BEGINNING THE WEEK AFTER

There are 120 days to the mid terms.

During his regularly scheduled Adderall overdose, which went on from way too early Sunday morning to way too late that evening - during which he made over 100 Lies Anti-Social posts on every one of his standard hobby horses of whinging grievance - the Sundowning Enshittifier who should have been locked in the attic 30 years ago managed to include several confessions in the barrage of bullshit. Included were confessions over his complete and utter lack of any redeeming quality that would allow his inclusion in the species Homo Sapiens, including a weird meme again attacking Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s female prime minister who was once his only solid ally in Europe (he posted an edited photo of Meloni, 49, appearing to look upward at him with the caption: “Restraining order needed,” implying that she is obsessed with him); a post praising England’s World Cup captain Harry Kane; and a doctored image of Barack and Michelle Obama on the steps of Air Force One that prompted accusations of racism against the son of the Ku Klux Klansman. But the surprise of the bunch was his admission that he personally ignored expert advice to make sure his “Salute to America” was not derailed by potentially lethal extreme weather. Gramps admitted he “overturned” a recommendation to cancel the evening’s festivities despite fears that going ahead could put people’s lives at risk. He had to have his moment where he made the nation’s 250th birthday all about him. The post began with his claim - minus any supporting evidence - that over 400,000 people had initially gathered to hear him before the severe storms hit, after a day of triple-digit heat. He then noted that thousands of attendees were evacuated from the area, roughly three hours before his speech was scheduled to begin. The post read: “The Crowd at 7:05 in the evening was 422,000 people! All were forced to leave because of the weather, the event was cancelled, and everyone was gone because of lightning. Incredibly, at least 150,000 people returned. It was an even more spectacular evening than it would have been as normalized! It showed work under pressure. When I heard that it was cancelled, I immediately overturned that decision, and waited a while for people to come back.” (FACT CHECK: there were 15,000 at most, and considerably less when he got on stage and spewed his bullshit) One thing you have to say about Trump: where others do everything they can to mask their insecurities and deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy, Trump parades his for all to see, every minute of every day.

Now that the entire rest of the world has condemned him for his little performance over the weekend getting Folarin Balogun’s red card put on hold, Trump has shot back this morning (as usual) with an attack on FIFA referee Raphael Claus, who gave Balogun the red card, saying the referee was “a little bit suspect if you check his past.” Claus has previously been accused of match fixing. The Man Who Is Never Wrong whinged: ““I saw the play, and I’m a person that loves sports and was a good athlete, and I understand sports really well. Really well. And that wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other. You can’t take your foot and properly place it on somebody else’s foot when you’re going. No, these were two great athletes that got tangled up, and this referee, who is a little bit suspect, if you check his past, he made a call that nobody could believe,” Trump referred to Balogun as one of the U.S. men’s team’s best players. (Irony check: Balogun is a “birthright” citizen.) Even more ironically, Gramps said he didn’t know what a red card in soccer meant before one was handed to Balogun. He told White House reporters this morning, “I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul. And you know, again, I’m good at this stuff.” (As former CoS John Kelly memorably said: “Donald Trump is the most persistent ignoramus I ever met.”)

This morning, the Royal Belgian Football Association submitted an appeal to FIFA regarding a ruling that overturned a one-game ban for U.S. striker Folarin Balogun. The move came after Trump called Trump-toady FIFA President Gianni Infantino, urging him to review the red card given to Balogun. The World Cup governing body ultimately suspended Balogun’s red card for a one-year probationary period and deemed him eligible to play in the Monday match-up against Belgium. The Belgian team said it learned of the decision in media reports and then sent a letter to FIFA requesting an explanation of the process that had been followed. “As its only response, FIFA sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal. No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA. For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant. T be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match. Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.” Trump always manages to enshittify everything he touches; this time it’s the integrity of the rest of the world’s favorite sport. “Shame on you! When money calls the shots, the World Cup loses all credibility,” said Belgium’s opposition Socialist party in a statement.

Sen. Ted Cruz admitted today that Trump was responsible for overturning a penalty at a recent FIFA World Cup game, and onlookers were left floored at the brazen admission. “Has no one told these idiots that you don’t publicly gloat when your corruption succeeds?” asked Franklin Leonard, a California-based film producer, in a social media post on X to his more than 170,000 followers. Cruz, standing next to Trump in the Oval Office Monday, personally thanked the president for “getting rid of that ridiculous red card.” Cruz’s remarks sparked a chorus of soft, nervous laughter, followed by an extended period of silence, a reaction that New York-based writer and podcast host Manny Fidel summed up bluntly. “Ted Cruz wants to joke about this while everyone else is like please shut the fuck up and stop implicating us.” Prominent music producer Alex Medina , writing to his 55,000 followers on X, argued Belgium could simply cite video of Cruz’s and Trump’s open admissions in its appeal to FIFA. “Belgium, you can attach this to your email.” Like the Reflecting Pool fakakte, this is the kind of event that even people who don’t follow politics can undestand and dislike. This one’s not going away any time soon either. Trump, the lifetime fuckup, continues.

