Monthly Archives: June 2026

What fun!

ADMIN

Due to hand surgery, my commentary will be abbrev’d.

Trump As A Top

President Donald Trump may not be moving forward with his $1.8 billion lawsuit settlement fund, but Democrats are determined to force GOP lawmakers to answer for the issue anyway — repeatedly.

Even after sources indicated Monday that the Trump administration was abandoning its plans on the “anti-weaponization” fund, Democratic leaders were quick to indicate that they would still force votes to block the fund.

“If Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday. “This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no president can ever do this again. Trump’s word is nowhere near enough.” [MS NOW]

Voters should find that interesting.

CLUE: MUSTARD

Keep an eye on all the arenas, apparently.

The Koch-aligned GOP super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action is putting $6.3 million into battleground Senate ads just a few weeks after warning the Republican Senate majority is “at risk.”

The ads — shared first with POLITICO — are focused heavily on gas prices and affordability, something the group has warned Democrats will take advantage of in November if Republicans don’t present solutions for voters.

The ad buys show that the group is worried about defending Republicans in some very red states. They’re advertising in Montana, which has barely been on the radar for most campaign analysts, as well as Iowa and Ohio, states that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024. The group is also running ads in Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina. [Politico]

I’ve noted Montana might be in play. I await adverts in … Idaho.

NEWS

• The 2 June Iowa primaries have yielded Trump-endorsee U. S. Rep Hinson (R) and Iowa House Rep Josh Turek (D). Thomas Laehn (L) is also on the ballot, which may be a problem for Hinson as libertarians often attract conservative votes. Notably, Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Randy Feenstra lost the Republican nomination by less than a point. Long-time readers may remember Feenstra for successfully primarying Rep Steve King (R) in 2024, although given their On The Issues summations, that was shark-on-shark action. MS NOW is trying to make something of Feenstra losing, but I’m doubtful. We already know a Trump endorsement is a burden.

  Anyways, Republican Hinson shouldn’t try to coast on Trump’s endorsement.

  Finally, Turek and the Democrats outpolled Hinson and the Republicans, respectively. That may be irrelevant, but it may speak to enthusiasm, which can be a key ingredient in races.

• Michigan candidates have been winnowed down, through voluntary dropouts, to former Rep Mike Rogers (R) and Abdul El-Sayed, Mallory McMorrow, and Rep Haley Stevens, for the Democrats. Unknown pollster TIPP gives all three Democrats small leads over Rogers, with Stevens at 48% – 41% as best, and Stevens leading for the primary. That’s not congruent with other pollsters.
• Alaska has a conundrum: Sullivan.
  

  In Alaska this election season, the biggest supporters of Dan Sullivan could be the biggest antagonists of Dan Sullivan.The field of contenders challenging Senator Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican who is up for re-election, has grown in recent days with a rather befuddling addition: Dan J. Sullivan, a former educator of no known relation, has entered the race. …[NYT]

  Republicans may have a point:

  The campaign arm of Senate Republicans, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, suggested that Dan J. Sullivan was a plant by Democrats intended to confuse voters and siphon support from Senator Sullivan, a former Marine who worked in the State Department under President George W. Bush.

  Democrats vigorously assert a State overpopulation of persons named Dan Sullivan. Sad.

• The 2 June Montana primaries have yielded winners US Attorney Kurt Alme (R) and inexperienced Alani Bankhead (D). Joining them is former UMontana President Seth Bodnar (I), considered a contender by some. He may split the left and independent vote, giving the election to Alme, or he may win. Bodnar’s On The Issues summation is to the right, but appears to be based on very little data.

  Democratic primary voting doubled that of Republican primary voting, which may explain the concern of the Koch network, see way above.

