominent endorsements, Ms. Holscher has led by large margins in the limited public polling of the race.

“She has been fighting,” said Christopher Renner, an educator who had already voted for Ms. Holscher, after listening to her address a few-dozen voters at a restaurant in Junction City.

Other voters saw Mr. Corson as a better, and perhaps safer, choice to maintain a lever of Democratic power. Being a Democratic governor in Kansas can be a complicated dance, particularly as Republicans hold supermajorities in the State Legislature.

Morning Shots via The Bulwark, Political Opinion: JD’s Roman Holiday, Joshua Tait, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Those of us who spend a lot of time observing right-wingers have been predicting an outbreak of internecine conflict. And lo, behold an outbreak of intra-Nicene conflict.

Certain sectors of the right are this close to dusting off images of mitre-headed bishop crocodiles ambling ashore to turn America into a Catholic theocracy. This isn’t a reaction to the first American pope; it’s a fight about the ideological makeup of right-wing elites and, as is often the case, Vice President JD Vance’s place among them. (It’s not even the only proxy fight about Vance among right-wing intellectuals right now.)

Vance, right, has a long-running game of footsie with post-liberalism and the theocratic Catholicism of “integralist” intellectuals like Adrian Vermeule, who may not have a large electoral coalition but have openly strategized about installing conservative Catholic elites in the government and administrative state. The aim is something like a government of, by, and for Catholic converts, and Vance is their blue-eyed boy.

As with so many right-wing dustups, this one involves an anonymous X account, “CappyAmerica,” which declared itself “Never Vance. Never the Post-liberal Papal Integralist Socialist thin-skinned jerk Vance.” (The account has about 1,300 followers.) The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles detected a “neo-Know-Nothing contempt for Catholics” in the anti-Vance tweet, comparing it to coded antisemitism. (This is news to me, a parishioner at my local church, as it would be to Cardinal Christophe Pierre, former apostolic nuncio to the United States, who issued a correction to key post-liberals by name.) Knowles in turn was mocked by non-integralist Catholic conservatives, who are able to easily distinguish their politics from aspiring theocrats. Thomas D. Howes, coauthor of Why Post-Liberalism Failed, commented: “Lol, no.” The Blaze’s Auron MacIntyre, a self-described “great respecter of the [anti-Catholic] Know-Nothing tradition” also rejected the comparison to antisemitism. Anti-Catholic authoritarians generally seem to see the post-liberals and integralists as rivals in their preferred authoritarian future.

Erick Erickson, who describes himself as a “Christian broadcaster” and “Conservative truth-teller,” didn’t really even seem to know what was going on, bless him.

But Knowles did have some allies. National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty and the activist Christopher Rufo, in a parallel social media spat, both weighed in to defend a sanitized version of the post-liberal position, which turned into a days-long debate over the meaning of “the Common Good.” Post-liberals and their defenders maintain that fostering the Common Good ought to be the authentic end of politics; critics recognize it’s an ideological Trojan horse for post-liberals’ coercive project.

These are mere skirmishes in a larger war dividing the religious right: the role of Holy Mother Church. While Catholicism may be struggling in the provinces, conversion and Mass attendance are political and social markers among young conservatives in Washington. In a report last week on the Heritage Foundation, New York Times contributing writer Elisabeth Zerofsky highlighted complaints about Heritage head honcho Kevin Roberts’s efforts to enforce strict Catholic social teachings at the think tank and, by extension, the conservative movement. Is this the direction of American conservatism? And, by God, is it electorally viable?

Perhaps it doesn’t matter so long as Catholics make up the vanguard of right-wing politics. As Nate Weisberg points out in New York magazine, Catholics constitute “more than a third of the members of Trump’s second-term Cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.” Not to mention non-cabinet figures, including “press secretary Karoline Leavitt and border czar Tom Homan.” That’s not to say these figures buy into—or are even aware of—post-liberal integralist dreams, though some in Vance’s and Rubio’s orbit do, and there are at least some young White House staffers who consciously think of themselves in this way.

Part of the zest here, as the original tweeter makes clear, is about positioning for 2028. The Heritage Foundation, Zerofsky reports, “is investing heavily in its relationship” with Vance, the foremost political figurehead of hard-right weirdness who has made his adult conversion to Catholicism a key part of his story. There is a long tradition of conservatives crossing the Tiber, but the way Vance has engaged with authoritarianish social conservatives, both here and abroad, suggests a genuine affinity for post-liberal politics.

In the immediate fight, it’s pretty clear that conservatives who want Rubio (or someone else entirely) to lead the party post-Trump have fallen one way, while those lining up behind Vance have fallen the other.

As for us, we’re Never Vance too—though for strictly non-sectarian reasons.

AROUND THE BULWARK

How Iran Blew Up Trump’s Gulf AI Deals… ALASDAIR PHILLIPS-ROBINS and SAM WINTER-LEVY on the administration’s bizarre decisions involving chips and the UAE.
A Blistering Critique of the Roberts Court, From Hawaii’s Supreme Court… In an extraordinary opinion, the state justices accuse the SCOTUS majority of undermining democracy, writes KIM WEHLE.
Trump’s Polls Are Collapsing. Is a Blue Tsunami Coming? RON BROWNSTEIN joins BILL KRISTOL for The Bulwark on Sunday.
Happy Declaration-Signing Day… Nobody signed America’s birth certificate on July 4, 1776, explains DAVID HEAD: John Hancock didn’t put down his John Hancock until August 2.

Quick Hits

TRUTH API GOES LIVE: One act of outrageous corruption ends; another arrives. Donald Trump may have formally renounced his plans for the “anti-weaponization fund” for taxpayer-funded payouts to J6ers and other allies, but he’s thought up another way to rob the public instead. This time, however, the money is flowing straight into his own pocket.

Over the weekend, Trump Media, the president’s company that runs Truth Social, launched its new Truth API feature, which promises faster access to Trump’s social media posts to companies that fork over a reported $100,000 a month. The company is explicitly billing this as a way for financial firms to get an edge in trading over their competitors by being the first to see the president’s “most market-moving Truths.”

From top to bottom, the whole concept is so corrupt you almost struggle to get your head around it. Donald Trump, in his official role as president, chooses to communicate about his official acts not through official channels but on a private platform he himself owns. Now, he is using that platform to sell premium access to knowledge about the workings of the U.S. government. This is pure rent-seeking; there’s no value-creating service here, just Trump finding a way to charge for something—knowledge of the working of the government—that should already belong freely to Americans by right.

And it’s true: Trump’s posts do send markets careening around, and traders do run the risk of being left in the dust if they’re slower than their competitors to react to Trump’s posts. As a result, many companies will doubtless be willing to pony up. They may even be eager to, seeing this as one more protection-racket payment—like donating to Trump’s super PACs or ballroom fund—to help them stay personally on the president’s good side.

This money isn’t coming out of the U.S. Treasury. But it’s not coming out of the pockets of hedge funders either. Trump is just skimming off the top of the entire financial system—which is to say, the U.S. economy at large. “Truth API” is public robbery no less than if Trump had created a new tax for Americans to pay him personally.

DOJ ADMITS OBVIOUS ON REFLECTING POOL: Hey, remember when Donald Trump resurfaced the Reflecting Pool, the new surface started falling apart instantly, and the government started thuggishly arresting people it pretended had “vandalized” the pool to try to save itself from embarrassment? They were always obviously lying, but now, per the Hill, their story is falling apart faster than a new American Flag Blue pool liner:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) moved Friday to drop its criminal prosecution of a former Olympian charged with destroying the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the damage was instead the result of a “rushed and botched installation.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office blamed the contractor for overspraying and delamination.

In a new court filing, the office indicated it no longer stands behind its case against David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist who pleaded not guilty to felony destruction of property earlier this month.

Remarkably, the Justice Department’s filing blames the Interior Department for initially covering up the fact that the pool had already begun to peel. “Given all of this newly discovered information,” prosecutors wrote, “it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Hilariously and insanely, the parts of the government that aren’t currently speaking on penalty of perjury in court are still trying to keep up the vandalism story. After the DOJ threw Interior under the bus, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum took to X to insist they were mistaken: “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool. . . . We won’t back down to deranged people who want to destroy, deface, or degrade our monuments.” You want to testify to that effect, Doug?

OHIOANS PUSH BACK ON ICE: As the Trump administration begins to ramp up immigration enforcement in Ohio, hundreds of Ohioans turned out this weekend to protest ICE activities in the Buckeye state. In Akron, roughly 200 protesters posted up Sunday outside of Akron-Canton Airport to protest ICE flights from the airport.

In Cincinnati, outside of the Blue Ash ICE facility, nearly 550 people, including a number of clergy, came out to protest. Carl Ruby, who has been frequently cited in these pages, was there, accompanying a member of his congregation who was called in by ICE for an appointment. Ruby prayed outside the entrance where his congregant entered. “I want the ICE agents to look out and see me praying,” Ruby told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

An attendee / reader tells The Bulwark that the protest was well organized, with protesters careful not to give law enforcement a pretext to crack down: “We could only stand on the grass. We couldn’t even touch the cement because we didn’t want the police to shut us down.” They weren’t shut down, and they hope to be there next weekend too.

Ruby got his wish. The attendee reports: “All these ICE people kept coming to the door and looking out and peering out the windows.”

—Jim Swift

Lincoln Square Media, Opinion: Trump’s New Red Scare Isn’t About 2026. It’s About 2028, Susan J. Demas, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Now that enough voters are clearly fine with the DSA that “socialist” doesn’t pack the punch that it used to, Trump has to reach for a scarier word.

“The barbarians are inside the gate — and Democrats are WELCOMING them in.” — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)

Donald Trump and Republicans have a new villain just in time for the midterms, and it’s not socialism anymore. It’s full-on communism, baby.

In the past few weeks, Trump has warned that the Democratic Party’s ascendant left wants to “completely destroy the traditional American way of life.”

“I think it’s the biggest threat to our nation there is, maybe since our founding,” he declared. “That includes World War I, World War II, September 11, it includes the Pearl Harbor attack.”

Trump’s minions have lined up to amplify the boss’ message. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently decried progressive candidates as “radicals” and “self-described, self-identifying Marxists.” “Communism is no longer a far fetched threat. It is here on our SHORES!” the Speaker warned on X.Subscribed

At a June conference the U.S. hosted of 66 nations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they “can call themselves anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist, communist, anarchist, or Marxist,” but he denounced them as “an encroaching darkness” and “the enemies of civilization.”

“The leftist is fundamentally motivated by envy, by hatred, by jealousy,” Trump adviser Stephen Miller proclaimed. “The leftist looks at what is beautiful and what is good and what is natural and is filled with envy and hatred. The leftist looks at a perfect family with a perfect life and a perfect job and a perfect kid and goes to church every Sunday.”

We’ve heard versions of this before. Trump branded Kamala Harris “Comrade Kamala” in 2024 (which inspired a series of memes in Latino spaces), and warned of a socialist takeover back in the 2020 election.

But this year, the rhetoric has escalated, and there’s an obvious reason why. The Democratic Socialists of America just had their best year in a generation. That started with Zohran Mamdani winning the New York City mayoral primary last year by 12 points over Andrew Cuomo, riding a 50,000-volunteer field operation to victory on a platform of a rent freeze, free buses, and free childcare.

Mamdani’s political power was put to the test in June when his endorsed candidates, Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Claire Valdez (whose district constitutes the “Commie Corridor,” as The American Prospect noted) won congressional primaries alongside significant DSA wins downballot.

Then in Colorado, 29-year-old DSA-endorsed newcomer Melat Kiros unseated ten-term incumbent Diana DeGette (a strong progressive, just apparently not strong enough) in a congressional primary, the biggest win yet for the state’s left flank.

Asked directly about the wave of left-wing primary wins, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “They use the word ‘Social Democrat’ because it sounds so nice, but it’s really communism you’re talking about.”

Now that enough voters are clearly fine with the DSA that “socialist” doesn’t pack the punch that it used to, Trump has to reach for a scarier word. Notice what he doesn’t do: define it. Some Republicans will tell you it’s shorthand for Medicare for All and abolishing borders and prisons. On Fox News last month with Laura Ingraham, JD Vance took a crack at it:

“I unfortunately fear that’s the direction the Democrats are headed. And it is communism, Laura. This is not — you know, this is not raising taxes a little bit, however much we might disagree with that. This is abolishing the police. This is letting criminals run amok in your cities. This is — flood your country with low-wage, third-world immigrants.”

But the point isn’t precision; it’s about setting up existential stakes for elections. If Democrats represent the communist menace, then no amount of dissatisfaction with Trump can ever add up to a vote against him. (It’s the Flight 93 election, rebranded).

And there’s plenty of dissatisfaction to paper over. Trump’s approval rating clocks in at 33 percent in the latest AP-NORC poll, down from 37 percent the month before, with the sharpest drop coming from his own party over the Iran conflict.

Voters are vexed about the economy and gas prices, angry that he started a “stupid war” in Iran after promising he wouldn’t, and wary of his refusal to release all the Epstein files. They’ve been horrified watching American citizens gunned down by federal immigration agents: Ruben Ray Martinez in a Texas traffic stop, Renee Good during an enforcement operation, and Alex Pretti while helping a fellow protester thrown to the ground.

None of that is supposed to matter once you’ve decided the alternative is “godless communism” and abortion on demand, and the only thing standing between you and that abyss is Donald Trump.

Will it work in November? I doubt it. Trump isn’t on the ballot, his numbers are in the basement, and the generic ballot currently shows Democrats ahead by 8 points to 11 points, depending on the poll. Raw anger at Trump over the economy will outweigh an abstract fear of Marxism for most swing voters this year. But it might peel off just enough soft Republicans who were thinking of sitting out the election to determine a handful of House and Senate races.ArticlesThe Hypocrisy Is the PointSusan J. Demas·Jun 23The Hypocrisy Is the Point

When Britney Spears’ younger sister, Jamie Lynn, got pregnant at 16, Bill O’Reilly routinely assailed her parents on Fox News and slammed her as a “pinhead.” It was evidence of Hollywood’s moral rot, the godless left, the collapse of American values. There was a particular relish to it — the kind of gleeful condemnation that suggests Bill O. had been waiting years for some ingenue to make exactly this mistake.

Democrats have overperformed in recent off-year elections, in 2018’s blue wave and again in 2022 after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. But presidential elections have proved far less hospitable terrain for the party, especially as Trump has a knack for pulling in irregular voters.

Which is exactly why I think this fight is really about 2028, not 2026. Trump isn’t constitutionally allowed to run again, full stop. But he doesn’t believe in taking no for an answer and keeps insisting he’ll try anyway (He’s told reporters “I would love to do it.”) His advisers have floated “methods” for getting around the 22nd Amendment, with Steve Bannon flatly predicting Trump will get a third term. (Of course, there’s no guarantee the 80-year-old’s health will hold up long enough for him to even attempt to be on the ballot).

Without Trump, Republicans face a genuinely chaotic succession fight for 2028, with Vance, Rubio, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Tucker Carlson, and a host of others all circling.

Holding together Trump’s coalition without Trump is hard. Communism as the unifying supervillain is a two-year investment in making sure it doesn’t fall apart.

I know a lot progressive influencers and commentators think Trump’s communism attack is a punchline. I thought the same thing about the virulent anti-trans ads he ran against Harris two years ago, and I was wrong. Republicans spent tens of millions of dollars on ads with the tagline, “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,” running them more than 30,000 times in swing states during football season.

That same message flopped in 2022, when abortion, not gender identity, was what actually moved voters in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. But by 2024, voters had heard it for two solid years. The ground was seeded and it shifted below Democrats. That’s the playbook being run again now with Republicans’ new McCarthyism.

It’s tempting to believe that the red scare messaging won’t resonate anymore because millions of voters weren’t even alive before the Berlin Wall fell.

But there’s a more than 100-year-old anti-communist tradition to draw from, dating back to the Palmer Raids and the first Red Scare of 1919 and 1920, and then decades more of Cold War conditioning. Sure, most Americans don’t know that history in any detail. They don’t need to. They still know communism is bad and it’s left-coded, while Trump and his party are firmly on the right. And the GOP message is aimed squarely at older and Latino voters whose families fled left-wing authoritarian governments.

Stephen Miller has long positioned Trump as the only thing standing between us and “cancerous, communist woke culture.” The Republican bet for 2028 is clear: strong and wrong beats woke and weird.

That’s enough to work with, especially with a well-funded right-wing media machine hammering the message daily, and mainstream outlets increasingly serving as an echo chamber. CBS News has already tilted rightward under Bari Weiss, handpicked by Paramount Skydance’s new owners, the Ellisons. And the Trump allies’ pending deal to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery would put CNN under the same roof (which Trump and his allies are openly salivating over).

The Trump administration also has some powerful tools at its disposal to create communist enemies and criminalize them, like National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, something Miller and Rubio both invoked at the June international conference.Subscribed

So when I see progressives treating the anti-communist campaign as a joke that nobody will fall for, I get nervous. I’d like to think we’re past these scare tactics and everyone will understand the stakes of fighting fascism. But being ridiculous has never disqualified a message from working in this country. Being complete bullshit hasn’t, either (just look at who’s president … again).

Zohran Mamdani is popular and getting good national press right now, but the right-wing coverage of him is already vicious (and unrelenting). The beltway press loves nothing more than building someone up to knock them down. By 2028, he (or whoever the next high-profile DSA winner is) could be cast as the sinister face of American communism (regardless if the label bears any resemblance to what they’ve actually done).

None of this means Democrats should panic or abandon their values. But it does mean they should stop assuming a bad-faith argument can’t win. It won it in 2020. It won it in 2024. And Republicans are betting it can carry them through whatever Trump screws up next — a health crisis, recession, another war — all the way to the White House in 2028.

U.S. Wildfires, Environment

New York Times, Spokane Wildfires Destroy Hundreds of Buildings as Thousands Evacuate, Christina Morales, Updated Aug. 3, 2026. Firefighters were hopeful that improving weather conditions in Washington state could help efforts to contain the blaze, which officials described as the largest natural disaster in the history of Spokane.

In what authorities have described as the largest natural disaster in the history of Spokane County, Wash., wildfires have destroyed hundreds of structures and forced the evacuation of some 60,000 people as firefighters continued their efforts to knock back and control several blazes in the area.

On Sunday, nearly 1,000 firefighters were combating at least three wildfires that ballooned over the weekend in Spokane, which is home to about 600,000 residents. More than 5,390 acres of land have been scorched and officials said there was no containment of the fires on Sunday afternoon.

Officials said at a news conference on Sunday that there were no reported deaths, injuries or missing people as a result of the fires, but cautioned that those figures could change. Authorities also said that they were still investigating the cause.

Mayor Lisa Brown of the city of Spokane called the wildfires “the worst natural disaster our region has faced.”

Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall said at the news conference that about 60,000 people had left their homes as of Sunday night, with the large public response to evacuation orders causing traffic jams.

Firefighters were racing to take advantage of weather conditions that had slightly improved, but could worsen again by Wednesday.

The National Weather Service said on Sunday that wind gusts would increase after noon and ease after midnight and that conditions would remain very dry, which could propel wildfires into residential areas. Officials said that the danger from fires was still elevated, but that winds were weaker than those on Saturday.

The authorities have become increasingly concerned about the rapid spread of the wildfires and the significant risks they pose to populated communities in Spokane, one of the largest counties in Washington.

On Sunday, Gov. Bob Ferguson of Washington traveled to the area to speak with local officials, days after county officials urged residents in Level 3 evacuation zones — the highest level of evacuation order — to leave immediately. About 4,000 structures were at risk of burning.

The governor said that he had spoken with President Trump and Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, to express “how dire the situation is in Spokane and across our state.” On Saturday, the governor declared a state of emergency across Washington, pointing to drought conditions, unusually high temperatures and strong winds.

More than a dozen other fires were also burning across Washington, but most of those were in less populated areas, affecting about 250,000 acres. About 4,000 firefighters were working across the state and members of the National Guard were deployed.

U.S. Media, Education, Sports, Religion

Popular Information, Accountability Journalism: UPDATE: After the Mamdani 9/11 smear, a cover-up, Judd Legum, right, Aug. 3, 2026. Media outlets pushed a false narrative about the number of family members of 9/11 victims who signed a petition targeting Mamdani — and then tried to cover their tracks.

As Popular Information first reported last week, a New York Post headline falsely declared on its July 26 cover: “Thousands of 9/11 families demand Mamdani be banned from 25th-Anniversary.” Reporter Rich Calder reported in the New York Post print edition, which has a circulation of about 120,000, that the petition “has collected 3,515 signatures in a little over a week, most from victims’ family members.”

This was false, according to the version of the story that was posted online. That article claimed that the petition “has collected over 1,100 signatures in a little over a week, including from at least 300 victims’ families.”

A Popular Information interview with petition organizer Giovanni Galante on July 27 revealed that the lower number was also unsubstantiated. Galante admitted that he did not maintain a list of victims’ families who signed the petition, and the 300 figure was simply an estimate of how he believed the petition spread. “We don’t have a list,” Galante said. “If you know 10 people and they give it to 10 more people they know that lost. That’s how we got the 300 number.” Galante added that he does not “go through the list” of people who signed the petition “and look at the names.” The interview was published by Popular Information on July 28.

In response to this reporting, the New York Post did not issue a correction. Instead, it quietly edited the article for a third time. On July 28 at 3:20 PM, according to the article’s metadata, the New York Post article was altered to say the petition “is circulating widely among 9/11 families and Galante estimated that between 3,000 and 7,500 of the signers are relatives of victims.”

Two things are notable. First, the New York Post is now distancing itself from the accounting, framing it instead as an estimate from Galante. Second, Galante dramatically increased his estimate from 300 to “3,000 to 7,500” less than 24 hours after his interview with Popular Information.

It is an apparent effort by the New York Post to surreptitiously justify the original July 26 cover and its baseless claims that “thousands” of 9/11 families signed the petition to exclude Mamdani from the 9/11 anniversary ceremony.

The New York Post did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the New York Post has continued to promote the anti-Mamdani petition. Since its initial piece it has published seven more articles about the petition in print and online.

The most consequential piece, which involved the efforts of at least ten New York Post reporters, is headlined, “More 9/11 families urge defiant Mamdani to stay home for 25th memorial ceremony: Here are their stories.” The piece is framed as a response to “Mamdani apologists” who “have criticized the petition’s creators and alleged The Post overestimated the number of victims’ families who don’t want Hizzoner at the solemn remembrance.”

The piece identifies a total of ten individuals who lost a family member on 9/11 who signed the petition. The views of these individuals should not be discounted, but ten is a lot less than 3,000, the minimum number of victims’ family members that the New York Post currently claims signed the petition. According to the story, the New York Post connected with “dozens of relatives” who “said they support the petition but declined to go on the record.”

Meanwhile, a group of 250 family members of 9/11 victims known as September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows issued a statement supporting Mandani’s attendance. This group was dismissed by the New York Post as a “far-left group… trying to silence 9/11 families.”

“Mayor Mamdani has consistently affirmed his intention to bear witness and honor the families, survivors, and first responders, whose lives were forever changed by the attacks,” September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows said in a statement. “In doing so, he will be carrying out the same responsibility that New York City mayors before him have undertaken: to stand with all New Yorkers in remembrance and honor those we lost. We strongly condemn the anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment underlying the effort seeking to prevent him from being at Ground Zero.”

In response to the statement, Galante told the New York Post that the petition has “nothing to do with Islam or Mamdani being Muslim.” In his interview with Popular Information, Galante described Mamdani as “a Muslim that has thoughts to get rid of all Jewish people, and to agree with 9/11.”From the New York Post to CBS News

The New York Post’s reporting was quickly picked up by CBS News New York, which published an article on the evening of July 27. The piece began: “Thousands of 9/11 victims’ families are asking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend this year’s solemn remembrance ceremony.” After Popular Information contacted the listed author of the piece, that line was struck from the piece and the headline was changed that evening to: “Petition asking NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend 9/11 remembrance ceremony purportedly draws thousands of signatures.”

No disclosure was added to the piece noting the initial error or correction.

On July 28, the headline was changed a third time to: “Petition from 9/11 families asks NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend remembrance ceremony.” This version, which remains in plase today, falsely suggests that the petition represents the view of 9/11 families as a group.

On July 28 at 3:08 p.m., the CBS News New York story was picked up by the main CBS News Instagram account, which has 3.3 million followers.

On the evening of July 29, however, the video was removed from CBS News’ Instagram account without explanation. CBS News also reposted an X post from CBS News New York linking to the story, which was also removed.

“CBS News did do a social post following CBS News New York’s reporting,” a source inside CBS News with direct knowledge told Popular Information. “Once we were told that CBS News New York’s reporting was inaccurate, we took our post down.”

So why is the CBS News New York article still online if CBS News believes it’s inaccurate? The CBS News source emphasized that “CBS News New York is entirely separate from CBS News.” While they share the same parent company they are “in two different silos.”

A spokesperson for CBS News New York issued a statement to Popular Information: “The story broadcast on CBS New York was accurate, and the underlying facts reported in the digital article were correct. The headline and opening sentence of the digital article were later updated for added clarity. An editor’s note should have accompanied those updates, and we regret the omission.”Fox News and other outlets butcher the story

As the story spread through right-wing media, it became further distorted. On the July 27 edition of The Evening Edit on Fox Business, anchor Elizabeth MacDonald falsely reported that “9/11 families, more than 15,000 want Mamdani banned from 9/11 ceremonies.”

In a July 28 editorial, the Washington Times claimed that “[m]ore than 1,100 family members of 9/11 victims have asked organizers of a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the World Trade Center attack to exclude New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.” The publication appears to be conflating the total number of signatures the New York Post originally published with family members.

The story got a major boost from Washington Times reporter Kerry Picket, who had previously covered the petition. On July 29, Picket posed the following question to Trump:

We’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of 9-11. And a good number of 9-11 families have called on New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani to not attend a number of these memorial services. What are your thoughts on that?

Trump responded that “anybody having to do with 9-11 right now on the victim side, and there are a lot of them. They’re very unhappy with what’s going on in New York, and they’re very unhappy with the mayor.”

Trump’s response was featured on CBS News’ X account, which has 9.7 million followers.

Global Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, U.S. and Japan Coordinated to Help Stabilize the Yen, Joe Rennison and Kiuko Notoya, Updated Aug. 3, 2026. U.S. and Japanese officials confirmed that the Treasury Department had moved last week to prop up the currency, which had been trading near four-decade lows.

The United States and Japan last week carried out a rare coordinated intervention in foreign exchange markets to stabilize the rapidly weakening yen, marking the first joint operation of its kind in more than a decade.

President Trump confirmed on Sunday that the Treasury Department had assisted Japanese authorities. In a statement, Satsuki Katayama, Japan’s finance minister, said the intervention was taken to counter “excessive volatility and disorderly movements” in the yen after months of sustained weakness.

The yen has depreciated steadily against the U.S. dollar this year, as investors have grown increasingly concerned about Japan’s expanding fiscal spending, amplified by higher energy costs stemming from the U.S. war with Iran. In July, the currency fell to its weakest level since the early 1980s, with the dollar briefly climbing above 163 yen, up from around 147 yen a year earlier.

The Financial Times, citing sources, reported last week that the United States had sold euros to buy yen, helping to strengthen the Japanese currency. In Tokyo trading on Monday, the yen surged to around 155 per dollar before settling at around 156.50.

Global News

The GEO Network via YouTube, Moscow's Kaliningrad Land Bridge Is Gone: Putin CORNERED as NATO Seals the Belarus Border, Staff Report, Aug. 3, 2026. The New Iron Curtain has officially fallen. By sealing the last remaining border crossings with Belarus, Latvia and NATO forces have completely severed Moscow's critical land bridge to Kaliningrad. What started as a desperate hybrid warfare campaign using weaponized migrants has now backfired, leaving Putin's most strategic exclave entirely cornered.

As the Baltics fortify their borders with the impenetrable "East Shield," the highly contested Suwałki Gap is no longer a vulnerability for Europe—it is a trap for Russia. In this exclusive OSINT tactical breakdown, we expose the secret political revenge plot behind the border crisis, how NATO neutralized the migrant weapon, and the terrifying reality of Kaliningrad's total isolation.

The New Iron Curtain: Why Latvia just permanently sealed its last Belarus border.
Weaponized Migrants: Inside Lukashenko’s failed hybrid warfare against NATO.
Kaliningrad Cornered: How the "East Shield" isolates Putin's most critical exclave.
The Suwałki Trap: The rapidly shifting military architecture of the Baltics.

Aug. 2

Top Headlines

A selection from images posted by President Trump on Aug. 1 as he devoted much of his workday to grandiose self-promotion and macho war-making fantasies.

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump is a very sick man, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 2, 2026. At 9:23 this morning (Saturday, Aug. 1), the White House abruptly dismissed the press traveling with the president of the United States while he was away for the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. With the cameras now gone, just three hours later at 12:32 p.m., Donald Trump would share the first of 42 posts on Truth Social in a span of less than 3 hours and 15 minutes. Continued below.
New York Times, Opinion: The War That Could Swallow the World, David French, right,Aug. 2, 2026. The only thing worse than President Trump starting an unconstitutional war is President Trump losing control of that war.
New York Times, News Analysis: Trump’s Polling Numbers Hit a New Low. Don’t Expect Him to Change Course, Peter Baker, Aug. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Barely a third of Americans approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of the job, putting him at historic depths for a second-term president at this stage of his tenure.
The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Important Sunday Update: Bank Shuts Trump Accounts Over Anti-Money Laundering Issues as America Stands Alone on World Stage, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 2, 2026. We now have confirmation: Donald Trump is the first president in history to have had hundreds of bank accounts shut down by a financial institution over concerns flagged under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Meanwhile, large corporations are pocketing massive tariff refunds. Consumers will not see a dime. And Republican Rep. Max Miller, facing horrific allegations of abusing his wife, doubled down today, actually questioning why Emily would have offered to cook him dinner just days after an alleged assault. Yes, seriously.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

New York Times, Investigation: How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee, Michael S. Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Aug. 2, 2026. Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transformation.
New York Times, Trump, Paul Weiss and the Capitulation of Big Law: 5 Takeaways, Michael S. Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Aug. 2, 2026. The law firm Paul Weiss led the legal resistance against President Trump. Then it led a sudden retreat across the legal industry. A Times investigation examined how it caved to White House pressure.
Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 1, 2026 [DOJ Drops Charges In Phony, Trump-Promoted Reflecting Pool Scandal], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 2, 2026. In a classic Friday night news dump, the Department of Justice last night moved to dismiss the criminal charges against David Hearn, the U.S. Olympian the Justice Department indicted for vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Doug Burgum Accuses Jeanine Pirro of Lying, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 2, 2026. Donald Trump’s psychological need to create his own reality has started to create problems for his efforts to abuse the legal system.

More On Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

President Trump frequently invokes religious and white nationalist rhetoric and imagry to create momentum for his actions, as in his "Mission From God" message earlier this year above (which contains also the "nothing can stop what's coming from the delusional QAnon cult of many of his followers) and his klssing a cross with Jesus AI-generated meme on Aug. 1 to suggest more mainstream MAGA supporters that his actions are devinely inspired.

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump is a very sick man, Heather Delaney Reese, above right, Aug. 2, 2026. Continued from above. At 12:32 p.m., Donald Trump would share the first of 42 posts on Truth Social in a span of less than 3 hours and 15 minutes. The post that really set Donald Trump off this morning was one of his first of the day, when he attacked Jeanine Pirro, his own U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. This came after a late Friday motion to dismiss that Pirro had filed on the felony charge against David Hearn, the 67-year-old former Olympic canoeist who had been facing 10 years in prison for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. For weeks, Trump and his administration had insisted the damage was caused by “radical left” vandals. Trump himself claimed someone had cut a 300-foot gash in the lining with a knife, and Pirro had held a press conference saying she had “tremendous evidence” and would prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

More On Iran War

New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Progress Toward Deal Led Trump to Call Off Strikes, He Says, Vivian Nereim,Aug. 2, 2026. Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, appears to have sought to steer President Trump away from the latest wave of attacks he had threatened against Iran. The Saudi state news agency reported on Sunday morning that Prince Mohammed recently spoke with Trump to urge “the necessity of prioritizing dialogue to de-escalate tensions” and “prevent a wider conflict.”

More Global News

New York Times, With a Series of Big Donations, State Department Restores Some Global Health Aid, Stephanie Nolen, Aug. 2, 2026. The amount is still far below what the U.S. spent previously on humanitarian and health aid, but resumes the flow of money for key efforts to fight malnutrition and disease.

More News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Knives are Out as Trump Attacks his Own DOJ, Trump Prepares Largest Iran Strikes as Military Invokes Divine Authority, Iran Hacks, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration has the knives out for each other: Trump is attacking Jeanine Pirro, Doug Burgum is too, and Pirro is pushing back. Major strikes on Iran are planned, the largest yet by the United States and Israel, as the Pentagon reportedly invokes religious scripture to justify the war. Iranian hacks on American water systems have officials worried. And much more.

More On U.S. Governance

Dr. Anthony Fauci, age 85, a Harvard Medical School graduate who began federal service in 1984 and who has long been regarded as the most expert senior infectious disease expert working for the U.S. government, was called to testify July 26 by a Senate Committee, particularly regarding the Covis pandemic, as shown below at his swearing in (AP photo by Allison Robbert).

The Atlantic, Opinion: Anthony Fauci Is Not the Villain in This Story, David Frum, July 31, 2026. The doctor was thrust into his pandemic-leadership role because of Trump’s deadly dereliction of duty.
Everyone Is Entitled To My Own Opinion, Commentary: Good news, everyone! Grand Theft Paint Chips no longer a crime, Jeff Tiedrich, right, Aug. 2, 2026. But MAGA is Big Mad at Jeanine Boxwine right now. Hey folks, are you sitting down right now?

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Can Democratic Socialists Agree on Anything? They Say That’s Not the Point, Emma Goldberg, Photographs by Jamie Kelter Davis, Aug. 2, 2026. At a national summit of the Democratic Socialists of America, nervous energy and a sprawling tableau of sometimes-competing interests were on display.

U.S. High Tech, Markets, Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, Inside the Meltdown of a Wunderkind’s A.I. Hedge Fund, Rob Copeland, Aug. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Situational Awareness, led by a 24-year-old, exploded onto the artificial intelligence scene — and then nose-dived.

Top Stories

A selection from images posted by President Trump on Aug. 1 as he devoted much of his workday to grandiose self-promotion and macho war-making fantasies.

He also shared a fake image of his face merged with President George Washington’s, split straight down the middle, left, under the words “250 Years / In God We Trust.” It was a deliberate attempt to place himself alongside the founder of the American republic. Because he sees himself as his equal and inseparable from the nation itself. He’s saying he is Washington and he is the republic.

It is a threat with real consequences. And when taken in the context of what he said just yesterday: that the United States will have “operational control” of Greenland before he leaves office, we have to believe he is serious. Denmark, a NATO ally whose territory Greenland is, has said no over and over again. The people of Greenland have said no. But accepting no to anything is not something Donald Trump is known for.

The President of the United States posted an image of himself hovering over the homes of people of a sovereign nation, like a predator surveying prey, because he thinks the entire island and everyone on it already belongs to him. This is what Trump’s imperialist dreams look like. Continued below.

New York Times, Opinion: The War That Could Swallow the World, David French, right, Aug. 2, 2026. The only thing worse than President Trump starting an unconstitutional war is President Trump losing control of that war.

What did he expect would happen?

In fact, we’re planning to do that yet again. Or maybe we’re not.

On Saturday, he’d changed his mind. “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

In both conflicts, the fighting was brutal, and we can and should debate the wisdom of both wars. But our great-power rivals were largely absent.

That is no longer the case. The world is walking a path toward a world war, and no one — including the president of the United States — seems to be in command of events.

David French is an Opinion columnist, writing about law, culture, religion and armed conflict. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.” You can follow him on Threads (@davidfrenchjag).

On top of it all, RFK Jr. refused to say whether the United States is even prepared for the next pandemic.

Trump’s Bank Accounts Frozen:

Republican Congressman Max Miller:

U.S. Rep. Max Miller, left, an Ohio Republican, and his estranged father-in-law, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, another Ohio Republican.

Tariff Refunds:

RFK Jr.

Other news:

New York Times, News Analysis: Trump’s Polling Numbers Hit a New Low. Don’t Expect Him to Change Course, Peter Baker, Aug. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Barely a third of Americans approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of the job, putting him at historic depths for a second-term president at this stage of his tenure.

