This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 436.

… Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for senate in MI, did a series of interviews with national media this weekend. On NBC’s Meet the Press:

• Q - “Do you disavow those comments by podcaster Hasan Piker that America deserved 9/11? El-Sayed: Of course. Of course it was a dumb statement. I think Hasan himself would say it was a dumb statement. I want to be held accountable for what I say and do.”

• Q - “Some say your views are radical, dangerous, how do you respond? El-Sayed: It’s not radical to believe that people should be able to afford their groceries or to believe that you should have healthcare in this country. It’s not radical to believe that you don’t think the president should be able to deny elections or make $2.2 billion out of his role in office. It’s not radical to believe we can drink clean water.”

• “Notice how they chose to use my full name, in echoes to exactly what they did against President Obama. At the end of the day, it’s not radical to believe people should be able to afford their groceries, they should have healthcare, that the president should not be able to deny elections.”

• On his meeting with Obama: “I never saw myself ever able to run for public office, then I watched Obama run for and win the presidency. I watched him serve with a level of class we can only pine for now. So I really enjoyed the conversation. I was grateful for his advice.”

• “I love and revere Judaism and the Jewish people, but they are not the same as AIPAC and Israel. I want our tax dollars spent to provide good schools, pay for healthcare, rebuild our roads here in MI rather than sent abroad to subsidize foreign militaries. That’s not just Israel, by the way. That is also Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, and Pakistan.”

• Q - “Some Americans worry you can only make Medicare free and universal if you increase taxes. Would you need to do that? El-Sayed: Imagine if instead of paying that to your health insurance company, whose CEO makes $20 million a year, you paid a little bit more in taxes for healthcare that you wouldn’t lose. I think all of us would a lot more interested in that kind of system if we knew our healthcare would be free at the point of care.”

… El-Sayed on MS NOW:

• Q: “Trump says you hate Jewish people, NRSC using your full name reminiscent of Barack Hussein Obama, and Trump saying you’re full of shit. El-Sayed: When you don’t have ideas all you have is hate. My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is not the reason we’re in illegal war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford healthcare, rent or insurance. If the best they’ve got is to point my name and say they can’t pronounce it, then we’re going to have a good time over the next 13 weeks.”

… Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) on CNN: Q - Why use El-Sayed’s full name in attack ads? Are you trying to say, ‘Hint hint, he’s Muslim’? Scott: Not at all. Q - But why not just use the name he goes by? Scott: Listen, I go by Timothy Eugene. I get called that all the time.”

… I have never heard a single person call him that. Maybe his mother. He knows he’s lying. We all know he’s lying. But they don’t care.

… El-Sayed on CNN:

• Q - “What do you mean when you say you want to hold the Trump admin accountable? El-Sayed: “It means hauling up people like RFK Jr and holding them accountable for the DOGE-ing of our public health apparatus, for which we now need to be dodging lettuce across the state of MI for fear of getting explosive diarrhea, which nobody ever thought you be a consequence of electing Trump, but here we are.”

• Q - “What do you think about this post Trump made last night?”

• El-Sayed: “Yeah, he’s right. One in which your overlords are two people who don’t like each other, but joined in the interest of making billions of dollars off of you. Or two people who genuinely love each other, enjoyed some pancakes together, want to come together to build the kind of America where they can raise a family and know that that family is going to have the good things.”

• “So, yes, you got two different visions of America. Trump’s vision is the one you’re living in right now. Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries? Do you believe, when you look your kids in the eye, that they’re going to have a better future than you did?”

• “Sarah and I are running because when we look our daughters in the eye, we want them to believe that they’re every bit as able to have a better future than the one that they could have had under the Trump admin. That they can live together with their sisters and their brothers in America in a way where they lock arms to build the good things that they deserve together.”

• “Where they know they’ll have the healthcare that they need and good jobs. I want them to live in an America where they can breathe clean air and drink clean water. And actually, Sarah and I like each other. I don’t know about the First Lady and the President, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a rocky road.”

… El-Sayed to Sky News:

• Q - “Trump says you’re full of shit. Abdul El-Sayed: At least I don’t let mine go in the middle of the Oval Office.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) followed El-Sayed on NBC and was asked about his opponent: “Mike Rogers is going to represent only one person in the Senate - Trump. The entire Republican Party has become a cult of personality in which they have no ability to think independently. They do only what Trump asks them to do and tells them to do.”

