Today in Politics, Bulletin 423. 7/21/26

… Trump took questions from the press today while meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun:

• Q -There are no signs that Iran is ready to stop fighting. So what is the plan? Trump: How would you know if there are no signs? Reporter: They continue to attack our allies. Trump: They want to meet desperately to end it, you don’t get that when you listen to your fake station. You don’t know anything. Reporter: Well, tell us then. Trump: They want to meet with me, but until they want to meet in a meaningful way I have no interest.”

… Yes, it was a female reporter Trump was personally attacking again.

• Q: “Are you planning on putting any pressure or consequences on China for what you announced about them meddling in the 2020? Trump: It took place a long time ago. I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then, but look, they, they do things and we do things to them. I’ll be honest, we do things for them too.”

… As I said this past weekend, after claiming that China stole the 2020 US election, weak phony conman Trump will take no action against China and won’t even bring it up with Xi.

• On the fire that was set at the Fed Building in NYC: “Well, this is what’s happening with the people that they’re allowed to come into our country. They shouldn’t have allowed them to come in.”

… The guy who set the fire is a US Army vet born in NY. But Trump blames immigrants for this too.

• “Venezuela is a very happy place. They had a tragic event that took place a couple of days ago, a couple of weeks ago. They had a they had a movement, a shifting of earth that was unbelievable. I guess you would call it an earthquake.”

… Talk show host Leslie Marshall: “Venezuela is so unhappy that the State Dept tells us not to travel there because there are so much violence and crime right now.”

• On US troops that were killed: “Iran did slip something through in Jordan, and we had other operators, would not happened—unfortunately. But when you let other people do your job sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”

… He’s blaming the Jordanian military for not protecting US troops from Iran.

• Q: “Do you believe that Iran is trying to impact the midterm elections by threatening the Strait of Hormuz? Trump: They won’t have any impact on me.”

… Trump then posted this on Truth Social after the meeting: “After meeting with the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, who has done a remarkable job working to transform his Country, I am hereby directing my Admin to allow all US airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land. Hopefully, other Countries will do the same. Enjoy!”

… It’s a war zone. What could go wrong? Enjoy!

… Kobeissi Letter: “US oil prices surge to $85/barrel after Iran says it has struck an Amazon datacenter in Bahrain and water desalination plants in Kuwait in response to US strikes. US oil prices are now expected to surge above $90 per barrel by the end of the month. This would mark a 34% jump in oil prices since July 2nd and would send US gas prices toward $4.20 per gallon. Energy prices are rapidly rising again.”

… Reason: “Trump pledged on the campaign trail that he would slash electricity prices in half within 18 months of returning to the WH. That self-imposed deadline is today, and—as with many of the president’s promises—he appears to have fallen short of his goal.”

… “From Trump’s inauguration to April 2026, the most recent month for which govt data are available, residential electricity rates have risen by an eye-watering 18%. From April 2025 to April 2026, rates jumped by 7.3%, or about twice the rate of inflation. Unfortunately, for many consumers, there is not much relief in sight.”

… “Last week, PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator, announced the results of its annual capacity auction, which determined the cost to procure power in the region for the 2028–2029 delivery year. The cost of the latest auction hit $16.4 billion, tying the previous auction’s record-high price and all but locking customers into historically high rates.”

… “Nationally, utilities in the second quarter of 2026 asked state regulators to approve $9.2 billion in rate hikes, up 26% from the $7.3 billion in rate increase proposals filed in the same period last year.”

… WaPo’s Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe: “The Pentagon has updated its online casualty database to reflect that 18 service members have died and 447 have been injured since the beginning of the war with Iran. It previously said that 14 had died and 427 were injured.”

… “This comes as Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell says today for the first time that 100 service members have been injured in roughly the last two weeks. Unclear if the injury number in the database will increase again to catch up with that reality.”

… Fox host Laura Ingraham: “The clock is ticking for Trump to get out of this war before voters head to the polls. It is making a lot of Republicans nervous and it’s already unpopular. Republicans cannot let this become endless distraction especially if they want to win in November.”

… WaPo: “Iran’s govt is unlikely to feel significant impact or soften its negotiating position as a result of new rounds of US military strikes like those now underway, according to a new intelligence assessment. Analysts at US spy agencies also have concluded that Tehran and Washington are, for now, stuck in an indefinite limbo between peace and war - an uneasy dynamic given the increasingly deadly nature of the tit-for-tat hostilities between the two nations.”

… “Trump’s current course of ever-expanding attacks appears to have led to a stalemate. But with the war deeply unpopular at home, continuing escalation by the US, such as the possible introduction of ground troops, poses political risks for the president with no guarantee of military success.”

… WaPo: “The Pentagon faces an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the war in Iran, with some critical lines of funding set to run out within weeks even as Trump escalates the conflict with Tehran, according to lawmakers and current and former US officials. The funding crunch is already leading the Pentagon to limit training and maintenance that help maintain military readiness.”

… “And the collapsed ceasefire with Iran could further strain the military’s budget: After 4 US service members died during more than a week of intensified fighting, officials in Washington signaled they were preparing for a wider conflict.”

… “The WH has asked Congress for an immediate infusion of $67 billion to help cover the costs of the war, but lawmakers are gridlocked over how to proceed. The House plans to leave Washington on Thursday for a month-long recess, leaving any deal on military funding weeks away at the earliest.”

… Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine testified before the senate today to attempt to defend their request for an insane DOD budget of $1.5 trillion. The DOD budget in 2024 was $841 billion:

• “I believe that not funding this department at $1.5 trillion is the greatest threat our nation faces.”

• Sen. Merkley: “It sounds like you are assuring us that we will not target even in retaliatory sense infrastructure that is generally considered to be primarily for civilian survival. Caine: We have a robust process. Merkley: It would be nice to have you say yes, because this is international law.”

• Sen. Durbin: “It’s my understanding that this whole supplemental funding request is $87.6 billion. But we are told DOD still has $75 billion in unobligated funding from last year’s reconciliation package. Is that true? Hegseth: Roughly. Durbin: What’s going to happen to that 75 billion? Hegseth: There’s plans and designs on that - move away from all the woke priorities of of what the Biden admin was pursuing.”

• Sen. Reed: “Your fallback to the Biden admin is just a very obvious excuse for what I think is probably gross negligence. You did not fully inform the president that you would be in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz could be effectively closed. Hegseth: The fact that those contingencies all were part of the possibility, and we understood that is all the more reason why President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get. Reed: He should be praised for starting war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously?”

• Reed: “These airstrikes have not yet deterred and defeated the Iranians. Do you think airstrikes alone will do that? Caine: I think academically, as you look across the totality of history, air power has got limits… Reed: Well, the military, the next step would be escalation by ground combat. Do you anticipate that escalation? Caine: I think it'd be unhelpful for me to opine on hypotheticals.”

• Sen. Murray: “April 8th, you said their missile program is functionally destroyed. Launchers, production facilities and existing stockpiles depleted and decimated and almost completely ineffective. Iran has been firing at US military bases in the region and ships for the last week. Hegseth: Iran is at the weakest point militarily it has ever been in in the past decade.”

• Murray: “Why exactly are billions of dollars more for the National Guard and this administration's illegal strikes in the Caribbean urgently needed for the Iran war?
  Hegseth: Because of the gross negligence and neglect of the Biden admin.”

… Laura Loomer was in Ukraine today for the first time. She posted this: “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine. Sirens blaring. This is everyday for every Ukrainian. I feel like such an asshole for minimizing the struggle of Ukrainians for the last 5 years. I often said I don’t care. Looking back, that wasn’t very nice of me to say.”

… “There are people in Ukraine who have to run to a bomb shelter everyday and some of us had the audacity to say Russia wasn’t wrong because we believed the lie that Ukraine is a country full of Nazi sympathizers. We have been so propagandized by Russia and we don’t even realize it.”

… Well, well.

… President Zelenskyy: “It is very important that Laura Loomer is in Ukraine and sees with her own eyes what is happening here. There is no better way to form an informed point of view than through personal experience, which allows one not to succumb to Russian propaganda.”

… Strange times.

… CNN’s Kristen Holmes: “As of now, Trump is not expected to get involved the extradition case of Andrew and Tristan Tate, multiple sources tell me. One source said allies of the Tate brothers had been reaching out to people in Trump’s orbit in hopes of building a campaign in support of them.”

… Meidas reporter Pablo Manriquez asked a few Democrats to give their reaction to Trump trying to hijack the podium celebration of the Spanish National Team at the World Cup:

• Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA): “That was so obtuse of him. At least he wasn’t doing his herky-jerky dance, but the fact that he even thought anyone was remotely interested in seeing that behemoth of a man on the stage—and he would not even move out of the way. Isn’t there a song saying that? Pablo: Ludacris. Kamlager-Dove: Yes. He really needed to get his fat ass off the stage.”

• Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI): “He just continues to find ways to embarrass us on the world stage.”

• Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA): “It just tears him apart not to be the center of attention. He’ll probably put out an AI video of him winning the World Cup and kicking the winning goal.”

… The memes have hit social media mocking Trump’s attempt to crash Spain’s celebration. This is the one that went most viral:

… This wasn’t bad either:

… Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) was asked on MS NOW about Hegseth giving troops testosterone injections: “The military does not need more testosterone. It needs better leadership. And that starts with the Secretary of Defense. It also starts with the commander in chief. He's the one that hired Hegseth, who is the most unqualified individual we've ever had in this position by far.

… “They're firing the wrong people. Pete Hegseth is firing people because they're women and they're black. The President should fire Pete Hegseth.”

… Republicans rolled out their ridiculous new talking point about the SAVE Act using Olive Garden:

• House Maj Leader Steve Scalise in CNBC: "For God's sake - you can't get pasta at Olive Garden without a picture ID! Why not be able to show a picture ID to vote?"

• Stephen Miller: "We've reached a point in society where access to fettuccine at Olive Garden is vastly more secure than deciding who is Commander-in-Chief of the country."

• Rep. David Kustoff on Newsmax: “If Olive Garden can require a photo ID to buy a pasta card, requiring one to vote should be common sense. The Senate should pass the SAVE Act.”

• WH spokesperson Abigail Jackson on Newsmax: "I saw a tweet yesterday from Olive Garden that in order to take advantage of their never-ending pasta pass, you have to show photo ID. I thought, that's weird, Olive Garden takes pasta pass security more seriously than Democrats take election security."

• Fox host Will Cain: “You need more ID for Olive Garden pasta than voting in America. Why is it tougher to secure unlimited breadsticks in some parts of the country than it is to vote in federal elections?”

• Sen. Dave McCormick: So, in America right now, the Pasta Pass at Olive Garden has stricter ID rules than election ballots? Pass the SAVE Act.”

… Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) responded: “We should only be looking to Olive Garden for unlimited breadsticks… not a model for our elections.”

Unlike the past few Bulletins which were each dominated by a handful of topics, this one has a lot more variety with news items from lots of different places. I don’t choose how these things go each day - I let the news shape the Bulletin, not the other way around.

A reminder that there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my weekly podcast Uncovered where we do a deep dive into the top stories of the week. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin or the Ask the Editor show, you can find them at those links.

… 26 Epstein survivors sent a letter to Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn imploring them to vote against Todd Blanche’s confirmation as AG:

• “Sen. Tillis, when you urged Todd Blanche to meet with survivors, we believed you expected a serious and meaningful conversation. What occurred instead was a box-checking exercise arranged only after his confirmation was put at risk. Blanche’s willingness to sit in a room with us should not matter more than how he treated us when we were there.”

• “Both of you have records of standing with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault. A vote to confirm Blanche would be a vote against those survivors. It would reward someone who has refused to take responsibility for the harm