Abbott Threatens to Expand His Redistricting Ambitions
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told the Ruthless podcast that he might not stop at trying to redistrict five House seats.
Said Abbott: “What I’m thinking now is that if they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding. We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.”
Michigan Lawmaker Drops Out of Senate Race
Michigan state Rep. Joe Tate (D), who was the first Black speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, said that he is suspending his U.S. Senate campaign to move “in a different direction of service,” the Detroit News reports.
Tate struggled to compete with the fundraising numbers put up by the three other Democratic candidates, Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and public health official Abdul El-Sayed.
Greg Abbott Amps Up Pressure on Democrats
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vowed to call “special session after special session after special session” in response to Democratic lawmakers who have fled the state to block redistricting legislation, saying they’ll have to stay out of Texas for years to prevent it becoming law, NBC News reports.
Said Abbott: “We are in the process as we speak right now of searching for, preparing to arrest Democrats who may be in Texas, may be elsewhere.”
He added: “But I’ll tell you this also, Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue. That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there.”
So Much for the ‘Best Health-Care System in the World’
Jonathan Chait: “Here’s a piece of Republican rhetoric that used to be ubiquitous but that you never hear anymore: America has the best health-care system in the world.”
“Republican politicians liked this line because it helped them dismiss the idea that the system needed major reform. American health care at its finest offered the most advanced treatments anywhere. Democrats wanted to expand coverage, but why mess with perfection?”
“In Donald Trump’s second term, Republicans haven’t given up their opposition to universal coverage—far from it—but they have mostly stopped singing the praises of American health-care innovation. Indeed, they are taking a meat axe to it, slashing medical-research funding while elevating quacks and charlatans to positions of real power. The resulting synthesis is the worst of all worlds: a system that will lose its ability to develop new cures, while withholding its benefits from even more of the poor and sick.”
Xi Pleased Putin Is Attempting to Improve U.S. Ties
“Chinese President Xi Jinping is glad to see the US and Russia talking, he told Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation on Friday,” Bloomberg reports.
“Xi set out China’s position on Ukraine to the Russian leader, describing it as a set of complex issues with no simple solutions.”
Nancy Mace Melts Down at Reporter
After a reporter called out Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) for boasting about having secured infrastructure funding for South Carolina that she voted against, Mace attacked her a “raging leftist.”
Said Mace: “You’re very confused. And you’re a raging Democrat, so raging leftist with that kind of questioning. And I would say as a woman, like, you might wanna think about how you view other women and how you treat other women the way that you question them, because women are gonna lead this country off the brink. And conservative women, the first female president of this country is going to be a conservative woman, not some liberal like you.”
Daily Beast: Nancy Mace loses it after being fact-checked to her face.
Don Jr. Posts Image of Father Throwing a Dildo
Donald Trump Jr. posted a photoshopped image of his father, President Donald Trump, throwing a dildo off the White House roof.
Daily Beast: “The meme is a reference both to the president’s recent stroll around the roof of the White House, and to a recent incident involving Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.”
“Cunningham was struck by a sex toy that was thrown onto the court during a WNBA game between Indiana Fever and the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.”
Trump Lashes Out at Republican Ditching the GOP
President Trump ripped into former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan who changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, calling him a “total loser.”
Said Trump: “We didn’t want him in the Republican Party any longer, so I’m told he became a Democrat. Good riddance Geoff. You don’t even have a chance!!!”
Trump Is Furious with India
Politico: “The unraveling of what had appeared to be a promising trade dynamic between the U.S. and one of the world’s fastest-rising economies illustrates the precarious nature of crafting an economic partnership with a mercurial Trump administration that has freely used high tariff rates to try to bend the world to its will.”
Said Mukesh Aghi, the president and CEO of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum: “We are in a situation now where he is completely upset with India, and the 25 years of effort to build a relationship seems to be going down in 25 hours. We need to arrest this in some manner… because the relationship is critical for both nations.”