… WH economic advisor Kevin Hassett on CNN:

• Q - “You said in June this was ‘the strongest job market in your lifetime.’ By what metric? Hassett: The bottom line is if you look at the overall economy, things are really booming. Q - There have been job losses for a third of the months during Trump’s second term. 2 million jobs were created in the last 18 months of Biden’s presidency. Are you really arguing your numbers are better than that? Hassett: I disagree with your numbers.”

• Q - “It’s 800,000 jobs created according to you, versus 2 million under Biden. And economists say two Trump policies - tariffs and the Iran war - are weighing on the economy. Hassett: I don’t think tariffs are an issue. Q - It’s not me saying tariffs are leading to higher costs. It’s the Federal Reserve.”

… Fox host Maria Bartiromo on Democrats’ criticisms of the economy: “That’s just propaganda. I mean, look, things are going well. And I think we’re all feeling it. I’ve spoken with a number of CEOs who tell me that business is up.”

… AOC on ABC:

• “Everyday Americans, we can see the very large gap between what Trump says and does. What Trump is doing is starting a reckless war in Iran, having closed-door meetings with oil companies saying ‘you give me money and I’ll do whatever you want’. He’s jacking up the price not just at the pump, but everything that you buy that requires the transportation of goods.”

• Q - “Is Hasan Piker somebody that should have a role in the Progressive movement going forward? AOC: Many of the same consultants that are wringing their hands today were the same ones talking about how we need to go on Joe Rogan and we need to be not so willing to engage in cancel culture. Democrats can go on Joe Rogan, Democrats can go on Fox. Democrats have a responsibility to build a winning coalition, and young people are engaging in mediums and conversations that we have a responsibility to attend to and be responsive to.”

• Q - “What do you say to the moderate Dems who say that those positions are going to doom the Democratic Party? AOC: In terms of dooming the party, the idea that there’s a diversity of thought in America among everyday voting people is a fundamental fact of our country. I don’t think that we should be worried about what somebody somewhere believes. I think we should be focused on what our plan to improve people’s lives are.”

• “Millennials are not punk kids anymore. We’re grown adults with mortgages and kids, and that generation is starting to be decisive at the polls. And there is anger at being ignored, having our economic futures mortgaged by the generations that came before us and we’re taking the reins.”

• Q - “Running for senate against Schumer - is that also something that’s possible?
  AOC: I think that anything is possible at this juncture.”

… Zohran Mamdani on the Urban View podcast: “We’re not running away from the Democratic Party. We’re going back to what the party used to be. You think about FDR and LaGuardia. You think about the New Deal. That’s what the Democratic Party once was. That’s what it could be again. And if we want to win, I think that’s what we have to become.”

… RNC Chair Joe Gruters on NewsNation:

• Q - “Trump says people aren’t angry at him. Does the president have to look inward a bit? Gruters: No. The reason we’re going to win in November is because the president is still super popular with our base. Our midterm convention is going to be a Trumpapalooza.”

… Ben Yelin, public policy director for Univ of MD: “We’ll get an interesting experiment this year. Usually the party of a deeply unpopular President tries to disassociate, but Republicans are in a cult so they can’t do that. I suspect it will go poorly for them but who knows.”

• Q - “Here’s the record - inflation 3.5%, higher than earnings, gas is $4 a gallon, electricity prices continue to go up, and GDP is at 1.5%. Why do Republicans deserve to keep power? Gruters: People forget that Biden’s disastrous reign led us to this situation.”

• Q - “Is the RNC planning to back Max Miller’s campaign with resources? Gruters: Listen, there’s not many things worse than divorce. I hope Max and Ms. Moreno get the desired outcome they want. We’re gonna support our nominees.”

… NYT’s Emily Davies: “Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) is formally staying in the race to maintain his seat in Congress, his spokeswoman tells me. The deadline is now passed for him to withdraw.”

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

… Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to reporter Matt Laslo: “What do you make of all these polls coming out showing Ken Paxton down? Cornyn: Umm, well, I suspected that would be the case. But we made our case and didn’t prevail. Q - Do Democrats have a chance? Cornyn: Yes. Q - Are you going to be helping Paxton at all? Cornyn: I wasn’t planning on it.”

… A man was kicked out of Paxton’s rally this weekend when he yelled out, “You cheated on your wife!” as Paxton was criticizing James Talarico’s views on Christianity.

