Important Saturday Afternoon Updates – 8/1/26
Hi all, Ben here. It’s Saturday and somehow it is August 1st already. The past 24 hours have been pretty catastrophic for Donald Trump. I’m going to get into the latest updates in just a sec, but first I want to say… HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the AMAZING Katie Phang!!! We are so honored to have Katie on our team. She is a much-needed light in the darkness. Fearless. Heroic. We’re lucky we get to celebrate her not only today, but every day.
OK, now to the news…
Here’s what we’re tracking today:
Trump AGAIN lashes out at Senators Cornyn and Tillis over the stalled Todd Blanche attorney general confirmation
DOJ dismisses the fraudulent Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against David Hearn, admitting it was a botched contractor job all along
A top U.S. general warns the Pentagon there aren’t enough Navy destroyers left to keep defending Israel
Iran strikes two more tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia reroutes ships around Africa to avoid the Red Sea
U.S. and Israel reportedly preparing a joint bombing campaign on Iran’s energy infrastructure this weekend
New York Times confirms a U.S. 2,000-pound bomb killed a family of three on Iran’s Qeshm Island
Trump’s Board of Peace announces a Hamas disarmament deal, Israeli strikes follow almost immediately
Russia launches 35 missiles at Kyiv overnight, nine killed, interceptors running out
Suspected Iranian cyberattacks confirmed in at least seven states, Trump takes Iran’s side and blames Minnesota instead
UEFA tells FIFA president Gianni Infantino to resign or face a no-confidence vote
Amsterdam’s WorldPride Canal Parade mocks Trump and Putin with a kissing couple float
As a thank you, I’m opening up this recap to everyone today. One quick ask if you are able: if you find these recaps and our work valuable, consider joining now as a paid subscriber. This is a people-powered movement, and your support is what helps grow this network at a time when it’s needed most. So thank you to all our paid subscribers, and to everyone joining as a paid subscriber today! We are so grateful for the support.
Now let’s dig into all the news.
Trump’s Tantrum Over Blanche Continues
Donald Trump woke up this morning and took to Truth Social to whine. So yes, it’s a day that ends in “y.” Today, he’s lashing out AGAIN at Senators Cornyn and Tillis, who say they won’t confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Trump’s telling everybody it’s because they’re still mad he wouldn’t endorse them, since one lost and the other decided to quit rather than run again. So Trump says fine, I’ll just keep Todd as acting AG and keep the slush fund for my insurrectionist pals anyway.
I do want to highlight what’s probably the most nefarious aspect of Trump’s plan here. It’s dressed up as compensation for people supposedly “mistreated” by the Biden administration, but let’s be very clear about what it really does. It’s a vehicle for Trump himself. When Trump says “I get nothing,” that’s the tell that he’s getting everything. We’re talking about a potential waiver of tax investigations and audits into his own finances. With all of his schemes, that possibly covers BILLIONS of dollars in tax liability. The cash for January 6th insurrectionists, as horrifying at it is, is also a cover story for Trump to enrich himself.
Tillis said despite Trump insisting as recently as yesterday that this fund was dead, Trump clearly wants to resurrect the payout, whether through a new bogus fund or by strong-arming Congress into a bill most Senate Republicans don’t even support. Tillis says he hopes this gets resolved by Tuesday. Remember yesterday when Tillis blamed it on people “close” to Trump? Well, now he’s invoking Trump’s name directly. It’s always been Trump.
The Reflecting Pool Case Collapses
Remember all those weeks Trump spent screaming about vandals destroying the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool? Remember Jeanine Pirro going on Fox saying she personally saw yards of pool liner that had been cut, insisting someone was intent on doing incredible damage? Remember Secretary Burgum telling Dana Bash on CNN there were box cutters involved, that there’d been seven arrests?
In case you somehow don’t remember, we put together this brief montage. The truth is, this could’ve been an hour long if we included all the clips and posts made by Trump. All lies.
