June 16, 2026

Primary Elections Results.

Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: “Rep. Mike Collins (R) will face off against the incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff for a Senate seat in Georgia that will be crucial to determining which party controls the chamber. In a Republican runoff Tuesday, Collins defeated former college football coach Derek Dooley with the help of a last-minute endorsement from ... Donald Trump. Dooley was recruited by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R).” MB: Chris Hayes says it would be hard to find a more offensive general election candidate than Collins, so this is a boost for Ossoff.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: “Europe’s alliance with the United States may still be on the rocks, but on the first full day of a Group of 7 summit meeting at ... Evian, the leaders showed they remained ready to behave politely toward Mr. Trump.... Now ... [that] Mr. Trump has presented at least the contours of a peace deal with Iran, and Europe’s leaders have gone back to charming him.... [The Iran war has] put Europe’s leaders in a nearly impossible position. They have been caught between Mr. Trump, who castigated them for failing to support the effort even as he demeaned their potential contributions, and their own populations, which are mostly opposed to the war and increasingly frustrated by the economic fallout from it.”

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, great. Macron invited Trump to dinner at Versailles. As Trump takes in the Grande Galerie des Glaces, the Galerie des Batailles and so forth, the cost of the White House ballroom will soar.

One use for the ballroom you are building for Trump: he can hold larger conventions of grifters. The Cabinet room is bursting at the seams: ~~~

~~~ This Is Unbelievable. Kenneth Vogel & Christina Jewitt of the New York Times: “For years, federal health officials have warned about the risks associated with a supplement derived from the leaves of kratom trees that adherents say can kill pain or boost energy. Sold in gas stations across America, kratom has been linked to liver toxicity, seizures and thousands of deaths. Powerful figures close to ... [Donald] Trump, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, pushed to downplay those concerns. Mr. Mullin ... played a key role in a sprawling influence campaign spearheaded by the kratom industry that courted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, among others in the Trump administration, an investigation by The New York Times found. Only when he was nominated by Mr. Trump in March to lead the Homeland Security Department did it become clear that Mr. Mullin had a financial connection to the supplement. In a disclosure statement, he listed an investment worth as much as $1 million in a kratom company, Botanic Tonics, that could benefit from the changes he has sought.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

Marie: I watched last night's "Daily Show"'s A-block earlier today. It was all about the Knicks' finally becoming the champeens again, and I didn't think the segment was very funny. So as an alternative, here's Steve Carrell, on the occasion of Stewart's winning the Mark Twain prize at the once-again real (albeit, partly shrouded) Kennedy Center. Carrell's tribute is, for the most part, very funny, IMO. And what is not funny is touching: ~~~

“This Reeks of Corruption.” Jake Johnson of Common Dreams: “The leadership of ... Donald Trump’s Justice Department shut down an investigation into Paramount’s widely criticized bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and issued a statement supporting the merger before career antitrust attorneys could finish scrutinizing the proposal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. According to the Journal, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter, 'a team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law.' The newspaper reported that the antitrust staffers who investigated the $111 billion merger proposal 'didn’t participate in writing' the Justice Department statement greenlighting the deal.... 'The American people need to know if this merger was approved as a political favor,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in response to the Journal’s reporting. 'This reeks of corruption.'” Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Everything Donald Trump Says Is a Lie. Here's a Big Fat Lie. Sarah Blaskey & Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: “Five months after the demolition of the White House’s East Wing..., Donald Trump claimed that the project to construct a massive ballroom and a bunker in its place would cost up to $400 million and that private donors would pay for all of it. 'This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on March 31, describing the project as including bomb shelters and major medical facilities. But a detailed project summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s comments estimated the total construction cost at $600 million — with more than half coming from taxpayers, according to a copy of the contractor estimate obtained by The Washington Post. By the time Trump made his comments in March, the federal government had already approved more than a dozen payments to the contractor overseeing the work, Clark Construction, totaling tens of millions of dollars in public funds, according to a log of the contractor’s invoices obtained by The Post.” Thanks to RAS for the link. Update: the link has been changed to a gift link.~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course the reporters don't mention that -- as Patrick laid out several weeks ago -- ordinary taxpayers are effectively paying a chunk of those "generous donations," too, because the "generous donors" get "generous tax breaks," and the rest of us taxpayers have to make up the shortfall.

Marie: Edward O'Donnell is an American historian ~~~