… Right-wing TV host John Fredericks on Susan Collins’ vote against Todd Blanche’s confirmation: “Collins knew—her team knew. She’s got a very savvy team. They knew that even without her, Blanche has the votes to get confirmed. So this was a vote to help her get elected, to help her with Maine voters, but it does nothing to hurt Todd Blanche because he’s already got the votes.”

… Dem nominee Troy Jackson: “Weak sauce. Susan has voted with Trump 96% of the time. The other 4%? She waits until her vote won’t change the outcome. Mainers aren’t stupid. We deserve a fighter who will actually stand up to Trump.”

… CSPAN: “52-46: Senate along party lines voted against advancing legislation by Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) to require a photo ID in vote in federal elections. Vote was announced at 4:52 AM, the last Senate roll call vote before Senators left for summer recess. McConnell and Welch did not vote. 60 votes were needed to advance the bill.”

… Igor Bobic with NOTUS: “None of these senators demanded a recorded vote on going to recess - including Sen. Mike Lee. After months of pushing for canceling recess to pass the SAVE Act, Lee settled for a voice vote, allowing everyone to leave until Sept 14 without going on record.”

… Two weeks ago, Lee posted on X that he was going to object: “Leader Thune, I hereby object to any effort to put the Senate into recess in August—at least until such time as the Senate has passed the SAVE America Act—and hereby request a roll call vote. Do not assume you have my consent. You do not.”

… NBC’s Sahil Kapur: “By UNANIMOUS consent, the Senate adjourned for recess until Monday, September 14 without passing the SAVE America Act. Nobody objected to the request, or asked for a roll call vote. If you want to delay or cancel recess you have to object on the Senate floor for it to count.”

… But in the end, Lee was nowhere to be found to object on the floor. Mike Lee talks a big game on social media, but in the senate he is a coward.

… NYT: “During the World Cup soccer final last month, Zach Witkoff, co-founder of Trump’s cryptocurrency company, took in the action from a luxury suite. Joining him was a man who had made the president, and all the company’s co-founders, much richer.”

… “Two years earlier, the man, Guren ‘Bobby’ Zhou, was a failed hardwood flooring retailer in Britain who had come under investigation there for money laundering and presided over the collapse of a small crypto start-up. Then seemingly out of nowhere, he became one of the biggest buyers of tokens from Trump’s company, World Liberty Financial, dropping a total of $100 million through a new firm called Aqua 1.”

… “Under World Liberty policy, as much as $75 million of that money was distributed to a company controlled by the president and his 3 sons. The money also benefited the family of Steve Witkoff, the Trump admin’s special peace envoy and the father of Zach Witkoff.”

… “The curious case of Zhou illustrates the ease with which buyers with unknown backgrounds and motivations can use the anonymity of cryptocurrency to shower Trump with money. The president’s recent financial disclosure form shows that he collected $1.4 billion from his crypto businesses last year, the majority of it from anonymous sources.”

… Reuters: “House Democrats preparing for a possible return to power are developing a broad investigative strategy targeting companies and financial firms surrounding Trump, instead of trying to impeach him immediately. Senior Democrats in the House and committee aides have discussed using hearings, subpoenas and document ‌requests to obtain records from entities tied to Trump’s political and business orbit.”

… “It is a bet that investigating private companies and outside financial players will prove more fruitful than directly ‌confronting a WH they expect to resist oversight. The approach reflects both Democratic caution and a lesson many in the party say they learned during Trump’s first term: that impeachment proceedings can consume Congress while allowing Trump to cast himself as the victim of a ​partisan campaign.”

… “Instead, Democrats involved in the planning envision using House investigative powers after Nov’s midterm elections to scrutinize the admin’s decision-making and examine whether Trump used his power to benefit himself, allies or donors.”

… The Spectator: “The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches worships using the traditional Presbyterian liturgy. What is out of the ordinary – and why there is a standard procedure for media showing up on Sunday – is that Pete Hegseth and family are regular attendees, and the congregation is under the authority of a pastor who openly refers to himself as a Christian nationalist. He has recently drawn media attention by reiterating his belief that the 19th Amend – recognizing the right of women to vote – should be repealed.”

