Today in one sentence: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton privately blamed the Iran war and high fuel prices for his struggling Senate campaign; Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers called for an end to Trump’s “tariff war” with Canada; the primary Senate Republican super PAC plans to spend $5 million to defend Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina; Trump’s tariffs added an estimated 2.9 percentage points to consumer goods inflation; companies that Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in have won more than $6 billion in federal contracts; Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly urged a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 American Express bill; ICE has investigated more than 150 voter-registration groups ahead of the midterm elections; the World Health Organization couldn’t assess the risk of a possible plague outbreak after a Russian anti-plague institute researcher died of pneumonia of unknown origin; and Trump proposed turning his West Palm Beach golf club into a Camp David-type presidential retreat for future presidents and visiting foreign leaders.
\n1/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton privately blamed the Iran war and high fuel prices for his struggling Senate campaign. “It’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel,” he told donors and lobbyists at a closed-door fundraiser, calling affordability “by far our biggest problem.” Paxton also complained that Washington was controlling his campaign messaging. “I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it’s all coming – you know – from D.C.,” Paxton said, adding, “I don’t control message or what we’re doing.” While Paxton claimed that Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas “dropped our numbers,” Trump nevertheless is making his third trip to Texas in less than a month to campaign for Paxton. Polls show Democrat James Talarico narrowly ahead despite Republicans spending more than $200 million on the race. Trump won the state by more than 13 points in 2024. (Axios / Politico / CNN / The Hill / The Guardian / Politico / New York Times)
\n2/ Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers called for an end to Trump’s “tariff war” with Canada, saying “here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy.” Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods in August, prompting retaliatory tariffs that threaten Michigan’s auto industry because it depends on cross-border supply chains. Nevertheless, Trump, who endorsed Rogers, said “I viewed [Rogers] as saying that he thinks Canada should make a deal.” The Cook Political Report rates Rogers’ race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed a “toss-up.” (Politico / CNN / Axios / Reuters / The Hill / Wall Street Journal)
\n3/ The primary Senate Republican super PAC plans to spend $5 million to defend Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina. Trump won the state by about 18 points in 2024. Graham, appointed after her brother Lindsey Graham died in July, faces Democrat Annie Andrews in a race recent polls show is close. Trump, meanwhile, used an anti-trans slur three times to attack Andrews, who is not transgender, while urging South Carolina voters to elect Graham. Democrats need to flip four seats to take control of the Senate. (Axios / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CBS News / NBC News / MS Now / Mediaite)
\n4/ Trump’s tariffs added an estimated 2.9 percentage points to consumer goods inflation. Without the tariffs, goods prices would have fallen slightly The estimate reflects the 12 months ending in February 2026, when the inflationary effect peaked. Nearly 90% of Trump’s 2025 tariffs passed through to U.S. import prices almost immediately. Roughly a third of the increase in consumer goods prices came from American-made goods as manufacturers paid more for imported materials and raised their own prices. (Axios / Liberty Street Economics / Washington Post)
\n5/ Companies that Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in have won more than $6 billion in federal contracts. Since then, Trump Jr.’s firm, 1789 Capital, took a stake in Anduril last year, the AI defense company has won 135 government contracts and received about $1.8 billion under those agreements. Yesterday, Trump announced another $2.9 billion in Navy support for an Anduril submarine-parts facility in Maryland. Other Trump Jr.-backed companies secured military contracts for rocket engines and automated submarine factories. Meanwhile, Foundation Future Industries won a $24 million contract for robotics startup, where Eric Trump is the chief strategy adviser. The brothers also hold indirect investments in drone maker Powerus, which also won an Air Force contract worth up to $90 million. (ABC News)
\n6/ Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly urged a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 American Express bill. “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express,” Trump Jr.’s former fiancée texted Eric Deters days before her Senate confirmation hearing as ambassador to Greece. “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” she added. The messages also show Guilfoyle forwarding Deters’ tax dispute to the IRS commissioner and updating him on her efforts to lobby the Justice Department on his behalf. Deters never made the payment. (Wall Street Journal)
\n7/ ICE has investigated more than 150 voter-registration groups ahead of the midterm elections. It’s also considered deploying undercover agents to investigate groups suspected of helping noncitizens register to vote. Meanwhile, internal Department of Homeland Security documents show that ICE has collected nearly 100 million records as part of its effort to identify noncitizens illegally registering or voting. The records included 48.4 million supplied by Heather Honey, a senior DHS adviser who promoted false claims about the 2020 election, from unidentified “independent sources of information,” and another 50.6 million obtained from the Justice Department. Noncitizen voting is rare, and there is no credible evidence that it has changed the outcome of an election. (New York Times / CNN / Democracy Docket)
\n8/ The World Health Organization couldn’t assess the risk of a possible plague outbreak after a Russian anti-plague institute researcher died of pneumonia of unknown origin. WHO officials don’t know what caused her illness, but Russia denied any accident at the lab and maintained that “there are no epidemic risks,” despite quarantining or monitoring about 200 of her contacts. The WHO is also seeking clarification about unconfirmed reports that a second lab employee developing pneumonia of unknown cause. The U.S., meanwhile, sent Moscow a formal diplomatic warning over its failure to disclose details about the death. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the information Russia had shared as “still quite limited,” adding: “Maybe there’s nothing there. Maybe it’s bigger than we thought. We don’t know.” Trump, however, maintained that the U.S. didn’t believe the incident involved a bioweapon: “We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.” He acknowledged that “Russia is not saying much,” but repeated Moscow’s assurances that the situation was under control. Trump also claimed he had a call scheduled with Putin to discuss the incident. Kremlin, however, denied that a call had been arranged. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg)
\n9/ Trump proposed turning his West Palm Beach golf club into a Camp David-type presidential retreat for future presidents and visiting foreign leaders. His attorney asked Palm Beach County, which owns the land, to provide a parcel to the federal government for a presidential residence. Trump would pay for construction, and his company would continue operating the private club and paying its lease. (Washington Post / The Hill / Mediaite)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 27 days; and the 2028 presidential election is in 762 days.
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", "summary": "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton privately blamed the Iran war and high fuel prices for his struggling Senate campaign; Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers called for an end to Trump’s “tariff war” with Canada; the primary Senate Republican super PAC plans to spend $5 million to defend Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina; Trump’s tariffs added an estimated 2.9...", "date_published": "2026-10-07T15:54:35-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["tariffs","economy","midterm-election","ethics"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/06/day-2086/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/06/day-2086/", "title": "Day 2086: “A rather standard thing to do.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2086trump-a41127.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump seemingly suggested letting Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego if it develops a nuclear weapon; Trump reversed course and said MAGA Inc. will start paying for his “Patriotic Ads” instead of using taxpayer funds; his super PAC doesn’t plan to reimburse taxpayers for the more than $10 million spent on TV ads promoting him; Trump demanded that the FBI investigate anti-ICE protesters after watching a TikTok video; and a former CIA official pleaded guilty to wire fraud after diverting about $194 million in government funds, which he used to buy Florida mansions and gold.
\n1/ Trump seemingly suggested letting Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego if it develops a nuclear weapon. At a Nebraska rally, Trump defended his seven-month war as “a small price to pay for keeping the world safe,” saying, “Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. […] it’s going to be over with very soon.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the remarks “deranged and dangerous” and directed the state’s threat assessment center to monitor whether foreign actors interpret them as an invitation to target California. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also warned that the remarks “could potentially compromise our safety.” The White House, meanwhile, dismissed the criticism, saying “The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality. He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.” (Los Angeles Times / Reuters / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Axios / The Hill / CBS News)
\n2/ Trump reversed course and said MAGA Inc. will start paying for his “Patriotic Ads” instead of using taxpayer funds. Trump called the use of public money “a rather standard thing to do,” but said he decided to “pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.” The government has spent at least $10 million airing the ads under a $20 million Department of Homeland Security contract. The ads carry “Paid for by the U.S. Government” disclaimers, and one reused footage from a 2024 Trump campaign video. The White House, meanwhile, denied that the ads were political, saying: “The President is not on the ballot and the ads don’t have a call to action.” (New York Times / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / CBS News / NBC News)
\n3/ Trump’s super PAC doesn’t plan to reimburse taxpayers for the more than $10 million spent on TV ads promoting him. The White House clarified that Trump’s plan to pay for the ads himself using money raised for MAGA Inc. “was not referring to reimbursement” and applied only to ads “moving forward.” Asked whether he would repay the government for ads that had already aired, Trump replied: “We’ll decide.” (Axios / New York Times / The Hill / CNBC)
\n4/ Trump demanded that the FBI investigate anti-ICE protesters after watching a TikTok video, according to a whistleblower complaint. Former FBI intelligence analyst Jill Fields said the FBI was ordered to run checks on the protesters in Alhambra, California, in early 2025 despite having no evidence of a crime. FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly told top FBI leaders that Trump “was angry about the incident, and he wanted those protesters investigated and arrested.” Fields also alleged that Emil Bove, then acting deputy attorney general, demanded a separate investigation of protesters outside a federal building. The White House, however, denied the allegations, saying violence and obstruction aren’t protected speech. (CNN / NBC News)
\n5/ A former CIA official pleaded guilty to wire fraud after diverting about $194 million in government funds, which he used to buy Florida mansions and gold. David Rush also admitted in his plea agreement that he disclosed “certain descriptive information of a U.S. government clandestine human source” that could “endanger the safety and life of the human source and the U.S. government officers working with the source.” He faces up to 20 years in prison. (NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 28 days; and the 2028 presidential election is in 763 days.
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", "summary": "Trump seemingly suggested letting Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego if it develops a nuclear weapon; Trump reversed course and said MAGA Inc. will start paying for his “Patriotic Ads” instead of using taxpayer funds; his super PAC doesn’t plan to reimburse taxpayers for the more than $10 million spent on TV ads promoting him; Trump demanded that...", "date_published": "2026-10-06T15:55:42-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["iran","ethics","foreign-policy","white-house"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/05/day-2085/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/05/day-2085/", "title": "Day 2085: “A valuable contribution.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2085trump-6a33e0.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito considered retiring this year, but decided to stay so he could make “a valuable contribution”; Trump plans to send $90 to 20.8 million Medicare beneficiaries to help offset their Part B premiums; the Pentagon removed all 12 B-1 bombers from the U.K.’s RAF Fairford airbase; a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall and related infrastructure through Big Bend National Park in Texas; Trump announced the formation of his new “Super Intelligence Force” and named National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton to lead it; Trump posted Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number online and urged Arkansans to call him; the State Department is monitoring reports that a worker at an anti-plague laboratory in Russia died of pneumonic plague; and 59% of Latino voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 35% who favor Republican control.
