This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 422

… AP: “Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges. Prosecutors were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.”

… Daily Mail: “Andrew and Tristan Tate, the influencer brothers facing rape and sex-trafficking charges in the UK and Romania, spent the past several days in Washington as guests of Trump’s special envoy Paolo Zampolli. Zampolli, a former modeling agency boss who introduced Trump to Melania, confirmed that he hosted the Tate brothers at a house in DC on Wed for a summer soiree attended by around 150 guests.”

… Asked whether the event was connected to his State Dept role, Zampolli shot back: “Why would I do that? This was a summer gathering.” Zampolli said he wasn’t sure of the purpose of the Tates’ visit to the capital: “They’re having some business meetings.”

… “He also accompanied the infamous brothers on Tues to the Ned, the exclusive private members’ club near the WH which is a regular haunt for cabinet secretaries. The Tate brothers also made their way to Capitol Hill to rub elbows with Republican lawmakers. A photo obtained by DM shows the pair posing with TX Rep. Wesley Hunt in his congressional office.

… Source in Hunt’s office: “Wesley was beyond excited to meet with them.”

… Daily Mail: “The lawyer for the Tate brothers has told DM that Trump will support them after they were arrested in FL on an extradition warrant from the UK. Joseph McBride said that the President ‘hates political persecution and communism’ and this was an example of both. On the question of Trump’s support, McBride said: ‘Trump hates political persecution and communism’, referring to the actions of the British govt.”

… “As McBride understood it, a low level DOJ official signed off on the warrant and that DOJ leadership were not aware of it. McBride said the Tates were ‘100,000% contesting’ their extradition meaning the case will likely end up before a federal judge, and could drag on for months. Asked directly if he wanted Trump to intervene in the case, McBride said: ‘No comment’.”

… “The Tate brothers are reportedly friends with the President’s son Barron, who, according to a report in the NYT, ‘admires’ Andrew Tate and had a Zoom call with him in 2024. Donald Trump Jr has shown support to Andrew Tate and in June 2024 on a joint live stream on X, the President’s son told him: ‘You’ve got people attacking you as far as I’m concerned. They just want to silence you’.”

… AP: “The US military said that it carried out new airstrikes against Iran on Sunday to ‘swiftly punish’ the country’s Revolutionary Guard after an attack on a base in Jordan killed 2 American service members, left one missing and 4 requiring hospitalization. The strikes were designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to restrict the traffic of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.”

… “The new strikes came after the US military announced its first troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war, following a drone and missile attack on a base in Jordan on Friday. The dead were not identified, and Central Command didn’t offer any further details on the deaths.”

… “Since the war began, 16 US service members have been killed and over 430 wounded.”

… Pete Hegseth posted: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”

… Marge Greene responded: “Sacrifice?? What the fuck are you talking about?? They did not willingly sacrifice themselves. They were killed because of the war you, Trump, and the admin, are waging on behalf of a FOREIGN COUNTRY, Israel. You mean their deaths fuel your bloodlust for a senseless war.”

… Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY): “We should have known what they were up to when they renamed it from the Department of Defense to the Department of War.”

… CENCOM announced more deaths later: “Yesterday, CENTCOM announced the passing of 2 US service members and the missing status of one in Jordan following an Iranian attack on July 17. After a thorough search, US military personnel found unidentified remains at the location earlier today. An examination process to verify the remains is ongoing.”

… “Separately, a US service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury.”

… NYT: Jordan has rapidly emerged as a new focal point in the US-Iran conflict, with US officials saying Iranian forces have attacked American troops there 4 times in the past 5 days including attacks that killed two US service members, left another missing, wounded dozens more, and damaged multiple helicopters.

… US officials said the pace and effectiveness of the strikes suggest Iran not only retains substantial missile inventories, but is becoming increasingly effective at penetrating US and allied air defenses.

… Jordan’s strategic importance has grown significantly as the US shifted forces there from Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE ahead of the conflict, while some regional partners have placed greater restrictions on US military operations from their territory.

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “For those of us who pay attention to the hour-to-hour pace of the Iran War, things are getting very dark very quickly. 2 more Americans are dead. The scale of attacks - and threats of escalation - are increasing rapidly. Trump has frighteningly lost control of this war.”

