Persuasion, denial and bluster: Trump ‘stuck’ on Iran war ahead of elections

“It’s fair to say that the Iranians have decided that they are going to make life more miserable for Trump in a variety of ways,” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a political scientist and vice-provost at Missouri Science and Technology University. “They are certainly going to do whatever they can to hurt him in the midterms...

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/22/trump-iran-war-midterm-elections

 

Senate Democrats announce $40M ground game spend in 10 battlegrounds - Live Updates - POLITICO

The effort, branded as “Win The Senate” and shared first with POLITICO, includes seven states where Democrats are on offense — Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Texas, Iowa and Florida — along with three where the party is playing defense — Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire...

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/28/congress/senate-dems-ground-game-40-million-spend-01013128 

WATCH: 'You, sir, are the failure,' Sen. Peters tells Hegseth over lack of U.S. strategy in Iran war | PBS News

"The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, reminding everybody it was open before the war. Prices were lower for everybody until the war, … and of course, tragically, people, service members, our warfighters who we care deeply about, are still dying. So what's different?" Peters asked Hegseth...

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-you-sir-are-the-failure-sen-peters-tells-hegseth-over-lack-of-u-s-strategy-in-iran-war

Rahm Emanuel’s Israel Speech Shows Where American Politics Is Headed - POLITICO

A preview of Rahm Emanuel’s remarks shows the era of absolute U.S. support for Israel’s government is over...

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/07/06/rahm-emanuel-israel-palestine-iran-democrat-strategy-00987525 

DNC's 2024 election autopsy criticizes Kamala Harris while sidestepping controversial elements of the campaign | PBS News

"I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won't meet your standards," Martin wrote in an essay on Substack on Thursday. "I don't endorse what's in this report, or what's left out of it. I could not in good faith put the DNC's stamp of approval on it. But transparency is paramount."…

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/dncs-2024-election-autopsy-criticizes-kamala-harris-while-sidestepping-controversial-elements-of-the-campaign

China’s Long Game

“China is betting that American decline will continue,” Ryan Hass writes. This is why China believes that the surest path to international power is not through a direct confrontation, but through patience:

 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/china-trump-american-decline/687087/

'Shut this White House down': Platner talks strategy to stop Trump

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnLaj8nbOP0

 

Israel’s new strategy: Lean on Trump, pressure Iran, keep the military option - POLITICO

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel isn’t getting the U.S. backing for an extended war with Iran that it wanted. So the country is switching to a new regional strategy — one that hinges on a fragile mix of military pressure, U.S. diplomacy and, ultimately, the prospect of acting alone...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/10/israel-iran-trump-war-00867266

Lack of Iran war plan has unleashed chaos and could stymie US military for decades, say critics

White House contends with reality of shoddy preparations for war and unclear conditions for victory…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/13/goal-plan-iran-war-military

 

Plan B | Paula Poundstone

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xw9Pfulj6gU

 

Tommy Vietor warns Trump may have 'bitten off more than he can chew' on Iran

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VnN2EQI1bQU

 

Iran is not Venezuela, despite Trump’s hopes of repeating ‘regime capture’ strategy

Experts say US influence over South American neighbour will be hard to replicate in country with deep and long-standing antipathy to the west…

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/06/iran-venezuela-trump-regime-capture

 

Mortality and margins weigh on House Republicans as they kick off the election year - POLITICO

…LaMalfa's death and Baird's hospitalization represented another blow to their razor-thin majority, leaving many contemplating whether Republicans could ever muster the votes they would need to pass a laundry list of pre-midterm policy priorities…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/house-republicans-anxiety-margins-midterms-00713358 

Conservatives balk at Trump’s calls to be ‘flexible’ on abortion coverage in health care talks - POLITICO

Anti-abortion groups have been intensely vocal, threatening Republicans to not back any effort to leave out Hyde protections in a health care deal. One influential anti-abortion group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, was quick to respond to Trump's comments Tuesday, pointing out a commitment the president made last year to end the use of taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortion...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/conservatives-anti-abortion-trump-health-care-gop-00712565 

