The True Election Fraudster

Commentary by Bill McGuire

The problem with listening to anything Donald Trump has to say about election integrity is that he's done nothing but lie about if for the past five years. All his claims have been comprehensively debunked -- not to mention rejected in dozens of courtrooms across the country. We note that for Trump, every election he wins is a landslide, while every election he loses was rigged. That's his standing position on elections. Trump doesn't really believe them, nor in democratic rule. For him, just another system to be gamed.

In his most recent speech last night Trump asserted that his purpose "is not to weaken confidence in elections," when it's clear that has been the purpose all along. The January 6 riot in the Capitol, for example, was fueled by his lies about the 2020 election. Consistently making demonstrably false claims about election fraud is itself election fraud. Trump is the greatest election fraudster of our time.

McGuire is contributing pundit for The Hustings.

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What do you think about President Trump’s national address on election fraud? Join The Hustings as a citizen pundit with an email of your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings, whether moderate or hard left/hard right in the subject line so we publish your comments in the appropriate column. –Editors

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FRIDAY 7/17/26

Trump Won’t Give Up on 2020

President Trump addresses the nation on election fraud.

By Todd Lassa

In his address to the nation Thursday night, President Trump released old evidence to once again express his anger and frustration from having lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. This was all to reinforce his argument that Congress should pass his SAVE America Act (it won’t without the Senate quashing the filibuster, and even then Trump doesn’t have enough Republican votes) with its requirements for government-issued photo identification and documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, to vote in the November midterms.

And then, when Congress fails to pass the SAVE Act, Trump will use the empty old evidence he presented Thursday to claim the midterms were stolen, if Democrats take the House and possibly the Senate.

Trump told Americans over nearly 30 minutes in his address that the Chinese government paid US journalists to write negative articles about him and that there were manufactured illegal ballots for Biden. The president also blamed the “deep state” for covering up such “voting irregularities.”

China wanted Trump to lose the 2020 election, the president said, “because they knew I was wise to them” and thus he has since charged the country “billions of dollars” in tariffs while building the world’s greatest military.

Beijing Friday morning accused Trump of “unfounded defamation” in his remarks, the BBC reports.

“Trump quoted years-old intelligence committee reports, including some that had been declassified or partially redacted, without noting a distinction between what China may have planned versus what analysts say it did,” reports the Poynter Institutes’ Politifact.

In his address, Trump claims his administration’s investigations have identified 279,000 non-citizens on voter rolls, Votebeatreports, but election officials said they “weren’t sure how the number was arrived at.”

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Burnham to PM – Minister of Parliament Andy Burnham took over as Labour Party leader from Kir Starmer Friday, on his way to taking over as the United Kingdom’s new prime minister, BBC reports. Burnham will become the seventh UK PM in 10 years Monday after Starmer meets King Charles to formally offer his resignation. Then the King meets Burnham and asks him to form a government.

Both meetings typically take place at Buckingham Palace.

Once he accepts Charles’ request to form a government, Burham officially becomes PM. This typically is followed by a speech by the new PM at Number 10 Downing Street, according to the BBC.

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Nearly $4 Again – National average of a gallon of unleaded regular is $3.981 Thursday, AAA reports, up 3.8 cents over Wednesday and $1.179 over February 27. Diesel is back up over five bucks, to $5.058, which is 5.3 cents higher than Wednesday and $1.284 over late February. –TL

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FRIDAY 7/17/26

Sour Dreams

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

While there is attention — including in this space — on the unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election from Donald Trump in his televised address, there is something that also happened on July 16 that goes to the point of the man not having a clear grasp of what makes America great, and that’s not putting fraudsters in office.

Trump endorsed Mike Lindell, a.k.a., the MyPillow Guy, for the governorship of Minnesota.

As you may recall, Lindell is an election denier. He made false claims about the election equipment produced by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic over Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

Lindell learned that you just can’t wave your arms and make false claims.

Dominion sued him in a $1.3 billion defamation case. There was a confidential settlement and the case was settled. You can’t be certain that (1) if Lindell had the goods on the company he wouldn’t have settled and (2) Dominion likely settled for a nontrivial amount of money.

Then there was a former Dominion executive, Eric Coomer, who sued Lindell for personal defamation. A jury found that was indeed the case and Lindell was ordered to pay Coomer $2.3 million. Not E. Jean Carroll money — there is the $5.6 million Trump paid to her and another $83.3 million judgment in her favor still being appealed — but a lot.

In the Smartmatic case Lindell had a summary judgment against him. While the amount he’ll pay hasn’t been announced, he does owe some $95,000 to Smartmatic for legal fees as well as for civil contempt — and the number goes up by $500 per day until he pays off the debt.

Yes, this is the sort of individual whom Donald Trump believes would make a good leader.

Trump’s claims can be considered in the same context.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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FRIDAY 7/17/26

Subpoenas Over Qatari 747 Security

Re: Subpoeonas of NYT Reporters -- Key features of the Trump regime include the demolition of the wall between the Department of Justice and the White House. DOJ is now totally weaponized in the service of the President: Rewarding his friends, punishing his enemies, and consolidating his power. Attorney General Todd Blanche is the Hand of the King. –Bill McGuire/Contributing Pundit

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You are invited to join our next live Talking With, Not At… Debate & Donuts IV at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, 6 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, July 22.

Topic is: What do you think about the condition of American democracy, and what are your hopes and thoughts for its future?

As always, we offer you the chance to become a citizen pundit for The Hustings. Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings, whether moderate or hard left/hard right in the subject line so we publish your comments in the appropriate column. –Editors

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MONDAY 7/13/26

Call is Coming From Inside the White House

The Consumer Price Index slipped to +3.5% in June, from +4.2% in May, the Labor Department reported Tuesday morning.

THURSDAY 7/16/26

Trump to Address Nation – President Trump will address “free and fair” elections in a primetime national address on television Thursday evening. His own party is afraid, very afraid, according to Politico.

“The people I talk to are scared shitless,” a former Trump administration official told the publication on condition of anonymity, of course. “It’s not scared shitless about the text of what he’s going to say, it’s what does he add to the text?”

Trump is scheduled to address the nation at 9 p.m. Eastern time, USA Today reports.

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Upheaval in Ukraine’s Military – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired his popular minister of defense, Mykhailo Federov, widely credited with turning around Ukraine’s war with Russia by advancing his country’s warfare with long-range drone strikes, over clashes with generals and military contractors, The New York Times reports. Federov had been pushing for better transparency in signing deals with the military contractors, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

About 1,000 to 2,000 people gathered in Kyiv early Thursday to protest removal of Federov, who had tried to drastically reform the army and navy during his half-year in the post, the Kyiv Independent reports.

Federov said Thursday he had suggested “drastic personnel decisions” involving replacement of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov. Younger soldiers and commanders have criticized both for their top-down, Soviet-era command culture, according to the Independent.

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Preview of Tonight’s Presidential Address? – Acting Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche in his job interview for the permanent position with the Senate Judiciary Committee and Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, before the Senate Intelligence Committee, both on Wednesday, repeated the same White House boilerplate when asked which candidate won the 2020 presidential election: “Joe Biden was certified president of the United States.”