After a spate of bad polls earlier this summer, President Trump simply declared that they were not true. “MY REAL POLL NUMBERS ARE THE HIGHEST THEY HAVE EVER BEEN,” he wrote on social media, using capital letters as if they would shout away any contrary data.

In fact, his real poll numbers are at or near the lowest they have ever been in some nonpartisan surveys. A flurry of new samples in recent days found that Mr. Trump is at the nadir of his presidency, with support from just around a third of Americans as a stalemated war in Iran and high gas prices take a political toll.

The latest surveys indicate that Mr. Trump is now all but the most unpopular second-term president at this stage of their tenure in the history of polling going back to the 1940s. The only exception is not one that would give Mr. Trump much solace: Richard M. Nixon had even less public support at this stage in his second term but at that point he was just days away from resigning over the Watergate scandal.

These kinds of poll numbers would throw a normal White House into panic mode, especially coming just three months before a midterm election. Someone might be fired. A speech might be written. A new set of policies might be devised. But Mr. Trump has never been a normal president, and he does not react to political circumstances in the same way his predecessors have. Through force of will and command over his MAGA base, he has traditionally played a weak hand strong.

“He’s always going to project strength regardless what the numbers are and he’ll say they’re fake anyway,” said Douglas Heye, a longtime Republican strategist, adding that he did not expect any switch in political strategy. “Short of him screaming and throwing something at a staffer, that’s it.”

It is, of course, hard to have a course correction if it is not entirely clear what the course was to begin with. The most impulsive president of modern times, Mr. Trump follows his instincts and can completely reverse himself by the day, or sometimes the hour.

It has worked well enough for him that he has dominated American politics for more than a decade. Even though he won a plurality in 2024, Mr. Trump has never won a majority of the popular vote in any of his three elections nor enjoyed support from a majority in Gallup polling at any point of either term. Yet he has governed as if he were a more popular president.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

New York Times, Trump Threatens to Revive $1.8 Billion Fund for Allies Over Blanche Standoff, Mark Walker, Aug. 2, 2026 (print ed.). The president vowed to push for the payout fund if Senate Republicans fail to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, reigniting a dispute over the settlement.

President Trump said on Saturday that he would revive a proposal for a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund that would compensate his supporters if the Senate does not confirm his nominee for attorney general.

The administration had backed off plans to establish such a fund in June as it was criticized as a scheme to reward political allies with taxpayers’ dollars.

But in a social media post, Mr. Trump reacted to skepticism about his nomination of Todd Blanche, shown above, his former defense lawyer, to be attorney general, saying that he would keep Mr. Blanche as the acting attorney general if the Senate failed to confirm him, and added that he would “push hard” to pass legislation creating the fund.

“Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media.

Senators have delayed an important vote on Mr. Blanche’s nomination, partly because of the anti-weaponization fund proposal, which embodies the president’s claims that his supporters, including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have been unfairly prosecuted.

Senators Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, and John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, have stalled the nomination of Mr. Blanche from advancing.

The lawmakers — who are both leaving office at the end of their terms — are withholding their support until the White House agrees in writing to shelve a tax provision tied to a settlement that Mr. Blanche brokered to resolve Mr. Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Trump’s suit faulted the I.R.S. for a leak of his tax returns in 2019.

Senator Cornyn, who lost his Republican primary to the Trump-backed candidate Ken Paxton earlier this year, had not publicly commented about Mr. Trump’s post. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Responding to Mr. Trump’s comments on Saturday, Senator Tillis, who is retiring, said that the president “clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against.”

“It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal,” Mr. Tillis wrote on social media.

President Trump's nominee to become U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, is shown at right in a file photo showcasing his previous role in defending Trump from fraud charges before the convictions were voided because of the president's reelection.

The White House did not immediately respond on Saturday to a request for comment elaborating on any plans behind Mr. Trump’s post.

The Justice Department announced the settlement in May in the case over the disclosure of Mr. Trump’s tax returns.

The agreement proposed creating the compensation fund for his aggrieved supporters. It also included a tax provision shielding Mr. Trump and his relatives from audits over past tax years.

Mr. Blanche said in June that he would abandon the compensation fund but would leave the tax provision in place. That provision has remained one of the chief points of disagreement in his confirmation.

Senator Cornyn has said that he has not received written assurances that the tax provision would not apply to future tax liabilities or be expanded to cover more people.

On Wednesday, Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who leads the committee considering Mr. Blanche’s nomination, postponed a vote to allow negotiations to continue and to try to secure enough support for the confirmation.

New York Times, Investigation: How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee, Michael S. Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Aug. 2, 2026. Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transformation.

On his desk at the law firm Paul Weiss, Brad Karp,right, keeps a framed picture of a young girl and her father embracing after they had been separated at the border by the immigration policies of the first Trump administration. It is a reminder of one of the firm’s proudest moments — when Mr. Karp, as chairman, led its lawyers to fight the administration in court and undertake the painstaking work to reunite families.

“It was a call to arms,” Mr. Karp said later.

But two months into the second Trump administration, when the president came for Paul Weiss with an executive order imposing crippling sanctions, Mr. Karp did not just lay down arms. He rushed to the White House to surrender.

The legal and political worlds were shocked. Paul Weiss was a titan in the legal business, known for its stable of elite litigators and for its history of standing up to the government and championing progressive causes going back to the civil rights movement. But sitting in the Oval Office in March 2025, Mr. Karp bent without a fight to an executive order that was widely seen as illegal.

Four law firms that fought similar executive orders won quick injunctions from incensed judges, making Paul Weiss’s capitulation particularly consequential for President Trump’s retribution campaign against an array of perceived enemies. Eight other firms followed Paul Weiss in making deals with the White House, agreeing to perform a total of nearly $1 billion in free legal work for causes Mr. Trump supported.

“They’re just saying, ‘Where do I sign?’” Mr. Trump bragged. “No one can believe it.”

But behind the public disbelief was a deeper story of an institution that had slowly come loose from its roots. That story, pieced together in a New York Times investigation, reveals that Paul Weiss’s bow to the White House was the culmination of a reordering of power and finances behind the scenes at the firm for years.

The shift had begun when Mr. Karp decided years earlier to develop a more robust corporate practice alongside Paul Weiss’s litigation work. The wealthy firm became even wealthier, partly by riding the growth of private equity and the lucrative legal work generated by the rapid buying and selling of companies.

But the Times reporting, based on extensive interviews with current and former lawyers at the firm, access to internal documents and communications, and detailed accounts of firm meetings, shows there was a cost. The pursuit of Wall Street business in service of higher profits per partner — a key metric for law firms — was at odds with its social justice principles. When Mr. Trump took aim at Paul Weiss, in part because of its activist history, the firm’s long-simmering identity crisis became an existential crisis.

Once Mr. Trump won re-election, the firm scrambled to avoid his ire. It stopped representing a drone manufacturer that was suing the Pentagon, partly out of concern about tangling with the administration, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. It also started scrubbing its websites of content that might draw the attention of Mr. Trump and his aides.

When Mr. Trump issued his executive order against Paul Weiss, leaders at the firm were convinced they could beat it in court. But they feared opposing the president would hurt the firm’s finances and its clients. And after the deal was struck, when a top partner wanted to bring a reproductive rights case as a show of independence from the administration, she was shut down by Mr. Barshay and Mr. Karp.

As a sign of how skittish the firm had become, an email exchange reviewed by The Times documents a heated discussion among partners about how — or whether — to alter a website that recounted the firm’s work against white supremacists and the rioters of Jan. 6, 2021. Some even proposed checking with the administration to see whether the website would anger the White House. Another partner warned that “there likely won’t be a next time” for Paul Weiss “if we get hit by the administration again.”

In response to questions about its deal with the White House, a Paul Weiss spokeswoman, Laura Van Drie, said that “any assertion that our independence has been jeopardized is completely false.”

In pursuit of new business clients, Mr. Karp landed the private equity giant Apollo Global Management in 2011. Through Apollo’s then-chairman, Leon Black, Mr. Karp met Jeffrey Epstein and later offered the sex offender free legal advice. When the extent of his ties to Mr. Epstein emerged early this year in a trove of Justice Department documents, Mr. Karp was forced to step down as chairman of Paul Weiss.

Paul Weiss had fashioned itself as the firm of firsts — the first major law firm to name a female partner, the first to hire Black associates, and a pioneer among New York firms in having Jews and non-Jews practice together.

New York Times, Trump, Paul Weiss and the Capitulation of Big Law: 5 Takeaways, Michael S. Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Aug. 2, 2026. The law firm Paul Weiss led the legal resistance against President Trump. Then it led a sudden retreat across the legal industry. A Times investigation examined how it caved to White House pressure.

When the law firm Paul Weiss reached a deal with the White House last year to resolve an executive order that threatened it with crippling sanctions, the legal and political worlds were stunned.

The firm had long been known for standing up to the government and championing progressive causes going back to the civil rights movement. During the first Trump administration, Brad Karp, then chairman, had fought the president in court on issues like separating migrant children from their parents. Partners at the firm had hosted a Biden fund-raiser and helped Vice President Kamala Harris with her debate prep.

So, when Mr. Karp quickly surrendered to the White House and made a deal to resolve an executive order widely seen as illegal, it seemed like a dramatic pivot. It was also consequential, foreshadowing how an array of institutions would bend to President Trump. Though four firms fought similar executive orders, eight others followed Paul Weiss’s example and cut deals, agreeing to perform a total of nearly $1 billion in free legal work for causes Mr. Trump supported.

The New York Times spent months trying to understand what had happened within the storied institution — conducting interviews, reviewing court records and obtaining internal emails and other documents. Here are five takeaways from The Times’s investigation.The surrender was years in the making — and partly driven by profits.

Long before the executive order, a struggle within Paul Weiss pitted its stable of elite litigators against a rising crop of corporate lawyers singularly focused on the bottom line.

As the corporate lawyers rode a wave of private equity growth and raked in more and more profits, their influence grew. They pushed against the pro bono civil rights litigation that had been at the center of Paul Weiss’s culture.

So when Mr. Trump took aim at Paul Weiss, partly because of its activist history, a long-simmering identity crisis morphed into an existential one.

The text of the agreement, reviewed by The Times, also said that the firm would show no political favoritism in choosing clients, that its pro bono work would represent “the full spectrum of political viewpoints,” and that it would hire “experts” agreed upon with the administration to review the firm’s hiring practices.

Ms. Van Drie, the Paul Weiss spokeswoman, said that “any assertion that our independence has been jeopardized is completely false.” She said that Paul Weiss’s pro bono work had continued to increase but did not provide any examples of work it had done opposing the second Trump administration.

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: Aug. 1, 2026 [DOJ Drops Charges In Phony, Trump-Promoted Reflecting Pool Scandal], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 2, 2026. In a classic Friday night news dump, the Department of Justice last night moved to dismiss the criminal charges against David Hearn, the U.S. Olympian the Justice Department indicted for vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

The filing says that “damage to the Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings (“AIC”), and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”

President Donald J. Trump announced in April that he was planning to renovate the reflecting pool and on May 7 said it would take a week and cost about $1.8 million. By May 8 the cost had jumped to $13.1 million, with the contract awarded on a no-bid basis. When the pool reopened on June 6, Trump declared it a triumph, writing on social media: “Thank you President Trump.”

But the day after the reservoir filled with water, algae began to bloom in it. A spokesperson for the Interior Department said the algae were “residual” and a normal part of the process of refilling the pool. “President Donald J. Trump is an expert builder who has fixed the Reflecting Pool for good unlike the failed and extremely costly attempt by Obama and Biden,” she said in a statement.

By June 16, crews from the National Park Service were pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water to kill the algae that had turned the pool bright green even as Trump insisted the pool was perfect.

By Thursday, June 18, the new blue epoxy at the bottom of the pool was peeling off and floating in the vivid green pool. David Fahrenthold reported in the New York Times that the National Park Service contracted not only the coating and painting of the pool under a no-bid contract—the price tag had jumped to at least $14.2 million—but also an additional $1.7 million contract for a water purification system.

That no-bid contract went to a firm called Greenwater Services, whose ultimate owner is the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust, led by Trump donor John J. Cafaro, whose wife chaired the 2017 International Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago and who lives near Mar-a-Lago at a mansion that is listed as the water treatment company’s address in Florida corporate records.

On June 19, U.S. Park Police officers arrested 67-year-old Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, who had stopped by the pool on a 52-mile bike ride and reached into the water to feel what the detached material felt like, for destruction of public property. “I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told David J. Lynch and Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

That night, Trump blamed “Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats [sic], who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country,” for “some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool.” By the next day, he was blaming “multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll [sic]. Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair.”

Minnesota governor Tim Walz commented: “Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.”

Administration officials insisted that the problems with the reflecting pool renovations were entirely the fault of vandals. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on Walz’s statement, saying “The vandalism is very real.” Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, scoffed at the idea that there had not been vandalism, telling Jesse Watters of the Fox News Channel that she had just been at the pool and “someone was intent on doing incredible damage to the pool.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Dana Bash of CNN that the contractors had nothing to do with the problems; it was “vandalism.” He insisted the government could prove there were vandals and suggested there were “photographs.” When Bash pressed him over whether the government actually had “photographs of a person or people cutting a 300- or 350-foot gash in the bottom of the reflecting pool,” he deflected, saying: “I’m not sure why you and others in the media think that you want to keep trying to question” the president’s version of events.

On June 29, Trump posted: “The Reflecting Pool, which suffered great damage due to the Vandals and Radical Left SCUM that hate our Country, has been, for the past two days, in full operation. It looks beautiful! After July 4th, we will release the water, fix the damage done to the very expensive waterproof matting, with the use of sharp knives and muscle, including the 350 foot gash along its right side, and have it looking as good as it was two weeks ago, when it was absolutely PERFECT!”

Now, of course, the Department of Justice’s filing proves that the idea of vandals was always a lie. The problems with the renovation of the reflecting pool were exactly what critics said all along: a hasty, expensive, ill-thought-out project failed. This case is so bad, Chris Geidner of LawDork noted, that Pirro went out of her way to blame the Interior Department for the misguided indictment.

The disparity between the fantasy Trump and his cronies sold to their supporters and the reality of the situation when they were forced to prove their allegations in court matters. Administration officials insisted before the media that the project had been a great success, hurt only by “Radical Left SCUM that hate our Country.” In order to prove their lie, administration officials used the power of the government to harass, indict, and threaten a random individual whom they could blame for their own failures. Then, when forced to prove their allegations in a court of law, they withdrew the claim entirely.

This has always been the pattern of Trump and his cronies: weave a fantasy story in front of friendly media cameras, a fantasy of their own great success undercut by haters, then abandon—or lose—the legal cases based on the fantasy.

For all the bluster before the cameras of Trump cronies insisting the 2020 election was stolen, Trump’s attorneys backed away from the claims. They either withdrew or lost all but one of the 60 lawsuits they brought over the election. As a headline in the Wall Street Journal put it in 2020: “Trump Cries Voter Fraud. In Court, His Lawyers Don’t.”

The one case Trump’s lawyers won found that the Pennsylvania secretary of state overstepped by allowing voters extra time to provide missing identification for mail-in ballots. Even with that ruling, Daniel Barnes of NBC News reported, Biden still won the state by more than 80,000 votes.

Even as reality makes it clear that his claims are a fantasy, Trump continues to spin his yarns, seeming to have little else to convince voters to support him. Today he doubled down on his insistence that vandals caused the problems with the reflecting pool. “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM…. There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS! President DJT”

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Doug Burgum Accuses Jeanine Pirro of Lying, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 2, 2026. Donald Trump’s psychological need to create his own reality has started to create problems for his efforts to abuse the legal system.

His attempt to complain that he was debanked by Capital One, for example, forced the bank to reveal that it cut Trump off not because of politics but because of evidence of money laundering.

Trump’s attempt to sue himself has because a leaker exposed his tax crimes has, at the least, created new precedents about his own conflicts and could do much worse.

And as I predicted just two days after Davey Hearn’s arrest, the attempt to actually gin up prosecutions to blame imaginary vandals for Trump’s own corruption did in fact lead to the release of damning proof that Trump’s attempt to fix the reflecting pool instead did serious damage to it.

The heavy-handed arrests themselves have gotten a lot of attention. Good luck to Jeanine Pirro, right, attempting to prosecute these cases, not least because doing so would require calculating the value of a painted cover that degraded before the defendants came along. Prosecuting these cases would necessitate addressing whether Trump’s repairs did what they were supposed to, an inquiry Pirro will be loathe to do.

Trump’s emotional neediness may well now be exacerbating things.

Trump responded to the motion to dismiss Davey Hearn’s case the only way a Narcissist could: by lashing out and lying some more: first, by posting a tweet claiming to “disagree” with Pirro, followed by a video that appears to show Black kids being Black kids, followed by hours of AI slop creating the false illusion he’s sexy.

To be fair, Trump’s rant had the desired effect. Lazy journalists focused their reports on the motion to dismiss on Trump’s fee fees, not on the corruption described in the MTD or, better yet, the abundant evidence that Pirro is still lying.

But then Doug Burgum, right, did what courtiers to corrupt dictators are required to do. He performed belief in Trump’s own stated claim that the damage was done by vandals.

In the process, he did something else: He called Jeanine Pirro a liar.

In their motion to dismiss, prosecutors claimed they had [made] dozens of attempts [were made] to get Interior to cough up evidence.

[P]rosecutors specifically involved in the cases related to the Reflecting Pool made dozens and dozens of communications were made in an effort to identify and obtain the materials necessary to have all information to evaluate the case. After significant demands by USAO-DC, USPP provided the police reports and body-worn camera for roughly 10 individuals associated with the Reflecting Pool.

But then, the prosecutors claim, when they accompanied Hearn’s expert (or lawyer) to the reflecting pool on July 17 (only it was probably July 16), they saw, as if for the first time, that the pool was badly damaged, and so demanded — and received — more material from Interior. And as a result, prosecutors implausibly claim, they learned for the first time how badly Trump fucked up the renovation.

On July 17, 2026, as a defense expert inspected the now-drained Reflecting Pool, United States Attomey Pirro and senior USAO-DC employees once again visited the site and this time immediately noted extensive damage throughout the now-drained pool, It was at that time that USAO-DC first became aware of the significant damage throughout the pool and accordingly requested all documents from DOI concerning the how the pool was lined and all records regarding the installation of the lining.

Based on this request, USAO-DC received 695 megabytes of additional documents from DOI, which took days to review. These documents indicated a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool. This was the first time that DOI made USAO-DC aware of such information.

Now, as this has been developing — including when Nicole Sandler and I recorded our weekly podcast at noon on Friday just hours before the motion to dismiss — I have repeatedly noted how fucking stupid it is to dick around on a case, like this one, on which Norm Eisen, right, is on the defense team. Eisen’s Democracy Defenders litigate against Trump’s corruption on a near daily basis in any case. In the last week, for example, Democracy Defenders have been involved in an AFGE lawsuit to enforce EEOC, they’ve claimed some credit for the ruling halting the Paramount takeover of Warners, and they’ve renewed their effort to get Todd Blanche disbarred. (See their press releases here.)

But as tireless as Eisen’s civil lawsuits have been, a defense attorney has tools that are unavailable to mere civil litigators, starting with the fact that (as happened here) you can demand certain things in discovery that it usually takes a year or more to get via lawsuit, if even that succeeds.

And so, I’ve been thinking since Eisen first filed as an attorney for Hearn, you’d have to be fucking stupid to dick around on this case.

Crazier still, Trump has had it in for Eisen for some time, including him along with Tish James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissmann, in the list of people from whom he has stripped security clearances. Did he miss that Eisen is involved in this case??? Did he not know that by tampering in the case he might give Norm Eisen leverage to expose more corruption?

After DOJ filed the motion to dismiss Friday, Eisen, along with co-counsels Mary Dohrmann and Steve Levin, issued a fairly mild statement. Trump owes Hearn an apology, they said.

The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought. Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.

But then Trump, by “disagreeing” with Jeanine Pirro, at a minimum gave Hearn’s lawyers reason to demand that Judge Todd Edelman dismiss the case with prejudice. If the President is attacking his US Attorney, after all, then Hearn has no way of ensuring that Trump won’t just replace her with someone who’ll renew the case.

And then Burgum directly disputed prosecutors’ claim that they [made] “significant demands” [were made] before Interior coughed up the bare minimum of evidence for these cases. Burgum claims Interior complied “in the requested time line.”

We also provided the U.S. Attorney’s office expert and eyewitness testimony to the damage done by vandals and provided every piece of evidence they asked for in the requested time line detailing each area of damage at the pool.

To be clear: We know Pirro’s prosecutors are lying. Among other things, the witness who was supposed to testify that Hearn had done $1,000 of damage instead testified, at first, about how much damage pre-existed Hearn’s arrival.

According to the witness, the pool was leaking more than one million gallons of water per week; its expansion joints had exceeded their service life; and the liner already contained a rip, See Sealed Exhibit 1, Grand Jury Tr. of MR. at 6-7, 19-20 (July 2, 2026). The govemment’s witness further confirmed that repairs were already necessary to address those conditions. Exhibit 1 at 28. Those facts establish the legally relevant baseline: the condition of the property immediately before the alleged conduct.

And when prosecutors described what is likely that witness’ testimony, they left out all those details.

W-4, an employee specializing in maintenance and repairs employed by the National Park Service, stated that repairing the additional damage caused to the reflecting pool based on the defendant’s conduct would cost over $1000.

But before Trump and Burgum opened their yaps, it was not clear that Eisen and Dohrmann and Levin would be able to do much about the clear misrepresentations in the motion to dismiss. After all, dismissing the case normally moots things like a request to see grand jury testimony.

But now a cabinet member has accused Jeanine Pirro of lying. Doug Burgum has suggested that Pirro had all the evidence she asked for in order to make a sound prosecutorial decision, but charged Hearn anyway.

Burgum is not going to take the fall for Pirro’s stupid decisions.

So now, it’s no longer Norm Eisen’s word against Pirro’s, without grand jury transcripts to prove he was right. Now Eisen has a dispute among Trump’s top aides. Eisen has a cabinet member’s claims.

Which (if Hearn qualifies for legal fees under the Hyde Act, which might be limited if Democracy Defenders paid for his legal expenses) may start Hearn down the same path the Broadview 6 defendants are attempting to go: legal fees, sanctions, even a Special Counsel. He may not get there — it is still exceedingly difficult to get any of these things. But Doug Burgum just gave him an opening to try.

Before Trump and Burgum opened their yaps, Eisen was asking for an apology.

Afterwards, Eisen had this to say:

Trump and Burgum are attacking Pirro because she admitted what we established in our legal filings all along: Trump’s botched renovation was responsible for the damage – not Davey Hearn. However, Pirro’s claim that she and her office were previously duped by Interior is nonsense. Starting immediately after arraignment, our motions repeatedly proved that the administration was to blame for the Reflecting Pool failures, not Davey. This is far from over, as we consider all legal remedies.

This is far from over, Eisen said after Burgum thought he could help his Narcissistic boss by reinforcing his lies.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, age 85, a Harvard Medical School graduate who began federal service in 1984 and who has long been regarded as the most expert senior infectious disease expert working for the U.S. government, was called to testify July 26 by a Senate Committee, particularly regarding the COVID pandemic, as shown below at his swearing in (AP photo by Allison Robbert).

The Atlantic, Opinion: Anthony Fauci Is Not the Villain in This Story, David Frum, July 31, 2026. The doctor was thrust into his pandemic-leadership role because of Trump’s deadly dereliction of duty.

The American right sacrificed its supporters to its COVID-era delusions and lies. Right-wing politicians and media influencers disparaged masking. They derided safety advice against indoor gatherings. They spread crazy lies about COVID vaccines once those became generally available. Many conservative Americans who made the mistake of trusting their political and media leaders paid with their life.

Pew Research Center compared the 20 percent of the U.S. population who lived in the country’s most pro-Trump counties with the 20 percent who lived in the most pro-Biden counties. The most pro-Trump counties suffered nearly 70,000 more COVID deaths than the most pro-Biden counties did.

In the face of right-wing resistance, the United States fully vaccinated only about 66 percent of the population by the end of April 2022. Had the U.S. achieved full vaccination within the first 16 months that the shots were available—as was materially feasible—the death rate from COVID could have been cut in half, according to some estimates, and more than 300,000 lives could have been saved.

If you are hunting for a COVID villain or villains, then, there are many beckoning targets. Investigate the crooks who promoted quack remedies such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for profit or plain crackpot mania. Investigate the sources and pathways of anti-vaccine disinformation. Investigate the pattern and funding of Russian support for anti-vaccine disinformation by following the map already provided by the U.S. State Department’s work on the subject. Investigate the response by U.S. public-health agencies, including the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), to better prepare for the next pandemic.

But the present Congress is investigating none of that. Instead, a Senate committee has fixed on Anthony Fauci, the physician and pandemic-era chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The Senate obtained his diary—reportedly from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claims to have found it on a government server—and then, outrageously and gratuitously, published 1,100 pages of it for the world to see.

Regarding the many accusations and insinuations hurled at Fauci, the first thing to be said is this: Even if any of them were true, none would have made the slightest difference to the immediate and urgent problem—what to do to save lives from a deadly new virus.

Senator Rand Paul, shown above in a file photo, and others want Americans to believe that Fauci was aware of the possibility that the coronavirus was intentionally created in a Chinese lab, even as he insisted in public comments that the virus had a natural origin. He may not have been forthcoming; the scientific verdict remains uncertain. But whatever its origin, the virus really killed people. The U.S. scientific community’s first and supreme job was to protect people. It did. Scientists discovered and developed the COVID vaccines that brought the pandemic to an end. It’s the anti-vaxxers, not the scientific community, who should stand indicted in the light of 2026.

Did scientists, including Fauci, sometimes speak with excessive certainty about the extent of their knowledge in the early weeks of the pandemic? Perhaps. That seems a lesser offense, however, than the president putting American lives at risk by consciously telling lies for personal advantage.

When the pandemic struck, President Trump’s immediate concern was that it might depress the stock market. Trump had started a trade war with China in February 2018. That trade war tumbled U.S. capital markets; at the end of that year, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. stock indexes had suffered their steepest annual drop since the global economic crisis of 2008. Trump’s priority in 2019 was to negotiate a face-saving exit from his failing trade war. That December, Trump unveiled a “Phase One” deal —but markets remained nervous and skeptical. When reports spread about a lethal outbreak in China, Trump appointed himself chief international cheerleader for the Chinese government. CNN counted 37 separate compliments by Trump to Chinese leaders in the opening months of 2020. That February 7, for example, Trump tweeted: “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.” Nothing must interrupt Trump’s hopes for a trade deal that would boost the stock market and thus—he assumed—get him reelected in 2020.

As it became apparent that the virus had escaped China and reached the United States, Trump minimized the danger—although in private conversations with the reporter Bob Woodward, the president revealed that he expected a mass-casualty catastrophe for the United States as early as February 2020. He admitted to Woodward that his deception was intentional: “To be honest with you, I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.” In early March that year, Trump resisted allowing passengers to disembark from a virus-stricken cruise ship because once the people were on U.S. soil, their cases would augment the number of recorded infections. He said he would rather not let them off, because “I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.”

Trump allies made it explicit that to recognize the danger of COVID was to commit a thought-crime against Trump. Rush Limbaugh said on his radio program on February 24, 2020: “Folks, this coronavirus thing, I want to try to put this in perspective for you. It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump. Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus.” He continued, “Yeah, I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.” Trump declared at a White House event at the end of the month that the virus would soon disappear on its own. (Trump reasserted his prediction of spontaneous disappearance repeatedly through the spring and early summer of 2020.) In early March, Trump dismissed COVID as far less deadly than the common flu.

As infections and deaths surged in March and April, two imperatives gripped the MAGA world. The first was to fix blame for the mounting disaster on an external hate object. Far-right websites introduced claims that COVID had originated as a Chinese “bioweapon” in January. By late February, the bioweapon language spread among Republican members of Congress. On March 16, Trump tried to rebrand the coronavirus as “the Chinese virus.”

But “blame China” took MAGA only so far. If China was to blame, whether because of malice or accident, then Trump looked all the greater a fool for having courted China so hard through 2019 and into 2020. And “blame China” did not offer any exit from the shock that was killing Americans, had shut down the U.S. economy, and was threatening to defeat Trump in November.

Thus, the second imperative: Find a fast-and-easy miracle cure. The first candidate was an antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, touted on Fox News nearly 300 times in March and April—and cautiously endorsed by Trump at a press conference on March 19. When hydroxychloroquine flopped, it was replaced as the great right-wing hope by a deworming drug, ivermectin. After the podcaster Joe Rogan contracted COVID in the fall of 2021, he told his fans that ivermectin, vitamins, and other home remedies had cured him.

Trump lost the presidency and—after the failure of his attempted coup d’état—left office in January 2021. By then, vaccines had been developed. Now two new imperatives gripped right-wing America.

The first was to sabotage COVID recovery to do to Joe Biden’s new presidency what someone (but who?) had done to Trump’s. The second was to profit financially and politically from the reservoir of COVID paranoia that had accumulated on the American right.

If the vaccine rollout could be stalled or thwarted altogether, the Biden presidency would be blighted. At the same time, influencers and Republican politicians bidding for followers could use vaccine hesitancy to their personal and career advantage.

The arc of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s COVID response is illustrative. DeSantis, above, began as a highly responsible actor on vaccines. Through the first half of 2021, he promoted vaccination in his state. He argued—correctly, in hindsight—that the state could combine a vaccination program with the abolition of lockdown mandates and an early return to in-person classroom teaching. Florida children went back to school in August 2020—and soon were outperforming their peers in Democrat-governed states that deferred to teacher-union wishes to postpone classroom reopenings.

Sometime over the course of 2021, however, DeSantis seemed to have decided that he could exploit COVID conspiracy thinking to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. In September 2021, DeSantis appointed the vaccine opponent Joseph Ladapo, right, as Florida’s surgeon general. Although DeSantis prudently accepted the first-round COVID vaccination in spring 2021, he turned evasive when asked months later whether he had taken the recommended booster. “I’m not going to let that be a weapon for people to be able to use. I think it’s a private matter.” DeSantis never quite repudiated his past support for vaccination. But he aligned himself with the ever wilder ideas of vaccination adversaries. In December 2022, DeSantis called for a state grand jury to investigate harms allegedly caused by COVID vaccines.

The gathering anti-vaccination movement battened on anti-Semitism, racism, and general looniness. Viral TikTok campaigns in the fall of 2021 promoted the label “pure blood,” implicitly associating unvaccinated status with white-nationalist identity. Republican officeholders generally refrained from endorsing these more extreme fantasies. But Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, among others, still traffics in the false claim that thousands of people have died because of injuries from COVID vaccines.

This is the route that has brought Fauci to the Senate hearing.

Democrats and liberals have their own post-COVID soul-searching to do. Blue states kept schools closed too long. They showed hypocrisy when they pivoted from demanding lockdowns in the spring of 2020 to welcoming mass George Floyd protests in the summer. Their analysis of lockdowns may have underweighted harms, especially to small businesses and otherwise healthy schoolchildren. Continued masking after the advent of vaccines could have enabled anti-social and even criminal behavior. The Biden administration in 2021 and 2022 exploited the genuine need for post-pandemic recovery to pass lavish spending bills that probably accelerated inflation. Americans should, as best as they can, delve deep into the exact degree of Chinese-government culpability for the coronavirus—not because it makes (or would have made) any actionable difference to the COVID response, but because it may serve as guidance for future dealings with China. The fullest obtainable history of COVID will reveal much that Americans need to know about the truthfulness, competence, and danger of the Chinese regime.

Fauci may have misjudged, mishandled, or misstated many particulars. He was a scientist and bureaucrat unaccustomed to—and dazzled by—celebrity. History will judge his actions with more dispassion than the present day can or will. One thing that people should keep in mind, however, is that Fauci was thrust into his pandemic-leadership role because of Trump’s shameful and deadly dereliction of duty. Trump’s record of dishonesty, callousness, and selfishness during the pandemic is a documented reality. The imputations against Fauci are mostly fantasies.

No mistakes by blue America or by the scientific community begin to compare with the brutal indifference to the well-being of Americans—and the betrayal of their own cruelly deceived supporters—that disgraced MAGA and the broader right wing in the pandemic years. Their consciences should be heavy. They seek now to transfer their own burden of guilt onto Fauci. The reckoning is a lie. The transfer is a fraud.premium plus plan

More On Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump is a very sick man, Heather Delaney Reese, above right, Aug. 2, 2026. Continued from above. At 9:23 this morning (Saturday, Aug. 1)the White House abruptly dismissed the press traveling with the president of the United States while he was away for the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. With the cameras now gone, just three hours later at 12:32 p.m., Donald Trump would share the first of 42 posts on Truth Social in a span of less than 3 hours and 15 minutes.

The post that really set Donald Trump off this morning was one of his first of the day, when he attacked Jeanine Pirro, his own U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. This came after a late Friday motion to dismiss that Pirro had filed on the felony charge against David Hearn, the 67-year-old former Olympic canoeist who had been facing 10 years in prison for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. For weeks, Trump and his administration had insisted the damage was caused by “radical left” vandals. Trump himself claimed someone had cut a 300-foot gash in the lining with a knife, and Pirro had held a press conference saying she had “tremendous evidence” and would prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

But when the Department of the Interior finally turned over its documents, the truth proved it was all a lie. The lining had begun peeling almost immediately after installation, and the damage was the result of a botched job by the contractor on a no-bid contract from one of Trump’s own people. Pirro admitted in her court filing that the evidence did not support the charge and she dropped the case.

And instead of accepting the truth from his own appointee, Trump went on Truth Social and wrote, “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.” Then, at 12:51, he posted a video, insisting that the material was “being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!” His own prosecutor told a federal court under oath that the case was baseless, and he attacked her publicly for refusing to keep his lie alive.

That is what triggered everything that followed. When reality and the truth get too close, Donald Trump lashes out. Often on his personal social media platform, Truth Social.

Today was also the day that Trump Media launched “Truth API,” the paid data service that gives hedge funds and trading firms faster access to Trump’s posts before the general public sees them, for a very large fee. His company described it as providing “a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths.” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff called it “an outrageous abuse of the President’s office for his personal benefit.” Senator Chuck Schumer called it “the definition of insider trading.” Even Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said it was “wrong” and “a form of buying access.” Jamie Raskin opened a formal congressional investigation. Trump holds over 40 percent of the company’s shares, and profits directly from every paid subscriber. He now makes money off the chaos he posts. The more erratic the posts, the more the markets move, and the more money he makes. His platform was struggling to be profitable, and he found a way to use the office of the presidency to enrich yet another one of his companies.

Nothing that happened today was surprising. But it is still dangerous and deeply troublesome. And his own people know it. Last week, The New York Times reported that his own aides have described him as “more erratic, even by Trumpian standards.” They said he has seemed “trapped,” his presidency consumed by a war he cannot find his way out of. He is “deeply frustrated,” unable to find a “face-saving” exit from a conflict that has dragged on for five months with no clear endgame.

This is not just about one man’s decline. This is about what it means for every person watching, including world leaders. Not just our adversaries, who are studying every crack for leverage, but our allies, too. The leaders who have to sit across from this man and negotiate to mitigate the damage he keeps creating. The ones who have to decide how they will keep the door open to the United States while protecting themselves and their countries, and the world at large, safe from a very unwell Donald Trump.

After all of the instability coming from the president today, he shared one last post (as of the time of writing this) at 10:05 tonight to announce that he is now calling off a military strike on Iran. He wrote that the U.S. is “locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II.” He said Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off the attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.” He said he agreed, “for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” And he closed with the same attention-seeking sign-off he is known for: “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

President Trump portrayed himself as a Revolutionary War hero in visual image above that he posted on Aug. 1, 2026 and separately (shown below) as one who walks among aliens from outer space.

Whether this actually results in any sort of resolution to the war that he started or not, we will have to wait and see. But one thing is for certain: the man who posted that the war is on hold is the same man, just hours earlier, who was posting himself as Elvis, kissing Jesus and walking with aliens. Now he is announcing a decision that affects our military families, our allies, the oil and stock markets, and every human life in the path of this war. That is who is making all of these decisions.

I have been writing about Donald Trump nearly every night for over a year and a half. And looking back over it all, what I see is a man who never once took his job seriously. Not for a single day. It has been nonstop stunts and spectacles at the expense of the American people and the world. But what I also see is a man who is getting worse, physically and mentally. The posting rampages are not just bizarre, and his fantasies are not just strange. There are more of them, and they are becoming more elaborate, grandiose, and more disconnected from anything resembling the real world and what we are all living through. And the people around him, who could stop this all today, are not even trying. Instead, they are vultures looking for the best opportunity to benefit both with increased power and profit.

I wake up every morning wondering what terrible thing the President of the United States will do and what I will have to write about that night. Some nights, I write the post and almost immediately forget everything I just published. I block it out temporarily so that I can sleep, and then it all comes crashing back to me when I wake up in the morning. And I know that so many of you feel the same thing. That heaviness and dread. That feeling of watching something terrible happen in slow motion and not being able to look away because we all have to bear witness if we ever want to have a chance of stopping the destruction.

But even in his madness, when he is spiraling like this, he is showing us something he desperately does not want us to see. Just how vulnerable he really is. His own U.S. Attorney broke from him and told a federal court the truth, and he attacked her for it. That is not a man who is winning. That is a man losing control. His own aides are leaking that he is erratic and trapped. He is cracking, and every crack is an opening for us to break his grip on our country. And we are doing just that. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

Everyone Is Entitled To My Own Opinion, Commentary: Good news, everyone! Grand Theft Paint Chips no longer a crime, Jeff Tiedrich, right, Aug. 2, 2026. But MAGA is Big Mad at Jeanine Boxwine right now. Hey folks, are you sitting down right now?

I hope you are, because it turns out that the lying liars who lied to us about Iran’s nuclear program, and lied to us about Venezuelan fishermen, and lied about tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy, and lied about how tariffs work, and lied about the state of the economy, and the crime rate of migrants, and who won the 2020 election, and Dr. Fauci’s role in the pandemic, and Dear Leader’s rotting hands, bloated cankles and deteriorating brain, and every other f_____ thing under the sun, have been lying to us about this so-called vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

More On Iran War

New York Times, Trump Administration Live Updates: Progress Toward Deal Led Trump to Call Off Strikes, He Says, Vivian Nereim,Aug. 2, 2026. Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, appears to have sought to steer President Trump away from the latest wave of attacks he had threatened against Iran. The Saudi state news agency reported on Sunday morning that Prince Mohammed recently spoke with Trump to urge “the necessity of prioritizing dialogue to de-escalate tensions” and “prevent a wider conflict.”

Gulf states, which host U.S. military forces and installations, have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliation during the five-month war, facing regular missile and drone attacks as well as major disruption to their energy exports.Aaron BoxermanFrancesca RegaladoAug. 2, 2026, 12:30 a.m. ET8 hours ago

President Trump said late Saturday that he had canceled threatened U.S. strikes on Iran, opting to pull back from the brink of renewed war in the Middle East for the second time in two weeks.

Mr. Trump said in a post on social media that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to refrain from military action. He also said the “perimeters of a deal” had been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for global oil and gas blockaded by Iran for months now.

Iran has yet to give any indication that an agreement to end its grip over the strait was close, and Mr. Trump gave few specifics. The president has repeatedly claimed that Iran’s leaders were on the brink of accepting his conditions without any progress.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened a massive attack on Iran’s critical infrastructure, only to abruptly de-escalate while claiming a diplomatic breakthrough was in the offing. But the promised progress has rarely materialized, sending the two sides back to a cycle of attacks and counterattacks.

More than five months since the United States and Israel jointly launched a war on Iran in late February, neither military attacks nor negotiations have achieved their stated goal of forcing Iran to curb its nuclear program.

Nor has Mr. Trump been able to prevent Iran from throttling ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to pressure the U.S. to end the conflict. The disruption has spiked fuel prices and disrupted global markets and economies.

Speaking on Friday from Camp David, Mr. Trump said the United States was weighing additional military action against Iran in an effort to force its leaders to accept U.S. terms. The U.S. military has rushed additional bombers and fighters to the region, laying the groundwork for a potential renewed offensive.

“We’ll be hitting them very hard, and you know at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore,’” Mr. Trump told reporters at the time.

But few in Mr. Trump’s inner circle believed that a renewed escalation with Iran was wise, The New York Times has reported. U.S. officials have warned the escalation could seriously deplete supplies of essential interceptors capable of shooting down Iranian drones and ballistic missiles, and leave American troops and allies more exposed than they were earlier in the conflict.

Because both war and diplomacy having brought little progress, Mr. Trump has been left wrestling with a raft of risky and unpalatable choices for how to proceed. The prospect of a widening war in the Middle East, the vulnerability of key Gulf allies to Iranian attack and a global economic crunch have weighed on the president and his top aides.

As Mr. Trump’s threatened strikes loomed, Abbas Aragchi, the Iranian foreign minister, conducted a marathon run of phone calls on Saturday with officials in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, as well as Britain and India. The Iranian foreign ministry said Mr. Araghchi told his counterparts that Iran would forcefully retaliate if attacked by the United States or Israel.

Middle East: President Trump said he had canceled a series of strikes on Iran on Saturday because of unspecified progress on a deal that would include the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump offered no specifics on any such diplomatic breakthrough, a claim he has made before to justify backing off threatened attacks. Read more ›
Reflecting Pool: When Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, blamed shoddy construction rather than vandalism for damage to one of Mr. Trump’s pet projects, she openly contradicted her boss. He noticed, and lashed out at her on social media. Read more ›

More Global News

New York Times, With a Series of Big Donations, State Department Restores Some Global Health Aid, Stephanie Nolen, Aug. 2, 2026. The amount is still far below what the U.S. spent previously on humanitarian and health aid, but resumes the flow of money for key efforts to fight malnutrition and disease.

Over the past two months, the United States has made financial commitments that hint at a limited return to global health and humanitarian assistance partnerships, after the abrupt severing of many of those relationships a year and a half ago.

Last week, the State Department notified Congress that it would send $600 million to Gavi, the organization that helps low-income countries buy essential childhood immunizations, a year after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew American support.

It was the latest in a series of financial commitments from the U.S. government to international organizations, working on issues such as hunger and tuberculosis, totaling nearly $2 billion.

In most cases, these payments move money that had been appropriated by Congress but which had been stuck since the Trump administration took office in January 2025 and instituted a freeze on foreign aid.

It was not yet clear whether the disbursements represented a lasting shift, or how close any further commitments would bring the total to what the United States used to spend on aid and global health. People who have been part of talks with the State Department about this funding said that there were at least two motivations behind the money flowing to resumed partnerships.

First, recent health threats including, most notably, the ballooning Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reinforced the need for funding multilateral agencies that work on global health security.Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox.

Second, with the Trump administration’s dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development and absorption of a skeleton crew of its staff into the State Department, there was no longer the infrastructure or staff for the United States to move humanitarian assistance on this scale by itself, making these large international agencies necessary partners.

“What may be happening here is that reality is sinking in for decision makers,” said Mark A. Green, who served as administrator of U.S.A.I.D. during President Trump’s first term and who is president of ONE, an advocacy organization for foreign assistance. “The good news is that Secretary Rubio clearly realizes that global health is what we do, and we’re really good at it. That’s why you’re starting to see more money moving.”

He added, “I think there’s a realization that global health security is also American national security, too.”

Eighteen months ago, the freezing of assistance was perceived internationally as a significant U.S. retreat from multilateralism. It created immediate financial crises for many aid institutions, leaving gaping holes in budgets such as that of the World Food Program (WFP), which provides emergency food aid in war and disaster zones. And it presented an existential crisis for a humanitarian assistance and global health architecture that had long been predicated on bedrock U.S. support.

Jeremy Lewin, the top official for foreign aid at the State Department, said his team continues to be focused on remaking foreign assistance to be leaner and more efficient and to end recipients’ dependence.

“These international organization relationships, we can use them tactically where they’re important, but it doesn’t mean we need to fund them year after year after year when they don’t have that same nexus to something that we care about,” Mr. Lewin said.

News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Knives are Out as Trump Attacks his Own DOJ, Trump Prepares Largest Iran Strikes as Military Invokes Divine Authority, Iran Hacks, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration has the knives out for each other: Trump is attacking Jeanine Pirro, Doug Burgum is too, and Pirro is pushing back. Major strikes on Iran are planned, the largest yet by the United States and Israel, as the Pentagon reportedly invokes religious scripture to justify the war. Iranian hacks on American water systems have officials worried. And much more.

We’re bracing for a massive next 24-48 hours, and an even busier week ahead. I’ll be here with updates throughout, and I’m heading back to Mitch McConnell’s hospital too, so stay tuned. This work isn’t possible without you. Here’s the news:

Reflecting Pool Infighting:

The DOJ’s Friday case dismissal confirmed what officials had long denied. On Friday, in a classic news-dump move, the Justice Department dropped its felony vandalism case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn and admitted the Reflecting Pool damage was actually caused by a “botched installation,” not vandalism. The DOJ went further, blaming the Department of Interior for withholding information that would have prevented the indictment in the first place, saying Interior gave “less than fulsome information at the outset of this case.” An NPS engineer’s June 11th email, reviewed nearly a month before Hearn’s July 2nd indictment, reportedly attributed the damage to contractor “overspray,” yet that information apparently never reached prosecutors in time.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, right, pushed back Saturday, insisting the “evidence is clear” and that his department had given prosecutors expert and eyewitness testimony pointing to vandals. The reversal effectively confirms that a criminal case, including a rare felony vandalism charge, was pursued against an innocent man based on a theory the administration had aggressively promoted for weeks.

Officials repeatedly and confidently rejected the shoddy-installation explanation before it was proven true. Trump insisted in June that vandals, not contractors, cut a “300-foot slit” in the pool, claiming photographic proof that was never produced, and the alleged slit length later ballooned to “300 yards” in his retelling.

At a press conference, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, left, repeatedly and flatly rejected a reporter’s suggestion that the pool might already have been damaged before Hearn touched it, saying only “he damaged the pool” over and over. On Fox News, Pirro doubled down further, describing supposed “anarchists” and witnesses to vandalism while scoffing at skepticism about the president’s account. Burgum made similarly emphatic claims to CNN’s Dana Bash, saying “there was vandalism, there was box cutters” and insisting the pool liner would “never just peel off or fall off.” All of these confident denials have now been undercut by the DOJ’s own filing, which shows the botched-installation explanation was accurate and known internally well before the case was brought.

Trump is still refusing to accept his own DOJ’s findings, extending the political fallout. Even after the case collapsed, Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday that he disagreed “100%” with Pirro’s dismissal, insisting “it was a pure case of VANDALISM” and pointing to the mysterious “86 47” marking that appeared on the National Mall grass as evidence. He allowed only that there “may have been some contractor difficulty” while maintaining that “the major damage was caused by VANDALS.”

The episode ties back to Trump’s push to have the pool renovated in time for Independence Day, which analysts say created pressure to blame outside actors once the renovation began visibly deteriorating in mid-June. Along the way, Trump escalated his rhetoric, branding unproven vandals as “thugs,” “sick people,” and “Radical Left SCUM,” language that now appears to have targeted people who did nothing wrong. Here is a statement from Norman Eisen, right, the lawyer of David Hearn, the man who was wrongfully charged for vandalizing the pool:

Iran war:

The maritime and regional escalation is intensifying around the Strait of Hormuz and beyond. The British Navy reported a tanker struck by an unknown projectile off Oman on Friday, damaging its engine room, plus a separate explosion near another tanker Saturday, with satellite images also showing oil leaking from a sanctioned tanker grounded near a protected marine area. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said it struck two tankers under U.S. “aerial escort” in the strait, while Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority declared transit “not possible” due to what it calls American aggression. Kuwait said it intercepted Iranian drone attacks targeting Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base, and Yemen’s Houthis denied accusations they’re trying to impose tolls on the nearby Bab el-Mandeb Strait, similar to Iran’s moves on Hormuz. Iraq and Turkey, meanwhile, struck a one-year deal to keep oil flowing via pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port, a workaround as regional exporters scramble for alternatives to the blocked strait.

The U.S. and Israel are preparing to escalate further while diplomatic and legal fronts also heat up. Multiple sources told CBS that the U.S. and Israel are planning what could be one of the harshest bombing campaigns yet against Iranian energy infrastructure, possibly through the weekend, prompting U.S. embassies in Amman, Jerusalem, and Baghdad to warn Americans to consider leaving the region. Iran’s military accused Washington of “escalating tensions” and warned any country aiding the U.S. would be “engulfed by the flames of war,” while a senior Iranian official said Tehran has a “comprehensive response plan” targeting Israeli and regional U.S. energy infrastructure.

A New York Times visual investigation found that the US struck a family home on Iran's Qeshm Island overnight Thursday with what analysts identified as a 2,000-pound Mark-84 bomb, one of the largest conventional munitions in the US arsenal, killing a couple and their 2-year-old son while their two other children survived. The Times, analyzing videos, photos, and satellite imagery with independent munitions experts, found no evidence of a military site near the home and no reports of military casualties from the strike, which hit a densely populated neighborhood and displaced roughly 20 nearby households. US Central Command confirmed striking southern Iran that night as part of retaliation for an earlier Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan, but said only that it was "looking into" the civilian casualty reports without addressing the intended target or munition used.

In Lebanon, Israel says it killed several Hezbollah fighters and set off roughly 700 tons of explosives destroying tunnels near the UNESCO-listed Beaufort Castle, drawing U.N. concern over damage to cultural heritage and a rebuke from Lebanon’s president calling it a dangerous escalation of the ceasefire. Domestically, a Senate resolution led by Kirsten Gillibrand to limit Trump’s war powers failed again, 49-50, marking likely the last such vote before the August recess. As the United States prepares a large escalation, the Pentagon is using scripture to justfiy war:

A group of 15 House Democrats, all military veterans and led by Rep. Mike Thompson, sent a letter to Trump raising “serious concerns” that the Department of Defense is delaying, removing, or mischaracterizing information about US troops killed or wounded in the Iran war. The letter followed reports that the Pentagon had quietly removed the names of four American troops from the official Iran war death toll, upsetting military families who noticed the lowered count. Signers include Reps. Pat Ryan, Seth Moulton, Chris Deluzio, Jimmy Panetta, Ted Lieu, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, and Jared Golden, among others. They wrote that “the U.S. government owes U.S. service members, their families, and every American the truth about all U.S. casualties in the War with Iran,” and called for timely, accurate reporting that explains any amended or delayed casualty figures.

Trump is framing the war favorably while investigators probe possible Iranian retaliation on U.S. soil. At a Friday Cabinet meeting, Trump claimed the U.S. has done “an amazing job” in just five months compared to longer wars like Vietnam and Afghanistan, insisted “Iran is doing very poorly,” and credited pressure from the war with helping produce this week’s Hamas disarmament agreement in Gaza. He separately said he’s “losing faith” in reaching a deal with Iran over its alleged dishonesty in negotiations, even as investigators probe whether Iranian hackers caused cyberattacks on water systems in seven states, including Minnesota, though Trump instead blamed Minnesota’s government for incompetence.

Cyberattacks on US water systems have expanded to at least seven states, including Minnesota and Michigan, with officials and experts increasingly pointing to Iran as the likely culprit, though no water supply has been altered or made unsafe. Trump downplayed the incident Friday, blaming Minnesota’s Democratic government instead and saying “I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack,” even as his own intelligence agencies reportedly consider Iranian involvement highly likely; Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back, calling it “what modern warfare looks like.” Roughly three dozen Minnesota municipalities and nine Michigan water systems reported issues, forcing some to switch to manual operations and issue boil-water notices, and the FBI and EPA confirmed in a Thursday advisory that “some of that activity degraded water operations.” Cybersecurity experts say the intrusions mark a significant escalation, representing the first time Iran-linked hacking has caused direct, tangible effects on live US infrastructure control systems, and warn the attacks appear opportunistic rather than targeted, meaning any facility with vulnerable internet-connected systems could be at risk nationwide.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron posted massive profit jumps this quarter, more than doubling and nearly quadrupling respectively, as the war disrupted global shipping and pushed crude prices sharply higher. Separately, a British-Azerbaijani man was arrested in Cyprus accused of spying on a UK air base for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, underscoring how the conflict has spilled into surveillance and espionage cases far from the Gulf.

Other news:

Trump is appealing US District Judge Kathleen Williams’s ruling that her court can keep probing whether his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was part of a scheme to get judicial cover for a sham settlement. Williams, below left, found in a blistering July 13 order that the settlement, which included a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” and an audit shield for Trump, had “no viablebasis in law or fact,” and noted the case was legally odd since Trump effectively sued an administration he runs. While the administration has dropped the weaponization fund, the audit immunity provision remains in place and continues to complicate Todd Blanche’s attorney general confirmation. Trump’s lawyers argue Williams overstepped by turning a “completed statutory dispute” into sanctions proceedings against his personal attorneys, Alejandro Brito and Daniel Epstein, and Trump separately asked the court to pause those sanctions while the appeal is pending.

Capital One filed a court motion asking a judge to dismiss the Trump Organization’s lawsuit accusing the bank of politically motivated “debanking,” arguing instead that its own anti-money laundering team spent months reviewing the accounts and flagged suspicious transaction patterns before deciding to close them in 2021. The lawsuit stems from Capital One’s March 2021 notice that it wouldshutter hundreds of Trump-linked accounts holding millions of dollars within two months, a move Trump’s company has long claimed was retaliation tied to January 6. A Capital One spokesperson pushed back on the political framing, saying “Capital One has not and does not close customer accounts for political reasons.” The filing marks the bank’s most detailed defense yet in the ongoing legal fight, which is part of a broader wave of “debanking” claims Trump-aligned businesses have leveled against major financial institutions.

Trump Media launched Truth API today, a paid subscription service giving trading firms and other subscribers early, real-time access to Truth Social posts, including from Trump’s own account, for up to $100,000 a month. Critics call it a clear conflict of interest since Trump, the platform’s largest shareholder and most-followed user, has repeatedly used Truth Social to announce market-moving policy decisions on tariffs and the Iran war before markets have priced them in. Democratic senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren already asked the SEC this week to investigate whether the service amounts to illegal market manipulation benefiting wealthy insiders at the expense of ordinary investors. The launch comes as Trump Media’s stock has dropped over 70% since Trump took office, even as Trump’s own financial disclosures show he personally earned more than $1 billion last year from the company and related crypto ventures.

Gavin Newsom announced California’s minimum wage will rise from $16.90 to $17.40 starting January 1, making it the highest state minimum wage in the country, edging out Washington state’s projected $17.13 for 2027. Newsom framed the increase as a rebuke of Trump, saying Republicans have blocked federal minimum wage hikes (stuck at $7.25 since 2009) while cutting taxes for billionaires and corporations. Since Newsom took office in 2019, California’s minimum wage has climbed from $12, though MIT researchers estimate a family of four in the state still needs each working adult to earn $36.38 an hour to cover basic costs. The announcement comes as cost-of-living concerns dominate midterm messaging, with California gas prices topping $6 a gallon amid fallout from the ongoing Iran war.

The Trump administration subpoenaed freelance New York Times reporter Matthew Cole over his reporting on a failed top-secret US mission in North Korea, with Virginia prosecutors demanding two years of his contacts and sources, according to a Times report published today. FBI agents delivered the subpoena to Cole’s home in New York; his lawyer said Cole “will not be intimidated” and will defend press freedom while protecting his sources. The move follows a pattern: last month the DOJ subpoenaed Times reporters over coverage of Trump’s Qatari-gifted aircraft (later withdrawn after a judge questioned whether prosecutors met legal standards for subpoenaing journalists), and in March it sought Wall Street Journal reporters’ records tied to a story on internal Iran war discussions, plus withdrawn subpoenas against Washington Post and Journal reporters and a reported raid on a Post journalist’s home. Trump maintains the investigations target leakers, not journalists, saying “we’re not after journalists, we’re after leakers.”

More On U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

New York Times, Can Democratic Socialists Agree on Anything? They Say That’s Not the Point, Emma Goldberg, Photographs by Jamie Kelter Davis, Aug. 2, 2026. At a national summit of the Democratic Socialists of America, nervous energy and a sprawling tableau of sometimes-competing interests were on display.

If it’s true that a hammer finds nails everywhere it looks, it can also be said that the Democratic Socialists of America, even in the midst of a raucous party, will find a reason to fight.

On the heels of high-profile primary wins, it might seem that a national gathering of nearly 500 members of the D.S.A. — the country’s largest socialist organization — would feel ecstatic, like a summer camp social for 20-somethings who bewilderingly found themselves beating Democratic Party mainstays and finagling the keys to New York’s City Hall.

But as D.S.A. members gathered for sessions such as “Building Working Class Solidarity,” ecstasy was not the dominant sentiment. It was more like nervous fervor, jittery anticipation, the thudding knowledge that everything they’re looking to do — run a candidate for president in 2028, grow their organization to one million members — will only come after well over 1,000 hours of solemn debate.

It’s a real challenge the organization faces. While D.S.A.-backed candidates have won some recent primaries, the organization’s decision-making processes look markedly different from a traditional political party’s. Although its leaders insist that this is a feature — democracy at work — the internal chaos also raises questions, especially about how the organization plans to address concerns from some Democrats who worry about being tagged as extremists by association, not to mention fierce animosity coming from the right.

U.S. High Tech, Markets, Economy, Inflation, Jobs, Markets

New York Times, Inside the Meltdown of a Wunderkind’s A.I. Hedge Fund, Rob Copeland, Aug. 2, 2026 (print ed.). Situational Awareness, led by a 24-year-old, exploded onto the artificial intelligence scene — and then nose-dived.

Last year, Leopold Aschenbrenner, a man barely of legal drinking age with a fondness for Rubik’s Cubes, crisscrossed the nation to raise money for his high-flying hedge fund.

An ex-researcher at OpenAI, who departed there in a cloud of controversy and then wrote a viral essay predicting an artificial intelligence revolution, Mr. Aschenbrenner had started his fund, Situational Awareness, in 2024 at age 22 with a burst of attention. That November, he raised $100 million from big names in the tech world and immediately began going whole hog into A.I. investing.

From an office in the Bay Area that he shared with a podcast studio, he poured money into fledgling start-ups, chipmakers and data center companies — pretty much anything that could even vaguely benefit from the A.I. boom. The fund began reporting staggeringly high investment returns, quadrupling its investor money in mere months. It borrowed huge sums — tens of billions of dollars — from Wall Street banks to make ever-bigger bets.

What was Mr. Aschenbrenner’s plan if the A.I. revolution didn’t pan out quite as hoped? The hedge-fund founder had no detailed response, [an] investor recalled. Mr. Aschenbrenner simply truly believed it would all work out.

An early answer to that question arrived this week. When A.I. stocks dropped quickly, felled by questions about whether the technology would be quite as transformative as promised, Goldman Sachs — one of Situational Awareness’s larger lenders — demanded the payback of some of its loans, according to two bankers involved in the process.

The hedge fund couldn’t — not without holding a last-minute fire sale. Over the next 30 hours, it worked to get rid of roughly $20 billion in stocks. As it frantically called rivals for help, the firm’s representatives claimed that it was hocking a portfolio of so-called hedges, or modest investments meant to protect from risk, that were now in distress, according to three people briefed on the entreaties.

Situational Awareness survived. One person briefed on what remains said it had roughly $8 billion left, down from around $30 billion at the start of July. “We let you down,” Mr. Aschenbrenner wrote to investors at the day’s end, according to a letter viewed by The New York Times. He vowed to “fight another day.” Mr. Aschenbrenner declined through a representative to be interviewed.

Aug. 1

Top Headlines

President Trump announced a deal to buy 11 icebreakers, some of them from Finland, during an Oval Office meeting with President Alexander Stubb (New York Times photo by Kenny Holston)

New York Times, Investigation: Trump’s Fixation on Arctic Ships Led to Billions in No-Bid Contracts, Christopher Flavelle, Andrea Fuller and Nicholas Nehamas, Aug. 1, 2026. The president decided to buy 11 polar icebreakers after a game of golf with Finland’s president. Experts say it’s far from clear the United States needs so many.
New York Times, Trump Administration Plans to Upend Head Start by Deregulating It, Coral Davenport, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The White House tried but failed to block funding for preschool for poor children. Instead, it will seek to strip away standards on health, literacy — and brushing teeth.
The Parnas Perspective, Evening News and Commentary: Knives are Out as Trump Attacks his Own DOJ, Trump Prepares Largest Iran Strikes as Military Invokes Divine Authority, Iran Hacks, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration has the knives out for each other: Trump is attacking Jeanine Pirro, Doug Burgum is too, and Pirro is pushing back. Major strikes on Iran are planned, the largest yet by the United States and Israel, as the Pentagon reportedly invokes religious scripture to justify the war. Iranian hacks on American water systems have officials worried. And much more.

U.S. Drought, Disputed Distribution Plan

The Colorado River is divided into two basins – the upper and lower. The upper section is primarily Colorado, Utah and Wyoming with portions of northwest New Mexico and northeast Arizona; the lower is primarily Arizona, with portions of southeast California, southeast Nevada and west Mexico. (Credit: KDVR)

New York Times, U.S. Raises Threat of Steep Water Cuts in Lower Colorado River Basin, Scott Dance, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). A federal plan would impose drastic water cuts on Arizona, California and Nevada in dry years over the next decade. A legal battle could follow.

More News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Trump Admin Embarrassed—“Monkey Having Intimate Relations With a Football,” Epstein Survivor Drops Major News, Iran War, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration faced embarrassment this week over the Reflecting Pool debacle and dismissal of criminal charges, with one Trump ally saying the episode made the administration “look like a monkey having intimate relations with a football.” Meanwhile, the war in Iran is rapidly escalating, with China and Russia both stepping in to help Tehran. And Trump says he wants to revive the anti-weaponization fund even as he continues to tank Todd Blanche’s confirmation process. I sat down with Epstein survivor Dani Bensky to talk about all of this and so much more.

More On Epstein Files, Trump Team Cover-Up: Child Rape Allegation Against Both

Future President Trump, above right, with his onetime best friend Jeffrey Epstein, left, along with Trump's now-notorious birhday greeting to Epstein.

Last Page First, Investigative Commentary: Katie Johnson, Jane Doe 4, and the Men In Between, Jana, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Two women, two decades apart, both alleging abuse by the same two men. Online, they became one story.
Meidas Touch Network, Trump DOJ Hands Judge Unredacted Epstein Records After Katie Phang's Court Win, Brett Meiselas, July 30, 2026. The Justice Department now says it delivered the records directly to the judge after Katie Phang successfully challenged the government’s Epstein-file redactions.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: The Flapping Holes in Jeanine Pirro’s Davey Hearn Juicebox Jam, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 1, 2026. In this post, I laughed at how liberally Jeanine Pirro’s prosecutors (the motion was signed by Michael Spence, the Chief of DC’s Superior Court Division, not the AUSAs who had been working the case) used the passive voice in the motion to dismiss the case against Davey Hearn. Even on its face, though, their excuse has some pretty obvious holes. After pretending to have seen none of the extensive reporting about problems with the reflecting pool in the months leading up to Hearn’s arrest, they claim they only first noticed the other damage to the reflecting pool on July 17, when accompanying Hearn’s expert for an inspection of the now-drained pool.
Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Jeanine Pirro’s Epic Study in Passive Voice, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right,), July 31, 2026. Jeanine Pirro has filed a 20-page motion to dismiss the indictment against Davey Hearn, on the basis of being utterly helpless to know that the pool was badly damaged weeks before Hearn came along. Much of it aims to blame everything on the Park Police and Doug Burgum.
New York Times, Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources, Devlin Barrett, Aug. 1, 2026. A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the government’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of secrets.
New York Times, At Least 3 Dead and 2 Injured in Shooting at In-N-Out Burger in Idaho, Official Says, Mack Liederman and Alena Cerro, Aug. 1, 2026. A spokesman for Twin Falls cautioned that the number of victims was “expected to be higher.” The police said the shooter was dead.
Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Todd Blanche Colluded with an Italian Mafioso … and Also Rudy Guiliani … to Indict Jim Comey, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), July 29, 2026. Jim Comey has filed his pretrial motions. The memoranda and backup for each are here (Fitzgerald’s affidavit is a worthwhile place to start). The story captured by these various filings is even more pathetic than told publicly. For example, while the frothy MAGAts ginned themselves into believing that the extra evidence Todd Blanche insisted he had when he announced the charges consisted of materials in the novel Comey was about to release, there’s no such evidence. Instead, there’s evidence of a deeply unwell country.
Courthouse News Service, Rudy Giuliani is ‘very unhealthy,’ says his lawyer, explaining stall of sexual harassment case, Erik Uebelacker, July 29, 2026. Giuliani, accused of forcing an employee into sex, is “confined to a wheelchair” with breathing issues, according to his attorney — despite recent international travel.
New York Times, Justice Dept.’s Case Against Minnesota Protesters Hits Hurdles as Missteps Mount, Alan Feuer and Ernesto Londoño, July 31, 2026. The problems plaguing the case have not only hurt the government’s chances, lawyers say, but have also undermined the bonds of trust that prosecutors have traditionally enjoyed in court.

More On Iran War

New York Times, Fact-Checking Trump’s Recent Comments About Costs of Iran War, Linda Qiu, Aug. 1, 2026. The president misleadingly blamed the Biden administration’s weapons transfers to Ukraine for current concerns over munitions stockpiles, among other claims about the Iran war.
New York Times, Investigation: Visuals Suggest U.S. Dropped 2,000-Pound Bomb on Home in Iran, Killing 3, Christiaan Triebert, Sanjana Varghese and Christoph Koettl, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The weapon, one of the largest in the U.S.’s arsenal, struck a house in a heavily populated area, according to a Times analysis.

More On U.S. Military, Foreign Policy

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Trump Has Broken The US Military So Badly That It Can't Defend Israel, Jason Easley, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Trump's incompetence is bringing about a reality that many Americans have wanted for decades, but thought they would never see. The US military reportedly lacks the capacity to defend Israel.
Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: July 31, 2026 [Trump Complains About His Iran War's Length], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Courtney Kube, Monica Alba, Peter Nicholas, Gordon Lubold, Katherine Doyle, and Andrea Mitchell of NBC News reported Wednesday that President Donald J. Trump is “exasperated” that the Iran war is dragging on and that his advisors can’t agree what to do next.
White House Chronicle, Opinion: Foreign Aid That Works — the Malawi Story, Llewellyn King, Aug. 1, 2026. In 2005, Gordon Brown, British chancellor of the exchequer, later prime minister, was in Washington, seeking to raise $50 billion annually in additional international aid for Africa.

U.S. Governance, Health, Safety, Education

New York Times, Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections, Scott Dance, Aug. 1, 2026. The Biden administration took steps to shield workers from extreme temperatures. The Trump administration is taking a gentler approach with employers.
Old Goats, Opinion: RFK Jr.’s Long History of Lying about Fauci, Jonathan Alter, Aug. 1, 2026. Peddling accusations that a mass grave of children can be blamed on him, too.

More On Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

David Hearn, center, pleaded not guilty this month to a felony charge of vandalism. Prosecutors had accused him of ripping the Reflecting Pool’s lining (Associated Press photo by Rod Lamkey).

New York Times, Charges Dropped in Reflecting Pool Case as Prosecutors Say Work Was ‘Botched,’ Madaleine Rubin and David A. Fahrenthold, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.
The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Trump Is Melting Down And Fighting With His Own Administration Over The Reflecting Pool, Sarah Jones, right, and Jason Easley, Aug. 1, 2026. Donald Trump melted down and claimed that the evidence and the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. are both wrong and that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was vandalized. The majority of Americans realized a long time ago that Donald Trump is living in a delusional bubble of his own creation. Even though evidence from the earliest moments of the Reflecting Pool renovation gone wrong suggested that it was contractor error and shoddy work that caused first the algae infestation and then the pool’s liner to peel, Trump has blamed vandals. Reality smacked Trump upside the head on Friday.
Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump wants to be paid, Heather Delaney Reese, right, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). At exactly 11:30 this morning, carefully selected members of the press were packed into a room rarely seen by anyone outside the president’s closest advisers and invited guests, let alone television cameras broadcasting live to the world. Today was different.

More Global News

New York Times, How 50,000 People Surged Into a Spanish Exclave in Africa, Jason Horowitz, Aug. 1, 2026. On Thursday, tens of thousands of Moroccans broke into Ceuta, a Spanish territory that neighbors Morocco. By Friday evening, most of them had left, hungry and disappointed.
New York Times, Spain Installs Floating Barrier in Ceuta After Influx of Migrants, Carlos Barragán, Aug. 1, 2026. Most of those who surged into the territory, a Spanish exclave in Africa, have returned across the border to Morocco. At least 67 people died trying to enter, the authorities said.
New York Times, Russian Missiles Kill 9 in Kyiv After Trump Backs Off Air-Defense Pledge, Constant Méheut, Aug. 1, 2026. Ukraine’s supply of Patriot missile interceptors is dwindling, and on Friday, President Trump backed away from his promise to let Ukraine make them itself.

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: Trump's Failed, Fanatical Presidency Has Left America Less Safe, More Vulnerable. We Must Fight Very Hard Now For A Better Path, Simon Rosenberg, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Hackers attacked the critical infrastructure of seven US states this week. Trump blamed Tim Walz and the state of Minnesota. First up, Trump has completely melted down over the Senate’s refusal to enable his unprecedented corruption and green light his venal AG choice. Let’s review what we’ve learned in recent days: Iran Has Attacked The American Homeland. Trump Is Cheering Them On; Trump Has Lost The War. Escalation Will Be Disastrous. We Must Negotiate A Rough, Regional Peace.
MS NOW, Opinion: Fauci faced a grilling because he preserved his records. The Trump administration doesn’t, Lauren Harper, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration is actively shredding its own paper trail, preventing future accountability.‘
New York Times, She Voted for a Justice Who Overturned Roe. Now it Haunts Her on the Trail, Lisa Lerer and Beth Reinhard, Aug. 1, 2026. Senator Susan Collins, who supports abortion rights, endorsed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court. It has emerged as a major issue in her campaign for re-election.
New York Times, Why Mitch McConnell Isn’t Giving Up His Senate Seat, Carl Hulse, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Democrats are demanding that the Kentucky Republican resign. Others who were sidelined for far longer faced no such calls, but times are changing.

Democracy, Freedom, History, Culture

Ken Burns, lecture in Maine, July 30, 2026 (Photo Credit Stephanie Berger).

Civil Discourse, Opinion: Saturday Night Reflections via Filmmaker Ken Burns, Joyce Vance, right, Aug. 1, 2026 I am taking time today with friends and family after a long week full of an overwhelming amount of news on the democracy front. I feel lucky to be in this with all of you. I went to hear the filmmaker and documentarian Ken Burns speak in Kennebunkport, Maine, with college friends. Burns said something that has stayed with me and that I have been thinking over in connection with my own work for the last few days.
New York Times, How Ukraine Is Making Inroads Into Once-Hostile Territory: MAGA, Anton Troianovski, Ken Bensinger and Constant Méheut, Aug. 1, 2026. Ukraine and its supporters have invested years in trying to undo the skepticism of the country’s war effort harbored by President Trump’s MAGA movement and the president himself.olina. Some hope that Ms. Loomer can fill the void he leaves behind as a pro-Ukrainian voice in Mr. Trump’s ear.

U.S. Media, Education, Entertainment

Alan Ritchson at TIFF 2025 via WikiMedia.

The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Alan Ritchson's Rage at Trump 'Raping the World' Shames The Media By Speaking Truth, Sarah Jones, right, July 31, 2026. This is what the media should be doing instead of gaslighting Americans. Reacher star PoliticusUSA,s anger is the only appropriate reaction to Trump "raping the world."

Aug. 1

Top Headlines

President Trump announced a deal to buy 11 icebreakers, some of them from Finland, during an Oval Office meeting with President Alexander Stubb (New York Times photo by Kenny Holston)

New York Times, Investigation: Trump’s Fixation on Arctic Ships Led to Billions in No-Bid Contracts, Christopher Flavelle, Andrea Fuller and Nicholas Nehamas, Aug. 1, 2026. The president decided to buy 11 polar icebreakers after a game of golf with Finland’s president. Experts say it’s far from clear the United States needs so many.

Late one night last August, Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland, was at his summer residence two hours west of Helsinki when his phone rang. On the other end of the line was President Trump, calling with a request.

He wanted to buy a fleet of massive ships designed to cut through Arctic ice.

