Today in Politics, Bulletin 437. 8/10/26 Ron Filipkowski Aug 10 ∙ … Trump issued an executive order today seeking to mandate one of the conspiracies that he has held for decades which began shortly after Barron was born - that childhood vaccines cause autism. … Axios: “Trump issued an executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccinations, splitting the childhood MMR vaccine into 3 shots and delivering vaccines at separate medical visits.” … The executive order states that “the combined MMR vaccine should be administered in 3 separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits.” … “RFK Jr’s handpicked vaccine advisers last fall called for splitting up the MMR shot and overhauling a central component of childhood immunizations. But the WH urged Kennedy to back off of such contentious policymaking earlier this year. And yet, Trump has recently questioned Kennedy about the lack of momentum on childhood vaccine policy, signaling his continued strong personal interest in the topic.” … Sen. Bill Cassidy, who made all of this possible by confirming RFK Jr, posted: “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make these changes. Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism.” … “Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe. Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order. This is so wrong.” … Cowards like Cassidy put us in this situation by repeatedly refusing to stand up to Trump. … From Trump’s press conference announcing the order in the Oval Office: “They have a vaccination that’s the size of a bottle of soda poured into a child’s body.” “Very simply, large amounts of like vats are currently pumped into your child's body.” Q: “I think I heard you say the MMR vaccine is quite lethal. Is there any evidence of that? Trump: No. I’ve heard some people say that. I’ve heard when you put them together, they can be explosive.” “Nothing bad can happen from what we’re doing. We’re going to learn a lot.” “Decades ago children received a fraction of the vaccines. They were healthier and the high rates of autism did not exist. So there's a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. Well, we did not know exactly what the cause is with respect to autism.” … Trump also dozed off multiple times while other people were speaking. … TMZ: “Rep. Lauren Boebert's adult son is back in legal trouble - he's been arrested on multiple felony charges tied to the alleged sexual exploitation of a child. Tyler Boebert was arrested Sunday in CO. Tyler faces 3 sexual exploitation charges -- including allegations involving inducement or enticement, possession with intent and video - along with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.” … Rep. Boebert to TMZ: "I love my son. We take these allegations very seriously and pray for everyone affected during this challenging time." … WSJ: The Republican Party is losing Its edge with voters on the economy. Mitchell Brown, a Republican pollster, has noticed something new in the focus groups he runs with voters in battleground states: “They know exactly, to the dollar, the amount of their power bill.” The same, he says, happens with health costs, or the price of beef. To Brown, it is a sign that views of the economy pose a clear danger for his party in this year’s midterms, a concern echoed by other Republican strategists.” … As I’ve said for 18 months, Trump can lie to them about a lot of things and they will buy it, but his lies about this stuff aren’t fooling anyone. People know how much they pay for things and how much money is in their bank account. The lies and denials by Republicans only make people more angry. … CNN pollster Harry Enten: “We’re talking about a 32 point decline in terms of Trump’s net approval rating on jobs. It is not just inflation that is hurting Trump when it comes to the economy in the American voters’ minds. It is jobs as well.” … Enten: “Pete Hegseth - the lowest of the low - 22 points underwater! And this has been something that has been going on throughout the entire admin. He has been underwater in every single poll. Don Rumsfeld was 15 points better than Pete Hegseth.” … Politico: “Senators began their break no closer to enacting the crown jewel of Pete Hegseth’s agenda: a record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget. Hegseth hasn’t persuaded Republicans to steamroll Democrats and advance the money in a party-line plan, despite regularly trekking to the Hill and hobnobbing with lawmakers.” … “Instead, an increasingly vocal group of GOP lawmakers argue the admin hasn’t explained why Republicans should burn valuable political capital in pursuit of Trump’s vision - especially with the midterms just months away.” … Politico: “The progressive movement’s midterms march has arrived in WI, where a democratic socialist is forcing establishment Democrats to mount an all-out, last-ditch effort to stop her. Francesca Hong is the front-runner to become the Dems gubernatorial nominee, fueled by a populist campaign tapping into voters’ cost of living concerns. David Crowley, backed by outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, has emerged as the top candidate trying to cut off Hong’s bid.” … Ahead of Tues’s primary, electability was top of mind for voters and both candidates as they raced to prove they could build the widest, strongest coalition against presumptive Republican nominee Tom Tiffany. Crowley and Evers have been barnstorming