… Except for daddy Donald Trump, who decided to skip the wedding to play golf.

… ProPublica: “On May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, 3-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands.”

… “A 5-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from FL, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. That night on the beach, Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air while fireworks launched from a barge over the sea. ‘It was everything we dreamed of and more,’ his wife later wrote on Instagram.”

… “That dream was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin. Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event.”

… “Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Assn, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.”

… “The guest list numbered around 50. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump - and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian.”

… “Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family. National security experts expressed alarm at Trump Jr. accepting the oligarch’s largesse, saying it raised an urgent question: What motivated Kremlev to spend a fortune cultivating the connection?”

… Retired FBI senior counterintelligence official Frank Montoya, Jr.: “If I’m paying for your wedding, at some point, you’re going to owe me something. This should be unthinkable for the son of the president. End of story.”

… Journalist Rob Crilly: “Among the details from the ProPublica piece on Don Jr's wedding is the fact that he had treatment to better define his jawline.”

… I can definitely see that as an issue.

… Journalist Anne Applebaum: “Some details: Kremlev, the Russian who sponsored Don Jr’s wedding, is a former member of the Night Wolves biker gang, went to China with Putin and is personally sanctioned by Ukraine for his role in abducting children.”

… As the story blew up on Instagram, self-described “socialite” Bettina Trump took to Instagram to try to defend the Russian-financed wedding:

• “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.

• It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from. Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.

• We are fortunate to have wonderful friends from all over the world, and we will never be embarrassed or apologetic about being grateful for them. So, for anyone determined not to let the facts get in the way of a good story: NO CONSPIRACY , NO MYSTERY. Just a private family wedding, a wonderful weekend with friends and one hell of a party.”

… She’s the perfect wife for Junior. Both seem completely narcissistic, self-absorbed, craving constant attention, fake, greedy and immoral.

… Spokesman for Eric Trump issued this statement: “Eric has absolutely no clue who this person is, nor has he ever heard his name.”

… Steve Witkoff has his good friend Vladimir. Junior and Bettina have their good friend Umar. Jared has his good friend MBS. So many beautiful friendships.

… Meanwhile, Trump was ranting on Air Force One returning from his golf weekend in Ireland about Ukraine bombing Russian refineries, attempting to shift the blame for rising oil and diesel prices onto Zelenskyy:

• “The problem I have with Ukraine and Russia is that a lot of the diesel comes from Russia. The Russia plants are being hit by Ukraine. I’ve asked Zelenskyy not to hit the refineries. Diesel is being driven up by the fact that it’s having a hard time coming out of Russia.”

… Then late this morning, Trump posted this claim on Truth Social: “Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise! The World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran.”

… But then Zelenskyy made a post that there was no deal yet:

• “Ukraine has proposed that its partners secure an agreement with Russia that would stop the destruction of critical infrastructure. Food, energy, and other basics that sustain life must be protected, and Russian strikes are directed primarily against them. Every day, Ukrainian energy facilities, port infrastructure, logistics, and even warehouses storing food and pharmaceuticals are targeted. Ukraine is not convinced that Russia is willing to abide by any agreement.

• If our partners are ready to ensure that Russia genuinely refrains from striking our electricity system, other energy facilities, critical infrastructure, and food supply routes, then, of course, we are ready to ensure a corresponding halt to our strikes. The war must be brought to an end. And a de-escalatory step regarding critical infrastructure could be the first step toward peace. We expect specifics from our partners.”

… In other words, Russia has agreed to nothing.

… Centre for Strategic Communication: “Long before Ukraine began systematically destroying Russia’s oil refining capacity, Russia had already done the same to Ukraine.
Only 37 days into the full-scale invasion, on April 2, 2022, Russian missiles targeted the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery, Ukraine’s only fully operational refinery at the time, forcing it to shut down.”

… “Russia repeatedly targeted the facility again in the months that followed. The following day, April 3, Russia announced that its missiles had also targeted the Odesa refinery and three fuel-storage facilities. Russians understood from the beginning that destroying refining and fuel infrastructure was a means to degrade ability to wage war.
Ukraine learned the lesson, and Russia is learning another lesson.”

… AP: “A crucial Saudi oil pipeline that was struck in an attack last week will mostly be out of service for weeks as the damage is repaired, as Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized more islands dominating key Red Sea shipping routes in new blows to Saudi Arabia’s oil exports. The developments further strain Saudi Arabia’s effort to get its oil to market while avoiding the Strait of Hormuz.”

… “The kingdom relies on the East-West Pipeline, which runs the breadth of the country, to move its crude production from Gulf ports to ports on its western, Red Sea coast. From there it can be put on tankers for export.”

… More from Trump’s press gaggle on AF1:

• On his new WH helipad: “Does everyone like it? It’s carved granite. It’s a stone rated 1 million plus years and carved and carved beautifully.”

• Asked if he favors Flock cameras: “I sort of like them because of law enforcement. Some people like them because they think they are an infringement. But I like them.”

• Q: “Have you ever used AI yourself? Trump: Yeah, I use AI. Q: How do you use AI?
  Trump: You can use AI for a lot of things. Q: What do you use AI for? Trump: I don’t want to tell you that.”

• Q - “You said that Canada is more difficult to deal with than Russia? Trump: Canada is more difficult to deal with. I find Canada to be the worst country to deal with. With that said, they’re dying to make a deal.”

• Q - “We recently reported that Chinese entities may have provided Iranians with satellite imagery of the air bases in Jordan. Trump: They basically do what we do. Q - Are you going to raise that with Xi when he visits? Trump: I think he’s behaved reasonably well, and we behaved reasonably well.”

… CNBC: “Crude oil prices popped on Sunday after Saudi Arabia closed its critical pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate futures were up 3.46% to $103.51 per barrel by 4:56 AM ET. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded 3.51% higher to $108.28 per barrel.”

… “Drones launched from Iraq damaged the East-West pipeline on Thursday, forcing the Saudi govt to close the key crude oil artery. Riyadh has not disclosed how badly the pipeline is damaged or how long it will remain shut. A diplomatic meeting between Iran and the Gulf Arab states to discuss the situation in Hormuz, originally scheduled to take place Monday in Oman, was abruptly postponed after the pipeline attack.”

… But Trump posted for about the 138th time that Iran is begging for a deal again: “The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the USA will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to.”

… Kobeissi Letter: “We now have:

• Large cap tech CEOs unified on regulating AI.

• Trump rejecting these tech CEOs' calls.

• Fed Chair Warsh expected to HIKE rates in his first time moving interest rates.

• Up to 30 million barrels of Middle East oil flows at risk.

• US diesel prices up +80% as peak demand season begins.”

… Trump posted: “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the USA has that, in spades! The Trump Admin has stopped AI “people” from doing bad, or potentially bad, “things,“ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a “perfect little angel” - and we will continue to do so! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!”

… Insanity. Thanks again, Trump voters. Every day you curse us with a brand new dose of corruption, incompetence and stupidity.

… Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) at a campaign rally:

• “This week, we were warned again of existential risk to the human species. And what fills us with dread is the crushing weakness of our politics against the massive stakes of our times. Tech titans dig bunkers while warning us the new intelligence they’re creating risks human extinction. Congress debates youth sports, and the president builds a ballroom.

• An ancient establishment barely capable of email sleepwalks into a technological revolution while the president dismantles precautions and calls us fools for worrying. On day one, Trump rescinded the AI safety order meant to guard against catastrophic risks, including the engineering of bioweapons.

• Meanwhile, Don Junior’s 1789 Capital bought big-money stakes in data centers and AI labs. The Emiratis’ spy chief committed $500 million to the Trump family crypto business, and 4 months later, the Trump admin granted the Emirates the rights to buy our most sensitive AI chips.

• See, a capable president would move swiftly to secure and reassure the American people, rush inspectors into frontier labs, fortify the nation against bioterrorism, demand legislation from Congress, and lead the world toward an AI treaty. But President Trump is compromised.”

… Gavin Newsom made a surprise announcement during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper when Tapper brought up that he would not be the only Californian to run for president in 2028 if Kamala Harris runs. Newsom said that 2 strong candidates from CA would lead to “mutually assured destruction” for them because they share the same supporters and donors:

• Newsom: “Yeah, I don’t know if she runs, but we’ll see. Tapper: I know she’s called around. Newsom: I wouldn’t run if she ran. Tapper: If she runs, you will not? Newsom: Of course not. Why would I? I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that. Tapper: What do you mean? That doesn’t make sense to me? Newsom: I know what that means. Her base of supporters - her friends. The Zen diagram on that is pure crossover. So I wouldn’t do it.”

I can tell you that my attitude on Trump and MAGA has evolved over the years since 2016. Despite the fact that I was still a Republican until 2020, I never supported or voted for Trump. But in 2016 I still voted Republican except for Trump because I was solely focused on him as the problem.

After that, I started to also focus on and blame the henchmen around him as equally culpable. The whole toxic inner circle of OG MAGA. Then just before 2020 that expanded out to include Republicans in Congress - many of whom I knew despised Trump but decided to go full MAGA. That is what caused me to leave the party and register as a Democrat. They sold their souls, and I lost all respect for them.

But now in recent months I reach the final step of that evolution - I now fully blame Trump voters for the mess we are in. I was always careful not to do that because I realize people can get conned, fooled, duped, etc. and there was always a chance in my mind that education and information might bring many of them around.

But really, there is no excuse for the 3-time Trump voter in 2024. They had all the information they needed to have about who Trump was and what he was all about. I suppose part of my hesitation for including them in assignment of blame was that many of these voters are my family members and friends for many years and I don’t think they are bad people. I think many Americans have this same situation.

With that said, if his first term, the covid debacle, election denials, J6, stolen documents, felony convictions and sex assault judgments don’t disqualify someone on the 3rd time to these fellow Americans, then that is on ten of millions of them who now bear the responsibility for what is happening now. And I haven’t been afraid to say that in recent months. It is on them. They are responsible.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Today was the day that Mitch McConnell was supposed to make his triumphant return to the senate after his extended absence, since his vote is needed get the farm bailout bill out of committee. He was not seen anywhere in the senate today.

… DC journalist Desiree Townsend went to McConnell’s home this afternoon to check on his status. While she was outside, Mitch’s driver Felipe arrived with some flowers and headed into the residence. Townsend asked him if Mitch was coming back to work today. She also asked him what the flowers were for. He refused to answer either question.

… She didn’t leave. A home health care worker then arrived. Townsend: “If McConnell

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It’s officially election season and with only about seven weeks to go, things are going a little haywire.

It won’t be my first election at Fox News, and I’ll let you in on a secret: I’ve noticed that things get a little crazier on air as the weeks go on. Especially when the home team is down, oh, I don’t know, 49 points on the economy and can’t get out of the war it started.

Some of my favorite recent conversations prove the point:

Here’s me debating Abdul El-Sayed’s economic messaging with Jesse a few weeks ago…

Whether Ken Paxton has any moral authority to talk about his faith…

Trump’s nonexistent healthcare plan…

And yes, even Trump’s insane threats to tear down the Kennedy Center.

My goal is to bring your voice to the table. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your comments and support.

Having said all that, I know what you might be asking yourselves: how does she get through those conversations?

It’s a good question, and I’ve been thinking about that topic a lot over the last few years. How can I make a difference when I make my case on Fox? How can I stay compassionate when I’m speaking not just to my cohosts, but a large part of the audience, who have different views and values than mine? What do we have in common, and how can I use that to make inroads with people who think I’m the enemy?

I thought about these questions enough that I started answering them – and much, much more – in a book called I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends. It’s out next week.

It contains my best advice on the tough conversations throughout our lives. But this is MeidasTouch. You want to know how to win the political argument! I’ve got plenty of lessons on that, too. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Speak with respect, facts and humanity

In the book, I tell a story about a trans woman came up to me after seeing me speak after a political panel. She explained that she’s from Alabama and her Fox watching family no longer speaks to her.

What she said really stood out to me: “If more people talked like you do, I might get my family back one day.”

What mattered to her wasn’t the arguments that I’d made on transgender issues, but that I speak to conservatives with respect and represent our party with facts and humanity.

People may be willing to hear something difficult, or maybe even something they strongly disagree with, when they believe the person saying it genuinely respects them. My most important job is to not necessarily change minds, but open them to an alternative point of view.

2. Come to the table with an open mind and fewer defenses

Sometimes we dismiss opposing views before doing our homework. How many conversations don’t happen because people can’t move past the narratives they already believe? It’s fundamental to why liberals are against Trump, and why those who support Trump think liberals are bad-faith actors.

Sometimes, conceding a point, or recognizing that the other side has a legitimate grievance, can open up a conversation that would otherwise go nowhere. Reevaluating our priors is painstaking work, but it’s worthwhile if you’re trying to get somewhere in a tough conversation.

3. Fact-check; don’t hector

Fact-checking is okay. Hectoring isn’t. Trying to correct wrong information in an overly aggressive way can actually reinforce it. Some things you know, but opinions should be held more lightly.

While you’re at it, pay attention to when your predictions are wrong. Were you missing key information? Were you overconfident? Were you letting your biases cloud your analysis? Being wrong is inevitable. Being repeatedly wrong in the same way is a choice. The best fighters constantly update their strategies based on new evidence.

