[Apologies—no audio today due to travel delays.]
I am in the air, flying from Los Angeles to D.C., to speak at the Network Nova 10th Annual Women’s Conference in McLean, Virginia. I had planned to be in DC by early evening to write and publish the newsletter, but a six-hour delay at LAX derailed that plan, so I will be briefer than usual.
Also, Reminder: I will host my regular Saturday livestream at 9:00 a.m Pacific / Noon Eastern. Join on your computer desktop (https://roberthubbell.substack.com) ) or on your phone / tablet by opening the Substack App. Submit questions here: Reader Questions.
John Roberts did Trump another favor by issuing an administrative stay of a lower court injunction against Trump’s ballroom construction. The net effect is that the construction can continue while the Supreme Court decides Trump’s emergency application.
The fact that Roberts acted alone in granting the stay suggests that it does not reflect the views of a majority of the Court. When a single justice is presented with an emergency application for a stay, the justice can either act alone or refer it to the full Court for a vote on the stay. By acting alone, Roberts appears to be giving the full Court space and time to act on its own.
I understand that other commentators are suggesting that Roberts upset the status quo by granting the stay. That conclusion is true in spirit, but is debatable as a technical matter. The underlying injunction had yet to go into effect. Roberts’ administrative stay kept it that way. Roberts has a defensible argument that he was maintaining the status quo.
But it sure feels like Roberts did another favor for Trump in granting emergency relief.
Trump is losing, big time. He spent Friday resorting to this standard playbook: suppressing dissent and seizing control of the media to rewrite the narrative.
To be clear, when a wannabe autocrat and his minions resort to silencing critics and hijacking the press, things are not going well for the dictator in waiting.
In short order on Friday, the following events unfolded:
Trump threatened to sue the Center for American Progress for $5 billion for having the temerity to report that his deployment of the National Guard to cities across the country has had little effect on reducing violent crime. See NYTimes, Trump Threatens Suit Over Report He Doesn’t Like, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic. | It was the latest example of President Trump’s bid to use the legal system against those who voice unflattering facts and opinions generally protected by the First Amendment.
The Pentagon engineered a hostile takeover of Stars and Stripes, a taxpayer-funded but independent newspaper covering the US military. See NYTimes, Pentagon Fires Editor and Publisher of Independent Military Publication.
Hegseth forced out the Secretary of the Army for disagreeing with Hegseth’s ridiculous ideas for converting the Army from a professional force dedicated to protecting America into a warrior cult designed to intimidate foe and friend alike. (My editorial spin, not stated as such in the article.) See Telegraph, US army secretary to step down 'after tension with Hegseth'
How worried is Trump about the economy? Very. On Friday, he announced a temporary suspension of tariffs on 300 metric tons of beef entering the US in a effort to reduce beef prices. The move resulted in a swift and hostile reaction from the US beef industry and MAGA Republicans. See Mediate, Fox’s Tomi Lahren Torches Trump Over New Policy to ‘Import a Bunch of Foreign Beef’.
Lahren posted,
You know what won’t help American ranchers? Importing a bunch of foreign beef. So now we are importing foreign workers, foreign beef and paying for foreign wars? The lobbyists are at the top of their game.
In a transparently cynical move, the tariff suspension will last until shortly after the November election!
Friday at midnight was the deadline for Trump and Canada to reach a trade deal on Trump’s proposed 50% tariffs on products imported from Canada into the US. Canada’s Prime Minister Carney said Canada would impose reciprocal tariffs on US products imported into the country. See The Guardian, Canada vows to match Trump’s 50% tariffs after trade deal talks fail
Yesterday, I criticized an article by Judge Michael Luttig in which he cited David French’s NYTimes article about Mike Johnson and Republicans refusing to seat Democrats after the midterms. My article is here: Resistance is not futile. It is the path forward. David French’s article is here: This Is What’s Keeping Me Up at Night.
Today, Judge Luttig posted a reply to my criticism, here: Thank you, Mr. Hubbell . . . - Judge J. Michael Luttig
In his reply, Judge Luttig writes that I did not accurately characterize his argument in the article. I invite you to read Judge Luttig’s reply and my original criticism (linked above) to determine if I fairly characterized Judge Luttig’s argument and quoted the article accurately.
I responded to Judge Luttig's reply as set forth below (I added formatting to the text below, which I could do on the plane).
Thanks, Judge Luttig. I appreciate your thoughtful and gracious response. Readers can review your original article and my response to determine if I fairly characterized your argument. I tried to fairly capture what you and David French said, and I am disappointed to hear that you believe I misstated your views or your words.
I am in the air as I write, so my comments responding to the substance of your reply will be brief.
You introduce a new concept—a “lame duck” Congress that you say exists between Noon on January 3, 2027 and when the 120th Congress is sworn in. (I am paraphrasing; again, in the air, limited bandwidth.) But Article I does not create a “lame duck Congress.” It says, “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.”
So, the body that meets on January 3, 2027, IS the Article I Congress. The 119th Congress no longer exists (it has expired), so the Congress that meets on January 3, at noon, can only be the 120th Congress, not a “lame duck” Congress that is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution.