the swing state over the past week, warning a vote for Hong risks losing in Nov. to Tiffany, a hard-right member of the House Freedom Caucus backed by Trump.” … “Hong rejects those warnings. Speaking to voters at events across the state, Hong argues Democratic voters are fed up with the establishment ahead of Nov. — and that she can appeal to a wide array of Democrats, Republicans and people who don’t feel represented by either party.” … “But Hong’s campaign has also faced intense scrutiny over a string of controversial past social media posts, including advocating for defunding the police and railing against Thanksgiving. She was later slammed for being unable to give a straightforward answer to CNN about whether she would ‘cancel Thanksgiving.’” … Fox: “Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a website on Monday that highlights the contrast between what he calls ‘common sense and crazy.’ The name for the new initiative is ‘Contrast for America,’ a play on the Newt Gingrich-led ‘Contract with America’ GOP policy platform used during the 1994 midterm election.” … “The website is divided into 5 separate parts, beginning with a video message from Johnson that includes a montage of Fox clips and compares images of unrest in US cities to videos of patriotic displays of the country’s 250th anniversary. The website also includes a timeline of failed communist govts throughout the world, followed by dueling lists that show what Republicans are running on versus what Democrats’ far-left insurgency is pushing.” … Johnson: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for. It must be protected. It has to be taught, passed along to the next generation. 35 years ago, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, they were fighting communism on a distant shore. Now it’s here.” … NOTUS: “Democrats are increasingly convinced that ‘double haters’ - voters disappointed with both Trump and the Democratic Party - will make or break their chance at winning a House majority in Nov. All it’ll take to win this voting group over, Democrats think, is one very normal trick. In battleground districts across the country, Democratic candidates are attempting to prove that they are just like the average, everyday Americans they hope to represent.” … “Their bet is that the promise of normalcy is enough to win over skeptical voters. It’s an effort that sits at the center of the party’s planned communication effort in the coming months, especially in the right-leaning seats its candidates need to win for a majority next year.” … Democratic Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet of MI: “What this really means is, are you putting your head down and working? Are you talking about things that really matter and using language that normal people use, not something from inside the beltway?” … “McDonald Rivet, who won her Trump-supporting district with relative ease in 2024, is considered the template for the kind of candidate Democrats hope they recruited this year, a list that includes Rebecca Bennett in NJ, Zach Dembo in KY and Chaz Molder in TN.” … “They described a formula for coming across as normal that included focusing on economic pressures instead of Trump’s actions and avoiding statements and positions more aligned with liberal activists than the larger body politic.” … NYT: “Over the course of Ken Paxton’s decade-long rise to prominence, through scandal and turmoil, questions about his finances have followed him. Opponents scrutinized his real estate holdings and suggested that he has used his public office to enrich himself personally. With Paxton locked in a close, contentious race for senate in TX, his Democratic opponent has questioned how Paxton, the state AG, has amassed a multimillion dollar real estate portfolio on a public servant’s salary.” … “Now, Paxton’s federal financial disclosure forms and additional records shed light on one unusual source of his income: a cellular tower company from which Paxton made between $100,000 and $1 million about every 18 months. The company controls at least one tower in a city north of Dallas that was erected around 20 years ago on the property of a hospital where Paxton was a board member.” … “Industry experts said a hospital’s board would need to review and approve a decision to lease land to a cell tower company such as Premier. It is not clear whether Paxton, as a board member, voted on any contract between the hospital and his company, or whether he had participated in any such discussions.” … Scripps News: Now that the deadline has passed to replace Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) on the ballot, his former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), seems to indicate he won’t comment any further on Miller’s race: “I’ve said all I’m going to say.” … Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named 4 potential Democratic challengers lining up to run against Sen. John Fetterman in the 2028 primary: Conor Lamb, Chris Deluzio, Summer Lee, Brendan Boyle. On Ask the Editor today I answered these 5 questions from you: 1. Do you think the RNC holding a Trumpalooza midterm convention is a good strategy or will it backfire on them? Are Democrats doing something similar? 2. Who was the reporter who asked El-Sayed about Trump saying he was full of shit? 3. We love El-Sayed but can he win? 4. What is your opinion of the 3rd party movement started by Tucker, Greene, Massie and others? 