• The 2 June New Jersey primaries have yielded nominees incumbent Senator Cory Booker (D), unchallenged, and Justin Murphy (R), who attracted only 33% of the Republican primary voters. That’s not a confidence builder.
• The 2 June New Mexico primaries have yielded nominees incumbent Senator Ben Ray Luján, with 85.7% of the Democratic vote, and Larry E. Marker (Write-in), with 100.0% of the Republican primary vote. The raw vote totals? 112,399 and 4,579, respectively. A lesson in appropriate measures.
• In what must be a bit of a shock for Ohio Republicans, highly respected Fox News Poll is giving former Senator Sherrod Brown (D) a relatively huge 53% – 45% lead over appointed incumbent Senator Husted (R) in Ohio. Brown has an even larger lead in the favorability ratings, 53-41. Maybe the paltry primary turnout observation at my earlier Ohio link is inaccurate?
• The 2 June South Dakota primary yielded incumbent Senator Mike Rounds (R) as the Republican nominee; Julian Beaudion (D) and Brian Bengs (I) had already qualified. While Senator Rounds only recorded  76.9% of the ballots in the primary, I don’t see him as being seriously challenged in November.
• In Alabama, reactions to The Alabama Poll are more interesting than the poll results:
  

  A new poll has upset some Republican candidates heading into the final two weeks before the June 16 runoff. …In the U.S. Senate runoff, the poll listed former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson as the projected winner over U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), 48.7% to 39.2%, with 12.1% undecided — a significant departure from other polls.

  The poll claims Hudson leads across most of the map and most demographics. …

  “This is yet another bogus suppression poll, similar to the one published before the primary that also claimed Jay was trailing by double digits,” a release from [AG candidate] Mitchell’s campaign stated. “Alabama voters proved that wrong. Despite being outspent 2-to-1 in the weeks leading up to the primary, Jay finished only six points away from first place. Since then, he’s been endorsed by third-place candidate Pamela Casey, who carried 25% of the vote and commands a powerful grassroots following. Simple math and common sense make it clear—Jay Mitchell’s going to win.”

  Sure, I’m not quoting a frustrated Senate candidate, instead a State AG candidate, but this is a hint of what happens to a Party following the Gingrichian diktat of win at all costs. It bleeds into intra-Party contests, causing fratricide & general chaos, rather than the smooth transfer of power.

  And I see Jared Hudson is coming under attack:

  At the Marshall County Republican meeting this past Tuesday evening, held at Wentzell’s Oyster House Restaurant in Guntersville, Alabama, I asked Senate candidate Jared Hudson a simple question: Why had he gone on the record opposing President Donald Trump’s position on the filibuster?

  The answer was revealing—not because of what Hudson said, but because of what he avoided saying.

  Rather than standing with Trump on one of the president’s most important legislative priorities, Hudson spent his entire response explaining why Trump is wrong on the issue. He opened by acknowledging that “the president makes an unbelievably great case as the executive branch on why we should nuke the filibuster.” But instead of supporting Trump’s position, he immediately pivoted, saying, “With that being said, the only conservative tool we have is to make sure that we end the silent filibuster.”

  For Republican voters, that should raise an important question. If Trump is trying to advance a conservative agenda through the Senate, why would a Republican Senate candidate oppose one of the tools needed to make that happen? [Angela McClure, AL Politics]

  Suggesting Hudson incompatibility with Trump is going to discourage Republican primary voters.

Next primary day is 9 June.

Hodiernal tense:

A hodiernal tense (abbreviated hod) is a grammatical tense for the current day. (Hodie or hodierno die is Latin for ‘today’.)

Hodiernal tenses refer to events of today (in an absolute tense system) or of the day under consideration (in a relative tense system).

Hodiernal past tense refers to events of earlier today (or earlier than the reference point of the day under consideration), while hodiernal future tense refers to events of later today (or later than the reference point of the day under consideration). A post-hodiernal tense is a future tense for events that will occur after today or the day under consideration, while pre-hodiernal is a past tense for events that occurred before today or the day under consideration. [Wikipedia]

Yeah, specificity like that, nope in English. Referenced in the video Fantastic Features We Don’t Have In The English Language, by Tom Scott.

The influence of Donald J. Trump:

Ahead of polls closing Tuesday night, [Rep Randy] Feenstra campaign spokesman Billy Fuerst claimed in a message that “Randy Feenstra earned President Trump’s complete and total endorsement to be the next Governor of Iowa because President Trump knows that Randy is the only proven conservative who can defeat Extreme Liberal Rob Sand and keep Iowa red.”

