Thursday Afternoon News Updates: Trump Attacks Meidas, Shuts Down WH, and Escalates War – 7/9/26
Hi all, Ben here. It’s Thursday, and I hope your day is off to a great start.
Top stories we’re tracking:
Iran launches a second phase of retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar after the U.S. hits 90 targets inside Iran
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is on the verge of hitting tank bottom within days, even as Trump keeps escalating
Trump swapped his Qatari-gifted jet for the original Air Force One mid-crisis, then lied about why
The White House personally attacked our Senior Digital Editor Acyn over a clip of JD Vance
CNN reports Epstein’s longtime assistant Lesley Groff lied to Congress
Judge Lewis Kaplan orders Trump to finally pay up in the E. Jean Carroll case
ICE fatally shoots a Houston father of three with no criminal record during an enforcement stop; family and lawmakers demand an independent investigation
Netanyahu says the war “is not yet over” as Israel’s defense minister makes a defiant statement on Lebanon
Rubio convenes dozens of countries to discuss a supposed “far-left terrorism” threat
Texas Democrat James Talarico triples Ken Paxton’s fundraising haul in the Senate race
A former Olympian pleads not guilty in the Reflecting Pool case
The White House quietly wraps its own columns in construction fabric while denying anything unusual is happening
Before I go any further, if you haven’t yet joined as a paid subscriber, consider doing so now by clicking here to support our work. This is how we grow. It will give you access to all recaps like this, our exclusive Ask-the-Editor series, and more. Plus, it is the best way to help support the growth of this network.
Let’s get into it.
The White House Attacks Our Own Editor, And It Backfires Spectacularly
Before anything else, I want you to see what the Trump White House did to us yessterday, because it tells you everything about how this regime operates.
Our Senior Digital Editor, Acyn, posted a clip of JD Vance at a press conference in Wisconsin pointing to a photo board while accusing a woman of fraud. Problem was, the image on that board was completely washed out by lighting. Nobody watching on the stream could see it. All Acyn said was that Vance was pointing at something nobody could actually see.
So what did the official White House rapid response account do? They quote-tweeted Acyn and called him a “dumb ass,” accusing him of shielding a woman convicted of stealing taxpayer benefits, as if Acyn had blurred the image himself. He didn’t. Vance did, by the way he set up the shot. As we pointed out publicly, the White House basically just called their own vice president a dumb ass without realizing it. Whoops!
This is who is running our country right now. A White House communications operation so sloppy and so vindictive that they will attack an editor over a lighting issue that was entirely their own doing. What’s next? Attacking made up “vandals” for their own screw-up while renovating the Reflecting Pool? Oh, that’s right. More on that in a bit.
It’s embarrassing, and it’s also a reminder of why what we do here matters. We have got the best team in the business calling this stuff out in real time, and it’s all thanks to you. If you haven’t already upgraded your subscription to Meidas+, now is the moment, because the stuff I’m about to walk you through next, the receipts on the oil crisis Trump has caused, is the kind of news that state regime media does not want you to hear.