Mr. Trump had long fixated on these hulking vessels, known as polar icebreakers. He viewed them as crucial to dominating the Arctic, where rising temperatures have put key shipping lanes and vast mineral wealth up for grabs. And he was incensed that the United States possessed far fewer than Russia.

Two months later, Mr. Trump and Mr. Stubb were sitting in the Oval Office to announce a deal for 11 icebreakers, worth almost $7 billion, to be built by shipyards in both countries.

The arrangement was unusual in various ways.

The number was twice as many as the Coast Guard, which manages America’s fleet, had said it needed. The contracts for building the ships would be awarded without competitive bids. And while seven of the ships are expected to be built in the United States, the first four would be built in Finland, requiring Mr. Trump to waive a law prohibiting the construction of national security vessels overseas.

At that moment, though, none of that mattered. Mr. Trump wanted more icebreakers, and he wanted them from Finland.

“Other countries have more than we do,” Mr. Trump proclaimed as he sat with the Finnish leader, “and we’re buying the finest icebreakers in the world.”ImagePresident Trump and President Alexander Stubb seated in the Oval Office, surrounded by their advisers and members of the media holding microphones on boom poles.President Trump announced a deal to buy 11 icebreakers, some of them from Finland, during an Oval Office meeting with President Alexander Stubb.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

The story behind Mr. Trump’s personal intervention in Coast Guard ships provides new insights into how his administration has cut corners and flouted rules in pursuit of projects that suit the president’s desires, regardless of whether they fit any broader strategic rationale.

The reliance on no-bid contracts, usually reserved for highly specialized or urgent needs, mirrors other recent Trump-driven projects — ranging in scale from renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to a $1.3 billion deal to build a migrant detention center.

A New York Times examination of the Coast Guard deal found it relied on personal appeals from Finland’s president and Mr. Trump’s own view of what constitutes national greatness, along with a fascination with polar icebreakers dating back to a chance encounter in Finland long before he would ever run for president.

It also came with no plan to pay for the infrastructure required to support the 11 new ships or the crews to sail them. Those costs are likely to reach into the billions, according to Coast Guard documents.

Much of the funding is set to come from money set aside for border security in the Republicans’ spending law passed last year, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which gave the administration wide latitude to pour billions into its priorities with little oversight.

To justify no-bid contracts for icebreakers, the Trump administration invoked a rarely used exemption claiming the awards are in the “public interest” — allowing the government to skip competition while saying little publicly about its rationale.

“We haven’t seen any information or analysis to justify the 11 or to assess the long-term affordability of these decisions,” said Shelby S. Oakley, director of contracting and national security acquisitions for the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The Coast Guard, she said, risks ending up “like a lottery winner who spends all their money buying the mansion, and then goes broke once they realize they don’t have the money to maintain it.”

Administration officials broadly defended the ships as essential for national security. Polar icebreakers allow the Coast Guard to maintain what it calls “presence” in the Arctic — monitoring foreign vessels operating in the region’s increasingly strategic waterways.

“President Trump is restoring America’s status as a great Arctic power after previous administrations allowed our ships and Arctic capacity to rust and decay,” Allie McCandless, a spokeswoman for the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement.

The commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, said the service abided by laws and regulations “to ensure appropriate stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”

“The number 11 came directly from the president,” Admiral Lunday told The Times. He said the Coast Guard provided input, but added: “This was the president’s number and the president’s decision.”

The president has bragged about the deal.

New York Times, Trump Administration Plans to Upend Head Start by Deregulating It, Coral Davenport, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The White House tried but failed to block funding for preschool for poor children. Instead, it will seek to strip away standards on health, literacy — and brushing teeth.

The Trump administration is preparing a major rollback of federal requirements for Head Start, a change that supporters of the child care program fear could gut its longstanding antipoverty mission.

The proposed changes would remove most of Head Start’s 133 pages of requirements for math and literacy curriculums, class sizes, medical screenings, home visits and even a requirement that children brush their teeth after meals, according to three people with knowledge of the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Administration officials say the changes will streamline a heavily regulated program while giving states and cities more control over how it is run.

But Head Start advocates say that erasing regulations serves as a backdoor way to dismantle a program the administration does not like. The White House last year called Head Start “radical” and tried but failed to freeze spending on it.

While Head Start facilities will still be required to comply with state rules, there are almost no comparable state-level programs with similar requirements. And even though the federal rules would not prohibit centers from providing traditional antipoverty services, some fear that the lack of any requirements means that many are likely to stop doing so.I

The changes, previously reported by The Nation, are expected to be formally introduced as early as next week and could be finalized by year’s end.

They would remake a program that has served over 30 million children since it was created in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Head Start was intended to be a federally funded and regulated early education and antipoverty program, with hundreds of standards to support that mission, making it far more comprehensive than any other child care programs.

A White House official, who declined to be identified, wrote in an email that the administration is supporting Head Start by keeping its federal funding in place and supporting efforts the official said would reduce administrative burdens.

A spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Children and Families, which oversees Head Start and drafted the changes, did not respond to a request for comment.

But Ruth Friedman, a child care policy expert who worked as a congressional aide to create a bipartisan 2007 law updating Head Start, called the proposed changes a “massive gutting” of the program.

“Eliminating Head Start’s performance standards guts the science-backed standards that ensure our youngest learners get what they need to arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed,” she said.

The program, which today serves about 700,000 children under 6, has for decades attracted bipartisan support. President Ronald Reagan expanded Head Start’s budget to over $1 billion, and President George W. Bush signed a bipartisan law to update and modernize the program. Even President Trump in his first term increased the program’s budget by $900 million.

That has now changed dramatically.

Reflecting Pool Infighting:

Iran war:

Other news:

Capital One filed a court motion asking a judge to dismiss the Trump Organization’s lawsuit accusing the bank of politically motivated “debanking,” arguing instead that its own anti-money laundering team spent months reviewing the accounts and flagged suspicious transaction patterns before deciding to close them in 2021.The lawsuit stems from Capital One’s March 2021 notice that it wouldshutter hundreds of Trump-linked accounts holding millions of dollars within two months, a move Trump’s company has long claimed was retaliation tied to January 6. A Capital One spokesperson pushed back on the political framing, saying “Capital One has not and does not close customer accounts for political reasons.” The filing marks the bank’s most detailed defense yet in the ongoing legal fight, which is part of a broader wave of “debanking” claims Trump-aligned businesses have leveled against major financial institutions.

At least 13 people died when a tourist sightseeing plane crashed into a field near Peru’s Nazca Lines, the ancient desert geoglyphs visible only from the air. The aircraft, operated by Peruvian company Aerodiana, had departed from the nearby city of Ica before the crash. Peruvian authorities are investigating the cause, and Aerodiana hasn’t yet commented. This remains a developing story with more details expected soon.

Colorado’s secretary of state formally declared the small southeastern town of Hartman (population under 60) abandoned on July 29, after all its elected officials resigned amid a worsening water crisis, leaving no board, town clerk, or way to hold elections. Residents had gone without chlorinated water for over a month, with water reportedly undrinkable and “smelling horrible,” and the town had been under a boil-water order for the better part of a year. The Denver Post attributed the collapse to years of political infighting, fraud accusations, and even a physical altercation at a governing meeting, comparing the feuding to the Hatfield-McCoy rivalry, which drove off water operators who might have helped fix the town’s long-neglected water tower. The secretary of state’s office said abandonment was the only legal path to get residents clean water, since it shifts responsibility for the town’s water infrastructure to surrounding Prowers county, though some residents, like Shawna Casey, objected, saying “Hartman is not a failed town... Hartman is a town that was failed by the systems designed to protect it.”

U.S. Drought, Disputed Distribution Plan

New York Times, U.S. Raises Threat of Steep Water Cuts in Lower Colorado River Basin, Scott Dance, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). A federal plan would impose drastic water cuts on Arizona, California and Nevada in dry years over the next decade. A legal battle could follow.

Communities and farms across Arizona, Nevada and California face potentially drastic cuts in the water they can use from the Colorado River over the next decade under a plan the Trump administration published on Friday.

The proposal could ignite a complex legal battle that could play out for years. The Colorado River basin supplies water to some 40 million people, including in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as rich agricultural land. And it faces some of the most dire drought conditions on record.

For years, seven states have fought over how to divide up the water. With decades-old rules governing water use set to expire at the end of the year, the Trump administration stepped in and said it would decide.

The plan, released by the Interior Department, does not force mandatory cuts to water use on communities up the river in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, collectively known as the upper basin states. That has been a stubborn sticking point for the seven Colorado River basin states, for years preventing agreement on a plan to divvy up a dwindling source of water for a growing region of the United States.

The booming Phoenix area could find its water supply severely reduced in the driest years under the plan, because Arizona holds some of the lowest-priority rights in a river system where many water rights were determined a century and a half ago. Arizona officials have signaled they are preparing to fight for their water in court, a step that could send Colorado River conflicts on an unpredictable path to the U.S. Supreme Court.

More details on the federal plan, including guidelines laying out water use cuts over the next two years, had not yet been released as of Friday morning. The Interior Department’s plan nonetheless provided states more clarity on what could be coming in the years ahead, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.

“It is an agency statement of what it believes it’s empowered to do,” Ms. Porter said. “It’s not necessarily the last word.”

Across the region, two decades of drought have reduced winter snowpack, which creates the majority of the river’s flow, and warming temperatures caused by climate change have increased water losses from evaporation.

The basin faced an October deadline to have a new water use plan in place. Its implementation fell to the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation, after years of negotiations among the river basin states failed.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the plan released on Friday “provides the flexibility to respond to changing hydrologic conditions.” He added that the Interior Department had “a responsibility to ensure the Colorado River system remains reliable and resilient for the millions of Americans, communities and industries that depend on it.”

The Colorado not only supplies drinking water to tens of millions of people but also provides irrigation to 5.5 million acres of farms. Mexico also receives a share of the Colorado’s water, and negotiations between that country and the United States are separately ongoing.

The rules laid out Friday call for a wide range of potential water releases — including reductions by more than half in the driest years — from Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir and the dividing point between the upper and lower basins. Arizona, California and Nevada, the lower basin states, depend heavily on steady releases from the reservoir, and from Lake Mead farther downstream, for municipal water and farm irrigation.ImageA boat exposed by shrinking water levels at Lake Mead on July 21.Credit...Caroline Brehman/Reuters

The smallest reservoir releases under the plan would be low enough to potentially lead to legal action by the lower basin states citing the Colorado River Compact, an interstate agreement made in 1922 that is central to river operations. The threat of such a lawsuit has loomed over discussions among states as the river’s flow has dwindled.

Officials from those states had already offered to make significant water use cuts in the coming years. The Bureau of Reclamation’s plan goes even further in requiring potential reductions over the next 10 years.

The plan includes opportunities for the bureau to reconsider water use rules every two years over the next decade, and for states to renegotiate with one another. That stipulation was designed to create opportunity for consensus, but state officials have warned it may raise tensions across the river basin.

Water supply estimates and forecasts have only grown more grim as basin states and Reclamation officials have searched for a long-term solution over the past nine months. Water storage in Lakes Powell and Mead has plummeted to its lowest level since 1957, when Glen Canyon Dam, which impounds Lake Powell, was still under construction, according to an analysis published this month.

By March, Lake Powell is forecast to reach a critical low. Its surface is expected to fall too low to generate hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam, according to a federal analysis released this month.

More News Roundups

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Trump Admin Embarrassed—“Monkey Having Intimate Relations With a Football,” Epstein Survivor Drops Major News, Iran War, Aaron Parnas, right, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration faced embarrassment this week over the Reflecting Pool debacle and dismissal of criminal charges, with one Trump ally saying the episode made the administration “look like a monkey having intimate relations with a football.” Meanwhile, the war in Iran is rapidly escalating, with China and Russia both stepping in to help Tehran. And Trump says he wants to revive the anti-weaponization fund even as he continues to tank Todd Blanche’s confirmation chances.

I sat down with Epstein survivor Dani Bensky to talk about all of this and so much more.

Even on a Saturday morning, I’m getting you the news and this critical interview, because the moment is too important to sit out.

If this work means anything to you, the most powerful thing you can do right now is become a paid subscriber. It’s what lets me keep sitting across from survivors like Dani, keep chasing the files, and keep showing up when everyone else has moved on.Subscribed

Here’s the news:

Trump’s Legal/Political Troubles:

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office dropped a felony vandalism charge Friday against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe slalomist accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, after the Department of the Interior revealed the damage was actually caused by a botched installation, not vandalism. Pirro had previously held a press conference insisting the government could prove Hearn ripped up the pool’s lining; Hearn had pleaded not guilty. Republican strategist Scott Jennings, appearing on CNN’s The Source, said the episode made the administration “look like a monkey having intimate relations with a football” and argued Hearn deserves an apology and should consider suing to reclaim his reputation, saying “they dragged this guy’s name through the mud.”

The pool’s renovation, ordered by Trump, involved two no-bid contracts: a $13.1 million deal with Atlantic Industrial Coatings and a separate contract with Greenwater Services, owned by John Cafaro, right, who pleaded guilty in 2001 to bribing a congressman.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley pushed back a committee vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general to Tuesday, after a planned Thursday vote was postponed, though the delay reflects committee notice rules rather than a sign a deal is imminent. Blanche’s confirmation is stuck on holdouts Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis, who want the Justice Department toscale back a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” tied to a settlement between Trump and the IRS, along with limits on a tax audit immunity provision in the pact. Trump said Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t,” saying he’d still like to see people he considers victims of government abuse, including Jan. 6 participants, compensated. Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, has held firm on his demands, and Blanche cannot afford to lose a single GOP vote to advance out of committee. A Judiciary Committee spokesperson said Grassley wants Blanche confirmed before the August recess, framing the rescheduled vote as giving the White House more time to lock down support.

Trump issued an ultimatum to Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn today: confirm Todd Blanche, above, as attorney general, or he’ll keep Blanche as acting AG and revive his push for the roughly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” they oppose. Tillis and Cornyn have refused to vote for Blanche unless Trump puts in writing that he’ll abandon the fund, which was created to compensate people who claim political persecution and was announced in May as part of a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury. Trump called the fund “dead” at a Camp David Cabinet meeting but said he still wants those he considers victims, including Jan. 6 participants, compensated for their “pain,” while Blanche has separately testified under oath that the fund isn’t moving forward and no money changed hands. The fund faced a federal judge’s temporary block in May and criticism from Democrats and some Republicans as a “slush fund” that Congress never authorized. The Senate Judiciary Committee has rescheduled its vote on Blanche’s confirmation to Tuesday, with Chairman Grassley hoping to confirm him before the chamber’s summer recess, which begins at the end of next week and runs until mid-September.

Iran War Quickly Escalates:

US embassies in Amman, Jerusalem, and Baghdad issued security alerts warning American citizens to consider leaving the Middle East or be prepared to depart amid fears of an “unforeseen escalation” in the region’s conflict. The warnings advised checking flight details, following local safety guidance, and expecting possible flight cancellations and airspace closures; Americans in Jordan were told to avoid US military bases (recently hit by Iranian missiles), while those in Israel were urged to locate nearby bomb shelters. The Jerusalem embassy called Iran “unpredictable,” citing its recent unprovoked strikes, including an expansion of attacks to Egypt, where a drone hit a US-owned gas vessel on Wednesday, sparking a fire still under investigation. Iran’s military accused Washington of “escalating tensions” and warned that any country serving as a “defensive shield” for the US would be “engulfed by the flames of war.” The war, which began February 28 when the US and Israel struck Iran, has continued with exchanges of fire resuming this week after a brief lull, though no strikes were reported overnight Friday into Saturday.

The US and Israel are planning what could be one of their harshest bombing campaigns yet against Iranian energy infrastructure, with strikes possible throughout the weekend, according to multiple sources cited by CBS News. There was some discussion of wrapping up before financial markets open Monday, given concerns about economic fallout, but no firm end point was set, and Trump has not yet given final approval. The strikes would mark Israel’s return to combat after halting operations during the now-collapsed US-brokered truce, though an Israeli official said Israel hasn’t been asked to join any renewed military action. Likely targets include power plants and refineries, aimed at crippling the Iranian military’s ability to govern and provide services; White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is committed to ensuring “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon under his watch.” The plan follows Trump’s warning last week that he’d destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant for every attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, and comes as several US embassies in the region issued weekend security alerts warning Americans of possible flight disruptions.

Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who heads U.S. European Command, sent the Pentagon a written warning this week that without another Navy destroyer, he’ll have to choose between defending Israel and prioritizing the U.S. homeland. EUCOM’s ships help intercept ballistic missiles fired at Israel from both Iran and Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. Currently two U.S. destroyers are stationed in the eastern Mediterranean and one in the Red Sea, but EUCOM is stretched thin because it’s simultaneously responsible for guarding against Russian incursions into NATO territory and the threat from Russian long-range missiles capable of reaching the U.S. The warning illustrates how the sustained Iran conflict is straining Navy resources across multiple theaters at once.

According to Reuters, Iran is set to receive the first shipment within weeks of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missiles (MANPADS), including QW-12 and FN-16 systems, in a deal worth $60-70 million, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The purchase, arranged through Hong Kong-based intermediary Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, marks one of Tehran’s largest known efforts to rebuild short-range air defenses after months of war with the US and Israel exposed gaps in protecting its military sites and infrastructure. Deliveries are planned to fly from Urumqi in western China, transiting through Pakistan, though China’s foreign ministry called the report “completely groundless” and Pakistan’s military denied any involvement. Trump said such a deal would be “surprising” given what he described as assurances from Xi Jinping that China wouldn’t get involved militarily on Iran’s behalf. Sources cautioned that delivery timelines and quantities could still change, and the deal follows earlier Reuters reporting that Iran was also close to a separate agreement with China for anti-ship cruise missiles.

A report from NBC News, citing US and European officials, claims Russia has been supplying Iran with electronic intelligence, including satellite surveillance and signals intelligence, that could strengthen Tehran’s air defenses, sharpen its drone and missile strikes, and help it track US military movements during the ongoing conflict. Neither Russia nor Iran has commented, and the claims haven’t been independently verified. The report surfaced days after Trump downplayed similar allegations from Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, telling reporters aboard Air Force One on July 28 that any Russian support had been “very unimpactful” and that he’d ask Putin directly. Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian intelligence detected active Russian satellite surveillance of Gulf states and US military facilities since early July, with the resulting images later appearing in Iran. The claims come amid deepening Russia-Iran ties, including a January strategic partnership agreement and Western accusations that Iran has supplied drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, both of which the two countries deny.

Fifa President Loses Confidence:

FIFA scraps the World Cup investment plan. Gianni Infantino withdrew his Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal on Friday after it triggered a global backlash. The plan would have sold a stake in the commercial rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup to private investors, aiming to raise hundreds of millions and distribute over $10bn to Fifa’s 211 member associations. Infantino said the project had “created divisions of a nature... no longer in the interest of the objective,” but stopped short of admitting fault. Reports suggest Thrive Capital, the lead investor group, had also grown wary as opposition mounted.

The backlash came from nearly every corner of football. UEFA voted to boycott future Fifa tournaments if the plan wasn’t dropped, and Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation also voiced strong opposition. Fifa’s own chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, criticized Infantino for a “serious lack of respect” in trying to push the deal through with minimal consultation, and senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest. Only Infantino’s base in Africa held firm, leaving him without the numbers to salvage any version of the plan. The revolt came just weeks after separate criticism of his handling of the Folarin Balogun affair during the World Cup.

UEFA’s response signals deeper trouble for Infantino’s presidency. Rather than simply welcoming the withdrawal, UEFA issued a pointed statement Saturday saying it has “lost confidence” in Fifa’s current leadership, accusing Infantino of breaking 2016 transparency promises with a “shabby, back room, opaque deal.” UEFA and other confederations are now actively searching for a candidate to challenge him in March’s presidential election, where he’d been expected to win a fourth term unopposed. Possible challengers include AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who lost to Infantino in 2016, and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Whether Infantino can rebuild trust before the vote, given the scale of the internal revolt, remains uncertain.

Other news:

Then-U.S. Rep. George Santos, a notorious grifter and liar, shown with his fellow New York Republican congressional member Ellise Stefanik.

George Santos agreed Friday to pay $35,000 to settle a CFTC investigation into suspicious trades on prediction market Kalshi, where he bet against his own stated plans to attend Trump’s State of the Union, then didn’t show, citing an airport delay. Thesettlement covers roughly $17,000 in earnings from the trades plus a $17,500 fine, along with a three-year trading ban; Santos didn’t admit wrongdoing, saying he chose a quick resolution over costly litigation. Kalshi, which had flagged the trades to regulators, plans its own enforcement action and says it will try to reimburse affected traders. The probe also led rival platform Polymarket to cut ties with Santos in June. Santos was expelled from Congress and pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges, serving under three months of a seven-plus-year sentence before Trump commuted it last year.

Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, Paks, will shut down for the first time in its 44-year history due to record-low water levels on the Danube River, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said Friday, warning it may stay offline for several weeks. The Soviet-built, four-reactor plant, which supplies nearly half of Hungary’s electricity, is already running at less than half capacity (965 megawatts versus its usual 2,000) because low river levels are straining the pumps that bring in cooling water, with a full shutdown expected by Tuesday or Wednesday. Magyar said the river could recede to negative 144 centimeters, far below the previous 2018 record of negative 98 centimeters, and that a reading of negative 134 centimeters would force the plant to fully power down; he stressed the shutdown poses no safety or environmental risk. The prolonged Central European drought, which has also hit tourism, agriculture and industry, shows no signs of easing, with no significant rainfall forecast in the coming weeks. In response, Hungary has asked large energy users to voluntarily cut consumption during peak hours, with conglomerate MOL committing to a 40% reduction, while Magyar’s party is suspending parliamentary sessions and ordering state institutions to turn off decorative lighting to conserve energy.

Rescuers backed by military helicopters resumed searching Saturday for at least six members of a 10-person expedition swept away by an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, a day after authorities recovered three of four bodies found so far, including Omani climber Nathira Ahmed, American climber Mallory Geis, and Nepalese climber Bahadur Gurung. The team lost contact with base camp Thursday after the avalanche struck, and there’s been no communication since, though experienced Pakistani climbers and army helicopters continue the search despite fading hopes. The expedition, which included five Nepalese climbers plus Omani, American, Pakistani and Chinese members, was led by renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, known as Nims Dai, who set a record in 2019 for climbing the world’s 14 highest peaks in 189 days (later broken in 2023). The climb was American climber Mallory Geis’ first attempt at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was meant to be the final major expedition for Pakistani guide Sohail Sakhi, a geographer and high-altitude photographer. Broad Peak and other northern Pakistani mountains see frequent accidents due to avalanches, falling ice and rock, high altitude, and rapidly shifting weather.

More On Epstein Files, Trump Team Cover-Up: Child Rape Allegation Against Both

Future President Trump, above right, with his onetime best friend Jeffrey Epstein, left, along with Trump's now-notorious birhday greeting to Epstein.

Last Page First, Investigative Commentary: Katie Johnson, Jane Doe 4, and the Men In Between, Jana, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Two women, two decades apart, both alleging abuse by the same two men. Online, they became one story.

On July 4, 2016, attorney Thomas Meagher dialed the FBI’s public line from his office in Princeton, New Jersey. He reported the sexual exploitation and rape of a child, allegedly by Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The official document is dated November 23, 2016.EFTA00129126

Meagher’s client, Jane Doe, was a thirteen year old girl from the Midwest. In the summer of 1994 just after finishing 7th grade, she left her father’s house under the guise of visiting her grandmother. The bus she boarded carried her east, all the way to New York City. She arrived with a dream of modeling but the agencies she approached turned her away. “Come back when you have a portfolio” they told her.

So she waited, stranded and disappointed, at the Port Authority bus terminal. That is where Tiffany found her. Tiffany didn’t offer her modeling career. Instead, she offered the girl access and Epstein parties. Easy money, she promised. To seal the deal Tiffany gave Jane a “buddy pass” plane ticket- a golden ticket back to Manhattan. The girl took it, and over the course of four visits to Epstein’s townhouse, she says she collected roughly $500.

Buried deep in the FBI’s intake narrative, the document says something that cuts straight through a decade of public confusion.

“Tiffany instructed Doe to use the name Katie Johnson at these parties.”

A single sentence that reframes everything. According to Meagher’s report to the FBI “Katie Johnson” wasn’t the plaintiff’s birth certificate name. It also wasn’t a court authorized pseudonym. It was an alias, a cover handed to a frightened child by the woman who recruited her.

What She Said Happened

The FBI complaint describes four visits to Epstein’s townhouse.

At the first party, the coercion began. The plaintiff was stripped to her underwear and ordered to massage Epstein. When she refused any sexual acts, the demand pivoted. She was told to use her hands to massage the genitals of Epstein’s guest, Donald Trump. This, she was informed, was the toll she had to pay to get a job.

The second visit pushed further into assault. She was forced to perform oral sex on Trump. By the third gathering, she wasn’t alone; another girl was brought in, and both were made to perform oral sex on him.

The fourth visit marked the threshold into violent rape. The plaintiff alleged that Trump raped her through vaginal penetration. When Epstein learned that Trump had taken her virginity, he erupted. Then raped her himself. Both men struck her during the assault. Afterward, both men threatened her. FBI Complaint Form FD-71, EFTA00129127

“We’ll make you disappear like REDACTED.”

The redacted name in the FBI complaint corresponds to “Maria” in the court filings. A twelve year old girl who, according to the plaintiff, was forced to participate in sex acts during that third encounter. She says she never saw Maria again after that night. Doe v. Trump Exhibit Tiffany Doe Declaration - Document #4 Attachment #2

She was not paid for the final party and her parents were never informed of any of it. According to Meagher, as of July 2016, twenty two years later, they still did not know.

The Filing History

April 26, 2016: The plaintiff filed pro se, without an attorney, in U.S District Court, Central District of California. Case 5:16-cv-00797-DMG-KS.She filed under the name “Katie Johnson” at 6634 Desert Queen Avenue, Twenty nine Palms, California. A foreclosed property whose owner had recently died. She framed it as a civil rights violation and sought $100 million. EFTA00622303

May 2, 2016: The judge dismissed it. Not because the allegations lacked substance, but because the legal theory was wrong. The civil rights statutes she cited required “race-based or class-based animus,” and she had alleged neither. The ruling was procedural, the judge never weighed the truth of what she claimed. Order on Request to Proceed In Forma Pauperis with Declaration in Support (CV-60) - Document #6

June 20, 2016: Attorney Thomas Meagher stepped in and refiled in the Southern District of New York. Case 1:16-cv-04642. This time, it was properly drafted and filed under “Jane Doe, proceeding under a pseudonym,” with sworn declarations from Jane Doe and Tiffany Doe attached. Meagher reframed the case around state-law claims and added a defamation allegation after Trump attorney Alan Garten publicly denied the accusations. EFTA00211168

July 4, 2016: Meagher called the FBI. The complaint was logged. The FBI ran Sentinel queries, its internal case management searches, on both Meagher and the case itself.

September 16, 2016: The second SDNY case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. Meagher said a new witness had been identified.

September 30, 2016: A third filing in SDNY. Case 1:16-cv-07673. This one added a “Joan Doe” declaration. J. Cheney Mason, a veteran Florida defense attorney, filed a pro hac vice motion to join the case. The filing included a Statement of Relatedness confirming: “Both actions concern the identical parties, property, transactions and events; and there is complete, identical factual overlap.”

Statement of Relatedness -Document #2

November 2, 2016: Lisa Bloom (shown at right in a file photo) stood before reporters at a press conference that never happened. “Jane Doe has received numerous threats today,” she told them. “She is living in fear. She has decided that she is too afraid to show her face. She’s been here all day ready to do it, but unfortunately she is in terrible fear.” Screenshot of New York Post article.

November 4, 2016: The case was voluntarily dismissed. Bloom tweeted: “Jane Doe instructed us to dismiss her lawsuit against Trump and Epstein today. Tough week for her. We wish her well.”

November 8, 2016: Election day.

The case was dismissed on November 4, 2016. Four days before the election, not after. Some coverage moved the date to November 11, placing the dismissal after Trump’s victory. The docket says November 4.

Epstein’s Circle

The EFTA includes emails from inside Epstein’s world, sent within days of the first filing.

On April 28, 2016, two days after the California complaint, attorney Martin Weinberg forwarded Epstein a message: “Reporter said 1994 claim fed ct California. Will go to press in several hrs.”

Lesley Groff, Epstein’s assistant, responded: “ok... so sorry...”

On April 30, someone emailed Epstein directly.

“Sneaky who is Tiffany Doe? Did she work for you?”

The sender shared online commentary calling the lawsuit “bad fanfiction.”

Epstein replied with a single word: “no.”

Other released emails show that he discussed and circulated news of the lawsuit with several associates.

Deutsche Bank Findings

In the spring of 2018, a compliance officer named Vijay Sawant in Deutsche Bank’s Mumbai office was conducting a periodic review of Epstein linked accounts. The accounts belonged to Prytanee LLC and Southern Trust Company Inc. The related parties included Jeffrey Epstein, Darren Indyke, Richard Kahn, Etienne Binant, and Caroline Lang. The accounts were marked high risk.

During routine “Google Panama searches,” Sawant found the Katie Johnson article from Global Research and attached it to the compliance file. A LexisNexis report commissioned for the review flagged multiple Epstein related news hits as “Possible match: sex trafficking could relate to money laundering.”EFTA01386389

So, a major international bank’s compliance team was reading about these allegations while reviewing Epstein’s own accounts. The allegation entered Epstein’s internal compliance file while the bank was conducting due diligence on Epstein linked accounts.

The Other Girl

This is where the public conversation shattered.

For the past year, two separate allegations involving two different people have been collapsed into a single story across social media, podcasts, Substack publications, congressional hearings, and news coverage. Some outlets continued repeating the conflation long after the distinction had been publicly documented. Others appear never to have checked. The result has been the same.

Katie Johnson/Jane Doe: The 1994 Case

A 13-year-old from the Midwest [shown above as an adult wearing a disguise and with face blanked out in discussing her ordeal]. Recruited at the Port Authority bus terminal in New York during the summer of 1994. She alleged abuse at 9 E. 71st Street. Named both Trump and Epstein and filed pro se in California, then through Attorney Meagher in SDNY. She withdrew November 4, 2016.

Jane Doe 4: The 1980s Case

She met Epstein around 1984 on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, after Epstein rented a vacation home from her mother, a real estate agent. The girl offered babysitting services. There were no children to babysit. The FBI interviewed her four times in 2019. She told agents Epstein abused her in the 1980s and that Trump sexually assaulted her when she was between 13 and 15 years old. She later pursued a claim involving the Epstein estate. Whether she received a settlement remains publicly unresolved. During Richard Kahn’s March 2026 congressional deposition, he initially appeared to confirm a settlement, but his attorney later withdrew that confirmation and said he could neither confirm nor deny that one occurred. She was represented by Arick Fudali of the Lisa Bloom firm.

She is now reported to be living off the grid. A family member told The Guardian she fears retaliation from the Trump administration.

Different Cases

Different decades, different states, different attorneys. Different case numbers, different recruitment stories, different legal theories. What they share is that they were both around 13 and both named Trump and Epstein in their abuse.

Some outlets have written that “Katie Johnson” is “known as Jane Doe 4 in the Epstein files.” That is wrong. Katie Johnson is the 1994 plaintiff, Jane Doe 4 is the Hilton Head accuser from the 1980s. Conflating them does not help either woman, it only helps the people arguing that both of their stories should be thrown out.

During the March 2026 congressional deposition of Epstein accountant Richard Kahn, his testimony about whether Jane Doe 4 received a settlement from the Epstein estate shifted during the hearing itself. Kahn initially confirmed a settlement. Then his attorney walked it back. House Oversight Democrats demanded clarification. That confusion fed the public conflation.

The Nadia Bjorlin photograph only made it worse.

A childhood image of the actress, whose family has its own separate, publicly reported Epstein connection, was cropped from a 2014 Instagram post about her late father and circulated as “Katie Johnson.” It is not Katie Johnson and it has no documented connection to the 2016 lawsuit. It is a real person’s childhood photograph attached to someone else’s story without her consent.

Meidas Touch Network, Trump DOJ Hands Judge Unredacted Epstein Records After Katie Phang's Court Win, Brett Meiselas, July 30, 2026. The Justice Department now says it delivered the records directly to the judge after Katie Phang, the journalist and commentator shown at right, successfully challenged the government’s Epstein-file redactions.

The Justice Department confirmed Thursday that it has turned over unredacted Epstein-related records directly to a federal judge for private review, marking the latest development in a lawsuit brought by attorney and MeidasTouch host Katie Phang challenging the government’s handling of the files.

In a new filing submitted July 30, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Justice Department notified U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, right, that it had complied with his July 25 order requiring the government to produce documents supporting a series of contested redactions.

According to the filing, DOJ delivered hard copies of the documents by hand to Judge Sullivan’s chambers at 2:28 p.m. Thursday.

The records are being reviewed in camera, meaning privately by the judge rather than being placed on the public docket. The step allows Sullivan himself to examine what the government has concealed and determine whether DOJ’s explanations for the redactions hold up.

The Justice Department insists they do.

“The submitted documents show that the justifications cited in Defendant’s briefing on this issue support each redaction,” government attorneys wrote.

The filing addresses 10 separate Epstein-file records identified by the court.

DOJ claims most of the disputed redactions conceal the identities of victims or potential victims, including individuals represented by attorneys who have asked the department to treat their clients as victims. Other redactions, the government says, protect personally identifiable information and the identities of law enforcement personnel and an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

But the filing also contains at least one notable admission.

DOJ says that after taking a closer look at one of the records, EFTA01187999, officials discovered they had “inadvertent[ly]” redacted Jeffrey Epstein’s own email address.

That redaction, the department says, “has since been lifted.”

The development comes after Sullivan ordered DOJ to provide the court with the unredacted material necessary to independently test the government’s claims about what it was withholding.

Phang’s lawsuit has challenged DOJ’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and its decisions to keep information concealed from the public.

The dispute is particularly significant because the court is no longer being asked simply to take the Justice Department at its word. Sullivan now has the underlying documents in his chambers and can compare the government’s public explanations with the material it actually redacted.

DOJ also used Thursday’s filing to say that some of the material remains covered by protective orders entered in the federal criminal cases against Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the Southern District of New York.

Those orders, DOJ noted, prohibit the government from publicly disclosing the identities of individuals contained in discovery

Protecting Epstein’s victims has not been the central point of dispute. Rather, Phang’s litigation has forced DOJ to substantiate whether the information it chose to hide actually falls within legitimate categories that may be withheld.

Thursday’s filing represents the government’s argument, not Judge Sullivan’s conclusion.

DOJ says its documents prove the redactions were justified. Sullivan will now have the opportunity to examine the unredacted records himself and determine whether he agrees.

And the government has already acknowledged that at least one redaction should not have been there in the first place.

The next major development could come when Sullivan rules on whether DOJ’s remaining redactions survive that scrutiny.

U.S. Courts, Law, Crime, Immigration, Rights, Justice

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: The Flapping Holes in Jeanine Pirro’s Davey Hearn Juicebox Jam, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), Aug. 1, 2026. In this post, I laughed at how liberally Jeanine Pirro’s prosecutors (the motion was signed by Michael Spence, the Chief of DC’s Superior Court Division, not the AUSAs who had been working the case) used the passive voice in the motion to dismiss the case against Davey Hearn.

Even on its face, though, their excuse has some pretty obvious holes. After pretending to have seen none of the extensive reporting about problems with the reflecting pool in the months leading up to Hearn’s arrest, they claim they only first noticed the other damage to the reflecting pool on July 17, when accompanying Hearn’s expert for an inspection of the now-drained pool.

On July 17, 2026, as a defense expert inspected the now-drained Reflecting Pool, United States Attomey Pirro, left, and senior USAO-DC employees once again visited the site and this time immediately noted extensive damage throughout the now-drained pool, It was at that time that USAO-DC first became aware of the significant damage throughout the pool and accordingly requested all documents from DOI concerning the how [sic] the pool was lined and all records regarding the installation of the lining.

Upon seeing the damage, they “accordingly requested all documents from DOI concerning the how [sic] the pool was lined.” DOJ doesn’t explain why that request was successful when the dozens and dozens of communications that prosecutors “made … were made” had not been successful.