Focus on Randy is the only proven conservative. Feenstra, or at least Fuerst, has ingested the Great Saviour meme, poor guy.

And, yes, Feenstra lost the primary, if only by .8 of a point. At least he conceded rather than running around screaming about cheating.

Even the chick on the screen takes it in the neck!

The Being (1981) is a sci-fi atomic power horror story of uncertain virtue. With sketchy nods to  conspiracy theory elements concerning suppression of information because of public panic, atomic energy frightful danger, the audience is subjected to the usual elements of such movies: people being dragged away shrieking, people being killed, naked people being killed, naked people in cars being killed, cars being treated as if built through papier-mâché techniques, and, well, let’s be clear.

This doesn’t come across a B-list movie. More like C-list.

But there are elements that stand out. I enjoyed the make-up and special effects, particularly that of the monsters or mutated humans, as it seemed effective for the era, pleasantly repulsive.

The climatic fight scene is nicely balanced, really, as the each side is getting hurt. It clears the bar for such fights. Too bad about Mr. Biggles.

The contrast between the occasional soporific radio show, featuring a good ol’ boy in Idaho, and the horror of what’s going on is almost effective in terms of contrast.

And the bereft mother, Marge, who is out of her mind with fear concerning her missing child, was well done and disturbing, as it suggests that a small town will just ignore such a person, rather than turn out to help search for the kid. It’s not necessarily congruent with reality, then or now, but it’s an unexpected element of horror.

But don’t mistake what I wrote above to indicate it’s worth hunting down and ingesting, because it’s not. Young adults having sex in cars and being killed for it is a quaint reminder of a bygone era where extra-marital sex didn’t just get you a frowning, but your life ripped out of your chest, but for today’s younger audience, unless they’re retro, they’ll just puzzled. Why have cars? Why have sex in cars?

And the dream scene, so odd, was extraneous.

Yeah, don’t bother.

“No, thank you. Gold leaf gets stuck between my teeth.”

The Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King (Norwegian; 2017) is a story, naively presented, in the Win a Princess! genre of stories. Princess Kristin has not married by her 18th birthday, finding all aspirants unsatisfactory, and Prince Frederik rather repellent. She automatically now becomes the fiancee of the Mountain King, or would be if she stays home. She, however, flees the castle and her supine father.

Meanwhile, Aspen has been left to take care of the simple family home, in the midst of the forest, by father and brothers, the latter pair named Per and Pål. Aspen loses the house through his characteristic carelessness. Facing disaster, Aspen, Per, and Pål are dispatched to find Princess Kristin and kill the Mountain King, thereby making their fortunes and saving the farm.

Adventures ensue.

Unfortunately, and this problem is endemic with fairy tales, all the characters are one dimensional, existing to thrust their stereotype into the story and not have any independent thoughts. In good stories, characters have depth revealed over time, ideally that explain mysterious early characteristics or plot points.

Not here.

The special effects are fun, and while the story may be a bit stilted, the characters carry it through. But questions remain: Why would the Mountain King marry a woman apparently unable to bear a baby of his? Why doesn’t the Mountain King speak? Who thrust this curse upon the royal family, anyways?

Isn’t being covered in moss itchy?

So, yeah, this is a bit squirmy, if an interesting glimpse of Norwegian fairy tales. It’s probably not worth your time unless the reader has a special interest in actor or genre, because it almost feels like a student-made movie.

This morning I underwent scheduled surgery on my right hand, and do not anticipate further blogging today, and possibly not tomorrow.

Since I’m not a news outlet, I’m not overly bothered by this.

Immappancy:

If you’ve come across the concepts of illiteracy and innumeracy, then computer graphic enthusiast Kai Krause, who developed the innovative infographic The True Size of Africa, feels the term immappancy should be used to describe those with ‘insufficient geographical knowledge.’ [“The True Size of Africa“, Toni Pyke, DevelopmentEducation.ie]

Immappancy has not yet entered the lexicon maintained by dictionaries, and thus this relatively informal definition. Insofar as the referenced Kai Krause goes, he was recently critiqued for using improper country representations, which he apparently admits, as well as dubious reasoning, in “Map Wars: Mercator, Peters, and Cartographic Controversies,” Benjamin Radford, Skeptical Inquirer (Volume 50, No. 3; paywall):

Ultimately, [Kenneth Field, principal lecturer in geographic information systems at Kingston University,] wrote, “I don’t take issue with the idea of exposing the problem of spatial illiteracy, or immappancy as Krause has defined it, but he is profoundly guilty of similar levels of immappancy by creating a completely inaccurate depiction. He is demonstrating his own immappancy” … .

