The Not-So-Secret Secret 🤫

Donald Trump wants to be on the ballot. The rest of his party isn’t so sure.

RIP Dolly Parton🙏: Dolly Parton was the rare kind of star who never let her fame make her forget where she came from.

• 🎵Like many country stars, she came from very little — but sang about the place she came from in a really real way

  • One of her last songs highlighted politicians from (both sides) failing the communities she came from

  • “Dolly Parton takes on politicians in new rock single: ‘None of them are working from the heart’”

• 💰Parton was not only the queen of country music but a philanthropist who continued to give back to her community for decades

  • In 1988, Parton created the Dollywood Foundation to help lower the school dropout rate in her hometown in Tennessee

    • She promised $500 to every 7th and 8th grader who graduated from high school

      • The school dropout rate fell from 35% to 6%

    • The foundation grew — sending over 300 million free books to children across the world

  • After fires in her hometown, Parton started the “My People Fund” — donating $1,000 a month for six months to families who lost their homes

    • The fund raised over $12 million

  • Parton raised $500,000 for a new hospital in her hometown

  • She raised $1 million in support of COVID research

• ‼️Dolly Parton not only sang about the people and places she came from — she never forgot them.

• Her legacy is not only her music, but the millions of lives she changed along the way.

• Tonight📺: Country music icon and longtime friend of Dolly, Lee Greenwood, joins me

  • P.S.: The successful artists of today could learn a lot from Dolly.

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Secret mission🤫: An American C-17 was spotted flying over Moscow today

• 3D chess ♟️: CIA Director John Ratcliffe took a not-so-secret trip to Russia — for what? We don’t know.

  • The CIA director could have easily flown in one of the agency’s unmarked Gulfstreams but chose to use a U.S. military transport

• Is this about deterring Vladimir Putin from taking on NATO this fall?

  • Putin has a lot of pressure on him because things are going better than expected for Ukraine

    • Testing NATO with either an invasion or major sabotage would follow the Russian playbook of escalating to de-escalation

  • 📰The Wall Street Journal reports, “Russia Tests Readiness for New Round of Military Mobilization”

• Is it about isolating Iran?

  • What would Russia get in return for isolating Iran economically? What would be traded away?

• 📰The Wall Street Journal reports, “Analysts said Ratcliffe could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to deliver a warning…Ratcliffe might also touch upon the Kremlin’s support for Iran following a new U.S. sanctions campaign against the regime”

• Watch tonight📺: Admiral Robert Harward and special adviser to the Department of Defense Dmitri Alperovitch on the growing hotspots around the world.

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Data oligarchy🏭: Americans hate data centers because they are the personification of the oligarchy and America’s second Gilded Age

• 💰The rich are getting richer because of AI and big tech — and the rest of America is worrying about the costs of groceries.

• We told you last night these centers represent the same thing boys in girls sports represented —

  • Look back🔙: Only 27% of Americans are comfortable with trans athletes in women’s sports

  • Today📅: Only 27% of Americans believe the benefits from these centers outweigh the costs.

    • But Republicans haven’t figured out how to talk about them.

    • Instead, they’re just telling us we don’t understand

      • 📰Time headlines: “The GOP’S Data Center Panic”

• Tonight📺: Georgia Rep. Richard McCormick

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Trump on the Ballot🗳️

😬As we heard from Donald Trump, he wants to be on the ballot — the rest of his party isn’t so sure.

• A Republican congressman in Kentucky just pulled all Trump references from his website — Trump won the district by 15 percentage points

South Carolina‼️: Tonight’s South Carolina Senate runoff primary will tell us a lot about the power of Trump

• Careful what you wish for🤷: A Darline Graham victory sets up a possible dynasty backlash — a Ralph Norman victory shows a serious Trump weakness

  • “South Carolina could give Trump a revitalizing win — or his most embarrassing loss” writes Politico

YIKES😬: The RealClearPolitics polling average shows the Republican Senate candidate behind in states Trump won — Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina — and dangerously close in Iowa

Trump’s midterm problem isn’t getting any easier — it’s getting harder.

• He must figure out how to turn out his faithful voters without turning off those who dislike Democrats and are frustrated with him.

Watch tonight📺: Former White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, Democratic strategist Madeleine Summerville and former political adviser Mark McKinnon

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Trade Wars Are Easy

🤔Let me predict Trump will back down from his self-declared trade and tariff war with Canada — The Wall Street Journal is harsher, writing:

• “Trump’s decision to escalate a tariff brawl with Canada makes no economic or political sense.”

Be smart🧠: When embattled, Trump looks for cheap wins — ballrooms, trade deals, etc.

• The more embattled (the worse his poll numbers) he becomes, the more erratic he is.

  • Yes, Trump, like every U.S. president, has legitimate grievances with Canada.

  • So he makes maximalist demands — threatens and imposes absurd tariffs — and hopes to find an off-ramp so he can declare victory.

Timing⌚: The midterms are about 10 weeks away — the price hikes from Trump’s tariffs will hit just after Labor Day. They will hit hardest in northern border states like Maine and Michigan.

Tonight: Marc Short, former chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence