July 9, 2026 at 11:59 AM EDT
US naval commander dies as Trump declares ceasefire 'over'

On Tuesday, a U.S. naval commander who crashed in the Arabian Sea was declared dead. That very day, President Donald Trump was at the NATO summit in Turkey, casually announcing that the ceasefire with Iran was "over" with no mention of the costs of war being borne by Americans and people around the world. According to the New Republic , "The missing soldier was identified Tuesday as Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5 commanding officer Gabriel Edwards. He and three other soldiers were forced to emergency-land their helicopter in the Arabian Sea on July 1. While the others were rescued, Edwards was declared officially dead after 102 hours -- over four days -- of searching."

July 9, 2026 at 11:56 AM EDT
Trump family's fortunes tumble by $600m as company faces 'deep downturn'

Although Donald Trump once dismissed Bitcoin as a "scam" and argued that cryptocurrencies are "based on thin air," the U.S. president and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are now all in for crypto -- from the Trump Family's World Liberty Financial to the American Bitcoin Corp., which Eric Trump co-founded. President Trump's net worth his way up, estimated to be $6.5 billion by Forbes. But according to Bloomberg News reporters Tom Maloney and Olga Kharif, problems with the American Bitcoin Corp. have decreased the Trump family's fortunes by $600 million.

July 9, 2026 at 10:59 AM EDT
'Humiliating courtroom defeat' issues huge blow to Trump

In the latest episode in President Donald Trump's second-term vanity project spree, he has received yet another " humiliating courtroom defeat " as a federal appeals court has slapped down his attempt to keep his name on the Kennedy Center. The White House had appealed a judge's order to remove Trump's name from the Center, and as the Daily Beast explains, "In its second rejection of the administration's request, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Trump's lawyers had failed to prove that removing his name would damage fundraising efforts at the iconic performing arts venue, which has faced declining ticket sales and widespread artist cancellations since Trump initiated a MAGA takeover last year."

July 9, 2026 at 10:31 AM EDT
Trump out of allies as 'gratuitous insult' burns bridge with world leader

Over the course of his second term, President Donald Trump has had few friends among world leaders, but he and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed one another largely due to their shared far-right positions. Now, after that relationship was badly strained by a claim he made about Meloni at the recent G7 summit that she says was a lie, he appears to have burned that bridge once and for all with his latest "sexist insult," leaving him more isolated on the world stage than ever.

July 9, 2026 at 10:26 AM EDT
Ex-Trump ambassador goes toe-to-toe with CNN over Iran war flip-flops

Former European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland fumbled his way through an interview with CNN host John Berman on Thursday morning about the situation in Iran and the White House's ever-changing positions. Berman started their conversation by asking how the ceasefire was going, and Sondland, a former appointee of President Donald Trump, claimed it was "going as expected. A little of this and a little of that."

July 9, 2026 at 6:13 AM EDT
Families are dumping MAGA relatives --and they're not coming back

The "partisan split" of Americans showed up in a big way at Fourth of July celebrations and backyard barbecues last week, but the media, while noting or even complaining about it, rarely mentions exactly why it's happening. A few weeks ago, Louise and I were having coffee with an old friend who's known us since the early days of the radio show, and somewhere between the second cup and the muffins she said something that's been rattling around in my head ever since. Her sister, a three-time Trump voter, had finally called -- after months of silence -- and demanded to know why our friend had stopped returning her calls.

July 8, 2026 at 10:13 PM EDT
MAGA lawmaker who abused office to silence Charlie Kirk critics let off the hook

A Republican politician was given a slap on the wrist for abusing her office to silence a critic of Charlie Kirk. "[Alaska state] Rep. Sarah Vance -- one of the state's leading Christian Nationalist lawmakers -- likely violated state ethics laws when she used her legislative office to threaten the Homer News over its coverage of a memorial she helped organize for Charlie Kirk," wrote The Alaska Current's Matt Acuña Buxton on Wednesday. "Her letter to Carpenter Media, sent on Alaska State Legislature letterhead, sparked a firestorm in local media last fall, with reporters and editors resigning after ownership gave in to Vance's threat that 'the consequence will be financial as well as reputational' if they didn't soften the story."

July 8, 2026 at 9:47 PM EDT
Platner-bashing MAGA pundit stumbles when called out on Trump's own assaults

In the immediate aftermath of Democratic nominee Graham Platner dropping out of the Maine Senate election due to a rape accusation, a pro-Trump political consultant attempted to gloat -- but was quickly called out for seemingly giving President Donald Trump a pass for similar alleged behavior. "But do you believe E. Jean Carroll -- you're so quick to point a finger in this situation, but do you agree with her?" journalist Christine Romans asked Republican consultant Brad Todd about E. Jean Carroll, who proved in a civil court that Trump sexually abused her in 1996. The Carroll case has remained in the news in large part because Trump is refusing to pay the more than $5 million settlement he was ordered by a federal judge to offer after she won a defamation case against him over the accusation. In the ruling, the judge said that Carroll had prevailed in court in demonstrating that her 1996 story about Trump is true.

July 8, 2026 at 9:08 PM EDT
Trump weak enough to rout: former GOP advisor

A former Republican presidential adviser who now frequently criticizes President Donald Trump argued on Wednesday that the current GOP leader has weakened America militarily -- and, in the process, made himself weaker politically. "NATO was built by men like Harry Truman and Dean Acheson, George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, sustained by John Kennedy and Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton," Steve Schmidt, who worked for President George W. Bush explained in reference to Trump's recent visit to NATO and threats to withdraw America from the longstanding alliance. "It is the most successful military alliance in world history. It is what emerged from what Franklin Roosevelt called the United Nations -- an alliance of free nations bound together by common defense, that says an attack on one is an attack on all. It is the greatest deterrent force in history, and Donald Trump despises it like he despises the values of these free nations."

July 8, 2026 at 8:28 PM EDT
Trump's Education Department celebrates 'American' history with British photo

President Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the Department of Education, yet his Education Secretary just unintentionally demonstrated why education is so important -- by making an embarrassingly obvious gaffe. When urging people to study American history, the Department of Education posted a photograph from British history.

July 8, 2026 at 8:21 PM EDT
Graham Platner drops out of Maine Senate election

Graham Platner, who until recently was the Democratic Party nominee for the US Senate in Maine, dropped out of the race on Wednesday after he was accused of rape. "I intend to file the paperwork to withdraw. But the process needs to assure that what comes next is reflective of the Mainers who on June 9 turned out and showed that they are desperate for a new kind of politics," Platner said on his X account.

July 8, 2026 at 5:54 PM EDT
Desperate Trump plans to use military on 2026 midterms: Experts

President Donald Trump could use the military to steal the 2026 midterms, which he and his fellow Republicans have panicked about losing, according to legal experts -- although they emphasize that doing so would break centuries of precedent. "Just this year, President Trump said he regrets that he did not order the National Guard to seize voting machines after the 2020 elections," wrote Lawfare's Natalie K. Orpett, Molly Roberts and Loren Voss on Wednesday. "Steve Bannon urged Trump to 'call up the 82nd and 101st Airborne' in 2026 to 'get around every poll' and make sure that only citizens are voting. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, when asked whether he would refuse an order to deploy troops to polling places during the midterms, avoided answering""and falsely claimed that troops were deployed to polling places in 15 states under Joe Biden."