Despite the viral and vociferous nature of Krause’s map, it is in fact wrong in significant ways. But I got the impression many elided the errors and deceptions because it was issued in service of a noble cause: social justice. The Krause map, however factually flawed, helps decolonize education and mitigate Eurocentric structural racism.

I’ve enjoyed the results of cartography for most of my life, and innovative approaches can be positively fascinating. If you’ve not heard of Tufte’s Napoleon’s March To Moscow, well, you should go take a look. Such examples of innovation are widely available on the Web; fusions of geography as modified by population and some other attribute, such as political leanings, often clarify reality. Krause’s approach is interesting and thought provoking. For example, is a purely physical measurement of size appropriate, or, in view of the current uneven distribution of deserts, should we measure by carrying capacity, or other rarely used comparative measure?

But if you’ve seen Krause’s original work, you should be aware of the accompanying inflammatory rhetoric. Given its assumptions, mistakes, and implicit tenets, such as identitarianism, it didn’t feel so much innovative as a case of virtue signaling. Yes, it may have been unconscious, but given the critiques I’ve seen, I’m not sure I’d be looking to Krause for wisdom.

Maybe this marks the nadir of the LLM AI “incident,” and now we start throwing it out. Welcome Jill Bearup, folks…

A sophisticated joke? I’m guessing No, this is just folks who haven’t given the issue a thought.

Zugzwang:

In Chess, Zugzwang is a position in which for the player who’s move it is, any move they make would make the position worse. The player that has to move would be better off not making a move at all. But of course in the game of Chess, there is not option to pass or skip your turn to move. You are forced to move a piece. [The Chess Journal]

In research I noted there are similar definitions on a more generic basis. Noted in “As Ukraine’s fortunes improve, it’s zugzwang time for Putin,” George F. Will, WaPo:

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING PARTY?

So is Chris Hayes right?

Just look at Starr County, Texas, which sits on the U.S. border with Mexico and has the highest proportion of Hispanic residents compared to any county, according to the 2020 Census.

Starr County famously flipped to Trump in the last election after more than a century of voting Democratic. He won it by 15 points, and it was widely seen as evidence of the president’s strength with Hispanic voters.

If you looked just at the percentages of last night’s Senate runoff in Starr County, you would say Trump is still dominating. His candidate beat Cornyn there by nearly 50 points.

But what’s that percentage based on? How many Republicans actually voted in that runoff? The answer: virtually none.

Only 90 votes were cast out of more than 36,000 registered voters in the county, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office. In that same county, in a single Democratic primary for a local judge back in March, more than 13,000 Democrats turned out to vote.

That’s why Democrats are suddenly a lot more optimistic about flipping that Texas Senate seat — and possibly the Senate itself.

My bold. Hayes may be speaking to my confirmation bias, but I do think he has a data-based point – Texas Republicans are at least not excited by the Party’s candidates, although it’s important to note comparing a primary runoff with a primary is comparing Granny Smith to Haralson. Apples.

Both parties are in trouble.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the composition of the electorate in terms of age for a given State is important, as well as whether folks are still enthused to vote based on Boomer issues, or if they’re willing to step back and re-evaluate.

We may see the Republicans collapse in many locales this November, followed by the Democrats, assuming the latter continue to exhibit behaviors contradictory to liberal democracy.

THE ANCHOR WEARS AN UGLY TIE

President Trump remains a potent weapon against the, er, Republicans. According to the Wall Street Journal,

• The more-than-respectable University of New Hampshire’s The Pine Tree State Poll gives political novice Graham Platner (D) a 9 point lead over incumbent Senator Collins (R) in Maine. Is the youth of Maine rising up to expel the boomers from their political dominance?
  