4. Let people see how you think, not just what you think

Say something real when you show up somewhere risky. On a podcast, or in front of any group you’re trying to persuade, audiences respond best to honesty, specificity, and proof you’re being genuine about fixing problems. Authenticity goes really, really far.

There are plenty more tips and tricks in I Disagree that will hopefully help you build bravery for these tough table conversations. The facts are on our side – it’s time to use them!

I Disagree is Jessica’s guide to staying true to our values, finding common ground, and communicating with confidence when engaging across political and social divides.

It is available now at Barnes & Noble and all major booksellers.

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It’s Monday, September 14th. There has been a ton of news today, so let’s rip the band-aid off right away and get to it.

Stories we’re tracking:

• Trump is again ranting and raving on Truth Social with the usual…Iran lost, they’re begging to make a deal, the U.S. controls the Strait, yadda, yadda, yadda

• The Houthis now control the entire Red Sea Coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait

• A SECOND pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline was destroyed in an drone attack

• Oil and Diesel prices are spiking

• So is the 10-Year Treasury yield, which just broke 5% for the first time in years, and mortgage rates, which are back over 7%

• Exxon’s massive Joliet, Illinois refinery suffered a total power outage with black smoke visible for miles

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright is echoing Trump’s talking points, blaming Ukraine for high diesel prices

• Trump claims he got Russia and Ukraine to stop hitting each other’s oil infrastructure, but Zelenskyy’s statement does not back that up

• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joins Trump in calling concerns about data centers a foreign psy-op, as Trump calls opposers of data centers “traitors”

• The federal deficit hits $1.79 trillion with a month still left in the fiscal year

• Trump blames Biden for his own inflation

• JD Vance’s push back on AI warnings

• A bombshell ProPublica report that Don Jr.’s Bahamas wedding was secretly bankrolled by a Russian oligarch close to Putin

• The 60 Minutes segment on the F-15 pilot who allegedly survived a near-terminal-velocity fall and then hiked a 7,000 foot cliff

• The EPA reportedly about to erase limits on climate pollution from power plants

• A federal watchdog report finding that “Alligator Alcatraz” locked migrants in tiny metal cages and called them “calming areas”

• A Trump-appointed judge just blocked Trump’s mail-in ballot rules

I told you it was a lot. Don’t worry, I’m here to break it all down for you.

Paid subscribers can watch Ben’s report on these afternoon updates right here:

If that list of news made you say ‘WTF,’ consider preorder our new book WTF America so we can get out of this hell together. Let us know if you did in the comments.

Here we go:

Trump’s Truth Social Panic Spiral

Trump was melting down on Truth Social today. I know that’s common, but I have to say, today was even more than unhinged than usual. Trump, for the millionth time, posted that Iran “wants to make a deal, quickly and badly” and that he’ll determine whether the U.S. chooses to engage.

He also posted that Ukraine and Russia have “agreed” not to hit each other’s energy infrastructure and blamed Ukraine, not his war in Iran, for the global rise in diesel prices. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement did not back up what Trump said. The Ukrainian president posted that he has proposed a mutual halt on energy strikes, but is “not convinced that Russia is willing to abide by any agreement,” and that Ukraine is waiting on partners to actually secure and verify Russian compliance before agreeing to anything.

Trump also posted that the U.S. is producing more “exquisite and elite” weapons than at any point in history, as the reality on the ground shows U.S. munitions depleted from the war.

Oil and Diesel Are Spiking

Brent crude is trading around $109 a barrel, WTI around $104. U.S. oil prices are up 56% over the past 10 weeks. Diesel just hit an all-time U.S. high for the 3rd straight day, at $6.23 on average per GasBuddy. It’s due to a bunch of factors. The Houthis have taken control over the entire Red Sea coast in Yemen, giving them effective control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint that carried over 9M barrels of crude daily at its peak before the war (roughly 9% of global demand). A 2nd pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline was destroyed in a drone attack. Ansarallah (The Houthis) continue to hit Aramco facilities. And on top of all that, ExxonMobil’s 275K barrel per day Joliet refinery in Illinois suffered a total power outage earlier, forcing an emergency shutdown of every unit. Black smoke was oddly visibly for miles. AND, BP’s Whiting refinery in Indiana is already partially down for maintenance.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright followed Trump’s lead and blamed Ukraine for the diesel price surge, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum outrageously claimed that the Venezuela deal steal could let the U.S. refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at oil prices as low as $30-$40 a barrel. He separately claimed concerns over data centers are a “foreign psy-ops campaign.” More on that shortly.

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Markets and the Deficit

The 10-Year Treasure yield broke 5% for the first time since October 2023, and mortgage rates have moved back above 7% as a result. The federal deficit has reached $1.97 trillion through the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026, the 4th-largest deficit at this point in any fiscal year on record and already higher than the full-year 2025 deficit of $1.78 trillion. Trump posted that price increases right now were caused by “Sleep Joe Biden.” You have to be missing more than a couple braincells to believe him.

Trump Wants No Guardrails for AI

Trump posted multiple times on AI this morning, warning against killing “the Golden Goose” and saying AI doesn’t need any guardrails. The only thing it needs is for Trump to be the president. Trump took aim at people who oppose unfettered AI and data center development, calling them “conspiracy theorists, treasonists, traitors, and leakers.” JD Vance pushed back at AI leaders warning about the existential threat the technology poses, calling their requests for government regulation to be “a bit of a Trojan horse.”

Don Jr.’s Russian Oligarch-Funded Wedding

ProPublica reported this morning that Don Jr.’s May wedding in the Bahamas was secretly financed in part by Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch very close to Putin. Kremlev reportedly covered the rental of a private island, a fireworks display, and other major expenses through a Dubai-linked entity, and attended the roughly 50-person wedding along with several other Russian guests. Don Jr.’s wife, Bettina, addressed the story on Instagram, calling the coverage an attempt to “recast” something as personal as “political or sinister,” saying Kremlev generously hosted 2 nights of celebrations. So, not a denial. In fact, confirmation.

The F-15 Pilot Story

60 Minutes aired a segment on the U.S. Air Force pilot ejected during an Iranian attack, reporting that his parachute was damaged and didn’t fully open, causing him to hit the ground at 70 to 100 mph before climbing up a 7,000 foot cliff with a broken back and other broken bones before being rescued. Many people online appear to be highly skeptical of this story.

More Big News: Domestic Politics, EPA, Immigration, Elections, and more

Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) admitted on TV ahead of Trump’s planned campaign stop in North Carolina that the economy is “a challenge” right now, adding that he hopes voters focus on the “overall image” of each party rather than the realities of the current moment.

The NY Times reported that the EPA is expected to announce that it will no longer limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the 2nd-largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide, a move that would complete the rollback of the major Biden and Obama-era climate rules.

A DHS inspector general report found that the now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in Florida held migrants in small metal enclosures, some offering just 18 sq. ft. of space. Staff referred to them as “calming areas.” Detainees were held in them for periods ranging from a few minutes to nearly 2 hours. In at least one occasion, the enclosure was used as punishment for “noncompliance.”

And lastly, a federal judge, Carl Nichols (a Trump appointee), granted preliminary injunctions blocking new USPS mail-in ballot rules that the USPS finalized in August under Trump’s executive order.

That’s the news for now. More to come later. Thanks to everyone for reading, liking, restacking, and subscribing. And thanks again to everyone for preordering our new book WTF America.

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Hey everyone, it’s Ben Meiselas from the MeidasTouch Network.

I hope you’ve all had a weekend where you could catch up on some rest and find some time for yourself, your own wellness, your family, perhaps friends, and take some time to decompress from all of this madness going on in the world.

Of course, here on the MeidasTouch Network, we’ve been focused on covering all of these breaking news developments as they unfold, from what’s going on domestically to what’s going on internationally.

As you know, with these Sunday posts I like to reflect on the week we just had and then talk about the week ahead.

Let’s get into it.

First, I just want to thank all of our subscribers.

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Thanks for continuing to grow this Substack and the MeidasTouch Network. As you may have seen, MeidasTouch was once again the number one podcast in the United States, beating Joe Rogan, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and all of the other right wing podcasts, and all political and news podcasts generally.

I think that’s a sign that people in this country continue to want independent news and don’t want to deal with all of the corporate news propaganda we’ve seen that tries to distort and disinform and lie.

We’ve also done a number of marquee interviews that I hope you’ve found informative.

I’ve interviewed everybody from Professor Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran to former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.

I’ve interviewed Governor Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. I’ve interviewed ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Garcia.

I did a number of videos with MeidasTouch chief economist Justin Wolfers, and having a chief economist right now with the qualifications of Justin Wolfers is so important given the wrecking ball Donald Trump has taken to the economy.

So I hope you found these interviews to be something that is uniquely MeidasTouch Network style and information.

Now let’s talk about the domestic front.

I’m not going to summarize the whole disastrous Republican midterm convention because I’m sure you’ve seen all our videos and coverage here on this Substack.

But its culmination in Donald Trump’s fraud, lying and saying he’s going to give five thousand dollars if you vote Republican, is just so cynically dystopian and Trumpian, an utter lie he’s rolled out in the past with DOGE dividend checks and tariff rebate checks, all false.

The reality is he’s made everything much worse. The cost of living crisis is worse. Gas and diesel are at record highs. People can’t afford homes. We’re likely going to see an interest rate hike this week. And Trump has gutted critical government programs, whether it’s ripping away people’s subsidies to afford health care, ripping away people’s Medicaid, ripping away lunch from children, all while Donald Trump constructs golden ballrooms for himself, or flies to Ireland to watch golf tournaments at his golf clubs, and flies on the Qatari jet, while also having the old original Air Force One fly with him as well in case he panics over a new purported assassination attempt.

The grift is criminal and disgusting.

There’s a reason we see Donald Trump’s approval at historic lows.

Really, other than Nixon at the time he resigned, we’ve never seen a president with lower approval than Donald Trump has right now.

We’re seeing Republicans in Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Florida worry about a wave election coming up.

But as I think about the midterm election, you’ve probably heard me repeat this over and over on the show, I don’t think about it necessarily in terms of “political messaging.”

I think about it in terms of lived experience.

It’s a simple question.

This isn’t about who’s going to message issue A or B better.

Here it is.

You either have lived this experience in the United States over these past twenty months or so and you agree that it’s a form of psychological torture, a combination of maliciousness and utter incompetence making for a potent, bankrupt presidency that has caused so much pain to the American people and people throughout the world.

Either you recognize that, or if you continue to live in your fantasy world and think this is a good way to live life, you’re either someone no one will ever get through to, frankly, or you’re one of Donald Trump’s right wing oligarch buddies who, for the period you bend the knee to him, get temporary monetary favoritism in essentially a communist authoritarian government structure.

So when people ask me, “Ben, how would you message this?”

I say: Well, I tell people we have a lunatic, a psycho, a sexual predator, a criminal, a felon, a putrid human being in the White House who’s also an idiot and very demented — if you don’t see it that way, I wish you the best of luck at this point, because that’s the reality, my friend.

That’s the reality.

So that’s my perspective on the midterms.

We just have to speak very, very clearly, as we do on the MeidasTouch Network.

Now let’s talk about what’s happening internationally, which is inextricably intertwined with what’s happening domestically, because the reason prices are up, the reason we’re about to have interest rate hikes, the reason people are struggling, is also because Trump launched reckless, idiotic tariff wars against the world, which he continues to escalate like the idiot he is, and he’s launched reckless wars, including the catastrophic war in Iran.

We continue to see escalation in the Middle East.

Now the Saudi Arabian East-West pipeline has been shut down. The Houthis, or Ansar Allah as they’re called more appropriately in the region, control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, all pushing east.

Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz.

You’ve got a few ships leaving, but before the war started it was twenty million barrels a day. We’re lucky if we’re getting five to six million barrels a day now through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran made it clear that if the US was intending on economically strangling Iran, Iran was not going to tolerate it, and Iran, directly and through its axis of resistance, is hitting hard.

The US moves closer into the abyss, and I suppose the plan is to just post bogus propaganda claiming Iran is always a day away from either collapsing, or making a deal, or making a deal and collapsing, or who the hell knows.

Trump just makes stuff up every damn day, and it’s all lies, and he’s got a propaganda media network both here and in Israel and throughout the world that tries to push this stuff, which has resulted in awful outcomes.

Meanwhile, we saw the BRICS meeting in New Delhi, India, where Iran played a very prominent role, where China has asserted itself as a hegemonic economic power in the world, leading a new multipolar order, and the world is moving away from the United States.

Countries are dumping their treasury bonds, forcing our treasury yields to increase. Countries are pulling investments out of the United States. No one wants to be invested in a Trump scam like he’s been his whole life. He’s been a loser and a scam artist, and while the US postwar architecture was powerful, the Trump wrecking ball has really destroyed it. It’s going to take a long time in the future to rebuild. Really, because that’s just the reality of it.

So as we approach this week, Congress claims they’re going to be back for a few days.

We’ll see.

We’re going to have our Washington, DC bureau ready to go, asking the questions you want answered. Let me know if there are any questions you want us to ask them.

We’re going to keep reporting rapid response the way we do every day. We’re going to keep talking about these broader global principles that I don’t see a lot of people talking about, and we’re going to keep building this network.

We’ve got the biggest independent news network in the world right now, and we intend to use it to get out the damn truth every day. So let’s do it.