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Upward Trend Continues – National average of a gallon of unleaded regular is $3.943 Thursday, AAA reports, up 5.3 cents over Wednesday and $1.141 over February 27. Diesel is back up over five bucks, to $5.005, which is 6.7 cents higher than Wednesday and $1.231 over late February. –TL

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WEDNESDAY 7/15/26

Full-On War – There seems to have been some question in recent days about whether what’s going on with Iran amounts to the war being back on. A 60-day ceasefire fell apart last week after a couple of weeks negotiating over an MOU that gave Iran serious advantages [the fifth paragraph essentially put Iran in charge of restoring shipping through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman, with a pledge Iran would ensure safe passage and remove military obstacles such as its mines, The Wall Street Journal noted].

Meanwhile, the US has reimposed a naval blockade and is upping airstrikes after Iran attacked ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, The Associated Press reports Wednesday.

Iran has attacked Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain with drones and missiles, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

US Central Command says it’s striking Iran during daylight hours after days of attacking only at night, The Guardian reports, with hits “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping” in the Strait. Seven Iranian Army personnel were reported killed, prompting the army to vow a “decisive response.”

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Trump Pays – Author and former “Ask E. Jean” Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll has been paid the $5.6 million awarded her in her 2023 defamation case against Donald J. Trump, The New York Times reports, citing a note added to the court’s online docket last week. Damages awarded in E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump in 2023 were held in escrow while Trump exhausted his appeals, all the way up to the US Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

Carroll accused the president of sexual assault and defaming her when he called her accusations “a Hoax and a lie” on social media.

Her attorney, Robert Kaplan said he was “pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict.”

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Let’s Get This Strait – A gallon of unleaded regular Wednesday is up 3.1 cents over Tuesday to $3.89, according to AAA’s national average. That’s up $1.088 from February 27. Diesel is $4.938 Wednesday, up 5.6 cents from Tuesday for a $1.164 premium over late February. –TL

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TUESDAY 7/14/26

CPI Eases to 3.5% -- Month-over-month CPI was -0.4% in June (from +0.5% in May) largely from the energy index’s 5.7% drop. But that energy index drop follows a 3.9% hike in May, 3.8% in April and 10.9% in March. The June index for food was 0.2%.

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Another ICE Shooting – Six days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Houston fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, a Mexican immigrant, for allegedly using his vehicle as a “weapon” as he drove a work crew to a construction site, it has happened again. This time in Biddeford, Maine, a small town about half an hour south of Portland.

There, an ICE agent Monday fatally shot Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, a Colombian man whom immigration advocates say was authorized to work in the US. An ICE agent fired four shots into the windshield of Guerrero’s white Kia. Witnesses described seeing Guerrero bleeding from the head as he was being pulled from the car, telling agents “I tried to stop,” the Portland Press Herald reports. Bystanders shouted at agents as people believed to be family members, including a pre-school girl thought to be Guerrero’s daughter, watched.

A spokesperson for Sen. Angus King (I-ME) told NPR that Guerrero was “not the target of the warrant” connected to a house under ICE surveillance in connection with an alleged illegal alien facing a final order of removal.

King told Morning Edition that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen told him that Guerrero allegedly “weaponized” his car, then claimed the ICE officer worried Guerrero’s car “posed a threat to public safety” by potentially driving into a crowd.

“Police officers are trained all over the country not to shoot into cars,” King said.

Stephen Miller’s secret police? … There is no body camera footage of ICE’s fatal shooting of Guerrero, King said. As an independent, King voted with Senate Democrats against a bill that funds ICE through the end of President Trump’s term. But the Republican majority passed the funding while rejecting Democrats’ demands that it include requirements that ICE agents carry badges, identification and body cameras.

It took ICE nearly 12 hours to issue a statement, to just before 7 p.m. Monday confirming Guerrero’s shooting, according to the Press Herald. There has been no comment from DHS.

A Biddeford police officer’s involvement at the scene was limited to providing security at the scene, according to the newspaper’s report, and the unnamed officer has been placed on leave.

“This has to be a clear and transparent investigation,” King said.

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Trump Can’t Sue Himself – US District Judge Kathleen Williams accused President Trump and his attorneys of having manipulated the court system when Trump sued his own Internal Revenue Service for $1.776 billion, thus bypassing the requirement that parties in a lawsuit must have adverse interests, The Associated Press reports.

Trump had said the $1.776 billion would create a fund to compensate allies who believed they had been unjustly persecuted, including possibly those charged in the January 6^th attack on the US Capitol.

This comes just as Acting Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee Tuesday in his quest to become Trump’s permanent AG.

Williams stopped short of voiding the part of the deal that would shield Trump from IRS scrutiny in perpetuity, but she referred Alejandro Brito, the attorney who filed the case for the president in Florida, for possible disciplinary action before the state bar. Williams also said attorney Daniel Epstein will not be granted permission to file cases within the Southern District of Florida for up to one year.

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About that Gas – Relief at the pump comes Tuesday for the first time since the 60-day Memorandum of Understanding ceasefire fell apart late last week. National average for a gallon of unleaded regular is $3.859 Tuesday, AAA reports, down 1.3 cents from Monday and up $1.057 from February 27. Diesel is up 0.7 cents, however, to $4.882 over Monday and $1.108 from late February. --TL

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MONDAY 7/13/26

UPDATE: South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has appointed Lindsey Graham's sister, Darline Graham Norton, to finish his fourth term ending January 3, 2027, The Hill reports. President Trump had recommended McMaster appoint Graham's sister.

In the meantime South Carolina will hold a GOP primary for US Senate, with filing for the primary opening July 21 and closing July 28, according to the Post and Courier. If a runoff is necessary it will be held August 25.

Graham Dies -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a traditional Republican military/foreign relations hawk who somehow became one of President Trump’s staunchest allies after initially rejecting his MAGA politics, died Saturday evening after returning from Ukraine earlier that day. The Washington, D.C. medical examiner’s office says in a preliminary report that Graham, 71, died of an aortic dissection tear in his main artery, caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, The New York Times reports.

Graham was scheduled to appear Sunday morning on Meet the Press for what NBC News said would have been his 64^thappearance.

Graham had convinced President Trump to back a bipartisan bill to impose “scorching” tariffs and sanctions on Russian oil that has been paying for dictator/President Vladimir Putin’s war scheme against Ukraine, said Graham’s co-sponsor on the bill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

“In my last conversation with Sen. Graham, he was absolutely exultant calling from Kyiv,” Blumenthal told NPR’s Morning Edition Monday, “seeking final approval from the White House for our Russia sanctions bill, which he was going to discuss with President Zelenskyy.”

Graham briefly ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. In 2015 told CNN; “You know how to make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”

That changed quickly as Trump claimed primary election victories leading up to his first win in November 2016, and particularly after Trump’s second win eight years later, Graham had become his closest ally in the Senate.

Trump on Sunday called Graham “one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known.” … “He was always working and was a true American patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed.”

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster now must choose a temporary replacement to serve the remainder of Graham’s current term, to January. Graham was running for a fifth Senate term with Annie Andrews his Democratic Party challenger.

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Gas Update – The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular on Monday came down from Sunday’s prices, according to the AAA, though at $3.872 still higher by 2.6 cents over last Thursday, the most recent day we chronicled. That’s $1.07 costlier than unleaded regular prices on February 27. Diesel was up 6.5 cents over last Thursday to $4.875 per gallon. That’s $1.101 over late February.

•••

Plane Intimidation? – FBI agents knocked on the doors of New York Times reporters late Friday with subpoenas to investigate leaks about President Trump flying on his old Air Force One to return from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, last week. That flight left behind Trump’s Qatari-gifted Boeing 747, which he used as Air Force One to fly to the summit.

The FBI subpoenas demanded that reporters give evidence of leaks about the Qatari jet to a grand jury.

According to The New York Times’ report on the story Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel cancelled a trip to Chicago last Friday and spent “roughly eight hours” at the White House to run the investigation instead of doing so at his agency’s Washington headquarters. MS NOW as well as the NYT broke the story last week that Trump switched airplanes for his return to the US after the Secret Service voiced concerns to the administration that the über-luxurious 747 Qatar gave to Trump lacks the advanced anti-missile capabilities and other defensive countermeasures of the quotidian Air Force One.

Iranians loyal to the governing regime last week called for the death of President Trump during the funeral procession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the first US attacks on Tehran last February (New York Post), apparently prompting the Secret Service to have the president change airplanes for his return. Trump switched back to the Qatari 747 at Mildenhall Air Force Base in England for the final leg of his return to the US last week.

Justice Department Director of Public Affairs Emily Covington “sought to downplay” the unusual nature of the subpoenas, the NYT reported Sunday.

“Every administration has addressed the crime of leaking national security information,” Covington’s statement read. “To the extent that we have to investigate breaches of national security, that’s something that we will continue to do.”

But the investigation smacks of the same sort of Capt. Queegian White House crackdown on Trump’s embarrassing, at least, no-bid contract attempt to “clean up” the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington – a pet project, like the East Wing ballroom that could not legally be made fun of, in a totalitarian regime such as China, Russia or North Korea. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 7/13/26

The Bold and the Blunderful

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

“President Trump did what Democrats wouldn’t. After decades of neglect, he committed the bold leadership and proper resources to fix the Kennedy Center and start the renovations of the finest performing arts facility in the world.”

That’s a statement from Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman, to The New York Times for a story about, well, to quote the opening sentence of the story: “As the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts prepares for major renovations, former project manager there have sent Congress internal documents that they say show how the institution bypassed government contracting norms in work carried out under President Trump.”

Norms like, oh, getting more than one bid for the work, something that your car insurance company probably requires you to do if you file a claim for a fender bender. Or something that you should probably do if you are planning a kitchen renovation.

The point of getting more than one bid isn’t necessarily just to get the best price but to have at least a sense of what best practices are and to get a better idea of how well the work will be done.

All of his prowess as a real estate mogul notwithstanding, Trump’s approach to getting renos done is less than satisfactory.

One need only look through the green sludge that is now in the Reflecting Pool to see the blue coating applied by Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a firm that got a no-bid contract worth some $14.6 million (Trump had originally estimated the cost to be about $2 million)—that is still peeling.

What does the Administration do? It has federal prosecutors change a 66-year-old with damaging the surface.

With no evidence, Trump has claimed vandals used box cutters to make a gash in the coating. It is worth noting that the gash in question is said to be 350-feet long. That’s just 10 feet short of the length of an NFL field (300 feet between the goal lines and a pair of end zones 30 feet each).

Sure, that’s likely.

As it has been a while since Secretary of Defense* Pete Hegseth has held a briefing about the war with Iran that apparently isn’t over, this is something from one of his presentations on April 24.

Hegseth said: “President Trump is the only president with the guts and moral clarity to finally do something about it. I see it every day behind closed doors; President Trump's fortitude is unshakable and his mission is crystal clear.”

Guts and moral clarity but there’s the War Powers Resolution, a legal document passed by Congress “to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgement of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations.”

You know: Follow the document written 11 years after that Declaration of Independence we just celebrated was. In effect, the Constitution is the payoff of the Declaration.

The War Powers Resolution includes this: SEC. 3. The President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or into situation where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, and after every such introduction shall consult regularly with the Congress until United States Armed Forces are no longer engaged in hostilities or have been removed from such situations.”

Did Trump consult with Congress “in every possible instance” before Operating Epic Fury commenced? Has he done so “regularly” since?

Of course he didn’t/hasn’t. He’s in charge. He’s bold. He gets things done.

Even if they’re not being done particularly well.

So how is the war working out for Americans?

One example. On July 9 AAA released this:“Gas prices are going up again, as the future of the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran remains uncertain. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline went up 5 cents overnight to $3.84 after steadily dropping since late May.”

It is worth noting the average price of a gallon of gas one year earlier was $3.16 per gallon.

So gas on the 9^th was 21.5% higher than it was a year earlier. Even though gas had been going down since late May, it was still significantly more expensive than it was prior to Operation Epic Fury. Or said another way: Americans have been paying more for gasoline for 4.5 months.

Remember when Trump said in April "The gas will go down as soon as the war's over. It'll drop like a rock"? Yes, there was a decline but not a precipitous one. The war isn’t over. And now gas prices are rising.

The US inflation rate had been 2.4% before the war commenced. It is now 4.2%, a three-year high. Simply put: Pretty much everything costs more.

Those who got a 30-year mortgage pre-war paid an average 5.98%. Today someone who wants to buy a house will pay 6.44 to 6.49% for a 30-year mortgage.

Yes that “bold leadership,” that unshakeable fortitude, may have been something that people liked about Donald Trump but are now beginning to see how it is leading to shoddy performance across the board that is costing America plenty.

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*They like to call it the “Department of War,” presumably because it has more than a whiff of testosterone. But legally it is still the Department of Defense because it takes an act of Congress to change the name. But why let something like that get in the way?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 7/13/26

The Young Rethuglicans

Commentary by Bill McGuire

Young Republicans. Now there's a phrase to conjure up an image: Blue blazers, club neckties, earnest haircuts. Junior Chamber of Commerce, sober conservatism, future pillars of their communities. Well, not anymore. They're a different sort of organization now, judging by recent behavior.

At the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017 that featured white supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKKers, and one violent death, Young Republican National Federation (their full official name) leaders were in attendance as well. They included the president of the Washington State University Republicans and the photogenic young fellow from the University of Nevada who went viral with his tiki torch. And at the January 6^th insurrection at the Capitol, where rioters were sent in an attempt to block the Electoral College certification, Young Republicans were there, too. The arrests included officers of the Oregon, Miami, Binghamton University, and North Dakota organizations.

In October 2025, a 2,800-page Young Republican group chat on Telegram leaked out, revealing racist and antisemitic rants, praise for Hitler and gas chambers, laudatory remarks about slavery, and an endorsement of rape. Those hatefully speaking their minds included former and current heads of Young Republican groups in New York, Arizona, Kansas, and Vermont. Senior GOP politicians rushed out to condemn the texts and label the young offenders as outliers, but then, as if on cue, an equally offensive group chat in Miami was exposed.

And then there's Charlie Kirk, the late cofounder of Turning Point USA and to many conservatives, the young lion of the movement and their hope for reaching the coming generation. Kirk made his name on the campus circuit debating right-wing politics with college freshmen, sometimes winning, and in his podcasts, where he elevated race-baiting to a fine art. There, he also called for a return to public executions, preferably by firing squad or guillotine, with corporate sponsorship if possible and children required to watch. Another time, he called for the imprisonment and execution of then-President Joe Biden "for his crimes against America."

Sure, one could say these crazy kids aren't representative; they're just a few bad apples. But the old adage is often misunderstood: A few bad apples do in fact spoil the whole barrel. That's how rot works. This isn't the rank and file of the movement but its leadership. If young people like these are the future of the Republican Party, America is in for a bumpy ride.

McGuire is a contributing pundit for The Hustings where he writes for the left column.

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FRIDAY 7/10/26

The Future of Conservatism?

By Todd Lassa

Although it seems the political topic of the year, the dichotomy between older, established political leaders and their often less-moderate, fresh-out-of-law school counterparts is not all that new. Young political animals lack the sort of experience that can diminish their ideals, whether free-market libertarian or social democrat, and often they seem less willing to compromise with moderates or with the other party. And they’re too young to have any knowledge of how Republicans and Democrats like President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill used to get along and sometimes even (gulp!) find some middle ground together.

While much of the Democratic Party leadership is nervous that young progressives winning some of this year’s primaries might sink chances to take over House and Senate majorities in the midterms, Republican Party leadership appears satisfied with the direction of their young turks, even as fractures occur among conservative middle-agers like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In today’s front page, Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett argues in the right column that emerging conservative youth leaders are ready to advance the Republican cause re-established by Donald J. Trump, clear up any remaining obstacles to free market capitalism and make what the president claims is the world’s hottest country even hotter.

Contributing Pundit Bill McGuire has a quite different opinion of today’s Republican youth in the left column.

Because Corbett initiated today’s debate, may we suggest you read his right column first (after this one, of course) before reading McGuire’s left-column counterpoint?

One more request: Email us your own COMMENT on this subject, with an email to editors@thehustings.news, and please indicate your political leanings, right or left, in the subject line so we publish your opinion in the proper column. It’s easier and safer than commenting on X-Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, and you won’t be relegated to an echo chamber.

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FRIDAY 7/10/26

Young Conservative Leadership is Promising

Commentary by Rich Corbett

As the Republican Party builds on recent successes, a generational shift is underway to position young conservatives to take the mantle of leadership. Gen Z and younger millennials on the right are emerging with high energy, pragmatism, and a steadfast commitment to individual liberty, free enterprise, limited government, and national strength. They stand ready to lead, offering a marked contrast to their Democratic counterparts, where youthful activism has increasingly embraced democratic socialism — a sharp departure from the more moderate, market-oriented liberalism of previous generations.

Young conservatives bring tangible strengths to the table. Forged by experiences with inflation, housing shortages, and post-pandemic challenges, they advocate practical pro-growth policies such as tax relief, deregulation, and American energy dominance rather than top-down redistribution. Many are entrepreneurial, building careers in trades, technology, or small business while emphasizing self-reliance and opportunity. They confidently defend free speech, meritocracy, and cultural institutions against identity politics and institutional skepticism. Influenced by leaders like Vice President JD Vance, they engage effectively through podcasts, social media, and grassroots organizing. Training programs from groups like the Young Republican National Federation and Turning Point USA equip them with skills in campaigning, fundraising, and governance, creating a robust pipeline of capable successors aligned with enduring conservative principles.

By comparison, the Democratic youth surge has taken a more radical turn. Traditional liberals once balanced social programs with capitalist incentives and personal responsibility. Today, high-profile figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and the influence of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have pulled younger Democrats toward expansive government intervention, wealth redistribution schemes, Green New Deal-style mandates, and fundamental critiques of capitalism. Polling consistently shows a large share of Americans under 30 — especially young Democrats — holding favorable views of socialism while expressing skepticism toward free markets. This dynamic has delivered primary victories for socialist-aligned candidates but often sidelines pragmatic governance in favor of ideological overhauls prone to higher taxes, regulatory burdens, and economic missteps.

Republicans therefore enjoy a clear generational advantage. The rising conservative cohort represents renewal: Energetic defenders of America's founding ideals, tempered by real-world competition and results-oriented thinking. Democrats, by leaning into extremes that echo historical failures elsewhere, risk alienating moderates and the broader electorate.

The mantle of leadership ultimately belongs to those prepared by principle and proven practice. As younger conservatives step forward, they offer the best hope for upholding liberty, responsibility, and prosperity in the years ahead.

Corbett is a contributing pundit for The Hustings where he writes for the right column.

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FRIDAY 7/10/26

Debate on Democracy

We have got a democracy, Benjamin Franklin said in a quote much appreciated this year, if we can keep it.

For the past week or so leading up to Independence Day, our nation’s semi-quincentennial, we have been publishing comments from the right and the left on the state and the future of American democracy.

The discussion continues with our next Talking With, Not At… Debate & Donuts IV at the Allen Theatre in Annville, Pennsylvania, 6 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, July 22.

Topic is: What do you think about the condition of American democracy, and what are your hopes and thoughts for its future?

Scroll down to the next page with the trackbar on the far right (not a political position) to read comments about the state of our democracy from contributing pundits and a reader. Click on The Gray Area to read comments on our democracy by Contributing Pundit Jerry Lanson and Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay.

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THURSDAY 7/9/26

Iran War, Week 16

Strait of Hormuz [NASA photo].

Ceasefire is Over – After President Trump threatened Iran while attending the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday attacks between the US and Iran quickly picked up to, it appears, new extremes.

The US hit Iranian missile and drone sites near the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday night, while Iran fired on US military base-hosts Kuwait and Bahrain, a senior US official told The Wall Street Journal.

US Central Command said attacks on Iran were broader in scope than Tuesday’s strikes and included Iran’s air-defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, naval capabilities and logistics infrastructure, according to the WSJ report. Jordan on Thursday said its air defenses had intercepted eight Iranian missiles.

•••

Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Go Back to the Pumps – After an 0.6-cent increase Wednesday, reversing several weeks of long, slow gas price relief, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular jumped another 5 cents Thursday to $3.846, according to AAA. That’s $1.044 higher than on February 27. Diesel is up 3.8 cents Thursday according to AAA, to $4.810, up $1.036 since the beginning of the US-Iran war.

•••

Nominating Convention to Replace Platner – Nightmarish memories of President Biden’s last-minute withdrawal from the 2024 election in their heads, the Maine Democratic Party Wednesday announced plans to hold a nominating convention to select a new US Senate candidate, CQ Roll Call reports, to replace Marine Corps veteran/oysterman/left-wing populist Graham Platner after he withdrew over sexual assault allegations.

“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me,” Platner said in an 11-minute social media video Wednesday, according to the report. “And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations.”

Platner’s withdrawal two days after a Politico report he denies in which a former girlfriend accuses him of sexual assault came ahead of next Monday’s deadline to be pulled off Maine’s ballot. The Democratic Party has until July 27 to forward a replacement candidate in their quest to beat incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whose already mild resistance to President Trump has diminished during his second term.

Potential candidates …

•Maine Beer Co. Founder Dan Kleban already has announced, according to Roll Call.

•Nirav Shah, who led Maine’s public health agency during the COVID pandemic and was deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Biden administration told NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered Wednesday why he would be the right candidate if he chooses to run.

Other candidates identified by Roll Call are …

•Troy Jackson, former state senate president who points to a recent Public Policy Polling result that show him leading Collins 49% to 44%.

•Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who lost to Collins in 2014.

•Former congressional staffer Jordan Wood, who ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate, then shifted his campaign to the state’s Second Congressional District.

•Paige Loud, another former Second Congressional District candidate. ––Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 7/9/26

Peacemaker

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

The first-ever “FIFA Peace Prize-Football Unites the World” award winner Donald J. Trump is a man who seems to be getting to that “Hey, you! Get off of my lawn!” stage of life.

On Wednesday, July 1, during a game between the USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina, USA striker Folarin Balogun, who happens to be a US citizen through the 14^th Amendment, something which Trump is opposed to, received a red card for a foul. A red card means the player is ejected from the game and is suspended for at least the next game.