Indeed, prosecutors specifically involved in the cases related to the Reflecting Pool made dozens and dozens of communications were made in an effort to identify and obtain the materials necessary to have all information to evaluate the case. After significant demands by USAO-DC, USPP provided the police reports and body-worn camera for roughly 10 individuals associated with the Reflecting Pool.

Nor do they explain why they hadn’t held off on indicting the case until DOI had made that material available in the first place.

That’s their excuse though: They didn’t have access to information on what happened to the pool until after Hearn’s attorney visit and so were helpless to know their case was shit.

And then, they claim, they got 695 megabytes of records which “took days to review,” which is the implicit excuse for letting the case fester two more weeks, from July 17 until July 31.

That visit may actually have been July 16; that’s when Emma Howard, an attorney working with Hearn’s team, describes being taken for a visit in her declaration accompanying a motion to dismiss of the same day, asking to throw out the case because the scene of the crime had been altered.

4. Immediately upon walking due west along the long edge of the pool, I observed that all of the pool liner appeared to be damaged in multiple spots throughout the entirety of the pool This included warping, cracking, peeling, areas where the entire liner was missing, and other forms of damage.

5. AUSA Kevin Reddington accompanied us and showed us the precise location where Mr. Heam allegedly touched the poo! liner.

[snip]

7. As can be observed, there is a large oval shaped bald patch at this point running approximately 3.5 feet across.

DOJ discovered this damage (they claim) because Howard documented it — with pictures, which I’ll return to.

Yet during those two weeks and before, the case was already riddled with problems, problems entirely of DOJ’s doing.

The problem that got the most attention was the grand jury testimony from the witness addressing the amount of damage DOJ was trying to pawn off on Hearn.

The very same day this grand jury testimony happened, Pirro gave a big press conference. Ryan Reilly, who knows from covering a zillion January 6 cases that you can only charge a felony for damaging government property if you can prove $1,000 of damage, asked Pirro how she would prove that Hearn did that much damage.

Reilly: Was this part of the pool specifically, was the sealant already partially removed, did he rip it back, can you describe in detail because he maintains that it looks the same as it did…

Let me interrupt here and insist that you watch the video and pay particular attention to the shit going on with Pirro’s mouth while she gets this question.

Reilly: … before he arrived. That’s his —

Pirro: You know, I’m not gonna get into the evidence but what I told you is what our witnesses saw, and experienced, there was an effort — a violent effort! — to rip up the sealant from the bottom of the pool. And irrespective of whether or not, you know, we think that you know there is some situation that preceded it, we can state, and prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he caused damage, and that damage is over $1,000.

Reilly: Keying in on that, how do you prove that $1,000 —

Pirro: With an expert. Come to the trial.

Reilly: Does it have to be drained because —

Pirro: We’ll hear all that at the trial.

Reilly: Did he have tools or was it just his bare hands?

Pirro: Right now we believe it’s his bare hands. Both hands.

Reilly: So does that indicate it was probably damaged before or do you believe that he damaged it further.

Pirro: Oh, he damaged it.

Reilly: … Had already been damaged before —

Pirro: He damaged the pool.

Reilly: — before he touched it.

Pirro: He damaged this pool.

Reilly: But there had been all these videos out there —

Pirro: Well good, I’m glad you’ve got that evidence. Cmon in the grand jury you can testify.

That exchange took place at 2:58PM on July 2. Just three hours and one minute earlier, we know from the supplement to Hearn’s bid to get the grand jury testimony, prosecutors reporting to Pirro pulled their expert witness back into the grand jury for a second time.

According to the newly disclosed transcript, the government excused M.R. at 11:36 am Exhibit 3 at 29. Twenty-one minutes later, at 11:57 am, the government recalled MR. and presented the additional testimony that the damage attributable to Mr. Hearn was “definitely” more than $1,000. Id. at 29-30. But by that time, the government should have known that this additional testimony was likely false or misleading, Just minutes before he was excused by government counsel at 11:36 am, M.R. had given testimony establishing that no specific amount of damage was attributable to Mr. Hearn.

That’s what DOJ only decided to turn over belatedly — an oversight, prosecutors claimed. The original portion of the grand jury testimony, however, said this witness testified that you could not separate out the damage Hearn purportedly did from the preexisting damage.

[T]he government’s witness could not identify the repairs necessary to address damage allegedly caused by Mr. Hearn. The witness testified that the repairs at issue would have been necessary regardless of Mr. Hearn’s alleged conduct. Exhibit 1 at 26, 28. The ‘government’s estimated repair range—S6,000 to $15,000—was based on the size of an area, rather than on damage attributed to any particular act by Mr. Hearn. Exhibit 1 at 15, 28. And the government’s witness expressly confirmed that the same estimated range of repairs, $6,000 to $15,000, “would still [have been] necessary before the defendant interacted with the pool.” Exhibit 1 at 28.

Pirro’s witness first testified there was not discrete damage from Hearn to which you could place a $1,000 price tag. Then minutes later, the same witness said Hearn had “definitely” done more than $1,000 in damage. And three hours later, when asked about how DOJ could distinguish pre-existing damage from the damage Hearn purportedly did, Pirro contorted her mouth into a screw and blurted out that a witness — presumably the witness who had just equivocated on precisely this point — would prove that Hearn had done $1,000 in damage.

With all that in mind, check out how Pirro’s prosecutors described — in their attempt to claim they were justified in charging Hearn before they got all those documents from DOI — what must be this witness’ testimony:

Sure, this witness did state that, but only after they stated, minutes earlier, that there was a whole bunch of other damage and the repairs would have been “necessary before the defendant interacted with the pool.”

Which means the witness testified about all that other damage, the precise thing poor Jeanine Pirro describes being helpless to discover until the pool was drained (as Reilly presciently predicted).

Hearn insisted damage was done “before he arrived,” Reilly noted. The expert witness testified that the repairs were necessary “before” Hearn “interacted with the pool.”

There was also a bitter fight about precisely this chronology starting before July 16 (or 17, if you believe Pirro’s flunkies) and through last week.

On July 9, after Hearn had already publicly explained multiple times the damage was done before he arrived, DOJ seized his phone when he appeared at a status hearing. The next day, his attorneys filed a motion to get it back, based on several complaints. Partly, it was a dickish way to seize the phone (rather than getting his attorneys cooperation to get it), partly, several weeks worth of attorney-client communications were on that phone.

But the biggest complaint was that the affidavit to seize it didn’t mention a key bit of exculpatory evidence: a picture Hearn took before he touched the pool.

the affidavit never mentions a widely published photograph taken by Mr. Hearn before he touched the Reflecting Pool showing that the damage the government has falsely attributed to Mr. Hearn had already taken place. Exhibit A at 3; Exhibit B at 8. The photograph, publicly available since June 20, 2026, eviscerates any probable cause established by the affidavit—and presumably the evidence presented to the Superior Court grand jury that returned the indictment of Mr Hearn.

Before I show you that picture, let me review another point of contention, as reflected in a discovery letter Hearn’s lawyers docketed on Tuesday. In response to a question from attorneys on whether they were satisfied that DOJ had provided the metadata for pictures of the pool, Hearn’s attorneys said, no, they didn’t have acceptable metadata for the pictures of the pool. What they had was an evidentiary shitshow, including a photo obtained from someone else that had no reliable metadata.

In response to your July 27, 2026 email seeking to confirm whether we “received the pictures of the Reflecting Pool with metadata,” we note that the Government has not in fact produced the photographs of the Reflecting Pool with their underlying data.

At USAO-241 through USAO-246, the Government produced screenshots depicting portions of certain on-device application screens-—-namely, Google Photos “Details” panes, an iOS Messages thread, and photo-detail views—from what appear to be at least two different devices: a Google Pixel 7a and an Apple iPhone 14. But screenshots of an application display are not the images” underlying metadata and cannot, by themselves, be authenticated or independently verified. They contain no embedded EXIF or XMP data, file-system timestamps, hash values, or reliable identification of the device owner or user. Accordingly, although the Government has produced screenshots purporting to display metadata, it has not produced the relevant metadata itself.

Moreover, even assuming the accuracy of the dates and times displayed in the screenshots, the information they provide is insufficient to establish the information material to the defense. Several items—-for example, USAO-242 and USAO-246, which are labeled “image000” and reflect “No camera information” and “No lens information”—contain no apparent captured metadata. In addition, the Messages thread produced by the Government indicates that at least one image was For such images, the date and time displayed may reflect when the image was received, downloaded, saved, or otherwise added to the device, rather than when it was originally captured on the source device.

That dispute about metadata is one reason I’m interested in the confident discussion of the metadata of two pictures included in Pirro’s motion to dismiss. One photo was taken by a Parks employee not described to be involved in the confrontation with Hearn at 2:55PM on June 19 (though the motion says it was July because if you still work for Pirro you must be slovenly); the other was taken after Hearn’s arrest, at 4:48PM, by a Parks employee who claimed he yelled at her.

A third NPS employee, W-3, took a photograph of the area where the defendant was seen pulling the lining prior to the incident involving the defendant. Metadata associated with the photo indicates that it was captured at 2:55 PM on July [sic] 19, 2026, shortly before W-1 and W-2 observed the defendant aggressively pulling and further damaging this compromised are of the Reflecting Pool.

[page break then photo]

‘The photograph below was taken by NPS employee W-1 after the incident involving Hearn. Metadata associated with the photo indicates that it was captured on June 19, 2026, at 4:48 PM. A review of USPP body-worn camera shows the officers speaking with the defendant at 4:40 PM

[page break then photo]

Here’s what those three photos — the uninvolved Parks employee, Hearn’s photo that didn’t get mentioned in the warrant affidavit, and the Parks employee who claimed he snapped at her — look like (these screen caps include just the damage shown in the pictures), as well as the one a lawyer for Hearn took on July 16:

June 19, 2:55PM, W-3:

June 19 Hearn photo as published by the Beeb on June 21, which was also published on June 20 in the WaPo (hot link).

June 19, 4:48PM, W-1:

Before, during, after. They also show the same goddamn flap of liner.

So does the picture taken by Emma Howard on July 16, though there is added shit visible in the since-drained pool.

DOJ always had in their possession — in the possession of their primary witnesses!! — two photos showing the before and after which, along with Hearn’s photo that had been publicly published, all showed the very same flap of pool liner.

They all showed that all the damage had already been done an hour or more before Hearn arrived at the scene of the crime.

Prosecutors weren’t helpless to know their case was shit before getting the DOI records. They already had photographic proof that Hearn didn’t do the damage to the pool. But they charged him anyway.

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Jeanine Pirro’s Epic Study in Passive Voice, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right,), July 31, 2026. Jeanine Pirro has filed a 20-page motion to dismiss the indictment against Davey Hearn, on the basis of being utterly helpless to know that the pool was badly damaged weeks before Hearn came along.

Much of it aims to blame everything on the Park Police and Doug Burgum.

Pursuant to the Department of Justice’s Principles of Federal Prosecution, a criminal prosecution should only be maintained if the defendant “will more likely than not be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by an unbiased trier of fact and that the conviction will be upheld on appeal.” Justice Manual 9-27.220 (Comment). Based upon USAO-DC’s review of the record in light of the materials only recently disclosed by DOI, the government moves to dismiss the indictment without prejudice.

DOI provided less than fulsome information at the outset of this case. However, the information subsequently demanded by USAO disclosed by DOI—which was not known to the prosecutors or the grand jury before the return of the indictment—strongly suggest that a rushed and botched installation by AIC, the primary contractor, led to the damage to the lining of the Reflecting Pool. It was not until USAO-DC repeatedly reached out to DOI dozens and dozens of times that DOI slowly started trickling information to USAO-DC. Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment. Furthermore, prosecutors have an affirmative obligation pursuant to Brady ¥: Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500, Rule 16 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Rule 3.8 of the Rules of Professional Conduct to produce information to the defense. DOI’s failure to fully and accurately provide information to USAO- DC undermined the government’ ability to abide by these responsibilities.

Prosecutors were helpless, you see, to learn about the significant fuck-ups with the pool before Hearn came along.

But even as DOJ attempts to blame DOI for DOJ’s own failures, they engage in Olympic class voice passing — though in one case they forgot to delete the active voice that had been replaced [wink] with the passive voice.

At the outset of the investigation into the damage at the Reflecting Pool, USAO-DC received barebones police reports from the United States Park Police (“USPP”) which isan agency within the DOL and under the jurisdiction of the DOI. The government requested “everything,” including all reports, all statements, witness statements, defendant’s admissions, citation notices, photographs, body wom camera footage, and surveillance footage, to include any and all inculpatory and exculpatory material from DOI relating to the instant case and the other cases where USPP had taken reports of vandalism related to the Reflecting Pool. Indeed, prosecutors specifically involved in the cases related to the Reflecting Pool made dozens and dozens of communications were made in an effort to identify and obtain the materials necessary to have all information to evaluate the case. After significant demands by USAO-DC, USPP provided the police reports and body-worn camera for roughly 10 individuals associated with the Reflecting Pool. [my emphasis]

Several things suggest this is just ass-covering.

First, Pirro doesn’t mention the damage done by Trump’s motorcade.
Second, she only asks for dismissal without prejudice. Are you fucking kidding me?!?!
Lastly, in a filing I had not seen reported before, Hearn revealed that after a witness testified that there was no way to attribute the damage to Hearn, given all the pre-existing damage, DOJ sent him or her back to the grand jury to falsely claim they had proof Hearn had done $1,000 of damage.

Following defendant David Carter Hearn’s submission to the Court of his Motion for Disclosure of Grand Jury Minutes and Legal Instructions, the government sent the defense a new version of the grand jury transcript for its witness on damages, “M.R.” The government’s new version of the grand jury transcript contains an additional two pages at the end of M.R.’s testimony that, according to the government, were “inadvertently left off” by the court reporter. In the additional two pages, in response to a pointed question from government counsel, M.R. summarily stated that the damage attributable to Mr. Hearn “would definitely be $1,000 or more.” See Sealed Exhibit 3, Updated Grand Jury Tr. of MR. at 30 (luly 2, 2026).’ After presenting this new testimony from M.R., government counsel opined to the grand jury, “Hopefully that kind of nailed down that specific question.” /d, at 30-31

[snip]

According to the newly disclosed transcript, the government excused M.R. at 11:36 am Exhibit 3 at 29. Twemy-one minwes later, at 11:57 am, the government recalled MR. and presented the additional testimony that the damage attributable to Mr. Hearn was “definitely” more than $1,000. /d. at 29-30. But by that time, the government should have known that this additional testimony was likely false or misleading, Just minutes before he was excused by government counsel at 11:36 am, MR. had given testimony establishing that no specific amount of damage was attributable to Mr, Hearn.

Just as all this was going down, former DOJ Inspector General Michael Bromwich filed a notice of appearance for Hearn. Bromwich knows how much of this is bullshit.

Aug. 1

New York Times, Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources, Devlin Barrett, Aug. 1, 2026. A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the government’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of secrets.

A freelance reporter has been fighting a subpoena from the Trump administration seeking to force him to reveal his sources for a New York Times article about a failed top secret mission in North Korea, according to people familiar with the matter.

The subpoena, which has not been previously disclosed, reflects the administration’s intensifying campaign to investigate leaks of government secrets by pressuring reporters to divulge their sources. Until President Trump began his second term, federal subpoenas to reporters were exceedingly rare.

In February, F.B.I. agents showed up at the New York home of the reporter, Matthew Cole, to deliver the grand jury subpoena, which was issued by prosecutors in Newport News, Va., according to the people familiar with the matter, who described the private conversations on the condition of anonymity.

The investigators are seeking his testimony about two years’ worth of information about Mr. Cole’s contacts and conversations, as they try to identify his sources for the article about the operation in North Korea, the people familiar with the matter said. It is unclear if the administration has also sought Mr. Cole’s phone and email data, as it has done in other cases.

The Justice Department has not subpoenaed Mr. Philipps, according to people familiar with the matter. He declined to comment.

Mr. Cole disclosed more details of his reporting on his Substack newsletter, stating that despite learning about the mission in 2023, he waited for months before making calls to find out more given the sensitive nature of the reporting.

Mr. Cole is also the author of “Princes and Thieves,” a coming book about the finances and global entanglements of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and “Code Over Country: The Tragedy and Corruption of SEAL Team Six,” a 2022 book about the elite Navy unit.

Mr. Cole’s lawyer, David A. O’Neil, who has also represented The Times in a separate fight with the administration over subpoenas about its coverage of Air Force One, said in a statement that Mr. Cole (with the covers of two books shown left and right here) “has dedicated his professional life to bringing official misconduct to light and informing the public about the workings of its government.” His client, he added, “will not be intimidated from continuing that important work. He will defend press freedom and the First Amendment from this administration’s brazen attacks on journalists, and he will honor his commitment to his sources.”

The Times is providing a legal defense to Mr. Cole.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the specific investigation, but said in a statement that it would use all available legal tools to “uncover those who unlawfully disclose national defense information.”

Shown above is a pattern of seashells that former FBI Director James Comey saw and photographed while vacationing at a North Carolina beach, with the photo he posted on Instagram later forming the basis of felony charges by the Trump Administration, which has long hated the fellow Republican Comey for allowing an FBI preliminary investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to proceed after hackers and other operatives undermined Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and her campaign. The term "86" is widely used in the hospitality industry to signify a troublesome customer who needs to be eased out of a facility, whereas the Justice Department has claimed that it means to murder someone. Comey, a career prosecutor and Republican who attained high rank under multiple presidents, is shown below in a file photo.

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Todd Blanche Colluded with an Italian Mafioso … and Also Rudy Guiliani … to Indict Jim Comey, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), July 29, 2026. Jim Comey has filed his pretrial motions. The memoranda and backup for each are here (Fitzgerald’s affidavit is a worthwhile place to start):

Motion to Dismiss (MTD) for lack of a true threat
MTD vindictive and selective prosecution
Appendix of Trump’s complaints (17 pages longer than it was last year)Motion for disclosure of grand jury transcripts
Motion to suppress two warrantsMarch 23, 2026 Apple warrantMay 20, 2026 Google warrant
Affidavit of John Gleeson
Declaration of David Kelley
Patrick Fitzgerald Affidavit
Backup to May 15 Secret Service phone interview
May 15 Executive Summary shared with Trump’s detail
Reference to Kash Patel and Don Jr claiming 8647 was a threat
Discussion of surveilling Comey on orders from DOJ number 3 (including recognition it would be illegal)
Exigent surveillance request claiming it involved risk of death
Discussion of Secret Service interview reflecting Trump involvement
ASAC thanking people for work, including non-traditional
Rudy Giuliani interview
Sealed interview of nutball who wanted Comey jailed
Charlotte opens full investigation
FBI receives Secret Service file
Star witness’ texts with Comey’s spouse
Sentinel search for uses of 86
Search in Gambino file for uses of 86
AUSA suggesting more terms for searches in Gambino files
Results of searches from Gambino files
More results of searches from Gambino files
Interview of old FBI Agent on whether the mob used the term 86
Interview of another old FBI Agent on whether the mob used the term 86
Google and AI searches on whether 86 meant to kill
AI search debunking the caseAnother AI search debunking the case, citing Merriam-Webster
Social media search of how Comey and his spouse would use 86
302 recording discussion about logistics for interview with Gravano
Caveats about search of database of threat assessment database
Document explaining Secret Service’s non-referral of the “threat”
Subpoena to Amazon for 86-45, 86-46, and 86-47 merch
Subpoena response indicating the Feds have never inquired about that 86 merch
Attempt to segregate privileged communications
Secret Service SAIC claiming David Kelley should have sent metadata
David Kelley’s response to SS request

The story captured by these various filings is even more pathetic than told publicly. For example, while the frothy MAGAts ginned themselves into believing that the extra evidence Todd Blanche insisted he had when he announced the charges consisted of materials in the novel Comey was about to release, there’s no such evidence.

Instead, there’s evidence of a deeply unwell country.

The story starts when Comey posts a post and Trump, his FBI Director, and his son insist it must be malicious, not because it was but because those men survive by stoking grievance.

Rudy Giuliani, fresh off ginning up conspiracies to target Joe Biden followed by worse conspiracies to start a riot, insisted Comey would know the mob used the term 86 to mean murder.

An associate of Comey’s spouse, Patrice, somebody who hated Jim and resented their son-in-law, Troy Edwards, for prosecuting people like Stewart Rhodes, then texted her to tell her it was malicious.

That’s when Jim deleted the text.

Secret Service felt they had to interview. The “number 3” in DOJ ordered them to illegally surveil Comey (this is before Stan Woodward was appointed yet), following him and his wife to visit the grave of one of their children.

Trump demanded updates on the Secret Service investigation.

But the Secret Service didn’t pursue the investigation, so an AUSA in North Carolina got the task, who then sent it to the FBI in Charlotte to investigate.

And that person, April Floyd, decided to look everywhere for proof. Both before and after indicting Comey, she had FBI search transcripts of old mobster trials to see if they ever used the term, she spoke to retired FBI guys, She interviewed Salvatore Gravano — who said, sure the mob used the term, but they never used it because the cops would know. And really, Gravano told the Feeb, he didn’t bear Comey any ill will. Honest.

During the conversation regarding logistics for the upcoming interview, Gravano told SA Floyd he had no vendetta or issues with James Comey (Comey) , and he did not care one way or another what occurred with Comey’s pending criminal case for the “86 47” post. Gravano did not care if Comey went to jail for the post or remained free. According to Gravano, there was no way that Comey did not know what the term “86” meant as it related to killing someone. Gravano gave an example of the use of the term “86” in the context of killing someone and used his son, Gerard, in the sentence. Gravano told SA Floyd that if he ordered for Gerard to be “86-ed” it meant that he wanted Gerard killed. Gravano told SA Floyd he was fairly certain it would be difficult to find the term “86” documented in law enforcement/FBI files because members of the organized crime families refrained from using terms such as “86” that were commonly used in day-to-day business in the presence of law enforcement officers. Gravano reiterated that based on the positions Comey held and the interactions Comey had with those involved in organized crime, there was no way he did not know that the term “86” was used in the context of killing someone.

Here’s Pat Fitzgerald’s footnote about Gravano’s reliability:

14 Mr. Gravano’s racketeering guilty plea in 1992 included his admission to participation in nineteen murders. Mr. Gravano also admitted to bribing a juror at John Gotti’s first racketeering trial. After he completed his sentence in 1995, Gravano left the Witness Protection Program. He was later convicted in 2002 on both federal and state charges for his participation in a narcotics conspiracy in Arizona with his wife, son and daughter among others. He was released from prison in 2017 and is currently on parole. He is now a podcaster.

April Floyd — who in normal time would be hunting white collar criminals — also obtained a warrant for Apple, shortly before the indictment, and another for Google, shortly after it, which failed to mention their key source had originally concluded the 86 term had the restaurant connotation, until he watched Rudy. She similarly failed to mention that all her efforts to prove there was a mob connotation failed — except for Sammy the Bull.

There are fairly compelling motions (though of course most of them must meet a really high bar to work).

But they are also a chronicle of a deeply unwell nation, of the kind of insanity that Trump has demanded everyone around him adopt.

This should be humiliating to the entire country. It should lead Republicans — all of them, not just John Cornyn and Thom Tillis — to reject the handmaiden of this atrocity to lead DOJ, precisely the prize (Comey’s filings suggest) that he sought, in pursuing this bullshit investigation.

But they won’t.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is shown in a file photo.

Courthouse News Service, Rudy Giuliani is ‘very unhealthy,’ says his lawyer, explaining stall of sexual harassment case, Erik Uebelacker, July 29, 2026. Giuliani, accused of forcing an employee into sex, is “confined to a wheelchair” with breathing issues, according to his attorney — despite recent international travel.

Lawyers in the $10 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday debated the health of the former New York City mayor in an effort to determine how to finally move the three-year-old case closer to trial.

The civil case is being brought by Giuliani’s former associate Noelle Dunphy, who claims her then-boss “demanded” sex from her and frequently subjected her to booze- and Viagra-fueled bouts of harassment when she worked for him between 2019 and 2021. Giuliani unsuccessfully prevented the lawsuit from moving forward to discovery earlier this year, but his health has supposedly been a roadblock in advancing the case.

According to Giuliani’s lawyer Adam Katz, he is “confined to a wheelchair.”

“He’s got some issues breathing,” Katz told a judge on Wednesday.

In May, Giuliani was hospitalized in Florida with pneumonia and placed on a ventilator. His condition was so dire that he reportedly received his last rites. That hospitalization came less than a year after he was seriously injured in a car accident in August 2025.

“He’s very unhealthy,” Katz said of his client.

But the 81-year-old’s health is only more reason for the case to be tried as quickly as possible, according to Dunphy’s lawyer William Robedee.

“Mr. Katz suggests those issues are a reason why, for example, Mr. Giuliani cannot be deposed in the fall of this year. I argue the opposite side of that,” Robedee told the judge. “When we have a critical party or witness who’s in his 80s and not in good health, we accelerate capturing the testimony rather than delay it.”

He added that he’s tuned into Giuliani’s podcast, where the octogenarian speaks for extended periods of time on a regular basis. Robedee also brought up several examples of Giuliani’s international travels over the past several months.

“On the one hand, we’re very concerned about his health,” Robedee said. “On the other hand, we have a person who just last week was addressing the Italian Parliament in Rome, who’s met with the president of Bulgaria.”

Giuliani spoke at an international conference at the Italian Parliament on July 16, standing from a podium as he endorsed a dissident Iranian politician. In late May, he accompanied U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to meet with Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova.

“That’s news to me,” said New York Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Moyne, adding, “I don’t follow this man’s every move.”

Moyne criticized Giuliani’s defense team, who invoked Giuliani’s health as a potential roadblock in the case but never filed an affidavit from one of his physicians.

“You want me to rely on hearsay and news reports to determine your client’s physical condition? That’s not the way it’s done,” said the judge.

Moyne set a deadline of Jan. 30, 2027, for Giuliani’s deposition. As the plaintiff, Dunphy will be deposed first; Moyne said that should happen by Dec. 15.

Dunphy is seeking $10 million on claims of assault, battery, sexual harassment and hostile work environment. She claims Giuliani, who at the time was President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, went on “alcohol-drenched rants” that sexualized prominent women and contributed to an “unbearable” work environment.

According to Dunphy, Giuliani also abused his position as her boss to pressure her into sex. In one instance, she says Giuliani offered her $300,000 if she would forgo her legal rights in a pending case and “fuck me like crazy.”

That statement, among others from Giuliani at issue in the case, Dunphy claims she recorded. Dunphy’s team said Wednesday they plan to give those tapes to the defense in the next few months as part of the discovery process.

Giuliani wasn’t present at Wednesday’s virtual conference. The last time he attended one, the now-disbarred lawyer had his microphone cut on several occasions as he lobbed attacks against his accuser and spoke out of turn.

New York Times, Justice Dept.’s Case Against Minnesota Protesters Hits Hurdles as Missteps Mount, Alan Feuer and Ernesto Londoño, July 31, 2026. The problems plaguing the case have not only hurt the government’s chances, lawyers say, but have also undermined the bonds of trust that prosecutors have traditionally enjoyed in court.

The Trump administration came out swinging in January after a group of activists in Minnesota, accompanied by camera-toting journalists, held a demonstration at a St. Paul church to protest President Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the state.

Officials cast the incident as part of a larger narrative of left-wing protesters being out of control at a fraught political moment — just days after a Minneapolis woman, Renee Good, had been killed in her car by an immigration agent. The authorities moved swiftly, arresting several people who had been inside the church. Among them was Don Lemon, left, the former CNN anchor who had long run afoul of Mr. Trump.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, right, who runs the Justice Department’s civil rights division, which helped to bring the charges, set the tone for the administration’s moves by trumpeting the case with a brash remark. “We’re going to pursue this to the ends of the earth,” she said.

Six months later, however, the case, which is unfolding in Federal District Court in St. Paul, has been plagued by an array of prosecutorial missteps. Defense lawyers have accused the government of rushing to bring headline-grabbing charges, and the judges overseeing the proceeding have, from its outset, been voicing their concerns.

In May, for instance, it was revealed that one judge undertook the highly unusual step of rejecting a raft of search warrants after finding they would be unlikely to turn up evidence that crimes had been committed. Last week, another judge made an even more unusual move: He demanded to see some grand jury transcripts in an effort to determine whether prosecutors had acted improperly when securing the indictment.

At the same time, the defense has said investigators botched their efforts to search Mr. Lemon’s cellphone, issuing a warrant in Minnesota even though the phone was seized in California. Lawyers have also accused the prosecution of bypassing its problems with securing warrants by issuing administrative subpoenas typically used in customs enforcement cases, not criminal proceedings, to obtain information from some of the defendants.

All of this, the lawyers claim, has damaged the government’s case and had a broader impact, undermining the bonds of trust — known in legal circles as the presumption of regularity — that prosecutors have traditionally enjoyed in court.

“It is clear to me that in this case, the government in many respects, candidly, has gone off the rails,” Matthew Ebert, a defense lawyer who served as a federal prosecutor until late last year, told a judge last week.

“We’re talking about a growing confluence of conduct,” Mr. Ebert added, “which ultimately, Your Honor, I think goes to the fact that the presumption of regularity has eroded, if not evaporated.”

Prosecutors have adamantly denied such accusations, claiming that whatever errors they have made — and they have admitted making some — were purely accidental. A Justice Department official played down the troubles, saying that the case was moving forward in a normal way with the defendants challenging the charges.

Still, in a signal that prosecutors are somewhat concerned about bringing the case to trial, they have offered plea deals to 29 of the nearly 40 people facing indictment. Under the proposed agreement, defendants would plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and avoid any prison time, according to a draft shared with The New York Times.

So far, however, none of the defendants have agreed to take the deal, according to defense lawyers.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the plea deals.

The case in St. Paul is only the latest prosecution arising from Mr. Trump’s nationwide immigration sweeps to face significant problems. Over and over, in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, the Justice Department has followed the same pattern: It has loudly announced indictments, often tarring defendants as radicals or terrorists, then watched as cases have run aground because of a lack of evidence or prosecutorial errors.

An investigation by The Times found that hundreds of officer assault cases stemming from immigration raids have unraveled as juries have acquitted, judges have thrown out charges or prosecutors have themselves withdrawn indictments.

One of the defendants is award-winning journalist Georgia Fort, who received a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from the University of St. Thomas in 2010, is amplifying stories of racial justice. The Trump Justice Department has targeted her on criminal charges now being exposed in court as highly dubious and part of comprehensive plan under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon to target those working in the civil rights field.

From the start, the case against Mr. Lemon and his co-defendants struggled to get off the ground, not least because of the uncomfortable way in which it lumped together activists engaged in political protest and journalists who covered them. Three sets of judges — including some on a federal appeals court — refused to go along with the government’s initial attempt to seek criminal complaints against Mr. Lemon and other journalists — including the reporter, Georgia Fort — after finding there was simply no evidence they had committed crimes.

New York Times, At Least 3 Dead and 2 Injured in Shooting at In-N-Out Burger in Idaho, Official Says, Mack Liederman and Alena Cerro, Aug. 1, 2026. A spokesman for Twin Falls cautioned that the number of victims was “expected to be higher.” The police said the shooter was dead.

At least three people were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, the authorities said.

The Twin Falls police received a call around 2:30 p.m. local time about an active shooter inside the dining area at the In-N-Out Burger restaurant on Blue Lakes Boulevard, said Josh Palmer, a city spokesman.

The suspected shooter is dead, the police chief in Twin Falls, Matthew Hicks, said during a news conference on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear if the gunman was among the three fatalities or in addition to them. It was also unknown how the shooter died. The events leading up to the shooting were not immediately known.

More On Iran War

New York Times, Fact-Checking Trump’s Recent Comments About Costs of Iran War, Linda Qiu, Aug. 1, 2026. The president misleadingly blamed the Biden administration’s weapons transfers to Ukraine for current concerns over munitions stockpiles, among other claims about the Iran war.

As the United States’ war with Iran stretches into its sixth month, concerns over a depleted weapons arsenal, rising casualties and economic consequences have mounted.

President Trump has waved off those worries, even as he seeks a diplomatic solution to end the fighting and polls show Americans growing frustrated with the war. Instead, he has characterized the war in Ukraine as a greater drain on military resources, defended the death toll by comparing it with previous military engagements and celebrated single-day drops in oil prices.

Here’s a fact-check of some of his recent claims.

What Mr. Trump Said

“We have a lot of ammunition, different types. You know, Biden gave a lot to Ukraine and so we’re building that up, but we have a lot. We have a lot of the midlevel stuff, too; I mean, more than we could ever use, no matter what. But we have a lot. I’d like to have more, to be honest, but so much was given to Ukraine by Biden.”— in remarks on Monday

This is misleading. The New York Times and other news outlets have reported that the Iran war has drained the United States’ arsenal of munitions. But Mr. Trump dismissed those concerns, blaming the Biden administration’s military aid to Ukraine instead. The president has a point that the Biden administration sent vast amounts of equipment and munitions to Ukraine, reducing stockpile levels. But those transfers played just a small role in the current issues with the Pentagon’s arsenal, because the military uses different weapons in the war with Iran.

Exact figures for stockpiles and weapons used are not publicly disclosed. But according to a Pentagon fact sheet from January 2025, the Biden administration transferred more than 100 types of equipment to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. The vast majority of that equipment was related to ground combat and not critical to Mr. Trump’s war in Iran, said Mark F. Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and expert in war funding and procurement at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

For example, the Biden administration provided Ukraine with thousands of armored vehicles, trucks and tanks; anti-tank weapons like Javelin and TOW missiles; mortar systems, artillery and millions of rounds of ammunition.

In contrast, the war in Iran has been fought in the sky. The Trump administration and congressional officials as well as outside military experts have raised concerns of depleted inventories of other types of weapons. According to reporting by The Times and other news outlets and calculations from Colonel Cancian, the military has recently used:

1,200 Patriot cruise missiles out of an inventory of 2,330
More than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles out of 3,000
More than 1,100 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM, out of 4,400
40 to 70 Precision Strike Missiles out of 90
130 to 250 SM-3 missiles out of 410
90 to 370 SM-6 missiles out 1,160
190 to 290 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missiles out of 360

The United States only provided a few weapons and munitions on that list to Ukraine, such as 600 Patriot missiles. Other aerial equipment given include short-range air defense equipment, like more than 3,000 Stinger antiaircraft missiles.

On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal reported in August 2022 that some officials thought that after transfers to Ukraine, the level of 155-millimeter combat rounds in the United States’ arsenal was “uncomfortably low.” The Pentagon used a portion of funding provided by Congress in 2024 to replace some of the equipment given to Ukraine including Javelin and Stinger missiles, 155-millimeter ammunition and armored vehicles. These have not posed an issue in the Iran war.

A White House spokeswoman defended Mr. Trump’s characterization, citing billions of dollars in weapons transfers to Ukraine under the Biden administration and a recent executive order by Mr. Trump that makes it more difficult for weapons makers to use materials from adversarial nations like China and Russia.

What Mr. Trump Said

“Oil dropped very big today.”— in the Monday remarks

This needs context. It is true that oil prices dipped on Monday, when Mr. Trump spoke, as fighting between the United States and Iran paused. It was the largest single-day decline since late May. But oil prices still remain high and volatile compared with levels before the war.

The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell by nearly 9 percent on Monday, closing at $88 a barrel. The price of West Texas intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell by more than 7 percent and closed at almost $83 a barrel.

But prices are subject to large fluctuations. The week before, prices rose to over $100 a barrel. And on Wednesday, prices rose again, briefly topping $91 a barrel. Before the war began in February, the price of Brent was $72 a barrel. So although Monday’s price was low compared with recent levels, it was still 20 percent higher than before the war began.

Still image taken from Instagram video by Asin Zinlzadh Tibin Jr. Satellite image by Airbus captured Feb. 21, 2026.

New York Times, Investigation: Visuals Suggest U.S. Dropped 2,000-Pound Bomb on Home in Iran, Killing 3, Christiaan Triebert, Sanjana Varghese and Christoph Koettl, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). The weapon, one of the largest in the U.S.’s arsenal, struck a house in a heavily populated area, according to a Times analysis.

The United States struck a family home on Iran’s Qeshm Island overnight on Thursday with a large-scale bomb, according to an analysis of videos, photos and satellite imagery by weapons experts and The New York Times. Iranian officials said the strike had killed a husband and wife and their 2-year-old son. The couple’s two other children were pulled from the rubble alive, they said.