We’re grateful for you. We’re thankful for you. Let’s keep fighting together. Become a subscriber if you can. Look, your subscriptions have allowed us to become the top podcast in the world, top YouTube in the world for news. It’s really important, so we’re grateful to you.

Alright, let’s keep cooking, everybody.

Stay in there.

Hang in there together this week. I Appreciate you so much.

Alright, that’s it for me.

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… Trump held several press events, including one with the President of Ireland in an attempt to justify the taxpayer funded visit to watch golf and promote his Irish resort:

• “Democrats skipped socialism. They’ve come down to communism, but you have the same thing a little bit. I’m reading some stories about you, but we’re shutting it down pretty good. We’re not going to have communists running our country.”

• “My son Don is here. He’s calmed down so much. He’s like a different human being. He had a lot of energy. Now he’s a little less energy.”

… Must’ve went to rehab. Some are speculating it’s because he’s planning to run for president in 2028.

• “My wife is here. My wife is here in spirit. She’s watching right now. I said, ‘why don’t you come with me.’ She said it’s a 7 hour trip.”

… Actually his other wife was there. Natalie Harp was even in the receiving line to greet the Irish president before the press event.

• “Canada wants to make a deal very badly just like Iran wants to make a deal very badly. I hope Canada appreciates being in the same sentence with Iran.”

• Q: How was your phone call with PM Andy Burnham last week? Did he talk about the Falkland islands and Argentina? “Well, the Falkland iIlands is very interesting because here we go again. I remember as a young boy, pretty young boy anyway. But the Falkland Islands and, uh, I think it was a different country at that time, the UK a little bit, but they went in and they took it over. I’m not sure if they’re doing that.”

… Trump was 36 years old at the time of the Falkland Islands’ war.

• “When you look at Gaza, there’s a lot of good relationships taking place right now in Gaza. I think we’ve done a great job. Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, they’ve done a very good job.”

• “I was playing golf and we had hundreds of Secret Service all over the course. In fact, they said, ‘Does Trump cheat?’ I can’t cheat. You have 250 Secret Service agents running down. It’s not that I wouldn’t cheat, but you can’t move the ball.”

… Yeah, like Secret Service is going to stop him from cheating at golf.

• Q - “What’s you message to the Americans concerned about data centers? Trump: My message is that if you want to be poor, have no jobs and watch other countries do great, or other states do great. You don’t want to kill the golden goose because that’s what you would be doing.”

• Q: “What do you make of what the British PM said about your comments on a united Ireland? He said there will be no referendum until the majority of people in Northern Ireland-- Trump: Everybody says that, and then things happen. One thing he’s going to do is he’s going to be stopping the stupid windmills.”

• Q - “When are elections going to happen in Venezuela: “The people of Venezuela now are so happy. Venezuela is making a tremendous amount of money. So are we.”

… I’m sure the people are thrilled that the Maduro regime remains in power but is now backed by the US in exchange for letting Trump steal their oil.

• “Zelenskyy has to do one thing - he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. He’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel. This isn’t done by the Middle East, this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine.”

… Readers of this column and those who watch my weekly podcast Uncovered know that when Ukraine first started hitting Russian refineries over a month ago I predicted that Trump would blame them for diesel prices and would start demanding that they stop. He said it today almost word-for-word how I predicted he would.

… Democratic nominee for senate in KS Adam Hamilton absolutely destroyed Sen. Roger Marshall at a debate this weekend. Marshall was already reeling after two stories broke this week about him suing his OB/GYN patients - which led to the arrest of dozens of them, and living in FL while using a fake address in KS.

… The debate took place live in front of big crowd at the KS State Fair. There were supporters for both candidates there as well as other voters. By the end of the debate, the entire crowd was completely on Hamilton’s side and he received a thunderous ovation after his closing statement, which was fantastic.

… I confess that I did not pay much attending to this race because I thought KS was just too Republican for Hamilton to have a shot. But with these recent blockbuster stories about Marshall, all the things Trump has done to hurt farmers and ranchers, and this debate performance, I am all-in on Hamilton so you will be reading about this race from this point forward:

• Hamilton: “Importing 300,000 metric tons of beef was a slap in the face to all of our ranchers.”

• Hamilton: “If you love $6 a gallon diesel fuel, you can thank Roger Marshall. He supported this war. He told us to tighten our belts! We were supposed to be out of this war after 4-6 weeks. We’re 6 months in, we still can’t figure out how to get out, and the cost of everything has gone up as a result.”

• Hamilton: “This is absurd, bribing people with $5,000 checks if they’ll just please vote for your party - because you’ve got to pay people to vote for your party because they’re worried about your positions. We’ve got a $40 trillion debt. If you’ve got a trillion dollars lying around, pay down the debt, or restore Medicaid benefits.”

• After posting initially that he loved Trump’s proposed, Marshall now claimed that he disagreed with it. Hamilton: “First he asked you how you were going to spend your $5,000. Now he disagrees with the proposal?”

• The crowd erupted in chants of “Shame on you!” as Marshall tried to explain why he sued 700 of his patients, leading to 81 arrests: “Those are common business practices. We would go a year before we would send someone over to the lawyers. Crowd: Shame on you!”

• Q: “Do you think the president’s tariff policies have worked? Marshall: It’s working. Crowd: Boooooo! Marshall: Tariffs are such a small portion of the future. Crowd: Booooo!”

• Marshall: “As far as our FL home, look, you’ll be glad to know it was struck by two hurricanes and has been uninhabitable. Crowd: You don’t live here! You don’t live here! Marshall: This is all a social media myth made by the social media Nazis!”

• Hamilton: “Roger Marshall loves FL. He sold his home in Great Bend days after being sworn into the Senate. Now he owns a million-dollar waterfront home in FL, which he used taxpayers’ dollars to visit repeatedly on ‘official business’ he refuses to disclose. He spent nearly $20,000 of taxpayers’ dollars on these trips.”

• Hamilton: “Senators are elected by the people to be their champion in Washington, DC - not hired by the WH to be their spokesperson to the people in their state. A senator is supposed to be a check on executive power. Roger Marshall struggles to do that.”

• Marshall’s closing remarks: “My opponent today is too woke, he’s too weak and he doesn’t stand for anything.”

… Hamilton then brought the house down with a huge ovation after his closing remarks:

• “I went to the Wizard of Oz Museum in KS. What did the Scarecrow need? A brain. What did the tin man need? A heart. What did the lion need? Courage. I thought, this is what’s wrong with Washington. We got people who’ve lost their minds - their critical thinking skills. They’re just doing whatever the president tells them to do. We have people who’ve lost their hearts in DC. Marshall lives there 180 days, goes to FL, then comes back to KS and all his stops are photo ops. Finally, you have to have courage to stand up to your president even if he’s going to bully you, primary you and call you names - that’s is when you say, ‘This is not OK.’”

… Politico: “Sen. Roger Marshall on Friday refiled his candidate statement listing a cabin in St. John, KS as his home address, after I asked his spokesperson about an earlier statement that listed a home that he had sold in 2021. The spokesperson said it was a clerical error.”

… “Voter registration records show that Marshall’s brother also currently lists the same address as his residence, which the KC Star said in 2024 was a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom house. The spokesperson said it’s now a 3 bedroom house and shared a public record confirming that.”

We make the entire Weekend Bulletin available to free subscribers who are also able to participate in the comments section. It’s time to submit questions for Ask the Editor, which we will have to record on Tuesday of this week because I have a big dentist appointment tomorrow morning and won’t be able to speak well after.

Please post any questions you have for the show, or just a topic you want me to talk more about, in the comments below. I choose 5 each week to talk about on the show. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Thank you to all who read and subscribe!

… Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (D-IA) at the Iowa-Iowa St. football game: “Will Rogers said, ‘men learn 3 ways. Some men learn by reading. Some men learn by observation. And some men gotta pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.’ Well, I’m telling you right now, Christina Bohannan is peeing on the fence, pissing in the wind, and she’s going to find out this November.”

… AK Dem senate nominee Mary Peltola and Republican Senator Dan Sullivan had a televised debate this weekend:

• Peltola: “One of the top issues for our fishermen across every sector, across every region, is the high cost of fuel. The war in Iran is driving up gas and diesel prices. Dan Sullivan has voted for the war in Iran 10 times - 10 times to jack up your prices.”

• Peltola also had a viral moment in the segment where the candidates had to hold up just a YES or NO sign to each question simultaneously. When they got a question about whether fisheries adequately protect salmon migration and their habitat. Pelola raised her sign immediately while Sullivan did nothing. Sullivan then looked up at Peltola’s answer, then raised his sign to the same answer.

… Peltola posted a funny montage on social media with this caption: “Happy to help, Dan.”

… Austin American-Statesman: “There was no love lost from Longhorn fans Sat morning for Sen. Ted Cruz ahead of the Texas football game vs. Ohio State. The longtime Republican congressman made an appearance on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ as crowds chanted “Ted you suck, Ted you suck!”

… “Cruz appeared to talk about legislation he’s drafted to codify a NIL ‘bill of rights’” which would create legal guardrails for the name, image and likeness of student athletes across campuses. However, the GOP lawmaker’s words could barely be heard over the throng of fans booing and chants from the hundreds near the program’s set.”

… “Cruz did not address the crowd’s less-than-friendly reaction, speeding through his NIL talking points as the crowd did not let up.”

… Trump’s social media coordinator Alex Bruesewitz posted a message to Ted on X: “We’re trying to win elections over here, bro. That means attracting more young voters, not driving them away. Your appearances on mainstream television act as a repellent to our efforts. Please stay off it. Respectfully.”

… Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) was on Fox to talk about the midterms: “Think about how incredibly dangerous states like CA are that want to take away your kids if you don’t agree with the pronouns the schools chooses for your kids. They’re coming for our culture. If you don’t want to stand up and fight for the soul of this country, your wood is wet. It’s that simple.”

… Speaker Mike Johnson on Jake Tapper’s CNN show:

• Tapper played a montage of Republican congressional nominee Brandon Herrera describing moms as “cum trophies” and calling Nazi machine guns “the original ghetto blasters.” Q - “How can you support him? Johnson: Herrera has run a very effective campaign. That was his persona online.”

… Isn’t it interesting though that Very Devout Christian Mike Johnson shrugs all this off as just provocative things said to create a “persona online” from one of his ACTUAL NOMINEES FOR CONGRESS, but Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who isn’t running for anything, supposedly represents the entire Democratic Party.

• Johnson: “Lutnick said the $5,000 check would come from tariff revenues. Trump thinks of the American people as shareholders in this American dream. Tapper: The tariffs revenue is about $300 billion, not $1.3 trillion, and obviously Americans are paying those revenues. But devil is in the details.”

• Q - Some Republicans are objecting to Trump’s promise to give $5,000 to voters. Johnson: “It’s a new creative idea. We applaud the president for thinking outside the box.”

… How much creativity does it take to just promise to give out checks to everyone with money we don’t have? I guess the “creative” part is explicitly tying it to an election result to make it a direct bribe.

… Johnson then went on Meet the Press:

• Q - “You’ve called the national debt the largest threat facing the country. Why would you want to add to it with $5,000 checks? Johnson: Uh, I don’t want to. I guess we’re gonna spend the whole segment talking about this one issue. You and I are wasting a lot of time this morning.”

• Q - “Since Trump took office, inflation is up, gas prices are up, tariffs have cost American households nearly $2,000. Many Americans say they just aren’t feeling that this is a great economy as Trump claims. Is there a disconnect? Johnson: No. Remember that when Trump took over the economy was in shambles.”

… I don’t remember that.

… Dem nominee for MI senate Abdul El-Sayed got frustrated with CBS’s Weijia Jiang when the only thing she wanted to talk about was Piker:

• “Weijia, with all due respect this is the 3rd time you’ve asked about a twitch streamer in CA. I’m not interested in having a conversation with streamers in CA because they are not raising the prices of gas and groceries.

• Let’s actually talk about the issues that are affecting people instead of getting distracted by whatever the president says we should be talking about. Their whole game is to make us fight culture wars so that we don’t pay attention to the fact that the president has made $2.2 billion. His family has made even more. How about your family in MI?”

… The Jimmy Kimmel-James Talarico interview that Kimmel posted on YouTube instead of airing on the network because the FCC threatened ABC is now up to 8.1 million views.

… Kobeissi Letter: “Shocking stat of the day: $7.0 trillion worth of T-Bills are currently outstanding, with $6.1 trillion maturing within the next year. Including the remaining maturities, $7.5 trillion worth of marketable Treasury debt is maturing in 2026. Another $4.0 trillion matures in 2027, followed by $3.5 trillion in 2028.”

… “Meanwhile, if the Fed hikes rates by 75 basis points, annual interest costs on T-bills alone could rise by $50 billion, equivalent to 0.15% of GDP. This comes as much of this debt would be refinanced at higher market rates than those at which it was originally issued. The US is set to face a massive refinancing wave at higher borrowing costs.”

… NYT: “Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, called for a global slowdown of AI development in a 3,800-word essay on Saturday, just days after one of the company’s employees quit over concerns about the safety of the technology.”

… “Top executives of other major AI companies quickly signed on to the effort. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI; Elon Musk, whose SpaceX rocket company has been ramping up spending on AI; and Demis Hassabis, the chair of Google DeepMind, wrote in social media posts that they agreed on the need for a slower pace.”