That suspension was troublesome for the US team as Balogun is the premier player for the squad. He had scored three goals in the World Cup tournament games he participated in, which may not sound like much, but that is a big number in the sport.

So without Balogun, things seemed dire for the US team, which was to go up against Belgium.

Ever the diplomat, Trump got on the phone with FIFA President Gianni Infantino . . . the man who happened to give Trump the FIFA Peace Prize.

Who cares if there are rules?

Balogun was reinstated.

Belgium won the game by a commanding 4 to 1.

Balogun didn’t score that single US goal.

One week later, our very own presidential diplomat was back at it, but this time more in what is ostensibly his wheelhouse.

While attending the NATO summit in Turkey, he said this about the Iranian people that the US is negotiating with to end the war in Iran: “I don’t want to deal with them anymore — they’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people. And they’re vicious, violent people.”

He went on to say:

“it’s just a waste of time dealing with them”
“They’re liars”
“There’s something wrong with them”
“They’re cuckoo”

When Infantino presented Trump with the “FIFA Peace Prize” at what was still then the Kennedy Center, renamed a couple weeks later before that switch was found to be breaking the rules, he said: “This is what we want from a leader. A leader that cares about the people. We want to live in a safe world, in a safe environment. We want to unite — that’s what we do here today, that’s what we’ll do at the World Cup, Mr. President.”

Yes, a leader who cares by insulting people that the country needs to come to an agreement with, unless, of course, he goes back to his “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” mode.

While he claims he is making it a “safe world” by going to war with Iran to keep it from developing a nuclear weapon, providing no evidence that that was, to use one of his metaphors, in the cards, odds are he is making the world less safe by treating the Iranians the way he is.

Let’s never forget that the 9/11 hijackers used only box cutters and pocket knives, not nuclear weapons, to cause the deaths and create the devastation in New York and Washington.

And let us also not forget that for the first and only time in the history of the NATO alliance Article 5 was invoked on behalf of the US. That part of the organization’s treaty says an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all. These are rules people abide by.

So Trump goes to the NATO summit and says:

“Greenland is very important for the US, but it’s not important for Denmark,” again threatening the sovereign territory of a US ally.

It would be better for all of us if this “FIFA Peace Prize” winner stuck to soccer.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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THURSDAY 7/9/26

Left on Democracy

Scroll down this column to read liberal commentaries on the state, and future, of our democracy by contributors Sharon Lintner, K.E. Bell and Hugh Hansen, and go to The Gray Area for commentary by Jerry Lanson.

In Broad Daylight -- It has been said that democracy dies in darkness, but in America it is dying in broad daylight. Members of the press are being publicly disrespected. Truths are being twisted. Rights are being reversed. The future of democracy is extremely fragile and as things stand now, I think it is quite possible to lose democracy. -- Sharon Lintner (Contributing Pundit)

•••

Depends on Midterms -- The question of how confident we should be in our democracy starts with our faith in our fellow man. If we've learned anything from the Trump era it's that about a third of people — and maybe as high as 40 percent — can either fall for a conman or justify the evil this man has done. That leaves two-thirds of us to defend democracy. The problem is all the power is in the hands of those who would destroy it for their own ends. While I think the Democrats will garner about 60 percent of the votes in the midterms, the Republicans' ability to cheat democracy may make up for that 20-percent shortfall. Trump's biggest fear is accountability, so I believe he is willing to pull another January 6^th to avoid losing the midterms or seating enough winning Democrats to give them the gavel. Basically, I think democracy, at least democracy in the way Americans believe it should exist, is dead if Republicans can cheat the midterms.

And then there are the Democrats. Should the Dems win in the midterms, I don't have faith that they'll do the right thing, either. The rampant corruption of this regime (the word administration implies too much respect) must be punished, and the Supreme Court must be remade (again, in part to mitigate Republican cheating). If Dems regain power and don't bury this dark era for our country under an avalanche of convictions, ethics standards, voting rights laws (bye-bye, gerrymandering), and anti-corruption legislation, America's democracy won't be worth saving anyway.

It will be up to us at the ballot box and the leaders we elect to set the country on the path that was promised in the Constitution. Let's hope that a vocal majority will be enough to overcome a lawless, immoral, corrupt minority. –K.E. Bell (Contributing Pundit)

•••

Citizens Must Learn -- When I've thought about and looked toward the future of US democracy lately, I find I have no vision at all. My crystal ball, never crystal-clear, has turned into a brick.

I think I've generally lived in optimism about our country's future. As a teacher, I saw (and helped) people learn things, then saw them adjust their thoughts and actions constructively in response. I mean, that's what it takes, right? For our democracy to succeed, a big chunk of our citizens must learn (whether formally or from experience) and then act accordingly. That has to happen more quickly in today's world than it did in 1926.

The size and durability of the Trumpian base just blows my mind in that regard. It makes it seem perfectly possible to me that the "big chunk" I described is simply not big enough to respond to the challenges we face from big money, new tech, climate change, and foreign relations.

Or, maybe there are a few supremely effective new teachers coming into the political system. Great teachers enable learning I'd never have seen coming in my brick. --Hugh Hansen (Contributing Pundit)

•••

“Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear.” – Alan Coren

Alan Coren (1938-2007) was an English writer, humorist, BBC broadcaster and satirist who had an openly cynical view of the form of government Americans have now held dear for 250 years.

Does Coren have a point?

Whether you agree or disagree with Coren, your opinion is equally valid and salient; even as the current government swings toward authoritarianism, the editorial We at The Hustings has observed a great deal of optimism for the future of our democracy from both right and left, Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

We also are aware of opinions from left and right that said trend toward “authoritarianism” is overblown, undeserved or even necessary in order to help preserve American democracy.

As our nation’s semi-quincentennial rapidly approaches, we humbly seek your civilly stated opinions on this issue.

Send your COMMENTS on the state of our democracy and/or its future to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you lean left or right, regardless of the opinion stated within, in the subject line. –Editors

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MONDAY 6/30/26

Have We Kept It?

As an original copy of the Declaration of Independence fades [National Archives] and we celebrate its 250^th anniversary, The Hustings features comments on the state and future of our democracy in the right and left columns. Also read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay and Contributing Pundit Jerry Lanson on our democracy in The Gray Area.

Ukraine Can Build Its Own Patriots – In a press conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Trump gave Ukraine the green light to produce its own Patriot missiles, the Kyiv Independentreports.

“We are going to give you a license to make Patriots,” Trump said. “This way, he (Zelenskyy) can’t complain that we are not giving him enough.”

Zelenskyy has long argued Ukraine needs Patriot missiles to push back Russia’s latest assault on his country, even as Ukraine makes progress hitting infrastructure deep into Russia with its advanced drones.

Trump said the US will show Ukraine how to build the missiles, adding “it’s very complex, actually,” the BBC reports.

•••

No More Dealing – Following several days of skirmishes between the US and Iran, President Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, he has had enough.

“To me, it’s over, I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” Trump said, as he sat for a press conference with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte (The Wall Street Journal). “They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people. Now I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it.”

Trump later told reporters at the NATO summit the US will “probably” hit Iran “very hard” Wednesday night, the BBC reports.

As between the many on-off ceasefires and negotiations over the last four-plus months, it doesn’t appear to be over-over.

But oil was up more than 5% early Wednesday, with Brent Crude jumping to approximately $78 a barrel, according to the WSJ.

The beginning of the end of the ceasefire started with Iran attacking three ships including a liquified natural gas tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Then the US military said it hit more than 80 targets, mostly along Iran’s coast, near the strait, which led to Iran launching drones and ballistic missiles toward Bahrain and Kuwait, both of which host US military bases.