… Fox host Maria Bartiromo on her Sunday morning show: “I don’t understand how it’s possible that Iran has the capabilities to fight this way and continue to lash out at Gult countries and US military bases because the US has obliterated Iran’s military, and the president continues to reiterate that.”

… I would suggest that she might have to consider the possibility that Trump and Hegseth lied. I know, hard to believe that might be case.

… Newsweek: “The US State Dept issued a worldwide travel alert for Americans abroad, citing heightened tensions in the Middle East and warning that groups supportive of Iran could target Us citizens and interests overseas. The global ‘Worldwide Caution’ alert comes as active fighting between the US and Iran intensifies.”

… Trump went completely silent on the death of the troops, not posting anything about it on Truth Social. Fox tried repeatedly throughout the weekend to get him on to talk about it, but even they were unable.

… Fox: “The WH called a lid, meaning we do not expect to see or hear from the president in any public appearances for the rest of the day. I have met some people here in Bridgewater who say they are attending a black-tie summer bash at Bedminster. It’s worth noting that the president does hold fundraisers on different weekends at his facilities.”

… Trump was so distraught about the deaths of US service members that he had to console himself with two rounds of golf at Bedminster, a fundraising dinner, then he attended the World Cup Final game.

… US FIFA Task Force director Andrew Giuliani posted a video from the stadium: “Thanks to the vision and leadership of President Donald J. Trump, America fell in love with the World Cup, and the world fell in love with the United States of America, again!”

… Oh yes. All thanks, praise and credit to Trump. In fact, nobody ever heard of the World Cup before Trump put it on the map. And that’s why the world loves us again. Thank you for your attention to this matter. And amen.

… Fox Sports interviewed Trump before the game. Naturally, he found a way to make it about himself: "I've always liked Ronaldo, I've always liked Messi. I met Messi just recently. They have a pretty good life. I think they have a very good life, actually—much easier than my life, really. I'd like to switch for about a month or so."

… The fundraiser Trump hosted at Bedminster on Sat night was for Mike Lindell’s MN governor campaign.

… NewsNation’s Hannah Brandt was finally able to reach Trump who gave a brief statement when asked about the US troops who were killed: “It’s very sad, it’s a very sad thing. We hate to see it happen. But it’s in service to our country.”

… NYT: “Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow and a leader of the election denial movement who was endorsed by Trump for MN governor this week, acknowledged that he is not registered to vote in the state he seeks to lead. But Lindell said his biggest problem was not his registration status but that the MN Republican Party had not supported his campaign, even after Trump publicly endorsed him.”

… Lindell: “They are saying, ‘Mike Lindell can’t win.’ It’s disgusting. They are trying to discredit the endorsement.”

… “In MN, voters are allowed to register to vote on Election Day. Lindell, who is registered in Texas, said he was not concerned that he was not yet registered in his home state.”

We make the entire Weekend Bulletin available to everyone where about the first third of the daily Bulletins during the week are available to free subscribers. Everyone can also participate in the comments section to this Bulletin. Tomorrow is Ask the Editor, where I choose 5 of your questions or comments to talk about. I read your comments Monday morning and try to choose just 5, which can be difficult!

Thank you to everyone who reads, shares, watches and subscribes. I would not be able to do any of this without your support. If you missed the last Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Axios: Republicans admit the GOP’s midterm forecast is bleak. But they’re clinging to two hopes: voters’ fear and loathing of Democrats. “It’s going to be a hate election,” a Republican tied to Trump‘s political operation told Axios. “Voters have to hate the Dems more than they hate us. And we have material to work with.”

… Republicans plan to use the Democrats’ Tea Party-like revolt by progressives to paint the entire party as radicals who can’t be trusted to govern. “Swing voters have a persistent fear the Democrats will just go too far left,” said a GOP pollster with an array of clients across the nation. “So we can make the case that yeah, we suck. But they’re worse.”

… AOC in Michigan: “You've also seen the suite of shameful and quiet bigotries that hide in the shadows—that seem to rear their heads the strongest when we get the closest to uniting across our differences. But I want us all to understand that that is what the last gasp looks like. This is the last gasp of corruption, of bigotry, of big money in politics.”