  When asked for the most important reason they support their preferred candidate in this race, likely Democratic primary voters most often say it is because of their preferred candidate’s understanding or empathy (18%), 15% say their candidate has the best chance of winning the general election, 10% mention their policies, 9% say their candidate represents change, 7% each say their candidate is a fighter or is strong or cite their politics or ideology, and 6% each cite their authenticity or honesty or their character. Forty-two percent of Mills supporters say they support her because of her past experience, while half of Costello supporters (50%) say they support him because he is preferable to alternatives.

  Mr. Platner has 21% in the empathy column, which makes him #1. But is empathy the best metric for measuring a candidate for the Senate? It’s a question worth considering.

  Yet, it’s not even clear that Mr Platner will be the Democratic nominee to go up against Senator Collins. As MS NOW notes, Governor Mills (D) may have publicly withdrawn from the race due to finance problems, but her name has not been removed from the Maine ballot as of this writing.

  More importantly, Platner may have problems adhering to traditional morality, which is hardly a new problem for politicians, but still may serve to alienate supporters in the primary, as well as the general, elections.

  A top Democrat on Sunday expressed “concerns” about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner in the wake of reports that he exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women, which his wife said she flagged to his campaign.

  Asked about the controversy on ABC News, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said, “Yeah I have concerns. That guy has questions to answer and that’s what campaigns are for.”

  The oyster farmer and Marnie Corps veteran’s wife, Amy Gertner, informed a senior campaign aide last summer that he had exchanged sexual messages with several women, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. [MS NOW]

  If you prefer brevity, Erick Erickson just calls him a Communist.

  The same University of New Hampshire poll as above gives Platner a 66 point lead over Mills, and that’s no typo. It seems unlikely that Gov Mills, unfunded and quite elderly, will overcome that sort of lead.

  The primary word here is seems.

  The Maine primary election is 9 June.

• Setting the stage, Rep Mike Collins and retired football coach Derek Dooley are in the Republican primary run-off scheduled for 16 June. This is for the Georgia Senate seat.Is Rep Collins (R) Erick Erickson’s pick to go against incumbent Senator Ossoff (D)? No.
  

  Mike Collins, should Georgia voters choose him to challenge Jon Ossoff, is not going to win the general election because Mike Collins’s policy is to hire white nationalist adjacent staff and insane lose canons who people are legitimately scared of. The horror stories from people about Brandon Phillips continue to pile up. One person tells me he legitimately fears for his family because of the guy, and Mike Collins never did anything about the guy, despite knowing Phillips is trouble.

  Erickson must be beside himself with frustration, since he reportedly lives in Georgia and is close up and personal with the political scene.

  Incidentally, I shan’t call that a hit-piece, because I am not in a position to judge, and while I have relatives in Georgia, they’re not political. Call it a message of concern, perhaps. But Dooley? Surely Senator Tuberville (R-AL, er R-FL, maybe R-somewhere else?) is a cautionary tale about putting sports-associated folks with no experience in politics & governing into the Senate or any other position of high responsibility. And before my kind reader reminds me of former pro wrestler Governor Ventura (I-MN), for whom I voted, ol’ Jesse had carefully picked up applicable experience by being elected mayor of Brooklyn Park prior to his gubernatorial campaign. He had a reasonable plan and worked the plan.

  Back to Erickson, he did badmouth Democratic candidates in other States, but that’s par for the course. I think it’s significant, though, when someone condemns their own people.

  But unknown pollster, at least for me, JMC Analytics is giving Collins a 16 point lead over Dooley in the primary runoff, 55%-39%.

• JMC Analytics also presents a poll on the Republican primary in Iowa and awards a 61%-22% lead to Trump-endorsed Rep Hinson (R) over state Senator Jim Carlin (R).
• In Texas, the pollster Texas Public Opinion Research gives James Talarico (D) a 3 point lead of 47% – 44% over AG Ken Paxton (R). It also gives Talarico a net favorability rating of +7, while Paxton is at -19, and incumbent Senator Cornyn (R) should be dismayed by a horrifying -31 points.Paxton also has his first campaign ad out, where he touts his accomplishments as a humanitarian and … just kidding. Sorry if you squirted Wild Turkey out your nose. Here’s Shefali Luthra’s report on the matter in TPM:
  

  Republicans are focusing on one question in one of November’s top races: Is the Democrat a real man?