\n1/ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito considered retiring this year, but decided to stay so he could make “a valuable contribution.” Alito, however, dismissed the idea that presidential politics should dictate when he leaves, saying it is “too hard to predict what the political situation will be.“If Alito, 76, retires next year, it could give Trump the chance to nominate a fourth justice. Democrats, meanwhile, are threatening to block Trump’s judicial nominees if they win control of the Senate in November. Sen. Richard Blumenthal added that the chances a Democratic-led Senate would confirm a Trump Supreme Court nominee are “slim to none.” (Politico / CNBC / Semafor / NBC News / CBS News)
\n2/ Trump plans to send $90 to 20.8 million Medicare beneficiaries to help offset their Part B premiums. The one-time payments will arrive before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and come from the roughly $2 billion from the Medicare Improvement Fund. The standard Part B premium rose nearly 10% this year to $202.90 a month, despite Trump’s claim that he had reduced premiums “by significant amounts.” Separately, Trump renewed his promise to send every adult U.S. citizen $5,000 if Republicans retain control of Congress. However, he hasn’t said how he plans to fund the roughly $1.2 trillion proposal, which requires congressional approval. Meanwhile, the administration began distributing $500 checks to roughly 1 million Affordable Care Act enrollees. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
\nThe Energy Department will announce $150 million for new power lines in Alaska. JD Vance, meanwhile, is preparing to rally voters for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces Democrat Mary Peltola in a tight reelection race for a seat Democrats see as key to winning control of the Senate in November. (Reuters)
\nTrump plans to ease restrictions on the use of tax-exempt red-dyed diesel in on-road vehicles as diesel prices remain near record highs. “Red diesel is exempt from the federal excise tax of 24 cents per gallon, enabling its use in on-road vehicles without penalties could translate into an effective tax break in some cases.” (Bloomberg / Politico)
\n💡 “Trump is clearly trying to buy votes with taxpayer money.” (CNN)
\n3/ The Pentagon removed all 12 B-1 bombers from the U.K.’s RAF Fairford airbase. Royal Air Force Fairford was used for long-range bombing missions in its war against Iran. Trump claimed “there was a threat,” while JD Vance attributed the redeployment to “an abundance of caution” about a suspected Iran-backed threat to the base. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, downplayed the move as part of routine rotations. British authorities arrested six people in connection with the plot to attack the base, including a British-Iranian dual national. British authorities arrested six people in connection with a suspected plot targeting the base, including a British-Iranian dual national. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there’s “strong indications” that Iran “played a part.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / CNN / NBC News / Axios)
\n4/ A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall and related infrastructure through Big Bend National Park in Texas. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that the challengers were likely to succeed on at least one claim and would face “serious, irreparable harm.” The injunction bars construction and ground-disturbing work unless the government complies with environmental laws while a lawsuit challenging the project proceeds. Construction, however, had already started in parts of the region, including the roughly 500-mile sector and Big Bend National Park. (ABC News / Axios / CNN / NBC News / Reuters / The Guardian)
\n5/ Trump announced the formation of his new “Super Intelligence Force” and named National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton to lead it. The task force has 120 days to report on artificial intelligence’s risks and opportunities, and recommend what role the federal government should play. Its charter calls for responding to AI-enabled threats without “overregulation” that could stifle innovation. The move followed Trump’s meeting with top AI executives last week, who signed a “morally binding” set of voluntary safety standards to “self-police” their AI models. Clayton, meanwhile, will continue overseeing the U.S. intelligence community. (CBS News / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / NBC News)
\n6/ Trump posted Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number online and urged Arkansans to call him. The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July to end twice-yearly clock changes for most of the country, but the Senate hasn’t taken up the measure. Trump nevertheless blamed Cotton for blocking the bill, saying “Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton. To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.” (New York Times / CBS News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
\n7/ 😬 Well, that’s fantastic… The State Department is monitoring reports that a worker at an anti-plague laboratory in Russia died of pneumonic plague. Russia’s public health agency said her pneumonia was of unknown origin and that tests found no microorganisms linked to her work. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said: “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm.” (Axios / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News)
\npoll/ 59% of Latino voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 35% who favor Republican control. 25% of Latinos approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 69% disapprove. (NBC News)
\nThe Supreme Court’s new term begins today; the 2026 midterms are in 29 days; and the 2028 presidential election is in 764 days.
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", "summary": "Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito considered retiring this year, but decided to stay so he could make “a valuable contribution”; Trump plans to send $90 to 20.8 million Medicare beneficiaries to help offset their Part B premiums; the Pentagon removed all 12 B-1 bombers from the U.K.’s RAF Fairford airbase; a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building...", "date_published": "2026-10-05T13:52:12-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["supreme-court","healthcare","immigration","national-security"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/03/last-week-in-wtf/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/03/last-week-in-wtf/", "title": "Last Week in WTF: September 28-October 1", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/lwitf10226-9b3134.jpg", "content_html": "Last week in one sentence: The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to “third countries” where they have no connections; Trump’s taxpayer-funded TV ads were paid for with $20 million in border security funding; Trump canceled $810 million in spending approved by Congress; the U.S. military formally withdrew from Iraq and ended its 12-year anti-ISIS operation; and the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to use a federal citizenship database to verify voter rolls ahead of the midterms.
\n1/ The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to “third countries” where they have no connections. The unsigned order paused a lower-court ruling that migrants must be given notice and a meaningful chance to raise fears of torture or persecution before deportation. The Department of Homeland Security says more than 25,000 people have been deported to third countries under the policy. The justices will hear arguments in December on whether the policy is legal. (Day 2078 / Day 2079)
\n2/ Trump’s taxpayer-funded TV ads were paid for with $20 million in border security funding. The White House moved money Congress had allocated for border surveillance and drug-trafficking enforcement into a Homeland Security account for “commemorative events.” DHS then awarded a $20 million “national media campaign” contract the next day. Federal law prohibits using public funds for “propaganda purposes,” but FCC Chair Brendan Carr called the ads “normal” public service announcements. (Day 2079 / Day 2081)
\n3/ Trump canceled $810 million in spending approved by Congress. The White House notified Congress five days before the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, leaving lawmakers without the required 45-day review period. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins called the move illegal, saying the White House budget office “does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.” (Day 2078)
\n4/ The U.S. military formally withdrew from Iraq and ended its 12-year anti-ISIS operation. Iraq is now responsible for containing ISIS and Iran-backed militias, while the Pentagon will continue to provide targeted training and intelligence support. It’s the second time the U.S. has withdrawn all of its military forces from Iraq since the 2003 invasion. (Day 2080)
\n5/ The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to use a federal citizenship database to verify voter rolls ahead of the midterms. The order pauses a lower-court ruling that had blocked the system, which combines immigration and Social Security records to check voters’ citizenship status. Federal law, however, prohibits mass removal of voters within 90 days of Election Day. The emergency ruling was unsigned, with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting. (Day 2078)
\n17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living and 65% blame his policies for high prices. 67% of Republicans, however, say higher prices were due to factors outside his control.
\nThe Pentagon is preparing to send 10,000 more troops and a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East. The USS Theodore Roosevelt and a Marine amphibious group set sail this week, but one official said no final decision had been made on the carrier’s destination.
\nThe average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped to 7.28%, its highest since November 2023. Rates rose from 7.03% last week, which was the biggest weekly increase since October 2022.
\nDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved plans to cut 20% of positions reserved for generals and admirals. The military has until Jan. 1, 2027, to complete the reductions, which double the 10% overall cut Hegseth ordered last year.
\nThe Trump administration has spent at least $1.7 million on taxpayer-funded advertisements promoting Trump and his policies ahead of the midterms. The funds came from the Department of Homeland Security and Trump reportedly personally pushed for the ads and helped select the imagery and videos used.
\nWhere did the $20 million for TV ads promoting Trump come from?
\nThat’s one of 10 questions about this week’s news. Get answers and explanations as you go.
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", "summary": "September 28-October 1", "date_published": "2026-10-03T06:00:00-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["politics"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/01/day-2081/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/10/01/day-2081/", "title": "Day 2081: “Normal.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2081trump-916638.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new, four-star “AUTOWARCOM” to develop and deploy drones and other autonomous weapons; Trump’s taxpayer-funded TV ads were paid for with $20 million in border security funding; the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether ICE can detain immigrants who crossed the border illegally years ago without a bond hearing; Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas sued New York, Massachusetts, and California for shielding providers who mail abortion pills into states with bans; the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped to 7.28%, its highest since November 2023; 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living and 65% blame his policies for high prices; and Trump refused to rule out declaring a state of emergency before the midterms, saying, “I don’t rule anything out or in. We’ll see.”
\n1/ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new, four-star “AUTOWARCOM” to develop and deploy drones and other autonomous weapons. The Pentagon, however, will need legislation to establish the new command, which Hegseth wants operational by October 2027. Hegseth also ordered a 20% reduction in positions for generals and admirals by Jan. 1, 2027, doubling a cut he ordered last year. He called it “accountability and long overdue,” claiming “We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that: No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.” Sen. Mark Kelly warned that Hegseth was “purging a generation of great leaders of the military” and that it would take a generation to recover. Meanwhile, Hegseth tapped Elon Musk, Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for a 120-day study on the future of warfare. Musk’s and Luckey’s companies both benefit from federal defense contracting and have a financial stake in how the military modernizes itself. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Bloomberg / ABC News)
\n2/ Trump’s taxpayer-funded TV ads were paid for with $20 million in border security funding. The White House moved the money that Congress had allocated for border surveillance and drug-trafficking enforcement into a Homeland Security account for “commemorative events.” DHS then awarded a $20 million “national media campaign” contract the next day. One ad resembles Trump’s 2024 campaign ad, but instead now says “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” Federal law that prohibits the use of public funds for “propaganda purposes.” FCC Chair Brendan Carr nevertheless called the ads “normal” public service announcements. (Washington Post / MS Now / Reuters / NBC News / Politico)
\n3/ The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether ICE can detain immigrants who crossed the border illegally years ago without a bond hearing. The Trump administration changed its interpretation of a 1996 law last year to mandate detention during deportation proceedings, even for people who have lived in the U.S. for decades. The policy reversed nearly 30 years of practice that allowed them to seek release while their cases proceeded. Nine of the 11 federal appeals courts have rejected the administration’s interpretation. The justices are expected to rule by the end of June. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Reuters)
\n4/ Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas sued New York, Massachusetts, and California for shielding providers who mail abortion pills into states with bans. The lawsuit argues that the shield laws violate the Constitution by preventing the three states from investigating and prosecuting out-of-state providers. It’s the first lawsuit brought directly against states with abortion shield laws. (New York Times / Associated Press / Mother Jones / The Hill)
\n5/ The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped to 7.28%, its highest since November 2023. Rates rose from 7.03% last week, which was the biggest weekly increase since October 2022. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
\npoll/ 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living and 65% blame his policies for high prices. 67% of Republicans, however, say higher prices were due to factors outside his control. (Associated Press / AP-NORC)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 33 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 768 days.