•••

Gas Up – The 5%+ jump in oil prices as the Trump administration signaled end of the US ceasefire with Iran very quickly translated to upticks on US gas stations’ prices. Wednesday morning, AAA reported the national average price for a gallon of unleaded rose 0.6 cents from Tuesday to $3.796, which is 99.4-cents higher than February 27. Diesel was up 1.6 cents over Monday, to $4.772 per gallon Wednesday. That’s 99.8 cents higher than February 27.

•••

Russia Returns to Olympics – Russia will be able to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Games under its own flag, the International Olympics Committee announced Tuesday, for the first time since the country was banned in 2016 for state-sponsored doping of athletes and later Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (per The Guardian). IOC President Kirsty Coventry pointed to a new IOC rule issued last week that says athletes should not be punished for their government’s behavior.

•••

Another Fatal ICE Shooting – Immigration and Customs Enforcement says an undocumented immigrant was fatally shot as he tried to run over a federal agent conducting a vehicle stop in a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Houston, The Texas Tribunereports. The son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo says his father had lived in the US for 35 years and was attempting to obtain a work permit. –TL

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TUESDAY 7/7/26

Trump Calls Didn’t Help – Belgium’s national football/soccer team posted the following on social media after it trounced the US national team, 4-1, Monday night: “Overturn this.”

Over the weekend, President Trump called Gianni Infantino, reportedly three times, to get the FIFA chief to overturn a red card against Folarin Balogun that would have suspended the US team’s highest scorer from playing in Monday night’s match against Belgium. Balogun did not score the team’s single goal in the loss, which eliminated the US team from the World Cup finals.

•••

Great Populist Hope is Done – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called on the Democratic Party’s nominee to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in November’s midterms, Graham Platner, to “immediately withdraw,” following allegations of sexual assault published Monday by Politico. Platner also lost support of progressives including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Monday it will no longer invest in the race for Maine senator if he remains on the ballot.

Marine Corps veteran Platner has until now survived allegations of sexual misconduct and of wearing a tattoo bearing Nazi-associated symbol. He did not immediately withdraw, but said he is “taking the time to reflect” on his candidacy.

Platner has less than a week. If he withdraws by next Monday, Maine law allows the Democratic Party to choose his replacement.

•••

McConnell’s Health – Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was hospitalized June 14 and his absence since has hit the Republican Party with different factions reacting differently, according to The Daily Beast.

Two days after he was hospitalized, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said he spoke with his predecessor as majority leader and “he sounded good. … He’s following the stuff we’re doing this week up here, very much so.”

Meanwhile, McConnell’s staffers refused to confirm he is conscious.

MAGA Republicans who still don’t appreciate McConnell calling President Trump “morally responsible” for the January 6^th attack on the US Capitol also remain circumspect. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has tweeted he “doesn’t know” what’s going on with McConnell, while über-Trumper Laura Loomer Monday morning claimed he’s “brain dead,” and the White House knows it, according to the Beast’s report.

•••

Still More Gas Relief – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded fell another seven-tenths of a cent Tuesday to $3.79, though 80.8 cents higher than on February 27. –TL
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MONDAY 7/6/26

Ukraine-Russian Peace Talks? – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump are to meet at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday to exchange ideas on how to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, two people familiar with the plan told the Kyiv Independent Monday. Ukraine now believes there is an opportunity to pressure Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to negotiate directly with Zelenskyy, according to the report.

This comes after Russia’s overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv Monday, killing at least 18 and injuring 60 (NPR). Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets as Ukraine has successfully struck oil reserves and other infrastructure well inside Russia with its advanced drones.

Zelenskyy last week called on NATO to step up its supply of anti-ballistic missiles to let it more successfully shoot down Russian strikes.

But one of the Ukrainian officials speaking to the Independent said; “Everyone can see that the war is changing, and one of the reasons for this shift is the growing sentiment in Russia – people want Putin to end the war – plus the daily hardships they’re facing and putting pressure on prices due to the gasoline crisis.”

•••

Trump Suspends Red Card – Recipient of FIFA’s first peace prize President Trump convinced FIFA President Gianni Infantino after three phone calls over the weekend to review the red card on US men’s national team striker Folarin Balogun, The New York Times reports. The resulting suspension of Balogun’s red card means he will play in Monday night’s Round 16 World Cup football/soccer match against Belgium.

Balogun’s red card from the US team’s previous game, against Bosnia-Herzegovina automatically triggered a one-game suspension.

“In line with article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for the probationary period of one year,” a statement from FIFA reads (per The Athletic). “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanctions enforced without prejudice to any additional sanctions imposed for the new infringement.”

Balogun, 25, earned the red card after he tripped over an opponent and stepped on his ankle. The Brooklyn-born son of Nigerian parents (insert birthright citizenship irony here), Balogun said the move was an accident.

But wait, an appeal … FIFA has approved the Belgian team’s right to appeal the suspension of Balogun’s suspension, Sports Illustrated reports Monday.

•••

More Gas Relief – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded is $3.787 Monday, 2.6 cents lower than Friday’s average and 82.8 cents costlier than February 28. Diesel is $4.756, a 5.5-cent break over Friday and 90.7 cents higher than late February. –TL

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INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND 2026

Jack Smith Explains Trump Cases – For the first time since he left the Justice Department as special counsel prior to President Trump’s inauguration last year, Jack Smith emphasized the lack of politics behind his investigations into Trump’s alleged 2020 election interference and the then-former president’s spiriting away of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago in January 2021, in an interview with host Nicole Wallace on MS NOW’s Deadline: White House Thursday.

“I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and law throughout my career,” Smith said, of the election interference case. “We did this case the same way, under the same standards. The thing that’s important to know is those standards are not meant to change from one administration to the next, and in my experience – until now – they haven’t. … I was perfectly happy to bring this case if the facts and law warranted it or not. It hasn’t mattered what person’s political party was to do that, that’s how we went about our work. Completely apolitical. Politics did not play a role.”

Smith declined to speak in any detail with Wallace about the classified docs case because the investigation is sealed, under court order.

•••

Canoeist Charged – Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, was charged with one felony count of misdemeanor destruction of government property, in a case involving the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and President Trump’s $16 million renovation involving a new “American flag blue” liner. The felony charge against Hearn, which involves a maximum fine of $250,000 or up to 10 years in prison was announced in a press conference Thursday by US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro, per CNN.

Hearn told The Washington Post last month he was arrested June 19 while returning from a bike ride, “mere seconds” after briefly reaching into the reflecting pool to touch the president’s new liner.

On May 7, a motorcade for Trump drove across the newly painted and sealed pool before it was refilled with water, which eventually filled with green algae blooms.

In Thursday’s press conference, ex-Fox News host Pirro “melts down” after a reporter asked a question about a greater destruction of federal property, according to The Daily Beast.

“Alright, this is a problem. Are you talking about January 6^th?” Pirro responded before attempting to move on to another reporter’s question.

Defendant’s attorney Norm Eisen said, “David Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American. This indictment reflects the administration’s efforts to shift blame from their own failures.”

•••

Gas Continues to Inch Down – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is down 1.5 cents Friday to $3.823, or 85.4 cents higher than February 28. Diesel is $4.811, Friday, 1.6 cents lower than Thursday and 96.2 cents higher than late February. –TL

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Meh June Jobs Report Could Keep Fed From Raising Interest Rates

THURSDAY 7/2/26

June Jobs – The US economy added 57,000 jobs in June according to the Labor Department. That’s not the big, six-digit number economists had predicted, such as the 129,000 jobs added in May, though the unemployment rate also ticked down, to 4.2% in June from a steady 4.3% rate from March through May.