… “Midway through the service a young couple comes to the front of the room to take vows of membership. Only the husband speaks the ‘I dos.’ His wife nods along beside him. She gives an extra emphatic nod when he vows that he speaks on behalf of his ‘household.’ This ‘household’ language comes from the New Testament, when whole households baptized after receiving the gospel. It is the foundation of Doug Wilson’s belief that women should not be given a vote of their own. In marriage, the two become one, after all.”

… “Doug Wilson, pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, ID, first hit the conservative Christian scene in the early 1990s, writing books about everything from education to American slavery. His ‘Controversy Library’ consists of links and articles where he solidifies, in strong language, why he maintains some of his most questionable stances. These include: not all slavery was bad, women can’t handle careers in politics, and, of course, that the 19th Amend was a mistake.”

… “Wilson and his compatriots started the DC church last year. Wilson posted on his site in 2025, ‘with the change in admin, we believe that there will be many strategic opportunities with numerous evangelicals who will be present both in and around the Trump admin.’ In the past year, the Sunday service has grown to more than 200 congregants. Pete Hegseth and his family have begun attending, and Hegseth even invited Wilson to speak at the Pentagon in Feb.”

… JD Vance was on Fox promoting his new book about his conversion from atheist to Catholicism

• Q: “You almost got into a car accident, but you didn’t. Do you think it was supernatural? Vance: I definitely do think it was supernatural. I felt the touch of God. There are these subtle moments when God tries to speak to us. That was certainly one of those moments for me.”

• “I’ve had moments where I felt the presence of God. There was a moment that I had at a conference where a friend and I were talking about Christianity and talking about Catholicism. There was this moment where a glass fell off the wall at the point of our conversation. You know, I think an atheist would dismiss that as, ‘Oh, who cares? A glass fell off the wall.’ But at that moment, it felt like God was trying to send me a message.”

… I’m sure the fact that he found religion right before he decided to run in a Republican primary for senate was just a coincidence. The atheist thing wouldn’t have exactly been helpful to him in an Ohio Republican primary. Did becoming a Catholic help? Absolutely. But maybe I’m just being cynical and he really did have a spiritual awakening before his senate campaign.

… Guardian: “An American oil company connected to Trump is preparing to sink wells in remote Greenland despite not having received permission from the local authorities. As the US president renews his threats to claim the vast Arctic territory, materials to prepare for drilling were brought ashore in recent days on Greenland’s eastern coast.”

… That has prompted Greenland’s govt to issue a “strong warning” that no approval had been granted to land the kit: “All future logistical matters must be advised and approved by the mineral resources authority – before they are carried out.”

… “Two days later, Trump made his latest menacing post on Truth Social, showing himself looming over a Greenlandic village. Executives of Greenland Energy, a TX company set up last year, have claimed that $1 trillion of crude may lie beneath the Jameson Land region. They announced plans to spend $60 million drilling two wells to find out.”

… “Greenland Energy has retained Phil McGraw, better known as Dr Phil, to make a documentary series that will ‘capture the mission of these modern-day wildcatters’. It has also appointed as a director a US navy veteran who is working on Golden Dome, the missile defense plan for which Trump says controlling Greenland is ‘vital’.”

… Larry Swets, Greenland Energy’s chair and a big shareholder, appears to enjoy access to Trump’s circle. He has said the oil project is “not related to American annexation”. After a company representative falsely claimed at a Jameson Land community meeting in June that it had permission to land drilling equipment, Swets said: “Our enthusiasm for the project led us to communicate in a way that created confusion.”

… CNN: “Over the last few weeks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately made clear to other top Trump advisers that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran — because the military options on the table to escalate the conflict could backfire and airpower alone is unlikely to achieve Trump’s stated objectives.”

… “Caine is not alone in his view that the war has reached a crossroads. He has discussed concerns about the military options for escalating the conflict and raised the prospect of finding an off-ramp from the war with other key Cabinet officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Marco Rubio and JD Vance.”

… “Trump has consistently appeared averse to the idea of deploying ground troops in Iran, instead signaling he believes that air bombing can force them to agree to a deal on his terms. Caine and others in Trump’s cabinet privately view that outcome as unlikely and instead have sought to develop other options that fit within the president’s own parameters.”

… AP: “Iran issued dramatic new demands around the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and UAE said one of its ships was targeted by an Iranian missile. Yemen’s military attacked the country’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. And Turkey’s Kurdish peace bill won approval in parliament.

… “Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US ‘corrects its behavior,’ issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway. Iran’s state broadcaster published the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard.”

