Harvard University president Alan Garber told faculty a deal between the Ivy League institution and the Trump administration is not imminent – and denied reports that the university is considering a $500 million settlement with the White House, The Crimson reports.
A Deep Dive Into the Democratic Spam Machine
Adam Bonica: “The digital deluge is a familiar annoyance for anyone on a Democratic fundraising list. It’s a relentless cacophony of bizarre texts and emails, each one more urgent than the last, promising that your immediate $15 donation is the only thing standing between democracy and the abyss.”
“The main rationale offered for this fundraising frenzy is that it’s a necessary evil—that the tactics, while unpleasant, are brutally effective at raising the money needed to win. But an analysis of the official FEC filings tells a very different story. The fundraising model is not a brutally effective tool for the party; it is a financial vortex that consumes the vast majority of every dollar it raises.”
Key takeaway: “A single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.”
Democrats Are Calling Up Military Recruits
New York Times: “Aware of its deeply unpopular national brand, the Democratic Party is turning to an unusually large crop of veterans to help it retake the House next year.”
Quote of the Day
“I’m kind of hoping that mutually assured destruction can get us all to walk back from the brink.”
— Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D), quoted by Politico, on the redistricting wars.
Like Nixon, Only Worse
Jonathan Bernstein: “Trump is not the first president to mess with BLS. Richard Nixon decided that Jews were out to get him… and had his underlings draw up a list of Jews at BLS and then demote them.”
“As I said a while ago, pick a past presidential scandal and odds are Trump has topped it; in this case, Nixon didn’t publicly undermine the entire agency. Also, unlike Trump, Nixon used antisemitic slurs only in private (as far as I know), so no one found out until the White House tapes revealed them.”
The Assault on Democracy Is Happening in Plain Sight
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Abbott Threatens to Try to Expel Democrats Who Fled
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is threatening to try to remove Democratic lawmakers from office for fleeing the state and claiming they could be charged with crimes, escalating tensions overnight in a showdown over redrawing congressional lines ahead of the midterm elections,” the Washington Post reports.
“Democrats said Abbott’s warnings were bluster and announced they were committed to staying away for two weeks, when the 30-day special session is expected to end.”
‘We’re Not in Hungary Anymore’
Paul Krugman: “For those who don’t know what I’m talking about: Many observers, myself included, have looked at Hungary’s descent into soft authoritarianism as a model for what can happen here. (And right-wingers have seen Hungary as a role model.) Since taking power in 2010 Viktor Orban and Fidesz, the ruling party, have systematically undermined democratic institutions, creating a de facto one-party state. But the process has been gradual and relatively nonviolent: Salami tactics that sliced off effective opposition a bit at a time rather than tanks in the streets and detention camps.”
“Why did Orban take a gradualist approach to destroying democracy? Partly, no doubt, because too overt a power grab might finally have roused the rest of the European Union from its slumber. But it’s also true that Fidesz had the luxury of time because until recently the party remained quite popular with the Hungarian public…”
“It’s now clear, by contrast, that Trump and MAGA don’t have the luxury of time. Trump’s approval has already cratered…”
“So if Trump and MAGA want to hold on to power, they’ll have to do so in the face of low public approval and poor economic performance. This, unfortunately, doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t demolish democracy. It does mean that they’ll have to do it quickly and blatantly.”
Nancy Mace Launches Bid for South Carolina Governor
“Rep. Nancy Mace, the outspoken South Carolina Republican whose political rise has defied easy categorization and made her one of the GOP’s most unpredictable figures, is entering the state’s 2026 governor’s race,” the Charleston Post & Courier reports.
“About an hour after sunrise on Aug. 4, Mace declared her candidacy at The Citadel, the storied military college where she made history in 1999 as the first woman to graduate from its Corps of Cadets.”
“The setting was a deliberate choice, an evocative return to where her rise to prominence began, and a site that still anchors both her self-image and her political persona.”
The Downballot: Nancy Mace’s favorite person in the world launches bid for governor.
Illinois Governor Vows to Protect Texas Democrats
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said that the state would protect Texas Democrats who fled to the Prairie State over GOP efforts to redraw the Lone Star State’s congressional maps, The Hill reports.
Said Pritzker: “They’re here in Illinois. We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them and make sure that — ’cause we know they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law.”
Chicago Tribune: Texas House Democrats flee to Chicago to deny GOP’s congressional redistricting effort.
Laura Loomer Has the White House Scrambling Again
“Laura Loomer, the controversial far-right activist with a direct line to President Donald Trump, has taken credit for a slew of recent high-profile administration firings. But she sounds more exasperated than triumphant,” CNN reports.
“In an interview last week, the Trump confidante touted her role in ousting the country’s chief vaccine regulator, a senior national security lawyer and a decorated cybersecurity expert tapped for a post at West Point. It was a remarkable display of influence for someone with no formal government experience and whose online antics once resulted in a ban by social media companies.”
“She said it’s not nearly enough — and she’s grown frustrated with White House officials ignoring her offers to help vet candidates.”
Daily Beast: Trump praises “very nice” Loomer as her body count grows.
A Bad Omen for the Fall
Punchbowl News: “The outlook for a government-funding deal is pretty poor right now. A shutdown or CR – or both – is a real possibility heading into the Sept. 30 deadline. Or potentially a hybrid situation where Congress passes some spending bills and then adopts a short-term CR (say two or three months) for the other federal agencies.”
“That would leave Washington lurching along from shutdown threat to shutdown threat throughout 2025-26.”
Mike Johnson to Visit Israeli Settlement in West Bank
“House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to visit a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Monday as part of a private visit to Israel organized by a pro-Israel advocacy group,” Axios reports.
“While many Republican Congress members have visited West Bank settlements, it is highly unusual visit for a speaker of the house to do so.”
Senate Confirms Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney
The Senate confirmed former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in a 50-45 vote along party lines, the Washington Post reports.
Big Tech’s AI Spending Is Reshaping the Economy
“Big Tech’s unprecedented spending spree on artificial intelligence is getting so big that it’s starting to reshape the U.S. economy,” the Washington Post reports.
“Google, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft reaffirmed this past week that they are on track to spend more than $350 billion this year building and equipping AI data centers — a massive influx of money that economists and analysts say could be a countervailing force to what appears to be a decelerating economy.”
Trump Seeks Bigger Overhaul at Labor Statistics Bureau
“A chief White House economic adviser said Sunday that President Trump wants his allies placed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the agency published a surprisingly dismal jobs report Friday and the president later fired its commissioner,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Kevin Hassett, Trump’s National Economic Council director, said on NBC that the firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer is part of Trump’s plan to make further changes to the agency.”
CNBC: White House struggles to justify firing of BLS chief over weak jobs numbers.
Washington Post: Trump again claims jobs report revisions are a “scam.”
China Is Choking Supply of Critical Minerals
“China is limiting the flow of critical minerals to Western defense manufacturers, delaying production and forcing companies to scour the world for stockpiles of the minerals needed to make everything from bullets to jet fighters,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Netanyahu Squanders His Moment to Halt the War
“When Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, led the country to a military victory over Iran in June, both his allies and rivals portrayed it as his finest achievement. Flush with newfound confidence and authority, Mr. Netanyahu seemed finally to have gained the political capital he needed to override opposition from his far-right government allies to reach a truce in Gaza,” the New York Times reports.
“Six weeks later, the prime minister has squandered that moment.“
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