NEW: Trump is pushing to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp products that experts warn can be dangerous. Among the beneficiaries is Susie Wiles' son-in-law. Bret Worley, who married Caroline Wiles in June, runs a company that sells intoxicating hemp gummies & vapes with names like “Trainwreck.”

Trump Seeks a Boost for Hemp That Would Benefit a Top Aide’s Family (Gift Article)

At the White House’s request, senators tucked a change sought by the hemp industry into a crucial spending bill. It would benefit the son-in-law of Susie Wiles, the president’s chief of staff.

nytimes.com

At a Camp David summit this weekend, President Trump demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over extreme munitions shortages. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Trump, Hegseth clashed at Camp David over Iran missile depletion concerns

At a Camp David summit this weekend, President Trump demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over extreme munitions shortages.

washingtonpost.com

Oof. @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

El-Sayed on Vance: Is that Peter Thiel's boy with that Ohio charisma? The last thing that he said that made any sense was Hillbilly Elegy—after he said that Donald Trump had no business being president of anything. And then he decided to suck up to power.

Past 48 hours: @reuters.com @cnn.com @washingtonpost.com @nbcnews.com

The lack of self-awareness is off the charts.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2h ago

JD Vance: "If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer"

KUDLOW: Why is it people don't know there's an economic boom? It's not showing up in any of these numbers! How is that possible? TUBERVILLE: Our economy is really good if you look at all the factors

JD Vance calls for Trump to be imprisoned

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2h ago

JD Vance: "If you are committing fraud against the American people, all of us in public leadership should be trying to stop it and throw you in prison for enriching yourself off the American taxpayer"

I never thought I’d see testimonies like this before the U.S. Congress. These are grown men who should know fact from fiction, yet they stand there shamelessly gaslighting the American people & performing for an audience of one. It’s both astonishing & deeply sad to see how far the U.S. has fallen.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8h ago

holy shit -- Schiff ties Trump's judicial nominees in knots by asking them who won the 2016 before *before* asking them who won in 2020, which results in them sounding like election deniers about Trump's victories!

One of those "if Biden did it..." moments

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3h ago

Trump in Nevada: "Vote for Michael Whatley, by the way" (Whatley is running in North Carolina)

This is funniest thing you'll see today. Also, Schiff is very good at this.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8h ago

holy shit -- Schiff ties Trump's judicial nominees in knots by asking them who won the 2016 before *before* asking them who won in 2020, which results in them sounding like election deniers about Trump's victories!

FEDWATCH: “.. Most of the 911M SpaceX shares unlocking tomorrow were granted or purchased when the company was valued between $20B and $150B, versus a current market cap of $450B–$500B. .. This means that nearly all shares are deeply in the money with a 3×–20× uplift— roughly 10×–20× gains ..”

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7h ago

$SPCX

The labor market is frozen. Hiring and quit rates are both running below pre-pandemic levels. While unemployment is at historic lows, this dynamic presents obstacles for job seekers, particularly young college grads.

Jeff Dean and other top AI researchers are leaving Google to launch their own startup

Jeff Dean and other top AI researchers are leaving Google to launch their own startup

The legendary Google executive is joined by other outgoing Google execs in a joint mission to use AI to push forward the process of scientific discovery.

techcrunch.com

The Populist Left Has a Theory. We’re All About to Test It. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/o...

Opinion | Abdul El-Sayed Thinks Progressives Have a Way to Win. I Hope He’s Right. (Gift Article)

Abdul El-Sayed is quick, magnetic, overflowing with infectious confidence. But he also has a blind spot endemic to his movement.

nytimes.com

El-Sayed on Rogers: "What he's missing is that politics has changed since 2000 when he got in office. Now, it's not enough to just get $70m & run 30 second ads. You actually have to stand for something, & this is a guy who doesn't want to explain why he's backing Trump on the most ridiculous war..."

holy shit -- Schiff ties Trump's judicial nominees in knots by asking them who won the 2016 before *before* asking them who won in 2020, which results in them sounding like election deniers about Trump's victories!

