1. The Iran war is 6 months old and Trump is looking for an exit
The war the US and Israel launched in February - the one Trump insisted would end in Iran’s “unconditional surrender” - has instead closed the Strait of Hormuz - the highway for Gulf crude oil - for 6 straight months. Reuters reports the Army has burned through damn near all of its long-range precision missiles, and the polling Reuters cites has voters opposing the war roughly two-to-one. With that kind of turmoil, Iran is naming its price to reopen the strait. They want fees of 5% to 7% of every cargo’s value, US troops out of the region, and billions in payments for the cost of a war we started. On August 7th, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact in Mecca that does not include the United States. A war sold as total victory is now a negotiation over how much America pays Iran per tanker.
2. Trump’s personal defense lawyer is your Attorney General
Todd Blanche - the criminal defense attorney who represented Trump at his Manhattan criminal trial - was confirmed 50-49 in a roll call ABC News clocked at 4:30am on August 8th. 4:30 in the morning being the obvious hour in which you make decisions you’re proud of. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted no. They refused to support the May deal where the DOJ “settled” Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS by creating a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” You know - the one designed to be a payout source for people claiming the government wronged them - like January 6th rioters. The deal also handed Trump, his family, and his businesses broad immunity from tax audits. Evading financial watchdogs…is now a reward. Just to get confirmed, Blanche signed an order declaring “there is no Fund.” But NBC News found the rescission has a loophole that could bring it back to life. Murkowski notes that any leverage the Senate ever had ended the moment it voted to confirm Blanche. The fund is dead, so they promise. There’s no telling how many fingers were crossed at the signing.
3. New Mexico had to sue the DOJ for the Epstein files
On August 5th, New Mexico filed a 40-page federal lawsuit against the DOJ (and Todd Blanche by name) - attaching 25 exhibits. The state reopened its investigation into Epstein’s Zorro Ranch back in February after the released files logged more than 13,000 references to the enormous desert property. One that, per the complaint, federal law enforcement never once searched. New Mexico was investigating it back in 2019, until federal prosecutors told the state to stand down and promised to pass along whatever they uncovered. But per the complaint, the feds passed along nothing. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez says the DOJ has “decided to stonewall, to obstruct and to frankly conceal.” Trump signed a law in November requiring these files be released. Nevertheless, a state is now having to sue the DOJ to force them to follow the law.
4. ICE is trying to identify its online critics
Per a Wall Street Journal investigation published on August 3rd, ICE runs a round-the-clock operation scanning the internet for posts about the agency. To make matters worse, the report states the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sent hundreds of subpoenas to social media companies in hopes of identifying their anonymous online critics. Agents have tracked Americans down at work and on the road, asking them to sign letters acknowledging that their posts about ICE “may” be a crime - which will be news to the First Amendment, which has conspicuously been MIA since late January 2025. The agency has spent more than $525 million on surveillance tech since (you’ll be shocked) January 2025, per the outlet. One Reddit user posted 3 comments critical of ICE agents, and got an administrative subpoena in an effort to reveal who they were. The Reddit user beat it in court - only for federal prosecutors to come back again in April - this time - with a grand jury subpoena. DHS claims their antics protect agents from an 8,000% increase in death threats. To be clear, that’s their number, and it doesn’t explain the letters requesting people to acknowledge they’ve committed a potential crime, even though the agency isn’t bringing charges with the paperwork - yet.
5. ICE’s new body cameras come with a catch
ICE says every single one of its field officers will be wearing body cameras by the end of September. Congress put up $20 million for them and even though they only exist because of taxpayers - the public may never get to see the footage. The Associated Press read the policy and footage of shootings, deaths in custody, and serious injuries only gets released when the director decides it’s in the agency’s “best interests.” The footage can also be withheld under undefined “specific and compelling circumstances,” and every officer’s face, name, and badge number gets redacted before the public ever sees a frame. (Accountability is subject to management approval.) The agency is claiming the right to see everything you post about it, while controlling the selective frames you get to see of it. Almost feels like that’s by design, eh?
6. Birthright citizenship, round two
On June 30th the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara deciding that Trump’s day-one order gutting birthright citizenship was unconstitutional. Five weeks later, on August 6th, he signed two new executive orders taking another stab at it. The Constitution said no and Trump decided that meant “try again.” One order declares that entirely new categories of babies born on American soil won't be citizens at all - children of foreign-government staff, and children of anyone the administration labels an “alien enemy.” The other order restricts visas for pregnant travelers, in the name of ending “birth tourism” - something Trump properties appear to be ironically familiar with. The ACLU, which won Barbara, assures these orders will ultimately meet the same fate - and they’re probably right. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop them from being enforced while the courts play catch up. The last one took 17 months to stop.
7. A federal court reminded Trump he’s a tenant
On August 7th the DC Circuit Court of Appeals halted above-ground construction of the $400 million, 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom-military-complex - the one Trump started building after demolishing the entire East Wing last October without asking a soul. The 2-1 opinion held that only Congress can authorize the build, writing that “Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House.” (A federal court needed 136 pages to explain to the sitting president that he’s a renter.) The court then paused its own order for 2 weeks for a Supreme Court appeal, while below-ground “security” work continues. The Supreme Court has spent two terms finding new ways to allow a president to operate unchecked. Faith they will stay impartial is running low.
8. The midterm maps were already redrawn - in April
On April 29th the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana’s second majority-Black district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, and drastically narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act - the provision that let voters of color challenge maps that dilute their vote. To put it simply, per civil rights litigators - partisan gerrymandering now excuses maps that silence Black voters. Louisiana’s legislature erased that district in May.
Kagan dissented, saying in part “Under the Court’s new view of Section 2, a State can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power.”
Democrats are finally fighting fire with fire. Maryland just put a constitutional amendment on November’s ballot to wipe out its lone Republican seat, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee expanded its target list to 59 districts. November decides the House. The field it gets fought on was decided this spring, by 6 justices.
9. The economy lost jobs in July
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. May and June were revised down by roughly 100,000 jobs combined (more than halving the previously reported gains), and wage growth is the slowest it has been in 5 years. CNN’s polling analysis this week found Trump has lost the Republican Party’s usual advantage on both the economy and national security - two issues the GOP almost never lags behind on. Nevertheless, Trump spent the week campaigning on the economy in California and Nevada anyway. Because audacity is the only thing on clearance these days.
10. Data centers are a ballot issue now
Communities are in open revolt over the AI build-out - the water, the power draw, the tax breaks handed out in closed rooms - and PBS News reports polling that has roughly 7 in 10 Americans opposed to a data center in their own community, with a majority backing a national moratorium. The backlash is bipartisan, it’s showing up in governor’s races, and it’s colliding with an affordability crisis - because the fastest way to feel a data center is on your electric bill, and keeping the lights and air conditioning on is a basic fucking need.
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