… Amodei: “Over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence - not just investing in risk prevention, but pacing the rate of capabilities advancement so that risk prevention has time to keep up. We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.”

… “He called for independent auditors to check the companies for safety standards and urged global cooperation in creating rules around AI development. The appeal for an industrywide pause follows months of escalating concerns across the tech industry.”

… “Amodei said that all AI labs could agree to 3rd-party technology assessments from ‘embedded evaluators,’ or outside specialists who could verify best safety practices across companies. He also suggested that countries with democratic governance systems coordinate to create safety standards, which could take the form of regulatory action. He added that it would probably require a global effort working with other nations.”

… Axios: “A letter is circulating among House members urging Mike Johnson to bring back the House ‘immediately’ and keep it in session until Congress passes AI safeguards. Such drastic action has been proposed by members of both parties this week after current and former Anthropic researchers went public with warnings that AI could kill off humanity in the next decade.”

… The letter to Johnson, drafted by Sam Liccardo (D-CA), says ‘urgent action’ is needed ‘to address catastrophic risk posed by advanced AI.’ The letter is co-signed by Reps. George Whitesides (D-CA), Lori Trahan (D-MA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA). The letter calls for the House to “return to Washington immediately and remain in session until Congress advances meaningful, bipartisan AI safeguards.”

… “Despite growing urgency from rank-and-file members to respond to the existential threat allegedly posed by AI, congressional leadership has largely offered up silence.”

… Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) responded to David Sacks’ post that AI companies can police themselves and govt should leave them alone: “This is the WH AI Tsar spinning out because the leaders of the largest AI companies are admitting that their technology is dangerous and needs to be regulated. Regulate them! This is your job! What an epic failure of leadership, and the consequences could be devastating.”

… AP: “A lightning advance by Houthi rebels threatens a crucial Red Sea shipping route. Drone attacks blamed on Iraqi militias have forced the closure of a major pipeline, and Iran is still disrupting the Strait of Hormuz. It’s a nightmare scenario for Saudi Arabia, and it has sent jitters through global markets.”

… “The Saudis’ most essential ally, the US, has been unpredictable and sometimes unreliable. Trump seems reluctant to widen an already unpopular and stalemated Mideast war ahead of congressional elections. For Iran, the rebels’ advance and closure of the pipeline ramp up global economic pressure as its grip over the Strait of Hormuz has been loosened.”

… Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia: “Despite their antipathy for the Iranians, this is a war they never asked for, they had great trepidation about. And once it started, all of their worst-case scenarios started coming true.”

… “Saudi Arabia said it shut down the pipeline leading from major oil fields in the east to the Red Sea in the west because of drone attacks originating in Iraq, where Iran supports powerful militias. Regional officials recently said that the Houthis have helped the Iraqi militias carry out attacks.”

… The Atlantic: “As recently as last week, the Iran war appeared to be turning slightly in America’s favor. The Houthis—the Yemen-based militia that is Iran’s most formidable remaining ally in the Middle East—were under pressure from their local rivals, and the Saudi air force was pounding them with air strikes.

… The president of Yemen’s internationally recognized govt issued a triumphant statement declaring that the Houthis’ miscalculations ‘will open the door to their complete collapse.’ With their Houthi partners wounded, Iran’s leaders would have one more reason to back down and agree to Trump’s terms.

… Those delusions drifted away like smoke as Houthi forces broke through their enemies’ defenses and seized the towns and islands around the Bab el-Mandeb strait, one of the most important maritime choke points in the world. That loss leaves Trump, who had been hoping to win back control of the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, with a bitter surprise. His enemies now control both of the two important straits in the Middle East, through which a combined total of about a third of the world’s oil shipments pass every day.

… It also underscores a stubborn fact: For all the setbacks suffered by Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ over the past year or two, its forces retain an ideological fervor and an esprit de corps that is sorely lacking on the other side. The Gulf states’ failure to work together against the Houthis has been catastrophic, and it echoes Trump’s own failure to devise a plausible or coordinated strategy against Iran.

… April Longley Alley, a Yemen expert at the Washington Institute: “The Bab el-Mandeb means you can literally sit on the coast and fire at passing ships. It makes it easier and cheaper, and it solidifies, from a military and political point of view, that they have a stranglehold on the strait.”

… Trump was asked about the situation today in Ireland:

• “The Houthis called us. They don’t want to fight with us. They let us know they don’t want to fight with us. They don’t want us to go after them. They would much prefer not having us involved, and they are letting most ships go through. There’s just one country they’re not too happy with.”

• Q: “Are you concerned with Saudi Arabia and movement in the strait? What are you hearing about that? Have you talked to the crown prince? Trump: It’s all going to work out fine.”

… CNN: “Pete Hegseth and political appointees in his dept pushed for the two crew members of an F-15 who were shot down over Iran in April to participate in Sunday’s highly publicized ‘60 Minutes’ report about the ensuing rescue operation.”

… “Both airmen initially expressed reservations about doing the interview, with one even raising concerns about the prospect of being potentially ordered to take part in the segment, while military officials were also wary of revealing classified details of the rescue effort.”

… “Political appointees in Hegseth’s office were adamant that both crew members sit for interviews. But after the two survivors voiced concerns, Hegseth met privately with them. As a result, one of the pilots, dubbed ‘Bravo,’ agreed to sit for an on-camera interview and discuss his experience, while the other, ‘Alpha, declined to take part.”

… “The episode underscores how Hegseth’s office is working to craft the narrative around the Iran war, which has become increasingly unpopular and put pressure on Hegseth to claim victory. It also shows how Hegseth has played an unusually hands-on role in that effort – engaging in the planning process for the ‘60 Minutes’ interview.”

… “Uniformed service members have voiced concern that the ‘60 Minutes’ presentation is an effort by Hegseth’s office to use the heroism demonstrated by US troops as part of a successful rescue operation for political purposes. But political appointees within Hegseth’s office insisted that the interview go forward despite reservations voiced by the military the chain of command.”

… WSJ: “Before Iran carried out its attack that killed three US troops in July, Tehran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base in Jordan from Chinese entities, according to US officials familiar with details of the incident. It is the clearest evidence so far that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had lethal consequences for US forces, according to the officials, who say the US has connected the imagery to the attack.”

… Trump was asked about today about the report that the Chinese are helping Iran kill US troops: “We have a great relationship. We’re gonna get along. China has been I think very fair with us over the last number of years that I’ve been there.”

… Dem House Leader Hakeem Jeffries was asked on ABC about his meeting with Jared Kushner: “I’m of the view that if we’re going to be committed to actually solving problems on behalf of the American people, they’re are gonna be times that you have to speak with people on the other side of the aisle. Even people you strongly disagree with.”

… WaPo: “Favored to regain the majority in November’s midterm elections, Democrats’ attention has turned to mapping out an accountability agenda that would pull Trump, his admin and his family into a harsh spotlight next year:

• Trump Family Enrichment: Democrats are laying the groundwork for investigations of how Trump and his family are getting richer while he is in office. Garcia’s committee launched a running tracker of the Trump family’s profits from crypto and foreign deals, calculating that Trump pocketed $2.25 billion from foreign payments in the first year of his second term.

• Handouts to Supporters: Democrats have slammed Trump for using his clemency power to pardon convicted fraudsters who donated to his campaigns or who maintain close ties to his political circle. Many of those pardoned fraudsters were absolved of the requirement to pay restitution to their victims.

• Construction Projects: Democrats would dig into projects such as the botched repair of the Reflecting Pool, his takeover of the Kennedy Center and the WH ballroom that he has rushed to build without seeking approval.

• Immigration Enforcement: In the last election cycle, the Trump campaign took aim at Democrats’ handling of immigration. But the American public has soured on his admin’s aggressive enforcement tactics, particularly following an operation in Minneapolis earlier this year that resulted in the deaths of two American citizens.

• Reshaping the Federal Govt: As Trump remakes the govt to carry out his agenda, Democrats have raised alarms about the destruction of long-standing institutions and checks on presidential power. Committees overseeing specific agencies could dig into whether offices such as the student loan program at the Ed Dept or the Labor Dept’s workplace safety office are meeting their congressionally mandated responsibilities.

• Prosecutions of Trump’s Political Enemies: Democrats want to probe prosecutions they consider politically motivated, including those focused on former FBI director James Comey, NY AG Letitia James and the Democratic lawmakers who released a video in November telling military personnel they could refuse illegal orders.

• Institutional Pressure Campaigns: Democrats are furious at how Trump has wielded the govt’s regulatory power to pressure law firms, universities and corporations into changing policies - and at many of those institutions for capitulating.

• Foreign Affairs: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have served as leading peace negotiators with countries including Iran, Israel, Russia and Ukraine, even without formally joining his admin.

• The Epstein Files: Democrats have turned the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein into a political cudgel against Trump. Last year, when the president reversed course on a campaign promise to release the files from an old federal investigation of the convicted sex offender’s crimes, Democrats accused Trump of a cover-up and then powered an effort that forced him to make the documents public anyway.”

… Judge Michael Luttig wrote an OpEd in The New Republic warning that Republicans are planning to steal the midterms:

“Today’s congressional Republicans took a blood oath 6 years ago not just to put their party before their country, but to put Trump before their country. And so it is that only weeks before the midterm elections, House Republicans have already sworn their allegiance to Trump and doomed the US to another January 6 next January 3.

So unalterably subjugated to Trump is today’s Republican House that even a decisive victory for Democrats and a resounding repudiation of Trump and the MAGA Republicans at the polls in November will not guarantee that a Democratic majority-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress on January 3.

All year long, Trump has been dragooning Mike Johnson and the congressional Republicans into prejudging as fraudulent the upcoming November elections of the presumed Democratic majority, as he himself has already prejudged those elections. His dragooning appears to have worked. House Republicans are now poised to claim that the midterm elections were stolen from them when they meet on January 3 to decide which members-elect will be seated in the 120th Congress.

Over the past year and a half since his return to the WH, Trump has exploited every conceivable unlawful means possible to rig the midterm elections in favor of the Republicans, and the federal courts have struck down as unconstitutional every one of these unlawful attempts. He will try every unlawful means over the remaining weeks to ensure that Republicans handily win the midterm elections in November.

Trump punctuated his expressed intent to interfere in the midterm elections 8 weeks ago in a national prime-time address on ‘election integrity,’ accusing the Democrats and the Chinese in particular of threatening the free and fair elections in November. In that address, he claimed without evidence or support (as usual) that the 2026 midterm elections were being threatened by noncitizen voting, weaknesses in voter registration systems, foreign interference, and vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems.

Everyone knows that the greatest threat to the upcoming midterm elections is not the Democrats or the Chinese, noncitizen voting, or electronic voting machines, but the president of the United States and his servile Republican Congress.”

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The immediate issue is rising Treasury yields. The Treasury recently announced it would buy back as much as $6 billion in longer-dated government debt, triple the previously planned amount. But investors were unimpressed. Yields rose following the announcement, with the benchmark 10-year yield reaching 4.85% as the market continued to grapple with inflation and federal debt concerns.

Wolfers told Meiselas that the fundamental problem goes beyond any single buyback.

“A big part of the reason interest rates are going up is they see that the debt is large, the deficit is large, so the debt’s getting bigger, and this administration’s not at all serious about the deficit,” Wolfers said.

Bessent’s $6 billion intervention also looks relatively small against the roughly $32 trillion market for publicly traded Treasury securities. Wolfers compared the scale of Bessent’s intervention to “throwing pennies and quarters” at the market. Reuters similarly reported that investors remained unconvinced after the Treasury tripled its planned long-dated buyback.

But Wolfers said the bigger danger is credibility.

“It’s deeply important for someone in the government to be able to tell people the truth,” Wolfers said, explaining that markets need to believe government officials will actually follow through on what they announce.

Wolfers contrasted the traditional maxim to “speak softly and carry a big stick” with Bessent’s recent approach.

“What Scotty B has been doing instead is he’d been bellowing loudly,” Wolfers said, before describing him as “carrying a wet noodle.”

Bessent has recently adopted an unusually combative posture toward investors, including declaring “I am the house now” and dismissing critics as “Bloomberg Terminal bros.”

Wolfers warned that repeatedly making threats or promises without convincing markets that the government will follow through risks diminishing the power of future statements.

“The economics of this is all about credibility,” Wolfers told Meiselas. “If Bessent is interested in doing his job, he has to develop credibility.”

And Wolfers ended with an even sharper warning about the potential cost.

“Every time he’s doing that, he is taking the hard-won credibility of the United States and just destroying it.”

Watch Ben’s full conversation with MeidasTouch Chief Economist Justin Wolfers above as he breaks down rising Treasury yields, Bessent’s bond buybacks and why credibility can be one of the most powerful tools an economic official has.

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Garcia spoke after visiting the traveling “Trump Epstein Reading Room,” where he met with Epstein survivors and Dallas residents demanding greater transparency and accountability.

“There were survivors there,” Garcia told Meiselas. “People are just horrified that there’s been no justice for survivors, but instead you have this cover-up.”

Listen to interviews like this and more on the MeidasTouch Podcast. Click here now!

The controversy was particularly difficult to ignore in Dallas. Epstein survivors who attended the Republican convention said they were kicked out despite having credentials and said they had not attempted to disrupt the event. Meanwhile, Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed the convention and declared that the administration would hold child traffickers accountable, while he is actively covering up for one of history’s most notorious sex traffickers and his sprawling network.

