Ever watch the movie “Grease”?
Or the TV show “Beverly Hills 90210” or “The O.C.”?
If so… you know exactly what it means to suspend disbelief.
I mean… there’s no friggin’ way that the stars were truly the age of high school students when they appeared on-screen. Olivia Newton John did NOT look 17. Nor did Luke Perry. Or Stockard Channing. Or Mischa Barton.
But we enjoyed the shows and the movie, and tried to suspend disbelief.
Looks like we’re being asked to suspend disbelief in several ways today.
Trump has made the following arguments over the past 24-48 hours:
“We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had”
“the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy….. We control the Strait 100 percent.”
Todd Blanche alone will decide what becomes of the $1.7 billion slush fund for convicted crooks
The SAVE ACT, which would unfurl new federal restrictions on voting, can still pass the Congress
It’s a wise move to split up the childhood vaccine schedule, with Trump adding “We could save hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of lives.”
In the day ahead, I’m tracking the pushback to all of the above claims.
How many will these Trump statements stand up to the scrutiny?
How many will require a “John Travolta is only 17-years-old at Rydell High School” level of suspension of disbelief?
Pushback has already commenced.
About the vaccines: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) went first. He denounced the President’s new “gold standard childhood vaccine” order, which would separate the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine into three different shots and visits.
This morning’s report from the Associated Press ain’t subtle either. The AP report said Trump’s order “promotes his long-held but discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.” Trump has, so far, deflected specific questions about how this would impact families financially, including those who’d need multiple medical appointments, despite not having good/any insurance.
About the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is insisting on US compensation to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Stars and Stripes reports, “Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz declined further over the weekend, with just six confirmed crossings on Sunday, according to the data analytics company Kpler.”
About the “greatest economy ever” claim. We’ll get a solid read on costs tomorrow morning, when consumer price index data is released.
Oil has risen above $80/barrel this morning. And the concerns about housing, college and food costs are a focal point of seemingly every close election nationwide
About the slush fund. It’s been killed and revived so many times the slush has developed a nasty case of freezer burn.
Blanche is expected to make updated court filings this month in a federal suit against the fund in the Eastern District of Virginia. Will Blanche honor his commitment to Senators that the fund will remain halted? Or will he assume the Senators can suspend disbelief ….. and quietly allow Blanche to resuscitate the fund?
One other made-for-TV thread. Trump’s Administration constructed a narrative about why he didn’t take his Qatari-gifted Air Force One home from Ankara, Turkey in early July.
The story held up worse than a bad Beverly Hills 90210 plotline. (i.e. “Donna Martin graduates”)
According to a riveting exclusive in the Washington Post, “Trump boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras. He was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane — an Air Force C-32A — via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, according to the U.S. official and corroborating material reviewed by The Post. That made Air Force One a ‘decoy’ with media and some White House staff aboard, the official said.”
Trump travels today to northeast Ohio to attend a 7pm “Patriot Games” event. Presumably he’ll make the trek without first boarding an airport catering truck.
We’ll expect a flurry of questions to the White House in the day ahead seeking an explanation about the subterfuge/deception/lying about Trump’s movements last month.
Wisconsin’s statewide primary is today. Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley has been barnstorming the state side-by-side with Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI). Crowley has reserved a big space at the Hyatt Milwaukee for a victory party tonight. And this morning, Crowley posted the message: “Let’s make history!”
But Crowley enters the day as an apparent underdog. Democratic socialist Francesca Hong is trying to win the Democratic primary. Hong appears to have harnessed an energy and a wave of support entering the day.
According to my news partners at WTMJ in Milwaukee, some of the newest polling shows where Hong is particularly well-positioned entering today. “Hong’s support is strongest among younger voters and those who identify as very liberal. She received support from 66% of voters ages 18 to 29 and 51% of those ages 30 to 44.”
Hong is setting up shop in her home base of Madison today, with a 7:30pm victory party planned.
Here’s an excellent summary of the race this morning from NBC News: “In the final stretch of Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor, Francesca Hong has confronted growing criticism from members of her party that she is too far to the left to win a general election in a swing state.
But very few of those attacks have come directly from her Democratic opponents — one possible reason she has managed to build a double-digit lead in the polls.
At the end of last week, an outside group backing Milwaukee County Executive (David) Crowley — who has emerged as Hong’s main rival — launched a TV ad saying that ‘Francesca Hong’s record is a distraction we can’t afford.’
It marks the first broadcast ad from a Democratic-aligned group attacking Hong all primary season, AdImpact data shows. The pro-Crowley group had been focused on positive spots the last few weeks after their candidate re-entered the race as moderate Democrats scrambled to find an alternative to Hong.”