Mike Johnson has no powers as the hopeful Speaker-to-Be in the 120th Congress. He is a member-elect of the 120th Congress on January 3, 2027, at Noon, like every other member-elect.
The first and only business that the 120th Congress can conduct after Noon on January 3, 2027, is the election of a Speaker; all other business must wait.
So, I fail to see how Mike Johnson or any other member-elect in the House can “refuse to seat” any member of the 120th Congress—unless Mike Johnson is elected Speaker, as I stated in my article.
I am interested to hear how Mike Johnson and other Republicans, as members-elect of the 120th Congress, can refuse to seat any other member of the 120th Congress. I assume you will write further to explain how Mike Johnson and Republican members-elect would accomplish that, and I look forward to hearing that explanation. And thank you for all you have done and are doing to help defend our democracy.
If you are not sick of this topic yet, after I posted the above reply, a reader sent me an article from the Election Law Blog written by Derek Muller, titled Fearmongering about stealing Congress on January 3, 2027.
Muller’s article validates what I wrote, and then some. He adds legal arguments I did not cover, and he responds to seven commentators (including Judge Luttig) who suggest that Mike Johnson and House Republicans may refuse to seat Democrats on January 3, 2027.
With margins as tight as a few hundred votes in some swing districts, we all know by now that every vote counts! There’s an untapped resource out there too - millions of Americans are living overseas and many of them don’t realize they can vote! If you know a left-leaning American who is overseas and is working or retired
in a study abroad program
on sabbatical
in the military
temporarily abroad during the November election
...please make sure they know that distance does not disqualify them from voting! They can go to votefromabroad.org where they will get all the information they need to register and vote and SAVE DEMOCRACY!
It’s time for the press to drop the pretense that Trump is sane. On Friday, a reporter asked Trump about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s intervention in the bond market this week. Trump praised Bessent’s skill in dealing with the bond market, and the reporter followed up, saying “yields have come back up since then.” The reporter followed up again, and this exchange took place:
Reporter: “Have you talked to [Scott Bessent] about another type of intervention? Is that something he will be doing?”
“Trump: We have many types of intervention. That’s one. The ultimate intervention is our military. And if we have to use that, we will.”
See Mediate, Trump Suggests He Can Use the 'Military' on Bond Markets (embedded video included, after annoying ad.)
Taking him at his word, Trump suggested using the US military to attack the bond market if yields do not decline in response to Scott Bessent’s intervention.
To use a technical term, Trump’s suggestion is bonkers. I hate to go there, but if Biden said the same thing, he would have been impeached, convicted, and removed from office before his plane touched down.
But somehow, Trump gets a pass. Where’s the 72-point headline in the NYTimes, “Trump threatens military force against the bond market”?
Overpass message in Eastern Iowa, August 20
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Chattanooga Bridge Brigade.We had a great reception to this message! Usually maybe 50% of cars responds at most with a honk or wave; today I would say closer to 70% liked this message.
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Volunteers gathered Sunday, August 16 for Lean Left Vermont’s Power Hour, a weekly Sunday afternoon phone bank to protect the vote. Some of us called potential poll observers and hotline volunteers in North Carolina; others of us called voters in Pennsylvania to educate them about mail-in ballots.
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From the June 2025 No Kings in San Diego, in response to your post today: “Resistance is fertile”.
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August 19, Tolland CT I84 Overpass
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Vernon, CT
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Metrowest Boston MA
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Calling out the names of 74 people known to have died due to Immigration Enforcement since Jan 29, 2025. Hand-out includes the 74 names (as of today) and some of their stories.
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Indivisible Sister Bay, Wisconsin. We used 18 empty chairs again to symbolize the loss of American troops in Iran.
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Pics from MA and NH . . . Preaching the gospel in Littleton NH!
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Face Down Facism Berkeley 8/21/26
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From today’s Honk and Wave 8/21/2026 in Ocean Pines Md.
Members of the Democratic Women’s Club of Worcester County Maryland
and Indivisible Worcester County
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The Massachusetts primary is on September 1, and the members of the Randolph Indivisible group are out spreading the news. We will be standing out with our signs during rush hours near Interstate 93 over the next week to encourage early voting Aug 22- Aug 28. Rain (like today) or shine!
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This is what Democracy Looks Like at the Downtown Park in Cary, N.C.
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Double duty on Friday, a. m. & p. m.
Tolland Good Trouble Visibility Brigade
Tolland, Connecticut
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It was a good Friday in Howard County, Maryland, over I-95. We concentrated on the “BE BRAVE” theme, and we had over 40 folks, displaying two messages: BE BRAVE RESIST TRUMPISM! and BE BRAVE - LIKE UKRAINIANS! (Ukrainian independence day is next week, 24 August.)
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We had a beautiful afternoon in Franconia, NH, and 14 North Country Resilience volunteers waved to vehicles passing below, as well as on, the I-93 overpass in the Notch. Our messages received many more enthusiastic honks and waves than than alternative gestures:
BE BRAVE - STAND WITH US and TRUTH MATTERS: VOTE
=================================Lafayette, CO
Lafayette, CO
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August 21, 2026, Colchester, VT. It was a beautiful day to Stand Up For Democracy in Malletts Bay! Many expressed their agreement with supportive honks and waves.
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Greenfield MA
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