\n\nTrump refused to rule out declaring a state of emergency before the midterms, saying, “I don’t rule anything out or in. We’ll see.” (The Hill / The Guardian)
\nTrump said he would consider issuing preemptive pardons to members of his administration before leaving office, saying “Yeah, sure I’d do that.” When asked what would happen if Democrats took the House, he said: “They’ll probably go after me and I’ll go after them.” (NBC News / ABC News / Bloomberg)
\nTrump claimed the Secret Service wanted him to tear down the Oval Office and replace it with a more secure version. “I said, ‘My ass, you can’t build a new one. This is a special place.’” (Washington Post / The Hill)
\nTrump refused to rule out demolishing the Kennedy Center, saying “I’m not committing to anything” and that “we’re going to see how it plays out in court.” A federal judge ordered the administration to give at least 30 days’ notice before any demolition. (Washington Post)
\nTrump lashed out at Time reporters for not asking him “one fucking positive question” and complained they had ignored Venezuela, even though they had discussed it earlier in the interview. (Rolling Stone / The Hill)
\nA D.C. judge permanently dismissed the vandalism case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn over damages to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office dropped the case after evidence showed the damaged was caused by a flawed installation. (NBC News / ABC News / Axios / Associated Press / CNBC)
\nA federal judge preliminarily reinstated Seattle’s court-appointed U.S. attorney, ruling Trump could not fire prosecutors appointed by courts. In July, Trump fired Rogoff less than an hour after he took office. The Justice Department said it would seek an immediate stay and appeal.(Politico / Reuters / CNN)
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", "summary": "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new, four-star “AUTOWARCOM” to develop and deploy drones and other autonomous weapons; Trump’s taxpayer-funded TV ads were paid for with $20 million in border security funding; the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether ICE can detain immigrants who crossed the border illegally years ago without a bond hearing; Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas sued New...", "date_published": "2026-10-01T16:44:09-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["national-security","immigration","economy","reproductive-rights","supreme-court"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/30/day-2080/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/30/day-2080/", "title": "Day 2080: “Toothless.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2080trump-43661e.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed bill aimed at making AI data centers pay for the necessary grid upgrades instead of passing them on to consumers; the FTC opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies over the potential risks that their products pose to consumers; British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are “strong indications” Iran was involved in the alleged plot to target the UK base used by the U.S. Air Force for strikes on Iran; the U.S. military formally withdrew from Iraq and ended its 12-year anti-ISIS operation; and the Federal Reserve’s inspector general found no basis for the Justice Department to reopen its criminal investigation into the central bank’s handling of its $2.4 billion headquarters renovation.
\n1/ Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed bill aimed at making AI data centers pay for the necessary grid upgrades instead of passing them on to consumers. The Ratepayer Protection Act would’ve required state utility regulators to consider a federal standard making data centers and other large electricity users cover the upgrades needed to serve them. Chuck Schumer called it a “toothless messaging bill” because states wouldn’t be required to adopt the standard. The measure failed 57-43, short of the 60 votes needed to advance, with four Democrats joining Republicans after the House passed it 417-3. About six in 10 Americans favor limiting new data centers, and a majority are highly concerned about their effect on electricity prices or water supplies. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Associated Press / Reuters / CBS News / The Guardian / CNN / Bloomberg)
\n2/ The FTC opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies over the potential risks that their products pose to consumers. A senior FTC official said OpenAI’s disclosure that its AI agents broke out of a testing environment and hacked into Hugging Face had increased the urgency. The agency is looking at whether the companies violated the FTC Act, and reportedly plans to demand records and compel executives to testify. Yesterday, Trump and AI executives signed a “morally binding” set of voluntary safety standards to “self-police” their AI models. (New York Post / Associated Press / CNBC / Reuters / Washington Post / CBS News)
\n3/ British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are “strong indications” Iran was involved in the alleged plot to target the UK base used by the U.S. Air Force for strikes on Iran. Earlier this year, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that bases used to facilitate attacks on Iran would be considered legitimate targets. Five British men were arrested near the base Sunday on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offenses. Police found no improvised explosive devices in their three vans. The men were released under what Burnham called the “strictest possible bail conditions.” Trump, however, criticized their release, saying: “How do you give bail to a terrorist?” (NBC News / CNN / New York Times)
\n4/ The U.S. military formally withdrew from Iraq and ended its 12-year anti-ISIS operation. The withdrawal leaves Iraq responsible for containing ISIS and Iran-backed militias. The Pentagon will continue to provide Iraq with targeted training and intelligence support. It’s the second time that the U.S. has withdrawn all of its military forces from Iraq since the 2003 invasion. U.S. involvement cost taxpayers $1.7 trillion over more than 23 years. An estimated 4,599 U.S. service members and as many as 210,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between the invasion and 2023. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NPR / CBS News / CNN / Semafor / ABC News / Stars and Stripes / NBC News)
\n5/ The Federal Reserve’s inspector general found no basis for the Justice Department to reopen its criminal investigation into the central bank’s handling of its $2.4 billion headquarters renovation. While Trump and his allies have accused former Fed Chair Jerome Powell of mismanaging the project, the watchdog found no evidence that anyone had broken federal criminal law. However, the report did blame the Fed’s board for failing to set a maximum budget, which rose from $1.3 billion to $2.4 billion. The Justice Department dropped its criminal investigation of Powell in April after a judge quashed its subpoenas. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said it was reviewing the inspector general report and would consider reopening the matter, if warranted. (CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 34 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 769 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed bill aimed at making AI data centers pay for the necessary grid upgrades instead of passing them on to consumers; the FTC opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies over the potential risks that their products pose to consumers; British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there are “strong indications” Iran was involved...", "date_published": "2026-09-30T15:16:09-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["tech-policy","foreign-policy","national-security","congress"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/29/day-2079/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/29/day-2079/", "title": "Day 2079: “You make me want to throw up in my mouth.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2079trump-f31de8.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to “third countries” where they have no connections; former special counsel Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he stood by his decision to charge Trump and “will not be silenced” by threats of prosecution; Sen. Eric Schmitt accused Jack Smith of perjury after the senator confused the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team; a lawyer who tried to overturn the 2020 election resigned from the Justice Department’s “grand conspiracy” investigation; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the military to use “advanced intelligence and cyber capabilities to identify, disrupt, and neutralize foreign interference” in the November midterm elections; the Trump administration has spent at least $1.7 million on taxpayer-funded advertisements promoting Trump and his policies ahead of the midterms; consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since 2014; and Trump and the leaders of the largest AI companies signed a “morally binding” set of voluntary safety standards to “self-police” their AI models after Anthropic warned investors that AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” and OpenAI delayed the release of its next-generation AI model after internal tests showed it was more deceptive.
\n1/ The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to “third countries” where they have no connections. The unsigned order paused a lower-court ruling that said migrants were entitled to notice and a meaningful chance to raise fears of torture or persecution before deportation. More than 25,000 people have been deported to third countries under the policy. The justices will hear arguments in December on whether the policy is legal. (NBC News / New York Times / CBS News / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Reuters / Politico / NPR)
\n2/ Former special counsel Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he stood by his decision to charge Trump and “will not be silenced” by threats of prosecution. “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation,” Smith said. He added that he would’ve prosecuted any former president on the same facts “regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat.” Smith’s investigations led to criminal indictments against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents. Both cases were dropped after Trump’s 2024 election win under Justice Department policy barring prosecution of a sitting president. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, meanwhile, called Smith’s investigation “a partisan weapon that broke the rules,” while Sen. John Kennedy told him, “You make me want to throw up in my mouth.” (ABC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Reuters / CNN / NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
\n3/ A lawyer who tried to overturn the 2020 election resigned from the Justice Department’s “grand conspiracy” investigation. Kurt Olsen, a Trump ally and election denier, worked on the investigation into former federal officials. His departure follows the resignation of Joseph diGenova, who had been overseeing the investigation trying to establish that Obama- and Biden-era officials had engaged in a long-running criminal conspiracy Trump to keep him out of office. The investigation produced no charges. (CNN / CBS News / Washington Post / Reuters)
\n4/ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the military to use “advanced intelligence and cyber capabilities to identify, disrupt, and neutralize foreign interference” in the November midterm elections. Hegseth called protecting elections a “no-fail mission” and ordered Cyber Command to work with the Department of Homeland Security to counter “potential cyber threats from foreign actors targeting our elections.” Trump, however, cut millions in funding for civilian election security operations. (Axios / Associated Press / CNN / The Hill / ABC News)
\n5/ The Trump administration has spent at least $1.7 million on taxpayer-funded advertisements promoting Trump and his policies ahead of the midterms. The funds came from the Department of Homeland Security and Trump reportedly personally pushed for the ads and helped select the imagery and videos used. Senate Republican Leader John Thune said the ads “shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” The White House, meanwhile, defended the ads, saying “Don’t let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on tv.” (Associated Press / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico)
\n6/ Consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since 2014 as Americans grew more worried about prices and jobs. The Conference Board’s index dropped 6.7 points to 81.9 in September, and consumers’ expectations for the next six months also declined. For the first time in the four years, more respondents rated their personal finances bad than good. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 35 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 770 days.
\n\nBritish counterterrorism police found no improvised explosive devices in three vans, the base used by the U.S. Air Force for strikes on Iran. The five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offenses were released on bail without charges. (NBC News)
\nThe Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act that would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption to regulate college athletes’ pay, transfers, and eligibility. The bipartisan bill would protect athletes’ right to earn money from their name, image and likeness while capping how much schools can pay them, limiting them to one transfer before sitting out a season, and setting five years of eligibility. (NPR / CNN / Axios / New York Times / Politico)
\nTrump announced America.gov, an AI-powered chatbot and portal for federal services, and ordered agencies to integrate public-facing services within 90 days. The new website “is one more example of why I will never stifle the growth of technology,” Trump said during the event. The AI chatbot, however, initially said “official government sources” didn’t show that widespread fraud changed the outcome of the 2020 election. It later responded it couldn’t answer “political questions” when asked again. (Associated Press / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / ABC News / Politico)
\nOpenAI delayed the release of its next-generation AI model after internal tests showed it was more deceptive, willing to mislead users, and sometimes pushed ahead on tasks without asking users for permission. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR)
\nAnthropic warned investors in its IPO prospectus that AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity” and said its models could exhibit “self-preserving behaviors,” including attempts to “resist shutdown,” to “conceal or manipulate information,” and behavior “resembling blackmail.” (Reuters)
\nTrump and the leaders of the largest AI companies signed a “morally binding” set of voluntary safety standards to “self-police” their AI models. “It’s almost like a constitution, in a way,” Trump said. (CBS News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
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", "summary": "The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to “third countries” where they have no connections; former special counsel Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he stood by his decision to charge Trump and “will not be silenced” by threats of prosecution; Sen. Eric Schmitt accused Jack Smith of perjury after the senator confused...", "date_published": "2026-09-29T16:13:06-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["immigration","supreme-court","justice-department","midterm-election"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/28/day-2078/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/28/day-2078/", "title": "Day 2078: “Take the waste out.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2078trump-42ef48.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump canceled $810 million in spending approved by Congress using a “pocket rescission” that would let the money expire; Trump announced that Mesabi Metallics plans to invest $15 billion to build a steel mill in Iowa less than 40 days before the midterm elections as Republicans face competitive races in the state; the Trump administration finalized rules to lower the fuel-economy target for new cars and light trucks to 34.9 miles per gallon by the 2031; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let federal prisons deny certain types of medical care for transgender inmates; the Education Department formally rescinded the Biden-era Title IX rule that expanded sex-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity; the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to use a federal citizenship database to verify voter rolls ahead of the midterms; the Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using a Republican-drawn congressional map in November for the third time; and the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it resume deporting immigrants to countries where they’re not citizens.