  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who clinched the GOP’s nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, released a new ad Wednesday —his first of the general election — accusing his opponent, state Sen. James Talarico, of being too “low-T for Texas.” “Low-T” is a reference to testosterone levels and often used as an insult by influencers in the so-called manosphere, who say low testosterone makes someone weaker. …

  “It isn’t new to the ethos of America — the masculine as everything — but it is much more politically forward now thanks to Trump than it used to be,” said Monika McDermott, a political scientist at Fordham University who studies masculinity in politics. “Now it’s the game plan of most Republicans to try to play on having the more masculine party and being able to claim that liberals and progressives are weak and feminine and not masculine enough for America.”

  Sounds pathetic to me, but perhaps Texans respond to such nonsense. I suppose the Democrats can be expected to do no better, highlighting Paxton’s lack of a moral sense. Or maybe they won’t. Democrats are often criticized for not being combative enough. But the Houston Chronicle just issued an endorsement of Talarico on that theme, which I cannot read directly because I use an ad-blocker and refuse to learn how to turn it off. I’ll use the lefty Daily Kos to dig out a quote:

  Paxton voters know their guy reeks of moral rot. That he somehow earned millions while in public office. That his office delivered sweetheart deals in cases of child sexual abuse.

  Paxton’s dismal ethics are only surpassed by his rank incompetence. His office has a track record of fumbling on sex-trafficking cases. And while other Republicans join the bipartisan movement to tackle unaffordable health care, Paxton works to fire “woke doctors.”

  Looking over the rest of the endorsement, they’re not playing nice. The Republicans of Texas are apparently a disappointment to the Chronicle. But are newspaper endorsements still important?

• Minnesota Lt Governor Peggy Flanagan (D) won the DFL (Democratic–Farmer–Labor) Party endorsement from the DFL convention by acclamation over the 30-31 May weekend, but this is not the same as winning the primary election. Her DFL rival, Rep Angie Craig (D), announced that she was skipping the convention and would participate in the primary election regardless of the convention result. Flanagan also received the endorsement of the Senator she desires to replace, Tina Smith (D).
• Also in Minnesota, for their Senate candidate to replace the aforementioned Tina Smith, the Republican Party endorsed someone unfamiliar to me, former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze. He does not appear to have electoral experience. I will repeat myself: Party endorsement is not a synonym for winning a primary election. Michelle Tafoya (R) is reportedly planning to oppose Schwarze in the primary election.The Minnesota primary election is 11 August.
• Finally, for the pro-active reader, if Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) wins her gubernatorial race this season, she’ll have to resign her seat in the Senate, and then appoint a replacement. This was back a month or three, but Governor Walz (D-MN) has already stated, “I would rather eat glass than [serve in the Senate].” So that’s one Minnesotan disqualifying himself from the position.

And back to the grind for me. Tomorrow is primary day for a few states. Results will follow.

ADMIN NOTE

This post is out of order due to a bug in WordPress.

ABANDON APPEAL IN FAVOR OF SUPPRESSION

President Trump has been beating back internal GOP opposition to Trump’s Failed War, but he may be trading approval for control, and that doesn’t go over well in a country for which a strong streak of persuasion supposedly lurks. Worse yet, certain Senators that are generally aligned with the President, but have voiced disillusionment with the Failed War, may be smarting in the backlash. Senators Wicker (R-MS) and Cotton (R-AR) are mentioned in the above article.

But certainly victim Senator Cassidy (R-LA) returned fire:

According to two sources, Trump eventually told Cassidy to sit down, but Cassidy refused. He raised his voice even higher. Trump responded by calling Cassidy a “lunatic.” Cassidy referred to Trump as “brother,” prompting Trump to reply that he wasn’t his “brother.”

Eventually, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., tried to deescalate the situation, and other senators quietly encouraged Cassidy to sit down.

After the meeting, however, Cassidy showed no signs of backing down.