… NYT: “In its nationwide immigration crackdown, the Trump admin has charged hundreds of people with assaulting or impeding federal agents. Trump has branded them ‘insurrectionists,’ ‘animals’ and ‘thugs,’ part of a broader effort by his admin to cast protesters and immigrants as violent criminals.”

… “But a close examination of those cases reveals that in its rush to meet WH demands for deportations, fed law enforcement has engaged in extensive misconduct - ranging from attacking protesters to destroying evidence and misrepresenting facts in court.”

… “The NYT found that the Trump admin has filed assault charges against more than 550 people who were caught in its immigration dragnet. Of the more than 400 cases resolved so far, nearly half have unraveled: Juries acquitted defendants, judges threw out charges, or prosecutors withdrew them.”

… “The record is abysmal by the typical standards of federal prosecutions: DOJ seldom loses criminal cases, with more than 90% of defendants pleading guilty or being convicted at trial. The Times’s analysis of the 213 cases that the govt has lost or abandoned found that:

• In dozens of cases, court records and videos show that federal agents were the first to get physical - including shoving, tackling or pepper-spraying defendants. Many defendants successfully argued that the assaults they were accused of were actually acts of self-defense.

• Judges repeatedly chastised prosecutors and immigration agents for misconduct including distorting facts and withholding evidence. Two judges found that agents purposely destroyed evidence, including ordering a defendant to delete cellphone photos.

• Officers charged more than two dozen people who were filming or following agents, often while honking car horns, blowing whistles or shouting warnings like, ‘La migra is coming!’ There was no allegation of physical contact with agents.

• In more than 100 cases, prosecutors did not claim that any agents were injured. In at least 7 other cases, officers’ injuries were caused by their or their colleagues’ actions. For example, a judge last fall dismissed assault charges against an immigrant, ruling that the agent involved had been cut by shards of glass from a car window he himself had smashed.

• 65 times, prosecutors abandoned or downgraded charges before hitting a deadline to present evidence to a grand jury or judge. Former prosecutors said that this pattern of rapid retreat was unusual and signaled that the cases should never have been brought.”

… NYT: “A federal immigration agent told his former wife that he was the person who fatally shot a Colombian immigrant in Maine this week and defended his actions to her, the ex-wife said. The woman, Ashley Brouillette, identified the agent as David Brouillette. She said that when she spoke to him on Wed about the shooting, Brouillette said that it was justified.”

… "He told her not to talk to anyone about him, she said, but then asked her to defend his character. “He said, ‘You need to tell them I’m a good person,’ adding that he asked her not to tell anyone that he had abused her during their marriage. “I told him that I wouldn’t lie for him.”

… “Ms. Brouillette, who dated Mr. Brouillette throughout high school and was married to him from 2007 to 2009, said her former husband had become abusive after he joined the military in 2007. She said he had choked her, slammed her to the floor and pushed her against a wall. Brouillette’s threats and harassment were so persistent that she left Maine in 2012 to escape him.”

… Still, she said, he had threatened to kill her as recently as Nov after she disciplined their daughter by taking away her cellphone. “I have said to people, ‘If I end up dead, it’s him’.” She said he should not have been hired to work in immigration enforcement: “He has mental health issues, he’s short-tempered, he’s reactive. He should be in treatment.”

… “Another woman identified as a former wife of Brouillette’s in court documents has also accused him of abuse. In a filing for an order of protection in December 2019, the woman wrote that he had broken her door down, destroyed her belongings and dumped her clothes over a bridge. The filing also said that Brouillette had spit in her face and cornered her in a room.”

… Second wife: “I am scared of him coming to my home or sitting in the parking lot of my work until I leave.”

… Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was asked by The Independent whether he plans to meet with Epstein victims now that Todd Blanche has: “I have not, but I intend to.”

… Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) went on CBS again on Sunday to criticize them again for airing Trump’s election fraud speech live when other networks (including Fox) did not: “I’m glad that most media treated it not as serious news. I was disappointed your senior management (Bari Weiss) made the decision to cover it as news.”

… Hunter Biden: “Trump released a declassified document that says his own intel community identified Putin as personally running an operation to defeat my father in 2020, built around a fake Burisma corruption scandal centered around me and executed through prominent Americans. Trump tasked his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to fly to Kyiv and meet a known Russian agent.”