\n1/ Trump canceled $810 million in spending approved by Congress using a “pocket rescission” that would let the money expire. The largest cuts target $567 million for Health and Human Services programs serving refugees, asylum seekers, and other noncitizens. The White House notified Congress five days before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, leaving lawmakers without the required 45-day review period. The House is also out of session until after the November election. Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the move illegal and said the White House budget office “does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.” (Associated Press / Politico / Reuters / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CBS News / CNBC)
\n2/ Trump announced that Mesabi Metallics plans to invest $15 billion to build a steel mill in Iowa. “They’re going to make a big investment in a place called Iowa,” Trump said. “I love Iowa. I won Iowa every time.” The announcement, however, comes less than 40 days before the midterm elections as Republicans face competitive races in Iowa. The mine and steel project, which was first proposed roughly 20 years ago, faced years of delays and bankruptcy before construction restarted under a reorganized company, is expected to begin producing steel in 2030 and create about 1,750 permanent jobs. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CBS News / Bloomberg / ABC News / Reuters / CNBC)
\n3/ The Trump administration finalized rules to lower the fuel-economy target for new cars and light trucks to 34.9 miles per gallon by the 2031. The Biden-era target was 50.4 mpg. Congress also eliminated fines last year for automakers that fail to meet the targets. The Transportation Department claimed the rollback would cut the average cost of a new vehicle by about $1,300. Trump claimed that the less stringent fuel economy standards would “take the waste out of building cars in America” and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car. Gasoline prices are averaging $4.47 a gallon – up more than 40% since last year. Analysts, however, questioned whether automakers would pass those savings on to buyers, and warned that less-efficient vehicles would cost drivers more at the pump. (CNBC / Politico / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
\n4/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let federal prisons deny certain types of medical care for transgender inmates. The request would also allow prisons to deny hormone therapy, end surgeries, and “social accommodations” while a lawsuit over the policy continues. Lower courts, however, have blocked the policy and that the Bureau of Prisons must continue providing care. The Trump administration accused the district court of “substituting its own policy judgment for that of the agency.” (CBS News / CNN / Politico / New York Times)
\n5/ The Education Department formally rescinded the Biden-era Title IX rule that expanded sex-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The department restored the rules adopted during Trump’s first term, which required schools to follow a formal process for sexual misconduct complaints, use a narrower definition of sexual harassment, and provide additional due-process protections to accused students. The new rule takes effect Tuesday, but stops short of defining “sex” under Title IX as biological sex. (Politico / The Hill / Washington Post)
\n6/ The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to use a federal citizenship database to verify voter rolls ahead of the midterms. The order pauses a lower-court ruling that had blocked the system, which combines immigration and Social Security records to check the citizenship status of voters. Federal law, however, prohibits mass removal of voters within 90 days of Election Day. The emergency ruling was unsigned, but the court’s three liberal justices joined in dissent. (New York Times / CNBC / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
\n7/ The Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using a Republican-drawn congressional map in November for the third time, leaving the state to use its 2022 map in November’s midterms. Under the old map, Democrats are favored to retain two of Missouri’s eight House seats. The new map was drawn to improve Republicans’ chances of winning a Democratic-held Kansas City seat. The justices warned that switching maps after ballots had been mailed and voting had begun would “usher in electoral chaos.” (Washington Post / CNBC / ABC News / New York Times / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg)
\n8/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it resume deporting immigrants to countries where they’re not citizens. Last week, a federal appeals court blocked the program, ruling that migrants weren’t given notice and a meaningful chance to raise fears of torture or persecution. The administration asked for an immediate stay, saying it had canceled deportation flights, including one carrying 70 people to three countries. The Department of Homeland Security says more than 25,000 people have been deported to third countries. (SCOTUSblog / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 36 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 771 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Trump canceled $810 million in spending approved by Congress using a “pocket rescission” that would let the money expire; Trump announced that Mesabi Metallics plans to invest $15 billion to build a steel mill in Iowa less than 40 days before the midterm elections as Republicans face competitive races in the state; the Trump administration finalized rules to lower the...", "date_published": "2026-09-28T17:01:42-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["supreme-court","voting-rights","midterm-election","immigration","economy"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/24/day-2074/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/24/day-2074/", "title": "Day 2074: “Love me.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2074trump-6ac8e7.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Senate rejected a resolution directing Trump to end the Iran war and seek congressional authorization; the 30-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2004, while the average 30-year mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time since January 2025; CNN, MS NOW and Politico regained access to the White House hours after initially being denied access despite a federal judge ordering the administration to restore their press credentials; JD Vance was the anonymous “senior administration official” behind one of the Politico stories that the White House cited to justify banning the outlet from the White House; the Texas Department of Public Safety failed to send tens of thousands of voter registration records to county election officials; the California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return roughly 650,000 seized ballots; an Iowa judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over a 2024 pre-election poll that showed Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa; and the U.S. government paid to air a pro-Trump television ad ahead of the midterm elections despite federal law restricting the use of taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda.”
\n1/ The Senate rejected a resolution directing Trump to end the Iran war and seek congressional authorization. The measure failed 49-50, with four Republicans joining Democrats in support. Although it had already passed the House, the vote was largely symbolic because the concurrent resolution wouldn’t have gone to Trump for his signature anyway. Meanwhile, Iran’s president pushed for a deal before the U.S. midterms, contradicting Trump’s claim two days ago that Iran was waiting to see “how I do in the midterm election.” (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CBS News)
\n2/ The 30-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2004, while the average 30-year mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time since January 2025. The 10-year Treasury yield also rose above 5%. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, raised rates last week for the first time in more than three years, and traders are pricing in additional rate hikes as the Iran war keeps energy prices elevated, persistent inflation, and economic growth remains resilient. Trump, however, has attacked the central bank board as “hostile” and demanded rates fall to “1%, or less.” (Bloomberg / Reuters / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / NPR)
\n3/ CNN, MS NOW and Politico regained access to the White House – hours after initially being denied access despite a federal judge ordering the administration to restore their press credentials. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a 14-day restraining order, finding that the outlets would likely to succeed in showing that their passes were revoked without due process and that the administration offered “little” support for its national security justification. (Associated Press / Reuters / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)
\n4/ JD Vance was the anonymous “senior administration official” behind one of the Politico stories that the White House cited to justify banning the outlet from the White House. In court filings defending its decision to ban Politico, CNN, and MS NOW, the administration cited a June 2026 report quoting a “senior administration official” who estimated an “80, 85 percent” chance of making a deal with Iran. The senior administration official was Vance speaking on an authorized, administration-hosted background briefing, and an aide explicitly instructed reporters on the line that the call was “on background, attributable to a senior administration official.” The White House later pointed to Politico’s use of that anonymous attribution as evidence that the outlet had published information threatening national security. Vance defended Politico’s ban this week as “totally appropriate.” (Status / Washington Post / New Republic)
\n5/ The Texas Department of Public Safety failed to send tens of thousands of voter registration records to county election officials. A system error reportedly prevented some applications and updates from being transmitted for nearly a year, with records dating as far back as October 2025. DPS said the “system issue has been resolved,” but officials haven’t said what caused the error, how many voters were affected statewide, or whether anyone was prevented from voting in the March primary. From 2020 through 2024, about 6 million Texans used the DPS portal to register to vote. (Texas Tribune / Votebeat / Associated Press / Washington Post)
\n6/ The California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return roughly 650,000 seized ballots. The court said Bianco created “a substantial risk to election integrity,” ordered him to return the ballots from the state’s 2025 special election to county election officials “forthwith,” and to “refrain from further handling” them because California law requires voted ballots to remain in the custody of election officials even during a criminal investigation. Bianco seized the ballots after receiving a complaint from a local citizens group claiming Riverside County had counted about 46,000 more ballots than it received. The county registrar, however, said the group misread preliminary records and that the official ballot-tracking system differed from the final count by 103 ballots. (CalMatters / Democracy Docket / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
\n7/ An Iowa judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over a 2024 pre-election poll that showed Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa. Judge Scott Beattie rejected Trump’s claim that the poll was consumer fraud, ruling that “simply labeling the poll a product […] does not transform it from speech into a product” or strip it of First Amendment protection. The poll had Harris ahead 47% to 44% three days before Election Day. Trump ultimately won Iowa 56% to 43%. (Axios / Politico)
\n8/ The U.S. government paid to air a pro-Trump television ad ahead of the midterm elections despite federal law restricting the use of taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda.” The 30-second spot aired on Fox News and Newsmax, featured Trump declaring that “America will never be a communist country,” promoted his policies, and ended with a disclaimer saying “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” In the background is the repeated chorus “love me” from a song by the artist JMSN. The White House wouldn’t say which agency funded it and called the ad an “educational and unapologetically patriotic” public service announcement meant to remind Americans “to love their country.” (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 40 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 775 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "The Senate rejected a resolution directing Trump to end the Iran war and seek congressional authorization; the 30-year Treasury yield climbed to its highest level since 2004, while the average 30-year mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time since January 2025; CNN, MS NOW and Politico regained access to the White House hours after initially being denied access despite...", "date_published": "2026-09-24T16:26:38-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["congress","economy","iran","media","voting-rights"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/23/day-2073/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/23/day-2073/", "title": "Day 2073: “Doing the best that he can.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2073trump-db04f2.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Iran vowed to fight “until our last breath” and “never bow our head or bend at the knee” to Trump’s demands; the Justice Department urged a federal judge to uphold Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, arguing that “access to the White House is a privilege – not a right”; the FBI was hacked and “very sensitive data” on nearly all agents and job applicants was stolen; 17 Democratic senators urged Trump to seek an AI agreement with China to establish “guardrails” around development; the first architect for Trump’s White House ballroom resigned after warning that the preliminary design violated building safety codes; Melania Trump said Trump is “doing the best that he can”; and 56% of Americans say the rule of law in the U.S. is weaker now than it was 10 years ago.