Employment in professional and business services, social assistance and health care have been trending up, while leisure and hospitality – which have had strong jobs growth since the pandemic’s end – were trending downward, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“More people left the labor force last month,” The Wall Street Journal, which had expected 115,000 jobs added for the month based on its poll of economists, writes.

That trend drove down the unemployment rate by one-tenth of a percent, mostly from “young people leaving the job market,” MacroPolicy Perspectives co-founder and President Julia Coronado told Marketplace Morning Report. “Not a lot of strength there.”

•••

Russia Hits Kyiv Hard – At least 20 people were killed by a wave of Russian missiles and strike drones on Kyiv overnight Thursday, according to the city’s military administrative chief, Tymur Tkachenko. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned Kyiv citizens to take cover with his news that Russia was preparing another large-scale attack, according to The Kyiv Independent.

“It was a terrible night for Kyiv,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. “Damage in all districts of the city.”

Zelenskyy says Ukraine needs more anti-ballistic weapons to shoot down Russian Missiles, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. The Russian strikes are meant to counter Ukraine’s success with long-range drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure to as far away as Moscow, St. Petersburg and even Siberia, which has led to fuel shortages throughout parts of the country.

•••

Justice Targeted – Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump 45 administration appointee, is facing backlash from MAGA-conservative lawmakers and pundits for her vote with the majority in the 5-4 decision Tuesday to uphold the birthright citizenship provision of the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution, The Hill reports.

Ending birthright citizenship in the US is a major plank in President Trump’s/Stephen Miller’s draconian immigration policy. Trump has often falsely claimed that the US is one of the few countries to grant automatic citizenship to babies born in the country from immigrants.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) Wednesday called for impeachment of “rogue, activist judges,” according to the report: “We’re looking at you, Amy Coney Barrett.”

•••

Hot Speech Promised – After explaining to reporters his $2 billion income report for 2025 filed with the Office of Government Ethics and before boarding his first flight on a refurbished Qatari-donated Boeing 747 Air Force One, President Trump vowed to give his speech Saturday in the Salute to America 250 Celebration & Fireworks in Washington, D.C., no matter what the (climate change-heated) temperature.

“By the way, on July 4^th, it’s going to be approximately 107 degrees out, and I’m going to go, and I’m going to make a really long speech just to show that I can do anything.”

The Salute to America 250 begins 7 p.m. Eastern Saturday, with Trump’s speech scheduled to begin at 9:45 p.m.

•••

Steady, Gas – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is down 0.9 cents Thursday to $3.838, or 86.9 cents higher than February 28. Diesel is $4.827, Thursday, 1.6 cents lower than Wednesday and 97.7 cents higher than late February.–TL

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Trump Made $1.2B on Crypto in 2025

WEDNESDAY 7/1/26

Presidential Profits – You might recall that there was widespread speculation a financially strapped Trump Organization might have had to sell off some of its most important assets, including real estate holdings, after New York State Supreme Court Judge Arthur F. Engoron imposed a $354.8 million judgment in February 2024 on Donald J. Trump’s business for “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains for financial fraud.”

By August 2025, a New York appeals court upheld now-President Trump’s liability, but voided the penalty as excessive. A Justice Department investigation into the case’s prosecutor, New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James, apparently is ongoing.

Meanwhile … President Trump, his organization and his family have done very well for themselves since the New York state case concluded. The president’s 2025 financial disclosure released late Tuesday shows the cryptocurrency established by sons Donald Jr. and Eric, World Liberty Financial, took in net income of at least $528.6 million (see, especially, pages 849-855).

In total, Trump claimed a crypto windfall last year of more than $1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, with $635 million in royalties from an entity linked to the president’s memecoin.

Trump has turned the US into the “crypto capital of the world,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement released Tuesday (per WSJ).

Trump tchotchkes … This category, though not named such, earned the president nearly $7 million in ’25. Net income from Trump watches was $4.7 million, from Save America publications, $1.9 million and from the Greenwood Bible, $208,486. Trump’s sneakers and fragrances, sadly, earned the president just $67,634.

“Neither the president nor his family has ever engaged – or will ever engage – in conflicts of interest,” Kelly’s statement says. “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.”

•••

Progressives Progressing – Republicans have been eager to describe progressive Democrats’ victories over moderate incumbents in recent primaries as the Democratic Party’s shift toward socialism. Or in the spirit of Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI) and his chief counsel in the 1950s, Roy Cohn, “Marxists.” Fact-check alert: Socialism isn’t Marxism.

Last week Tuesday three progs backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani beat two incumbents and a moderate-left candidate in the Democratic primary for three deep-blue congressional districts in New York State.

This Tuesday, Melat Kiros, 29, defeated 15-term Rep. Dianna DeGette, 68, in the Colorado Democratic primary race to represent the Denver area in the House (The Associated Press via The New York Times). With 90% of the vote counted Wednesday, Kiros, an immigrant who has expressed opposition to US support for Israel in the Gaza war, has 51.3% of the primary vote to DeGette’s 41.7%.

Never mind that candidates like Kiros represent the Democratic Party’s mirror image of Trump-backed Republicans “primarying” incumbent Republicans; this already has become a key midterm campaign argument by GOP candidates in their struggle to maintain House and Senate majorities.

•••

Outta Here – House Republican leaders called Independence Day recess early Tuesday afternoon when a procedural measure to forward 2027 defense authorization, national security-state spending and other bills was defeated, 198-224, after GOP leaders failed to advance President Trump’s demands to pass the SAVE Act, CQ Roll Call reports. Fourteen Republicans joined Democrats in sinking the procedural measure, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was attempting to bring back the rule for a retake, according to the report.

•••

Steady, Gas – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular Wednesday remained unchanged from Tuesday’s average of $3.847. That’s 87.8 cents higher than February 28. Diesel is $4.843 Tuesday, 1 penny lower than Tuesday and 99.3 cents higher than late February. –TL

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SCOTUS Upholds Birthright Citizenship

TUESDAY 6/30/26

Birthright Citizenship Upheld – The Supreme Court sided with a challenge to President Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship from the 14^th Amendment, in Trump v. Barbara, 6-3. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Justice Brett Kavenaugh filed an opinion concurring with Chief Justice John Roberts, Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson on the judgment but dissenting in part.

Trans Ban for Female Sports – The Supreme Court has upheld states' bans on transgender athletes playing female sports in public schools, NPR reports. There was one ruling for two cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. The two cases involve Title IX, the 1972 law that requires equal opportunity for female and male athletes in public schools, and the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution.

•••

Iran Won’t Meet – White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in Qatar for peace talks, but Iran's representatives have refused to meet with them, officials from Doha say (per The Times of Israel). This follows a weekend of missile attacks from both sides during the 60-day MOU/ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to leave Lebanon, NPR’s Morning Edition reports, but only after Lebanon, which has a small, weak military, removes Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

•••

Putin on Defense – Ukrainian drones hit Russia’s Dubna Space Communications Center in Moscow Tuesday, The Kyiv Independentreports. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “gradually carrying out its plan of long-range sanctions” against Russia.