Pooja Salhotra & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors on Tuesday unsealed conspiracy, assault and other charges against 15 people accused of violently impeding immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown this year. Daniel N. Rosen, Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor, said the defendants were members of two Minneapolis-based groups connected with antifa, a far-left movement. Twelve defendants were arrested on Tuesday, Mr. Rosen said, one was already in custody for other charges and two remained at large. Antifa, named for its antifascist alignment, is not an organization with a leader, but a diffuse and sometimes violent protest culture of activists who oppose the far right. The defendants were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer; solicitation to commit a crime of violence; interstate stalking; assault on a federal officer; and destruction of government property.” The Guardian's report is here.

Victoria Craw & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “FBI Director Kash Patel said that 'multiple individuals' are in custody in connection with an attack allegedly planned for the UFC Freedom 250 event held at the White House on Sunday. 'On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region,' Patel wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. Patel said that the FBI and Justice Department worked with local partners in a multistate operation and that the 'allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold.'... The White House declined to comment further Tuesday, and the FBI referred questions to Patel’s social media post.” An AP story is here; it provides more detail. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wait! Wait! There's a planned attack on the POTUS* -- who previously has been the subject of a number of assassination attempts -- the VPOTUS, the Speaker of the House, Cabinet members (that is, several people in the line of succession to the presidency) as well as thousands of other people. I mean, we would have ended up with Chuck Grassley as president if a lethal attack had succeeded. And if some authorities or the media or whoever have question, they should go to Kash's X account??? An X account? That's how law enforcement is fielding follow-up to a planned attack on the titular leaders of our government? It's funny that Trump said he had never even heard about the attack. One would think he'd be told about it. If it was real. Is this even real, Kash? ~~~

     ~~~ Update. It appears that Evan Hurst of Wonkette is similarly skeptical of Kash's story. And colorfully so, of course. ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2. Not surprisingly, the underlying story of Kash's news release is worse than the first reports indicate, and that story is a disturbing continuation of Patel's M.O. ~~~

     ~~~ ⭐Carol Leonnig, et al., of MS NOW: “Secret Service officials are angered that FBI Director Kash Patel prematurely announced on Tuesday the details of a largely sealed and ongoing criminal investigation into an alleged plot to attack Sunday’s White House UFC event with drones.... The case had been sealed in court and roughly 10 suspects had not yet been arrested and placed in custody at the time Patel shared his post. The people said Secret Service and FBI officials were surprised by Patel 'jumping the gun.'... The threat to the UFC event became known to the Secret Service and FBI in the last week when a relative of one of the suspects contacted local police in the Cincinnati area.... An advanced threat interdiction team at the Secret Service, with the help of the FBI..., was able to identify the plot being planned and some of the people discussing using drones and possible snipers to attack the UFC fight event.... Authorities then arrested one suspect, 19-year-old Tycen Proper of Ohio, on June 13 and moved immediately to seal the case so the FBI and Secret Service could continue investigating, identifying and arresting additional suspects....

“Matt Quinn, the Secret Service’s deputy director, appeared to allude to Patel’s premature announcement in a Tuesday news conference but did not use his name and said the Secret Service made a conscious decision not to reveal the existence of the probe prematurely. 'I’ll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York field office and that’s “Don’t choke on your own smoke,’” he said. 'I’ll tell you the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I’ll tell you that case is ongoing. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it.'”

Way Better Than a Challenge Coin. Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: “FBI Director Kash Patel may have authorized taxpayer-funded special payments to his inner circle of FBI executives and agents on his protective detail, according to the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. 'We have been receiving troubling reports that you may be using part of the budget of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a personal slush fund to make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlawful “bonus” payments to loyalist MAGA henchmen who have engaged in misconduct,” says a letter from Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., to Patel, obtained exclusively by MS NOW. Committee Democrats have information that Patel has issued more than $1 million in awards, the letter says. The letter says the money went to special agents serving on his Director’s Advisory Team, which Raskin’s letter describes as 'a curated group of agents who are willing to carry out your unlawful partisan and personal orders.' It also went to agents on Patel’s security detail, 'circumventing the mandatory maximum pay caps established by statute,' the letter says. 'By issuing these side payments, your office may be knowingly breaking federal law,' the letter says.”

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Why We Can't Have Nice Things: ~~~

Marie: The G-7 are meeting in the French spa town of Evian-les-Bains. Donald Trump showed up yesterday. He and French President Emmanuel Macron held a bilateral meeting & joint press availability. Trump looked horrible. The AP's live updates of G-7 developments are here. The New York Times updates are here. ~~~

Trump & Macron at Evian.

How Bad Is the Deal? It's So Bad, It's Still Secret. It's So Bad Trump Is Sending JayDee to Sign It.