\n1/ Iran vowed to fight “until our last breath” and “never bow our head or bend at the knee” to Trump’s demands. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, declared that Iran was ready to negotiate with the U.S., but wouldn’t give up its civilian nuclear program or accept what he called Washington’s “language of force.” His address came a day after Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran if the nearly seven-month war ends without a deal. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNN)
\n2/ The Justice Department urged a federal judge to uphold Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, arguing that “access to the White House is a privilege – not a right.” The administration claimed the outlets violated “standards of professionalism and decorum” by “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.” The White House cited reporting about the Iran war, U.S. munitions, and White House construction and security as justification for the ban. The Justice Department also asked the courts to overturn a 49-year-old precedent protecting journalists’ access to the White House.(Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / CBS News / CNBC / NBC News)
\n3/ The FBI was hacked and “very sensitive data” on nearly all agents and job applicants was stolen, including names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, assignments and, in some cases, information about family members. The bureau hasn’t determined “the point of breach” and whether the information came from FBI systems or a third-party provider. ShinyHunters, meanwhile, demanded that the FBI revise or remove a May advisory describing the group as specializing in large-scale data breaches and extortion. (404 Media / New York Times / TechCrunch / Politico / Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / ABC News)
\n4/ Seventeen Democratic senators urged Trump to seek an AI agreement with China to establish “guardrails” around development. The senators argued that “AI technology is too powerful, and its risks too many, for the U.S. and China to forgo discussions,” and urged Trump to discuss slowing or pausing development with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. However, earlier this week, Trump declared that “I’m not going to stifle growth of anything that’s going to be bigger than the Industrial Revolution.” (Politico / Washington Post)
\n5/ The first architect for Trump’s White House ballroom resigned after warning that the preliminary design violated building safety codes. Trump reportedly responded that no building codes apply to White House construction, because “I am the code.” White House records, however, show officials continued to discuss life-safety issues, like adequate emergency exits and fire-containment measures, after James McCrery II resigned. (Washington Post)
\npoll/ 56% of Americans say the rule of law in the U.S. is weaker now than it was 10 years ago. 14% say it’s stronger. (Gallup)
\npoll/ 33% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 63% disapprove. (Strength in Numbers)
\npoll/ 49% of voters say they’ll support the Democratic candidate for Congress, compared with 41% who’d support a Republican. 68% call the economy “extremely important,” while 27% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and 20% approve of his handling of inflation. Two-thirds say Trump has worsened economic conditions. (CNN)
\n👍 Well, that’s fantastic: Melania Trump said Trump is “doing the best that he can.” “He’s very focused. He has a lot on his plate,” she said, adding: “It’s very different what’s going on around the world now. But I think he’s doing the best that he can.” Trump, however, faces weak approval ratings and voter dissatisfaction over the Iran war, the economy, and other priorities ahead of the midterms. Melania added that Trump “works nonstop” and “has the most energy than anybody.” (Axios)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 41 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 776 days.
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", "summary": "Iran vowed to fight “until our last breath” and “never bow our head or bend at the knee” to Trump’s demands; the Justice Department urged a federal judge to uphold Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, arguing that “access to the White House is a privilege – not a right”; the FBI was hacked...", "date_published": "2026-09-23T14:05:27-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["iran","media","white-house","national-security"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/22/day-2072/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/22/day-2072/", "title": "Day 2072: “Potential greatness or obliteration.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2072trump-d7dc6e.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Trump administration removed about 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act coverage, claiming they were improperly enrolled or didn’t exist; Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran; Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins she “should not be here covering me”at the United Nations, days after banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House; Sen. John Curtis called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden; Trump renamed artificial intelligence “super intelligence” for U.S. government documents days after saying he’s creating an “AI Force”; 29% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs; 55% of voters say Trump’s policies have hurt the economy; and 32% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing – a record low.
\n1/ The Trump administration removed about 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act coverage, claiming they were improperly enrolled or didn’t exist. Another roughly 419,000 enrollees will face additional eligibility verification. JD Vance said that canceling their federal subsidies would save $2.2 billion. The administration also imposed a six-month moratorium on new insurance brokers selling ACA plans. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, meanwhile, said the enrollees facing additional verification had “something about their story that was a little bit different than what we expected from the 100 percent fraud story,” adding: “We’re giving them another chance.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / The Hill)
\n2/ Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran, claiming that he faces “a big decision” between allowing Iran to “rebuild and create a far greater country” or doing it “quickly.” Hours later, however, Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials held a “very good” and “very productive” three-hour meeting about ending the nearly seven-month war, and that another meeting was planned “in the very near future.” Iranian state television confirmed that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and that Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz included lifting the U.S. naval blockade, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and ending the war on all fronts. Trump later described Iran’s choice as “potential greatness or obliteration.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN / Politico)
\n3/ Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins she “should not be here covering me”at the United Nations, days after banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. Collins was credentialed by the United Nations, and had asked about polling that shows two-thirds of Americans don’t think the U.S. is winning the war with Iran. Trump said he was “surprised” and claimed that the network had said it wouldn’t cover him. Collins, however, denied that, saying CNN “never said we were not going to cover the president.” CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sued Trump and other administration officials Monday, alleging the White House ban violates the First Amendment and due process. (Deadline / Washington Post / CNBC / Axios / The Hill)
\n4/ Sen. John Curtis called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden. The Republican senator called for an investigation into whether presidential family relationships have been used for personal financial benefit after the disclosure that a Russian oligarch paid for Trump Jr.’s post-wedding celebrations in the Bahamas. Curtis also cited Trump Jr.’s cryptocurrency ventures, international real estate deals, prediction-market ties, and reported defense investments. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, who previously testified for more than seven hours, said he’d testify again without a subpoena: “I’ll sit next to Don Jr. and testify any time, any place.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News)
\n5/ Trump renamed artificial intelligence “super intelligence” for U.S. government documents days after saying he’s creating an “AI Force.” During his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump claimed “artificial” makes the technology “sound fake,” adding: “From this point forward, all of United States documents, and hopefully the world’s, will be changed to use the much more accurate term ‘super’ as opposed to ‘artificial.’” It’s unclear when or how the change will be implemented. Trump also rejected efforts to slow AI development. “I’m not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” Trump said, while repeating his claim that AI safety warnings are a hoax. “We will only encourage super intelligence,” Trump added. (Axios / Washington Post / Reuters)
\npoll/ 29% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, while 71% disapprove. 70% say the Iran war has hurt American interests, 76% say it hasn’t been worth the costs, and 78% say that he is not doing enough to end the war. (CNN)
\npoll/ 55% of voters say Trump’s policies have hurt the economy. 43% say their vote for Congress in the midterms is to signal opposition to Trump, while 27% say their vote will signal support for him. (NBC News)
\npoll/ 32% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing – a record low – while 66% disapprove. Among Republicans, Trump’s approval rating dropped to 73% from 82% a week earlier. (Reuters)
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", "summary": "The Trump administration removed about 760,000 people from Affordable Care Act coverage, claiming they were improperly enrolled or didn’t exist; Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran; Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins she “should not be here covering me”at the United Nations, days after banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House; Sen. John Curtis called on the Senate Judiciary...", "date_published": "2026-09-22T15:09:24-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["healthcare","foreign-policy","iran","media","polling"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/21/day-2071/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/21/day-2071/", "title": "Day 2071: “Cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2071trump-6f7d4a.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration to regain access to the White House after Trump banned them for publishing “purposely negative stuff”; the major TV networks suspended their coverage of Trump after he banned CNN from covering him; ICE shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan immigrant in Austin while he was making a DoorDash delivery; the U.S. military attacked a boat in the Caribbean it claims was smuggling drugs along known smuggling routes, killing four people; Trump will create an “AI Force” that would “not in any way hinder or stifle” the industry; the military almost intercepted a Chinese ship in the Middle East after using an AI-generated intelligence report that falsely identified its cargo as nuclear weapons components; the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland reached an agreement to expand the U.S. military presence in Greenland; and Trump said his proposed 250-foot triumphal arch would become a “top grade Military Complex” capable of housing and rapidly deploying “large numbers of drones,” snipers, and ammunition.
\n1/ CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration to regain access to the White House after Trump banned them for publishing “purposely negative stuff.” The outlets called the ban “a direct assault on the First Amendment” and warned that “the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, appointed by Trump in 2017, ordered the administration to respond by Tuesday and scheduled a hearing for Wednesday. Kelly previously ordered the White House to temporarily restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass in 2018. Trump defended the ban, baselessly claiming that the outlets’ coverage posed “a threat to our National Security,” and that he was “instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS.” He added: “Why should I have to give ‘access’ to such people?” (New York Times / CNBC / CBS News / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Reuters / NPR / Politico / Axios / Bloomberg)
\nFRIDAY: Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Journalists from the three news organizations were denied access and had their press credentials confiscated. Trump accused the outlets of reporting “FICTION and LIES,” declared the ban “effective immediately,” and threatened that “Other Fake News Media Outlets” could follow. “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” Trump claimed, adding: “I don’t have to let them into my — into the people’s house. (Axios / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / New York Times / CBS News / Reuters)
\nNatalie Harp showed Trump clips of media coverage that reportedly infuriated him before he banned three outlets from the White House. Harp is one of Trump’s closest aides and has been nicknamed the “human printer” because she follows Trump around with physical copies of the news and social media posts. The directive surprised many senior staff, and aides who deal with the press were reportedly blindsided and unaware of the ban until Trump announced it on Truth Social. The announcement happened while chief of staff Susie Wiles was out of town. (CNN / Politico)
\nTrump complained recently that too few political allies are defending him on TV His frustration reportedly reached a “fever pitch” after aide Natalie Harp showed him clips of the media criticizing his administration. Hours later, Trump banned MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House. (Wall Street Journal)
\n2/ The major TV networks suspended their coverage of Trump after he banned CNN from covering him. After the White House banned CNN from fulfilling its scheduled turn as the TV pool representative, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC said there would be “no replacement pool put in place.” The networks argued that “the public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,” adding that “no administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” CNN had been scheduled to accompany Trump to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC)
\n3/ ICE shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan immigrant in Austin while he was making a DoorDash delivery. While Texas officials described it as a vehicle pursuit, video from the scene shows an officer exit an unmarked SUV, approach the passenger side of Wilber Garces Perez’s Toyota as it rolled forward, and fire three shots before the car stopped. Garces Perez was shot in the torso and taken into immigration custody after he was released from the hospital. (NPR / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CBS News)
\n4/ The U.S. military attacked a boat in the Caribbean it claims was smuggling drugs along known smuggling routes, killing four people. The military didn’t provide evidence that the boat was carrying drugs. The strike brought the death toll from the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged traffickers to at least 231 people in 69 strikes over the past year. (Associated Press)
\n5/ Trump will create an “AI Force” that would “not in any way hinder or stifle” the industry, rejecting calls from lawmakers and industry leaders for new federal guardrails or a slowdown in AI development. Trump also promised to appoint a new AI czar but offered few details about what the AI Force would do or where it would sit in the federal government, other than saying the government would “cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!” He argued that existing criminal and civil laws were enough to police “BAD” behavior by AI. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CBS News / CNN / ABC News / Axios / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)
\n6/ The military almost intercepted a Chinese ship in the Middle East after using an AI-generated intelligence report that falsely identified its cargo as nuclear weapons components. A special operations command analyst used an AI chatbot to analyze the ship’s manifest, which inaccurately identified its cargo, and then used AI to package the findings into a standard intelligence report that was circulated across the military. The military was preparing to board the vessel when officials reviewed the report and discovered the use of AI, which had inaccurately identified the ship’s cargo. One source described the report as “entirely false” and claimed it “almost started a war.” (CNN)
\n7/ FRIDAY: The U.S., Denmark, and Greenland reached an agreement to expand the U.S. military presence in Greenland. Denmark maintained that the agreement preserves its sovereignty over the territory and recognizes Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. Trump, however, claimed the deal gives the U.S. “permanent control over security, and all other needs” in Greenland. Trump added that the agreement means “no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.” (Associated Press / The Guardian / New York Times / NBC News / Axios / CBS News / ABC News / NPR)
\n8/ Trump said his proposed 250-foot triumphal arch would become a “top grade Military Complex” capable of housing and rapidly deploying “large numbers of drones,” snipers, and ammunition. He claimed the changes were made “at the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes.” The Pentagon declined to comment. The revised plan, however, hasn’t gone through federal design and historic-preservation reviews that considered the original arch. A federal judge ordered the administration to provide 48 hours’ notice before moving forward with activity at the site. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / Politico / CNN)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 43 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 778 days.