“I make no apologies for standing up to the president, if you will, trying to demand that more information be shared with the Senate and more information be shared with the American people,” he told reporters. “I make no apologies for that.” [MS NOW]

The domestic activity drawing the attention of voters may be the affordability solution, aka the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. It’s a rare bipartisan victory for either side, but, notably, the Democrats chose not to spoil it because they are closer to governing, rather than throwing a temper tantrum. President Trump was all set to sign it, until … he wasn’t:

Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT

Now we’re waiting to see if he vetoes the bill or let’s it become law without his signature. A veto carries the risk of an override, a humiliation he’ll never endure maturely.

By trading a sure victory by signing the bill for the doubtful passage of a bill, reportedly designed to suppress voters who are not prepared with proper identification, that would be an immediate target of Federal lawsuits asking for emergency suspension of the law, President Trump is holding out of reach a Senate GOP lifeline for incumbents that might have saved their bacon. In a sentence, Trump once again proves that he expects loyalty to flow to him and not to his minions, once he’s bought them, whether it be via helping them win a seat, or absolving them of a crime.

This is a common occurrence, of course. The GOP is in a difficult position when President Trump gets an idea in his head and lets it supersede everything else.

PRE-ERRATA

I believe all references to Siena College, below, should be read as June 2026 [The New York] Times/Siena Poll.

AND IN THE CATEGORY OF AUTHORITARIAN PARTY ON AUTHORITARIAN PARTY

• In Texas comes this UTexas poll …
  

  The latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll finds a neck and neck contest in the U.S. Senate race between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and State Representative James Talarico, with Paxton the choice of 43% of Texas voters and Talarico preferred by a statistically indistinguishable 42%.

  While I’m uncertain as to the polling competency of UTexas, I have no reason to consider them biased.

  But then there’s the quite respectable Siena College, with a poll giving Paxton and Talarico both 47%, a big ol’ tie. That Paxton isn’t being buried by his opponent is a sign that Talarico is failing to inspire Texans with his virtue signaling. Can Democrats learn from that their product isn’t selling? They seem too arrogant to do that just yet.

  But Republicans are forcing Texas children to read Bible stories in school. That will alienate a lot of Texans from the Republicans.

• North Carolina may be over President Trump and the GOP. From highly respected YouGov, in conjunction with Catawba College:
  

  

  On The Issues: Gov Roy Cooper (D-NC).

  Among the survey’s 905 weighted likely voters, Cooper received 48 percent to Whatley’s 34 percent, with 15 percent undecided at this point for November’s U.S. Senate election. These findings are consistent to the results from March’s survey, where Cooper lead by 15 points.

  “Cooper’s advantage is not simply a function of Democratic support,” said Dr. Michael Bitzer, director of Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service, which wrote and paid for the survey. “His lead is being driven by independents, who currently support him by more than two-to-one over Whatley. That independent vote can often be a decisive factor in statewide North Carolina elections.”

  This is particularly noteworthy as Cooper is not a moderate, but a “Populist-Leaning Liberal,” see above. His building a large lead over Mr Whatley suggests a state GOP that is falling into disrepute.

  North Carolina may have been gerrymandered in the past, but district lines do not track judgments over time; just thinking of such potential legislation makes me nauseous. So this is also pertinent:

  “Another noticeable dynamic is within the state’s regions: while six in ten North Carolinians who live in major cities disapprove of Trump, 55 percent in urban suburbs and rural communities also disapprove. Trump performs best in the state’s exurban counties that surround the urban counties, where 54 percent approve and 44 percent disapprove,” [Dr. Michael Bitzer, director of Catawba College’s Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service] noted.

  The next Congressional delegation’s political makeup will be of considerable interest.

  Siena College gives Cooper a smaller lead of 50%-43%, but this is still significant in a state that Democrats have slavered over for years, yet not won either Senate seat in quite a while.