~~~ Michael Birnbaum & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: “Donald Trump said Monday that the Strait of Hormuz will fully reopen to shipping traffic by Friday, the day that senior U.S. and Iranian officials plan to meet in Geneva for a ceremony to mark an end to the four-month war and kick off weeks of negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program. The president celebrated a deal that he said would eventually return oil prices to prewar levels, saying that markets were 'shooting up like a rocket' in reaction to the decision to end the war. But core elements of an enduring agreement remained unresolved and subject to talks over the next two months, officials said, with the substance of Iran’s nuclear ambitions punted to future negotiations to speed the reopening of the shipping bottleneck.

“Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf virtually signed the preliminary deal Sunday, ahead of a Friday ceremony to be held in Geneva, U.S. officials familiar with the process said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomacy. But one of the people familiar with the details of the negotiations warned that it will be weeks before shipping traffic returns to normal through the strait as ships test whether passage is safe. It is also unclear whether Tehran made any commitments about curtailing its ballistic missile program, an issue on which Iran hawks have long focused.”

Erica Green & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “Despite Mr. Trump’s grandiose claims [about the Iran war framework], the agreement has not yet achieved the core goals he laid out three months ago for launching U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Back then, Mr. Trump said the United States intended to 'annihilate' Iran’s military capabilities, abolish its nuclear ambitions, topple its theocratic leadership and liberate its people, whom he encouraged to take over their government when the fighting had stopped. Just one week after the strikes started, he said Iran’s only path to a deal was an 'unconditional surrender.' Mr. Trump publicly declared victory on Sunday mainly based on solving a problem of his own making, in miscalculating Iran’s ability to choke off the Strait of Hormuz.... The latest framework ... is a capstone to three months in which Mr. Trump has delivered a dizzying array of mixed messages.” (Also linked yesterday.)

It's Not a Toll; It's a Fee! This was the latest pinned item, as of 2:00 pm ET Monday, on the NYT Iran War liveblog also linked yesterday: “The United States and Iran have signed a framework agreement ending their monthslong war, but neither side had published the deal’s full text as of Monday.... American and Iranian officials continued to make conflicting statements about the deal’s terms, but it was clear that its immediate scope was focused primarily on ending military attacks and allowing traffic to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes. Since the war’s start on Feb. 28, the conflict has not produced the objectives ... [Donald] Trump vowed to achieve at its start: destroying Iran’s military capabilities, abolishing its nuclear ambitions and toppling its theocratic leadership.... Mr. Trump previously said the deal meant the strait would be “permanently toll-free.” But the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei suggested on Monday that Iran could charge fees 'in exchange for the services that are provided' to transiting ships.” ~~~

~~~ Obama Politely Casts Shade on Trump's Capitulation. Shafiq Najib of ABC News: “Former President Barack Obama... [told] 'Good Morning America' co-anchor Robin Roberts on Saturday ... that he was 'doubtful' any deal with Iran put forward by the Trump administration would be 'significantly different ... or a significant improvement ...' from the 2015 deal that his administration put in place.... '... it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems -- the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions -- may sometimes seem appealing, but the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem but solve 80%, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war. You'd think we would've learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.'” MB: It doesn't take an anger management guru to translate President Obama's criticism of Trump's foolish, useless war into the trash talk this major Trump-fail deserves. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York Times Editors in an editorial titled “President Trump Lost This War”: “The preliminary deal ending ... [Donald] Trump’s four-month war with Iran is welcome but brings with it hard truths. Mr. Trump made a terrible mistake starting this war. He prosecuted it recklessly and in open defiance of the law. The United States is emerging weaker — militarily, diplomatically and economically — and will pay strategic costs for years to come. The details of the deal are unclear, but the announced framework suggests that Mr. Trump has won few of the terms he insisted that he would. It is a humiliating comedown for him and the nation he leads.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Marie: Sling TV has a feature that allows the viewer to see four channels at once: Fox "News," MS NOW, CNN & ABC News. I sometimes take advantage of this feature so I can shift from MS NOW to CNN & back, especially during commercial breaks. (To get the audio, I click on one of the screens, and the other three are still visible.) I seldom listen to ABC News and I never listen to Fox. During the 8 pm hour last night, Anderson Cooper of CNN & Chris Hayes of MS NOW were simultaneously discussing the massive failure of Trump's Iran "excursion." At the same time, thy chyron at Fox "News" read, "Trump Secures Iran Deal Obama Could Not."  

If the Iran War Netanyahu talked Trump into waging was a disaster for Trump, it may have been a bigger disaster for Netanyahu: ~~~ 