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", "summary": "CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued the Trump administration to regain access to the White House after Trump banned them for publishing “purposely negative stuff”; the major TV networks suspended their coverage of Trump after he banned CNN from covering him; ICE shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan immigrant in Austin while he was making a DoorDash delivery; the U.S....", "date_published": "2026-09-21T14:30:50-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["media","white-house","immigration","lawsuit"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/17/day-2067/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/17/day-2067/", "title": "Day 2067: “Real teeth.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2067trump-3f53f0.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to give at least 30 days’ notice before making any major changes to the building after photographs showed Trump reviewing a printout that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED”; U.N. investigators found “reasonable grounds” to believe the U.S. committed war crimes in Iran; the House passed a sanctions bill targeting Russia’s energy sector; the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee put a hold on Trump’s proposed $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel; Canada and the European Union are discussing making Canada the EU’s first-ever “associate member”; the White House withdrew Lance Schroyer’s stalled nomination to lead ICE; and a Democratic senator blocked bipartisan legislation to shield consumers from data center-related electricity cost increases.
\n1/ A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to give at least 30 days’ notice before making any major changes to the building after photographs showed Trump reviewing a printout that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper also ordered the Trump administration to file a detailed status report on the center’s current closure and emergency repairs. The orders follow Trump’s warning that “the Trump administration should certainly have recognition, because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down.” Kennedy Center officials, however, said the building is temporarily closed because of “acute risks to public safety” from structural deterioration and insisted that “nothing is being demolished.” (CNBC / Axios / New York Times / Politico / ABC News / CNN / CBS News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
\n2/ U.N. investigators found “reasonable grounds” to believe the U.S. committed war crimes in Iran. The fact-finding mission found that the Feb. 28 strike on an elementary school that killed more than 100 children was “the intended point of impact.” U.S. forces also failed to do everything feasible to verify it was a military target. Investigators said failure “went beyond negligence.” A second strike on a sports complex and nearby residential area also killed 22 civilians. Trump, meanwhile, previously said “Nobody did that on purpose,” and that “mistakes are made. War is nasty.” The same report, however, also accused Iran of crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, and other inhumane acts against protesters. (Axios / New York Times / Associated Press)
\n3/ The House passed a sanctions bill targeting Russia’s energy sector. The legislation allows Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, and the “shadow fleet” used to evade restrictions on Russian oil exports. It also extends sanctions on Iran’s energy and weapons sectors. House Democrats had opposed the bill, arguing that it would expand Trump’s tariff authority. Trump is expected to sign the legislation. (New York Times / CBS News / The Guardian / Semafor / NPR / NBC News / Axios)
\n4/ The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee put a hold on Trump’s proposed $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel, saying the package raises “grave, unresolved concerns.” Rep. Gregory Meeks argued that “The Trump administration has not provided sufficient assurances that these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with U.S. law and with appropriate protections for civilians.” The package includes 40,000 2,000-pound bombs and 20,000 I-2000 penetrating warheads. The administration, however, could still use emergency authority to bypass normal congressional review. (Wall Street Journal / The Hill / The Guardian / ABC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
\n5/ Canada and the European Union are discussing making Canada the EU’s first-ever “associate member.” Trump, meanwhile, called the proposed arrangement “laughable” but still threatened to impose “very heavy tariffs” on Europe or “stop trading with Europe on many things” if “I think it’s at all a hostile act.” While Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the proposal, he stressed that Canada isn’t seeking full EU membership and that “what matters is the substance.” Associated member status doesn’t currently exist under EU treaties and would have to be created and negotiated. (CBS News / Politico / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / NPR)
\n6/ The White House withdrew Lance Schroyer’s stalled nomination to lead ICE. Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and close ally of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, had no experience leading a major law enforcement agency, little immigration experience, and had never worked at ICE. His nomination had stalled after Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul refused to hold a confirmation hearing until the Department of Homeland Security provided information about its investigation into civilian deaths during immigration enforcement operations. (Politico / Associated Press / Axios / New York Times / CNN)
\n7/ A Democratic senator blocked bipartisan legislation to shield consumers from data center-related electricity cost increases. The Ratepayer Protection Act would require state utility regulators to consider standards making large data centers cover the costs of new power generation, transmission, and grid upgrades. It wouldn’t, however, require states to adopt those rules. Sen. Martin Heinrich nevertheless objected to an attempt to fast-track the measure after the House approved it 417-3, arguing that the measure lacked “real teeth.” (CBS News / Politico / CNBC / The Hill / New York Times / Associated Press)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 47 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 782 days.
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", "summary": "A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to give at least 30 days’ notice before making any major changes to the building after photographs showed Trump reviewing a printout that appeared to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED”; U.N. investigators found “reasonable grounds” to believe the U.S. committed war crimes in Iran; the House passed a sanctions bill targeting Russia’s energy sector;...", "date_published": "2026-09-17T16:35:23-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","congress","sanctions","nomination"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/16/day-2066/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/16/day-2066/", "title": "Day 2066: “Transformative leader.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2066trump-5bef22.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 and signaled that another hike could come this year as inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target; the Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025 as part of the DOGE effort to cut costs by shrinking the government; the House voted for a third time to direct Trump to end the war in Iran; Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and House Speaker Mike Johnson canceled votes and sent lawmakers home, delaying the vote on impeaching Hegseth until after the November elections.
\n1/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 and signaled that another hike could come this year as inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target. The unanimous quarter-point increase lifted the benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh warned that “the plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” adding that inflation hadn’t improved enough to justify holding rates steady. Trump, meanwhile, demanded that rates be cut to “1%, or less” and that the Fed “LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!” (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico)
\n2/ The Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025 as part of the DOGE effort to cut costs by shrinking the government. The Government Accountability Office estimated that $6.7 billion came from the deferred resignation program, which allowed nearly 140,000 federal workers to stop working while continuing to receive pay and benefits through September before resigning or retiring. The Office of Personnel Management called the $9.5 billion a “one-time expense” and claimed that the workforce reductions will save taxpayers $40 billion a year. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s goal was to cut government spending by $1 trillion. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / New York Times)
\n3/ The House voted for a third time to direct Trump to end the war in Iran. Seven Republicans joined Democrats in support of the resolution, which directs the Trump administration to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran” except for personnel needed to defend U.S. or allied bases in the Middle East. However, it’s unclear whether the Senate will take up the measure before the midterms. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News / CNN / Fox News / New York Post)
\n4/ Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Massie accused Hegseth of defying Congress and illegally continuing the U.S. war in Iran without congressional authorization, allowing an “unlawful war” to continue. He also accused Hegseth of ignoring laws to minimize civilian casualties, ordering extrajudicial killings, retaliating against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly for criticizing military orders, “kidnapping a sovereign leader” in Venezuela, and waging an unlawful war in Yemen. “In all of this, Secretary Hegseth has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Secretary of Defense,” Massie said on the House floor. The Pentagon, meanwhile, defended Hegseth as a “transformative leader” and maintained that the “entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision.” (Axios / NPR / Washington Post / ABC News / Politico / Reuters / CBS News / The Guardian / The Hill)
\n5/ House Speaker Mike Johnson canceled votes and sent lawmakers home, delaying the vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth until after the November elections. By sending lawmakers home a day early for its planned seven-week preelection recess, it pushed action on Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution until lawmakers return Nov. 9. Massie’s resolution to impeach Hegseth was “privileged,” meaning the House would was required to act on it no later than Thursday. Johnson denied that the schedule change was to avoid the Hegseth vote, called the impeachment effort a “publicity stunt,” and said it would be tabled when the House returns. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / New Republic)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 48 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 783 days.
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", "summary": "The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 and signaled that another hike could come this year as inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target; the Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025 as part of the DOGE effort to cut costs by shrinking the government; the House voted for a...", "date_published": "2026-09-16T15:27:28-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["economy","doge","iran","impeachment","congress"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/15/day-2065/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/15/day-2065/", "title": "Day 2065: “Really let our Country down.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2065trump-6d0561.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s plan to limit mail-in voting in the midterms; Trump attacked the Supreme Court over its “bad decision”; FBI Director Kash Patel declined to rule out sending agents to polling places during the November midterm elections; the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s war with Iran has cost the U.S. about $38 billion, and that it will continue to cost roughly $2 billion to $3 billion a month for as long as the fighting continues; the Senate blocked a cryptocurrency regulation bill that would have established a federal regulatory framework for digital assets; the Kennedy Center’s board voted to immediately close the performing arts venue for renovations after a federal judge again blocked an effort to put Trump’s name on the building; the U.S. confirmed that it has “on-orbit space control weapons” capable of defending American forces; 42% of voters said they trusted Republicans more to handle artificial intelligence; 51% of likely voters said they would vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress in their district in the midterms; 53% of voters consider Trump “corrupt” and 51% say he’s “dangerous”; and 54% of Democratic voters said they’re voting in the midterms mainly to stop Trump and Republicans.
