Chump's continued war on the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian remains under attack from the Chump regime.  Jill Keppeler (UPI) reports:

Anthea Hartig, the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, spoke up for the museum's work Tuesday, saying it's governed by "standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence and nonpartisanship."

"The museum does not take sides in America's political debates," Hartig told lawmakers at a House subcommittee hearing. "We preserve and document the evidence of American life in all of its breadth, so that the public can encounter the past and draw their own conclusions."

Hartig's appearance at the hearing comes a few weeks after the White House attacked the museum in a report, claiming that it practiced "extreme political activism" in exhibits and language.

[. . .]

Also Tuesday, Democrats issued a rebuttal to the White House report on the museum, asserting that the Trump administration misreported basic facts and mischaracterized quotes from Hartig, as well as contradicted itself in the report.

"The Smithsonian was established as an independent institution precisely so no president could dictate how our nation's story is told," Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "Committee Democrats will continue defending that independence because no president gets to edit the American story."

The GOP is insane.  Even they can't believe the words they're saying.  Ben Davis (ARTNET) notes:

Tuesday’s hearing summoned Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, to Capitol Hill to be grilled about the findings by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Here’s the top-line takeaway: Hartig was serene, professional, and came off as only a little evasive even when faced with severe attack. She firmly denied Republican committee members any real gotcha moments.

In general, the Republicans seemed uninformed, taking their talking points directly from “Saving America’s Story” but barely showing knowledge of anything beyond it. The Democrats waffled between righteous urgency and a style of upbeat, professorial debate that failed to meet the moment. They also had their share of gaffes.

Testifying alongside Hartig were two Smithsonian critics: Mike Gonzalez, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and longtime Smithsonian foe, and Matthew Spalding, from the Christian liberal arts college Hillsdale College in Michigan. Opposite them, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and Yale history professor David Blight served as a “minority witness,” speaking for the Smithsonian.

As he is paid to do, Gonzalez played attack dog, calling for the entire Smithsonian leadership to be fired and counseling the deauthorization of the proposed Smithsonian Latino and Women’s museums. Spalding said nothing memorable and faded into the background after tepid opening remarks. (Someone right now is asking, “Why did we invite this guy?”)

Blight, however, emerged as a main character, defending the work of historians and curators, and placing the present debates into context. Democratic representatives came back to him over and over to get an authoritative soundbite.

Remember that these Republicans are the same ones who didn't criticize Chump for pardoning all the insurrectionists.  They don't know about history and they don't care about it.  They only know how to lie.  Over and over. 

At THE NEW YORK TIMES, Robin Pogrebin notes:

Historians have defended Ms. Hartig’s scholarship and sharply criticized Mr. Trump’s efforts to enforce his view of history. Mr. Blight at the hearing called the White House report “nothing less than a declaration of political war” that “breathed the rhetoric of Cold War triumphalism.”

“We do not write woke history, whatever that is,” he added of historians, “but we do try to awaken citizens.”

Ms. Hartig argued that the museum is not unpatriotic, citing the prominent display of artifacts such as the desk on which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, Horatio Greenough’s statue of Washington and Lincoln’s top hat.

“We honor the Declaration, the Revolution, the Constitution, our national symbols,” she said. “And we tell the truth about the times that the country fell short of its own founding ideals. Telling our story fully is a form of respect for the American people and a commitment to constantly being in pursuit of a more perfect union.”

Anastasia Tsioulcas (NPR's MORNING EDITION) adds:

Nearly in tandem with the hearing on Tuesday, House Democrats issued a 16-page rebuttal to the White House's report, which accuses the Trump administration of trying to undermine the trustworthiness of museums and museum scholars in general, and argues that it is part of a larger "effort to control and contort the historical record." Citing recent public opinion surveys, the Democrats write: "Museums regularly rank among the top three most trusted institutions in the country, trailing only friends and family. The White House asks the public to believe the institutions Americans trust most are the ones peddling radical ideology on the word of President Donald Trump."

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS): 

Wednesday, July 22, 2026.  Pete Hegseth goes begging to Congress for more money, Todd Blanche doesn't want to pay the court ordered fines, the Iran War continues with no end in sight, and much more. 

Senator Patty Murray:  143 days ago, President Trump started a war of his own choosing with Iran.  He did not consult Congress. He did not get authorization from Congress.  He did not build a coalition of allies.  He did not make a case to the American people. Nor did he ever win their support. Two-thirds of Americans oppose the war.  And the president's decision had catastrophic costs.  Seventeen American servicemembers have now died.  That includes three who tragically lost their lives over the last few days. And another is still missing.  Several hundred more have been injured -- including nearly 100 who have been hurt in just the last few weeks.  We owe all of them and their families a debt of gratitude we can never repay.  Thousands of civilians have also been killed.  The administration will not tell the public -- or Congress -- the true financial costs of the war but we know it is very well into the tens of billions of dollars.  Tax dollars we could've spent helping people afford health care-- or building new housing -- have now been lit on fire by a president who blundered us into a disastrous war.  And the costs to families' bank accounts are staggering.  Economic growth has slowed to a crawl. Inflation has shot up about 50% since this war began.  On average, gas cost just under three dollars on February 28. Today, it’s over four dollars and ticking back up with the Strait closed again. Americans have now paid more than $70 billion more on gas since the war began. That is $550 more per household.  Fertilizer costs skyrocketed in the middle of spring planting, crushing farmers operating on extremely thin margins, and costing families more on just about everything they buy at the grocery store.  The costs of this war have been astronomical. And what has it been for? What has actually been achieved?  We hear a different rationale for this war every few days. It was about preempting 'imminent threats,' which we now know did not exist. It was about regime change, then liberating the Iranian people. It was about destroying Iran's nuclear program and its navy. And at one point, it was about taking out its ballistic missiles until, that is, the president decided that actually ‘it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some.’ Trump has even suggested the war is about taking Iran's oil to "make a fortune."  And now, the United States' primary strategic objective seems to actually just be reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which, of course, was fully open -- toll-free --before the war began.

 

That's Senator Patty Murray speaking at yesterday afternoon's Senate Appropriations Committee that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Gen John D. Caine, Chair of the Joint-Chiefs, testified before as they sought more money for Chump's war of choice. 

 Chump started this war with lies, told the American people about it in a early morning broadcast -- of a pre-taped speech.  From the get-go, Chump and his cronies have repeatedly lied.  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand confronted Hegseth on the administration's inability to speak honestly and truthfully.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: Secretary Hegseth, the reason why people are so upset, the reason why they are so upset with you and this administration is because the words you have used in the past don't add up. About Iran specifically: you said that we had "obliterated," quote-unquote, Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons. The president made the same claim. Yet eight months later, in February of 2026, the president launched an active war, claiming Iran was within two weeks of having a weapon. So when you say two very different things, the American people don't know who to believe or what to believe. They just know they can't afford their healthcare, they can't afford their food, they can't afford housing, and our farmers are continuing to suffer. So, which is true? Was it obliterated, or wasn't it? What;s the status?

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: The nuclear sites under Midnight Hammer were obliterated. But the Iranians foolishly continued to attempt to pursue nuclear capabilities, which is why we destroyed their defense industrial base and so many of their other capabilities, to ensure they can't get to a nuclear weapon. So we're staying laser-focused on the objective, and you're trying to make campaign commercials. And that's fine.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: No we're not. So listen to this: You also say that you made the missile program, quote, "destroyed and made combat ineffective." Quote, "Iran's entire ballistic missile production capacity, every company that builds every component of those missiles, has been functionally defeated --  destroyed," and that the missile program's "existing stockpiles depleted and decimated, almost completely ineffective." So why are there missiles left to hit Jordan and result in the loss of life of our brave men and women?

Secretary Pete Hegseth: As we stated from the beginning, the Iranian defense industrial base is effectively gone. But they do have underground facilities, because they're the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and they've spent 47 years trying to hide their missiles under mountains, just like their nuclear capabilities, because they would like to get a nuclear weapon to wield it against us.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: We just don't know what version of the war to believe. Because it's either over or it's not over, it's within two weeks or it's not two weeks, we have no missiles or we have missiles. And that consternation is why so many New Yorkers are perplexed, stressed out, and find this war to be incredibly unpopular. Because they don't understand the choices that the president's making, they don't agree with those choices. 

Senator Patty Murray -- who is the co-chair of the Committee -- also noted the differences between what Hegsteh and Chump claim from one moment to the next. But let's instead focus on her noting the monies.  

Co-Chair Patty Murray: Secretary Hegseth, your department received $150 billion last year in the Republicans' "Big Beautiful Bill." And it also received a record $839 billion for fiscal year 2026 --  more money than you asked for last year. Combined, that is a $1 trillion budget for the year -- and as I already mentioned, your department has yet to spend half of the reconciliation funds.  Despite that, you are here today asking for tens of billions of dollars more for things that you've already asked for in your FY27 request or that have nothing to do with Iran.  This administration has tried to sell this as an emergency request, but it may be better understood as an attempt to skirt the normal appropriations process.  Here are just a few of the things requested in this "Iran" supplemental: $800 million for the National Guard to patrol DC even longer. Over $1 billion for the Army to patrol the southern border, which is DHS's job. $900 million to support the administration's illegal boat strikes in the Caribbean. Over $18 billion for munitions, which you have already requested in your FY27 budget request. And $1.7 billion to pay for your decision to recruit more people than the services need, which was not contemplated by the FY26 funding bill Congress recently passed. Now, you have already submitted a reprogramming request on this that our subcommittee is considering now, which really underscores the point I made in my opening remarks that the problem is not a lack of money, but poor planning.  So, I'll be blunt: the truth is your request does not make a lot of sense. So, let me ask you a simple question: Why exactly are billions of dollars more for the National Guard and this administration's illegal strikes in the Caribbean urgently needed for the Iran war?

Secretary Pete Hegseth:  Well, Senator, I wouldn't -- of course -- agree with your characterization, but why this kind of spending is needed is because of the gross negligence and neglect of the Biden administration inside our department. [Biden] ran it like a bureaucracy, abandoned our strength posture around the world, so we're having to reestablish deterrence.  You mentioned the end strength numbers, and I will acknowledge that we are ahead of schedule on end strength in recruiting, 8,000 in the Navy, 6,000 in the Army, 4,000 in the Air Force. Because under President Trump, there's been record and historic over 30-year recruiting records inside our department since he won the election. Because the American people didn't want to sign up for what Joe Biden was providing our military, and they want to sign up for what President Trump is doing in his leadership, and so those are good problems to have that we need to fund, and a reflection of momentum. And this budget will allow us to continue the kind of momentum that gets us ahead.

Co-Chair Patty Murray:  My point is that a lot of this request does not feel like an emergency.  

Senator Chris Murphy found that if you repeatedly asked the same question, you would finally get an answer from Hegseth.

Senator Chris Murphy: Thank you all for being here today, Secretary Hegseth. The American people either didn't want this war or were deeply skeptical of this war because they have seen this country make the same mistake over and over again in wars in the Middle East, and that is to create either unrealistic or open-ended objectives. You said in March that the United States was "on plan to defeat, destroy, and disable all of Iran's meaningful military capabilities at a pace that the world has never seen before." Obviously, as we've discussed here today, that objective has not been achieved and is not going to be achieved. Iran is adept, more adept than even at the start of the war, at hiding their capabilities or repairing after damage we have done. There's an open report that when it comes to their missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, 30 of 33 are still operational.

Secretary Pete Hegseth: I wouldn't believe all the open reports, Senator.

Senator Chris Murphy: But I've also heard you say in this hearing that the objectives now seem to be more limited than they were at the outset of the war. That this is about reopening the Strait and this is about dismantling nuclear capability. And the president, of course, has said himself that he thinks Iran has a right to a missile program.  So, my question is pretty simple: Is it correct that it is no longer a war objective to destroy all of their military capacities? This is what the president has said. Have our goals been simplified to reopening the Strait and to getting into a negotiation over a nuclear program. Now, I don't think you have a realistic plan to do either of those things, but I think it's important for us to know what we're funding. Are the objectives much more limited today than they were when you made that statement in March?

Secretary Pete Hegseth: So, I think the objectives have been consistent and clear from the beginning. And I would compare it to North Korea, where a conventional buildup was used to hide a nuclear capability that eventually evolved to a point where it couldn't be contested. And what Iran continued to do, even after Midnight Hammer, was try to build that conventional capability to dare anyone to stop them from pursuing nuclear weapons.  So, getting after their conventional capabilities, missile launchers, defense industrial base, their navy was all part of it. Ensuring they can't blackmail us into pursuing a nuclear capability, laser-focused on Iran will never have a nuclear capability – that's the promise the president has made, and that he will keep.

Senator Chris Murphy: Is it still a war objective, either through military action or through a diplomatic agreement to destroy and disable all of Iran's meaningful military capacities, including their missile program?

Secretary Pete Hegseth: As far as all: when we talked about that from the podium at the outset of this, we were talking about their defense industrial base. And if you look at the metrics of their ability to make more, that it's been overwhelmingly destroyed. Not everything, but overwhelmingly. Now, do they have missiles in underground bunkers because they're a terror state? Sure, they do, and we've acknowledged that from the beginning. But their capacity is less today than it's ever been…

Senator Chris Murphy: They obviously, they obviously have significant capacity to effectively disrupt the entirety of the Middle East and oil flows out of the Middle East, and that's not going to change. 

As Senator Tammy Baldwin noted to Hegseth: 

This supplemental request is another example of this Administration's backwards priorities. Instead of spending tens of billions of dollars more for the President's war in Iran, we should be meeting the needs of American families.  We could invest this money to accelerate new cures and treatments for cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Or we could use it to help more families with rising home energy costs. We could use this funding to help more families afford quality childcare. We could use this funding to help more kids get free school lunch. We could use this funding to restore healthcare for working families. We could use this funding to support our public schools and special education. This was a misguided war of choice, and every dollar spent on this war is a dollar not spent helping families afford housing, health care, childcare or groceries at home.

Hegseth sputtered and lied throughout the hearing about the war that no one ever needed.  AP notes:

The U.S. and Iran are back to bombing every day in a bid to control the Strait of Hormuz. And neither is backing down, showing the limitations of President Donald Trump’s reliance on escalating airstrikes to bend Tehran to his will. While the Trump administration says it is open to diplomacy, Iran so far has refused to loosen its grip over the crucial oil shipping corridor in the Persian Gulf. It is raising questions about the strategy for the conflict's next phase. The intensifying attacks have collapsed an interim ceasefire deal, killed more American troops and sent U.S. gasoline prices back up, posing more problems for Republicans hoping to get reelected.

Let's get something straight for Chump and for the media -- stop using "soldiers."  Chump posted "Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over."  The 18 dead include Cmdr Gabriel Edwards who was not a "soldier" but a sailor since he was in the Navy and the 18 dead include Maj John A. Klinner, Sgt Ashley B. Pruitt and Capt Ariana G. Savino who were not "soldiers"  but  airmen since they were in the Air Force. Marines are not soldiers, they are Marines.  Stop using the term "soldiers" for all members of the US military.  You can use "troops" and you can use "service members" but "soldiers" is not an all inclusive term. 

Megan Messerly and Alex Gangitano (POLITICO) observe:

The war in Iran has entered a bleak new phase.

After weeks of fragile peace and stalled negotiations, the weekend deaths of multiple U.S. service members — coupled with new reporting showing there may be more previously undisclosed injuries — have left White House allies afraid the president is rapidly running out of ways to extricate the U.S. from an unpopular, expensive conflict ahead of the midterms.