South Carolina has its GOP Senate special primary election today. No one is expecting a runaway winner. That means folks here in DC and in South Carolina are expecting a follow-up runoff election later this summer.
Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) wrapped up her pre-primary campaigning in West Columbia, per local FOX 47 news. https://wach.com/news/local/sen-darline-graham-makes-final-push-in-west-columbia-ahead-of-south-carolina-vote
Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) are jockeying for the nomination too. Let’s see which of the two manages to outmaneuver the other. Neither Fry nor Norman have Trump’s endorsement. But they sure as hell are touting “Trump” loyalty in their campaign pitches to GOP voters.
Former Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) is in the race too.
The polls are already open. They close at 7pm. An estimated 61,000+ people voted early
My exclusive report about the shifting of money from national parks nationwide to Trump’s White House vanity and beautification projects has captured the attention of Congress.
Rep. Jarred Huffman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, told DAY AHEAD that the 5000 percent increase in money allotted to White House grounds projects is “appalling” and “eye-opening.”
Huffman has been investigating any self-dealing, mis-prioritization of funding and negligence of national parks in the name of Trump’s vanity project efforts.
Former Republican strategist Tara Setmayer, who now leads the Seneca Project political action group, told DAY AHEAD the Trump Administration is committing political malpractice by focusing so heavily on Trump’s DC pet projects.
Lots more to track in the DAY AHEAD:
1) Polls opened at 7am central in Minnesota for the long-awaited primary elections. Democrats have never, never, never been so excited to hear the name “Mike Lindell”. Pillow dude is a candidate to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination. The 2020 election denier and conservative media mouthpiece has lured Trump’s endorsement in the race. And – to put it charitably – Lindell is not viewed as a tough challenger against Democrats in November.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is a prohibitive favorite to secure the state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination (In Minnesota .. the shorthand is “DFL” nomination). She’d be a very prohibitive favorite against Lindell in November.
I’ve been tracking the US Senate Democratic primary for months. It’s a hum-dinger. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is retiring. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), who significantly outperformed the rest of her party in her run for re-election to the US House in 2024, has a history of strong performances in purple areas of Minnesota. But Craig is up against a powerful challenger in Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (D-MN).
Craig has raised more money. And according to this (free) profile by the Minnesota Reformer, Craig has talked about reducing the polarization in our politics. https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/09/24/angie-craig-believes-minnesotans-want-more-decency-less-polarization-in-politics/
Flanagan is viewed as a more progressive candidate, which is a significant distinction in angling for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination. Flanagan has been slamming Craig for Craig’s vote in support of a Trump-priority “Laken Riley Act” bill in 2025. The vote, which bolster federal immigration authority, happened just a few months before the deadly I.C.E. shootings in Minneapolis.
As the polls open, the Associated Press offered this snapshot of the largest population center in the state, “Around the Whipple federal building, the fences and barriers are down. The ambient soundtrack is no longer the whistles and chants of protesters, just the rumble of departing jets and passing buses.
But the signs of what happened remain. A few volunteers in bright orange vests keep vigil across the street for 12-plus hours a day, ready to help people getting released from immigration detention or leaving hearings at the immigration court inside.”
2) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will try to find more support for his effort to help contain Artificial Intelligence. Sanders is formally asking the country’s biggest A.I. companies – Anthropic, Meta and OpenAI - “to immediately pause their development of Artificial Intelligence.”
Sanders will argue that these companies had previously committed to scale back A.I. development if/when the tools surpass dangerous thresholds.
Sanders said, “And yet, at a moment when we have seen human loss of control and the creation of potentially dangerous viruses, your companies are still racing ahead — investing tens of billions of dollars into a technology that nobody can fully understand, predict or control.”
By my count, as of this morning, there are more than 820 pieces of legislation pending in Congress over Artificial Intelligence. Amid the gridlock, Sanders is instead seeking to directly press the companies to take some actions on behalf of public safety.
3) The Justice Department is expanding its targeting of states that provide in-state tuition rates for immigrant students.
The agency has filed formal civil complaints against Vermont, New York and Connecticut.
Here’s the filing against Connecticut: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2026-08/us_v_ct_-_tuition_complaint.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
The department is arguing the states are engaging in “blatant unequal treatment favoring illegal aliens over U.S. citizens from other states.”
The Justice Department has attempted similar civil challenges in other states this year, including Maryland. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D-MD) has offered an emphatic response to these challenges, “The Department of Justice sued to take away an opportunity from Maryland students who grew up here, graduated from school here, and are working to pursue something more for themselves, their families, and the communities in which they live. We are reviewing the complaint closely.”
4) Congress’s Joint Economic Committee Democrats are releasing a new estimate of rising costs we’re experiencing under the Trump Administration.
They’ve published this color-coded map to drill down into where the problems are worst.