… “The Americans who ran, laundered, and legitimized the operation: Trump. Rudy Giuliani. John Solomon. Joe DiGenova. Victoria Toensing. Lev Parnas. Igor Fruman. Chanel Rion. Sean Hannity. Steve Bannon. Miranda Devine. Ken Vogel. Ron Johnson. Chuck Grassley. James Comer. Jim Jordan. To name a few.”

… “An operation formally sanctioned by Trump’s own Treasury Dept on Sept 10, 2020, and expanded to include more named actors on Jan 11, 2021. Oh, and don’t forget the Russian-linked FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who later pleaded guilty to making the entire Burisma bribery story up. The record exists and we have all the receipts, and more.”

… Sen. Jon Ossoff on Trump’s speech about election fraud: “At a moment when his war spirals out of control, instead of focusing on the nation's needs, as always, he nurses his grievances and he forces the rest of us to help him process his shame. As always, he centers his own fear of the accountability that he will face when we win decisively this fall.”

… “Our answer will be decisive. We won't just restore checks and balances for the next two years. We will rebuke him so decisively that no president will dare try this kind of brazen corruption and abuse again for centuries.”

… The Hill: “Talk of Jon Ossoff as a presidential candidate has picked up steam as Democrats have watched in recent months while the senator’s videos and speeches have gone viral. Ossoff’s rise has come against a backdrop of intense Democratic infighting between progressives and centrists. That fight is being carried out in primaries around the country:

• Dem strategist Anthony Coley: “I think he is speaking truth to power and I think he is meeting a need that a lot of Democrats have been looking for and that’s somebody who fights hard and who understands how to cut through the noise. And he has a way of speaking in a language that every day people can understand. It’s not poll-tested. It’s just simple language.”

• Dem strategist Eddie Vale: “He’s doing a good job of pivoting off what Trump is doing and turning it back into how he is actually the one who would help people in GA. He’s a great example of a candidate who doesn’t fit into anyone’s perfect ideological mold of what someone should be.

• Vale: “And instead of getting involved in national ideological fights is focused on the grind and putting in the work in the Senate and on the campaign trail to win. He’s young and dynamic and knows how to run a modern content-based campaign.”

… SC Congressman Ralph Norman announced he’s running for Lindsey Graham’s senate seat against Graham’s sister, who has been endorsed by Trump.

… WSJ: The CFTC is investigating Rep. Ann Paulina Luna (R-FL) after she told people in the summer of 2024 that she tipped off Rogan O’Handley aka ‘DC Draino’ that Trump would pick Vance for VP prior to the announcement being made so that he could make a winning bet on Polymarket, which he did.

… Then some WH aides scrambled when it became clear a bunch of Polymarket accounts were making bets on the US-Iran ceasefire earlier this year. Officials started asking could there be people inside the govt making such bets? In each case the people taking the tips believed it to be such concrete intel they placed the bets and made off with big winnings.

… The Democratic primary for senate in Maine is essentially over after Troy Jackson’s coordinated campaign to get his supporters to run for delegates and then have people mass vote online for his candidates. That resulted in Jackson, who only got 21% of the vote when he ran in the primary for governor, getting 91% of the delegates elected on Sat for senate.

… In my county, Jackson got 149 out of 149 delegates with many of them receiving the exact same number of votes. He quickly figured out how to take over the process to win the nomination with a few thousand online votes. Whether that will translate into success in Nov remains to be seen. It does make the CNN debate on Wed and the convention next Sat pretty pointless.

… Maine journalist Nathan Bernard: “Troy Jackson won all 149 available delegates from Cumberland county in Maine Senate run-off to replace Platner. He has 300 delegates now committed to his campaign, essentially confirming him as the new nominee.”

… Shenna Bellows announced Sunday morning she was dropping out of the race since there was no chance to win.

… With all that said, Jackson is a logger who won a state senate district multiple times that Trump won. His messaging is essentially the same as Platner’s, which resonated with a lot of Maine voters despite his scandals, Nazi tattoo, and alleged crimes. Hopefully he will be Platner’s platform without the background issues, which is what Maine Dems are looking for. We will find out when Republicans unleash whatever they have on him next week.

… NBC: “Nebraska Democratic Senate nominee Cindy Burbank has submitted a letter requesting her name be removed from the ballot, a move that would set up a one-on-one matchup between Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts and independent challenger Dan Osborn. Burbank’s website included language arguing that Osborn ‘deserves a fair shot against Ricketts’.”