As we reported yesterday, the Justice Department has now moved to dismiss the indictment against David Hearn, the former U.S. Olympian canoeist they charges, and admitted in their own court filing that the damage was caused by a rushed, botched installation job by a contractor called Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The filing is absolutely damning. Weather delays, missed deadlines, a Quality Control inspector flagging blistering weeks before Hearn was ever arrested, an engineer’s email from June 11 explicitly describing peeling from overspray, all of it eight full days before Hearn was even detained near the pool. The Trump regime’s own motion says it’s difficult to attribute the widespread damage to vandalism, let alone prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
This is an outrageous abuse of prosecutorial power, and Pirro lied to the grand jury with the Park Police helping manufacture the case. A lot of smug pundits tried to brush the Reflecting Pool stories off as another case of people on the Internet overreacting. They couldn’t be more wrong. This was pathetic. Sick. Demented. And most of all, this was criminal. Trump and his entire regime were ready to throw an innocent man in prison rather than admit to their own shoddy work. They were using the weight of the United States government to do so. I know there are a lot of scandals to keep track of with this regime, but this has turned out to be quite frankly one of the single biggest presidential scandals in history.
Even MAGA sycophant Scott Jennings, of all people, said on CNN that Hearn should sue the Trump administration. That’s how cut and dry this is.
No Destroyers Left To Protect Israel
Per the Washington Post, General Alexus Grynkewich, the top U.S. commander in Europe, has privaetely warned the Pentagon that he no longer has enough Navy destroyers to keep protecting Israel from Iranian ballistic missiles while also covering other U.S. defense needs
We’ve been telling you about this guy for months on this network. Six months ago we showed you the video where he got a public warning out to his own superiors. Four months ago he testified before the Senate and was candid about the strain. Now here we are, and he’s trying to blow the whistle yet again. The destroyers are stretched thin across the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and around Iran, and maintenance issues have made things worse. On top of that, interceptor stockpiles, the SM-3s, the SM-6s, the THAAD systems, are all running low, and replenishment timelines stretch into years, not months.
Meanwhile, Trump leaked to CBS and other outlets that the U.S. is preparing to escalate, potentially with Israel in a joint bombing campaign against Iran’s energy infrastructure this weekend. We’ll be watching closely to see what happens.
Iran Keeps Hitting Tankers, Kuwait, And More
Two more tankers were struck in the Strait of Hormuz over the past day, one hit by an unidentified projectile off the coast of Oman that damaged its engine room, another rocked by an explosion nearby. Iran’s IRGC says it struck and stopped two tankers, with four others turning back rather than risk the same fate. This keeps happening because ships are trying to use a so-called “safe” southern route that the U.S. keeps insisting is protected. It is not protected. Iran can see it, and Iran keeps hitting it.
Meanwhile Kuwait’s army says Iranian drones struck several locations overnight, including areas near where the U.S. has HIMARS systems stationed. Kuwait almost never acknowledges these strikes, so the fact that they’re admitting it now tells you how serious it was.
And over in the Red Sea, at least six Saudi oil tankers have now rerouted entirely around Africa to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after Houthi threats specifically targeting Saudi-linked shipping. That adds about two weeks to every voyage. So while U.S. Central Command keeps insisting these waters are safe and under control, the shipping industry itself is telling you otherwise with its wallet.
On top of all that, the State Department has now told Americans across the entire Middle East to consider leaving the region or be ready to leave on short notice.
More War Crimes
The New York Times has now confirmed through visual investigation what we have been reporting. The U.S. dropped a 2,000-pound bomb, one of the largest in its arsenal, on a home on Qeshm Island, killing a husband, his wife, and their two-year-old son. The Times found no military site anywhere near that house. Not anywhere close. This is a war crime, plain and simple, and Iranian officials are already vowing retaliation, describing it as a continuation of what they call American atrocities in other Iranian towns. From the bombing of a girls’ school to this, the U.S. keeps killing innocent civilians throughout this war. Was AI used for targeting during this strike too? Are they using the same AI bots that they used for their map of Africa which mislabeled every single country and put them in a random order with no relation to reality? That’s why I don’t laugh off these “mistakes,” like when the U.S. mislabels a map because they used AI. Because they are using these systems to make decisions of life and death.