The Race to Find a Measles Treatment as Infections Surge
“As a record number of people in the U.S. are sickened with measles, researchers are resurrecting the search for something long-deemed redundant: treatments for the viral disease,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“After the measles vaccine was introduced in the 1960s, cases of the disease plummeted. By 2000, federal officials had declared measles eliminated from the U.S. This success led to little interest in the development of treatments. But now, as vaccination rates fall and infections rise, scientists are racing to develop drugs they say could prevent or treat the disease in vulnerable and unvaccinated people.”
Swiss Leader Stood Up to Trump and It Backfired on Her
“Karin Keller-Sutter admires the grit of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and as Swiss president is known as technocratic and tenacious. Those traits look to have backfired when she faced off with Donald Trump and led her country into crisis,” Bloomberg reports.
“With Trump levying the highest tariffs in the developed world on Switzerland at 39% — more than double the European Union’s rate — there’s little relief in sight.”
Trump Is Making CEOs’ Business His Business
“In dealing with America’s biggest companies, the commander in chief has no qualms about acting as the micromanager in chief,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“President Trump took his penchant for telling corporate bosses how to run their companies to another level Thursday by publicly calling on Intel’s chief executive to resign. The move wasn’t out of character: Trump has told Detroit carmakers not to raise prices and demanded Walmart ‘eat the tariffs.’ He has pressured the Washington Commanders football team to change its name and wants Coca-Cola to use cane sugar instead of corn syrup.”
“All of that intervention is creating a risk for business leaders who thought they had largely figured out the Trump playbook.”
Washington Post: America’s CEOs come to the White House bearing gifts and flattery.
Trump to Correct ‘Extremely Regrettable’ Error in Tariffs
“The Trump administration has agreed to correct an ‘extremely regrettable’ blunder in the execution of its trade agreement with Japan, the country’s top trade negotiator said in Washington on Thursday,” the New York Times reports.
“In negotiations last month, Japanese officials believed they had secured a deal that, in return for pledges to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States and open its market to more American goods, would set a standard tariff rate of 15 percent for all of its products shipped to the United States.”
“In a July 31 executive order, the Trump administration outlined a similar scheme for the European Union. But Japan, along with other trade partners, was issued a new tariff rate that would be ‘stacked’ on top of existing ones. In Japan’s case, that raised tariffs on items such as its beef exports to the United States from 26.4 percent to 41.4 percent.”
Mary Peltola Would Be Strongest for Alaska Governor
Former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) holds a commanding lead in the 2026 election for governor of Alaska if she chooses to jump into the race, a new Data for Progress survey shows.
“Peltola had the highest favorability ratings of major Alaska politicians in the survey… She holds a net positive favorability of 9 points, and leads a crowded field of lesser-known and less popular Republican gubernatorial opponents by double-digit margins.”
Aryan Freedom Network Is Riding High in Trump Era
Reuters: “While the Aryan Freedom Network and other neo-Nazi groups remain on the outermost edges of American politics, broadly regarded as toxic by conservatives and mainstream America, they are increasingly at the center of far-right public demonstrations and acts of violence.”
“Several trends have converged since Trump’s re-election… Trump’s rhetoric has galvanized a new wave of far-right activists, fueling growth in white supremacist ranks. Trump’s pardons of January 6 rioters and a shift in federal law enforcement’s focus toward immigration have also led many on the far right to believe that federal investigations into white nationalists are no longer a priority.”
“And the boundaries of the far right itself are shifting. Ideas once confined to fringe groups like the Proud Boys — who helped lead the January 6 siege — are now more visible in Republican politics, from election denialism to rhetoric portraying immigrants as ‘invaders.’ Trump’s public support and pardons for far-right figures helped normalize those views.”
Pete Hegseth Linked to Christian Nationalist Pastor
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a follower of self-described Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson, one of an ascendent group of Christian religious leaders finding influence among MAGA conservatives, CNN reports.
Arresting Trump’s Opponents Is Easier Said Than Done
Politico: “It’s a familiar refrain for Trump’s second term: The far right lusts to see prominent Democrats or Trump adversaries hauled off in handcuffs, only to be let down when their revenge fantasies run into reality.”
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