\n1/ The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s plan to limit mail-in voting in the midterms, saying the administration was “unlikely to succeed on the merits” of its challenge. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that while there was “at least a fair prospect” the Postal Service had statutory authority to issue the rules, applying them this year “would be arbitrary and capricious” because election officials didn’t have “sufficient time to reasonably implement” them. The changes would have required states to submit lists of voters eligible to receive mail ballots and redesign ballot envelopes with unique barcodes, allowing the Postal Service to return noncompliant ballot mail to election officials even though its required online portal wasn’t operational yet. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / Bloomberg / NBC News / Axios / CBS News)
\n2/ Trump attacked the Supreme Court over its “bad decision” to block his restrictions on mail-in voting, calling the ruling “a big loss for Republicans, and America itself.” He claimed without evidence that it would make cheating on mail ballots easier. “The Supreme Court has really let our Country down!” Trump said, adding that “These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court.” After singling out his three appointees – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett – Trump praised Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas for dissenting, calling them “legends both.” (Associated Press / Axios / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / USA Today / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
\n3/ FBI Director Kash Patel declined to rule out sending agents to polling places during the November midterm elections. “I don’t know that we can’t legally do it,” Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Added, however, that the FBI would “follow the law” and that “if there’s a reason to go there, because there’s been a violation of law, we will, otherwise we won’t.” Patel said the bureau would “house our agents and intel analysts in our field offices” and keep election-crime coordinators at all 56 field offices because “election integrity is of paramount importance” and “this FBI is not going to shy away from that effort.” Federal law, however, bars armed federal officers or military personnel from polling places except in limited circumstances. When Sen. Peter Welch asked Patel to pledge that he wouldn’t interfere with voters, Patel replied: “I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Democracy Docket / NBC News)
\n4/ The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s war with Iran has cost the U.S. about $38 billion, and that it will continue to cost roughly $2 billion to $3 billion a month for as long as the fighting continues. The nonpartisan budget office also expects the war to add about .05 percentage points to inflation in the first quarter of 2027 due to disruptions to oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. The CBO report blamed the war for more than 40% of inflation during the second quarter of 2026. The Pentagon, however, didn’t provide information requested by the CBO, which acknowledged that the missing data limited its analysis and excluded the cost of repairing damaged U.S. bases. (Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / ABC News / CBS News)
\n5/ The Senate blocked a cryptocurrency regulation bill that would have established a federal regulatory framework for digital assets. The Clarity Act, which would have divided oversight of digital assets between the SEC and CFTC, failed to clear the 60-vote threshold after every Democrat and several Republicans opposed advancing it. Democrats argued that the revised ethics provisions still didn’t do enough to prevent Trump and other federal officials from profiting from crypto holdings while overseeing policies that could affect their value. Last year, Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from crypto ventures. And in 2024, the crypto industry spent more than $130 million in congressional races to elect pro-crypto legislators. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
\n6/ The Kennedy Center’s board voted to immediately close the performing arts venue for renovations after a federal judge again blocked an effort to put Trump’s name on the building. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the board “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.” Trump, meanwhile, threatened that “the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place” unless his name is on it. He also claimed the center was in a “virtual state of collapse,” called Cooper “very hostile and conflicted,” and said he raised $17 million that’s been deposited into the center’s account “to keep it afloat.” (CNN / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC)
\n7/ The U.S. confirmed that it has “on-orbit space control weapons” capable of defending American forces. The Space Force said the weapons can be used for “offensive and defensive purposes.” China, meanwhile, accused the U.S. of “preparing for war in outer space” and warned against an arms race, while Russia called for space to remain “free of any weapon.” (The Guardian / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / CBS News / CNBC)
\npoll/ 42% of voters said they trusted Republicans more to handle artificial intelligence, while 40% said they trusted Democrats more. 61% of likely voters said they oppose construction of data centers for AI, including nearly 80% of voters under 30. (New York Times)
\npoll/ 51% of likely voters said they would vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress in their district in the midterms, while 43% said they would vote Republican. 57% of independents said they planned to vote Democratic. (New York Times)
\npoll/ 53% of voters consider Trump “corrupt” and 51% say he’s “dangerous,” while 18% called him “steady.” (Axios)
\npoll/ 54% of Democratic voters said they’re voting in the midterms mainly to stop Trump and Republicans, while 46% said they’re voting to help Democrats enact their agenda. (CBS News)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 49 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 784 days.
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", "summary": "The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s plan to limit mail-in voting in the midterms; Trump attacked the Supreme Court over its “bad decision”; FBI Director Kash Patel declined to rule out sending agents to polling places during the November midterm elections; the Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s war with Iran has cost the U.S. about $38 billion, and that it...", "date_published": "2026-09-15T15:59:45-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["supreme-court","voting-rights","midterm-election","iran"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/14/day-2064/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/14/day-2064/", "title": "Day 2064: “STRONG AND SMART.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2064trump-86985b.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump rejected the idea of regulating the artificial intelligence industry, calling warnings about safety a “HOAX”; House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress “potentially” will need to impose guardrails on AI, but warned that legislation could take “some time”; the EPA repealed Biden-era greenhouse gas limits on coal- and gas-fired power plants; Trump called for the U.S. to have “the lowest interest rate in the world”; Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, however, is expected to raise rates this week; Johnson confirmed that Trump’s promised $5,000 payments to Americans require congressional approval; a second federal judge blocked Trump’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting for the midterm election; New York and 21 other states sued the Trump administration to block its new “public charge” rule; the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that Florida’s now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center confined immigrants in small metal cages; Mitch McConnell returned to the U.S. Capitol and voted for the first time in three months; and a Russian oligarch spent hundreds of thousands to sponsor two nights of celebrations for Trump Jr.’s Bahamas wedding.
\n1/ Trump rejected the idea of regulating the artificial intelligence industry, calling warnings about safety a “HOAX.” Trump claimed that “the only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT,” adding: “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!” His comments came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged AI companies to “slow the pace” of development and called for government rules requiring independent audits of frontier models. That position was also endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk. Trump, however, singled out Amodei, claiming he had already stopped AI “people” from doing “bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel,’” and claimed that efforts to limit the technology were part of a “SICK conspiracy” in which “the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” (Politico / CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / CBS News / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Reuters / Bloomberg)
\n2/ House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress “potentially” will need to impose guardrails on AI, but warned that legislation could take “some time.” Congress, however, is unlikely to pass broad AI safety legislation before the midterm elections, with the House scheduled to leave Washington this week and not return until November. Johnson argued that companies should bear responsibility for providing safe products and warned that “hyper-regulation” could undermine the U.S. advantage over China. (Politico / The Verge / Axios / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC / Politico / New York Times / CBS News)
\n3/ The EPA repealed Biden-era greenhouse gas limits on coal- and gas-fired power plants and proposed a separate rule to prevent future administrations from restoring them. The EPA claimed that power-plant greenhouse gases don’t “significantly contribute” to dangerous pollution and therefore don’t meet the Clean Air Act threshold for regulation. Power plants, however, are the nation’s second-largest source of carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA estimates that revoking the standards would save the energy industry more than $300 billion. The Biden administration had estimated that its rule would produce $370 billion in climate and public-health benefits. (Bloomberg / New York Times / The Verge / Axios / Washington Post / Associated Press / CBS News)
\n4/ Trump called for the U.S. to have “the lowest interest rate in the world.” Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, however, is expected to raise rates this week after inflation rose 0.4% in August and oil climbed above $100 a barrel. The 10-year Treasury yield also briefly hit 5%, its highest level since October 2023, pushing mortgage and other borrowing costs higher as heavy AI investments and borrowing have added to demand for capital. (Semafor / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN / Reuters)
\n5/ House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that Trump’s promised $5,000 payments to Americans require congressional approval. Congress, however, hasn’t committed to the payments, and Johnson added “we have had zero time, of course, to process that, deliberate, discuss it.” Trump, nevertheless, insisted that the checks were “going forward” and that the government could “easily handle” the cost. Sending $5,000 to every U.S. adult could cost about $1.3 trillion. (Reuters / ABC News / Politico / Axios / NBC News)
\n6/ A second federal judge blocked Trump’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting for the midterm election. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, found that “no statute grants the Postal Service the power” to refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that don’t upload voter lists or use envelope barcodes. Nichols warned that allowing the rule could leave “a significant number of absentee or mail-in ballots will ultimately not be counted.” The Supreme Court, meanwhile, is considering the Trump administration’s request to lift a separate injunction issued by a federal judge in Boston. (New York Times / Democracy Docket / NPR / Reuters / NBC News)
\n7/ New York and 21 other states sued the Trump administration to block its new “public charge” rule, which would give immigration officials wider discretion to deny green cards and visas based on applicants’ use of public benefits. The states argued that the Department of Homeland Security exceeded its authority because Congress never changed the longstanding definition of who is considered a “public charge.” The rule is set to take effect Friday. DHS estimates that more than 950,000 people could disenroll from or decline to enroll in public benefits as a result. (CNN / New York Times / Axios / Politico / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
\n8/ The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that Florida’s now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center confined immigrants in small metal cages. At least 79 detainees spent nearly two hours in small enclosures that staff described as “calming areas.” Investigators called the use of cages “highly unconventional” and posed “significant risks” to detainees’ health and safety. At least one enclosure may have been used as punishment. The watchdog also found detainees lived in cramped, windowless units, lacked daily access to showers, and encountered bug-infested facilities. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
\n9/ 😏 Well, that’s fantastic: Mitch McConnell returned to the U.S. Capitol and voted for the first time in three months. McConnell, 84, was hospitalized in June after a fall. (Axios)
\n10/ A Russian oligarch spent hundreds of thousands to sponsor two nights of celebrations for Trump Jr.’s Bahamas wedding. Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina Anderson, confirmed that “our dear friend” Umar Kremlev “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us” after their May 22 family-only ceremony, calling it an “extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend.” Kremlev was awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship by Putin in April and has been sanctioned by Ukraine over his ties to the Kremlin. Meanwhile, Trump, who didn’t attend his son’s wedding, said, “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him.” (ProPublica / Washington Post / CBS News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 50 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 785 days.