~~~ David Halbfinger & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: “For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, the war he had hoped would secure his legacy — Israel and the United States together attacking Iran — may be ending in a way that could sully it. The framework agreement to end the war, announced on Sunday, omits some of the most important things Israel wanted. The full text of the deal has not yet been released, and Israel was not directly involved in the negotiations. But initial details suggest that it does nothing to curb Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, or its funding of regional proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, who have attacked Israel with their own arsenals. It could help Iran bolster those proxies by easing sanctions, which would allow billions of dollars to flow into its bank accounts. When it comes to constraining Iran’s nuclear program — a matter of greatest importance to Israel and the greatest priority of Mr. Netanyahu’s career — the terms of the deal remain undisclosed or still to be negotiated during the agreed 60-day cease-fire.” (A firewalled link to this article was provided yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a defiant address to Israelis, suggested on Monday that he did not feel bound by the newly reached cease-fire agreement between the United States and Iran. 'The struggle has not ended,' Mr. Netanyahu declared. Foreshadowing potential trouble for the peace deal, he said he had no intention of withdrawing his forces from neighboring Lebanon — a key demand of the Iranians during negotiations with the United States. Israeli soldiers there are fighting Hezbollah, a militant group allied with Iran.”

Barak Ravid of Axios: "CIA Director John Ratcliffe told ... [Donald] Trump and other senior officials that evidence gathered by U.S. intelligence agencies raises serious doubts about Iran's willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking in any final deal.... In internal discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth both expressed concerns and raised questions about the memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced Sunday, while Vice President Vance and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advocated for it.... The full text of the 14-point initial deal has yet to be published, but a source familiar with the text contended that the Iranians will get more than they give under the MOU — unless they agree to sign a nuclear deal that meets the U.S. objectives."

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times, in an article based on reporting for their upcoming book Regime Change: “Last spring, Will Scharf, an arch-conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary, wrote a secret memo to the chief of staff that reflected growing unease in the West Wing about one of the extreme measures being weighed by Stephen Miller.... The memo [pdf] ... amounted to a warning against end-running the rule of law. The subject line read: 'THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.' Habeas corpus — the centuries-old right to force the government to justify, before a judge, why it has locked a person up — is enshrined in Article I of the Constitution. Mr. Scharf’s memo, in its unassuming way, was a blinking red warning light. The second Trump White House was deliberating an explosive new claim of presidential power: the suspension of habeas rights for unauthorized immigrants.

“The suspension of habeas corpus has occurred just a handful of times in U.S. history, and always under the most dire circumstances of war or invasion. Yet to a greater degree than previously known, administration officials, encouraged by Mr. Trump, actively weighed taking that step in the early months of his second term — this time to accelerate the mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Joyce Vance: "The Question Inside Trump's White House Wasn't Whether They Could Suspend Rights — It Was Whether They Could Get Away With It." That's the headline. The article itself is a quite a good read. ~~~

~~~ Jim VanderHei & Mike Allen of Axios (June 14): "Top White House officials believe New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan obtained audio recordings of Situation Room meetings for their forthcoming book, 'Regime Change.'... Such a taped leak would be a shocking breach of one of the most secure settings on Earth. Independent recording devices in the Situation Room are forbidden." MB: IOW, as Lawrence O'Donnell noted last night, these unnamed officials were confirming (no doubt inadvertently) the pinpoint accuracy of Haberman & Swan's reporting.

New York Times photo accompanying the "American flag blue" Reflecting Pool.
Maybe that should be "Mallard green." Anyway, the ducks seem to like it.

 ~~~ Here's the New York Times story on the "American flag blue" Reflecting Pool. MB: I heard on the teevee that the administration had spent $14.2MM on recoating the pool and another $1.7MM for a "nanobubbler" to fight the algae. Just excellent work all around. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Arc de Trump News. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “A group of lawmakers warned the Trump administration on Monday that officials could face fines or even criminal prosecution if they push forward with building the president’s 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington without the approval of Congress. In a letter sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and two National Park Service officials, Democrats who oversee natural resources on Capitol Hill joined a Senate independent in writing that the administration would be breaking at least three laws by moving ahead with the project, and that Trump officials could be personally penalized.... The letter was signed by Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Representative Jared Huffman of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, among others.” 