Garcia argued that Blanche should be focused on releasing additional Epstein records and pursuing accountability.

“Todd Blanche should be releasing the rest of the files,” Garcia said. “He should be focused on criminal convictions.”

Garcia also discussed efforts by foreign governments to investigate Epstein-related connections in their own countries, noting that the response abroad stood in stark contrast to the Trump regime’s handling of the matter at home.

“I think the Epstein files are just so emblematic of just the rot of what’s happening in this administration,” Garcia said. “They don’t care about justice.”

For Garcia, the Epstein controversy is also part of the oversight agenda Democrats say they would pursue if they regain control of the House. As the top Democrat on Oversight, Garcia would be positioned to lead the committee if his party takes the majority.

Garcia told Meiselas Democrats have a “huge agenda on oversight” that would include investigations into the administration, ICE, corporations and what he described as Trump family corruption.

The message from Garcia in Dallas was clear that the Epstein fight is not going away, and control of the House could dramatically change the congressional investigation into the files.

Watch Ben’s full conversation with Rep. Robert Garcia above as they discuss the Epstein files, the survivors demanding answers and what could happen if Democrats take control of the House.

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McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, told Meiselas that the United States is now “worse off” across virtually every major measure of foreign policy.

“Most certainly when it comes to America’s standing in the world, America’s reputation in the world, the polls on that are overwhelming,” McFaul said. “We have just crashed at the time that China is rising.”

Listen to interviews like this and more on the MeidasTouch Podcast. Click here now!

The conversation turned to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s recent trip to Moscow and Kyiv, which came amid Trump’s attempts to negotiate an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

McFaul said he supports efforts by the United States to end the war but argued that Trump has failed to develop an effective strategy.

“He just keeps appeasing Putin,” McFaul said. “He just keeps giving Putin gifts expecting nothing in return.”

McFaul was particularly critical of Witkoff’s approach to the Russian leader. Having dealt directly with Putin during his time in government, McFaul said attempts to win him over through personal praise can have precisely the opposite effect.

“Flattery for him is a sign of weakness,” McFaul said.

McFaul also criticized the way Witkoff has spoken about Putin, including describing the Russian leader as trustworthy during his visit to Kyiv.

“Somehow Witkoff believes if he checks his values at the door and flatters Putin, he’s going to achieve results,” McFaul said. “It just doesn’t work that way.”

The former ambassador then zoomed out to what he sees as a larger problem with Trump’s foreign policy: the personalization of decisions that historically would have been made through a broader national security process.

“I’ve never seen anything like this or studied anything like this,” McFaul said. “It’s just about what Trump thinks and what Trump believes.”

McFaul spoke about how the consequences extend well beyond Russia and Ukraine. He pointed to tensions with Canada and other longtime allies while warning that China stands to benefit from uncertainty about whether the United States can still be considered a reliable partner.

“What I see with our allies is doubt whether we are reliable,” McFaul said, describing countries in Europe and Asia as increasingly considering alternatives in case they can no longer depend on Washington.

And when Meiselas asked whether Trump’s erratic approach was making the United States appear weak internationally, McFaul’s answer was direct.

“Yes. Tragically, yes.”

Watch Ben’s full conversation with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul above as they discuss Putin, Ukraine, Trump’s foreign policy and America’s rapidly changing position on the world stage.

Consider joining now as a paid subscriber if you haven’t yet to support independent media.

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Here’s what we’re tracking right now:

• Massive protests greet Trump in Dublin

• Trump’s press conference chaos in Ireland on Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Ireland

• The Houthis mock Trump after gaining control over the Red Sea coast

• Saudi Arabia’s pipeline was attacked again as Houthis advance on Marib

• Trump continues to try to bribe voters with his lie about giving them money

• Republican Jon Husted’s Senate campaign is under fire after it was revealed a high-level staffer posted Nazi imagery

• Ted Cruz gets booed in Austin

Paid subscribers can watch Ben’s video report on today’s latest updates ad-free here:

Now lets get into it.

Trump’s Brutal Welcome In Ireland

Trump landed in Ireland, officially for meetings with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, but let’s be honest, the real reason he’s there is the Irish Open at his golf course.

The folks in Dublin didn’t seem too pleased about his arrival:

They didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for the guy.

Early reports say about 50K people hit the streets, carrying signs calling him a war criminal and accusing him of covering up the Epstein Files. The giant balloon caricatures floating above the crowd of Trump, Netanyahu, and Epstein made quite the splash.

Trump, despite being blocks away, of course claimed he hadn’t heard of any protests.

WTF Was That Press Conference?

Once Trump sat down with reporters, things got worse. He again said the Iran War would end “very soon, probably right after the midterms.” He was asked about the Saudi pipeline attack and said Iran was “probably” responsible. He absurdly claimed the Houthis called him personally to tell him how much they respect him and how they’ll let through U.S. ships peacefully. Houthi leadership responded almost immediately, with spokesman Hasan al-Assad calling Trump’s claims baseless and quoting an old proverb about kissing the hand you cannot break. Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi also released footage mocking the Saudi royal family, implying they used to dance for Trump like his puppets.

During the presser, Trump also again claimed that both Canada and Iran are now “begging” to make a deal. On Ireland, he said he’d love to see the island unified, breaking with decades of official U.S. neutrality on the issue. He suggested the UK might not have the resources to defend the Falkland Islands anymore (this while he’s quietly arming Argentina with Black Hawk helicopters). Trump continues to lash out at our (former?) allies for not jumping into his reckless and illegal war.

And In New Delhi…

While Trump was jeered in Dublin, Iran was getting treated like royalty at the BRICS summit in new Delhi. Iranian officials held direct talks with China’s foreign minister and Iran’s president was received with full honors alongside Xi Jinping, Putin, and Modi. BRICS leaders also announced a new payment system called BRICS Pay, aimed at reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar.

Running From Yemen

Saudi-backed forces are in full retreat across Yemen. Satellite imagery has now confirmed the East-West pipeline was hit in multiple locations, and Houthi forces are closing in on Marib, with some analysts suggesting the city could fall within days. A regional source told CNN this is “a Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions.”

A Few Other Things

Trump posted again about his $5,000 bribe, already blaming Democrats for saying it will never happen. The guy is a scam artist. A con man. News organizations should treat him accordingly.

In Ohio, Republican Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign has now fired its political director after WaPo found photos of him posing with Nazi SS imagery and following Waffen-SS reenactment accounts online.

Down in Austin, Sen. Ted Cruz was on ESPN for some reason at a College Gameday. He got brutally booed and the crowd broke out into “Ted Cruz sucks” chants live on television.

That’s the rundown for now. Thanks everyone for reading. Again, Shana Tova to everyone celebrating the new year this weekend. Wishing everyone health, peace, and sweetness ahead. Enjoy your Saturday, and remember to subscribe now to this Substack as a paid subscriber if you haven’t yet to support our work.

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Host: Joe Plenzler

Guest: Graeme Wood (The Atlantic)

EPISODE OVERVIEW

For nearly twenty-five years, American foreign policy has operated under a single foundational premise: that Osama bin Laden deliberately drew the United States into a prolonged ground war in Afghanistan to bleed our military and economy dry on an “anvil” of endless occupation.

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What if our fundamental premise about Al-Qaeda’s grand strategy was wrong from day one?

In this episode of Meidas Defense, host Joe Plenzler sits down with Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State, to re-examine the true legacy of 9/11. Drawing from captured documents in Abbottabad and decades of boots-on-the-ground reporting, Graeme reveals how bin Laden actually expected the American public to rise up and withdraw from the Middle East—not stay and occupy it.

Joe and Graeme unpack how Washington repeatedly mistook its own institutional blunders for the tactical genius of its enemies, the stark operational contrast between Al-Qaeda and Iran’s IRGC, and whether “Al-Qaeda Core” is effectively a defunct podcast operating out of Iranian safe houses—or still a lethal threat to the West.

KEY TAKEAWAYS & TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00] – Intro & The 9/11 Myth
  Joe Plenzler sets the stage: Did bin Laden actually plan to trap America in Afghanistan, or did Washington rewrite history after its own strategic missteps?

• [02:15] – The Abbottabad Revelations: Bin Laden’s Actual Intent
  Graeme Wood breaks down the captured bin Laden papers, explaining why bin Laden expected an anti-war movement to collapse the U.S. government—and how he pivoted only after the invasion occurred.

• [05:03] – “Bozo Cutouts” vs. Real Threat: Why Iran Exercises Restraint
  Comparing terrorist networks to state actors: How the IRGC demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of American public opinion by avoiding high-visibility homeland strikes that would trigger full-scale war.

• [08:12] – “Strategic Morons” & The Bureaucratic Mismatch
  Why bin Laden ruined his own greatest asset (Taliban-controlled Afghanistan) and how the U.S. military attempted to impose hyper-bureaucratic warfare on tribal societies.

• [10:45] – Defunct Has-Beens vs. Peripheral Threat
  Is Al-Qaeda Core dead? Analyzing scholars Thomas Hegghammer and Cole Bunzel’s theory that Al-Qaeda’s central leadership is reduced to issuing podcasts from safehouses, while regional affiliates like Al-Shabaab and JNAM hold real power.

• [13:20] – The Jihadist Split: Governance vs. Apocalyptic Terror
  Comparing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s self-destructive ISIS model with former Al-Qaeda commander Ahmad al-Sharaa in Syria, who renounced global jihadism to seek political power and Western diplomatic recognition.

• [16:40] – Bearing Responsibility: Stop Making the Enemy 12 Feet Tall
  Graeme’s final message on the anniversary of 9/11: Why Americans must take responsibility for their own policy mistakes rather than building adversaries up into diabolical geniuses.

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NOTABLE QUOTES FROM GRAEME WOOD

“What bin Laden was actually hoping would happen was a popular uprising in the United States against the government that would cause America to leave the Middle East—not go to Southwest Asia and get bogged down.”

“One of the analytical failings we’ve had is succumbing to the temptation to see our errors as evidence of their genius. It’s more like they were strategic morons, and we often were, too.”

“If you wanted to join Al-Qaeda Core right now, you wouldn’t even know where to go. You wouldn’t know who to write to... There’s just not a lot of evidence right now that they are still a going operation, as opposed to just a defunct podcast.”

“We persuaded ourselves that we were fighting diabolical geniuses when in fact we ended up fighting a bunch of nincompoops... Which means that the many missteps that we had were really our own.”

RESOURCES & ARTICLES MENTIONED

• Graeme Wood’s Article: “Did al-Qaeda Succeed?” (The Atlantic)

• Book Recommendation: The Bin Laden Papers by Nellie Lahoud

• Scholarly Perspectives: Works by Thomas Hegghammer (Oxford) and Cole Bunzel (University of Texas at Austin)

• Book Mention: Armed Humanitarians by Nathan Hodge

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

What do you think of Graeme Wood’s analysis? Did America’s strategic errors in the War on Terror stem from overestimating Al-Qaeda’s genius? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

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… Terry Strada, one of the speakers at the NYC event, surprised everyone when she unloaded on Trump’s and Jared Kushner’s biggest foreign business partner - the Saudis:

• “My husband, Tom Strada. You are missed more with each year that passes. But, how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder. Yes, we finally made it into a court and have proved that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamists hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones.

• But, for 25 years admin after admin, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families. They withheld evidence, they broke promises, both public and private, it’s been on betrayal after another. Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying.”

… Trump took questions from reporters outside Day 2 of the RNC convention in Dallas:

• Q: “How will you pay for the $5000 checks? Trump: Out of growth. We have tremendous growth. Q: Are you worried about it impacting the deficit? Trump: No.”

… GDP growth is putrid.

• Q: “Oil prices have shot back up-- Trump: Prices will drop very rapidly as soon as we win the military conflict or war. You can call it whatever you want. There’s no cost-cutter like me. I think it’ll end shortly after the election. Q: How can you be sure? Trump: I’m pretty sure.”

… He’s been saying that for 7 months. They keep going up.

• Q: “On the checks, we have $40 trillion in debt. If your economic policies are working, why do you need an incentive for people to turn out to vote? Trump: I’m doing it as a reward for people having to put up for 4 years of a horrible situation caused by Biden.”

• Q: “You also offered tariff refund checks-- TRUMP: Not you. (to ABC reporter Rachel Scott) Not you. Q: And that didn’t happen. Q - Those checks didn’t happen— Trump: Not you! You’re the worst!”

… Newsweek: “Trump snapped at ABC‘s Rachel Scott as she attempted to ask questions about his proposed stimulus payments and tariff refund checks. Video of the exchange, filmed on the tarmac before Trump‘s departure from Dallas, quickly spread across social media, putting a spotlight once again on Trump’s often-combative relationship with female members of the press.”

… “While the president has a long history of clashing with journalists of all backgrounds, several of his most high-profile confrontations during his second term have involved female reporters. The latest exchange with Scott comes after CNN’s Kristen Holmes was targeted by the WH’s Rapid Response 47 account following a question about Trump aide Natalie Harp.”

… Amy Tatum, a lecturer in communications and media at Bournemouth Media School: “This is not the first time that Trump has spoken in an aggressive way to a woman in her role as a journalist, and it is certainly not the first time we have seen him dismiss women.”