The size of the crater and munition fragments appear to show the weapon used was a 2,000-pound bomb called a Mark-84, one of the largest conventional bombs used by the U.S. military. The location and time of the strikes are consistent with where and when the United States was operating. The evidence raises questions about what the United States was targeting and why such a large munition was used.

The strike hit a densely populated neighborhood on the island, which sits in the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, and appears to have been part of a flurry of attacks the United States said it had launched to retaliate against earlier strikes by Iran on a base used by American forces in Jordan.

The Times found no indication of a military site near the family’s home or any reports of military casualties from the strike, which the Iranian authorities typically announce.

The New York Times Frederic Gras, a French munitions consultant who reviewed the same imagery, also said the crater dimensions matched an air-dropped Mark-84 2,000-pound bomb. He said the bomb appeared to have detonated below the surface rather than on impact, and that the sandy ground absorbed part of the blast, directing the force downward, which limited damage in the surrounding area.

Mr. Gras also identified the metal remnant as the tail section of a JDAM guidance kit.

Weapons of this size are typically used for “buildings, rail yards and lines of communication,” according to a U.S. Army office that manages ammunition for the Pentagon. Experts say they can cause serious harm to civilians when used in heavily populated areas.

Though it remains unclear who or what the intended target in the strike may have been, international humanitarian law requires combatants to weigh the expected harm to civilians against the military advantage of a strike.

Roughly 20 neighboring households were displaced by the strike, Iranian officials said, and footage shows debris and damaged vehicles over 200 feet away. Additional strikes also destroyed two warehouses outside the city in the same wave of attacks, according to the visual analysis.

U.S. Central Command, which announced it had struck targets in southern Iran on Thursday morning, said it was looking into the reports of civilian casualties but did not respond to questions about the intended target, the munition used or what precautions had been taken to protect civilians.

“We are aware of the reports and looking into them,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman. “The U.S. military never targets civilians.”

The Times corroborated details in bystander and news footage with satellite imagery to pinpoint the location of the strike and determine the size of the crater. The strike, which occurred in the Chah-Tangu neighborhood of Qeshm City, an area of tightly clustered homes, also destroyed several structures, leaving a crater at least 30 feet wide.

“The large crater and structure damage is consistent with a Mark-84 2,000-pound bomb, which can be equipped with JDAM guidance kits,” said Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician and an analyst at Armament Research Services, referring to kits that convert unguided bombs into GPS-guided munitions. Photos published by the Iranian media, he said, showed parts of these guidance kits, though The Times could not confirm where the fragments were recovered.ImageA fragment said to have been found at the scene that two munitions experts identified as part of a U.S.-made guidance kit for an aerial bomb.Credit...hara.news, via Instagram

More On U.S. Military, Foreign Policy

PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Trump Has Broken The US Military So Badly That It Can't Defend Israel, Jason Easley, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Trump's incompetence is bringing about a reality that many Americans have wanted for decades, but thought they would never see. The US military reportedly lacks the capacity to defend Israel.1∙PaidREAD IN APP

The Trump administration has broken the US military to the point where it could expand the war in Iran, as Trump threatened to do, because the US is running out of munitions and equipment.

Only Donald Trump could try to expand a war and fail because he has wrecked the military to the point where it is having to cut back.

The Pentagon has never passed a full financial audit, and Trump was trying to shake Congress down for $1.15 trillion in additional military funding.

One of the reasons why Israel under Netanyahu has been able to carry out what many consider to be a genocide in Gaza and start a war with Iran is because the United States has protected Israel.

Netanyahu has made Israel historically unpopular in the United States. Many Americans want Israel under Netanyahu to fight its own wars and stand on its own.

Thanks to Donald Trump’s ineptitude, the day when Israel no longer has the US to protect is reportedly quickly approaching.

The Washington Post reported that top military commanders are warning the Trump administration that they no longer have the capacity to protect Israel from missile attacks.

According to the Post:

The top U.S. general in Europe privately warned the Pentagon this week that he lacks sufficient naval forces to continue protecting Israel from incoming ballistic missiles, officials said, illustrating how the ongoing Iran war has imposed constraints on the military.

Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, sent written notification to senior Pentagon officials saying that without another Navy destroyer he will be forced to choose defense of the United States “homeland” over that of Israel, said the officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the correspondence.

Commanders are being forced to compete with each other for finite resources, but how can resources be limited when the United States has and has had the biggest military budget in the world?

Donald Trump’s war in Iran has been cost-inefficient. The Iranians are using drones and missiles to attack Israel and US military resources. The United States is responding with expensive defenses, munitions, and systems.

Trump’s military follies around the world during his second term have also strained resources.

The dominoes continue to fall after Trump’s disastrous decision to launch a war against Iran.

My position has always been that Israel can do what it wants, but the American people should not have to pay for it in any fashion. The Netanyahu government should carry the consequences for all of its actions.

Thanks to Trump being such a bad president, Netanyahu may finally have to stand on his own.

Letters from an American, Historical Commentary: July 31, 2026 [Trump Complains About Iran War's Length], Heather Cox Richardson, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Courtney Kube, Monica Alba, Peter Nicholas, Gordon Lubold, Katherine Doyle, and Andrea Mitchell of NBC News reported Wednesday that President Donald J. Trump is “exasperated” that the Iran war is dragging on and that his advisors can’t agree what to do next.

Reportedly, he erupted last week during a meeting with his national security team, shouting expletives at the officials in the room. One of Trump’s allies told the reporters that Trump had not expected the war to last as long as it has. “There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint.... He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war,” the person said.

Yesterday the war began to widen as a drone hit a gas storage tanker owned by a U.S. company in Egypt near the Suez Canal—no one has claimed responsibility—and Iran struck at American installations in Jordan. U.S. and Saudi Arabian forces launched strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

At a Cabinet meeting at Camp David today, Trump told reporters he intends to hit Iran with heavy military strikes again to force Iranian negotiators to give in to his demands. “We will be hitting them very hard,” he said. “And you know at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’” “We just want to win,” he said. “We’re doing very well.”

Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not appear to have a strategy for their war on Iran. Instead, they had an ideology. That ideology elevates individualism over the idea behind the modern American state: that government should regulate business, maintain a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, protect civil rights, and support an international order based in rules rather than in military might.

Since the 1950s, opponents of that modern state have celebrated the American individual, especially the American cowboy, as the figure the American government should privilege and protect. In their mythology, the cowboy wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone to rise through his own hard work, protecting himself and his family from wrongdoers with his gun and his principles. The education, expertise, cooperation, and coalitions on which the modern U.S. stood before Trump were signs not of strength, but of weakness.

That ideology seems to have been what was behind the attack on Iran. In 2015 the U.S., China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Iran negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium significantly and allow inspections, in exchange for relief from some sanctions. The Strait of Hormuz remained open. Although inspectors said Iran was honoring the deal, Trump maintained it was “[o]ne of the worst deals ever made by our Country.” He took the U.S. out of the JCPOA in 2018, and the following year, Iran resumed work on enriched uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brought this ideology into the Defense Department, which he tried to rebrand the “Department of War.” In 2024, Hegseth published a book titled The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free. In it, he claimed that the U.S. military was weak and “effeminate” because its leaders had embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion.

His prescription for the country involved getting rid of the Geneva Conventions, which recognize human rights for noncombatants in war, claiming they forced the U.S. troops to fight “with one hand behind our back.” In his confirmation hearings, Hegseth refused to tell Senator Angus King (I-ME) that he would honor those agreements.

On September 5, 2025, Hegseth said changing the name of the Defense Department to the Department of War was part of his campaign to spread a “warrior ethos” at the Pentagon. The rebranding, he said, was part of “restoring intentionality to the use of force…. We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality, violent effect, not politically correct. We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders. So this War Department, Mr. President, just like America, is back.”

But Trump’s war on Iran has illustrated the weakness of that vision. Trump reiterated yet again today that the U.S. has dominated Iran’s military. “They’re being decimated. They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no anti-aircraft,” he said. But for all that, they retain their ability to choke world trade by controlling the Strait of Hormuz—the very condition previous presidents worked to avoid through negotiations.

An article yesterday by Politico senior foreign affairs correspondent Nahal Toosi suggests that the “cowboy” approach to foreign policy has another downside. Toosi called out the extreme attacks of Trump and his aides on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and wrote that, although the U.S. is not a signatory to that court, former government officials and legal scholars suspect Trump and administration officials are worried about future prosecutions.

On July 13, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the administration intends to “dismantle the ICC—brick by brick, if necessary.” A press release from the State Department on the same day said that the U.S. “will feature a whole-of-government response to systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty.”

A Republican operative close to the White House, Bill Cortese, told Toosi that some administration officials are afraid that “if Democrats come into power…, an unchecked ICC and other international institutions are going to unleash a wave of litigation against this administration and anyone associated with it.” Toosi notes that during the administration, U.S. law enforcement and military officials have been accused of human rights violations that reach across borders.

Notably, on September 2, 2025, three days before Hegseth’s “maximum lethality, not tepid legality” speech, the administration began strikes against small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Those strikes have killed more than 220 people, but the administration has offered no evidence to prove its claims that those killed were “narcoterrorists” killed to stop the flow of cocaine to the U.S.

Trump claims the strikes have virtually ended drug trafficking by sea, but on July 27, Alex Horton, Terrence McCoy, Samantha Schmidt, and Dylan Moriarty of the Washington Post reported that according to Pentagon officials and officials from the Drug Enforcement Agency, the strikes have not reduced the cocaine coming into the U.S. Indeed, the dropping price of the drug suggests there is more of it now than there was a year ago. Instead, the strikes have simply prompted criminal organizations to find new routes. The strikes have also disrupted the law enforcement system in which lower-level participants inform on higher-ups, as the lower-level sources are being pulled back.

While the strikes appear to have done little to stop the flow of drugs, legal analysts say they look a lot like former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users. Law professor Charlie Trumbull reminded readers of Foreign Policy that in 2017, Trump called Duterte to congratulate him for doing “an unbelievable job on the drug problem.” Trumbull also noted that “Duterte is now behind bars in the Hague,” charged with crimes against humanity for trying to get rid of criminals by unlawful means, including murder.

“The Trump administration should be concerned,” Trumbull warned.

On July 25 the U.S. State Department cheered Venezuela’s withdrawal from the treaty that established the ICC and said it welcomed “the new Venezuelan government’s partnership on American-led efforts to dismantle the corrupt and worthless ICC.” It continued, “The ICC is neither credible, independent, nor legitimate,” and called on all members of the ICC to abandon it.

Today Missy Ryan and Nancy A. Youssef of The Atlantic reported that in the wake of the U.S. strike on the Minab school that killed 168 people, mostly schoolchildren, in the first hours of the war, the Pentagon is considering reversing some of the deep cuts Hegseth made to the staff at the Defense Department. A report by the Pentagon inspector general found that cuts to the civilian-harm protections staff who work to protect noncombatants may have violated laws.

Ryan and Youssef explain that the U.S. military had spent decades building its civilian protections. Leaders understood that battlefield victories were insufficient to win military operations and that protecting civilians is crucial to public support for those operations. Ryan and Youssef noted that to reflect this understanding, the Pentagon in 2006 “formally added legitimacy, restraint, and perseverance to its Principles of Joint Operations, defining legitimacy as ‘the legality, morality, and rightness of the actions undertaken.’”

A U.S. official told Ryan and Youssef that the leadership of U.S. combat commands uniformly support the restoration of the personnel whose job it is to protect civilians. But Hegseth has not committed to the restoration of the old system, the journalists note, and even if he does, it will have little effect unless he changes his own rhetoric.

For his part, Trump appears to be addressing concerns about future prosecutions, whether by the ICC or at U.S. courts, by keeping control of the government after the midterms. Today Trump disagreed with the assessment of investigators that a recent cyberattack on municipal water systems in Minnesota was likely the work of Iranian hackers. Instead, he blamed Democrats.

“We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran,” he told reporters. “I don’t think so. I think. I blame it on Minnesota because they’re grossly incompetent. There was a cyberattack of thirty water plants. And I would blame it on Minnesota and the governor, the corrupt governor of Minnesota.”

There is another piece of evidence this week that the abandonment of education and expertise in favor of a “warrior ethos” has weakened the U.S. on the world stage. At an international conference on AIDS in Rio de Janeiro, an official of the U.S. State Department showed a map of Africa on which six fake countries were identified with the names of random real countries—including Nigeria, where several hundred U.S. soldiers are deployed. Reuters identified the image as AI.

Attendees took screenshots and posted them online. “Whoever ⁠created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work,” one wrote.

White House Chronicle, Opinion: Foreign Aid That Works — the Malawi Story, Llewellyn King, righ5t, Aug. 1, 2026. In 2005, Gordon Brown, British chancellor of the exchequer, later prime minister, was in Washington, seeking to raise $50 billion annually in additional international aid for Africa.

I hosted a press event for Brown at the National Press Club, and I asked him how all this money would get to the people who needed it?

“We’ll give it to the right people,” he said crossly.

I told him I had seen foreign aid stolen, diverted and spent by the agencies that were supposed to deliver it on pet projects and themselves.

But there is another way, and it is working in the small, peaceful and democratic Southern African country of Malawi.

An organization called GiveDirectly has been handing $550 to every adult — men and women — in villages with no strings attached. It is estimated that for every $1,000 disbursed, there is an economic impact of $2,400.

This differs radically from foreign aid that has poured into sub-Saharan Africa since the end of colonial rule. Normally, this is passed on to a local government agency or a non-governmental organization and has been earmarked for a school, a hospital, water supply or famine relief. Often, this has led to bureaucratic delays and high overhead costs.

The aid organizations, mostly from North America and Europe, haven’t always earned plaudits. I have heard them described as “cheap tourists” and worse.

Another source of friction has been the tendency of aid workers to impose their values on recipients — for example, promoting green technologies or Western dietary preferences.

“We are flipping the traditional aid logic on its head. Rather than us figuring out what people need and having a kind of one-size-fits-all approach, we are saying people are the best placed to say what they need and what will be best for their circumstances,” Grace Jackson, GiveDirectly country director for Malawi, told me and my co-host, Adam Clayton Powell III, on the television program “White House Chronicle.”

“What we can do is to provide the tools, i.e. cash, so they can go ahead and do what is the most important and most useful to them,” she added.

Everyone over the age of 18 in a village gets the money delivered via a phone wallet, and if the villager doesn’t have a phone, Jackson said GiveDirectly provides one.

They also make sure there is a viable local financial entity with enough money on hand to pay out as villagers require it.

I believe this approach works well because of the nature of subsistence life in rural Africa, typified by village life in Malawi. It is wrong to think of poverty in the African countryside, and it is extreme, the way we think of urban poverty in America.

Rural people in Malawi — and a majority of its 22 million people are rural — simply have nothing. I repeat, nothing. They have few clothes, no shoes and no food security.

They survive by subsistence farming, mostly growing corn, which, with an occasional protein, is their diet. They have to eat all year on what they grow.

Yet families hold together as do the villages. Often, grown children live with their parents and help with the farming, generally done with simple hand tools. In the nothingness there is order.

The Malawi experiment is working, lifting whole villages above the international poverty line. Jackson, who is English, said the money was used in various ways. People bought more land, got medical attention, paid school fees or pooled the money for big things like electrification.

Recently, the program has received a $150 million boost from the Canva Foundation, the charity established by billionaires Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, co-founders of Canva, a popular graphic design tool.

GiveDirectly was created by MIT and Harvard students as a giving circle, based on their studies of the efficacy of charity programs. It was formalized in 2012. The organization hasn’t just helped the needy overseas, it has also handed out aid in the form of debit cards to U.S. disaster survivors.

The idea of letting the recipients of the aid decide how to spend it may appeal to conservatives and incline them more favorably toward foreign aid, especially if it is entirely derived from the private sector.

By the way, Gordon Brown’s grand scheme never got off the ground.On X: @llewellynking2Bluesky: @llewellynking.bsky.socialSubscribe to Llewellyn King's File on Substack

Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of "White House Chronicle" on PBS.Read this column on:White House ChronicleTremrWatch the latest White House Chronicle:Direct help to the poor in MalawiAn innovative aid program in Malawi, which transfers cash directly to the poorest adults via mobile money wallets, is increasing household income, business ownership, and savings, even improving access to healthcare.Grace Jackson, Malawi director for GiveDirectly, speaks with hostsLlewellyn King and Adam Clayton Powell III.Watch or Listen to White House ChronicleStreaming: All episodes are free to watch on Vimeo [link]On television: Visit our website [link] to find your location carrying station.SiriusXM radio: Listen to White House Chronicle on P.O.T.U.S., Channel 124: Saturday at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET; and Sunday at 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.Twitter TwitterWebsite WebsiteLinkedIn LinkedInVimeo Vimeo

U.S. Governance, Health, Safety, Education

Hopium Chronicles, Advocacy and Opinion: Trump's Failed, Fanatical Presidency Has Left America Less Safe, More Vulnerable. We Must Fight Very Hard Now For A Better Path, Simon Rosenberg, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Hackers attacked the critical infrastructure of seven US states this week. Trump blamed Tim Walz and the state of Minnesota....

First up, Trump has completely melted down over the Senate’s refusal to enable his unprecedented corruption and green light his venal AG choice. This post came a few hours ago:

On Monday we must keep calling and demand the Senate block Todd Blanche. We have to be loud about it, especially Hopium community members in North Carolina and Texas. Keeping calling everyone!

Perhaps our addled, ailing leader was still smarting this morning from this incredible humiliation that happened last night:

On weekends I try to keep things simple here so consider today’s post an early sketch of something we will develop together in the coming weeks.

Before we begin we cannot forget for one moment that politically this has been a very good week for us and a very, very bad one for them.

I think Democrats should consider using the current negotiations over a temporary budget extension for the coming fiscal year, something we call a Continuing Resolution, to force changes in Trump’s foreign and national security policy. We need to now force him to accept his defeat in his illegal war against Iran and work to forge a new rough regional peace; fully back Europe and Ukraine as Congress has sought to do; and compel him to protect the homeland, as he swore an oath to do. Things are getting sufficiently dangerous that Democrats cannot afford to wait until we gain power in January. We should be engaging, and attempting to shape our foreign policy now. For it is clear Trump is no longer capable - if he ever was - of acting in America’s national interest. His approach has failed, is doing material harm to America and democracy globally, and we must find a new and better way as soon as possible.

Let’s review what we’ve learned in recent days…..

Iran Has Attacked The American Homeland. Trump Is Cheering Them On: The Iranian government has apparently hacked into the critical infrastructure, including drinking systems, of seven American states. Rather than accepting responsibility and coming up with a joint response, yesterday Trump blamed Tim Walz and the government of Minnesota for these attacks, an act that of course will be read in Tehran as a green light to expand and deepen the attacks.

From the NYT:

The New York Times reported Thursday that U.S. and Minnesota state officials believed Iran was likely responsible for the cyberattacks on water systems. The F.B.I. said late Thursday the hackers had targeted water facilities in at least seven states.

Mr. Trump dismissed that assessment in a freewheeling cabinet meeting on Friday, saying: “I don’t think so. I think Minnesota is behind it,” adding, “I think the governor’s behind it. I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack.”

The president’s baseless claim, contradicted by investigators’ statements that other states had been targeted and their water systems were “degraded” by the attack, appeared aimed at downplaying the threat of the increasingly unpopular war with Iran inside America’s borders. Mr. Trump instead shifted blame to Mr. Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate in 2024, and his state government, continuing a pattern of trying to punish Minnesota and its Democratic leadership, particularly over the issue of immigration.

Trump Has Lost The War. Escalation Will Be Disastrous. We Must Negotiate A Rough, Regional Peace: Here’s a front page story in NYT today:

An excerpt:

To America’s allies, President Trump’s war in Iran, now in its sixth month, seems headed for a strategic defeat.

They worry that the inability of the United States to turn military superiority into a sustainably changed Iran has displayed a vulnerability that Russia and China will welcome. In addition, Mr. Trump’s goals remain unmet, and the U.S. military is running short on key armaments that it needs for global reach.

For the moment, Iran is seemingly resolute under a more radical government, its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are degraded but not destroyed, and the Strait of Hormuz is effectively under its control. The war has left both the United States and Israel in weaker positions — and blaming each other for the mess.

Iranian missiles and drones not only restrict traffic through the strait and damage the economic infrastructure of allied energy production, but they also continue to threaten American bases across the Middle East and have killed or injured American service members.

With Mr. Trump’s aims shifting, Washington is losing credibility both militarily and diplomatically, analysts said. Its conduct in the war underscores the impression that the United States is an unpredictable instrument of global disorder, they said.

The war may evolve, but so far the result has been “a strategic loss and an embarrassment,” said Robin Niblett, a former director of Chatham House, a think tank in London. “For U.S. allies and those who rely on the U.S. for security, this is confirmation that you can’t trust the United States.”

In a new post on his terrific Substack, Dr. Phillips O’Brien writes about China’s apparent stepped support for Iran in a new post, Is China Going For The Kill? Some excerpts:

Another reason we might be seeing the death throes of this ludicrous war is that the Chinese, if reports are to be believed, might be going in for the kill. They certainly seem to understand the weakness of the US, the sad state of the US military under Trump, and the (regrettable) resilience of the Iranian state. The upshot is that to a large degree they hold America’s military fate in their hands, and they seem to be about to use that terrible leverage.

……..

Another reason such a move could be devastating is that it would reinforce the reality of US weakness to states in the region. Over the last few months—as China (and Russia) have provided aid to Iran in its campaign which has not only killed and wounded a large number of US soldiers but also regularly resulted in effective attacks on US allies in the Gulf—Trump has tried to pretend this aid was no big deal or even deny that it was happening at all. Just five days ago, he tweeted out the latter, denying that China and Russia were doing anything at all—or in his words not “participating” in helping Iran.

………

I was trying to think about the last time the US was so weak and vulnerable. I settled on 1861, the first year of the US Civil War. At that point, outside powers were willing to directly threaten the US in ways that the Chinese are doing now—and the USA had to take it.

Trump Has Taken Dramatic Steps To Help Putin, Weaken Ukraine/Europe: Despite the clear intent of Congress to put America on the side of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war in recent days Trump has taken a series of actions that help Putin and weaken Ukraine (more on this in the days ahead):

In this post the Vice President of the United States directly echoes documented Russian disinfo efforts to destabilize Spain and the EU this week, further aligning the US with Russia against Europe in a moment of crisis for the continent:

While Democrats are running on costs, care, and corruption we cannot lose sight of our ultimate goal as a pro-democracy movement - to bring about a new birth of freedom, here and everywhere. It is not only the right thing for proud American patriots to do it is something voters want us focused on.

Trump has proven he in incapable of acting in America’s national interest -- only his own. His dereliction of duty, his idiocy/fanaticism/vainglory, and ongoing betrayal of the country is leaving America far less safe. We must act as patriots now and use all the tools we have to force a better path here in the Middle East, in Europe/Ukraine, and here at home too. I think the gravity of what’s happening suggests Democrats cannot wait until next year to forcefully fight for a better path and a more coherent and effective national security strategy. We have tools and we should use them now…..

And Yes, We Have Elections To Go Win, Too!!!!!!!!!!!

New York Times, Trump Administration Is Undoing Plans to Boost Workplace Heat Protections, Scott Dance, Aug. 1, 2026. The Biden administration took steps to shield workers from extreme temperatures. The Trump administration is taking a gentler approach with employers.

Republicans in Washington are taking steps to roll back federal workplace heat protections as summer temperatures surge.

The Trump administration is moving to rewrite Biden-era rules that would mandate breaks and access to water and shade for workers, in a step businesses lauded but that labor groups said could weaken already limited federal protections. Congress is considering legislation that would go a step further, prohibiting the Labor Department from adopting the Biden-era heat plan or similar rules.

At the same time, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is curtailing workplace inspections that President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s appointees had increased to raise awareness of heat-related illnesses.

OSHA officials did not respond to questions about enforcement activity.

The details of the proposed changes might not be known for months. Still the efforts highlight the divide between labor and industry about what steps to take as the dangers from rising temperatures become more apparent.

The proposed revisions would also reverse momentum toward codifying extreme heat as a workplace hazard. Stretches of record heat have persisted across the country this summer, punctuating decades of steadily climbing summer temperature highs and more frequent spells of dangerously hot conditions. Another “heat dome” is bringing extreme temperatures to the South and Midwest this week.

OSHA officials did not respond to questions about enforcing the mandate.

Business groups welcomed most of those steps, saying employers are already safeguarding workers from heat. But labor organizations say they fear job sites are becoming more dangerous as oversight declines and immigration enforcement creates an atmosphere of fear in the fields and warehouses where heat is most extreme, which could discourage some employees from raising alarm over conditions.

“They’re bringing the work force back to the 1800s,” said Trina David, a crew chief at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport who oversees baggage handling and other activity while planes are parked at gates. The temperature in the city often hits triple digits in the summer, and it can be even hotter on the tarmac.

Heat is linked to hundreds of workplace deaths each year, but labor groups say the true toll is unknown because heat-related illnesses are not properly tracked or reported. In 2024, the death toll was at least 530, according to data compiled by the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

On-the-job injuries and deaths typically trigger federal or state workplace safety investigations. But OSHA doesn’t have any rules specific to extreme heat, which can make holding employers accountable for dangerously hot working conditions difficult, former agency officials said.

OSHA oversees workplace safety in about half of states; in the others, it delegates those duties to state agencies under plans federal regulators approve. Some states and cities have their own workplace heat protections in place, including California, Oregon and Maryland.

But gaps in worker protections and rising global temperatures driven by climate change prompted the Biden administration to increase federal oversight of workplaces where extreme heat is common. In 2022, OSHA started a program that aimed to double inspections.

Old Goats, Opinion: RFK Jr.’s Long History of Lying about Fauci, Jonathan Alter, right, Aug. 1, 2026. Peddling accusations that a mass grave of children can be blamed on him, too.

Been a lot of commentary in the last couple days about Dr. Anthony Fauci taking the Fifth in this hearing room, in front of this McCarthyite committee dominated by awful Republicans who were just trying to score political points.

But I don’t think there’s been enough attention to Bobby Kennedy Jr., who’s the one who scoured the servers at HHS to come up with these diary entries and, you know, scored points by making Fauci look like he enjoyed taking Barbra Streisand’s call, as if this was this, you know, devastating smoking gun.

And I think what we need to do is just for a minute remind people of some of Kennedy’s history with Fauci.

Dr Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions at a Senate hearing on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The former top US health official invoked his Fifth Amendment rights saying he feared Republican lawmakers could try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

So, in 2021, Kennedy wrote a book called The Real Anthony Fauci, which, unfortunately, went to number two on The New York Times bestseller list. In that book, he accused Fauci and Bill Gates of personally profiting from drug sales in the developing world, which is a total lie; accused Fauci of having a stake in Moderna, total lie; and also —and this is the part that nobody remembers — accused Tony Fauci of murdering children.

Now, this book, The Real Anthony Fauci, is loaded with footnotes. So conspiracy theorists, other, you know, readers go, “Oh, it’s scholarly. It has all these footnotes.”

Check some of them out.

There’s one in particular from a woman named Celia Farber. She is the source —the daughter of Barry Farber, who was a rightwing talk show host in New York City.

And Celia Farber says — and Kennedy puts this in the book —that there’s a mass grave of children in Hawthorne, New York. She says, “Who were those kids? As far as I know, nobody has ever asked Dr. Fauci that haunting question.”

So this is the way they roll. They just raise questions. Is Tony Fauci a murderer of children?

And I just hope everybody keeps in mind, as we think about this really terrible hearing, which symbolized the war on science that is degrading one of the things that’s made this country great — our wonderful public health system, for all its flaws, our system of scientific inquiry.Subscribed

And as we think back on the totality of this, we need to be sure to remember that history will regard Tony Fauci very favorably. As part of PEPFAR, he helped to save 20 million lives from AIDS abroad.

And they will remember Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a horrible secretary of HHS, where measles and other diseases surged, where he deprived people of their Medicare and Medicaid benefits because they lived in blue states, and because he used crackpot conspiracy theories to destroy, or at least try to harm, the reputation of a great American.

More On Trump Team Obsessions, Oppressions, Corruption

David Hearn, center, pleaded not guilty this month to a felony charge of vandalism. Prosecutors had accused him of ripping the Reflecting Pool’s lining (Associated Press photo by Rod Lamkey).

New York Times, Charges Dropped in Reflecting Pool Case as Prosecutors Say Work Was ‘Botched,’ Madaleine Rubin and David A. Fahrenthold, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

Federal prosecutors on Friday said that contractors hired by the Trump administration had botched the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, leaving behind “widespread damage” in the pool’s new blue lining, and that the Interior Department had then falsely blamed that damage on vandals.

In an extraordinary motion filed Friday evening, the U.S. attorney in Washington, Jeanine Pirro, said she was seeking to dismiss a felony charge against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist who was accused of pulling up a piece of the pool’s lining two feet square.

In doing so, Ms. Pirro — a longtime ally of President Trump’s — directly contradicted the president’s repeated claim that the Reflecting Pool’s peeling liner was caused by people slashing its coating with knives. Instead, she said, “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism.”

Earlier this month, Ms. Pirro herself had echoed the president’s claims, calling a news conference to announce Mr. Hearn’s indictment on July 2. She said that she had “tremendous evidence” that Mr. Hearn had committed a felony, and noted that he faced up to 10 years in prison.

But on Friday, Ms. Pirro said that her prosecutors had been misled by the Interior Department, which had awarded a no-bid contract to a first-time government contractor to repair the iconic landmark.

Ms. Pirro said that the pool’s new blue coating had actually started to peel within two days of the project’s completion, and that the Interior Department kept that fact from prosecutors, telling them that “nearly all of the damage” was done by vandals.

The Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial on The Mall in Washington, DC, with green algae and a goverment worker wading in the algae shown in the foreground.

The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Trump Is Melting Down And Fighting With His Own Administration Over The Reflecting Pool, Sarah Jones, right, and Jason Easley, Aug. 1, 2026. Donald Trump melted down and claimed that the evidence and the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. are both wrong and that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was vandalized.

The majority of Americans realized a long time ago that Donald Trump is living in a delusional bubble of his own creation. Even though evidence from the earliest moments of the Reflecting Pool renovation gone wrong suggested that it was contractor error and shoddy work that caused first the algae infestation and then the pool’s liner to peel, Trump has blamed vandals.

Reality smacked Trump upside the head on Friday when the US Attorney for Washington, D.C. withdrew the criminal charges against former Olympian David Hearn because there was no evidence of vandalism.

The filing spelled out that the Reflecting Pool job was botched:

It was not until after these documents were produced that USAO-DC first became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI. Indeed, USAO-DC could only rely on the information provided by DOI that the damage was entirely caused by vandals, including the defendant in this case, David Hearn.

Trump wants to hear none of this and is attacking his own administration.

The president posted on Truth Social:

I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area. There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!

It is good to know that Trump is still upset about the 86 47 that was put on the grass. That message has nothing to do with the Reflecting Pool.

Trump has never publicly presented a single piece of evidence that points to vandalism. It has now been months, and Donald Trump has offered no evidence, even though the Reflecting Pool is patrolled and has security present.

It defies common sense that not a single human being has ever captured an act of vandalism at the Reflecting Pool and posted it on social media.

Anyone caught damaging the pool would immediately go viral and be prosecuted, but none of these videos exist, which suggests that the damage done to the Reflecting Pool was caused by Trump’s contractor, not vandals.

Heather Delaney Reese, Opinion: Donald Trump wants to be paid, Heather Delaney Reese, above right, July 31, 2026. At exactly 11:30 thismorning, carefully selected members of the press were packed into a room (shown above) rarely seen by anyone outside the president’s closest advisers and invited guests, let alone television cameras broadcasting live to the world. Today was different.

Donald Trump sat slumped forward beneath the Presidential Seal at the center of the long conference table, surrounded by members of his cabinet and those in his inner circle. White rings circled his eyes where his orange makeup hadn’t completely blended. Over the next 57 minutes, Trump repeatedly injected comments that made others in the room not just uncomfortable but genuinely concerned for what he would say next. At one point, when the discussion turned to the International Criminal Court, without any prompting, he blurted out, “By the way, there’s no information that they’re after me.” Before adding, “It could happen.”

Before abruptly ending the meeting and his staff jumping into action to remove the press as quickly as possible, he went on a long outburst declaring, “I was abused. They attacked my house, Mar-a-Lago, where I live... big damages should have been given to me,” before adding, “I probably was abused more than anybody in the history of our country.”

The televised event took place at Camp David, the presidential retreat located deep in the Catoctin Mountains of western Maryland, a place that Donald Trump does not like and only uses when absolutely necessary. He dislikes it to the extent that he once told a reporter, “It’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.” Trump has mostly avoided going at all. So the question is not just what happened inside that room today, but why he went to the one place he avoids, on one of the worst weeks of his presidency.

With his approval rating hitting a record low of thirty-two percent, his attorney general nominee being held hostage by members of his own party, and the war in Iran escalating after declaring victory multiple times, Donald Trump needed a way to make reality look better than it was, and he needed to do it at a place of historical significance to make what was said more believable.

The Washington Post framed the meeting as the latest stage for Trump’s frustrations over a series of stalled domestic and foreign policy initiatives. CNN described it as a president under pressure retreating to the woods amid an Iran war without end and polls with no bottom. The Hill called it a particularly perilous time. And the moment this meeting ended, he left for his Bedminster golf club for the weekend.

He opened by declaring, “We are the party of transparency and we believe in transparency.” He told the room, “I don’t believe the press has ever come anywhere near it,” and called the meeting “something very unique.” And then, just a few minutes later, he told the reporters sitting in front of him, “I want to thank a lot of the media people because many of you have been very, very fair, and that’s one of the reasons you’re here frankly.” He admitted that the press was hand-picked for the event. He granted access to the outlets and reporters that cover him favorably, while the reporters who would actually hold him accountable were not invited. The transparency he performed today was not transparency at all.

Towards the beginning of the meeting, Trump set the tone for everything that followed and made it clear that this was about the upcoming midterms and his campaign to retain unchecked power. “The last administration created the worst inflation in 48 years, the most dangerous and insecure border in history, and exploding trade deficits like we have never seen before, rampant crime, men and women sports, transgender mutilization of your children, and chaos and bedlam all over the world.” He paused, looked around the table, and added, “Other than that, they did quite a good job.” Pete Hegseth, sitting to his left, smirked. He didn’t hold back. His goal was for his fanbase to remember that, come November, everything before Trump was a catastrophe, and that everything under Trump is the golden age.

He called the men and women seated around him a “talented group of people,” then looked around the room and added, “Yeah, a couple of stiffs, but that’s okay.” They all laughed. The Associated Press described these meetings as “sessions that have come to be known for being overly long and consumed by administration officials’ endless praise for their boss.”

Barely nineteen minutes in, after handing the conversation over to Vice President J.D. Vance to talk about fraud, Trump was already struggling. His eyes were getting heavy as he fought to stay awake. At the twenty-seven-minute and thirty-eight-second mark, during Hegseth’s remarks, his eyes rolled completely, and he jerked back awake multiple times.

This is the man who holds more power over the world than any other human being alive, and he cannot keep his eyes open while his own advisers speak. And that raises a very serious question. What is happening behind the scenes during the moments that actually matter? When he is deciding whether to launch strikes or start new wars? Is he just nodding off while the people around him do whatever they want?

While his inner circle of enablers was taking turns praising Trump, I was looking at the walls in that room. Of the pictures of past times at Camp David under different administrations. When Jimmy Carter brokered peace between Israel and Egypt. When Eisenhower met Khrushchev at the height of the Cold War. Where George W. Bush met with his war cabinet after September 11 to plan the invasion of Afghanistan. Some of the heaviest decisions a president can make happened there.

It’s where John F. Kennedy spent weekends with his family, where Franklin Roosevelt gave it the name Shangri-La because he wanted the presidency to have a place where the weight of the office could be carried with dignity and seriousness. Kennedy even mentioned during the meeting that his uncle, JFK, had planned to rename it back to Shangri-La if he had made it to a second term. Camp David is where presidents go when the moment demands uninterrupted leadership and where meetings can be held in confidence. And today it was used for a man slumped at the center of a table while people told him how wonderful he was.