5. Why is Kash Patel visiting Russia - what is the official reason and what do you think the real reason is? I also watched the entire interview Hunter Biden just gave to Tucker Carlson, and gave my commentary on that in the context of answering one of those questions. The Ask the Editor show should be out tonight. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Meidas reporter Scott Macfarlane: “Internal park service records reveal a controversial and overwhelming re-routing of money to Trump vanity projects. The topline dollar figures are astounding, according to multiple sources inside the US Dept of Interior. The records show more than $323 million have been made available for upgrades and projects on the WH grounds this year. That’s a dramatic, nearly 5000% increase from the $7.5 million spent on WH grounds projects in 2024.” … “The records show declines in the money allotted to – or projected for use at - dozens of other major US parks this year. There were multi-million dollar reductions in funds for Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon national parks, which are some of the flagship attractions of America’s National Park Service.” … Tim Whitehouse, with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility: “The National Park Service is being used as a piggy bank for Trump’s vanity projects. The National Parks Service and the Dept. of Interior are giving Trump all of the money that he wants. That’s costing the American people. That’s hurting the rest of our country.” … The New Republic: “Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are set to launch an investigation into the decision to criminally charge Hearn and others over the Reflecting Pool fiasco. Although Democrats are in the minority, their probe offers a blueprint for what they’ll pursue with subpoena power if they control the House in 6 months.” … “This week, Rep. Jamie Raskin—the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and potentially its future chair—will formally demand that DOJ and Interior turn over a wealth of documents related to the charging decisions made in this case.” … Raskin: “Judiciary Democrats will investigate who lied, who buried the evidence, and who decided to threaten an American citizen with prison simply to protect Trump’s wounded feelings and continuing corruption. Participants in this frame-up will be held to account.” … Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted: “GAME CHANGER. In April, we launched a NEW CAMPAIGN to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers — and supercharged the entire hiring process to get the BEST & BRIGHTEST in faster. The results are HISTORIC. 94% of hiring goal met - fastest time ever to reach target 2,000+ hired - the most in a single year 2,000+ ‘best & brightest’ candidates in the pipeline - reaching the Academy quicker than any class before them, thanks to the most streamlined hiring process.” … Hiring a record number of people quickly. Gamers. Accelerated hiring process. What could go wrong? … NYT: “Iran said on Monday that any deal with Oman on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz would not lead to the waterway being fully reopened and that the route would remain closed until the US agreed to demands including lifting a naval blockade. The comments were the latest sign that Iran sees its grip on the strait — which has driven up global energy prices, creating a political headache for Trump — as its best form of leverage in negotiations with Washington.” … Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said that the focus of the talks with Oman was “on reaching an understanding over a route for the safe passage of shipping.” The Oman talks were proceeding smoothly, Baghaei added, but “this issue is separate from the discussion of reopening the Strait of Hormuz,” which was “contingent upon the removal of the conditions that have been imposed on Iran” by the US. … Telegraph: “Iran is demanding financial compensation for the war before it reopens the Strait of Hormuz, a last-minute concession that dampens hopes of an imminent deal. Speculation had been building for days that an agreement was emerging that would restore safe passage in the vital sea lane, following direct negotiations between Oman and the Islamic republic. But Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said that while a deal was close, reopening the strait would depend on other conditions.” … “He said this would include US compensation in the form of reparations to Iran for the war. It is not clear what form that would take as the US is not known to be engaged in any action against Hamas, Hezbollah or the Houthis, although it could refer to a demand that the US lean on its regional partners to cease hostility with the terror groups.” … “The extra demands suggest growing Iranian confidence that it can squeeze more concessions out of Trump. The US was already obliged to pay compensation under the June MOU. Although the terms left some scope for interpretation, the document was taken by the West as guaranteeing free passage of vessels through the strait without having to pay tolls, although Iran framed the agreement as giving it a degree of management of the passage.” … Fox host Mark Levin responded to the report: “A few days ago here and elsewhere I feared we might dumb down what victory would look like because the focus seemed to be exclusively on a deal. Not actually defeating the regime. Despite the enemy repeatedly violating the current ceasefire and MOU, and its public declarations.” … Trump then posted: “I see that Reps of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict, even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings! But it is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts. Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months. I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.” … The peace talks are going well. Art of the deal. … Axios: “Trump signaled on Sunday that he’s prepared to allow economic pressure on Iran to mount — as opposed to ordering a new military offensive — even as the country continues to defy the US. Only a week ago, Trump was on the verge of ordering a return to major combat operations. But in an interview with Axios, he did not make any new military threats.” … Trump: “We are low-keying it. We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money. It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.” … When you win a war, you dictate the terms of the peace. When you lose a war, you try to salvage the best deal you can get to end hostilities. What we are doing is the latter. … Former Rep. now OAN host Matt Gaetz: “It seems that Iran is not Venezuela.” … The Atlantic: “Marc Rosenblum, the top statistician at DHS for more than a decade, resigned in frustration in late July. 3 years ago, he established the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, with support from lawmakers from both parties, to provide Congress and the broader public with reliable, timely statistics on immigration enforcement and other homeland-security trends free of political interference. When Trump returned, that effort was doomed.” … “During the past year and a half, as the WH directed DHS to run the largest deportation campaign in history, Trump officials blocked Rosenblum’s team from publishing monthly reports. The office’s website went stale, and its immigration-enforcement tables became frozen in 2024, as if nothing has happened since then.” … “Arrests and deportations by ICE are the data categories most crucial to understanding what Trump is doing in his second term. With DHS’s data office muzzled, the only public source for immigration data has been the ICE website, where the agency periodically publishes enforcement statistics—but it has sometimes gone months without posting updates. … “ICE statistics show that the agency deported about 400,000 people during Trump’s first year in office, a figure well short of the WH’s goal of 1 million annual removals. The WH’s benchmark for success—1 million deportations a year—has worked better as a rhetorical device than an achievable goal.” … “ICE’s previous record for deportations was 432,238, set in 2013. The gap between the president’s expectations and the reality of what ICE can pull off endangers the job of any DHS official who acknowledges numbers that fall short. No one wants to tell the president that his deportation claims have no clothes.” … Financial Times: “Trump is following an autocrat’s playbook in his second term, weakening checks on his power and leaving the US less safe, former senior intelligence officials have warned, as they step up public criticism of the president’s authoritarian style of governing.” … “Trump returned to office pledging war against the so-called deep state that he blamed for constraining his power during his first term. Since then, he has sought to silence critics and demanded loyalty from those around him.” … Paul Kolbe, former CIA station chief for the Soviet Union: Autocrats “have relatively common playbooks in terms of how they capture and wield power. These are all things that rhyme right now for me with what we see happening in the US.” … Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who is fighting a legal battle with Trump after the WH revoked his security clearance: “The guardrails were all taken down. I don’t think we’re even close to the worst of where we’re going to go.” … “Kolbe is among more than 400 former US intelligence and national security officials in The Steady State, a network formed in 2016 in response to members’ alarm at rising authoritarianism in the US. Zaid also works with the org. The group warns that Trump’s erosion of institutions and checks on executive power threatens US democracy and its business environment.” … “The public intervention from former officials more used to a life in the shadows points to deepening alarm in the US intelligence community. The Steady State’s membership has swelled during Trump’s second term, but many remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. … Former CIA analyst and Steady State member Julia Curlee: “There’s a lot of good reasons not to say anything. The problem is if everybody says nothing then we’re in the situation we’re in now. People don’t grasp the degree to which these institutions which are so important have been hollowed out and weakened.” … Lara Trump posted a weird photo from this past weekend which also shows Trump’s ever-present travel companion Natalie Harp in the background. … Politico on reports of a new 3rd party forming: “The will-they-won’t-they energy around Tucker Carlson and other high-profile Trump defectors is coalescing from viral photos and manifestos into donor discussions and planning — even as Trump world dismisses the whole thing as a MAGA-exiles revenge tour.” … “The support is