 

Trump tells GOP it’s time to ‘own’ health care while urging ‘flexibility’ on abortion restrictions - POLITICO

At the end of a winding, nearly 90-minute speech to the House GOP conference, which Trump touted as a "roadmap" to winning the midterm elections, he demanded Republicans show flexibility on their long-standing stance against the use of federal dollars to pay for abortion, a call that prompted swift blowback. He also asked them to enact an insurance plan that sends dollars directly to consumers instead of insurance companies and "own" in-vitro fertilization policy. 

And he set the stakes: winning the midterms and avoiding a third impeachment... 

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/trump-health-abortion-restrictions-hyde-00712507 

 

A Strategy That Ignores the Real Threats - The Atlantic

In fact, Americans face many new threats from China and Russia. With an operation by a group that the U.S. government labeled Salt Typhoon, China has compromised U.S. telecommunications networks and can now listen to calls or read text messages by any American it chooses. If you feel like your communications might be of interest to the Chinese Communist Party, you should be using only encrypted apps for messaging and calls. In another operation—labeled Volt Typhoon—China has penetrated U.S. infrastructure, including water-supply plans, electricity grids, and transportation, with a view to conducting destructive cyberattacks on the United States in the event of a war between the two countries. Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community's 2025 threat assessment, Russia "is developing a new satellite meant to carry a nuclear weapon as an antisatellite capability," which, if detonated, "could cause devastating consequences for the United States, the global economy, and the world in general." 

None of these direct threats to the American homeland are even mentioned in Trump's NSS. The strategy therefore does not explain what the government, Congress, and the private sector should do to fix these vulnerabilities...

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2025/12/national-security-strategy-ignores-real-threats-trump/685181/ 

 

 

Republicans turn on Trump’s defense policy chief - POLITICO

Colby is the intellectual standard-bearer for a GOP faction that argues Washington must focus its military power on deterring China, even if that means scaling back in Europe and the Middle East. He has spent years warning that over-investing in Ukraine weakens readiness in Asia. His critics — including many traditional defense hawks — argue that this approach risks emboldening Russia and undermining longstanding U.S. commitments abroad. 

But that friction led to concerns this summer from parts of the White House and among allies that he was acting largely on his own accord, especially in halting some shipments of air defense missiles to Ukraine...

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/14/trump-elbridge-colby-congress-backlash-00650666 

 

Democrats scramble to blunt Trump’s midterms crime offensive - POLITICO

But, in a hint of hope for the party looking to neutralize a weakness President Donald Trump will exploit next year, those voters swung toward Democrats in all four categories after hearing messaging acknowledging crime is a problem and showing steps the party has taken to increase safety. Specifically, pollsters cited cracking down on gun trafficking and strengthening firearm background checks. The persuasion effort included criticisms of GOP cuts to gun-violence prevention funding, the Trump administration's attempts to roll back firearm regulations and Republicans' ties to pro-gun groups...

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/06/democrats-midterms-crime-messaging-memo-00594499

 

Government Shutdown Explained: What It Really Means | Adam Kinzinger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8h6m4EU-Yw

 

For Trump, This Is a Dress Rehearsal

… Trump is now forcing help that the city and state do not need and do not want, not to restore law but to assert his personal dominance over the normal procedures to enforce the law. 

 But if the Trump-Hegseth threats have little purpose as law enforcement, they signify great purpose as political strategy. Since Trump's reelection, close observers of his presidency have feared a specific sequence of events that could play out ahead of midterm voting in 2026: 

Step 1: Use federal powers in ways to provoke some kind of made-for-TV disturbance—flames, smoke, loud noises, waving of foreign flags. 

Step 2: Invoke the disturbance to declare a state of emergency and deploy federal troops. 

Step 3: Seize control of local operations of government—policing in June 2025; voting in November 2026...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/los-angeles-dress-rehearsal-trump/683078/