The “Barack HUSSEIN Obama” people are going to go all in on racism in Michigan.

Hearings like this are a reminder that if you work for Donald Trump, you are a person of low character and have no integrity. There are no exceptions.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8h ago

😮 Trump's nominees are the most pathetic men in the world 😮 During a hearing, Blumenthal made Trump nominees squirm by asking them who won the 2020 election -- a question they refuse to answer -- but then Schiff upped the ante by asking them *who won the 2016 election.* Here's a supercut:

... especially when you can argue Warsh needs to show independence from the administration. 3. But most important, I hope this is not an early sign of the migration of the toxic relationship between the press corps and the White House over to the Fed.

Regarding Treas. Secty's attack on @nicktimiraos.bsky.social: 1. Nick is no stenographer. One of the smartest guys in the room. Wish he were. Would make my life easier. 2. I know Kevin Warsh for a lot of years and pretty sure he doesn't need any help from Treasury managing his press. 1/2

FT: "... Since attacking Iran in February, Trump’s immediate demands have shrunk from a sprawling list of concessions .. to just one: that Iran allow the Strait of Hormuz to return to its prewar state ..” @financialtimes.com #SuezMoment www.ft.com/content/87b0...

Donald Trump trapped between escalation and an Iran deal on Tehran’s terms

US president faces few good options to exit a war he once said would end swiftly with the Islamic republic’s surrender

ft.com

FWIW, both of VDARE’s founders were on the masthead of the National Review in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Peter Brimelow was also a staffer for Senator Orrin Hatch. This white nationalist thread has been present in the conservative movement for a long time. Screenshot is from 1997.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8h ago

SCHIFF: You told my staff you stood by your article in white nationalist website VDARE where you wrote, 'Muslim immigrants & their kids seem prone to terrorism' C: I wrote that article in support of Trump's travel ban S: Do you stand by it? C: I stand by that article S: That's all I need to know

“The Reflecting Pool mess is different from other Trump obsessions because it reveals just how immune to evidence and logic his beliefs have become, even when a trusted lieutenant wheels an entire box of supporting evidence into the Oval Office.”

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 11h ago

Trump’s outburst over the Reflecting Pool is a sign of dangerous dysfunction in the Oval Office, @radiofreetom.bsky.social argues. theatln.tc/OMivBxpl

as noted yesterday, Trump has now come around to treating an Iranian toll system covering the Strait of Hormuz as a given. Hard to overstate the level of strategic failure. US started the war purely as a war of choice and ends up dramatically empowering Iran and given the Iranian govt big wins.

Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 10h ago

Reuters: Iran wants fees of 5%-7% of the price of cargo from ships using the strait; Oman wants 3%. "Making fees voluntary, at least nominally, could be a way out of the impasse, although an implied threat of Iranian attacks could mean shippers would be ​unlikely to risk transit without paying."

Blanche refuses to say whether he was aware that Pirro was going to drop the charges against Hearn or approved her decision

Blanche credits Pirro with transforming DC "into a place that we can all now walk around in after sunset" 😆

this wsj article is much better than the Times "showdown" article. but i resent the media gaslighting of this whole storyline, as though there was ever even the slightest question about why the pool bottom fell apart or that somehow Burgum had kept anyone in the dark. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Pirro’s About-Face in Pool Case Followed Prosecutors’ Private Concerns

The U.S. attorney defended the dismissal of charges in a meeting with President Trump, but people close to the president say it is too early to say whether Pirro’s job is safe.

wsj.com

David Ellison tried to convince the public he can be trusted with CNN. But staffers inside the network torched his New York Times essay in brutal comments to us, pointing to the Paramount chief's disastrous record at CBS News. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/david-elli...

The Ellison Credibility Crisis

The Paramount boss tried to convince the public he can be trusted with CNN. But staffers inside the network torched his Times essay in brutal comments to Status, pointing to his disastrous record at C...

status.news