Shroud of Trumpin News. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s name came off the Kennedy Center in the dead of night Saturday. More than 60 hours later, almost no one has seen it gone. Around 3 a.m. Saturday, a 14-member crew pried the 18 letters 'The Donald J. Trump and' off the building’s exterior, after a thrumming crowd of more than 200 chanting 'Take it down!' had dwindled to a dozen or so die-hards. Then, the workers climbed down and left — without removing the scaffolding they’d erected or the massive tarps they’d draped over it. Security guards have flanked the barricaded scaffolding ever since.... As of early Monday afternoon, there was no move to take down the tarp or the scaffolding. The center says both will stay up while crews evaluate how to repair the exterior marble and, while they’re at it, the slabs on the underside of the overhanging roof.... [Lifelong Washingtonian Laura] Bligh said she is not troubled by the damage the Trump letters might have left. 'We are going to have some beautiful battle scars here on this building,' she said. 'Our head is bloody, but unbowed.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm with Laura. As long as Trump remains in the White House, the scars should stay as one small symbol of the damage he has done.

Trump calls this "a totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate."

~~~ West Potomac Park News. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “A coalition of Washington-area preservation and cultural heritage organizations on Monday sued the Trump administration over ... Donald Trump’s plan to remake national parkland with a massive statuary garden. The groups said that Trump’s planned 'National Garden of American Heroes' — which the president has said would feature life-size statues of roughly 250 Americans and be built in West Potomac Park — must be halted until Congress authorizes the project. Trump officials have already begun to commission statues and secure funding to build the garden on a large field that is an extension of the National Mall, and the president and his deputies have repeatedly said the project is moving forward....

“Federal officials have already set aside millions of dollars for the project through the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Congress last year also appropriated $40 million for the procurement of statues. West Potomac Park, which sits along the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, is among the most tightly controlled federal lands in the District of Columbia. Large portions fall within a designated reserve governed by the Commemorative Works Act, in which any new memorial project would probably require congressional approval as well as review by federal planning bodies.... Trump last month criticized the state of the park as 'a totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate,' casting his planned garden as part of his initiative to remake Washington.”

Cage Fight News. Monica Hesse of the Washington Post: “... the Ultimate Fighting Championship event that happened on Sunday night was not a celebration of a sport, it was a celebration of slop. It was a pseudo-patriotic grift that tried to convince us that fighters wheel-kicking each other for the chance of $1 million in crypto deserved the same level of hero admiration as the boys who launched onto the beach at Normandy; it was an infomercial that paused every seven seconds to advertise Starlink internet or Starry soda or Ram trucks or flavors of Monster energy drink.... The final fight of the evening was a title match between American Justin Gaethje and Georgian-Spanish Ilia Topuria. It was an absolute massacre. Blood poured from Topuria as he staggered around the octagon, eyes nearly swollen shut, as announcers ecstatically shouted phrases like 'Absolutely battered!' and 'Huge protrusion.' When Gaethje was declared the winner, the octagon was swarmed with Trump progeny, Ivanka and Baron and Don Jr., impeccably dressed and meandering around a ring saturated with spilled blood.” ~~~