overwhelming,” Marjorie Taylor Greene said, saying her phone hasn’t stopped ringing with calls from across the political spectrum about organizing since their viral photo, and that she’s “really surprised” by the number of “large donors” wanting to “donate in big ways to help it.” … Others in Trump’s orbit theorize the effort could become a vehicle for attacking the president to damage Republicans in Nov. One person close to Trump: “Get just enough folks to stay home so we lose the House and the president gets destroyed.” … Laura Loomer: “They view this as an opportunity to suppress the GOP vote, so that they can get revenge on Trump. They’re mad that Daddy cut them off, and now they’re trying to get back at Daddy by throwing a hissy fit before the midterms in an effort to get him to notice them and their outbursts.” … The group forming a 3rd party also includes Rep. Thomas Massie and former Trump Dep. DNI Joe Kent. … Hunter Biden: “Spent the day in Maine with Tucker. We had a great conversation. The mere fact that we sat down with each other and had a civil conversation has apparently really pissed certain people off. I am once again happy to be of service. It’s out tomorrow. Enjoy.” … Trump’s Trade Rep. Peter Navarro was on Steve Bannon’s show promising more new revelations on the 2020 election investigation: “I’ve been digging through all the stuff that John Solomon has uncovered. He’s put out so much amazing stuff. This is the problem with the media - they won’t deal with the hard truths about what happened in 2020. Solomon is going to keep getting more and more truth out.” … Navarro then complained that he expected House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan to do more to investigate the 2020 election, but he has let MAGA down: “I don’t know what happened to Jim Jordan once he got a gavel in his hands. He has been so unhelpful in so many ways.” … Navarro then went on a tirade to Bannon when he brought up Jeanine Pirro: "Never mention her friggin' name to me. Because that woman still refuses to fire John Crabb, the prosecutor who was involved in putting you and me behind bars. Bannon: Hold it, we love Jeanine. Navarro: How is that guy still working here? The boss said 'she choked'. Jeanine, are you listening?" … WH economic advisor Kevin Hassett on CNBC: Q - “How long do you imagine that taxpayers and the govt should be invested in Intel? This has been a big investment by taxpayers. Hassett: It gives me an opportunity to talk about some of the best news about Trump Accounts … Q - But what about Intel? Hassett: Trump is gonna make that call. This isn't a socialist takeover.” … NewsNation asked Sean Duffy what happened to the Great American Road Trip show he filmed with his family for 7 months: “Stay tuned. In the next, maybe week, two weeks, we’re going to drop it. I have to be honest - we had to do a little extra editing to make sure I’m in compliance with all the ethics rules. So it took a little longer than I would like.” … High Country News: “Barnard Construction, an engineering contractor based in Bozeman, MT, recently celebrated its 50th year in business. On its website, the company lays out a colorful history that starts in 1975, when Tim Barnard moved to MT with ‘$1,000, two shovels, a pick, and all of his possessions in the cab of his pickup.’” … “What the website doesn’t show are the company’s largest federal contracts: the billions of taxpayer dollars Barnard has been awarded to build Trump’s border wall. Also unmentioned are its founder’s financial ties to the president. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated $46.5 billion for the wall project. The admin has since waived dozens of fed contracting laws to expedite construction, and more than $28 billion in contracts have been awarded to a small group of companies.” … “Barnard is among the biggest winners. The company and its affiliates have been awarded more than $5.6 billion in border construction contracts since Trump returned to office. Add their previous border wall contracts and the total rises to more than $7 billion. Meanwhile, FEC records show that Barnard and his wife have contributed millions of dollars over the years to Republican candidates and causes - including more than $1 million to Trump’s presidential campaigns.” … Gas market analyst Patrick De Haan: “For the first time since it was filled, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen below 300 million barrels to 298.7 million, down 6.1 million barrels from a week ago. Declines are likely for a few more weeks before the authorized release is complete.” … In addition to the millions of dollars in costs for taxpayers to pay for Secret Service and jet fuel for Trump’s weekly golf outings, new costs have been added to our tab. Sophisticated military surveillance aircraft reportedly fly over the courses while he plays now, F-16s have been scrambled to incept aircraft entering the No-Fly Zone, and surface-to-air missile defense systems were on his Bedminster course this past weekend. … EuroNews: Melania Trump will be subject of a new Amazon Prime documentary series set to premiere this fall, per her senior adviser, who said that the new production will offer viewers “a part of the first lady that hasn’t been seen yet.” … I thought we had pretty much seen all the parts already on the internet. Invite your friends and earn rewards If you enjoy Meidas+, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe.