Today in Politics, Bulletin 428. 7/28/26

… Mike Johnson said he is very confident about Republican chances in the midterms because he’s formed a prayer group for it and is certain that God wants them to win: “This is a God thing. We have intercessory prayers who are on the ground at the Capitol praying each of these things through. More and more people are understanding there must be something do this.”

… Trump was on Fox & Friends this morning:

• Q - “Are you worried the tariffs you put forward over the last couple days will hurt the economy? Trump: No, because it’s bringing in hundreds of billions of dollars.”

… That’s exactly why they are hurting the economy.

• Q - “We hear that you’re talking with leaders from Iran. But Iran has come out publicly and said ‘we’re not talking to the US’. Trump: Well, they just came out and said we are talking. Q - So could you tell me who you’re talking to? Trump: We’ve had some very good talks.”

… He never said who he was supposedly talking to.

• “It’ll take them many years to ever rebuild, and if I go back and finish up the job as some people would like with the bridges - it takes them 10 years to build a bridge. They know I’m going to do that if they don’t make a deal. The bridges are going to be gone. Literally, in less than 2 hours, most of the major bridges will all be gone—and the power plants, in one day.”

• On Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain: “We have the greatest cameras in the world focused on it. I know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe, it’s not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites, and we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if we don’t make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we’ll take it out very easily.”

… He supposedly already took it out a year ago.

• Q - There are reports that Netanyahu will brief you on Iranian activity at Pickaxe Mountain: “I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved. I heard Bibi announce that, I said ‘why don’t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?’ I know exactly what’s going on.”

• “I stopped 8 wars, I would say 5 of them because of tariffs. The threat of tariffs stopped India and Pakistan from going into a nuclear war.”

… Yes, the first nuclear war in history between two countries with nukes would have already happened if it wasn’t for Trump threatening tariffs on Truth Social and a billion people would be dead. Right.

… Trump had meetings with both Zelenskyy and Netayahu today in the Oval Office. Netanyahu posted this:

… Steve Bannon: “I think all of Trump’s most ardent non-‘Israel First’ supporters are furious. Netanyahu has had twice as many visits to the WH in 18 months as Winston Churchill had in all of World War II - with every one of them a disaster for America.”

… Politico: “Many of the president’s anti-interventionist allies had hoped the latest ceasefire attempt would lead to a permanent end to the conflict. Instead, they’re grappling with the possibility that Netanyahu, who is visiting the US for the 7th time since Trump took office last year, may instead push the president into a new, more durable phase of war that could leave the US embroiled in conflict in the Middle East for months, if not years.”

… Zelenskyy posted: “A good meeting with President Trump at the Oval Office. The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help. We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated. Our teams will arrange the details of their further communication. I am grateful to the US for its firm support.”

… The WH sent JD Vance over to the Capitol Rotunda for Lindsey Graham’s service while Trump was meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Probably a wise move.

… Later in the afternoon, Trump and his cabinet attended Lindsey’s funeral. Sean Hannity gave the eulogy: “Lindsey probably has a heavenly version of Mar a Lago. It may even be a little bigger. He may have a little more gold in the Oval Office in his mansion in heaven. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he added one big beautiful ballroom and an arch somewhere on the property. because you would wanna obviously duplicate his dearest friend in life, you, Mr. President.”

… Really shocking that Lindsey’s memorial service turned into a tribute to Donald Trump.

… Trump also attempted to put a TicTac in his mouth but he missed his mouth and dropped it on the floor. He made it on the second attempt.

… Naturally, he left the first one on the floor for someone else to pick up later.

… As soon as the next speaker started talking about Lindsey and not Trump, he promptly fell asleep in public again in the middle of the day.

… CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was asked about the WH Correspondents’ Dinner on the Daily Show. Jon Stewart: “Was he bombing as hard as it appeared on TV? Collins: What was most surprising to me was that the room was filled with a lot of his staffers, his cabinet, his allies, and Republicans in Congress. It was so quiet in the room during the president’s remarks.”

… On Trump’s frequent personal attacks on her: “It’s really not about me, and I don’t want it to be about my reaction. In those moments it’s important to put the reminder back on the work, on the question, and on the non-answers that we get.”

… Axios: “KY Gov. Andy Beshear demanded that Sen. Mitch McConnell verbally address constituents and demonstrate his ability to serve or resign his seat in a blunt letter sent to the senator and his staff. Beshear said in the letter that it was also being sent to John Thune, whom Beshear urged to investigate McConnell’s capacity to serve:

…. Beshear: “I understand anyone’s desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state’s two US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy. That’s the deal, and we all know it when we run. All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency. Kentuckians are just asking you to be honest.”