When it was Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s time to speak, he brought up his attack on the International Criminal Court. He called the ICC illegitimate, said it had made itself illegitimate by claiming jurisdiction over non-member states, warned that American servicemen could someday find themselves under indictment, and even threw in a reference to Jack Smith having worked there. Then he pivoted to a recent meeting he attended with sixty other countries in Washington that was held to address “far-left terrorism and violence.” He said that when a bomb goes off tied to a right-wing group, it gets attention, but when it is a leftist group, an “Antifa group,” it gets no coverage. He added, oddly enough, that he does not consider neo-Nazis right-wing, that he considers them Nazis. He attempted to connect these comments together but failed. His goal was to convince the world that the ICC was the opposite of what it actually is so that no international court can ever hold this administration or its allies accountable. His far-left terrorism comments were his attempt at portraying the Trump regime’s opposition as terrorists instead of citizens exercising their First Amendment rights.

But the moment that revealed more than anything else was when Trump interrupted Rubio and said, “By the way, there’s no information that they’re (the ICC) after me. It could happen.” The room laughed nervously while he added, “But just so you know, he’s talking about it and saying that means that he’s not trying to defend me. He is trying to defend Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu) and various other people, but there are many people that shouldn’t be looked at that way. But there is no indication that I’m one of them at this moment.” In that moment, Rubio looked like his soul had left his body.

Then came the anti-weaponization fund question. A reporter asked Trump about his Truth Social post from that morning, which said victims of government abuse should be paid back. Trump launched into a defense of the $1.8 billion fund that would have paid money to the J6 insurrectionists and shielded him and his two oldest sons from tax audits. Trump referred to them as people who “wanted to go to a rally or an event and ended up spending the rest of their lives in horror.” A reporter did get him to admit that the fund was dead. And he added that he wished it were not. “Well, it is dead, but you know, I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you. I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused.” He claimed that many had committed suicide, a claim he has made repeatedly but that he has never provided proof. He said their families had been decimated. And then he said it. “I probably was abused more than anybody in the history of our country.” Which means he thinks he was harmed more than enslaved people, those interned in Japanese internment camps, those who were persecuted during the McCarthy period, attacked during the Civil Rights movement, and during the Jim Crow years. I could keep going.

When it was Hegseth’s turn to speak, he attempted to deliver a joke that revealed more than he likely realized. “The flyovers will indeed continue until morale improves,” he said, playing off the old military phrase, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” It was an odd choice of humor, one that implicitly acknowledged what many reports have already suggested: morale inside the Defense Department is anything but high.

A reporter asked Trump how he planned to revive the ceasefire with Iran and get diplomacy back on track. His answer was, “Well, I think we just want to win,” he continued, “We’re doing very well. We’re trying to be as nice as you can be in a situation like that.” And only then did he add, “It’s very simple. They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Every person sitting at that table participated in this sham cabinet meeting. Every one of them praised the leader, laughed at his jokes, and clapped for accomplishments that are not real. And when this is over, they are all going to claim they did it for reasons that sound noble. That they were forced to or that they were trying to save the country from something even worse. They will all say that they had no choice. But they did have a choice. They make that choice every single time that they participate in a performance like this. What they are doing is anti-American at its core, and it is not just embarrassing; it is dangerous. No explanation they offer after the fact will be enough to undo what they are choosing to do right now.

What we saw today was just the public-facing spectacle that Trump demands. The Wall Street Journal published an investigation today that showed what is happening behind the scenes. They reported that almost every night in the White House, Trump calls his fundraiser, Meredith O’Rourke, for an update on which companies and donors have cut checks and which have not, and for how much. He has nicknamed her the “princess of darkness” because she is such a killer with donors, and in calls with companies she has referred to him as the boss, telling them, “The boss wants this money.” Much like the language Mob crime families call the leader of their organizations.

The numbers are staggering. Trump has raised more than $800 million since returning to office. One chairman of a publicly traded company told the Journal that companies understood they were either “checked on a list, or crossed off a list” depending on whether they gave money.

His former legislative affairs director, Marc Short, one of his own people, told the Journal, “There definitely wasn’t a corporate shakedown like you see now.” The same president who ran in 2016 promising he would self-fund his campaign and would never be controlled by donors, special interests, and lobbyists is now running an operation that legal analyst Scott Horton said he could not distinguish from a classic organized crime protection racket. The White House response, through spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez, was that Trump is the most successful fundraiser in modern political history and that “one thing has never changed. President Trump can’t be bought.”

Today also brought an important reminder. There are still limits to Trump’s power. After weeks of insisting that his Reflecting Pool project had been sabotaged, and after his administration went so far as to arrest a former Olympian over the lie, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, one of Trump’s most visible loyalists, was forced to drop the felony case against David Hearn.

The 67-year-old whitewater canoeist had been arrested back in June during a bike ride along the National Mall. He had stopped at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and touched a piece of the already peeling coating. Prosecutors had falsely claimed he had forcefully and violently ripped up sections of the pool floor. The charge carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Today, in a 20-page court filing, Pirro’s office acknowledged that the damage had actually been caused by the contractor’s flawed installation and by the rush to complete the project before the America 250 Independence Day celebrations.

Hearn’s legal team issued a statement on his behalf: “The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should never have been brought. Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”

Trump was caught in a lie that could have cost a man 10 years of his life. But the truth broke through, and he didn’t get away with it. One of his own most loyal appointees was forced to admit that none of it was true. And that is what we need to hold onto tonight. Because if the truth can break through there, in a case built by his own Justice Department to cover up his own vanity project, it can break through everywhere. And as long as we keep pushing and demanding better for our country, his lies will continue to fall apart. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

More Global News

New York Times, How 50,000 People Surged Into a Spanish Exclave in Africa, Jason Horowitz, Aug. 1, 2026. On Thursday, tens of thousands of Moroccans broke into Ceuta, a Spanish territory that neighbors Morocco. By Friday evening, most of them had left, hungry and disappointed.

Like so many others in Morocco, Mohammed Ahmidho saw on his social media feeds early Thursday that the heavily guarded border his country shared with the Spanish territory of Ceuta was open.

Soon enough, he joined a crowd in the tens of thousands, many of whom were astonished to see Moroccan police urge them, as he recalled, to “come to Spain.” Some climbed over the fence, as he did, or dove through holes in the chain-link, or swam across the maritime border. Some wore wet-suits, sometimes kicking with flippers, or floated to the Spanish coast in orange life preservers, pink inflatable doughnuts around their waists. At least 60 people died in the mayhem.

“A lot of people came,” said Mr. Ahmidho, 37. “A lot.”

He was among roughly 50,000 people who crossed the border into a Spanish town of only 84,000 residents on Thursday and early Friday, according to the Spanish interior ministry. That was a more intense surge than in any equivalent period during the peak of the European migration crisis in 2015.

By Friday morning, the city looked like the emergency that Europe has been trying to avoid since that era of mass migration 11 years ago, the last time so many non-Europeans surged into European-held territory, upended the continent’s politics and spurred the rise of its anti-immigrant right.

As the city’s residents hunkered down and shuttered their stores, groups of mostly young men with nowhere to go filled squares and avenues, condominium courtyards, hilltop overlooks and bridge underpasses. Some took dips in waters patrolled by a Spanish naval ship or waded through a band of floating detritus — plastic bags and water bottles — caught in the current. Others marched across a beach littered with the things their fellow arrivals had carried: single shoes, a shed wet-suit, mobile phone cases, an I.D. card from Casablanca.ImageMigrants in the water off Ceuta, surrounded by debris left by people who crossed from Morocco on Thursday.Credit...Antonio Sempere/Associated Press

Spanish soldiers, many of whom had been mobilized on Thursday to deal with the crisis, stood on nearby tanks. They watched the migrants drink water from beach showers, each shaped like vertical surfboards and branded with the slogan, “Ceuta, where you feel the emotions.”

Nearby, young teens laughed under the whirl of patrol helicopters as they tried out the exercise equipment at a beach playground. Mr. Ahmidho wore a pink bathing suit and stood bare-chested, his black T-shirt slung over his shoulder. The soles of his feet were cut, he said, from clambering over rocks near the border.

His voyage had been a disappointment, he said. Like so many, he had come to find work, only to find soldiers and policemen harrying him to leave. “There’s no water, there’s no food, there’s no place to sleep,” he said. “There’s nothing.”

As the migrants took over the streets, residents mostly stayed hidden in their homes, keeping their shops and businesses closed.

Emerging briefly, Francisco Pérez, 68, rushed his grandchildren into car seats as the migrants walked around him. He said his granddaughter had asked why they couldn’t go to the beach, and why there were “so many Moroccans.” The locals, he said, were “scared” and furious with the Spanish government, which, he said, had abandoned them.

Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, tried to avert such reactions by rushing to Ceuta on Friday morning to show his support for its citizens and also to condemn the influx as a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”ImageA Spanish soldier in Ceuta on Friday. Spain mobilized more troops to deal with the migrant surge.Credit...Jon Nazca/Reuters

For Mr. Sánchez’s right-wing critics — both at home, around Europe and throughout the world, including at the White House — the surge of migrants was an indictment of his pro-immigration policies. His government allowed more than one million migrants illegally living in Spain to apply for legal residency this year — a move that his opponents said had helped to entice the migrants this week.

To opponents of immigration, the footage of migrants sweeping into the tiny Spanish territory amounted to Exhibit A for their case. Ceuta, all of a sudden, became an international emblem for the perils of unchecked illegal immigration.

In response, Mr. Sánchez blamed human traffickers for misleading the migrants about how easy it would be to claim asylum in Spain — and noted that, despite his migrant-friendly policies, Spain has attracted fewer illegal migrants in recent years than in some European neighbors.

It is still unclear why so many people came to Ceuta. Many of the Moroccans who wandered around Ceuta on Friday wondered if the doors hadn’t opened because of some unknown plan by Morocco, which has been accused of using immigrant flows in the past for political pressure.

“I don’t know why they let us through,” said Ajoub el-Arrot, 24, who said he heard about the open border on social media. “Maybe they had some political reason. They opened the border and let everyone go by.”

He added, “When there are political problems, Morocco opens the doors and tells us to go.”

Douae Tabit, 19, who also said she heard about the unchecked crossing on social media, said it went “viral” and passed by word of mouth, attracting people from all around Morocco. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, she said she worked as a nurse and photographer and spontaneously decided to take advantage of the opportunity.Image

New York Times, Spain Installs Floating Barrier in Ceuta After Influx of Migrants, Carlos Barragán, Aug. 1, 2026. Most of those who surged into the territory, a Spanish exclave in Africa, have returned across the border to Morocco. At least 67 people died trying to enter, the authorities said.

The Spanish authorities said on Saturday that they were installing a floating barrier near a sea wall between Morocco and the autonomous city of Ceuta, after a surge of tens of thousands of migrants into the territory two days ago raised questions about Spain’s ability to control its borders.

The announcement, from Spain’s Interior Ministry, came as a vast majority of those migrants — most of them young Moroccan men seeking work — appeared to have left the city, a Spanish exclave in North Africa. For those who have stayed, and who have tried to evade the police and angry crowds of locals, the next steps remained unclear.

At least 48,300 of the roughly 50,000 to 60,000 people who entered from Morocco had returned there by late Friday afternoon, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry, while hundreds more continued to leave throughout the night. A spokesperson for Spain’s government in Ceuta said at least 67 people died trying to enter the city in recent days.

In Ceuta on Friday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain announced that the country would install buoys to “create a containment barrier, a physical barrier, if only a visual one,” to strengthen the border.

The buoys will also comply with a recent ruling from Spain’s Supreme Court that prompted the influx of migrants this week, Mr. Sánchez said.

Mr. Sánchez blamed human traffickers for spreading misinterpretations about the ruling, which said that migrants intercepted at sea could not be immediately sent back unless they had bypassed a barrier while trying to reach Spanish territory.

Note: Satellite image from March 30, 2026. Sources: Spanish government; Reuters (photo); Airbus (satellite image). Samuel Granados / The New York Times

The new structure is a 500-meter-long inflatable barrier extending as much as one meter below the surface, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It will be reinforced by an outer line of anchored buoys provided by the Spanish Navy, the ministry said.

Mr. Sánchez’s critics on the right, who have seized on the crisis to portray him as incapable of controlling the border, have called the measure inadequate.

“You don’t secure a border by putting buoys in the sea,” Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the conservative Popular Party, the main opposition group, said on Friday.

Although most of the migrants who arrived this week left Ceuta shortly after entering, questions remained about the fate of those still in the city.

On Friday evening, Spanish police officers, with their truncheons drawn, urged migrants to return. While most complied, others, especially the youngest, tried to evade the police. Some young Spaniards, angry over the authorities’ handling of the crisis, decided to take matters into their own hands and formed groups to intimidate the migrants.

On Friday night, a group of at least 50 young Spanish men swarmed into Plaza de los Reyes, in the city center, shouting, “To Morocco!” at several migrants resting there. A couple of the migrants fled, and the men chased them, nearly setting off a fight.

Some of the men intimidating the migrants wore face coverings, and the group clapped each time it managed to force a migrant to move. As the men marched down the street, they shouted, “Long live Spain!”

New York Times, Russian Missiles Kill 9 in Kyiv After Trump Backs Off Air-Defense Pledge, Constant Méheut, Aug. 1, 2026. Ukraine’s supply of Patriot missile interceptors is dwindling, and on Friday, President Trump backed away from his promise to let Ukraine make them itself.

Residents of Ukraine’s capital stepped out into smoke-filled streets on Saturday morning after a barrage of Russian ballistic missiles killed at least nine people — only to learn that President Trump had backed away overnight from a promise to let Ukraine produce Patriot air-defense systems designed to stop such missiles.

Mr. Trump’s reversal was likely to come as a bitter disappointment in Ukraine, where officials have warned for months that dwindling stocks of Western-supplied Patriot interceptors are leaving the country increasingly vulnerable to Russia’s intensifying missile campaign.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that only one of the 27 ballistic missiles that Russia fired overnight at the capital, Kyiv, and other cities had been shot down “because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems.”

“And it is this shortage of ballistic missile interceptors that only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media. His post included a video of the attack’s aftermath, which showed firefighters dousing burning buildings and rescuers carrying away a body in a black bag.

Mr. Trump’s backtracking on his decision to let Ukraine manufacture U.S.-designed Patriots under license will make little difference for Kyiv in the short term. Experts had cautioned that it would take quite some time for Ukraine to start actually manufacturing the complex Patriot interceptors.

Still, Mr. Trump’s authorization had been welcomed as an opportunity to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses over the long term, and as a sign of a warming relationship with Washington.

For some Ukrainian officials, Mr. Trump’s comment to reporters on Friday that he had “not agreed” to license Patriot production served as another reminder of the American leader’s mercurial approach to the war in Ukraine.

“It’s a pattern in his political behavior,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. “I call it one step forward and two steps back.”

Mr. Merezhko, a member of Mr. Zelensky’s party, said that when Mr. Trump first said he would let Ukraine make Patriots, he had thought to himself, “It’s too good to be true.”

“Unfortunately, I was proved right,” he said.

Mr. Trump could reverse himself again. On Thursday, speaking to The Financial Times, he had taken a more nuanced position, saying he was “not sure” whether he would grant Ukraine the license to produce Patriots.ImageA U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missile was launched during a live-fire exercise in 2024 in Taiwan in 2024.Credit...Sam Yeh/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Just days earlier, at the White House, Mr. Trump had met with Mr. Zelensky, who said the two leaders had “discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production.” On the same day, Tuesday, Mr. Zelensky met with executives from Lockheed Martin, one of the American manufacturers of the Patriot system, leaving the impression that a formal licensing agreement was close at hand.

“We spoke about our joint capabilities related to Patriots and other systems,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media after that meeting. “Our teams are already working on specific solutions to move to co-production as quickly as possible and increase our capabilities to protect lives.”

Mr. Zelensky had not commented on Mr. Trump’s latest stance as of midday Saturday.

Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday that he decided against the licensing agreement because he did not want to give away a powerful technology that could one day be used against the United States. Currently, Germany and Japan are the only countries besides the United States that have permission to produce Patriots.

Mr. Merezhko said he saw the reversal differently. “Trump is doing everything not to antagonize Putin,” he said. “That’s the problem.”

Mr. Merezhko said that because of Mr. Trump’s conciliatory approach toward President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Ukraine needs to be less reliant on American weapons for its own defense. That view has gained traction in government circles in Kyiv in recent months.

Ukraine has been trying to diversify its supplies of air-defense weapons, most recently partnering with a group of European allies to build a new antiballistic missile defense system. The project is led by the Ukrainian defense firm Fire Point, which is testing a new interceptor, although experts are skeptical about its abilities against Russian ballistic missiles.

In addition, Mr. Zelensky said last month that Ukraine would receive new versions of a French-Italian air-defense system called SAMP/T, which is expected be deployed against ballistic missiles.

In the meantime, however, Ukraine will remain dependent on American-made Patriots, which are in short supply worldwide as war in the Middle East and conflicts elsewhere drive up demand.

On Kyiv’s streets, the consequences of Ukraine’s shortage of air-defense systems were unmistakable on Saturday. An acrid smell of smoke hung over the city center, the result of fires that ha

U.S. Elections, Politics, Governance

Dr. Anthony Fauci, shown in a file photo at the White House as a leading authority on infectious diseases during the first Trump Administration.

MS NOW, Opinion: Fauci faced a grilling because he preserved his records. The Trump administration doesn’t, Lauren Harper, Aug. 1, 2026. The Trump administration is actively shredding its own paper trail, preventing future accountability.‘

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions during this week’s hearing on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic dominated headlines. But an underappreciated irony of the controversial hearing is that we are only capable of debating Fauci’s accounting for his pandemic performance because he preserved his records in the first place.

This same level of public scrutiny is rapidly becoming impossible across the rest of the federal government. Rather than engaging in genuine transparency, the Trump administration is selectively releasing records that align with its political priorities while actively shredding its own paper trail.

This week’s hearing focused on over a thousand pages of diary entries written by Fauci between 2019 and 2022 — which Fauci argued were personal — that were obtained by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and published online days before the hearing.

While the administration publishes Fauci’s unredacted diaries, it is simultaneously proposing a government-wide nondisclosure agreement to muzzle federal workers from sharing the very kinds of information Paul released.

Fauci condemned the release as an invasion of his privacy, and while it’s true that the government should never release information without proper vetting, the preservation of Fauci’s records on government servers complicates claims that the records were purely personal. It’s also worth noting that some entries were already memorialized in Fauci’s 2024 memoir, or reiterated in media interviews, making them fair game for disclosure and demonstrating genuine public interest in the records.

A far better way to balance privacy rights and public interest in the records would have been through the Freedom of Information Act, where career professionals could redact sensitive personal details while disclosing matters of legitimate public concern.

But while Kennedy was able to marshal agency resources for eight months to search for Fauci’s notes, he has refused to invest in transparency in almost any other area. Instead, he eviscerated the FOIA offices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, contributing to the department’s abysmal FOIA performance, with more delays and withholdings than in previous years.

HHS isn’t alone in failing on FOIA. As a recent New York Times investigation underscored, federal agencies across the board are getting worse at releasing records to the public.

This degradation isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s occurring alongside a government-wide assault on record preservation and accountability. Joe slams GOP for ‘clown show’ Fauci hearingJuly 30, 2026 / 05:52

President Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials routinely flout federal record-keeping laws by utilizing disappearing messaging apps, with recent revelations exposing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among officials who continue to use Signal’s auto-delete function — even after the Signalgate fiasco, when Trump administration officials discussed war planes using a private app and apparently unwittingly invited Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg into the chat.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency operated almost entirely without a paper trail, and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Congress the White House has no plans to publish an after-action report on what the short-lived government agency actually did.

New York Times, She Voted for a Justice Who Overturned Roe. Now it Haunts Her on the Trail, Lisa Lerer and Beth Reinhard, Aug. 1, 2026. Senator Susan Collins, who supports abortion rights, endorsed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court. It has emerged as a major issue in her campaign for re-election.

Of the more than 10,000 votes cast by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, there is one that has shadowed her like no other as she runs for a sixth term.

On Oct. 6, 2018, Ms. Collins, right, one of only two Senate Republicans who support abortion rights, cast a deciding vote to confirm Brett M. Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Four years later, Justice Kavanaugh voted with the conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion for nearly half a century.

The vote cut against her well-cultivated reputation as a moderate Republican who is unafraid to break ranks. It also put her at odds with abortion rights activists, who had previously backed her campaigns, and with advocates for victims of sexual violence, who rallied behind a woman who accused Mr. Kavanaugh of sexual assault, an allegation he denied.

Now, Ms. Collins’s support for Justice Kavanaugh has become a major issue in her first re-election campaign since Roe was overturned, a race that could swing control of the Senate. The 2018 vote has emerged as a character test of Ms. Collins for Maine voters: Some consider her a principled lawmaker taking tough votes, while others see a calculating politician determined to keep her job.

Publicly, Ms. Collins appears unbowed. “I do not regret that vote,” she told reporters in Portland in June. She went even further after an event at a fire station in Randolph, Maine, this month.

“I would vote for him again, yes,” she said, according to audio acquired by an operative for American Bridge, a major Democratic super PAC.

But people who interacted with her during the Kavanaugh hearings say Ms. Collins still harbors frustrations about the continued backlash after a confirmation process she described in 2018 as “more like a caricature of a gutter-level political campaign.”

Even as she was accused of capitulating to the demands of her party and President Trump, Ms. Collins believed she took the more politically difficult vote while representing a Democratic-leaning state, she told a confidant at the time. And in the years since, she has appeared to hold grudges against people who criticized her vote.

“She takes all of it very personally,” said Dana Singiser, a former Planned Parenthood vice president, who raised concerns about Judge Kavanaugh with Ms. Collins during his confirmation process. “For us, it’s not really personal, it’s just about our mission. That was an abortion-defining vote.”This account is based on interviews with more than two dozen former aides, Senate colleagues, activists and others involved in the confirmation process. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Ms. Collins declined an interview request from The New York Times. Blake Kernen, a spokeswoman for Ms. Collins, dismissed criticism of the senator’s vote as driven by “hyperpartisan voices.”

“Senator Collins fully and honestly explained her decision in the days before and the years that followed Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination,” she said.

Ms. Kernen also drew a contrast between the senator, who she said “has always been pro-choice,” and her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, who opposed abortion as a state lawmaker until about a decade ago. He later helped enact a Maine law that allows abortion at any stage of pregnancy, as long as a doctor deems it necessary — one of the most permissive in the country.

New York Times, Why Mitch McConnell Isn’t Giving Up His Senate Seat, Carl Hulse, Aug. 1, 2026 (print ed.). Democrats are demanding that the Kentucky Republican resign. Others who were sidelined for far longer faced no such calls, but times are changing.

Mitch McConnell, shown above in a file photo from earlier in his career, is just the latest member of the Senate to be absent for an extended period of time because of poor health.

But a charged political environment and a social media storm have intensified demands for more transparency regarding the 84-year-old’s condition, and for Mr. McConnell, whose term ends in January, to step aside if he cannot participate in the Senate for the remainder of his tenure.

“As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign,” Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, a Democrat, wrote to Mr. McConnell on Monday as the senator passed his sixth week in a hospital after a fall at his home on Capitol Hill.

Few who know him believe Mr. McConnell is going anywhere. Here’s why.Illness has sidelined many senators for long periods.

Over the decades, many senators have missed months and even years of Senate business, with some recent prominent figures such as John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, going months without voting before they both died in office, of brain cancer, at the end of storied careers.

Mr. McConnell, the Senate Republican leader for nearly 18 years, had a prolonged absence himself after a serious fall in 2023 that sidelined him for five weeks. He ultimately announced that he would not try to return as leader in 2026, followed by his decision that he would not seek re-election to an eighth term this year. He also passed on his right to chair the Appropriations Committee, a demanding job, and instead took over a subcommittee. His Senate tenure is set to end at noon on Jan. 3, 2027.

Stories of senators refusing to leave despite debilitating medical conditions are legion. Senator Karl Mundt of South Dakota was absent from the Senate for the final three years of his term after suffering a stroke in 1969, and refused calls that he resign.

Many others have been allowed substantial time to recover and return to the Senate. They include Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, who was away for almost a full year after suffering a stroke in 2012. In another case, Democrat Tim Johnson of South Dakota was out for nine months after experiencing bleeding in the brain in December 2006. Both men were warmly welcomed back by their colleagues.McConnell wants to leave on his own terms.

Members of the Senate are often advanced in years, since the office is usually the capstone of a political career; more than a third of current senators are 70 or older. The institution also runs on seniority, providing an incentive for members to remain as long as they can as they amass power and senatorial privilege.

At the same time, senators have historically been reluctant to share details of their health issues for fear of weakening themselves politically. And it has only been fairly recently, as voters have grown more critical of how aging lawmakers dominate Congress, that senators have faced public scrutiny about their fitness to serve.

Given Mr. McConnell’s stature and the fact that he is leaving office at the end of the year, calls for his resignation have not gone over well with his colleagues.

“Mitch was the longest serving leader in Senate history,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. “Couldn’t we extend some grace to him? He is a survivor of childhood polio, which has made his recovery slower. But he has always been a fighter, and will be back.”

She suggested that Governor Beshear’s motives for hammering Mr. McConnell about his illness were political.

“This rush led by the governor, who must be running for president, is so unseemly and so unkind to a senator who has been such a leader for so many years,” Ms. Collins said.

John Feehery, a longtime senior congressional aide and Republican strategist, said forcing a special election to replace Mr. McConnell for a matter of months would be a waste of time and money. A general election matchup is already set to choose a successor for his full term.

Under Kentucky law, if there is a Senate vacancy more than three months before Election Day, a special election must be held to fill the seat. Democrats have stepped up their pressure on Mr. McConnell ahead of the deadline, Aug. 3.

“Mitch McConnell deserves the right to serve out the term however he sees fit,” Mr. Feehery said. “He is certainly not the first senator to have health problems which require him to miss votes and he certainly won’t be the last.”McConnell is known for being tight-lipped, and stubborn.

Mr. McConnell is notoriously closemouthed when he deems it to be to his advantage. His absence and failure to provide detailed updates on his health outside of the written statements and photographs provided by his office have generated an outpouring of speculation about the severity of his condition on social media.

Senate colleagues, though, say they have spoken with him and received personal text messages.

In the most recent update from his office this week, the office of the Capitol physician said that doctors meet with Mr. McConnell daily but have not cleared him for a return to work or to his home.

His colleagues hope he can return to the Senate at some point, as they expect to commemorate his long and consequential Senate service before he leaves office.

New York Times, How Ukraine Is Making Inroads Into Once-Hostile Territory: MAGA, Anton Troianovski, Ken Bensinger and Constant Méheut, Aug. 1, 2026. Ukraine and its supporters have invested years in trying to undo the skepticism of the country’s war effort harbored by President Trump’s MAGA movement and the president himself.

Ukraine rolled out the red carpet for Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who frequently speaks to President Trump.

She sat down for about 40 minutes last week with President Volodymyr Zelensky, conducted the first interview with Ukraine’s new acting defense minister, dined with the country’s chief rabbi and got a tour of an animal shelter, given her affection for dogs.

“They view me as an extension of the Trump administration, even though I don’t work for the Trump administration,” Ms. Loomer said in an interview.

Speaking by phone from Kyiv, Ms. Loomer, who used to echo Russia’s false talking points about Ukraine being run by neo-Nazis, marveled at the “shock waves” her arrival and newly pro-Ukrainian message had set off.ImageMs. Loomer during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv on Sunday. Credit...Andrew Kravchenko/Associated Press

The stir around Ms. Loomer’s trip reflects the years of effort that Ukraine and its supporters have invested in trying to undo the skepticism of the country’s war effort harbored by Mr. Trump’s MAGA movement and the president himself. And it reveals how the right’s split over the Iran war may also be redrawing the political battle lines over Russia and Ukraine.

Pro-Ukraine groups have long highlighted churches destroyed in Russian airstrikes and the persecution of some Christians in Russia. They have organized trips to Ukraine for conservative activists, pastors and influencers. They once took out a billboard with a Bible verse across from Speaker Mike Johnson’s Louisiana church.

But they have struggled to make inroads with Mr. Trump, his closest aides and key right-wing voices. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s friend and special envoy, kept traveling to Russia for meetings with President Vladimir V. Putin but not to Ukraine. Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, kept praising Mr. Putin, saying he is “trying to re-Christianize Russia.” Mr. Trump kept saying he trusted the Russian leader

“Ultimately, the president is the only person who matters,” said Melinda Haring, a senior adviser at the pro-Ukrainian nonprofit Razom for Ukraine, where she directs outreach to the Trump administration.

While many MAGA figures have shown “personal support and sympathy” for Ukraine’s cause, Ms. Haring said, they “can’t do anything about it because Donald Trump hasn’t changed his mind.”ImageA destroyed church in Kostiantynivka earlier this year. Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

That is why Ms. Haring and other Ukraine supporters are now hoping that Ms. Loomer’s visit represents a turning point. Ms. Loomer said she called Mr. Trump twice from Ukraine. On social media, she said she “fell for Russian propaganda” when she once called Mr. Zelensky “a self hating Nazi Jew.”

There are some signs Mr. Trump may be giving more heed to Ukraine’s arguments as Russia’s invasion nears the four-and-a-half-year mark, but little to signal a decisive change in course.

The president said in early July that he would allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air-defense systems, then told The Financial Times this week he was “not sure” he would do it. He has maintained his sympathetic approach to Mr. Putin.

“I’d like him to end the war,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Zelensky after meeting with him at the White House this week. “I get along with President Putin. I get along with President Zelensky.”

Mr. Zelensky came to Washington for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. Some hope that Ms. Loomer can fill the void he leaves behind as a pro-Ukrainian voice in Mr. Trump’s ear.

Democracy, Freedom, History, Culture

Ken Burns, lecture in Maine, July 30, 2026 (Photo Credit Stephanie Berger).

Civil Discourse, Opinion: Saturday Night Reflections via Filmmaker Ken Burns, Joyce Vance, right, Aug. 1, 2026 I am taking time today with friends and family after a long week full of an overwhelming amount of news on the democracy front. I feel lucky to be in this with all of you.

Before I go, I’d like to leave you with an experience I had earlier this week. I went to hear the filmmaker and documentarian Ken Burns speak in Kennebunkport, Maine, with college friends. Burns said something that has stayed with me and that I have been thinking over in connection with my own work for the last few days.

Burns described most people as thinking about the additive value of the work they do, what they uniquely bring to their subject matter or their area of expertise. He described the challenge of documentary filmmaking as subtractive instead of additive, explaining that there is a lot that is known about historical events and a finite universe of documents, sources, and photographs to draw upon. He explained that his challenge is to figure out how to draw from that whole and present an accurate picture of history in the limited amount of time he has and with the resources available to him. No small challenge—and something that he delivers on immaculately.

I was struck by his insight because it felt like he was putting into words the job I feel like I’ve assigned to myself here. He was describing, with precision, what I hope I’m able to do for you.

In a world full of legal briefs, courtroom hearings, congressional proceedings, and commentary on all of the above, including from an abusive president, I try to read all of the primary sources, to filter them, to take them in, to think about what they mean. There is an endless rush of cases, laws, issues, government proceedings, and so on, far too much for us to all understand at a meaningful level, and I try to evaluate them, think about the through lines, think about the most serious situations to make you aware of. I try to assess the strengths and the weaknesses of arguments and to think about what their most important parts are. I try to put it all in the context of our democracy and how we sustain it. And then I try to bring that to you, often with very little time to write (and extraordinary gratefulness for your patience with the typos that I make in that process) so that you can have the benefit of my experience in government and at the Justice Department and can use my analysis to reach your own conclusions about the history that we are living through.

It is no easy job to understand history as you live through it and to know what the right thing to do is, but I’m incredibly grateful that I have the opportunity to do this work. I am guided, as I wrote in my book, by the lesson of the Civil Rights movement that the only way to survive a moment like this is for us to be together in community. We all face an incredible challenge. We can best face it together.

I understand how fortunate I am to have an assigned role to play. And I love and will carry in my heart Ken Burns’ characterization of it as subtractive—not in any negative sense, but in the most positive way possible. I take my obligation to bring you information, knowledge, and analysis you can use very seriously. I take my obligation to get things right very seriously. Being an old DOJ hand with decades of experience means you’ve been around long enough that you’ve seen just about everything that can happen, and you know when the norms and the laws are being busted. You know why it matters and you can only hope for the response I’ve found here—smart, engaged people trying to make a difference.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share all of this with you and for sharing your knowledge and your thoughts with me. We are all, I think, better off for this hands-on experience with democracy, however painful it may be at times. I so appreciate being part of this community of people who care about the future.

U.S. Media, Education, Entertainment, Culture

Alan Ritchson at TIFF 2025 via WikiMedia.

The Daily with Sarah Jones via PoliticusUSA, News and Comment: Alan Ritchson's Rage at Trump 'Raping the World' Shames The Media By Speaking Truth, Sarah Jones, right, July 31, 2026. This is what the media should be doing instead of gaslighting Americans. Reacher star PoliticusUSA,s anger is the only appropriate reaction to Trump "raping the world."

Reacher star Alan Ritchson, above, stirred up a lot of controversy during his appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, during which he (like me) accused Trump of “raping the world.”

The Daily speaks truth and never backs down. Please support us by becoming a subscriber.Subscribed

A lot of people are outraged by his political resentment and anger, but they’re missing the entire point. His anger is the only appropriate reaction to what Trump is doing to this country and to the world.Alan Ritchson on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Ritchson said what every single person in the media and with any platform should be saying right now, “Look at the politics that we deal with right now. Like, the White House is in ruins, a fucking UFC cage on the lawn. And like, you just do it, you just fucking do it and nobody says anything and no consequences. Nobody asked. It wasn’t done legally, there’s no plan in place. Now you’re asking for money to create—like, it’s like, what are we doing? And there’s no consequences.”

“So like, I’m just supposed to let go of my resentment that this fucking guy is just raping the world that he lives in for whatever gain he personally can have? And I’m supposed to let that go? And then what, it fucking still exists? So no, I’m not going to let it go. I fucking hate it. I hate that that shit still lives in the world unabated, unchecked, unresolved. I think we should hold on to some of that anger.”

He also brought up the Epstein files recently on a different podcast. You know, the files this president used our tax dollars to pay FBI agents to redact his name and still hasn’t released them fully, in violation of the law.InstagramView on Instagram

“Get loud and stop bowing down to people that have power. You got power too, man.”

Inject this into my veins, because it’s one of the few times someone has responded publicly in a manner befitting the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

What else would we expect from a convicted felon rapist but to continue raping the world the way he raped the Kennedy Center? He does whatever he wants and the media expresses outrage insofar as it’s helpful for ratings at the moment, but there are no really tough questions being asked of this man or of anyone in the party that supports. him. Instead, we are treated to the gaslighting of “politics as usual.”

Even after he started an unnecessary, stupid war and gas prices are surging along with grocery prices and healthcare costs, even as neighbors are kidnapped off the streets and people exercising their First Amendment rights are thrown in jail or shot and killed by supposed law enforcement. They still treat him and his enabler party as just clever politics.

This is not normal. This is not okay. This is sick. This is infuriating. This is disturbing. This is hard to hold.Deeper Dive into Media Capitulation:

In 2025, an investigation by Free Press into media capitulation by the 35 largest American media conglomerates found many were failing to defend democracy and a free press against authoritarian threats, noting: “This capitulation is not unique to owners of news outlets — like Paramount (which owns CBS), Disney (ABC) and Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN). Rather, it’s a pervasive trend that applies to nearly all commercial media, including cable and telecommunications firms and online platforms.”

It’s bad enough that the media has normalized Donald Trump by "sane-washing," framing his public appearances around entertainment value, conflict, and horse-race metrics rather than substantive analysis, relying on traditional objectivity norms, treating inflammatory and/or anti-democratic rhetoric as standard partisan disagreement rather than a distinct threat, and treating erratic behavior as standard political theater.

But they also treat his bullying, violent rhetoric, threats and anti-democratic actions as signs of strength, confidence, or savvy political strategy instead of what we all know it is: dangerously authoritarian pressure.

Donald Trump calling in to media interviews instead of appearing on screen was normalized by this media, even as they claimed then President Joe Biden’s exhaustion at a debate disqualified him.

They allowed speculation about Biden’s health, even going so far as to suggest he had neurological issues because he held a neurology clinic at the White House for active-duty military members and staff. (It turned out Biden had stage 4 cancer. They have issued zero apologies to my knowledge.)