Go Belgium!

On Thursday, following the announcement by U.S. Central Command that regional leaders in the Middle East were committed to the “free flow of commerce” in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s military command said any ships trying to cross the strait on unapproved routes would be met with a “forceful response.” The U.S. has been urging ships to use a route close to Oman, but Iran’s warning caused ships to turn around.

On July 3, Fifty Plus One, which tracks Trump’s job approval rating, reported that 59.1% of Americans disapprove of his performance while only 37.5% approve.

And when it comes to his “not actually a war” with Iran, Trump was dealt a fresh political blow after a new poll found a clear majority of Americans do not think his war on Iran has been worth it. The latest nationwide Financial Times/Focaldata survey, conducted June 26-30 found that 58% said the war was not worth the cost, while 44% believed it had weakened the United States’ position against Iran. Just 31% said the war had strengthened America’s financial and strategic standing. It is one of a flurry of recent polls showing Americans do not think the war was worthwhile, fueling GOP fears that Republicans could lose control of Congress in November’s midterms. That 31% approval is becoming a common number - that same 30% are the support he has left on every other important topic. Not enough to win an election, for sure. The latest CBS News/YouGov survey was even worse: 69% do not think the war was worthwhile, while only 29% said the war has successfully advanced U.S. strategic interests, and only 28% believe it has advanced U.S. economic interests.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow has suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, setting up a high-stakes, two-way clash between the party centrists and progressives. “So here’s what we do next: We win this Senate seat and send Mike Rogers back to Florida for good,” McMorrow said, referring to Rogers’ residency after leaving Congress a decade ago and returning to run for office several years ago. “Whoever wins this primary on Aug. 4 will have my full support.” Stevens has run a campaign tethered tightly to the Democratic establishment, with support from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and other party mainstays in Michigan, including former Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Conversely, El-Sayed, an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2018, has aligned himself further left, boasting endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. El-Sayed made a direct pitch to McMorrow supporters Sunday. “Throughout this campaign, Senator McMorrow showed what it looks like to fight back against a politics that rigs the system against too many of us. While we have policy disagreements, I never questioned whether Senator McMorrow would fight for a better America for my daughters and hers. I welcome her supporters to our movement to stand up against money in politics, to put money back in pockets, and pass Medicare for All. We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.”

Two members of the Tennessee National Guard shot and killed an armed man early Sunday in Memphis, law enforcement said. Memphis police officers were chasing a man armed with a hand gun. Tennessee National Guard soldiers joined the chase for the armed man, identified as 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson. “For reasons under investigation, the situation escalated, resulting in two National Guard soldiers firing upon Johnson, striking and killing him,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in its statement. The bureau is now investigating the fatal shooting at the request of the district attorney. Several hundred Tennessee National Guard troops deployed to Memphis in October 2025, in support of a federal task force set up by Trump last September.

Finally: The White House marked the 250th by releasing a 162-page report accusing the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History of “extreme political activism“ and blaming its leaders for erasing the nation’s heritage, The Washington Post reported Monday, calling it “yet another escalation.” The report, titled “Saving America’s Story,” was published July 4 by the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, led by Vince Haley. It grew out of an executive order Trump signed in March 2025 demanding “improper ideology” be stripped from the Smithsonian’s museums. Its central finding claims museum leadership has adopted an ideological framework that treats the American story “not as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens.” To the extent the museum tells a story at all, the report said, it is “one of regret, tragedy, and shame.” The report pinned much of the blame on the museum’s director, Anthea Hartig, whom it names dozens of times, and accuses the institution of refusing to celebrate the nation on its 250th anniversary. The Smithsonian pushed back today: “For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so,” a spokesperson said, echoing the Board of Regents’ earlier refusal to bend to Trump.

ADMIN NOTE: There will be a post tomorrow (the appt is later in the day) but not on Wednesday.

Remember, you are not the crazy ones, and we were made for these times. Regardless of what you may feel right now, act as if you believe that and redouble your efforts.

“Neither let us be slandered froim our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as we understand it.” - Abraham Lincoln

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