… Democratic Party communications director Jose Flores Jr. said they will not replace Burbank on the ballot with another candidate: “We will back the coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and independents who support Dan Osborn for US Senate.”

… Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted: “In our state, you cannot replace Arkansas law with Sharia law. We will not allow it. Period.”

… 0.2% of the population of Arkansas is Muslim, so it is probably not as urgent a matter as these stats which apparently don’t concern Huckabee Sanders as much as the threat of Sharia law:

… MS NOW: “3 congressional Democrats said that as much as $21.5 million paid by ABC, Meta, Paramount and X to settle lawsuits brought by Trump is missing or has been spent without explanation and requested a full accounting from the foundation building his presidential library.”

… “In a letter to the treasurer of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, and Rep. Melanie Stansbury cited discrepancies between Trump’s newly released financial disclosures and the foundation’s own filings with FL charity regulators. The letter asks the treasurer to explain the discrepancies, which the lawmakers discovered after Trump released his annual financial disclosure forms earlier this month.”

… “Trump’s disclosure form filed in late June with the Office of Government Ethics, indicates that Meta, ABC and Paramount paid a combined $56.5 million in settlements, with net proceeds going to the foundation. X paid an additional $8 million, but the disclosure does not say where that money went. The 4 settlements total $64.5 million.”

… “The Trump Library foundation, however, listed $50 million in revenue in a financial reporting form submitted to the FL Dept of Ag and Consumer Services in October 2025 - a figure described as a proposed budget of expected fundraising. The lawmakers said the difference leaves at least $6.5 million, and as much as $14.5 million with the X settlement included, unaccounted for based on public records.”

… Politico: “The DNC is betting the world’s biggest sporting event can help build its voter base by launching a nationwide voter registration effort for Sunday’s World Cup final, dispatching organizers, volunteers and campaign staff to FIFA Fan Zones, sports bars and community watch parties with the goal of registering more than 3,000 new Democratic voters.”

… “The weekend push spans nearly two dozen states, with Democratic organizers attending events in battlegrounds including Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida. In Arizona, Democrats plan registration efforts in Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe, Tucson and Yuma.”

… Sen. John Fetterman was on Fox again all weekend trashing various Democrats for various things. When asked, he said he would only consider leaving the Democratic Party if the leadership wholly abandoned support for Israel.

… Fetterman was then asked about Lindsey Graham’s death: “I’m proud to call Senator Graham as a friend. We bonded over our love and devotion to Israel.”

… Hunter Biden on the I’ve Had It podcast: "The single greatest mistake of my father's admin was the leadership of Merrick Garland. By the way, the buck has to stop with my dad - he chose him and stayed with him. Did you not see these people storming the Capitol? You didn't see a president and know that there was a concerted and planned effort? He doesn't do anything. We don't end up going after Trump. I don't get it. I absolutely don't get it."

… J6 Committee member Adam Kinzinger: “Garland didn’t START his investigation until we had our first of the summer hearings, a YEAR into our investigation. And now he’s incredibly silent, won’t even come out to defend his career prosecutors who got fired. Despicable.”

… Trump was ranting again about the wind turbines Scotland installed near his golf course in Aberdeen many years ago. Trump sued the govt, lost, lost on appeal, and ever since he has been ranting about “windmills” causing cancer, killing birds, etc. It is also the reason he canceled all wind turbine projects in the US.

… Trump posted: “Word is that the UK is going to move the old and horrible looking windmills, which loom over and destroy the City of Aberdeen. That will be a big day for the Country, and will be very much appreciated by everybody. WE LOVE YOU SCOTLAND!”

… Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) posted: “Pres Trump I ask you do for farmers what you have done for consumers of pharmaceutical products. The situation is this. American companies that produce seed fertilizer and chemicals are selling their products overseas and particularly Brazil at great discounts unfair to American farmers. Please study this if you find an injustice to the American farmer announce something shortly even if you can’t negotiate right away.”

… I’m sure Trump will study it very hard.

We went for a hike up Douglas Mountain in Maine yesterday for a great view of Lake Sebago area. Before you accuse me of marrying a much younger woman, this natural beauty without makeup is in her mid-50s and we have been married 33 years with 5 adult kids!