… Tatum: “He physically dismisses her with his hand gestures but then proceeds to take a step towards her and leans closer in order to get her to stop talking. This fits the pattern of his behavior, but it also represents a new, even more aggressive level of behavior.”

… Politico: “Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced Trump’s proposal to deliver $5,000 checks to Americans if Republicans hold their ground in the midterm elections, fearing the infusion of cash will only stir more inflation.”

… Desantis: “I don’t think you want to borrow another $1.5 trillion, and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation. That will lead to more debt and more inflation.”

… From Trump’s speech on the final night of the convention:

• He continued to call his TX senate nominee Ken Paxton ugly: “And then I said. ‘I don’t really like the way Ken talks.’ And then I said something that they really hated. I don’t really like the way he looks. I don’t know if he’s going to ever speak to me again—but you know, I don’t care as long as he wins.”

• “I don’t have to speak to him. He’s gonna vote the way we would vote. So I don’t have to speak to him.”

• “You know what happens if you don’t vote? You go to hell”

• He concluded by addressing the crowd with this: “Raise your right hand: I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the US that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way - I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell just like they do.”

… Gavin Newsom: “Trump just replaced the Pledge of Allegiance with a pledge of allegiance to himself. This November, the choice is yours on the ballot: America or Trump.”

… RFK Jr. also spoke at the event, where he said this about Trump: “I discovered a self-effacing man of superior intelligence, of empathy and compassion, with an encyclopedic grasp of the issues and in molecular detail. And most of all, a near reckless courage to challenge vested interests and official orthodoxies who cared about transparency in govt and free speech.”

… Good Lord. Junior’s speech was just filled with lies. So much so that CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale made this post on X:

• “RFK Jr. falsely claimed Democrats canceled their 2024 convention and didn’t let delegates vote on the nominee. There was a convention. Delegates voted for Harris.

• RFK Jr. falsely claimed Democrats closed every single church in the US for a year during the pandemic. Some Dem-run states did not forbid religious gatherings, while some GOP-run states did at least briefly.

• RFK Jr. falsely claimed Trump ended 9 wars. It’s not even true that Trump ended the 8 he cites himself.

• RFK Jr. baselessly claimed Democrats lost 360,000 migrant kids. Not what happened.

• RFK Jr. claimed the Trump admin has reversed a 30-year decline in longevity. Not clear what stat he’s citing, but US life expectancy rose for years, dropped briefly during the pandemic, then started to rebound in 2022 under Biden before hitting a new record high in 2024 under Biden.

… And that’s just a smattering of the checkable claims, many of which I don’t have time to check.”

… Trump was interviewed backstage by Fox:

• Q - “Have you talked to Thune or Johnson about this $5,000 dividend? Trump: There are a lot of people who think I don’t even need congressional approval because we’ve made so much money.”

• On James Talarico: “He’s a freaky guy. He has no respect for Jesus, no respect for religion. But all the sudden he’s a religious fanatic.”

• Q - “In one sentence, why do Republicans need to show up in the midterms? Trump: Communism.”

• Q: “The worst case is that AI will turn against humanity. Do we have guardrails? Trump: It’s going to be fine. We’ll always have something to stop them. We’ll have a little gear - boom. ‘I really don’t like that robot.’“

… Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI): “I am not sure he actually understands the extent of the risk or how quickly it is upon us or how uniquely responsible the American President is in a time like this.”

… Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Talarico:

• Kimmel: “Jesus has been co-opted by this MAGA enterprise that makes no sense. You bring it right back to the real teachings of Jesus and I think that is so powerful. Talarico: Jesus Christ is the most famous victim of identity theft. The kind of religion that says you can treat others any way you want if you have a personal relationship with Jesus is an abomination.”

Reminder there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I’m off Saturdays, but will be back with the next one on Sunday night to recap the entire weekend. Nothing too exciting for us tomorrow - heading down to the big city (Portland) to the docks to buy some lobster and seafood and then a few specialty shops for things we can’t get out here in small town Maine.

We are also going to see the new movie about Anthony Bourdain. I saw that the whole thing was filmed in Provincetown and I grew up on Cape Cod, and I loved Anthony, so should be cool.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Meanwhile, more bad economic news for Republicans heading into the midterms.

… CNBC: “Prices for a wide swath of goods and services continued to climb in August, according to a report Friday that raises the specter of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike next week. The consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, putting the 12-month increase at 3.4%.”

… “The report is the final major inflation indicator the Fed will see before it holds its policy meeting next week, concluding Wed with a vote on its key interest rate.”

… “Traders responded to the numbers by ramping up bets that the Fed will increase its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. Energy propelled the headline number higher, as gas prices jumped 3.9%. The energy index broadly rose

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Today marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It is a somber day and a reminder of the horrifying terrorist attack on our country that truly changed our world forever.

As New Yorkers, this day always hits especially hard for my brothers and me. I still have vivid memories of September 11, 2001. I was just 11 years old and in middle school when an announcement came over the loudspeaker that planes had hit the towers. Nobody truly knew what it all meant, and the school did its best to keep everyone calm, not revealing the full extent of what had happened just around 50 miles away in Manhattan.

Occasionally, students were called out of their classrooms. We would soon learn that some of their parents had been in the towers when the planes struck. Their lives were changed forever.

Even when I returned home from school that day, I still didn’t understand the full scope of what had happened—until I turned on the television and saw the images that are forever etched in our collective memory. I immediately worried about my own father, who was working in the city that day, though farther uptown. I called him and was relieved to hear that he was safe and out of harm’s way. So many others in my community were not as fortunate.

Today, I want to take a moment to remember all those we lost: the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, friends, first responders, and countless others whose lives were taken that day.

Now let’s get to today’s news.

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Here’s what we’re tracking today:

• The 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, marked with ceremonies at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and Shanksville

• Trump appearing to fall asleep during the Pentagon ceremony, then using his speech to tie 9/11 to the Iran war

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “judgment day” remarks and his false claim that the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz

• 9/11 family member Terry Strada publicly calling out the U.S. government over Saudi Arabia’s role in the attacks

• Mayor Zohran Mamdani shaking Rudy Giuliani’s hand after Giuliani compared him to the hijackers

• The Houthis seizing effective control of the entire Yemeni Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in a matter of hours

• A drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s main oil pipeline, and continuing damage to Qatar’s LNG production

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling Iran a “cornered and wounded animal” while U.S. bond yields hit multi-decade highs

• August inflation coming in hotter than expected, and consumer sentiment cratering

• New FOIA records showing Kash Patel obsessing over a Twitter account called Retard Finder

• Reporting that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool disaster was caused by the contractor’s own mistakes, per their own admission, not “vandals,” as Trump has repeatedly claimed

• Trump’s RNC convention loyalty pledge, his blow-up at ABC’s Rachel Scott, thousands of empty seats, and an attendee calling for a Democratic Senate candidate to be shot

• Joe diGenova abruptly resigning from the DOJ’s “grand conspiracy” investigation

Let’s get into it…

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Trump Fell Asleep at the Pentagon, Then Woke Up to Sell You a War

Today is the 25th anniversary of September 11th, and Donald Trump’s face went sideways before his speech did. He was at the Pentagon ceremony with Melania, Pete Hegseth, and General Dan Caine, and there are images circulating right now of him appearing to nod off, his head drooping, while the names of the 125 people killed at the Pentagon and the 59 passengers on Flight 77 were being read.

Then he gave his speech, and it turned into an excuse to talk about himself and to justify the catastrophic war in Iran that he started. Reminder: he didn’t attend the 9/11 memorial in NYC reportedly because organizers wouldn’t let him give a speech. That proved to be a good call.

At the DC memorial, Trump said, “We salute the service members working right now to ensure the world’s number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.” Iran had nothing to do with September 11th. You know who did have something to do with it? Saudi Arabia. That’s who was actually connected to this day, and that’s the country Trump has spent his entire political and personal careering buddying up and doing business with.

He kept going: “We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today. We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory.” No. This was a war of choice. You had a choice not to bomb a girls’ school in Minab, not to blow up a wedding, and not to wreck the global economy with a war nobody asked you to start except Netanyahu. Using a day when nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered to sell your own war is beyond insensitive. It’s demeaning. Plus, selling an illegal war of choice in the Middle East by warning against nonexistent Weapons of Mass Destruction feels a little on the nose on a day like this.

Then Hegseth got up and said, “We control the strait. We will finish this fight.” We don’t control the Strait of Hormuz. And as for the other strait that matters right now, the Bab el-Mandeb, that’s now controlled by Iran’s allies, the Houthis, who just took over more than 3,000 square kilometers of western Yemen in the span of 24 hours. I’ll get to that in a minute because it’s the real story of the day, and maybe the week.

Hegseth also said, “Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11.” And then he closed with this: “The struggle against evil continued, and it continues now. It will continue until Judgment Day.” These people cannot stop connecting a war they chose to start in Iran to religious themes and an attack Iran had nothing to do with.

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In NYC, A Mother Confronts the Government Over Saudi Arabia

While Trump was at the Pentagon, the ceremony in New York brought together four living former presidents, their spouses, Vice President Vance, Mayor Mamdani, and Rudy Giuliani, with a musical tribute from Yo-Yo Ma and the reading of nearly 3,000 victims’ names. For the first time, organizers added a seventh moment of silence for the first responders and residents who’ve died in the years since from illnesses tied to the attacks. That toll is real and it’s still climbing, including roughly 6,000 people now, and the FDNY just added 36 more names to its memorial wall.

A moment I found particularly powerful came from Terry Strada, speaking directly to her late husband Tom. She said it’s been 25 years and there’s still no justice for the role Saudi Arabia played in his murder. She said the family won in court, proving the Saudi kingdom fomented a culture of anti-American terrorism and supported the hijackers who carried it out. And then she said this, looking at the people on stage in front of her: for 25 years, administration after administration chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with 9/11 families. They withheld evidence. They broke promises. She told Trump he can still change that, and told him to tell the Saudis to stop lying.

And on a smaller but telling note… Mayor Mamdani, who Giuliani has spent recent weeks trashing, including comparing him to the hijackers themselves and saying he shouldn’t even attend, showed up anyway and shook Giuliani’s hand. Giuliani wasn’t such a tough guy when he came face to face with the NYC mayor. Mamdani also put out his own statement this morning honoring the 2,753 people lost and the New Yorkers who lined up for hours to give blood, who opened their homes to strangers, who carried colleagues down the stairs and went back up for more.

The Biggest Story of the Day/Week

The Houthis just took effective control of one of the most important shipping chokepoints on the planet, one we’ve been warning you about for months at the MeidasTouch Network.

In the past 24 hours, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces withdrew from Perim Island, which sits at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That means the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, now hold every point on the Yemeni side of the strait from the Red Sea coast down to the crossing itself. In under a day they took more than 3,000 square kilometers, including Mocha, Dhubab, Zuqar Island, and Perim. Some parts of that strait are as narrow as 3 kilometers wide.

Combine that with Iran’s continued leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran and its allies now have real influence over something like 30 to 40 percent of the world’s oil supply. Al Jazeera is reporting the Houthis have now swept the entire Yemeni Red Sea coastline. Compare that to what Trump posted a year and a half ago, bragging that the Houthis had been “decimated” by relentless U.S. strikes and would never threaten shipping again. Today’s Guardian headline is the opposite of that: the Houthis just took the port of Mocha as part of a drive for full control of the coast.

On top of that, Saudi Arabia’s main oil pipeline got hit by drones this week, reportedly launched from Iraq, at the same time Saudi oil production has dropped to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Qatar’s LNG production took damage from an earlier Iranian strike that could take three to five years to repair. Europe is heading into winter with gas storage well below where it was last year. Gulf states are now reportedly meeting directly with Iran on Monday to work out their own arrangement for managing the strait, without the U.S. involved at all. That’s the story. The rest of the world is quietly deciding that Washington doesn’t have a central role to play in solving this anymore, because it can’t.

Bessent Calls Iran “Losers”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on right-wing media this week and called Iran “a cornered and wounded animal,” said it’s “the last gasp of the dying regime,” and said the Iranians are “just a bunch of losers” who are “comical” to him. This is the same guy who promised an “economic D-Day” against anyone helping Iran, and then watched China, Russia, and Pakistan all announce they’d keep helping Iran anyway.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, responded directly, saying Bessent has been “gleefully boasting about wanting to impoverish Iranians and collapse our economy,” while instead “he stands powerless and exposed as the world loses belief in the U.S. financial system.” He’s not wrong about the numbers. The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield is sitting at its highest level since 2007. Araghchi also pointed to comments from the acting Navy Secretary, Hung Cao, who told the Epoch Times that Iran “blew the hell out of Bahrain,” referring to damage at the Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters. Araghchi’s response: “We appreciate the candor.”

The Economy Is HOT!!! (If You’re Referring to Inflation)

August inflation came in hotter than expected. CPI rose 3.4 percent year over year, with prices jumping 0.4 percent in the month of August alone, up sharply from July’s 0.1 percent. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, also ran above expectations. Higher gas prices accounted for about a third of the increase, but shelter, restaurant meals, transportation, and vehicle prices all climbed too. Wages grew just 3.1 percent over the same period, meaning inflation has now wiped out whatever wage gains workers had since April.

