Wednesday Afternoon Updates: A Regime of Liars Is Running Out of Distractions – 7/29/26

Wednesday afternoon update: the war gets worse, the markets crash, and MAGA suddenly remembers the pandemic

Members of the audience, who say they were negatively impacted by their skepticism to Covid-19 precautions, stand behind Anthony Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and medical advisor to several U.S. presidents, at the urging of U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) at a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 29, 2026. Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Hi all, Ben here. It’s Wednesday, and I need you to buckle up because there is a lot happening today.

Thanks again to all those who continue to let me know you preordered the book I wrote with my brothers, WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. If you preorder your copy today, be sure to let me know in the comments!

Here’s what we’re tracking this afternoon:

• Trump tells Fox News he’s going to “beat the f**king s*** out of” Iran, as the US and Saudi Arabia hit Iranian-backed militias in Iraq after Iranian attacks

• The Iraqi resistance responds, demanding Iraq cancel its US and Saudi agreements

• Iran says the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, no exceptions

• The Houthis are reportedly considering their own toll system in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with Chinese ships exempted

• US troops in the Middle East are being told to stop posting videos, and some may have to surrender their phones

• China is reportedly sending Iran hundreds of shoulder-fired missiles, the exact deal Trump swore Xi told him would never happen

• Oil prices are spiking and the Dow is cratering

• The Pentagon is bragging about AI agents

• Fauci testifies before the Senate

• Epstein survivors are on Capitol Hill right now hand-delivering files to senators ahead of Todd Blanche’s confirmation vote

• Obama is endorsing Josh Turek in Iowa

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright lies and says data centers lower electricity prices

• FIFA’s Gianni Infantino is giving member federations a deadline to approve his private equity plan for the World Cup involving the Kushners

• SpaceX wants to put an AI data center made of up to a million satellites into orbit

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Now let’s get into it.