~~~ Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post on an insult delivered to Michelle Obama during the event. Mazza includes a number of the criticisms of the remark and the people who seemed to like it. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Monica Hesse & other commentators have been quick to declare their democratic creds by relaying how much they like cage-fighting but, but, but. Krugman speaks for me: ~~~  

~~~ Paul Krugman: "The match and the events that surrounded it — especially the press conference with UFC fighters ... held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial — were a desecration of America’s capital, whose monuments and buildings have always endeavored to represent small-r republican virtues. The whole affair was an affront to the values on which this nation was founded and also unspeakably vulgar. That last criticism may strike some readers as elitist and trivial. Yet the vulgarity that is the hallmark of Trump and his surrounding circle of oligarchs is a symptom of something not at all trivial: The collapse of social norms. As I argued yesterday, these norms historically played a key role in mitigating abuses of power and privilege during the Gilded Age, the last time America suffered from extreme income and wealth inequality (though not nearly as extreme as what we have now).... But ... the super-wealthy of [the Gilded Age] presented to the American public an image of being responsible members of society[.] The contrast with the public behavior of Trump’s band of uber-wealthy is startling[.]" ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “... the confluence of America’s failure in Iran and Trump’s Temu colosseum should paint a clear picture of decadence, rot and weakness trying to conceal itself behind macho kitsch. This is an administration capable of immense, epic destruction, but unable to create much besides spectacle.... Trump and his allies monetized Sunday’s program. In March, Trump obtained shares in the U.F.C.’s parent company. And to watch the show, members of the public needed a subscription to Paramount+, controlled by the Trump ally David Ellison, who bought CBS and then made it friendlier to the administration. Rather than a gift to his restive base, the event was another example of the administration selling America for parts. ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson's look at yesterday's news also concentrates on the vulgar cage fight on the White House lawn & the loss to Iran.  

This, Too, Is Stomach-Churning. Dan Diamond & Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Monday he would be closely involved in a marquee celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary, casting the July Fourth event on the National Mall as one of his political rallies. 'We are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a “TRIBUTE TO AMERICA,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The event will feature the planned largest fireworks show in history, call attention to Trump’s changes to the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool, and feature a selection of patriotic and classic songs — including Trump’s own playlist, the president added.” MB: So it's mostly about pond scum, from the contents of the Reflecting Pool to the megalomaniacal speaker.

Laurel Rosenhall, et al.,  of the New York Times: “Federal agents have questioned friends and associates of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and his wife, Mr. Newsom said on Monday in a video in which he accused President Trump of using the Justice Department to punish a political enemy. The full scope of any investigation remains unclear. But Mr. Newsom’s aides say part of the federal investigation appears to focus on his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Former employees of the governor and people affiliated with his wife’s nonprofit groups are among those who have been questioned by agents, according to the governor’s office. A person familiar with the matter confirmed that multiple federal investigations were underway related to the governor, including one looking at his wife’s finances. But the person disputed Mr. Newsom’s assertion that the investigations were politically motivated, and said they had been initiated by federal law enforcement officials in California, not launched by officials in Washington. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.” Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: “Eight crew members were confirmed dead after a B-52 bomber crashed explosively at Edwards Air Force Base in California during a routine test mission on Monday, Air Force officials said. “It took off and immediately after takeoff burst into flames,” Col. James Hayes, deputy commander at the 412th Test Wing, said at an afternoon news conference.... The names of those who died in the crash were being withheld pending notification of their next of kin. In a statement late Monday, the aerospace giant Boeing, which manufactures the Stratofortress, confirmed that the crew included two of its employees.” The AP report is here.

Charles Homans, et al., in the New York Times Magazine, take a new look at the death of Jeffrey Epstein, with the benefit of newly-released files and their own interviews.

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday said the Senate will attempt to pass an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) enhanced surveillance powers without the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act attached, rebuffing ... [Donald] Trump’s demand to link the two bills. Thune, who has repeatedly warned that letting Section 702 of FISA expire poses a risk to national security, said he would try to move an extension of the controversial surveillance law as a stand-alone measure. The provision, which allows the U.S. to spy on foreigners located abroad without a warrant, lapsed over the weekend.” MB: Thune isn't showing off his willingness to finally stand up to Trump's bullying; rather, he is facing the political reality that Senate Democrats would successfully filibuster any bill that had the “Democratic Voter Ineligibility Act” attached to it.

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Alaska Senate Race. Kellen Browning of the New York Times: “The number of Dan Sullivans on Alaska’s ballot for U.S. Senate has been reduced to one. Dan J. Sullivan, the Republican Senate candidate bearing the same first and last name as Senator Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent Republican, was ruled ineligible to run for office on Monday by the state’s director of elections. Republicans in the state had accused Democrats of plotting to confuse voters by inserting Dan J. Sullivan, a former teacher, into the race.... Both Ms. Peltola and the challenger named Sullivan have denied any coordination, and he has insisted that his bid was a good-faith effort.... Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom [R] began investigating [Dan J.'s] candidacy last week, and Carol Beecher [R], the state elections director, said in a preliminary ruling last Wednesday that she was likely to kick him off the ballot unless he could offer compelling evidence of his legitimacy as a candidate. On Monday, Ms. Beecher wrote that she had not received any such evidence. 'A declaration of candidacy filed for the purpose of confusing or misleading voters and compromising the fairness of the ballot is not properly filed,' Ms. Beecher wrote. 'I am de-certifying your candidacy for United States Senator.'” The AP's report is here.