… “The US must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The US must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It must ‘completely compensate’ Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and ‘unconditionally’ release frozen assets.”

… “Iran has said it was close to reaching a separate deal with Oman to manage the strait, which runs between the two countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said they were close to reaching an agreement on navigation. But the waterway’s reopening is contingent on other conditions, he said in remarks shared on social media, and blamed the situation on what he called the US violation of the interim deal.”

… Israeli Minister of Energy Eli Cohen on Iran: “I think that, from our perspective, it would be better if there were no agreement. We can continue putting pressure on Iran. And I tell you: another 2 or 3 years, with God’s help, the regime in Iran will fall. Remember where this started—we made sure to sow all those seeds that will lead to the fall of the regime.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on NBC: "Trump has lost this war. America is weaker, Iran is stronger, the price to reopen the strait increases by the day, the supposed 'deal' that's on the table right now would pay Iran $100 billion a year in order to reopen the strait. What a victory for Iran."

… Hunter Biden told BBC that Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has spread: “The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further. It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects. It’s really sad to watch. The only thing that I’d say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more, because it’s not good. He’s still doing his thing. He so believes in this country.”

… Netanyahu doesn’t agree with Trump’s Board of Peace: "Israel rejects the Gaza Board of Peace 15-point document. The IDF will not make any withdrawal until Hamas disarms. I mean the heavy weapons, the less heavy weapons, all the weapons. And we are talking about real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament."

… “I want to make the main point clear: as long as I am PM, there will be no Palestinian state - not in Gaza and not in the West Bank. Not under Fatah and not under Hamas.”

… Former Obama State Dept official, Ilhan Goldenberg: “There’s no example in history of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration working when one side insists on the other’s total surrender before taking any steps. This isn’t a recipe for ‘real disarmament.’ It’s a recipe for perpetuating the stalemate in Gaza. Bibi knows it.”

… MS NOW: “Moldy showers. Food shortages. Sailors running out of toothpaste, deodorant and soap. Families of the sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are sounding the alarm that their loved ones are so exhausted they fear it could lead to deadly mistakes, as the carrier enters its ninth month at sea and its fifth consecutive month of combat operations against Iran.”

… “MS NOW spoke to a dozen family members who say they are extremely concerned with the morale, safety and conditions on the ship. They described a crew straining under the demands of an unexpectedly long deployment, as Trump continues to extend his military campaign against Iran with no clear end in sight.”

… “The families said there is no indication of when their loved ones are going to return home, as the routine 7-month deployment for the 5,000-plus crew members appears to have been extended for a second time. Most sailors are working excruciatingly long shifts, and some are rarely getting a day off. One father, who is a Navy veteran, said his son described seeing holes that have worn through the Lincoln’s flight deck.”

… “The crew of the Lincoln has had only two days off the aircraft carrier since it left its home port in San Diego in Nov. The ship had a short port call in Guam in December and then did not have another stop until July 7, when it briefly pulled into Oman after 208 continuous days at sea — a modern-day record for a Navy aircraft carrier.”

… WSJ: “Residents of a tiny coastal village were shocked two years ago when Jared Kushner posted renderings of a planned Mediterranean resort on a slim peninsula sandwiched by the azure sea and a lagoon where flamingoes flock. The images were of a spit of land where their parents and grandparents once raised potatoes. The villagers contended the property was stolen from them in the 2000s by Artur Shehu—a suspected gangster who fled to Miami after a gunfight at his bar.”

… “So they wrote a letter to Kushner saying they were locked in nearly two decades of court disputes with Shehu, urging the developers not to proceed. The site, they wrote, is ‘owned by the village and its residents.’ Instead, a Kushner-backed development group pressed ahead and paid Shehu over $120 million for the land earlier this year.”

… “Two months later, Albanian prosecutors sought Shehu’s arrest for allegedly playing a lead role in a sweeping international drug-smuggling operation that brought cocaine from South America to Europe in shipments of charcoal and fruit paste. Shehu laundered money through property—including the peninsula in Zvernec—that was stolen using techniques such as forged Ottoman-era land records, prosecutors said.”

… Meidas’ Aaron Parnas: “I went to the reflecting pool tonight. Trump has now installed signs blaming ‘past administrations’ like Obama and Biden for his reflecting pool issues. These signs were likely paid for by your taxpayer dollars.”