“This is what a quagmire looks like,” said one person close to the White House, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Noah Robertson, Riley Beggin and Jarrell Dillard (WASHINGTON POST) report:

The Pentagon faces an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the war in Iran, with some critical lines of funding set to run out within weeks even as President Donald Trump escalates the conflict with Tehran, according to lawmakers and current and former U.S. officials.

The funding crunch is already leading the Pentagon to limit training and maintenance that help maintain military readiness, according to four current and former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the budget constraints.

And the collapsed ceasefire with Iran could further strain the military’s budget: After four U.S. service members died during more than a week of intensified fighting, officials in Washington signaled they were preparing for a wider conflict.

The White House has asked Congress for an immediate infusion of $67 billion to help cover the costs of the war, but lawmakers are gridlocked over how to proceed. The House plans to leave Washington on Thursday for a month-long recess, leaving any deal on military funding weeks away at the earliest.

[. . .]

When Hegseth testified before the House panel on defense spending in April, committee leaders urged him to provide information on the war’s costs as soon as possible. The Pentagon later missed the panel’s deadline and has since failed to share requested details for weeks, including the number of precision weapons the military has in its inventories after burning through thousands of munitions in Iran, according to lawmakers and congressional aides.

“We need to know what we’re purchasing and why we’re purchasing it,” Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the panel, said in an interview.

Hegseth has at times dismissed concerns about munitions shortages, telling CBS News in an interview last month that U.S. stockpiles were “great, and they’re only getting stronger.”

In private, Pentagon officials have expressed far greater anxiety, according to current and former officials, arguing that the military desperately needs more money to restock munitions needed to deter U.S. adversaries like Russia and China.

Returning to loose lips Hegseth, Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports MORNING JOE's Jonathan Lemire stated on air Tuesday:

During a segment on reports that there are more military casualties in the war than have been publicly announced by the Pentagon, Lemire said all the bad news out of Iran is weighing on the president — and there is no way he will take the blame.

“Secretary Hegseth, you know, he still, I am told, is liked by the president,“ Lemire told co-host Joe Scarborough before adding, “He does not have that many fans in the administration otherwise, that's been the case from the very beginning, from even the transition when he wasn't very truthful with the vetting teams about some of the issues in his past.

“But at least, right now, Trump is still on board. But I am told that if this continues to bog down, whether it's a low-level conflict or a high-intensity resumption of war for months, Trump will eventually look for a fall guy, and it's hard to imagine it being anyone other than Pete Hegseth.”

 If that does happen, don't look for Hegseth to go on to become a leading name in the fitness industry.  Sarah Rumpf (MEDIAITE) notes:

It sounds plausible to say that America has seen Pete Hegseth in a T-shirt and shorts more than any prior Secretary of Defense, but his technique in those workout videos he loves posting would get a flunking grade, according to several military fitness experts interviewed by The Atlantic.

The Secretary of Defense has made physical fitness and appearance a core part of his focus since making the transition from a Fox & Friends Weekend host to leading the world’s powerful military. He’s scolded older officers for getting “fat,” barred troops with facial hair from events, and posted numerous videos of himself working out with members of the military.

One recent video Hegseth posted showed him and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoting what they called “The Pete and Bobby Challenge,” which consists of trying to do at least 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in under ten minutes.

Video clips of Hegseth and Kennedy went viral, with many commentators mocking Kennedy’s habit of working out in jeans and dissing the whole thing as cringy and awkward.

Hegseth’s form is so bad, multiple military fitness experts said he “fails on form” the service’s tests based on his videos, according to a report by The Atlantic’s Tom Bartlett headlined “Pete Hegseth, You Call That a Pull-Up?”

Bartlett noted that Hegseth and the agency he oversees are the ones recording, editing, posting, and heavily promoting these videos (which he mockingly refers to as “Boot Camp Pete” episodes), and he’s the one who declared strict and harsh judgment was the way to go on military fitness issues.

With each one of these videos, Bartlett wrote, “critics skewer his form and mock his endurance,” dissing him as “all flex and no fundamentals.”

Cameron Adams (THE DAILY BEAST) adds: 

The publication also got feedback on the Pete & Bobby Challenge from Maureen LeBoeuf, a retired brigadier general.

The first and only woman to head the physical education department at West Point said nothing Hegseth did in the video would have counted had she been grading him.

“His pull-ups or chin-ups and the kicking that he does—you would never allow that. You’d stop somebody; you’d say, ‘OK, you’re done,’” she said. “He just keeps kicking, and it’s not a good look.”

Factoring in possible exhaustion, LeBoeuf pointed out the irony of fatigue and cutting corners from someone who is “real big on standards.”

Citing a Marine guide that calls out “poor quality work” that can lead to injury, Bartlett says “Hegseth’s work is, by Marine standards, poor.”

ICE.  FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE reports:

Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, a 28-year-old Mexican national from San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato, who died during an immigration enforcement operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in St. Augustine, Florida, on July 14, 2026, had a valid tourist visa. A close associate of the family revealed that he had entered the country three weeks ago for a vacation.

The incident occurred when ICE agents encountered Coronilla Durán and three other men during an operation at a gas station near State Road 16 in St. Augustine, Florida. Durán attempted to flee on foot and tried to cross State Road 16, where he was struck by an eastbound tractor-trailer. He later died of his injuries at the scene.

Isaret Jeffers, who is part of an organization supporting Durán’s wife, said he had proper documentation to be in the U.S. Durán had allegedly entered the United States three weeks ago for vacation and had been in Florida for two days. “He was going to return this past Saturday. He had already bought a flight ticket,” Jeffers said in a conversation with the Tampa Bay Times. “Now, unfortunately, if he is returning, his return is different.”

“People are too afraid to go out and do things that used to be normal, like going to the supermarket, taking their kids to the park,” Jeffers said in a statement, referring to the increasing amount of immigrant deaths under the Trump administration. “None of that is happening anymore.”

But ICE continues to waive their guns around.  Even at teenagers.  Dina Arévalo (MY SA) reports:

Days after ICE agents fatally shot two motorists in Houston and Biddeford, Maine, another encounter involving federal immigration agents has left residents in a South Texas town shaken.

On Tuesday, July 14, Samantha Alarcón took to Facebook to share her experience during an ICE operation in Laguna Vista, which is about 10 miles from South Padre Island. Her post quickly gained traction, drawing more than 3,000 shares and 2,000 comments, as she described federal agents wearing face coverings apprehending a young man on a residential street. Agents later released the 18-year-old after determining he was a U.S. citizen.

Alarcón said she was nearly "run off the road" as multiple unmarked vehicles pursued an SUV across narrow, curbless residential streets where the speed limit is 20 mph. Alarcón was with her son when the unmarked vehicles drove past her "with no lights, no logos, and masked men inside." Alarcón told MySA she was forced to veer into the grass as the vehicles sped over speed humps.

In Alarcón's photos, body-worn cameras can be seen on both federal agents and local police officers.

The teen remained in the back seat after the driver and another passenger fled from a vehicle stopped in the driveway of a home. Alarcón alleged in the Facebook post that federal immigration agents entered a neighbor's yard, drew their weapons and pointed a gun at the teen.

Alarcón said she yelled for agents to let the teen go. She wrote in her post, "I screamed at the top of my lungs that he was just a high school kid." Ultimately, the agents did, allegedly asking Alarcón to give him a ride home.

"The drive home broke my heart. This poor young man was sitting in my truck crying in pure, unadulterated fear while talking to his mom on the phone," Alarcón said.

Meanwhile, Jordan Perkins (NEWS NATION) reports:

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer from El Paso, Texas, appeared in federal court after he was indicted and arrested for charges related to alleged false reporting of an excessive use of force.

Court documents reveal while CBP officer Jesus Espinosa, 52, was acting as a federal law enforcement officer in August 2021, he allegedly used excessive force to detain a person, including using a chokehold that led to the detainee being injured.