Yet, few speculate about Donald Trump’s mental or physical health even as what our own eyes see every day tells us there is a huge problem. For reference, Dr. Bandy Lee was let go from Yale University for suggesting a diagnosis for Trump and his supporters of “shared psychosis” in his first term.

The standards are so different as to be a form of gaslighting in and of themselves.

But the way the media has normalized Trump is nothing compared to the way they’ve gotten down on their knees to him, settling bogus lawsuits to win favor and both-siding coverage to the point where even in the campaign, they rarely mentioned that Trump was both an adjudicated rapist and a convicted felon.

The media has also adjusted their coverage and corporate governance to appease Trump through editorial self-censorship and leadership alignment. So they’ve left it to a very small handful of celebrities like Alan Ritchson to speak real truth to power.

Alan Ritchson is not withholding vital information to sell a book later or basing his career advancement on playing controlled opposition to the Trump Show. He is speaking up because he feels compelled to do so, as all patriots should be doing.

See our News Reports section for earlier clips during this unusually heavy news period.

14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival Closes with Record Reach and Announces 2026 Pillar Award Winners

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 19:54:34 +0000

By Michael McCray (below right)

The 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival concluded as one of the most successful in its history, drawing record participation across five packed days of live programming in Washington, D.C., and ten days of virtual content reaching a national and global audience.

Held under the theme "America 250: Unity in the Community," this year's festival saw the community turn out in greater numbers than ever before.

Whereas past summits have typically centered on a single community, e.g., civil rights advocates, medical whistleblowers, USDA Forest Service women, or New York whistleblowers, among others, with attendance rising and falling over two- to three-year cycles, this year marked a notable departure. Each of the five days brought a full house and an entirely different audience, a testament to the summit's expanding reach and the growing coalition of communities it now serves.

"We have had an overwhelming response to the summit this year, including a wonderful reception and a festival community grew at the Morrison Clark Historic Inn & Restaurant (summit host hotel)," said Festival Director Marcel Reid, shown below. "Everyone came together to support the summit this year form guardianship advocates, to civil rights organizations like the NAACP, the Divine Nine and Indian Tribes."

Guardianship abuse, financial exploitation of the vulnerable elderly, and elder abuse took center stage this year, championed by the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse (NASGA) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Civil rights organizations were strongly represented as well, including members of the Divine Nine (D9) -- among them Alpha Phi Alpha -- alongside the NAACP.

Highlights

A highlight of the festival was the screening of the Hollywood and Netflix film "Bad Guardian," followed by an engrossing question-and-answer session featuring the filmmakers, elder advocates, and media experts. The summit's legislative campaign updates and congressional lobby day activities drew significant press attention, covered by an NBC affiliate and televised across half a dozen media markets.

Additionally, Nevada-based Indian Voices (newspaper and podcast) covered the Pillar Awards at the National Press Club. The Chickasaw and Cheyenne Tribes passed out beautiful hand-crafted tribal necklaces with whistles to support Pillar Award Winners, i.e., the Chickasaw Nation's Gift to Truth.

International interest reached new heights this year, with three times as many visa requests from filmmakers seeking to attend the summit live. Throughout the event, the festival website offered ten days of unique content, including live-streamed events, featured virtual film screenings, and archived panel presentations.

See Below For Award Winners

2026 Pillar Award Winners

The festival's Pillar Awards were presented at the National Press Club, honoring individuals whose courage, integrity, and commitment to truth exemplify the spirit of the whistleblower movement.

Shaw-Marven Award -- Courtney Williams. Courtney Williams is recognized for bringing forward allegations involving sexual harassment, abuse of power, and a culture of impunity within one of the military's most secretive communities.

Martha Mitchell Award -- Gerard Colby, right. An author, investigative journalist, former National Writers Union president, and university educator, Gerard Colby is a cofounder of the Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund. He authored "DuPont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain" and coauthored, with Charlotte Dennett, "Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil." A whistleblower who exposed book publishing secrets through litigation, he shared that story in "Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press."

Frank Wills Award -- Dr. Waymon Hinson. Dr. Waymon Hinson paid a profound price for standing with Black farmers. Guided by his Christian faith and an intolerance for injustice, he confronted institutions that resisted accountability. His scholarship, testimony, and the documentary I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice exposed racialized harm and the toll USDA discrimination took on families -- even as the work strained him personally. His courage, compassion, and integrity endured despite the burdens he carried to tell the truth.

Grace Lee Boggs Award -- Scott Smith. An independent testing expert and environmental advocate, Scott Smith has investigated more than 75 oil and chemical disasters worldwide. Known as "The Guy in the Blue Shirt," he uncovers hidden environmental hazards and empowers impacted communities with independent science. After the East Palestine train derailment, his testing revealed dangerous soil contamination the EPA had withheld. A named inventor on more than 25 patents and founder of the Blue Shirt Justice League, Smith is a 2024 Blueprint Impact Award recipient and a Government Accountability Project client.

Political Courage Award -- Rep. Al Green (D-TX). A veteran civil rights advocate and longtime member of Congress first elected in 2005, Rep. Al Green was born in New Orleans in 1947 and earned his J.D. from Texas Southern University. He previously served 26 years as a Harris County Justice of the Peace. In Congress, he has focused on fair housing, financial oversight, and justice for marginalized communities. Green also led the Houston NAACP for a decade, expanding its membership and civic impact. He is also a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi (Divine Nine).

Journalism Award -- Patsy Widakuswara. Patsy Widakuswara served as Voice of America White House Bureau Chief, covering multiple U.S. administrations and interviewing national leaders on key domestic and foreign policy matters. A veteran broadcast journalist with extensive international reporting experience, she made national headlines in 2021 when she was demoted after questioning senior agency officials about editorial independence -- a move that sparked widespread press freedom concerns. As a primary plaintiff, she has been a vocal advocate against executive interference with VOA's statutory firewall.

Journalism Award -- Kathryn "Kate" Neeper. Kathryn "Kate" Neeper served as USAGM Director of Strategy and Performance Assessment and Chief Strategy Officer. In her executive role, she oversaw operational metrics, agency strategy, and audience reach for VOA's global networks. Following management directives that placed core personnel on administrative leave and shuttered key operations, Neeper joined the lawsuit to defend the agency's statutory mandate and structural governance against unauthorized administrative dissolution.

2026 Film Award Winners

Best Feature Documentary Film: Bad Guardian -- directed by Claudia Myers; Best Documentary: Vindication to Victory -- directed by Matthew Brundige; Best Short: Bacha Bareesh, Shadows of Innocence -- directed by Najia Khaan; Best Screenplay: Covert -- written by Guilherme Augusto Oliveira; Impact Award: Healthy Smiles, Healthy Lives -- directed by Airic Hughes; Audience Choice: The Standard -- directed by Marvin Banks, Jr.

"We don't measure success like a traditional film festival because our goal is to impact art, culture and change laws to support the First Amendment, whistleblower protection, and civil and human rights," says Managing Director Michael McCray. "In effect, we are the only Legislative Film Festival in existence."

About the Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival

The Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival is an award-winning annual event held in Washington, D.C., presented by ACORN 8 in partnership with African American Women in Cinema (AAWIC), National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse (NASGA) and the Justice Integrity Project (JIP). The festival honors whistleblowers and the advocates, journalists, and filmmakers who tell their stories, and it hosts National Whistleblower Appreciation Day programming each year on Capitol Hill and at the National Press Club.

For further details, contact Summit and Festival Host Committee member Andrew Kreig.

Other Relevant, Recent Whistleblower News

Aug. 4

Vermont author Gerard Colby Wins Pillar Award At Whistleblowers Summit Ceremony At National Press Club, Charlotte Dennett, Aug. 4, 2026. Vermont author Gerard Colby of Burlington Vt received a Pillar Award at The 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival July 30 in Washington, DC in recognition of his decades- long struggle against book suppression by publishers secretly sabotaging their own authors on books that prove unexpectedly controversial.

Colby, shown at right, in accepting the award “on behalf of all America writers,” discussed his successful battle in federal court against publisher Prentice-Hall for sabotaging his book “DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain,” following pressure from DuPont Company and duPont family members.

In the course of investigating his lawsuit against Prentice-Hall and the DuPont Co., Colby discovered “privishing,” which means to privately publish a book “so it sinks without a trace.” He summarized that practice as follows: A publisher will go through the motions of meeting its contractual obligations to publish the book in exchange for exclusive rights from the author —while secretly, without the author’s knowledge, killing off the book by cutting its promotion, advertising, author’s tours and print run “so it cannot price profitably according to any conceivable formula.”

“Most authors have no idea when privishing happens,” Colby explained. He did not himself know about the practice, he said, until Viking editor revealed that was the practice was well known in the industry and agreed to testify in court. Colby, in accepting the award, provided the following account:

The trial record in U.S. District Court in New York City showed that Prentice-Hall leaked an unedited manuscript of the book to a duPont family-owned bookstore in Delaware ahead of publication, initiating Colby’s ordeal just before publication. Colby had requested interviews of duPont family members, all of which were denied. Once the book was announced as a Book of the Month Club [BOMC} selection, family patriarch Irénée duPont Jr, Vice President of DuPont Company, launched an investigation of the author and quickly left town, leaving the task of pressuring DuPont Company’s public relations department to kill the book.

DuPont Co. then contacted BOMC and urged the business-oriented Fortune Book Club to cancel the book, stating it was “scurrilous and actionable.” BOMC caved under pressure and canceled its selection within 24 hours, whereupon Prentice-Hall began to “privish” the book. Colby’s editor, Bram Cavin, was then fired by Prentice-Hall and subsequently replaced by Colby’s literary agent, Oscar Collier, who had become the literary agent for a book on DuPont family purportedly as a response to Colby’s book. Collier was subsequently expelled by the Society of Literary Agents for his betrayal of professional ethics.

Colby subsequently sued Prentice-Hall for breach of contract and DuPont Co. for inducing breach of contract. Presiding judge Charles Brient revealed in chambers after the trial that he would never hold DuPont, a “pillar of society,” liable for the suppression of the book, but in a landmark decision held Prentice Hall legally responsible for privishing the book. Prentice-Hall offered to settle the case for $26,000 if Colby would keep quiet about the terms of the settlement.

Colby refused and would later describe his entire ordeal as a lead author in “Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press,” later a winner of the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism.

Colby would later serve as President of the National Writers Union representing free-lance authors in the US. “I wanted writers to know their rights in an industry that is frankly the least organized and regulated in the country. Privishing is how most books are suppressed in the United States privately by publisher as opposed to government suppression in violation of the First Amendment.

For this reason, and because of his courage in standing up to the powers-that- be, he was awarded a Pillar [of Civil Society] at the 14th annual National Whistleblowers Annual Summit and Film Festival in the ceremony at the National Press Club.

Gerard Colby is an author, investigative journalist and former National Writers Union president and university-level educator with an MA in history. A cofounder of the Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund, he authored “DuPont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain” and was the lead author with Charlotte Dennett of “Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil.” A whistleblower, he exposed via litigation the book suppression practice of privishing, shared also via the anthology “Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press.”

July 25

Hamilton For Mayor Campaign, Summit Features Organizing Panel, July 25, 2026. DC Independent Mayoral Candidate Dr. Rhonda Hamilton Invited to Assemble and Moderate All-Star Grassroots Organizing Panel at the 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival on Capitol Hill.

The Hamilton for Mayor Campaign is proud to announce that Dr. Rhonda Hamilton, 2026 Independent Candidate for Mayor of the District of Columbia, has been invited to assemble and moderate an All-Star Grassroots Organizing Panel during the 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, one of the nation's premier forums dedicated to government accountability, ethics, civic engagement, and public integrity.

Dr. Hamilton leads a panel on July 28, 2026 beginning at 1 p.m. entitled, "Exploring the Colorless Boundaries of Community and Courage." Panels are:

• Nick DelleDonne / DC Safe Streets Coalition

• Rev. Anthony Motley / Freedom Fighters Coalition

• Dajo Henderson / President, Capitol Hill Towers Tenant Association

• Diane Perlman, Ph.D. / Founder & CEO, Conscious Politics

July 23

Whistleblower Summit, Author Gerard Colby To Be Honored Among Pillar Winners At 14th Annual DC Event, Andrew Kreig, July 23, 2026. From July 24-August 2, 2026, Capitol Hill and the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. will host The 14th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, the most comprehensive gathering of whistleblower advocates, documentary filmmakers, and investigative journalists in the country.

A highlight is the annual Pillar Awards ceremony, held at the National Press Club. Among winners is author Gerard Colby, right, who discusses his experiences as an author who suspected that his epic history, “DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain,” had been sabotaged by his publisher, Prentice Hall, due to pressure from the DuPont family. He explores a decade of litigation evidence summarized in a book anthology and now at the Summit.

Other award-winners will be announced in coming days, and will be available soon on the event website. Credentialed media are invited to register to attend the awards ceremony at the National Press Club beginning at 5:30 p.m. on July 30.

Colby is an author, investigative journalist and former National Writers Union president and university-level educator with an MA in history. A cofounder of the Henry Demarest Lloyd Investigative Fund, he was the lead author with Charlotte Dennett of “Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil.” A whistleblower, he exposed via litigation the book suppression practice of privishing, which was shared also via the anthology “Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press.”

July 12

New York Times, Whistle-Blowers Accuse Kennedy Center of Contracting Flaws Under Trump, Julia Jacobs and Zach Montague, July 12, 2026 (print ed.). Documents submitted to Congress detailed concerns about competitive bidding processes and a White House order to tear up new bathroom tile because of its color.

As the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts prepares for major renovations, former project managers there have sent Congress internal documents that they say show how the institution bypassed government contracting norms in work carried out under President Trump.

The documents — sent to a Senate and a House committee last month by lawyers for unidentified clients referred to as whistle-blowers — detail how vendors were selected for work without competitive bidding under rationales that are depicted as flawed.

In one case, a center official described a company chosen for flooring work as the “only identified firm on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard that maintains a fully vertically integrated model, vital for acoustic continuity, architectural uniformity, and operational agility.”

In a letter to the committees, lawyers for the former project managers say their clients question whether the business, located in South Carolina, was the only one available that was qualified to do the flooring work.

The letter says the center’s decision to skip bidding in another case was designed to help meet deadlines important to the president, such as the Kennedy Center Honors in December, which he hosted.

The Parnas Perspective, Morning News and Commentary: Important Epstein Update, Trump Targets Journalists, Iran Vows to Avenge Leader's Death as Trump Fears Possible Assassination, Aaron Parnas, right, July 11, 2026. Trump is reportedly furious over revelations that the Qatari Air Force One jet does not meet U.S. security standards.

Now, in what critics are calling a major assault on the First Amendment, his administration is subpoenaing journalists at their homes. At the same time, the administration is obstructing key Epstein investigations, Kash Patel has been summoned to the White House, and Trump is reportedly preparing for the possibility of his own death by ordering missiles locked and loaded at Iran as Tehran vows to avenge the Ayatollah’s death.

I also spoke today with Epstein survivor Lara Blume McGee ahead of Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing. For the first time, she shares her story on camera and says this Department of Justice has done nothing to protect survivors or deliver justice.

I told you I would never stop talking about the Epstein files, and I meant it. More interviews are coming.

Epstein News:

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez accused the Justice Department of obstructing the state's reopened criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's activities at Zorro Ranch by failing to provide requested unredacted federal records despite repeated requests since February. Torrez argues the withheld documents contain names of survivors, witnesses, and potential co-conspirators that are essential to pursuing state prosecutions, warning that delays are causing evidence to grow stale and investigative leads to disappear. While the Justice Department says it supports New Mexico's investigation and is prepared to assist, the dispute has complicated the state's renewed effort—which includes searches of the ranch, subpoenas, and a bipartisan truth commission—to fully investigate alleged crimes connected to Epstein's New Mexico property.

Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) urged acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fully comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, arguing the Justice Department has failed to release all required unredacted Epstein records and has overused redactions without sufficient explanations. Their letter, sent ahead of Blanche’s Senate confirmation hearing, cites a recent court order requiring additional document disclosures and criticizes the DOJ for missing deadlines while maintaining it has already complied with the law. The lawmakers contend that protecting victim privacy should not be used to broadly withhold records, saying full compliance is necessary to ensure transparency, accountability, and justice for survivors.

First Amendment Attack:

Overnight, while many were asleep, the Trump administration issued subpoenas to several New York Times reporters following the newspaper’s reporting on security concerns involving President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One. The subpoenas seek to compel the journalists to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan about an alleged violation of federal criminal law, though they provide few details. In some cases, federal agents delivered the subpoenas directly to reporters’ homes, an unusual step that the newspaper described as an escalation in the administration’s actions toward the press. The reporting in question cited anonymous sources discussing sensitive national security matters related to the aircraft.

Before one of the stories was published, an FBI official asked The New York Times to delay publication, citing national security concerns, and requested that the newspaper identify its confidential sources. The Times declined to reveal its sources and proceeded with publication. The newspaper strongly criticized the subpoenas, arguing they threaten press freedom and the public’s right to independent reporting. Statement from The New York Times: “Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

The subpoenas come amid broader tensions between the Trump administration and major news organizations. While both Democratic and Republican administrations have pursued leak investigations, subpoenas targeting journalists are relatively uncommon, and First Amendment advocates warn they may discourage investigative reporting. It also highlights other recent legal disputes involving The New York Times, including lawsuits over Pentagon access, an employment discrimination case that the newspaper says is retaliatory, and a separate defamation lawsuit brought by President Trump. Together, these events reflect an ongoing legal and political conflict between the administration and the news media.

Kash Patel:

According to MS Now, FBI Director Kash Patel abruptly canceled a planned trip to Chicago after being called to the White House, though administration officials disputed reports that he was summoned over internal frustration. According to the report, some White House officials were concerned about Patel's recent actions, including criticism over his use of FBI resources for travel, a combative social media post, and negative publicity surrounding trips tied to his girlfriend's performances.

Patel had planned to combine an official visit to the FBI's Chicago field office with attending his girlfriend's country music festival performance, prompting internal complaints that the work event was added to justify the travel. The White House said Patel's visit was for unrelated meetings, while the FBI declined to comment and defended his travel as compliant with federal rules. The report also says President Trump and some senior aides have grown frustrated with recurring controversies surrounding Patel because they believe they distract from the administration's broader agenda.

Patel responded to criticism over his reported use of government resources by posting on X, "Nah, my jet ski is gold plated… dumbass," after criticism that he should keep a lower profile amid growing scrutiny. Patel is facing questions from lawmakers about his travel, spending, and use of FBI resources, while the FBI has denied any wrongdoing and disputed the allegations. His social media response drew widespread criticism online, with many users arguing it reinforced concerns about his judgment and leadership rather than addressing the substance of the allegations.

July 11

New York Times, Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media, Michael M. Grynbaum, July 11, 2026. The Justice Department is seeking to compel testimony from reporters who wrote about the new Air Force One. The Times called the move a “brazen act.”

Emptywheel, Analysis and Opinion: Trump Confirms: Accepting a Flying Bribery Palace Made Him Less Safe, Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler, right), July 11, 2026. From the moment Trump posted a tweet claiming he was sending his Flying Bribery Palace back separately from the NATO summit in Ankara, the entire world knew there was a problem with the jet Qatar gifted him.

That Trump offered a transparently stupid excuse — he wanted to show it off to the military — was no real fix. His expressed worry about being targeted by Iran only further confirmed that the Flying Bribery Palace might not stand up to an Iranian attack.

[W]hen pressed by reporters in Ankara about the reason for the change, Mr. Trump also repeatedly noted that he was Iran’s No. 1 target, and referred at one point to having seen or been briefed on a list of Tehran’s targets in recent days.

By the time NYT provided details of the Flying Bribery Palace’s shortcomings on Thursday, based in part on the observations of a former Air Force official, the outline of what they were had become fairly clear: The Flying Bribery Palace could not protect against an Iranian missile attack.

[O]fficials who have been briefed on the retrofitting of the Qatari jet, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe its security features, said it did not have the same counter-defensive capabilities of the previous model.

[snip]

The older planes that served as Air Force One included a defensive system designed to defeat heat-seeking missiles. That capacity is also planned to be included in the new Boeing planes, according to three former Pentagon officials.

Different parts of the defensive systems are visible on the old Air Force One, under the wing of the plane and on its tail. They are not observable in photographs of the new Qatari plane, according to a third former Air Force official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the security protocols. [my emphasis]

That Thursday story made clear that such shortcomings that had been discussed all along.

But in a statement it made when it announced that the donated jet was ready to transport the president, it acknowledged that the temporary plane did not have all the equipment usually found on an Air Force One.

“No risk was taken in security, safety or mission communications,” the Air Force said in a statement on June 19. “But the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”

To sum up:

Trump calls attention to a change in his plans by telling a transparent lie about it.His own comments confirm a concern about his safety.NYT provides one line about counter-defensive capabilities in a story relying in part on public observation and public statements.

And then Trump sent subpoenas to the four NYT journalists who worked on the story, thereby confirming that the story was correct — that Trump’s Flying Bribery Palace had inadequate equipment to counter a missile attack.

The subpoenas don’t do anything to alleviate the risk to Trump’s security he made clear by announcing the plane change. Indeed, the confirm, for all the world, that Trump’s Flying Bribery Palace is an easy target.

At each level of the story, Trump confirmed the story.

I don’t mean to minimize the abuse of subpoenaing the reporters. This is another alarming attack on the free press (and may be an attempt to find Congressional sources who have long pointed out the weaknesses of the Flying Bribery Palace).

But Trump is the one who disclosed his plane was inadequate to the task. The reporters only responded to Trump’s repeated signals that his plane was inadequate by filling in dots that had been in plane (ha!) sight since Trump accepted the bribe.

This is just like the arrests of people — including Davey Hearn, whom Jeanine Pirro indicted last week — who put their hands in Trump’s reflecting swamp: An effort to distract from the consequences of his own corruption.

Trump is criminalizing calling out his corruption. He sure as hell is not keeping anyone safe.

Election Truth Expert Shares Findings On U.S. Fraud Claims

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 03:19:12 +0000

Nathan Taylor, a cybersecurity professional with the non-partisan, non-profit Election Truth Alliance (ETA), shared on the most recent edition of the District Insiders podcast his analysis of recent and forthcoming U.S. elections security issues.

District Insider hosts Andrew Kreig and Wayne Madsen, reporters who have covered election rigging scandals for more than a decade, explored with Taylor, left, what the public most needs to understand about recent allegations about illegal or suspected election manipulation in U.S. elections.

Taylor’s concern is that top state elections officials from across the United States often avoid reviewing evidence of suspicious vote tabulation results illustrating irregularities.

A further problem, he adds, is that private contractors often obtain contracts from officials due to questionable relationships and potential lobbying and bribes, and these companies often obscure their ownership and top management. which hinders oversight of who owns the systems that count the public’s votes.

Even so, the ETA has documented significant problems with election security. Taylor points to the ETA’s recent litigation in Pennsylvania as an illustration of procedural gaps identified in a key 2024 swing state.

With the stakes rarely higher than this year’s U.S. elections, Taylor invited support via ETA’s website to join ETA’s all-volunteer efforts that include research, events and other outreach to protect local communities and democracy.

Click and watch the Nathan Taylor interview on District Insiders via one of the top-rated podcast sites below:.

Apple Podcast, Podbean, Spotify and YouTube

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/district-insiders/id1679198072
Podbean: https://districtinsiders.podbean.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6kcuaiy3SHhYT4do9iz0vY
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@districtinsiders

About Nathan Taylor and the Election Truth Alliance:

Nathan Taylor, Executive Director of Public Engagement for the Election Truth Alliance (ETA), is a co-founder of the non-profit, non-partisan group. A cybersecurity professional, he previously worked as a U.S. Army Information Technology Specialist and an election-integrity researcher with a background in network security, systems analysis, and incident response.

The face of the Election Truth Alliance, Taylor presents its findings through videos, town halls, and community events with a goal of translating complex findings into actionable insights that inspire action.

ETA is a coalition of citizens, experts, and advocates united for election integrity and accountability and founded in December of 2024 when multiple individuals came together to share independent data, analysis, and research into the results of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. As concerning trends emerged from data, ETA moved quickly to present findings accessible and understandable to the broader public.

“In today’s landscape of pervasive disinformation, misinformation, and ‘weaponized unreality,’ its mission statement says, “we believe the truth still matters. Our membership includes volunteers from multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. We recognize that foreign and domestic election interference is a global challenge, and that we are all made weaker when our interconnected democracies are compromised. While our organization is currently focused on the 2024 US Presidential Election, in the longer-term we plan to broaden our scope. The Election Truth Alliance (https://electiontruthalliance.org/statements-and-press-releases/) is an exclusively volunteer led and operated organization led by a three-person board of directors. Among the case histories and ongoing research projects:

Florida Election Data Concerns

ETA is working with local voters and investigative journalists in Florida. used publicrecords, voter data, fieldwork, legal filings, and prior U.S. intelligence reporting.

Pennsylvania (2024) – Statistical Analysis and Lawsuit

ETA conducted statistical analysis comparing votes cast to registered voters usingestablished election forensics methods.

Key findings:• Irregular voting patterns identified across multiple Pennsylvania counties• The scale of these anomalies, if confirmed, could exceed the reportedpresidential margin of ~120,000 votes

Cambria County, Pennsylvania – Ballot Processing Issues

• Ballot scanners failed to read completed ballots across all precincts• Issue attributed to missing “Time in Security (TIS)” markings• Ballots were initially hand-counted, then duplicated onto new ballots for scanning• Officials expected 35,000 ballots but processed approximately 65,000• Official results show 55,661 Election Day votes• This leaves a gap of over 9,000 ballots between processed and reported totals

About District Insiders and Co-Hosts

“District Insiders” features experts on timely topics affecting “districts” globally that are in the news.

Co-Host Wayne Madsen is a journalist, newspaper columnist, and author of more than 25 books on intelligence matters, historical events, and the dangers of neo-fascism in threatening democracy in the United States and abroad. Based for many years in Washington, DC, he is a former U.S. Navy officer and NSA analyst. Madsen is also the third generation of Madsens who have opposed fascism in its varied forms. For more than two decades, he has published The WayneMadsenReport.com, an investigative news website now on Substack. His most recent books include “A Parade of New Sovereignties: A Post-Hegemonic World,” an encyclopedia-style 350 global hot spots and “Anti-Fascism: American As Apple Pie.”.

Co-Host Andrew Kreig is non-profit executive, reporter and attorney who edits and otherwise directs the Washington, DC-based Justice Integrity Project (Justice-Integrity.org) and comments on the news via broadcasts, books and lectures. His most recent book Is “The Complete Annotated Durham ‘Russiagate’ Report: A Corrupt, Cruel Fraud,” which documents Russian interference in U.S. elections and efforts of denial or diversion by politically motivated Justice Department prosecutors.

Contacts for “District Insiders” hosts for guests, interviews, lectures, questions:

• Andrew Kreig, Andrew [at] justice-integrity.org• Wayne Madsen, waynemadsendc [at] gmail.com

Contact the author Andrew Kreig

Related News Coverage

April 23

Civil Discourse, Legal Commentary: Voting rights. Southern resistance. National stakes, Joyce Vance, right, April 23, 2026. From the front lines at Fair Fight, we deliver sharp insights on the fight to protect democracy.

My friends at Fair Fight, the Georgia-based pro-voting and pro-democracy organization, reviewed the results of a ProPublica investigation into how Trump is systematically removing election protections, and produced this summary, that brings you up to date and also provides an important suggestion for what you can do.

We're all responsible for protection the right to vote. So this is important information to take in.Trump Has Eliminated Election Safeguards and Installed Loyalist Election Deniers in Key Roles“The election denial movement is now interwoven within the federal government.”Rights & Insights and Joyce VanceApr 15 READ IN APP

On Monday, ProPublica released a massive new investigation breaking down how Donald Trump has dismantled federal guardrails that stopped him from overturning his 2020 election loss.

The 4,700+ word investigation, based on interviews with about 30 current and former executive branch officials, provides an unprecedented and detailed account of how thoroughly critical election security guardrails have been gutted within the federal government ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.Key Findings from ProPublica’s Investigation:

ProPublica, Inside Trump’s Effort to “Take Over” the Midterm Elections, Doug Bock Clark and Jen Fifield, April 13, 2026. Safeguards Destroyed: In advance of this year’s midterm elections, President Donald Trump has systematically demolished federal guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 election.

Changing of Guard: At least 75 career staff are gone. Two dozen appointees, including many from the election denial movement, have been hired. Ten helped try to overturn the 2020 vote. Political Interference: Once-fringe actors now have access to vast powers, which they’ve already used to push forward unprecedented actions that critics say amount to partisan interference.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

In mid-December 2020, federal officials responsible for protecting American elections from fraud converged in a windowless, dim, fortified room at the Justice Department’s downtown Washington, D.C., headquarters.

They had been summoned by Attorney General William Barr.

Over the preceding weeks, Donald Trump’s claims that the presidential election had been stolen from him had reached a crescendo. He’d become obsessed with a conspiracy theory that voting machines in Antrim County, Michigan, had switched votes from him to Joe Biden.

With each day, Trump ratcheted up the pressure to unleash the might of the federal government to undo his defeat.

Barr interrogated experts from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, crammed in beside top FBI officials around a cheap table. He needed the group of around 10 to answer a crucial question: Was it really possible the 2020 presidential vote had been hacked?

ProPublica’s description of the previously unreported meeting comes from several people who were in the room or were briefed on the gathering. Everyone understood that the meeting represented an important moment for the nation, they said. Barr, who did not respond to requests for comment, had walked a delicate line with Trump, instructing the FBI to investigate allegations of election irregularities while declaring publicly there had been no evidence “to date” of widespread fraud.

The nonpartisan specialists from CISA, backed by their FBI counterparts, explained they’d unravelled what had happened in Antrim County. A clerk had made a mistake when updating ballot styles on machines, leading to a software problem that initially transferred votes from Republicans to Democrats, they said. There was no fraud, just human error — which would soon be publicly confirmed through a hand count of the county’s ballots.Animation by Matt Rota and Henrike Lendowski

Listening intently, Barr seemed to understand both the truth and that telling it to the president would almost certainly cost him his job.

At the end of the meeting, Barr turned to his top deputy, made hand motions as if he was tying on a bandana and said he was going to “kamikaze” into the White House.

What happened next is well known. When Barr met with Trump in the Oval Office on Dec. 14, the president launched into a monologue about how the events in Antrim County were “absolute proof” that the election had been stolen. Barr waited to get a word in edgewise before telling his boss what the experts from CISA had told him.

We read the entire piece (twice) to make sure you’re aware of the findings:

Career officials who protected elections are gone – election deniers have taken over. ProPublica found that at least 75 career officials across several agencies who played key roles in safeguarding the 2020 election have been fired, resigned, or reassigned. They have been replaced by roughly two dozen political appointees Trump has installed in positions that could affect elections. Many are election deniers, and ten actively worked to reverse Trump’s 2020 loss.

Federal programs designed to safeguard elections have been dismantled. Since Trump took office, nearly all federal election protection programs have been eliminated, severely defunded, or had nearly all their staff removed or reassigned:

CISA election team
NSC election security group
ODNI Foreign Malign Influence Center
DOJ Public Integrity Section
DOJ Civil Rights Division’s voting section
FBI Public Corruption Team
FBI Foreign Influence Task Force
FBI and DOJ Election Day command posts

False claims and politicization now drive federal election policy. ProPublica reports that White House election lawyer Kurt Olsen – sanctioned by judges for false 2020 claims – pressured the FBI’s Atlanta chief to seize Fulton County’s 2020 ballots using a discredited report. When the FBI chief examined the evidence and found it didn’t hold up, and was already dismissed by Georgia Republican officials, he was forced out. The raid happened anyway – using a version of the same rejected evidence. Former DOJ Public Integrity lawyers said they likely would have tried to block the investigation.

Trump is “flooding the zone” to distract us. Billionaires are trying to control what you see, buying up media and controlling algorithms.

April 15

Checks & Balances from the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, Political Opinion: There is No Role for the President in Our Elections, Trevor Potter, right, April 15, 2026. The Constitution makes itself clear.

A major effort of the second Trump administration has been a relentless attempt to expand executive branch power by applying a shockingly broad interpretation of the authority of the president under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. That provision establishes the president and the executive branch of government, whose role is to “execute” the laws passed by Congress.

Among the many examples of the Trump administration’s campaign to run roughshod over the rule of law and our government’s constitutional separation of powers are unconstitutional attempts by the president to control who can vote in our elections and how elections for federal office are administered.

To be clear, the Constitution does not give the president any role in this aspect of our democratic republic. The elections clause of the Constitution is, in fact, quite specific: “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.”

Despite this clear delegation of powers to the states and Congress, President Donald Trump has, almost from the start of his second term, attempted to make law from the White House governing our elections.

The president’s most recent executive order provides a clear example of an administration trying to will new election laws into existence, including new requirements for mail-in voting; creating a national database of “verified” eligible voters based on faulty information; and directing the U. S. Postal Service to send mail-in ballots only to certain individuals.

My organization, Campaign Legal Center, alongside Democracy Defenders Fund, has sued the Trump administration to block this illegal and unconstitutional order. The lawsuit echoes arguments in a complaint we filed last March challenging a different executive order, which, at its core, is an illegal attempt to prevent millions of Americans from registering to vote or have their ballots counted by adding unnecessary, burdensome hurdles.

Regardless of what any executive order calls for in terms of changing election rules, the key point is that the executive branch is not legally entitled to make new changes to voting and election administration rules. That is the job of the states and Congress. Federal judges hearing this case have said as much in numerous rulings putting the order’s provisions either temporarily or permanently on hold.

The Trump-appointed leadership at the U.S. Department of Justice has also gone to unprecedented lengths to insert the DOJ into the electoral process. The Justice Department is currently suing 29 states and Washington, D.C., to obtain unredacted voter registration lists, pressuring states to use error-prone processes for vetting those lists and backing a lawsuit — recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court — that could invalidate more than 30 state laws on deadlines for receiving absentee ballots.

To illustrate the proper role of the federal government in regulating our elections, consider the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).

The former was created by an act of Congress following the Watergate scandal, for the express purpose of enforcing federal campaign finance laws aimed at reducing the corrupting influence of money in our political system.

Congress created the EAC after the 2000 presidential election, when, in the wake of Florida’s controversial election process, it became clear that national standards for voting systems were necessary to ensure every vote is counted accurately, even if those standards are voluntary. The EAC also serves as a national clearinghouse for information on election administration, accredits voting machine testing laboratories, and certifies voting systems.

The FEC and EAC were expressly designed by Congress to be independent agencies, controlled by a group of commissioners evenly divided between the two major political parties. The law does not make the regulatory decisions of these commissions subject to presidential oversight. However, in yet another demonstration of this president’s failure to honor Congress’ legislative prerogative, President Trump signed an executive order in February of last year asserting that the president can overrule regulatory decisions by independent federal agencies.

The president has further overstepped the limits of executive power by asserting the right to fire the heads of independent federal agencies at will, an issue that the U.S. Supreme Court will be ruling on this year in a case called Trump v. Slaughter.

It should go without saying that the president (any president), who is surely invested in the political success of his party, should not have any substantive role in controlling agencies empowered to regulate our elections. In opposing the president’s firing of independent agency leaders, Campaign Legal Center and I made this same argument to the justices at the Supreme Court in our Slaughter amicus brief.

As records from the Constitutional Convention capture, avoiding the concentration of too much power in a single person in the new American government was high atop the list of priorities. Indeed, the branch invested with arguably the most substantial powers in our government — the power to tax, to establish tariffs, to declare war and the like — is Congress, based on the idea that large bodies of elected officials are best suited to make such decisions.

In a concurrence to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in February invalidating the president’s sweeping tariff policy, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “It can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design.”

That design was not invalidated by the inauguration of Donald Trump last January. A key aspect of the current battle to ensure the Framers’ vision persists beyond 2028 is opposing the president’s attempts to wrest control over the electoral process away from the states and Congress.

Trevor Potter is the president and founder of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy through law. A former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission, he also served as general counsel to John McCain’s 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns.

April 13

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

They had been summoned by Attorney General William Barr.

With each day, Trump ratcheted up the pressure to unleash the might of the federal government to undo his defeat.

Listening intently, Barr seemed to understand both the truth and that telling it to the president would almost certainly cost him his job.

At the end of the meeting, Barr turned to his top deputy, made hand motions as if he was tying on a bandana and said he was going to “kamikaze” into the White House.