I’ll note that there is a competitive US House race and a competitive US Senate race in Alaska. Democrats are also increasingly optimistic about their prospects in flipping GOP-held US House seats in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
5) I’m seeing a whole bunch of headlines in local papers and website about the Trump Administration’s rollback of rules for the Head Start program.
The Administration argues that it’s “reducing the burden” on Head Start operations. Here’s their official filing: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/07/2026-16134/reducing-federal-burden-for-head-start-programs
But there is fear about the implications of these overhauls.
USA Today has an efficient summary of the changes: “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Aug. 5 that his agency is pursuing a sweeping rollback of much of the more than 100 pages of federal rules governing the multibillion-dollar program. Among the items on the chopping block are requirements to conduct screenings for kids with disabilities, keep class sizes small, help children brush their teeth daily and mandate monitors on school buses. Pay parity rules for staff and a ban on expelling students would go by the wayside, too.”
From Detroit to Hartford… the headlines are worth checking out:
This morning, a nonprofit organization is trying to organize and galvanize public comments about the proposed Trump Administration changes.
Here’s what the group “START EARLY” has done to help platform some of the pushback.
6) The Justice Department continues its effort to get personal information seeking the names, residential addresses, email addresses, and personal phone numbers of thousands of election workers and volunteers who served in the 2020 general election in Fulton County, Georgia. In a court filing, the agency declares that it will challenge a lower court order that blocked the release of that information.
Here it is: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.359862/gov.uscourts.gand.359862.38.0.pdf
Tamar Hagler, legal program director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research issued this statement, “Election workers deserve our thanks and respect – not threats from the federal government. CEIR is proud to stand behind those on the frontlines of American democracy.”
Take a look. Dozens of local election officials from states from coast-to-coast have signed a formal statement denouncing the Trump Administration’s attempts to secure that confidential info.
https://electioninnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/August-2026-public-statement-FINAL.pdf
7) Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is demanding a series of records and answers from the Department of Homeland Security by Friday, about an incident at one of Rep. Omar’s recent town hall meetings.
According to a new memo from Rep. Omar to the Trump Administration, she is “demanding a response as to why an undercover HSI agent was stationed outside of her monthly town hall meeting in Richfield. Following nationwide concerns about the Trump Administration’s use of ICE and DHS to intimidate Americans who oppose their political agenda, this action raises serious concerns about the purpose of HSI’s presence at the Congresswoman’s public event.”
Here are the records and answers she’s seeking by an August 14 deadline.
8) Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) are pushing for an internal review by the Inspector General of the US Department of Interior into the mess and the discredited allegations of vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The Senators have written to the Inspector General of the Interior Department, “We urge your office to open an immediate investigation into DOI’s knowledge of coating and peeling issues with the Reflecting Pool—including what was known, who knew it, and when they knew it—and whether DOI employees intentionally withheld evidence from US Attorneys Office for DC.”
Let’s see if/how the office responds. Trump has just nominated a loyalist and Project 2025 author to be the new Interior Department inspector general…. Which might ultimately make the Senators’ request a longshot.
Note this headline from today’s Washington Post:
9) As the morning begins, average gas prices remain above $4.00/gallon nationwide. Here’s a map of where the prices are worst.
(I spy the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania flaring “red”. Those states have, at least, a half dozen competitive US House races)
Meanwhile, CNBC is reporting another warning sign:
“Crude oil stockpiles in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve have fallen below 300 million barrels, the lowest level in more than four decades, as global inventories stay under pressure due to the Iran war.”
There are fewer and fewer arrows in Trump’s quiver on the issue of gas prices.
10) DATA CENTER WATCH: Walker County, Tennessee is extending a moratorium on data centers, in the Chattanooga-area. Per the morning newspaper, a public meeting on the issue included many people who wanted an outright “ban”
I’ll see you on SUBSTACK LIVE twice this morning.
I’ll work through the big day of primary elections with my buddy Dean Blundell at 9:30am eastern.
Then at 11am, I’ll be joined by Jan 6 riot police responder Michael Fanone to talk about Todd Blanche’s big forthcoming decisions — and the metastasizing efforts by convicted January 6 rioters to get taxpayer-funded handouts from Team Trump.
This is the craziest administration in the history of our country. We appreciate the breakdown of your day. Thank you and have a good day
Scott, we saw this coming: Trump needed a diversion from news angering him. So, he announced a ridiculous executive order that affects medical safety in the form of vaccines. Trump knew it would rile most Americans and lead many evening newscasts and morning paper headlines shifting attention away from Iran, Epstein files, and greedy money manipulation.
It smells like the work of Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon. Time for people in power to challenge Trump in more ways than rhetoric. More legal actions. More investigations in the Trump family stock market manipulations. More Epstein revelations.