Wednesday News Updates: Election Night Updates, House GOP Implosion, + More – 8/5/26
Wednesday News Updates: Election Night Updates, House GOP Implosion, + More – 8/5/26Your midday update is here
Hey everybody, it’s Wednesday afternoon and I’ve got a whole lot to break down for you. First, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who voted yesterday. No matter who you voted for, it’s so important for everyone to participate and do his and her civic duty. Also, another quick thank you for your incredible support of our new book, WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. If you preorder today, be sure to let me know in the comments! Let’s get into what we’re tracking today:
As a thank you, I’m opening up this recap to everyone today. One quick ask if you are able: if you find these recaps and our work valuable, consider joining now as a paid subscriber. This is a people-powered movement, and your support is what helps grow this network at a time when it’s needed most. So thank you to all our paid subscribers, and to everyone joining as a paid subscriber today! We are so grateful for the support. Let’s dig in. Trump’s Tantrum, Michigan Updates, and MoreDonald Trump is doing Donald Trump things again. He threw another fit this morning on his Truth Social app following yesterday’s elections, posting that Wayne County, meaning Detroit, is one of the most corrupt voting areas in the country, maybe the world, and that we should get ready for another “rigged election.” This is yet another attack by Trump on our elections, and again, another attack specifically aimed at delegitimizing Black voters. Let’s just call it what it is. Last night, progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan with a narrow margin of victory. The Democratic Party quickly aligned behind AES. Haley Stevens put out a very gracious concession earlier today. Here’s an excerpt:
Now that’s how it’s done! Mallory McMorrow, who recently dropped out of the race, also endorsed El-Sayed almost immediately. Former Vice President Kamala Harris threw her support behind El-Sayed as well. El-Sayed now takes on Mike Rogers in November for the seat Gary Peters is vacating. Republicans have already been testing out their messaging this morning for the election, and surprise, surprise, it’s racism! NRSC Vice Chair Jim Banks went on TV earlier and said: “You have a lot of union Democrats who don’t want to vote for a guy like Abdulrahman El-Sayed… He wants to codify Roe V Wade.” OooooOoo spooky.
In some other races: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson won her bid to be the Democratic nominee for Michigan Governor. Rep. Wesley Bell defeated former Rep. Cori Bush. Progressive William Lawrence won his Democratic primary in the 7th Congressional District in Michigan. And a special shoutout to MeidasTouch’s own Fred Wellman for winning his congressional primary in Missouri!! The real embarrassment for Trump is Michigan’s 8th Congressional District. The candidate Trump endorsed, Amir Hassan, got beaten by a man named Thomas Smith, who most news outlets don’t even have a photo of because he suspended his own campaign weeks ago. Let me say that again… A Trump-endorsed candidate lost to somebody who quit the race. And it wasn’t particularly close. That’s how toxic this endorsement has become in parts of this country. MAGA Republicans are Going Through Some Things…North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards, a Trump ally, announced at 3:32 in the morning that he’s dropping his reelection bid, though he’ll finish out his term. He framed it as “prayer and reflection,” as they often do. What actually happened is the House Ethics Committee found substantial reason to believe he violated House rules related to sexual harassment and a hostile workplace. So he’s not resigning, he’s just not going to face voters again, which conveniently means he never has to answer for any of it. By the way, this is the SAME North Carolina House seat previously occupied by Madison Cawthorn. Is something in the water there? Then there’s Max Miller, who Trump refers to as “Maxie” and has said he feels bad for. Miller is facing serious abuse allegations involving his ex-wife, his daughter, and other women he’s previously dated. Rather than address any of that, Miller went on Newsmax and compared himself to Trump in 2016, saying innocent people don’t run from allegations and that he’s staying in the fight regardless. He’s also strongly implying he’s sitting on blackmail material against his own ex-father-in-law, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, tied to rumors involving certain message boards and chat sites. And in the same breath, Miller said it’s sad that the only person affected by all this is his daughter, and that he doesn’t think his ex-wife cares much about her. As a reminder, yesterday attorneys for his ex-wife came out accusing Miller of releasing explicit images of their daughter that could be considered CSAM. Mike Johnson and House Republican leadership have said they stand strongly behind him. The Epstein