Democrats running for office have to face falsehoods from Republicans and from some Democrats as well.  Enter the Hogglette.  Ahmad Austin Jr. (MEDIAITE) reports on David Hogg:

Ex-DNC vice chair David Hogg torched the top campaign arm of the Democratic Party as being “evil” and picking “terrible candidates.”

Hogg reignited his feud with the Democratic establishment this past weekend at the College Democrats of America convention in Washington, D.C. During his remarks, be blasted party leadership for its choice of candidates and declared the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was inherently “evil.”

“We’re an organization — imagine if there was a non-evil version of the [DCCC] that existed,” Hogg said. “No offense. Like, we need their funding in general elections, but man, they really know how to pick terrible candidates sometimes. But it’s fine. They usually lose.”

The Hogglette couldn't stop crying suuu-eee, suuu-eee.  If he had been able to, he might have been able to have spoken the truth and apologized.  For what?  His new group is Leaders We Deserve and they're supposed to back young progressives.  I don't know that 41 is all that young but they did back a 41 year old this year.  And it was the most infamous 'Democrat.'  It's the one that resigned in disgrace after credible reports of sexual assault, after Nazi tattoos and so very much more.  Yes, that's right, David endorsed Graham Platner. He was one of 9 people running for the state or national legislature that David endorsed. What did David say again?  Oh, that's right, he said, "As our party charts a path forward, Graham Platner represents not the entire solution, but a vital step in the right direction"  The right direction?  Hogg, Platner resigned in disgrace.  The right direction, you said.  Imainge if there was a non-evil version of David Hogg that existed.  Imagine that. 

Turning to Chump's now-dead pal Jeffrey Epstein.  For years, decades, the two were thick as thieves.  At least two meetings took place at the White House in the Situation Room that Chump wasn't present for but in which underlings like then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, head of the FBI Ka$h Patel and others plotted and schemed on how to handle a release of the Epstein files in a manner that would cause the least harm to Donald Chump.  That's a conspiracy and everyone in that room should be made to answer for why they were present and how they reconcile their actions in those two meetings with their oaths to the Constitution.  

Rebecca Beitsch (THE HILL) reports:

Emails from Jeffrey Epstein to world leaders indicate he should have registered as a foreign agent, House Judiciary Democrats argue, including messages showing he sought to capitalize on his relationship to President Trump.

In a letter to top Trump administration officials, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the communications from the deceased sex offender that have been publicly released show significant conversations that raise “serious questions about the extent to which he wielded his ties to President Trump in dealings with foreign governments.”

Epstein has long come under fire for his significant foreign ties and has been trailed by conspiracy theories he was a spy, accusations Vice President Vance referenced last week in telling podcaster Joe Rogan that the financier surely must have had connections to American and Israeli intelligence at the highest levels. 

The letter from Raskin makes no such claim but argues that even if unpaid, the work performed by Epstein would have required registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), as required of all who lobby on behalf of foreign governments.

“We find substantial evidence that Mr. Epstein acted to advance the interests of the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; advised the government of Russia on how to shape its dealings with President Trump; worked as an ongoing consultant for Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of the government of Israel; and repeatedly capitalized on his long-term friendship with President Donald Trump to sign up business from these and other foreign governments and actors in the aftermath of President Trump’s first election, without ever registering as a foreign agent,” Raskin wrote.

In other Epstein news, Lauren Peller and Peter Charalambous (ABC NEWS) report that Alan Dershowitz bailed on the House Oversight Committee Monday, "House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., called it 'unacceptable' Tuesday that attorney Alan Dershowitz failed to appear Monday for a scheduled transcribed interview as part of the committee's probe into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein."  Josh Christenson (NEW YORK POST) adds:

Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) seethed in a Tuesday letter to Dershowitz that he was attempting to “hide from this Committee’s investigation” into the powerful late pedophile, including of his potential government connections — despite having said he had “nothing to hide” and that he could share relevant details at the scheduled July 20 sit-down.

“The Committee will not tolerate any further delay,” Comer fumed. “Accordingly, we reiterate our request that you testify at an in-person, videotaped transcribed interview on September 2, 2026.

“If you fail to adhere to this request, the Committee will explore all available tools at its disposal, including the use of the compulsory process,” the GOP chairman added.

In other news, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche did not release all of The Epstein Files.  Journalist Katie Phang brought a suit against him over this.  The court sided with Katie but Blanche is refusing to do as instructed.  MORNING HONEY explains:

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asked a federal judge on Monday to avoid a $1,000-a-day fine, describing a contempt action against him as "absurd."

Blanche is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by independent journalist Katie Phang. 

She claims he violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires the Justice Department to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan supported Phang in June. He found that Blanche never challenged her main claims in court: that he missed the law’s deadline, made improper redactions, and withheld documents he was required to provide.

Sullivan ordered Blanche to produce handwritten FBI notes from agents who interviewed a woman accusing President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her as a minor. 

He also ordered emails to Epstein without redacted sender names and documents naming potential co-conspirators. Phang asked the judge to impose a $1,000-a-day fine until Blanche complied.

In his reply brief on Monday, Blanche called Phang's filings filled with "hyperbolic rhetoric seeking to impose punitive sanctions" and "outlandish claims." 

He referred to her contempt argument as "absurd" and her factual claims as "sensational and unsubstantiated." 

Sophie Jager (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

Phang’s ongoing lawsuit is yet another headache for Blanche, whose scheme to secure a permanent promotion to attorney general has not exactly been smooth sailing. After days of tense confirmation hearings in the Senate, an uncomfortable meeting with Epstein survivors, and hundreds of Blanche’s former colleagues opposing his nomination, $1,000 a day just might drive him over the edge.

Katie Phang responds in the video below.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), along with Representatives Becca Balint (D-Vt.) and Ben Cline (R-Va.), filed a bipartisan, bicameral resolution directing the FTC to investigate serial acquisitions of firetruck manufacturers. 

Following two decades of consolidation by private equity firms and larger manufacturers, a vast majority of the fire truck manufacturing industry is now controlled by just three companies. Since then:

• Prices have skyrocketed. Fire truck prices have doubled over the last decade, far outpacing inflation for heavy-duty truck manufacturing over that time period. Manufacturers have also exploited their market power to implement “floating” prices, increasing the final price of a fire truck after it goes into production.
• Manufacturing plants have shuttered. Dominant fire truck manufacturers have restricted supply by closing their own manufacturing facilities, even though demand for fire trucks has increased in recent years.
• Delivery backlogs are growing. Since 2019, the lead times for fire truck delivery have nearly tripled, and fire departments are now facing delivery delays of up to five years.
• Working conditions are unsafe. Higher prices and longer delivery times for fire trucks have prevented fire departments from replacing aging trucks, depriving fire fighters of the essential equipment required to work safely and effectively.

Rampant consolidation in the fire truck manufacturing industry is undermining public safety, squeezing fire departments’ budgets, and forcing taxpayers to bear the consequences.

The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes Congress, through a joint resolution passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, to direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and report the facts relating to any alleged violations of antitrust law. However, Congress has not used this authority to order an FTC investigation since the Great Depression era.

This bipartisan joint resolution would revive that authority and direct the FTC to report to Congress within one year on:

• The extent of anticompetitive practices and violations of antitrust law in the fire truck manufacturing industry, including price fixing, price gouging, serial acquisitions, and monopolization;
• The monetary and other harms of anticompetitive practices and violations of antitrust law in the fire truck manufacturing industry on fire fighters, fire departments, states, municipalities, and small businesses; and
• Recommendations for legislation or other remedial actions.

“When giant corporations and Wall Street investors buy up all the fire truck manufacturers, it’s a threat to public safety,” said Senator Warren. “There’s a growing, bipartisan consensus that Congress must stop a handful of corporations from dominating fire truck manufacturing and making it harder and tremendously more expensive to get fire trucks.”