This comes after a weekend in which dictator Vladimir Putin admitted Sunday that Russia is suffering fuel shortages due to Ukrainian strikes on infrastructure (Financial Express). Putin vowed to boost anti-aircraft defense capacity and ensure fuel supplies, especially to Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

•••

More Gas Ease – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is down 1.3 cents from Monday to $3.847 as of Tuesday. That’s 87.8 cents higher than February 28. Diesel is $4.853 Tuesday, a break for truck drivers of 0.6 cents per gallon from Monday, up $1.03 since the beginning of the war. –TL

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Trump Must Pay $5m Judgment

MONDAY 6/29/26

Trump Appeal Denied – The US Supreme Court declined to consider President Trump’s appeal of a jury verdict that found he sexually abused and defamed writer and former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll (The Wall Street Journal). This leaves in place a $5 million judgment against Trump, who was found liable by a federal jury in Manhattan.

Mail In Your Ballot – Perhaps the most important US Supreme Court decision this term so far is the 5-4 ruling that federal election law does not pre-empt Mississippi’s election law allowing the counting of absentee ballots up to five days after the federal election date. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the 5-4 majority opinion joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagen and Ketanji Brown Jackson, SCOTUSblog reports, in reversing the Fifth Circuit District Court’s finding in Watson v. Republican National Committee.

Trump Can Fire Independent Agency Members – In Trump v. Slaughter SCOTUS in a 6-3 vote gave the president “sweeping authority” (SCOTUSblog) over approximately two dozen multi-member agencies to fire individual members.

But Trump Cannot Fire a Fed Governor – The president cannot fire Federal Reserve member Lisa Cook of the Board of Governors, SCOTUS ruled 5-4 in Trump v. Cook (ibid SCOTUSblog).

CORRECTION: A previous version of the Trump v. Cook decision above misstated the Supreme Court's vote count. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavenaugh joined Justices Elena Kagen, Sonya Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the 5-4 vote.

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State of MOU – At Iran’s request, Iranian and US diplomats are to meet in Qatar Tuesday, NPR reports, following a weekend of military strikes from both sides in the region surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.

Negotiations over the memorandum of understanding, which will reach its two-week mark in a couple of days started out rather strong with Secretary of State Marco Rubio late Friday announcing the US and Iran had reached an agreement to suspend attacks in the Strait and allow commercial vessels to enter and exit freely (per The New York Times).

Then Iran struck two ships over the weekend, prompting the US to strike back at multiple done missile and radar bases, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. Iran fired missiles at US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

This is the “new normal,” Jake Sullivan, national security advisor for the Biden administration who was instrumental in reaching the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the Obama administration, told Morning Edition’s Leila Fadel Monday.

“Neither side wants to go back to full-scale war, but Iran wants to show it has control of the Strait of Hormuz,” Sullivan said.

So President Trump may not have to take responsibility for a “forever war” in such a “new normal,” but it appears his administration has handed long-term control of the Strait of Hormuz over to Iran.

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More Gas Ease – AAA’s national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is down 3.9 cents from Friday to $3.86 as of Monday. That’s 89.1 cents higher than February 28. Diesel is $4.859 Monday, a break for truck drivers of 7.5 cents per gallon from Friday, up $1.036 since the beginning of the war. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 6/30/26

Right on Democracy

Scroll down this column to read conservative commentaries on the state, and future, of our democracy by contributors Andrew Boyd, Rich Corbett and Stephen Macaulay, and reader John Santoni.

Where’s Competency, Leadership? -- I have one foot out of the Trump camp, but I have no idea where to look for competency let alone leadership in this caustic, pedantic, self-serving, lying, cheating, stealing, self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, sociopathic bunch. And that's just the Republicans, whose only real virtue is that they're not neo-Marxists. –Andrew Boyd (Contributing Pundit)

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Democracy Under Strain -- My take on the current state of our democracy is that it is under extreme strain and is in imminent peril. That is mainly due to Donald Trump and MAGA’s continuous undermining of confidence in our elections.

Donald Trump will never accept any type of an election loss and his cult followers have proven they are more than willing to use violence in his name. They will use violence to keep Trump in power, despite an election loss.

Trump has also proven that he will pardon anyone who uses violence on his behalf. He also controls the executive branch, the military, the DOJ, and half the legislative branch (the Republican Party).

Only the judiciary stands as a check on his power. But the judiciary depends on the DOJ to enforce its rulings. Therefore, our separation of powers has also been pushed past its breaking point.

Those things place the future of our democracy in imminent peril. Those facts basically sum up the whole situation. –John Santoni (via email)

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Patriots' Promise: Why America’s Best Days Are Ahead -- As we celebrate another Independence Day, America stands at a pivotal moment. Our nation, forged by the courage and sacrifice of patriots who risked everything for liberty, continues to shine as a beacon of freedom and opportunity. As a conservative who deeply loves this country, I remain profoundly optimistic about our future. Recent polls underscore this divide in national sentiment: a NBC News survey found that 90% of Republicans express pride in being American, compared to just 29% of Democrats. This gap highlights a resilient conservative commitment to our founding principles amid challenges. With strong leadership and a renewed focus on individual liberty, limited government, and American exceptionalism, our best days are still ahead.

Yet we must confront the real pressures threatening that promise. Elements on the far left of the Democratic Party push socialist- and communist-inspired policies – centralized control, wealth redistribution and identity-driven division that erode the self-reliance and free enterprise which built our prosperity. These ideologies clash with the American spirit, fostering dependency rather than empowerment and weakening the exceptional nation that has inspired the world.

President Trump captured the American Spirit powerfully in his June 25 speech: "We owe everything to the patriots who risked all to create the greatest and most exceptional nation the world has ever known." As conservatives, we honor that legacy by rejecting radical experiments and recommitting to the timeless values of our Founding Fathers. This July 4^th, let us celebrate with renewed confidence: America’s future is bright because patriots will always defend her greatness. Happy Independence Day. May God bless the United States of America. –Rich Corbett (Contributing Pundit)

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Where’s Congress? -- As H.L. Mencken put it, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

And the American people are getting it so and not just because of the selfish, mendacious and not-well-informed president.

Congress, by and large, has been given up its function for one reason and one reason only.

While many members of the House and Senate express their love and admiration for Donald Trump more than they do for their spouses, much of that emotion is predicated not necessarily on authentic feelings, but simply because these people are afraid of losing their jobs if they aren’t sufficiently deferential in a way that must give some of them at least a nanosecond of pause when the look in the mirror.

At the risk of going on too long, as I won’t be doing this 250 years from now, here, from the Constitution that these people swear to uphold, is Article 8, Section 1, which is a job description for members of Congress: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;

—And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

So how are they doing?

Regulating commerce with foreign nations? Nope. The Trump tariffs are doing that.

How about dealing with things occurring on the high seas? Not that, either: Let’s not forget the alleged-but-not-proven-to-be drug boats being blown up. And that also goes to “make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water” were it that those people on board are captured.

Declare war? Not that, either.

There’s the rather prolix thing about exercising exclusive legislation regarding buildings the government owns, having it that Congress has authority over those places — you know, like the White House, the building that has had a wing demolished and plans that apparently include some sort of massive bunker (which, for those who claim to be Originalists, qualifies as a fort) that Congress has had nothing to do with.

All of which is to say if Democracy in America is to have a future, then the people need to elect those who will actually do their jobs. Otherwise, the American people will continue to get it good and hard. –Stephen Macaulay (Pundit-at-Large)

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Join the conversation – Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings, whether moderate or hard-right/hard-left in the subject line. –Editors

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MONDAY 6/30/26