Hold Strong, Graham!

Trump has a way out of this mess in Iran.

Welcome!👋My thanks to the GREAT Erick Erickson for his endorsement today in Show Notes.

• Look back🙏: Show Notes inspired War Notes — thank you, Erick, for your friendship and support

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McConnell mystery👤: GOP Senator Mitch McConnell is about to become this year’s summer mystery, and that’s a huge problem for Republicans.

• What’s happening🏥: McConnell has been hospitalized for around three weeks, and we have very little information on his well-being —

  • The dispatcher on the EMS call from the day he was hospitalized talks about cardiac arrest and an unconscious person

• Even stranger🤔: NewsNation’s Joe Khalil reports a spokesman for McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, said:

  • “The secretary was on a long-planned trip in China to support her family’s philanthropic endeavors. During the trip, she met with a number of people, including the US ambassador. The Senator’s health did not warrant an immediate return to the US.”

    • TRUTH BOMB!💣 In the words of a good friend I sent this to:

      • “If my wife were in the hospital and I released a statement saying her health ‘did not warrant an immediate return…’

      • She would immediately make a full recovery and send me to the ER.

• What I’m thinking💭: It’s July, the media is looking for a story, and people love nothing more than a summer mystery

  • Sound the alarms🚨: This is a problem for Republicans — especially when Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is asking the questions now

  • So if the McConnell watch can begin and humiliate Republicans — that’s something Democrats and the media will love.

• Tonight📺: Our friend Chris Cillizza on the coming “summer scandal of 2026”

  • I can see the TV graphics now — McConnell Mystery!

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An Insult to Scum‼️

‼️Trump’s options in Iran remain bitter, but there is a way out of the mess.

“Trump has ‘no idea’ how to get out of his war in Iran,” says Rep. Adam Smith

• 📺Smith joins us tonight

• The good news👍: Trump is finally speaking about the mullahs the way he should

  • They are “scum” he said — yes, but that’s an insult to scum.

  • There are no words in the English language to describe the evil of the Iranian regime.

  • Trump launched another round of strikes tonight, promising to hit Iran even harder if they continue to harass ships in the Strait of Hormuz

  • Game theory: The Iranian regime will continue to play Trump until he puts the actual regime in jeopardy.

    • The regime looks at this as a 1,400-year religious struggle — they are fulfilling the teachings of Muhammad and Ali (Shia Islam).

    • They view the suffering of their people as proof of their righteousness.

• How to end it👀: Only if the regime feels its existence is in grave danger they will negotiate, and even then they must viscerally feel that danger through the negotiations and compliance.

  • A punishing bombing campaign that targets the IRGC and militia facilities, denying them the ability to project force internally and externally.

  • A continued targeted killing campaign of the successive new waves of leaders — let the Israelis handle this

  • An aggressive forced reopening of the strait to Western shipping under U.S. protection

  • The financing, arming and support of a Kurdish force to begin a ground offensive with close air support from Arab, Israeli and American warplanes.

Tonight📺: Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Retired Gen Philip Breedlove, who ran the air war in Libya.

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Democrats Can Blame Themselves‼️

🤦It comes as no surprise that a Nazi-enthusiast accused of rape now thinks he has the upper hand in choosing who replaces him if and when he drops out.

• 📱Texts sent from Platner’s team hint he’ll refuse to step aside until a nominating process is set:

mainepilled@mainepilled

A new text message sent to Graham Platner volunteers from his campaign manager, seemingly acknowledging that Platner is soon to drop out but refusing to step aside until a democratic nominating process is confirmed. Seems this may stretch out for a few more days.

5:35 PM · Jul 8, 2026 · 35.5K Views

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4 Replies · 5 Reposts · 46 Likes

• Good read📰: “The game theory of replacing Graham Platner”

Look back🔙: I told you yesterday Platner should NOT drop out — Platner should stay in because Democrats won’t have a choice

• Can’t make it up🤦: One progressive activists says Platner should stay in because genocide (by Israel) is worse than rape

L A R R Y@LarryOConnor

Apparently, r@ping a “white woman” is no big deal compared to Israel defending itself. This is the moral rationale for Platner staying in the race. This is the ideology Sanders and Warren and Khanna and most Democrats have embraced and empowered.

9:22 PM · Jul 8, 2026 · 1.52K Views

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4 Replies · 5 Reposts · 13 Likes

• 🗳️156,000 Maine voters wanted him as the Democratic nominee, even with his Nazi-tattoo and him fantasizing online about rape

• 📰The Washington Post reports “Graham Platner, isolated, defies Maine Democrats as they try to hatch a plan,” writing:

  • “Until Platner pulls the plug, however, the Democratic Party is at an impasse, unable to fully refocus on its uphill battle to defeat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins”

    • 🤦No surprise — The Washington Post feels bad for Democrats!

• Platner’s plan📃: Go to rehab for a few weeks — come back after Labor Day…the Democrats and money that abandoned you will come back.

  • 👀Just look at Texas and Ken Paxton — slight difference. Paxton isn’t accused of rape, but the principal applies.

  • Old saying🗣️: Democrats fall in love, and Republicans fall in line.

• What I am thinking💭: Democrats did this to themselves… they deserve it.

  • 📰Axios headlines, “The Trump effect: Why Dems embraced a Platner time bomb,” writing:

    • “Platner’s rise and fall shows a key way President Trump has changed Democratic politics. If it means diminishing his power, Democrats are willing to surrender or temporarily ignore their own stated values.”

    • Reality🤷: This is what happens when you accept morally compromised people just to beat Trump..

    • Good read📰: The Atlantic headlines, “Perhaps the Nazi Tattoo Was a Clue,” writing:

      • “Maybe a well-documented history of contemptible behavior in his personal life should have been enough, when taken with everything else, for Democrats to conclude that Platner was exactly the person he appeared to be.”

Tonight📺: 2Way trio Mark Halperin, Larry O’Connor and Kevin Walling

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Are Gas Prices Rigged?🚨

⛽Oil prices have plummeted, which means gas prices should too — yet gas prices have barely budged.

• 📉Brent Crude is around $78 a barrel right now vs. around $126 at the high during Iran war; that’s around a 40% drop

• Now‼️: Gas is at $3.80 a gallon vs $4.56 high…only around a 16% drop

  • Nerdy explanation📃: “Is Big Oil ‘Price Gouging’?”

  • Not buying it❌: We recently learned from The Wall Street Journal how egg producers rigged the market to keep driving up the price of eggs — and we are to believe it’s not happening with oil?!

What’s happening‼️: The people who are making the money here aren’t the gas station owners; it’s the big oil companies, refiners and the speculators.

• 👀They are keeping the gas prices high simply because they can — they have no incentives to bring them down

  • Look👀: It’s the same with airlines —

    • When gas prices go up, airlines raise their ticket prices

    • When gas prices go down, airlines keep their ticket prices high.

• Simple fix✅: Traders and companies should be required to actually take delivery of a percentage of the oil they trade

  • People are making money just trading oil contracts, which keeps prices higher than they should be

  • When the Iran war kicked off, people bought oil contracts that had no interest in actually using or taking possession of the oil

Watch tonight📺: Our trader in the cow suit, Scott Shellady