Validating and Indicting

The Iranian attack on Israel reveals Trump's impossible position

The Bidens return - AGAIN🤦: If Democrats don’t have enough problems already, President Joe Biden is back with a new book coming out in September — just in time for the midterms.

• Throwback◀️: You might remember the classified document case that came out last time he wrote a book — so we’ll see what they’re doing differently now

• 📰The New York Times headlines “The Bidens Return to the Stage: Online, in Bookstores and at a Best Western in South Dakota,” writing:

  • “Many Democrats have said that none of this is what anyone should be focusing on now. The battle lines for the coming midterms are being drawn and the party is trying to exult in new faces.”

• What I’m thinking💭: With friends like the Bidens, who needs enemies for Democrats?

• Follow the money💸: Democrats love to watch their own burn

  • Kamala Harris’s burn book spent months on The New York Times’ bestseller list

  • Jill Biden’s book topped Amazon charts and will almost certainly make The Times list

    ---

Stunningly clueless award📺: Our competitors tonight will either lionize fired “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley as the last great journalist to martyr himself upon the altar of standing up to Donald Trump or dance on his grave. We will do neither.

• ‼️Pelley’s firing lays bare so many problems of “journalism”

  • Most importantly, his refusal to believe a lot of America saw him as biased.

• 🗣️Pelley said CBS’ Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss asked staffers: “Why do you think the country thinks you’re biased?”

  • Pelley’s response: “”Why do you think so? Do you have a poll? Is there market research? What are you talking about? Because we certainly didn’t believe that.”

Mark the tape🎬: That right there explains much of the problem with journalism

• You don’t even need to be a good reporter to understand how and why so much of America hates the media.

• You don’t need to leave the cushy confines of the Upper East Side.

• You don’t need to spend time in the Midwest, Appalachia, or the Great Plains.

  • Certainly any reporter after Trump’s win in 2016 would want to understand the change in America — but clearly not.

• ❗You watch this show because you believe in right and wrong rather than Left and Right.

• ❗You believe America is great and both sides are failing America.

• ⚖️You believe in fairness.

• ⚠️Pelley’s firing should serve as a warning — to deeply understand our audience and respect how we are perceived by them.

  • They say X is not real life — that’s true.

  • But guess what else is not real life: cocktail parties in Washington, the Hamptons and Nantucket.

    ---

This Will Look Small in November🚨

⚠️The current California counting crisis will look small come November when control of the House comes down to a few California districts, and they are still “finding” ballots and counting days if not weeks after the election

• What happened‼️: Over the weekend, DDHQ projected (once) distant third-place Nithya Rahman pulled ahead of reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayor’s race

  • How👀: Hundreds of thousands late arriving vote by mail ballots broke heavily for a woman who bombed in the debate and went into the election badly losing momentum.

  • Why🤷: Democrats allegedly created California’s election laws to ensure they always win.

    • Unlimited ballot harvesting

    • 100% vote by mail without aggressive purging

    • No ID needed to vote

    • The list goes on…

      • Including a woman who registered her dog to vote in protest of the laws

      • Spoiler alert🚨: They only caught her because she turned herself in

  • Follow the money💸: Progressive politicians keep the money flowing to NGOs and connected contractors

    • $24 billion to fix homelessness for it to get worse

    • $20 billion for the train to nowhere

• Look back🔙: We told you last week — it’s not cheating when you write the rules

• Be fair⚖️: Both sides want to write the rules in their favor.

  • True☑️: Republicans’ rule aligns far more closely with the Constitution.

Danger⚠️: The win-at-any-cost mentality is both the symptom and disease.

• 📉AP polling shows fewer Americans see their country as exceptional

  • 34% think the American dream still holds true

  • 51% say no

  • The more politicians demonize the other side — the worse the country feels about itself and the more willing both sides are to vote in politicians who destroy the shared ideas that make America great.

Watch tonight📺: Bill O’Reilly

---

Character Doesn’t Matter Anymore‼️

🗳️It’s Election Day in Maine tomorrow — and the people of Maine get to decide if character still counts in America.

• Prediction👀: Nazi-tattoo-wearing Graham Platner is going to win the Democratic Senate nomination.

  • Democrats are betting that character doesn’t matter — and they may be right.

    • Favorite headline📰: “Meet the champagne socialist duo who groomed rich kid Graham Platner into a ‘working-class’ candidate”

  • Must read📰: The Wall Street Journal headlines “Platner Supporters Unfazed by Allegations of Misconduct,” writing:

    • “Inside his town hall Sunday, Platner didn’t face a single question or acknowledgment about the allegations. Instead, the crowd doubled down on their support of him... People wrote messages like ‘Everyone has a past! Keep Going!’ and ‘Stay strong, one day at a time.’”