“Anticompetitive practices are strong-arming our cities, wasting taxpayer dollars, and leaving firefighters without life-saving equipment. I’m proud to join this bipartisan investigation as we fight to put hardworking Indiana taxpayers first,” said Senator Banks.

“Too often, growing delivery backlogs in the fire truck manufacturing industry are leaving fire departments across the Commonwealth and our Nation without the necessary equipment first responders need to do their jobs safely and effectively. This bipartisan resolution takes an important first step to restore competition, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and ensure taxpayers and local fire departments receive fair value,” said Representative Cline.

“Every community deserves to have the fire trucks it needs to keep people safe. But corporate consolidation has driven up prices considerably and left communities waiting years for this essential, lifesaving equipment,” said Representative Balint. “This is yet another example of why we need strong antitrust enforcement: a handful of powerful companies shouldn’t be able to use their power to get richer by making it harder for communities to protect themselves.”

This follows a bipartisan investigation led by Senators Warren and Banks into the harms of private equity roll-ups of fire truck manufacturers that they launched in April 2025.

Senator Warren also sounded the alarm on private equity’s consolidation of the fire truck manufacturing industry at a September 2025 hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Management, District of Columbia, and Census.

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) have endorsed the resolution.

###

The following sites -- plus Mike's "Creeps Max Miller, Don Jr. and Mike Lindell," Ruth's "The American Dream is now on life support, will Chump pull the plug," Trina's "Zucchini Boats in the Kitchen,"  Marcia's "He poops and pisses himself" and Betty's "Chump's low polling" --  updated:

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Chump's low polling

Tonight, we're just looking at Chump and his fading popularity.  Nick Hilden notes Chump's lost the moms who once voted for him: 

Mothers have had it with President Donald Trump. This is according to the latest polling, which found that parents in general have made a dramatic move away from Trump, with moms accounting for the biggest shift.

The polling shows that since July 2025, support for Trump has plunged by almost 30 points among moms, resulting in a net approval of -20. It also found that the majority of fathers disapprove of him. Overall, the new poll found that 61 percent of voters are negative on Trump, resulting in a total net approval of -23.

According to the Daily Beast, “It’s more bad news for Trump heading into the midterms, as cost of living concerns drive voters, and their opinions of him and his administration. Mothers are often in charge of the family budget, managing household bills and grocery shops, and have noticed the ballooning cost of living, much of which can be directly linked to decisions of the administration. Contributing to household belt-tightening are Trump’s deeply unpopular war in Iran, his tariffs on imported goods, the removal of health care cost protections, increased barriers to Medicaid, and his decision to allow the freeze on student loan payments to expire.”

The new survey found that 62 percent of moms think the economic situation will continue to get worse, while 60 percent disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy. What’s more, 80 percent of mothers say they intend to vote in the midterms, which doesn’t bode well for Republicans, who worry about losing their majority in the House and potentially even the Senate.

People wrongly believed Chump knew how to handle business because of that awful TV show THE APPRENTICE.  That was TV.  In the real world, Chump has had how many bankruptcies?  He almost went bankrupt again in 2024.  If he hadn't gotten re-elected and into the White House where he is working the grift, he would have had to declare bankruptcy again.  

Fernando Alba (THE MIRROR) notes:

Donald Trump continues to reach new lows in his approval numbers, with two pollsters recording rock-bottom numbers for the president.

The Washington Post and CNBC both published polls with double digit negative net ratings for Trump. In the Washington Post poll, he reached his second lowest net rating ever for the pollster at -24 points.

[. . .]

The average net rating of both polls, -22 points, is the worst net rating for a sitting president at this point in his second term since 2000, according to CNN's Harry Enten.

Kevin Schofield (HUFFINGTON POST UK) notes that there are multiple reasons for that including the Iran War and the way it has wrecked the economy:

Donald Trump is “losing support all the time” from American voters and his political allies as the Iran war drags on, according to a BBC expert.

Sarah Smith, the broadcaster’s North America correspondent, said the public’s patience was wearing thin as the cost of petrol continues to rise.

She said the Republican Party is set to pay the price at November’s midterm elections unless a peace deal can be reached soon.

On THE EXCERPT podcast, Chump's bleeding support was addressed:

Dana Taylor:

As I noted, Trump has long relied on white working-class and rural voters. What did you find that suggests his standing with some of those voters is weakening?

Chris Kenning:

That has been a really important group for a long time. And in 2024, two out of three white working-class voters backed him according to some exit polling. And he also won nearly 70% of the rural vote that year according to some of that same exit polling. Some people were drawn to vows to kind of reboot the economy post-COVID through bringing back manufacturing and industries like coal and cracking down on illegal immigration. But it's been interesting because there's been a series of polling from a lot of different organizations in recent months that has really shown that disapproval has started to rise among those groups, including reaching some slight majorities. And most of that seems to be driven by economic concerns, but you had a CBS poll in May that found 54% of white non-college voters disapproved of his performance, and that was up from 32% in February of 2025. Among rural voters, you had a June Reuters poll that found 48% disapproved of Trump, and that was up from 34% after he took office. So it's a significant shift that we've seen.

Dana Taylor:

I want to drill down on the dissatisfaction that's rooted in the economy. When you talked to voters, what were they actually feeling day-to-day?

Chris Kenning:

The voters that I spoke with, and some of the polls have teased out where the issues kind of landed for them, but these are real pocketbook issues from the people I talked to. Some people had disagreements with some of Trump's policies not related to economics, but that was a big one. And these are things that hit close to home and are driving a lot of this affordability debate. Obviously rising gas prices because of the war in Iran have been a very big part of the issue. They see that every day. Higher food prices, they see that every day in the grocery store. And then there's also, that comes on top of housing costs have been going up, the cost of medical insurance and care is going up. So they're feeling that impact close to home.

Dana Taylor:

One of the people you spoke with was Ashton Reed. He's a 22-year-old in Missouri who backed Trump in 2024, and now he's not happy with him at all. What struck you the most about how he talks about that change?

Chris Kenning:

Yeah, he was an interesting guy. He had worked at an HVAC company and was currently out of work because he'd been laid off, looking for another job. But he'd voted for Trump in 2024, drawn for some of the same reasons. He thought that it was Biden's fault that the economy had suffered a lot of inflation during the COVID era and was still kind of struggling with that. And he saw Trump as a businessman who's really going to turn things around. That was a widely held view in his part of Missouri. But since then he's just like everyone else, he's seen the prices rise and especially because one of the drivers of the gas prices is war in Iran and the rising oil prices. And he had told me that this was the kind of war that Trump had also sort of vowed to stay out of.

There are only 105 days until the midterms.  I don't think that's enough time for Chump to turn it around.  Even if he announced another 'cease-fire' with Iran tomorrow.  

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS): 

Tuesday, July 21, 2026.  Chumps caught hiding the number of US service members wounded in his war, Chump's economy continues to shed jobs as the Iran War goes broader on inflation, and much more. 

Chump did not serve in Vietnam.  Nor did he protest the war.  He had his father buy him out of the war.  He has no idea what it's like to serve.  And he doesn't care.  That's why he's been lying about the number of US troops injured in his Iran War  Eric Schmitt (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country.

Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted. Yet later on Monday on social media, its chief spokesman said that the number of U.S. military casualties from Iranian attacks since July 7 had risen to nearly 100.

They are hiding the wounded.  They are also hiding the dead.  When Ben notes that it said 18 had died in the war and now its dropped down to 17?  The 18th is the remains of the service member that were found over the weekend.  

We called out Bully Boy Bush for many things during the Iraq War but w didn't have to call him out for hiding the number of wounded or dead.  

Karen DeYoung, Tara Copp and Dan Lamothe (WASHINGTON POST) report:

The United States and Iran moved closer to all-out war over the weekend, as the exchange of attacks on civilian and military structures continued to escalate and with at least three and possibly four U.S. service members killed since combat resumed a week ago.

The U.S. Central Command launched another wave of attacks against military sites in Iran on Sunday night that it said was designed to “further diminish Iran’s ability to attack” commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump told reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews following the World Cup final that the attacks were retribution “in honor of the … great patriots who were killed.”

On Monday morning, the Pentagon identified two U.S. service members killed in action Friday at a base in Jordan as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. It said the incident was under investigation.

Centcom also said Sunday that unidentified remains of a third person had been found at the base in Jordan. Separately, it reported that a U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action on Saturday during a “controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” from a downed Iranian drone.

[. . .]

“The U.S. is planning for a wider war,” said one U.S. official familiar with internal administration discussions.

But the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, cautioned that the expansion of U.S. operations will be limited by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions and constraints on the ability to surge more troops and aircraft into the area because of battle damage.

“We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,” the official said.

Military experts have said that in addition to the toll taken on U.S. equipment and munitions stocks, the U.S. is unprepared for possible ground operations inside Iran, which Trump last week refused to rule out.

The White House is not aware of that?  They are not aware of so many things. Jessie Williams and Clare Walsh  (THE I PAPER) note:

As Donald Trump hunts for a way out of his unpopular war, he faces a conundrum: take a massive risk and escalate – or stand down once more in what he would see as an embarrassing surrender.

The US President is frantically looking for a route out of renewed conflict with Iran after his fragile memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed only weeks ago, officially collapsed following Tehran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Since then the US has renewed strikes on targets across Iran and reimposed a blockade of Iranian ports. Meanwhile Tehran has escalated its campaign against tankers in the vital maritime corridor, sending oil prices skyward again, and launched deadly attacks on US allies across the region.

At least three US troops have been killed in Jordan and Iraq over the past few days, putting more pressure on Trump – who was elected on a promise of no more “forever wars” – to bring the conflict to a resolute end.

As the November midterm elections tick closer, Trump is frantically looking for a way out that saves face. But as more US service personnel die, his options are getting slimmer.

And the American people didn't want the war and don't want the war.  That's been true from the start.  But Chump doesn't care.  Harry J. Kazianis (NATIONAL SECURITY JOURNAL) writes:

Donald Trump entered the Iran war with more opposition than support, and nearly five months of fighting have made the political problem worse. The president still holds the loyalty of most MAGA Republicans, but polling since early March shows independents, non-MAGA Republicans, and voters focused on household costs moving away from his strategy.

A March 3 YouGov survey found that 48 percent of Americans disapproved of the initial U.S. attacks, while 37 percent approved. Independents were more than twice as likely to oppose the operation as to support it. Trump never received the broad rally-around-the-flag effect that sometimes follows the opening of a military campaign.

The resistance held through the spring. Pew Research Center found in March that 59 percent believed using force was the wrong decision, and 61 percent disapproved of Trump's handling of the conflict. A second Pew survey completed in late April produced almost identical results, while the share saying the campaign was going badly increased.

By July, the gap had widened. The latest Economist/YouGov poll found that 57 percent called the war the wrong decision and 27 percent called it right. A Reuters/Ipsos survey found that 79 percent expected prolonged American involvement, only 37 percent approved of the strikes, and 60 percent expected gasoline prices to worsen.

[. . .]

Foreign policy rarely dominates a midterm election for months without connecting to daily life. Iran has made that connection through gasoline, shipping, inflation, and federal spending. A June Reuters/Ipsos poll put Trump's approval at 35 percent and found that 70 percent disapproved of his management of the cost of living.

The economic link is politically dangerous because the war is reaching voters through household expenses, not only through television coverage from the Gulf. Republicans planned to campaign on tax cuts and affordability. Higher fuel costs and another request for war funding make that argument more difficult.

The White House still has several possible exit paths, but none offer a quick political reset. A settlement that looks weak could anger Trump's base. Continued fighting keeps the risk of costs and casualties alive. A larger operation around Hormuz would increase the military and economic burden.

Sean Williams (THE MOTLEY FOOL) notes, "The Fed's July forecast implies that Iran-war-driven inflation has spilled over into the broader economy and is about far more than just energy prices. If that's the case, FOMC policymakers may have no choice but to raise interest rates to stabilize prices." Our nation's 12 Federal Reserve members may be forced to raise interest rates." 

It's the Chump economy.  David Wainer (WALL STREET JOURNAL) reports:

America’s biggest food companies have tried everything to win shoppers back. They’ve cut prices, ramped up marketing and added protein to everything from Cheerios to Goldfish.

It hasn’t worked.

Profits are falling at flagship names such as General Mills and Kraft Heinz as consumers turn away from their legacy products. Management mostly blames a strained consumer and insists conditions will improve. The market has reached a harsher verdict: These businesses are shrinking and don’t know how to stop.

[. . .]

Then there’s the K-shaped economy, which squeezes from both ends. Affluent shoppers are getting more health-conscious and trading up, often to smaller brands. Meanwhile, lower-income households are counting every dollar and trading down, increasingly to private labels. (Premium private label is also a competitive threat at the higher end.) The pressure has only intensified as food-stamp aid has been cut.

Walmart's gotten a lot of credit for lowering prices in recent weeks.  Have they?  I asked that in the gina & krista round-robin and I've gotten replies from community members most of who repeat what Sabina (Dallas, TX) said in the round-robin: She buys small packs of chips like you'd put in a lunch box.  She gets plain Lays and the queso flavored Ruffles.  Two weeks ago, they were 49 cents a package at Walmart, as they'd been for a few years.  One week ago, they went up to 65 cents.  This is while Walmart's getting credit for supposedly cutting prices on beef and other items.

Jules Rimmer (MARKETWATCH) explains inflation is broadening out:

During his Congressional testimony last week, new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh emphasized that one of his primary responsibilities was to ensure that individual price spikes, of which there have been many in recent years, “don’t broaden out.”

The bad news is that on the whole they are. The good news is that they are nowhere near as bad as the inflation crisis of 2022.

One Goldman Sachs economist examined the risk of those price spikes becoming normalized. Jessica Rindels published a report examining whether inflationary trends are widening across sectors.

She calculated the numbers using a few key filters: first, she used personal consumption expenditure, the Fed’s stated preferred measure of inflation.

Then she aggregated them over the six-month annualized change. And finally, she categorized either by their weights in the PCE or by treating each category individually.

Rindels discovered that on a scale of 0-10 (where the 1990-2019 average was zero and peak inflation in 2022 was 10), the share of categories with inflation above 3% is 6 on a weighted basis.

Unweighted — that is, category by category — the imbalance is a more muted reading of 2 on the 0-to-10 scale.

Those categories where the price rises are fastest are in video/ audio, financial services, medical services and airfares/ transportation.

It's a bad economy for most Americans.  But  for low paid workers in this Chump economy, it's even worse. Sasha Rogelberg (FORTUNE) notes:

The last time the U.S. raised the federal minimum wage, Apple’s Siri hadn’t even been invented yet.

July marked the 17th full year in which the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25, the think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) noted in a recent post. Apple would introduce its AI iPhone bot two years after the current wage was set. The base pay staying the same as inflation continues to rise means today’s wage floor is at its lowest value in 70 years, with a purchasing power lower than its 1968 peak.

“We are currently in the longest period of inaction on the federal minimum wage since its inception in 1938,” CEPR senior economist Sylvia Allegretto wrote. “In fact, today the federal wage floor is officially a poverty wage.”

Indeed, last year the federal minimum wage became a “poverty wage,” meaning a full-time, year-round job paying $7.25 an hour would fall under the $15,650 poverty threshold created by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Minimum wage has reentered the national spotlight amid an ongoing affordability crisis marked by increased inflation from tariffs and the Iran war, as well as stubbornly high home prices and childcare costs. Among the bleak economic markets for Americans is stagnating wage growth, which has declined from its peak of 6.7% in July 2022 to 3.6% as of last month, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta data.

You can work full time for minimum wage and you will be making poverty wages.  How is that possible?  

Rich Duprey (24/7 WALL ST.) explains:

The U.S. economy has delivered a confusing message in 2026. Stock markets have continued to price in growth, corporate profits remain resilient, and headline unemployment data has not triggered widespread panic. But beneath the surface, a different picture is emerging. 

The labor market is losing participation at a pace that deserves investor attention because consumer spending, economic growth, and corporate earnings all depend on Americans earning paychecks. A job market can appear healthy when viewed through one metric while quietly weakening through another.

The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database, which tracks data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), shows a troubling trend: the number of Americans outside the labor force reached an all-time high in June.

The number of people who are neither employed nor actively looking for work increased by 832,000 during the month, reaching 105.8 million Americans. That figure is not simply a new record. It is higher than the worst period of the pandemic shutdown.

In 2020, when businesses closed, travel stopped, and millions of jobs disappeared, the number of Americans outside the labor force peaked at roughly 103.6 million. Today’s figure is 2.2 million higher. The trend has accelerated in 2026. Since the start of the year, 2.5 million Americans have exited the labor force.

And everywhere you look, companies are shedding jobs.  Luke James (TOM'S HARDWARE) notes, "Samsung has cut jobs across its U.S. consumer electronics business as it prepares to move Samsung Electronics America's headquarters from New Jersey to Texas by the end of the year, with a WARN notice listing 739 affected roles at its Englewood Cliffs offices and roughly 100 workers let go at its Plano, Texas, site, according to a Reuters report."

It's a chump economy because it's Chump's economy.  He took our economy that Joe Biden had moved into recovery and Chump destroyed it -- first with tariffs and then with the Iran War.  And now gas prices are going back up again.  Chris Isidore (CNN) observes, "The average price US drivers pay for a gallon of gas hit $4 on Monday, as fighting between the United States and Iran intensified, further disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The average price is now just above $4 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA. Gas first crossed the $4 mark, a psychologically important threshold, on March 31, a month into the conflict."  Eleanor Pringle (FORTUNE) notes:

So far, U.S. households have managed to navigate the latest wave of cost-of-living increases, though UBS’s top economist, Paul Donovan, warns that “economic gravity” will catch up with families at some point.

In a note shared with clients this morning, Donovan wrote that “while oil costs are rapidly being passed to consumers, the response is to cut monthly savings rather than non-oil consumption.” However, “this cannot be sustained indefinitely if oil prices remain elevated—in the Wile E. Coyote scenario, economic gravity eventually exerts itself—but it could easily be sustained for the remainder of this year.”

Donovan is referring to the famous Road Runner cartoon in which Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff-edge without realizing, hangs motionless in the air in a moment of disbelief, before crashing down to earth.

It will be painful for U.S. households—already stretched after sticky inflation for the past few years—to suffer the same fate. Even over the past few weeks, the reignition of conflict in the Middle East has begun to stretch their wallets once again.

Turning to ICE, Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) notes:

When former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of Homeland Security, he stated that his key goal was that "we’re not in the lead story every single day.”

According to Jonathan Derbyshire of the Financial Times, he has failed utterly in this goal, as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings have continued to generate public outrage, and DHS has continued to skirt all accountability for it.

Multiple ICE agents were involved in shooting deaths in the past few weeks in Texas and Maine. Shortly after, "ICE suspended vehicle stops in the wake of the shootings," with border czar Tom Homan calling it a "short pause just to make sure we're doing the right thing" — only for Trump to decree the pause over hours later on Truth Social.

Part of the issue for Mullin, said the report, is that he has done little to change the toxic hiring culture at the agency that is setting ICE up for abuses of power. "In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had hired more than 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year and that it had received 'more than 220,000 applications to join ICE from patriotic Americans'" noted the report — but an Associated Press investigation suggests "many of those applying, and indeed a significant number of those who ended up getting hired, were unsuitable for the job."

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

ICYMI: Murray Blasts Trump and McMahon’s Decision to Abandon Students with Disabilities & the Administration’s Legal Responsibility to Protect Students’ Civil Rights

Murray calls on Republican colleagues to join her in stopping illegal transfer of ED’s offices of special education and civil rights

Murray made clear she will not let any legislation that seeks to abolish the Department of Education make any progress in the Senate

*** WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE HERE, DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, held a virtual press conference to sound the alarm on Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s plan to illegally transfer the responsibilities of the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through Inter-Agency Agreements (IAA).

Senator Murray was joined by Katy Neas, CEO of the Arc and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration; Stephanie Smith Lee, Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the National Down Syndrome Congress and former Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration; Catherine Lhamon, Executive Director for the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at UC Berkeley and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama and Biden administrations; Dr. Lanya Elsa, Special Education Researcher, Family Support Professional, and mother from Washington state of two sons who are deafblind; and Luisa Sparrow, special education teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School and 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year.

“I have believed for a long time we need to be doing a lot more for students with disabilities. Programs like IDEA are not funded at nearly the level they should be,” said Senator Murray. “Just talk to any parent of students with disabilities—they’ll tell you the system is not perfect. But what Trump is doing threatens to make things so much worse. We have seen how this administration operates—it’s been haphazard and totally destructive. The agencies taking over these programs simply do not have the expertise and so many of the experts who oversaw these programs were fired or pushed out by Trump already. If Trump breaks the programs our kids with disabilities rely on, the outcomes will be grim… America has to stand up for kids with disabilities right now. This is not a partisan issue… I am calling on my Republican colleagues to listen to the parents of kids with disabilities. Listen to the teachers in our schools. Dismantling the Department of Education—continuing on this path—will be devastating for kids with disabilities in America.”

“A student who is denied services, disciplined for disability-related needs, or blocked from an accessible classroom needs one federal education system that can see the whole picture and act,” said Katy Neas, CEO, The Arc of the United States and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration. “Moving special education to HHS and civil rights enforcement to DOJ would split apart the offices responsible for making disability rights real in schools, leaving families chasing answers across the federal government instead of getting accountability from one education agency.”

“Families are counting on Congress to reject the misguided notion that dismantling the U.S. Department of Education will reduce bureaucracy,” saidStephanie Smith Lee, Policy & Advocacy Co-Director for the National Down Syndrome Congress and former Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education under the George W. Bush administration. “I joined a bipartisan group of former officials who led federal special education under Republican and Democratic presidents since the Nixon Administration in urging Congress to stop the transfer of special education to another department. For decades, Congress has repeatedly reaffirmed that the Department of Education should oversee special education because students with disabilities need strong federal leadership, accountability, and oversight. Congress should not abandon that bipartisan commitment in favor of a disruptive experiment that creates confusion for families, burdens states and school districts, and adds more bureaucracy—not less.”

“After returning millions of dollars rather than spend it on civil rights protections for students in schools, terminating more than half of civil rights enforcement staff, and resolving a historic low in cases leaving students dangerously unprotected, now the Department of Education commits to a system designed to fail by agreeing to transfer its core civil rights enforcement functions to another agency with insufficient staff or expertise to meet the volume of need our nation’s students experience in their education journeys,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, Executive Director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at University of California, Berkeley School of Law and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama and Biden administrations. “This move, if unchecked, will at best only further delay justice and relegate students to federal afterthoughts rather than treating them like the valuable learners they are, who deserve Congress’ promise that they will not experience the ugly discriminatory harms our laws protect them against.”

“As both a special educator and the mother of two sons who are deafblind, I have seen firsthand what fifty years of federal protections and educational expertise have made possible for children with disabilities,” said Dr. Lanya Elsa, Special Education Researcher, Family Support Professional, and mother of two sons who are deafblind from Washington state. “My sons are now a college graduate and a college-bound student—but fifty years ago, children like mine were often segregated or institutionalized. We cannot turn back that progress. Special education deserves to remain within the Department of Education, overseen by leaders who understand that children like mine are not problems to be fixed—they are students who belong in our schools, alongside their peers. Moving special education programs to HHS and fragmenting civil rights enforcement puts at risk the expertise and accountability that families depend on. This is no longer about my sons. It is about every child coming behind them, and we owe those children the same opportunities to learn, thrive, and belong.”

“Students with disabilities have a civil right to the supports that will help them learn as much as possible in school, in learning spaces that include their general education peers,” said Luisa Sparrow, special education teacher at Oliver Hazard Perry School and 2025 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. “I’m here to advocate for my students, and for all students with disabilities, by highlighting the harm caused by moving special education to the Department of Health and Human Services. Isolating special education from general education in this way sends a damaging message that special education is about meeting healthcare needs rather than learning needs, and that it is separate from the main purpose of school.”

OCR is charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws to protect students’ rights in the classroom, and the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979 mandates the existence of the Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department to carry out these responsibilities.

Last year, the Trump administration thoughtlessly eliminated more than half of the staff in the Office for Civil Rights and closed half of the regional field offices, and in the time since, there has been a precipitous drop-off in the resolution of students’ cases. In 2025, the Department reached the lowest number of resolutions in 12 years and reached zero resolutions for students facing serious incidents including sexual harassment, sexual violence, seclusion, restraint, racial harassment, and discriminatory school discipline. Senator Murray has mobilized against the administration’s efforts to hollow out OCR, called out how it’s hurt students and families, and she’s repeatedly pressed Secretary McMahon on the issue.

OSERS is charged with implementing and enforcing the Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which mandate that students with disabilities get the free appropriate public education and independence they deserve. In April, Senator Murray pressed Secretary McMahon on her plans to potentially offload OSERS’ responsibilities and told McMahon: “That is exactly why these parents and advocates are spitting mad because what they want to make sure is that their child with a disability has an education.”

Senator Murray has aggressively pushed back against Secretary McMahon’s efforts to dismantle the Department, including through the illegal use of IAAs, and she fought to insert ironclad language in the fiscal year 2026 funding bill for the Department that would bar Secretary McMahon from using IAAs to dismantle the Department—but Republicans refused to include new, binding language that would block arrangements like the ones announced in June. Last week, Senator Murray blasted House Republicans for working to advance a slate of legislative proposals to rubberstamp the administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education—Murray made clear she will not let any legislation that seeks to abolish the Department of Education make any progress in the Senate.  

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

“Thank you for joining us today. I am really pleased to be here today with a parent, a teacher, and some experts from both Democratic and Republican administrations.

“We all know that public education in America is not going to get better by dismantling the Department of Education. But Trump is determined to raze it to the ground. Instead of helping kids get a great education, instead of supporting the unique needs of all our children, the Trump administration is spending its time, its energy, and your tax dollars on illegally trying to shutter the Department of Education.

“Now I am fighting tooth and nail against any efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, but I am especially concerned about what this could mean for all students, especially students with disabilities in America.

“Trump and Linda McMahon have fired and pushed out over 2,000 staff at the Department, and with them decades of institutional knowledge and that includes the staff they need to enforce our civil rights laws for students with disabilities. They have created absolute chaos and pandemonium for school districts across the country by holding up federal funding that our communities rely on, and last month, they announced they are illegally scattering federal education programs that support students with disabilities all over the government with different agencies managing programs that they have no business or expertise running.

“And you know who gets left behind? Students and their parents, who break their backs and lose sleep worrying about how to make sure their kid with a disability gets the individualized support they need.

“It is outrageous and completely unacceptable that Donald Trump and Linda McMahon want to pass off the essential work of the Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, and specifically to a division at DOJ that is being run by a right-wing extremist. And it is outrageous they are abandoning their obligation to manage the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and handing it over to RFK Jr at HHS—everyone who is here today knows these offices are critical, but they are especially important for students with disabilities.

“I have believed for a long time we need to be doing a lot more for students with disabilities. Programs like IDEA are not funded at nearly the level they should be. Just talk to any parent of students with disabilities—they’ll tell you the system is not perfect. But what Trump is doing threatens to make things so much worse. We have seen how this administration operates—it’s been haphazard and totally destructive. The agencies taking over these programs simply do not have the expertise and so many of the experts who oversaw these programs were fired or pushed out by Trump already. If Trump breaks the programs our kids with disabilities rely on, the outcomes will be grim.

“For far too long, these kids were outright denied the education they need and deserve right here in America. Most Americans don’t realize that as recently as the 1970s schools in the United States only educated about one in five children with disabilities, and a whole lot of states had laws excluding certain students, including kids who were deaf or blind or had some kind of intellectual disability.

“That is so wrong, and while progress has not been perfect—we have made tremendous progress since then. Over 50 years ago, parents and educators fought to enshrine basic protections in federal law to guarantee their right to a quality education—and to create mechanisms in law to right wrongs when they are denied the resources or support they deserve. That victory and many others since have ushered in a lot of hard-won progress—but instead of building on it, this administration is intent on rolling back the clock to a much darker time.

“It’s enough to make your blood boil. We cannot go backwards, but that’s exactly where this administration is taking us.

“Thanks to the Trump administration there is already a massive backlog of cases at the Office for Civil Rights and that list will just get longer. And under this administration, if a kid with disabilities is discriminated against, they are almost certainly not going to have their rights protected. Last year, OCR reached nearly 80 percent fewer disability discrimination resolution agreements compared to 2024. That’s not by accident, it’s by design–thanks to Trump’s staffing cuts and dismantling of the Department of Education.

“And it gets even worse. Let’s talk about RFK Jr. RFK Jr. should have nothing to do with making sure students with disabilities are getting the high-quality public education they deserve and are entitled to. The idea of him being put in charge of special education for our kids is absolutely appalling. Earlier this year, RFK Jr. went on a sick and offensive tirade spreading lies and taking cheap shots at kids with Autism. He said ‘autism destroys families’ and is an ‘individual tragedy as well.’ He talked about how kids with autism would never have a job, pay taxes, write a poem, or even go on a date. Those remarks are horrifying, and they are simply false. And they display a total lack of respect for the dignity, the humanity, and the limitless potential every child possesses to make their own way in this world.

“No way should RFK Jr. be in charge of programs meant to help students with disabilities learn, grow, and thrive.

“Look, as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I have a lot of say over how we spend taxpayer dollars—and you can bet I will fight to protect funding for the Department of Education. I have also fought to outright stop Trump from spinning off these critical education programs to other departments that have zero relevant expertise. But we are still deep in the minority, and in last year’s funding bills, Republicans refused to work with us to stop Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education. But with Trump and McMahon’s latest efforts to undercut the programs students with disabilities rely on, I am really hoping we can rally parents, teachers, and communities across America—in red states and blue.

“America has to stand up for kids with disabilities right now. This is not a partisan issue.

“So, I am desperately hoping this will be a wake-up call to my Republican colleagues who I know do care deeply about students with disabilities. I can fight to increase funding for special education in our spending bills—absolutely. But I can’t wave a magic wand on my own to stop the illegal transferring of special education to RFK Jr.’s HHS and student civil rights protections to DOJ.

“So what can we do? Well, a lot actually. With enough Republican support we could undo some of this destruction, whether in our funding bills or otherwise. I am calling on my Republican colleagues to listen to the parents of kids with disabilities. Listen to the teachers in our schools. Dismantling the Department of Education—continuing on this path—will be devastating for kids with disabilities in America.

“Join me in putting a stop to this before it’s too late.

“Finally, I want to address legislation we’ve seen in the House of Representatives that would rubberstamp much of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. As long as this former preschool teacher is a United States Senator, every one of those bills is dead on arrival. I’m very pleased to be joined by some of those very parents and teachers that every member of Congress ought to be listening to.”

###

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