Distilling Our Politics

Last night proved neither side will compromise

DATELINE 📍: Greetings from NYC! Batya will be in tomorrow while I work on a special with Bill O’Reilly about his new book “Confronting America”

• Review💯: It’s some of Bill’s best work — thoughtful, entertaining and provocative all at the same time — pre-order the book here!

• See you tomorrow for the First Dispatch video and then War Notes will be back on Friday!

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Giving up? One thing is very clear: Trump is willing to accept Iran in a stronger position than when this war started.

• Harsh😬: Erick Erickson told CNN Jake Tapper that Trump “is choosing to lose the war”–- wow!

• What’s happening‼️: Trump went from demanding “unconditional surrender” from Iran to being apparently okay with letting Iran control the world’s most critical oil waterway, the Strait of Hormuz —

  • The U.S., Iran and Oman look to be in the final stages of an interim agreement on how to handle ships passing through the strait.

  • Trump says a deal could be happening today or tomorrow — saying, “a lot of progress had been made”

• What I am thinking💭: I hate to say it but we should probably give up on any meaningful change in Iran

  • Fox News John Roberts says Trump is “back to square one again” with Iran – that is a charitable

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Failure to Lead‼️

🔊The left’s online spirit animal has a message for any Democrat who dares not to support a terrorist sympathizer

adri ♡@socialistadri

🔥 @hasanthehun popped the fuck off here: "Everyone being like, 'Abdul has a fuck-ton of work to do mending bridges', here's the fucking take nuke for you: You are all unbelievably Islamophobic pieces of shit. You literally called the dude a fucking terrorist for months on end

4:35 AM · Aug 5, 2026 · 2.22M Views

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573 Replies · 2.11K Reposts · 25.2K Likes

• That’s Hasan Piker after Abdul El-Sayed’s win.

• 🫏The left says last night’s win by El-Sayed, despite getting out spent 11 to 1, is a sign of enthusiasm and strength — damn the torpedoes Marx was right.

• 🐘The right thinks the left’s anti-America talking points mean they can win with a new slogan: “Stop socialism. Save Michigan”

🤷I don’t know who will be proven right in November — but both are wrong for America.

‼️Last night proved neither side will compromise

• Democrats won’t stop the Stalin fan club in their own party — to be fair, they tried

• Republicans refuse to admit Americans are still hurting or make even modest policy changes to help ease the pain — or fix the problems.

Fallout😡: The vast majority of Americans feel desperate, angry and alone.

Watch tonight📺: Former NYC mayor Bill de Blasio and our good friend and Princeton political science professor Lauren Wright on why both sides keep getting more radical despite the overwhelming amount of Americans who want common sense.

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Ohio GOP on Fire🔥

‼️Republicans are torching their chances in Ohio because they can’t show leadership.

• Rep Max Miller (R-Ohio) is accused of abusing multiple women — including his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and their daughter.

  • Heart breaking📱: Watch former Sen. Bernie Moreno, Max Miller’s ex-father-in-law, talk about his daughter’s relationship with Miller

    

    CSPAN@cspan

    Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) on daughter's custody dispute with Rep. Max Miller: "This is truly the seventh level of hell...my daughter lives in constant fear of this man."

    9:47 PM · Aug 4, 2026 · 55K Views

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    14 Replies · 28 Reposts · 135 Likes

• Then there is this from TMZ

  

  TMZ@TMZ

  🚨🎥 BREAKING: Sen. Bernie Moreno speaks out on camera about ex-son-in-law Rep. Max Miller, calling his family's ordeal "truly the seventh level of hell"

  3:53 PM · Aug 4, 2026 · 991K Views

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  168 Replies · 258 Reposts · 1.8K Likes

• 🤦And yet, no one in the party will tell him to drop out —

  • The man third in line for Presidency, Speaker Mike Johnson, says things “don’t look good right now”

    • What I’m thinking💭: Speaker Johnson is sounding like a political pundit… Be a leader

  • Senate Majority leader, John Thune says “It’s a family matter and, um, I don’t have any observations beyond that”

  • President Trump says“I hope he’s able to work it out. I feel badly for him.”

    • Good read📰: The Atlantic headlines “A Family Tragedy in the Age of Trump”

C’mon🤦: Everybody wants to be in “leadership” and nobody wants to lead.

• Because President Trump hasn’t said Miller needs to drop out, no one else will.

  • That’s political AND moral malpractice.

  • It doesn’t matter if it’s Republicans or Democrats — we will talk about what is right and wrong.

Watch tonight📺: We asked every member of the Ohio Republican congressional delegation to come on — all either said no or wouldn’t get back to us. Former Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Renacci steps into the hot seat.

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El-Sayed vs Stevens: The Breakdown‼️

2️⃣There are two different demographics inside the Democratic Party—and we saw them on display last night in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary race

1. The malcontents: mostly white, young, women think overly educated barista socialists and HR middle managers

2. The historical Democratic base that in Michigan skews heavily African American

Big picture🌎: Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination barely — beating Haley Stevens 48.5% to 47.5%

Zoom in🔎: But when you look at the individual counties within the state — the results were 80-20.

• In the counties home to University of Michigan and Michigan State — El-Sayed won by 20+ points.

• Flip side 🔄: In the counties with the highest poverty rates in the state — El-Sayed won just one out of five of those counties.

Reality✅: The socialists say they’re fighting for the working class, yet the working class wants nothing to do with them.

• Good read📰: Olivia Reingold from The Free Press headlines “‘A Turning Point for Our Nation’: How Abdul El-Sayed Won”

Watch tonight📺: Mike Nellis and Chris Cillizza on why the working class doesn’t trust the socialists promising them utopia.

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Under Surveillance📸

‼️In the same week Flock cameras helped solve the kidnapping of a 2-year-old in Atlanta, 23 states ended contracts with Flock over concerns about surveillance and privacy.

• 📷Flock cameras are AI-powered license plate surveillance cameras —

  • They read and record license plates.

  • Capture a vehicle’s plate, make, model, color, and location.

  • Alert police when a wanted or stolen vehicle is detected.

  • Help investigators track vehicles connected to crimes.

  • Do not issue speeding or red-light tickets.

  • Have raised privacy concerns over widespread vehicle tracking

• Over 120,000 Flock cameras have been installed across America

  • Sounds like China — with an estimated 700 million surveillance cameras…not quite one for every adult.

Why it matters‼️: Americans are facing a tradeoff — how much privacy are we willing to give up for more safety?

• People against these cameras question how long these cameras hold onto data

  • Who can access this data?

  • Can the information collected be ultimately shared more broadly with authorities?

    • Must read📰: The Washington Post headlines “How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking” writing:

      • “Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.”

• On the flip side, the cameras can help solve crimes and locate missing kids

Look back🔙: Benjamin Franklin said “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

Watch tonight📺: ACLU’s nationwide “Get The Flock Out“ leader Chad Marlow on if America wants to go back to the founding principles — or do we want to go more towards an authoritarian China