On top of that, preliminary consumer sentiment for September fell to 47.8, well below the 51 economists expected, while year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 4.6 percent. Stocks are still hanging near record highs, but as one market analyst pointed out this week, without the AI boom the S&P 500 would likely be 50 percent lower right now, and without the spike in oil prices it would be well above 9,000.

Trump’s Reflecting Pool Lies Get Called Out Again

Remember when Trump kept insisting vandals with knives and box cutters were behind the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s new blue liner? The Justice Department already quietly dropped the charges against the people it accused of doing that. Now the New York Times is reporting that the contractor itself told the administration the real cause was its own mistakes: a rushed, untested repair plan that mixed two incompatible chemicals and skipped proper application of the adhesive in places. The whole renovation was a no-bid contract designed in part by the general manager of one of Trump’s own golf clubs, rushed to finish before the July 4th anniversary. The government paid that contractor nearly $15 million for the work. Vandals didn’t do this. Trump’s own rushed, favor-driven contracting process did. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitted this weeks ago in her dismissal filing (much to Trump’s chagrin). Now, the company has come clean as well.

WTF Was That Convention?!

I already told you about the loyalty pledge Trump made supporters recite in Dallas this week, hands raised, swearing he’s the greatest president in history and promising to “cheat like hell” for him in November, followed by his warning that nonvoters “go to hell.” That happened. Go watch it if you haven’t.

What I want to add is what happened as he was leaving Dallas. He lunged toward ABC’s Rachel Scott on the tarmac, cutting her off mid-question about his $5,000 dividend promise, snapping “not you, not you, not you, you’re the worst.” This isn’t new for him and Scott. Back in May he called one of her questions stupid and called her a “horror show.” Trump didn’t just insult her verbally, he physically stepped toward her while she was still talking.

Meanwhile, NPR is reporting what a lot of us could see with our own eyes: the convention had thousands of empty seats both nights, including almost the entire upper level, even as Trump insisted the arena was “packed.”

And separately, and this should get more attention than it’s gotten: an attendee at that same convention was recorded shouting “he should be shot” three times while Ted Cruz was speaking about Mamdani and Democratic Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico. Cruz didn’t react to it in the moment. This came shortly after Cruz himself had told the crowd that political hate contributed to the assassination attempts on Trump and the killing of Charlie Kirk last year.

Joe diGenova Is Out

Joe diGenova, the 81-year-old Trump loyalist put in charge of the DOJ’s sprawling “grand conspiracy” investigation into officials who scrutinized Trump going back to 2016, abruptly resigned this week. He hadn’t worked as a prosecutor in decades before taking this job. The investigation has produced dozens of subpoenas and zero criminal charges in a year. Sources say he’d lost the confidence of both the White House and DOJ leadership, accused of slow-rolling and chasing rabbit holes, and reportedly clashed directly with Attorney General Todd Blanche. Asked about it, diGenova pushed back, saying “if you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.” Even by this regime’s standards, that’s a remarkable thing for the guy running the investigation to say on his way out the door. diGenova is as crazy MAGA as it gets. If what they are doing is too unethical for him, then, wow… One can only imagine the corruption happening behind the scenes.

That’s where things stand today. Thanks for reading. Remember to join today as a paid subscriber if you havent’ yet. And if you want the full story of how democracy got here and how we take it back, our new book, WTF America, is available for pre-order right now. See below for the latest deals on the book (one ends today!)

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… NYT: “The photos plastered in the hallways were all of Trump. Jackets were bedazzled with his name. And the red hats dotting the audience on the floor of the convention hall were embroidered with MAGA, his indelible political slogan. And yet, the president and his Republican allies spent more time whipping up fears about the specter of socialism, communism and even anarchy than they did trumpeting the successes of his admin.”

… “As they took the stage at the party’s unusual midterm gathering in Dallas, amid growing Republican anxiety about the midterm elections, speaker after speaker focused on what they characterized as an urgent threat to American life: a Democratic Party they claimed had veered beyond its traditional liberal principles into a dangerous, un-American ideology.”

… “Democrats running for Congress were ‘evil.’ They were ‘communists and anarchists.’ And they wanted to turn the country into ‘a socialist hellscape.’ Trump has long been a master of the politics of fear, regularly stoking anxiety about immigration and crime. Now, as his party faces its most difficult political environment in years, the president and his supporters are attempting - once more - to channel fear into electoral victory.”

… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to the crowd: “The radical left is relentless in their pursuit to remake America in the image of every socialist hellscape of the last century - to import the misery of failed workers’ paradises like the Soviet bloc, Caracas and Havana.”

… By the time Trump took the stage, at the end of the evening, the narrative of Democratic extremism had been woven into nearly every aspect of the 6-hour program. Trump:

• “They want to take away health care for veterans. They want to steal your money for reparations. Our country doesn’t have that kind of money. They have the money for $5000 but they don’t have that kind of money. They want to punish you for crimes that happened a hundred years ago. They want to give it to the people who hate our country.”

• "If the Republicans win the House and Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the US for $5,000. We're making a fortune. So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump Dividend. Congratulations."

• "You have a neighboring state - New Mexico. We think it should be called New America. New America! The people love the idea."

• "I think we should call the Hormuz Strait the Trump Strait. I should get something out of it. The Trump Strait."

• "Oil will be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran."

• "Canada very much wants to make a deal. They're dying to make a deal. But it's gonna be called Lake America."

• “Whether it's wine, champagne, cars - everybody's got a weak spot. I won't tell you what my weak spot is.”

• “Do I get credit for building a ballroom with my money? I’m the only one. I’m building the ballroom with no tax money. Zero tax dollars for the ballroom. But I get criticized. I’m giving you a ballroom free of charge.”

• "We'll pass the Great Healthcare Plan to stop all govt payments to the big insurance companies and give the money directly to the people for you to go out and buy your own healthcare. You'll get much better healthcare and have money left over for yourselves.”

• "Vote Republican and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come."

… The part of the speech that got the most attention was his promise to hand out checks for $5,000 to every American, but only if Republicans win. I posted this on X this morning, which went viral:

• “Last year, Trump promised $5,000 stimulus checks from DOGE cuts. You got 0. Trump promised $2,000 stimulus checks from tariffs. You got 0. Trump promised $1,000 checks from Obamacare cuts. You got 0. Trump promised $1.98 gas. You got $4+ gas. But now Trump now has more false promises.”

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) replied to my post: “‘Mexico will pay for the wall!’ Mexico paid nothing.”

… Axios: “It’s not the first time the president has suggested some sort of rebate for Americans from his admin’s policy actions. In July 2025 and again in Oct 2025, he proposed the possibility of tariff rebate checks of up to $2,000. Before that, in Feb 2025, Elon Musk floated the idea of $5,000 dividend checks from DOGE savings, an idea Trump later backed. None of those were ever issued.”

… “There are about 245 million adult US citizens. Giving each of them $5,000 would cost $1.2 trillion.”

… Former House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good: “Sadly, most ‘conservatives’ don’t even know (or care) that the president doesn’t have the constitutional authority to spend money, or send out ‘dividend’ checks without Congress. But he said last night ‘only I can do it.’ Will post-conservative Republicans also try to defend Trump’s $5K ‘dividend’ socialist vote-buying scheme that would cost $1 trillion?”

… Palantir co-founder and Republican mega-donor Joe Lonsdale, who hosted a party with Don Jr. after the convention: “For the record, I am hugely in favor of winning the midterms, and love much about this admin, but am strongly against bread and circus bribes.”

… Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) was asked if he supported the scheme: “I would like to know how they would plan to pay for it - well over $1 trillion.”

… Politico: “The payout, which would need to be approved by Congress, would dwarf the amount distributed during the Covid pandemic and likely explode the deficit. Trump did not detail how the checks would be financed - only that the money would be limited to citizens and required to be spent in the US.”

… A GOP operative expressed skepticism, calling it “a desperate attempt to change the political mood.”

… “If the president followed through on such a plan, it would likely worsen inflation by further boosting consumer spending and supporting higher prices, which are already elevated due to the war in Iran. The dividend could also exacerbate a rise in longer-term borrowing costs for the US govt, which have been going up in part on fears the federal debt is growing unsustainable.”

… Fox contributor Jessica Tarlov on the MeidasTouch podcast with Ben: "Trump did have a platform, right? That's how he used to campaign. And now he just is like, ‘I'll pay you to like me. I know I can't get you to like me for any other reason, so I'm going to put cash in your hand.’”

… Fox host Bret Baier interviewed JD Vance after the speech: Q - “$5000 for every adult citizen, that's about $1.3 trillion. The critics will say the president is bribing voters and he's bankrupting the country. Vance: Tariffs have generated a lot of revenues. The president is saying, if you keep us in power, then you will share in some of the benefit of this incredible wealth that we are creating.”

… Vance’s answer was hit with a fact-check Community Note on X: “Annual tariff revenue (under $300B) cannot fund a $1.3T payout, and distributing funds requires congressional approval. Previous cash dividend promises were also never delivered, including the 2025 DOGE dividend and proposed $2,000 tariff rebates.”

… Nandita Bose, WH correspondent for Reuters: “FACT CHECK: Trump keeps talking about the arena being full and obsessing over capacity. It isn’t. The upper decks are empty, large stretches of the side sections remain sparsely filled, and even with Trump onstage the arena is clearly not at capacity.”

… Sen. John Fetterman recorded a video that was played at the convention where he praised Trump for helping the steel industry as well as Republican Dave McCormick, who he called a “great senator.” He told the Washington Sun after that he isn’t leaving the party: "I'm a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party-and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on."

(NOTUS just changed their name to Washington Sun)

… Irish Star: “Grindr, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ dating app, reportedly went down as the RNC’s midterm event began on Wed. According to Downdetector, the app reported several outages just as the event kicked off in Dallas ahead of the speech of Trump. The highest number of reported outages appeared to occur in and around the Dallas area.”

… Former Republican NY Congressman George Santos called the RNC the ‘Grindr Super Bowl’ in a video posted to X. “Let me tell you something, just come out the closet, boys. Come on, it’s fun! You can be gay and conservative.”

… Democrats reacted to the convention at an event called ‘Fighting for an Affordable America’ that they held in Dallas to counter-program the RNC:

• Kendal Scudder, Chair of the TX Democratic Party: “The ramblings of an old man in a half-empty auditorium changed the minds of zero people.”

• Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA): “Republicans are obsessed with socialism and lying to the American public. We're focused on lowering the cost of gas, the groceries, and the food. And so, anyone that wants to be a part of that coalition, jump on board.”

• Garcia: “Trump is a known liar. This is the biggest liar to ever serve in govt. The dividend is not happening. He promised a dividend on the tariffs. That didn't happen. He promised a dividend on DOGE. That didn't happen. He promised some strange new dividend from Air Force One. That never happened.”

• Garcia: “There’s a group of Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors that are here in Dallas, and they’ve opened the Trump Epstein reading room here, which I had a chance to visit yesterday. And the survivors are saying that they are also disgusted that Todd Blanche is out there giving speeches while refusing criminal convictions, while refusing to release the rest of the files.

• Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA): “You can take a look at the arena last night and you can see the empty seats. He is weak. His numbers are plummeting.”

• Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA): We have an opportunity to win in Nov and we will have both the power of the purse and the power of the gavel, and it is so important that people see us delivering for the American people in both of these ways: holding folks accountable - dragging these thieves into our committees.”

• Q: “What specific policies are you going to bring foward? Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO): “We need to end this war which is costing now hundreds of billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs. We need to stop the corruption. Ending the trade wars. Repair the damage to our healthcare system.”

• Dean was asked about Fetterman’s video: “I was disappointed with that stunt. What we have seen in his service as a senator is something very different than what I got to know. We can see in his work ethic that he's just not present. He doesn't participate.”

… Politico: “Senior Turning Point USA leaders were ‘livid’ when they first learned the convention was scheduled to take place on the anniversary of the killing of founder Charlie Kirk, according to two people familiar with the group. TPUSA was given no advance notice and weren’t consulted about the dates.”

… “Vance plans to call into ‘The Charlie Kirk Show’ during its live broadcast today to mark the anniversary. The call will come as many of TPUSA’s top brass skip the convention, including Kirk’s longtime right-hand man, Andrew Kolvet, who won’t be using their massive platform to amplify the convention’s message.”

… Kolvet: “I personally made the decision. I want to remember Charlie here, inside his studio and on the campus that he built. I want our influencers and our contributors to come here and be a part of remembering Charlie.”

… One Republican close to the Trump WH: “It’s a huge missed opportunity. This week we should be laser focused on two things: commemorating the run-up to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and hammering the Democrats in the run-up to 9/11 - not a half-assed convention.”

… MS NOW: “A few weeks ago, Trump announced a controversial new policy, seemingly out of nowhere: The president declared his intention to import foreign beef without imposing a tariff and below current market prices. The news was not widely applauded. The American beef industry wasn’t pleased, and neither were Republican lawmakers from Western and Midwestern states.”

… Eric Schlosser in a NYT OpEd:

• “If American consumers knew where that beef was coming from, they might not want to eat it. The cuts of meat covered by Trump’s proclamation aren’t fresh sirloins, rib-eyes and filets. They’re lean beef trimmings that will be added to fattier American cuts to make ground beef.”

• “They’re small chunks of frozen meat that could have been kept in cold storage overseas for years. They are the quintessence of generic industrial meat, imported here to be subsequently processed in massive grinders that combine pieces of tens of thousands of cattle from multiple countries, mainly into fast food hamburgers.”

… Trump said most of the beef is coming from Brazil. Schlosser:

• “One of the worst food-safety scandals occurred in Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of beef. In 2017, the Brazilian federal police raided nearly 200 meatpacking plants after allegations that govt inspectors and politicians were being bribed to allow the sale of contaminated beef.

• “Rotten meat treated with ascorbic acid and other chemicals to mask the contamination had been sold to hospitals and schools in Brazil and also exported. Executives at the Brazilian company JBS, the largest beef producer in the world, later admitted to bribing inspectors.”

… On Sept. 1, the EU announced that it was suspending meat imports from Brazil after the ​South American country “failed to guarantee its compliance ‌with EU rules on the use of antimicrobial substances.”

… Me crossing beef off my shopping list …

… Axios: “The Trump admin is reshaping regulations to make data centers - and the fossil-fuel power fueling them - easier to build. The moves risk inflaming an already fierce and bipartisan backlash to data centers, the backbone of the AI boom. The EPA is considering a rule that could treat some temporary gas turbines as mobile equipment rather than stationary pollution sources, potentially making them easier to permit.”

… Natural Resources Defense Council’s John Walke, who is director of their clean air program: “We have been told by senior people at EPA that there is a pants-on-fire, hasty rulemaking proposal underway. It’s being driven squarely by concern for data centers.”

… This possible rule is on top of at least 3 others EPA has proposed or developed in the last year to ease permitting procedures or environmental regulations for AI infrastructure. The agency is proposing to:

• Eliminate federal minimum requirements for public participation in permits for smaller pollution sources, leaving those decisions to state and local regulators.

• Allow more construction to occur at data center sites before receiving permits.

• Exempt power plants not connected to the electric grid - an increasingly common way to power data centers - from the EPA’s Acid Rain Program, a landmark program restricting sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution.

After this is published, I get to suffer through another night of the Trumpalooza, this time featuring Mr. Charisma JD Vance with special guest Trump. Maybe Trump will offer to give everyone $10K tonight. I expect even more empty seats with Vance as the headliner.

RNC Chair Joe Gruters was hyping some “huge surprise guests” earlier this week on Fox. I guess that was Fetterman, whose one minute video had 14 cuts since he can’t read the script coherently that his Republican handlers wrote for him.

We had another great show yesterday on Uncovered, where we did a deep dive on Trump’s 9/11 stolen valor, Mamdani releasing evidence of Rudy’s 9/11 coverup, the moronic RNC convention disaster, Kushner and Witkoff’s disgraceful Russia trip, Canada trade war escalation, the latest Trump grifts and scams, and lots more. A link to the show is here. The last Bulletin is here.

Thank you to everyone who watches, reads, shares and subscribes!

… NYT: “Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander, 3 prominent brothers convicted of running a decades-long sex-trafficking scheme in NY earlier this year, have enlisted the lawyer Alan Dershowitz in their apparent pursuit of a pardon from Trump. They retained him

Read more

Top Stories We’re Tracking:

• Trump doubles down on his latest lie about a $5,000 “Trump dividend” and then also promises to give away $500 Obamacare “rebate” checks. Scammers gonna scam.

• PPI inflation jumps to 5.4% YoY, Treasury yields spike, oil spikes

• The Houthis seize the port city of Mokha and Zuqar Island, tightening their grip on the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait

• The very embarrassing and bizarre Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas

• The Supreme Court blocks the Missouri GOP’s gerrymandered map

• Jimmy Kimmel says the FCC threatened him over his interview with James Talarico, causing him to make it a YouTube only broadcast

• The U.S. is pressing NATO allies to abandon the International Criminal Court

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Thanks again to everyone who continues to preorder our book WTF America! If you ordered your copy recently, let me know in the comments.

There are a couple deals stores are offering for the book right now.

• We received word that Barnes & Noble is running a pre-order promo from 9/9-9/11, offering 25% off pre-orders for B&N members and an additional 10% off for Premium members with code PREORDER25.

• And Bookshop.org is offering 15% OFF + a free sticker with code WTF15 at checkout.

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Trump’s $5,000 Lie

It’s been another disastrous morning for Donald Trump. And as his back is increasingly against the wall with midterms fast approaching, he’s becoming increasingly desperate. Trump’s bringing back one of his favorite scams: offering to give people money they will never see. He announced last night in Dallas that if Republicans hold the House and Senate in November, he’ll cut every adult American a $5,000 check he’s calling a “Trump Dividend.” This morning, he followed that up with a video announcing $500 rebate checks for nearly a million people he says were “wrongly overcharged” under Obamacare.

This is his go-to move. See: DOGE checks, tariff rebate checks, giving everyone the gold “found” at Fort Knox. He Fox was forced to acknowledge on air that Trump has made these promises before and never delivered. He’s promised gas at $2/gallon. He promised electricity prices cut in half within 12 months. He promised he’d end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. He promised the Iran War would end within weeks. He’s a scam artist. A con man. Even Trump’s own former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney appeared on Fox Business and basically said don’t hold your breath on Trump’s latest lie, noting that the real cost of Trump’s $5,000 promise is around $1.3 trillion. That would not only increase the debt, but it’d also lead to massive inflation and even higher interest rates. Fox’s Bret Baier even pressed JD Vance on this, and Vance’s answer was nonsensical. He claimed that tariff revenue justifies it. It doesn’t. Remember: Trump’s been going around bragging that he could be the “best communist” in history because all he’d have to do is promise people free stuff and then never deliver it. He told you his plan.

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These Economic Indicators Are Brutal

Let’s look at the actual numbers. You know I am a data guy. PPI inflation just came in at 5.4% year-over-year, the highest reading of 2026, with core PPI coming in at 4.6%. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to nearly 4.92%, with the 30-year hitting a multiyear high around 5.33-5.35%. Both WTI and Brent crude are above $100/barrel and rising. The Treasury tripled its long-term bond buyback to $6B this week to try to calm the bond marker. It didn’t work. This is the bond market telling Scott Bessent it doesn’t believe him. And they see his moves for what they are: panic.

Contrast that to the tale Trump spewed on stage in Dallas, calling this “the most successful 2 years financially and every other way in the history of the presidency” and claiming tariffs are “making us much richer than we ever thought.” Nope. Pollster Harry Enten put together a graphic for CNN showing Trump’s net approval rating on the economy among independents has cratered 62 points lower than it was at this exact point in his first term back in 2018, and 2018 was already a bad midterm cycle for Republicans.

WTF Is Going On at the GOP Convention

Despite images of empty seats, closed down sections, and dismal streaming views, Trump took to his social media account to false claim the event broke attendance records and beat the NFL in ratings.

The event has been a mess so far. The podium sign that was supposed to read “DALLAS” had an “L” fall off, so it just read “DA LAS.” Ken Paxton and Tim Scott spent a large amount of time railing against Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico for once suggesting God is nonbinary, insisting over and over that God has a penis. They were very adamant about this. MAGA world has also constantly tried to attack Talarico as a vegan, which isn’t even true, and if it were, who the hell cares. How does any of this make people’s lives better in Texas? Trump made this a centerpiece of his speech when he wasn’t bribing voters, ranting about people “beating meat.” These people can’t govern. They’re presiding over one of the worst times in American history. So all they have are these weird distractions.

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Other weird moments:

• Rep. Anna Paulina Luna making her speech about the evils of people profiting from their office, as she stumped for Trump

• Trump’s HUD secretary trying to smack her on the butt as she exited stage

• Rick Scott framing the current crisis as a false binary: either we have nuclear annihilation due to Iran using a nuke, or you pay $6 for gas. Be happy, peasants.

Yemen and the Red Sea

While the domestic circus was happening, one of the most consequential events just occurred. The Iran-backed Houthis fully seized the port city of Mokha on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, along with Zuqar Island, with the IRGC providing direct guidance for their advance. Mokha sits right near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another major chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to global shipping lanes. I’ve been warning about this for months on the MeidasTouch Podcast, as many of you know.

To add, the Epoch Times interviewed Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, who confirmed something we’ve also been telling you for months: that Iranian strikes did serious damage to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, the Fifth Fleet's main logistical hub. Cao said the damage left the USS Abraham Lincoln's crew with nowhere to pull in. We haven’t heard any Trump officials admit to this damage before.

SCOTUS, the ICC, and Kimmel

The Supreme Court blocked Missouri’s newly drawn 7-1 gerrymandered congressional map from taking effect for the midterms. The order stayed (or paused) a Trump-appointed judge's ruling that had temporarily revived the gerrymander after Missouri's own state Supreme Court had already struck it down 7-0. That means Missouri goes back to its previous 6-2 congressional map for November, and notably, the order came down with no dissents noted.

Separately, POLITICO reported that the U.S. is pressuring NATO allies to withdraw support from the International Criminal Court, with envoy Matthew Whitaker reportedly telling allies “we will be watching closely who stands with America.”

And Jimmy Kimmel announced his interview with Talarico will not air on ABC, saying Trump's FCC threatened the network and its affiliates over what he called simple editorial decisions.

We’ll keep tracking all the news. Remember to take advantage of the deals on our book WTF America above before they go away. And join as a paid subscriber if you haven’t yet. Your subscriptions allow us to continue our work, so thank you.

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Podscribe estimates that The MeidasTouch Podcast generated approximately 95.4 million downloads and views per month, placing it first among all shows included in the ranking. The total represents a 9% increase and puts MeidasTouch ahead of some of the biggest names in podcasting, including The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Daily, and Crime Junkie.

“This milestone belongs to the Meidas Mighty,” said the Meiselas brothers, co-founders of MeidasTouch. “We built MeidasTouch from the ground up as a fiercely independent network, without billionaire owners or corporate gatekeepers. To now see The MeidasTouch Podcast ranked #1 in the industry is a testament to the extraordinary community that shows up every single day to support independent media.”

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The August ranking estimates The MeidasTouch Podcast at 95.4 million monthly downloads and views, compared with approximately 63.9 million for The Diary of a CEO, 48.5 million for The Joe Rogan Experience, and 34.8 million for The Daily.

The achievement marks another major milestone in MeidasTouch Network’s rapid growth into one of the largest independent media operations in the country. Founded by brothers Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas, MeidasTouch has built its audience around pro-democracy news, political analysis, legal coverage, interviews, and original reporting across YouTube, podcasts, social media, Substack, and MeidasTouch News.

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Radel confronted Homan outside the White House, pressing him about ICE arresting a father at a school bus stop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, while his teenage daughter was present.

“Should he be arrested in front of his 16-year-old daughter at the school bus stop?” Radel asked. Homan repeatedly responded that he was “not aware” of the incident, even as Radel pointed out that ICE itself had released a statement about the arrest.

Radel pressed Homan and did not let up. Did Homan consider a father who had lived in the United States for approximately 20 years, with no criminal history cited in their exchange, to be a significant national security threat?

Homan said no. But when Radel asked whether ICE would nevertheless remove him if agents found him, Homan responded, “Absolutely.”

Speaking afterward with MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas, Radel described what it was like confronting one of Trump’s most prominent immigration officials face-to-face.

Radel said Homan “didn’t offer much of a straight answer” to the specific examples he raised. According to Radel, the exchange ultimately exposed a much broader reality about the administration’s approach people it considers unlawfully present can still be targeted for removal even when they are not considered national security threats.

For Radel, however, the most revealing moment came at the very end.

“It was a three-minute clip, and I think his last three words were the most telling,” Radel told Meiselas.

Homan’s words, “So be it.”

Watch Ben Meiselas’ full conversation with Luke Radel above as he takes viewers behind the viral confrontation and explains what the exchange revealed about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.

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During the interview, El-Sayed took aim at Rogers’ relationship with Donald Trump and contrasted Rogers’ planned appearance at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas with the debate dispute. The Dallas gathering is heavily centered around Trump and his political agenda, and many Republican lawmakers are trying to stay as far away from the event as possible.

El-Sayed focused much of the conversation on Michigan’s economy, noting that Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war are increasing costs for families. He also slammed Trump’s trade war with Canada, a particularly significant issue for a border state whose economy is deeply connected to its northern neighbor.

“If you’re picking a trade war with Canada, it’s because you’re the asshole,” El-Sayed said, before mentioning that Rogers has supported Trump’s tariff policies.

But El-Sayed’s sharpest criticism came when Meiselas asked about the spectacle surrounding Trump’s presidency.

“He’s never been a serious person. He’s a carnival barker,” El-Sayed said. “What’s ironic is that there are a lot of people around him who pretend to be serious people and then take their orders from a carnival barker.”

El-Sayed specifically named Vice President JD Vance and Rogers, arguing that politicians who know better nevertheless defend Trump because “he has power and you want power.”

“Our politics should not be a sideshow and run by a clown,” El-Sayed said. “Our politics really are about life and death issues.”

El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, is running on proposals including Medicare for All, stronger unions, action against corporate concentration and restrictions on corporate money in politics. His economic-populist platform has become a defining feature of his general-election campaign.

Watch Ben’s full conversation with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed above as they discuss Michigan’s Senate race, Mike Rogers, Trump’s tariffs, the Iran war and the escalating fight over the cost of living.

Listen to more interviews and reports from MeidasTouch on the MeidasTouch Podcast.

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