• 👀The Overton Window, or what people view as acceptable, is widening on character traits.

  • Proof☑️: Democrats continue to support Platner even after each of his scandals —

    • Nazi-tattoos

    • Sexting with multiple women while married

    • Allegations from ex-girlfriends

  • Rewind◀️: Character issues that were disqualifying in the 1980s wouldn’t even warrant a newspaper story today.

Wow🤦: A women at a Platner rally was asked if an Israeli flag tattoo would be a deal breaker for her, her response:

• “Honestly yeah … because I don’t support genocide”

• This is where politics is in America

Watch tonight📺: Rachel Ohm, Portland Press Herald reporter, and NewsNation contributor Chris Cillizza.

---

Iran War: Day 101💣

💥Over the weekend, Israel and Iran exchanged fire for the first time since the ceasefire began in April.

Laid bare‼️: Iran’s boldness validates and indicts Trump’s strategy

• Told you🤷: Trump’s options keep getting worse every day; this is just another example.

2️⃣Iran attacked Israel for two reasons:

1. 1️⃣To stop the realignment happening in the Middle East

• Strategy: The realignment organized by Trump is scaring Iran because it’s making them more and more isolated.

2. 2️⃣The Iranians aren’t scared of Trump anymore.

• Trump’s ever-changing deadlines and refusal to back up any of his red lines have emboldened the Iranians

• Good read 📰: Amit Segal, “Israel vs. Iran: Round 3,” writing:

  • “Tehran may not field a first-class air force or navy, but they possess the absolute best detection equipment in the world for one specific signal: a lack of willingness to fight …For years, Hamas and Hezbollah detected this exact hesitation in Israel and exploited it to gain ground. Today, Iran is doing the exact same thing to the United States. It comes down to the old idiom: give them an inch, and they’ll start firing at a mile of your sovereign territory. Two months of projected American weakness and a blind obsession with securing a deal have brought us straight to this moment. …Tehran smells the desperation and knows exactly what the U.S. is terrified of losing”

• Look back🔙: They had the motivations for doing the October 7 attacks — and the reason they haven’t done it again is because they were scared of Trump

  • 📰The Hoover Institution headlines “The Root Cause Of October 7: Iran’s Regime,” writing:

    • “The expansion of the Abraham Accords was also in the sights of the ayatollahs. It was imperative that a new bilateral peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel be thwarted. The shock and awe of October 7 was so severe, and the Israeli response to it so massive, that it forced the Saudis to cancel overtures to the Israeli government.”

🗣️Both sides have stopped exchanging fire after Trump called to “immediately stop shooting”

• President Trump says Israel “won’t have any choice” but to accept a deal with Iran to end the war.

  • Trump: “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”

• Why it matters‼️: Trump says he warned Netanyahu that if Israel started the war again with Iran, he “might find himself fighting alone,” reports Axios.

  • Good read📰: Axios headlines “Behind the scenes: How Israel and Iran nearly pulled Trump back to War,” writing:

    • “Trump found himself in a dilemma. On the one hand, he understood it would be nearly impossible for his key ally Benjamin Netanyahu to let an Iranian missile attack go unanswered. On the other hand, he was concerned the tit-for-tat would lead to all-out war.”

Tonight📺: Amb. Nathan Sales and Brig. Gen. John Teichert on why Iran is doing what it’s doing.

• Plus➕: NewNation’s Libbey Dean with the latest from the White House.

  ---

Affordability Crisis🚨

‼️President Trump is leaving Republicans out to dry on affordability because he knows he can’t message on it.

• ✈️He traveled to Wisconsin on Friday afternoon to tout the economy to farmers but left Republicans to sell his economic message on their own

  • Trump: “I don’t need this, I got elected, what the hell do I have to be here for?..I could be home right now in the beautiful white house enjoying somebody else on television talking.”

  • Nothing says you care about an issue like showing up on a summer Friday.

• 1️⃣Affordability is the number one issue on most Americans’ mind, yet Trump is focused on almost everything BUT that —

  • Beautifying D.C.

  • Hosting a UFC fight at the White House

  • Going to Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York

• 📉Trump’s handling of the economy hit a record low:

  • 18% approve

  • 69% disapprove

  • You don’t win elections by telling 69% of Americans they are wrong.

Good read📰: The Hill headlines “Trump’s DC beautification fixation worries some Republicans as midterms loom,” writing:

• “President Trump’s focus on repair and beautification projects around Washington, D.C., risks backfiring on Republicans ahead of the midterms as the issue of affordability takes center stage across the country…The president’s critics say the efforts are out of touch and will not have a real impact on Americans living outside of the Beltway.”

• What I’m thinking💭: If you can’t get an answer to affordability, does any of this other stuff even matter

Watch tonight📺: Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who is running for governor of Florida.