Another Fake Gaza Deal
Trump announced what he’s calling a historic agreement through his so-called Board of Peace for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, with Israeli forces set to withdraw in phases as it happens. Except almost immediately after the announcement, Israeli forces launched massive airstrikes on residential blocks in Gaza in the middle of the night. The Gaza Deal feels about as real as the Reflecting Pool vandal story.
Here’s a clip of the Israeli strikes in Gaza so you can see for yourself how real this new peace deal looks:
Kyiv Gets Hammered Overnight
Russia launched 35 missiles at Ukraine overnight, 27 of them ballistic, along with 185 attack drones. Only one ballistic missile was intercepted. The rest hit their targets because Ukraine simply does not have enough interceptors left. Nine people are dead, dozens injured, eighteen residential buildings damaged along with a school and the Lithuanian embassy.
A reminder… Trump and Putin spoke for ninety minutes on July 4th, America’s 250th anniversary. Afterward, Trump started dangling the idea of finally getting Zelenskyy a license to build Patriot interceptors domestically in Ukraine. Zelenskyy spent the better part of a month believing that was actually going to happen. Then Trump pulled it away. So while Ukraine is preparing to head into a brutal winter without the interceptors it needs, Russia is taking full advantage. Again, this is why you should never take Trump at his word. He will always screw you.
Suspected Iranian Hackers Hit Water Systems In Seven States, Trump Blames Minnesota
We covered this a bit yesterday, but I want to make sure you have all the latest info. Officials told the Wall Street Journal that suspected Iranian cyberattacks have now struck water infrastructure in at least seven states. The FBI issued a warning after roughly 30 water treatment plants in Minnesota were hit, forcing some utilities into manual operation and prompting boil-water notices. A memo obtained by WIRED ties the Minnesota attacks directly to Tehran.
Trump decided to take Iran’s side in all of this, and blamed Minnesota for being, in his words, grossly incompetent, insisting Iran has bigger problems to worry about. Governor Tim Walz shot back that Trump knows exactly who’s responsible and knows other states were hit too, calling it exactly what modern warfare looks like. Given that Iran has been targeting U.S. water and energy infrastructure for years now, across at least seven states, it would be nice if the president at least pretended to care about protecting U.S. citizens.
FIFA’s Infantino Facing Ejection
Gianni Infantino, Trump’s sycophantic buddy and the FIFA president who tried to help push through that scheme to sell off FIFA to private equity with the Kushner family attached, is now facing a reckoning of his own making. Yesterday, FIFA backed down on the plan after massive backlash. Now, UEFA has told him to resign or face a no-confidence vote that all 55 of its member federations are expected to support. UEFA only needs 43 votes to trigger it. Can’t believe the guy who gave Trump the FIFA Peace Prize would do this! (sarcasm)
Amsterdam Mocks Trump And Putin
Thousands turned out for WorldPride’s Canal Parade in Amsterdam, marking 25 years since the city hosted the world’s first legally recognized same-sex marriage. One float featured figures of Trump and Putin dressed in traditional Dutch clothing, posed as if kissing. Signs read “Make America Gay Again” and “Same Love, Same Rights.” Here’s a photo, for your enjoyment:
That’s the rundown for now. Let me know what you think about all of this in the comments. Again, please consider joining now as a paid subscriber to this Substack to help us grow. And if you haven’t already, preorder WTF America, the book I wrote with my brothers Brett and Jordy. It comes out in October, but preordering now genuinely helps us plan the rollout and the book tour, so if you’re able to, now’s the time.
Happy Birthday, Katie Phang!! You're my hero! Thank you for all you do. I'm so glad you're part of the MTN. The brothers must be so proud to have you! 🫶🏼
Amsterdam is filled with love!!