Class strikes again. New Mexico Sues DOJ Over the Epstein InvestigationNew Mexico’s attorney general filed a lawsuit accusing Blanche and DOJ leadership of stonewalling the state’s ongoing criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates at Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe. According to the complaint, the DOJ made assurances back in 2019 that it would cooperate with New Mexico once federal investigators finished their work, and New Mexico gave up timely access to witnesses and evidence based on that promise. Now the state says the DOJ is breaking that commitment, harming the victims. This isn’t going away, no matter how badly Blanche wants it to. And it tells you a whole lot when they try so hard to keep all this information buried. National INsecurityFBI Director Kash Patel is reportedly building unprecedented law enforcement ties with…China and Russia. This will reportedly include monthly personnel exchanges. So while Patel treats career FBI professionals in this country as suspect, he’s cozying up to the two regimes most interested in America’s decline. On top of that, the Pentagon is drafting a classified nuclear strategy that leans more heavily on tactical nuclear weapons in a regional conflict with China or Russia. And the FAA is now investigating a safety incident where Trump’s Marine One and a departing commercial jet came closer than regulations allow near Reagan National, reportedly because air traffic controllers failed to halt departures when Marine One took off. Add that to the White House helipad construction crews had to go back out and jackhammer today, right after that whole mess with the Reflecting Pool. Apparently after sinking millions into the helipad, it turned out they messed it up. Now they’re trying to fix the mess they created. I am seeing a pattern here… The Iran and Oman Deal Trump Has Nothing to Do WithIran’s Foreign Ministry says talks with Oman over a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz are professional and progressing, with the geographic coordinates already agreed on, so long as certain third parties don’t interfere. Iran has made clear that means the United States and Israel. Trump is trying to take credit for movement he has no part in, while Israel, in the middle of all this, issued an evacuation warning for the Lebanese village of Mansouri ahead of what looks like a broader strike, citing a Hezbollah ceasefire violation. Trump continues to lose control over the region, and now he’s trying to claim Iran and Oman’s deal is his. It gets more pathetic by the day. Ukraine is Paying for Trump’s Broken PromisesRussia hit Kyiv and the surrounding region with 24 ballistic missiles, several Zircon and Oniks missiles, and over a hundred drones. Zelenskyy says 17 people were killed and 44 injured, and the targets included civilian logistics facilities that had nothing to do with the war. Zelenskyy has said directly that interceptors could have saved those lives, and that delays from partners in supplying them lead to exactly this kind of destruction. Trump promised Zelenskyy Patriot interceptor licenses back at the NATO summit in Turkey in mid-July, then walked it back at Camp David, citing concerns about the weapons potentially being used against the U.S. someday. Ukraine has a 90 percent interception rate against Shahed drones and cruise missiles. Ballistic missiles are a different story, and without the interceptors, Russia knows exactly what it can get away with. That’s why from day one I urged everyone not to trust Trump with his “new tone” towards Iran. Red State Voters Reject Red State PoliciesMissouri rejected two major Republican-backed constitutional amendments by enormous margins. One would have required future citizen-led constitutional amendments to win majorities in every one of the state’s eight congressional districts, not just statewide, an obvious attempt to make it harder to pass things like abortion rights through ballot initiative again. The other would have let the legislature phase out the state income tax, a top priority for Governor Mike Kehoe. Both failed by roughly 80 percent or more. In Kansas, voters rejected a GOP-backed measure to switch from appointed to elected state Supreme Court justices, a move critics tied directly to efforts to influence future abortion and education rulings. Trump Speaking at a Casino Tied to Trafficking LawsuitsAnd today, Trump is set to speak at a casino owned by a company currently facing lawsuits alleging its properties failed to stop the trafficking of a 9-year-old girl, among other victims, with claims of negligence and inadequate security. You can read the full reporting over at Meidas News. That’s where things stand as of this afternoon. If you haven’t yet, go preorder WTF America?!, the book I wrote with my brothers about exactly how we got here and how we get out. The publisher tells us preorders matter a lot right now, so if you’ve been meaning to do it, today’s a good day. Ron will be back later with the evening rundown. |
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