… Beshear to Bloomberg: “There’s an argument out there that Aug 3 is a date where I could not later call a special election. Those that are really pushing this I think are under the impression that a Democrat in KY might be able to win that election. It’s been since 1992 that we had a Democratic senator in KY.”

… “You mentioned a lot of missed votes. I want to point out some other missed votes that might not be a bad thing. McConnell hasn’t been there to vote on the SAVE Act, which would tear voting rights away. He hasn’t been there to vote to support this war on Iran that this president started and shouldn’t be continuing. Not having Mitch McConnell show up isn’t necessarily a bad thing because he certainly doesn’t show up to help the American people.”

… Stephen Miller on Fox: “AOC, Bernie, Omar—these are people who, even 10-15 years ago, would have been relegated to the outermost fringes. They are now the heart of the party. The Democrats have become the party of freaks, weirdos, losers, and crazies. But you can't laugh it off because it's deadly serious. When you give these people power, everything you know and love in this world falls apart. You have chaos, corruption, decay, violence, poverty.”

… Stephen Miller calling someone else a freak and weirdo. Almost like Trump making jokes about people’s weight.

… Punchbowl: “The vote on Acting AG Todd Blanche’s confirmation is coming down to the wire. Just 48 hours before a key Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Blanche’s nomination for the permanent AG job, GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis are holding firm on their conditions for backing Blanche - and indicating there’s been little movement toward a deal that would unlock their support.”

… “Both senators, whose votes are needed for Blanche to advance to the Senate floor, are demanding that DOJ formally eliminate the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund and curtail an IRS audit immunity deal for Trump. Cornyn said that DOJ has ‘not sufficiently’ addressed his concerns but noted they’re ‘still talking.’”

… Cornyn: “We just need for the documents to conform to what Blanche’s testimony was at the hearing, where he said the weaponization fund was dead and he said that the immunity from future audits does not extend to people beyond the parties to the lawsuit.”

… Cornyn posted: “Fake news alert: there is no ‘deal’ on Blanche nomination. They know what they have to do.”

… Laura Weiss with Punchbowl: “The standoff between Todd Blanche and Judiciary Republican swing votes is really coming down to the wire. Cornyn and Tillis want DOJ to formally kill anti-weaponization fund and restrict Trump’s audit immunity deal before they advance him in committee. Vote is scheduled for Thursday.”

… MS NOW: “Last week, former DOJ lawyer Liz Oyer testified in the Senate against the confirmation of Todd Blanche as AG. Then came the death threats. Oyer oversaw the DOJ’s pardon office before Trump ousted her last year and promptly turned the office into a tool to help out his donors and political allies. She has said she was fired for refusing to restore actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights after his 2011 conviction for domestic violence.”

… “And she was a key witness urging senators to vote against confirming Blanche, who has already sought as acting AG to quash further inquiry into the Epstein files and drew criticism over his softball interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. And it seems Republicans are now fueling attacks against Oyer as they try to make Blanche the nation’s top law enforcement official.”

… “Oyer attributed the threats to dubious accusations - peddled by Missouri’s Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, and in conservative media - that she was basically an ally to rapists and murderers. At the Senate hearing, the two senators homed in on Joe Biden’s decision to commute most federal death sentences.”

… “Oyer explained that her recommendation to reassess the cases of all 40 inmates on federal death row, 37 of whom Biden spared from execution, was in keeping with the admin’s broad opposition to capital punishment. She also dispelled misinformation that commuted inmates will be ever be released from prison.”

… John Thune infuriated the MAGA people with this statement on Fox today on nuking the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act: “I’ve had this conversation with the president many times. The votes are not there to do it. I know he thinks he can persuade people, but this is a hard position for a lot of Senate Republicans.”

… There are reportedly at least 15 Republican senators who will not vote to repeal the filibuster rule under any circumstances.

Reminder 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 and try to bring interesting takes to each topic that were not widely known or reported.

Going to also visit some small town bookstores in the morning to try to add a few old used classics to my literature collection. For 30 years I read nothing but non-fiction - almost all history and biographies. Now I read nothing but fiction. I guess I get enough of the real world most days now.

Thank you to everyone who reads, shares and subscribes. Late next week we are going to get under 90 days until the midterms and this is the time when information, organizing, and mobilizing is very important. I pride myself on covering elections well and these are the times when it is my Super Bowl.

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

… The Times (UK): “FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino is planning to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors under a scheme that could potentially earn him tens of millions of pounds. Investor discussions held with figures close to the Trump admin. FIFA has now confirmed to The Times this Infantino plan is under discussion with Josh Kushner as proposed lead investor.”

… Josh is Jared Kushner’s brother.

… UEFA statement: “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every National Football