• In Michigan Susquehanna Polling gives Ahmed El-Sayed (D) a 22%-20% edge, within the margin of error of 5%, over Rep Stevens (D), while state Senator McMorrow (D) is left at 9%.
• In the State with an oversupply of Dan Sullivans, Dan Sullivan is suing to be put on the Alaska Senate ballot with Dan Sullivan. The Alaska legislature is talking about accommodating solutions for Dan Sullivan, rather than fighting the Dan Sullivan lawsuit. Meanwhile, venerable Siena College is splashing a bit of cold water on the Democrats’ party by giving Senator Dan Sullivan (R) a small 47%-45% lead, which is within the five point margin of error, over former Rep Mary Peltola (D).
• The 27 June primary runoff for Louisiana’s U.S. Senate seat of Senator Cassidy (R) has concluded with the nominations of Rep Letlow (R), with a 56.9% share of the Republican runoff vote, and Jamie Davis (D), with a 79.9% share of the Democratic runoff vote. For those of us who want to compare numbers, Rep Letlow received 178,407 votes, while Mr Davis received 152,472 votes.If we take these numbers seriously, I do not know why Mr Davis cannot be expected to pick up most or all of those who voted for his rival, Gary Crockett, and the total number of votes for the Democratic primary runoff was 190,918, although I do not have a summation of Mr Crockett.
  

  On The Issues: Rep Letlow (R-LA).

  But in the Republican column, the candidates were very different.  Rep Letlow, despite an endorsement from President Trump, seems at least somewhat moderate, although the On The Issues summation is based on a paucity of data that may be misleading. State Treasurer Fleming, the Representative’s vanquished rival, is considered a hard right conservative. Will the latter’s backers vote for the Republican nominee regardless of positions? Will independents vote for the Republican if her position is not crystal clear?

  

  On The Issues: Senate candidate Jamie Davis (D-LA).

  And then there’s Democratic candidate Jamie Davis. He has no experience with elective office, according to Ballotpedia, although his On The Issues summation, see right, is moderate and populist, which may be optimal this election. Will moderate Republicans and independents take a chance on him?

  I expect Letlow to win easily, but I could be wrong.

• A Siena College poll for Maine gives Graham Platner (D) a 49%-47% lead, well within the margin of error of 4.8 points. Platner is the fresh new thing, while Collins is experienced but probably out of warranty. If Platner manages to lose, a significant segment of the younger Democrats will have a blot on their record which may inhibit future intra-party maneuvering, despite progressive celebrations over successfully primarying older incumbents.And Fox News, highly respected in polling, is giving Senator Collins a 50%-47% lead over Platner, within the margin of error of ±3 points. This is a tight race, and Platner may not be up to the job unless Collins makes a prominently poor decision in the Senate.
• A Saint Anselm College/UNH poll of New Hampshire voters gives Rep Pappas (D) a 47%-41% lead over former Senator Sununu (R), the brother of Governor Sununu (R). The New Hampshire primary has not yet been held, and the poll has further results, but these two appear to be the favorites.
• A University of New Hampshire poll gives Senator Markey a 41%-35% lead in the Democratic Massachusetts primary over Rep Moulton. Both have a substantial lead over the only Republican in the Republican primary, Michael Deaton (R), in the same poll. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will win the general election, sans a black swan event. So will Moulton catch Markey by 1 September, which is the primary election date? Moulton’s been slowly creeping up, and is much younger than Senator Markey.
• A Siena College poll for Iowa gives Rep Hinson (R) a 48%-46% lead over Josh Turek (D), which is well within the margin of error of five points.
• A Siena College poll for Ohio gives incumbent Senator Husted (R) a 50%-47% lead over former Senator Sherrod Brown (D), which is well within the margin of error of five points. This result is in contrast with an earlier Fox News poll showing Brown holding a 53% – 45% lead.
• The 30 June Senate primary in Colorado yielded unchallenged Republican state Senator Mark Baisley and the incumbent Senator, John Hickenlooper (D), who won his primary 56.7% – 43.3% over challenger Julie Gonzalez, which is closer than I suspect the Senator was expecting. The two victors move on to the general election, which also includes a horde of independent and small party candidates. At present I expect the incumbent to easily win.

SUMMER BREAK

The next Senate primary elections are on 4 August, in Kansas, Michigan, and Virginia; two days later, on 6 August, is the Tennessee Senate primary election.

I won’t be on break, sad to say.