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", "summary": "Trump rejected the idea of regulating the artificial intelligence industry, calling warnings about safety a “HOAX”; House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress “potentially” will need to impose guardrails on AI, but warned that legislation could take “some time”; the EPA repealed Biden-era greenhouse gas limits on coal- and gas-fired power plants; Trump called for the U.S. to have “the lowest...", "date_published": "2026-09-14T16:23:57-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["tech-policy","climate","immigration","voting-rights","economy"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/10/day-2060/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/10/day-2060/", "title": "Day 2060: “This nonsense.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2060trump-3fe6c5.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using its Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterms; a federal appeals court refused to let the Trump administration enforce new restrictions on mail-in ballots before the midterms; Trump promised to send every American adult a $5,000 “Trump dividend” if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms; the Trump administration plans to send $500 rebate checks to nearly 1 million Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states weeks before the November elections; Jimmy Kimmel moved his interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico from ABC to YouTube after the FCC “threatened” ABC over “traditional editorial decisions”; and the prosecutor overseeing Trump’s “grand conspiracy” investigation resigned without bringing criminal charges.
\n1/ The Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using its Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterms. The unsigned order leaves the state to use its 2022 map for the midterms, which keeps intact a Kansas City-area seat that Democrats currently hold. The ruling also suspended a federal judge’s order that revived the GOP-favored map after Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled the new districts couldn’t take effect unless voters approved them in a referendum. Election officials, however, must now run the general election using different district lines than those used in the August primary. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News / CNN)
\n2/ A federal appeals court refused to let the Trump administration enforce new restrictions on mail-in ballots before the midterms, leaving in place an injunction blocking the U.S. Postal Service rule. The rule would require states to provide the Postal Service with voter information and unique ballot barcodes and would allow postal officials to return or refuse delivery of ballots that don’t comply. The three-judge panel concluded that the rule is likely unlawful because the Constitution gives states and Congress – not the executive branch – authority to regulate elections, and warned that implementing it now would “likely result in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters” while providing “minimal – if any – gains in combating voter fraud.” (Reuters / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CBS News / The Guardian)
\n3/ Trump promised to send every American adult a $5,000 “Trump dividend” if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms. The proposal would cost more than $1 trillion, require congressional approval, exacerbate the nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit, and lead to a rise in inflation. JD Vance, nevertheless, suggested that a “dividend for American workers” could be paid for by Trump’s tariff revenue. The cost of the dividend checks, however, would exceed the estimated $330 billion that the U.S. has collected from Trump’s tariffs. (Politico / New York Times / Reuters / Associated Press / Semafor / Washington Post / CNN / CBS News / NPR / CNBC)
\n4/ The Trump administration plans to send $500 rebate checks to nearly 1 million Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states weeks before the November elections. The payments will go to people who bought coverage through HealthCare.gov without premium subsidies using surplus fees collected from insurers to operate the federal marketplace. The White House claimed without evidence that the Biden administration had “overcharged.” Health policy experts, however, said some of the surplus dates back to Trump’s first term. The administration didn’t explain how the $500 payment was calculated, and it’s unclear whether congressional approval is required. (Axios / Politico / Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
\n5/ Jimmy Kimmel moved his interview with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico from ABC to YouTube after the FCC “threatened” ABC over “traditional editorial decisions.” Kimmel said the FCC “has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations,” and explained that he pulled the broadcast “out of consideration” for affiliates that have to “deal with this nonsense.” Talarico is running in a competitive Texas Senate race against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. In January, the FCC changed its guidance on the equal-time rule, saying late-night and daytime talk shows are not automatically exempt from a requirement that broadcasters offer equal opportunities to political candidates running for the same office. And in April, the FCC ordered early license renewals for Disney’s eight ABC stations. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
\n6/ The prosecutor overseeing Trump’s “grand conspiracy” investigation resigned without bringing criminal charges. Joe diGenova’s investigation tried to establish that Obama- and Biden-era officials had engaged in a long-running criminal conspiracy against Trump to keep him out of office. Despite issuing dozens of subpoenas, no charges have been brought, and it’s unclear what evidence even supported the conspiracy theory. Justice Department had also officials reportedly lost confidence in diGenova’s leadership. When asked why he was leaving, diGenova replied: “I’m moving on.” (ABC News / Associated Press / NBC News / Reuters / CBS News)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 54 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 789 days.
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", "summary": "The Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using its Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterms; a federal appeals court refused to let the Trump administration enforce new restrictions on mail-in ballots before the midterms; Trump promised to send every American adult a $5,000 “Trump dividend” if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms; the Trump administration plans to send...", "date_published": "2026-09-10T16:18:32-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["midterm-election","voting-rights","supreme-court","elections"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/09/day-2059/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/09/day-2059/", "title": "Day 2059: “Tumbling down.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2059trump-200a5a.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Census Bureau proposed excluding undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens from the 2030 count; Trump predicted that his war with Iran would end “immediately after” the midterm elections; a federal appeals court in Louisiana heard arguments over the state’s effort to restrict mail-order mifepristone nationwide; an Anthropic researcher quit over “out-of-control” AI fears while another warned that there’s a more than 10% chance that AI “could kill all humans” within the next decade; the emergency slide on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One was accidentally deployed; Trump gave three White House aides $45,000 each in cash holiday gifts; and during a 9/11 tribute, Trump claimed two firefighters carried him to safety near Ground Zero and that he brought a construction crew to help “right after” the attacks despite no public evidence corroborating either story.
\n1/ The Census Bureau proposed excluding undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens from the 2030 count, which is used to apportion House seats. The 14th Amendment, however, calls for House seats to be apportioned by counting the “whole number of persons in each State.” The proposal would also prohibit race and ethnicity questions on the decennial census and ban questions about sexual orientation, changes that could affect redistricting, enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, and the distribution of federal funds. (Politico / NBC News / NPR / Washington Post / USA Today / Reuters)
\n2/ Trump predicted that his war with Iran would end “immediately after” the midterm elections as the price of Brent crude ended the day at its highest level since late May. Trump added that he believes gas prices would come “tumbling down” below $2 per gallon, but not until “right after the election.” Gas prices, meanwhile, rose to $4.22, the highest level since June 5. (Politico / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
\nThe Treasury Department will buy back up to $6 billion of longer-dated government debt – triple its normal amount — in an attempt to lower borrowing costs. By taking some of the 10- and 20-year bonds off the market, the Treasury is trying to push their prices up and yields down, which could help lower mortgage and other consumer borrowing rates. Yields, however, rose after the announcement, with the 10-year Treasury reaching its highest level in nearly three years.(Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Bloomberg)
\n🟥 Primaries: Republicans kicked off their first-ever midterm convention in Dallas. The two-day, made-for-TV event is aimed at energizing Republican voters and protecting the party’s congressional majorities in November. Trump will deliver the keynote tonight and return for closing remarks Thursday. (New York Times)
\npoll/ 34% of Americans trust government certifications of election results “a great deal” or “quite a bit,” down from 40% in 2024. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults have little or no trust in federal government information about elections and politics, foreign affairs, the environment, abortion, or immigration. (Associated Press)
\n3/ A federal appeals court in Louisiana heard arguments over the state’s effort to restrict mail-order mifepristone nationwide, claiming that the FDA’s Biden-era rules allowing telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery make its abortion ban “meaningless” because patients can just have the drugs shipped across state lines. The state asked the court to eliminate the federal rules nationwide, even in states where abortion is legal. Meanwhile, in a friend-of-the-court brief, 22 Democratic attorneys general and the District of Columbia argued that Louisiana “improperly elevates the policy preferences of states that have banned or restricted abortion over the preferences of other States that have made the different but equally sovereign determinations to promote access to abortion care.” Medication abortion now accounts for two-thirds of U.S. abortions. (ABC News / Politico / Associated Press / CNN)
\n4/ 😒 Well, that’s fantastic: An Anthropic researcher quit over “out-of-control” AI fears while another warned that there’s a more than 10% chance that AI “could kill all humans” within the next decade. Jacob Coxon, who trained new AI models, warned that the leading labs are “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence” without knowing how to keep the systems under human control. After Coxon’s resignation, Anthropic alignment-science lead Evan Hubinger added that “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans” and that “we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.” (Wall Street Journal / CBS News / Axios)
\n5/ The emergency slide on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One was accidentally deployed, delaying Trump’s departure for the Republican midterm convention in Dallas by about 20 minutes as crews removed the slide. The older Air Force One slide was brought out as a backup before Trump boarded the newer jet. Trump, however, claimed crews “were doing a check on the slide” because “they want to make sure everything works perfectly.” (CNN / Bloomberg / CBS News / ABC News)
\n6/ Trump gave three White House aides $45,000 each in cash holiday gifts. According to financial disclosure forms, Natalie Harp, Margo Martin, and Chamberlain Harris each received the payments while earning $150,000 a year. Walt Nauta also disclosed a $20,000 gift from Trump. Federal law, however, prevents government employees from receiving outside compensation for their official services. The White House, meanwhile, maintained that the gifts were unrelated to their government duties and “entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Reuters / CBS News)
\n7/ Trump claimed two firefighters carried him to safety near Ground Zero during a 9/11 tribute. He also claimed he brought a construction crew to help “right after” the attacks. However, there is no public evidence corroborating either story, and Trump was reportedly four miles away at Trump Tower on Sept. 11. In a 2016 version of the firefighter story, he said the incident happened “a couple of days” later. Videos also show Trump was in Lower Manhattan on Sept. 13, 2001, when he claimed to have about 100 workers helping with the recovery, but a former fire official said he never saw Trump there and that a crew that large would have left a record. Nevertheless, Trump later clarified that he was “obviously not on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter” and that “everything I said was exactly accurate.” (New York Magazine / Washington Post / NBC News / New Republic / CNN / New York Times)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 55 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 790 days.
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\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "The Census Bureau proposed excluding undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens from the 2030 count; Trump predicted that his war with Iran would end “immediately after” the midterm elections; a federal appeals court in Louisiana heard arguments over the state’s effort to restrict mail-order mifepristone nationwide; an Anthropic researcher quit over “out-of-control” AI fears while another warned that there’s a more...", "date_published": "2026-09-09T17:04:25-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["census","immigration","iran","reproductive-rights"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/08/day-2058/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/08/day-2058/", "title": "Day 2058: “It’s clear that time is over.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2058trump-38a920.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court denied Missouri’s request to use a Republican-drawn congressional map for the November midterm election designed to give Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for a third time to revive its mail-ballot restrictions; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let states check their voter rolls against federal citizenship and Social Security data; U.S. forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days; and Trump ordered Canadian products removed from federal purchasing schedules after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs of 15% to 50% on roughly $20 billion in U.S. products.
\n1/ The Supreme Court denied Missouri’s request to use a Republican-drawn congressional map for the November midterm election designed to give Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House. Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s order left intact a Missouri Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to return to its 2022 districts while voters decide in a referendum whether to approve the new map. Minutes later, however, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark temporarily blocked Missouri from using anything but the new map, writing that switching districts after the August primary would “wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri’s congressional elections” and that “widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow.” Missouri used the new districts in its August primary, making it unclear which map will be used in the November election. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)
\n2/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for a third time to revive its mail-ballot restrictions. The request came two days after a federal judge blocked the rules from taking effect before the November midterms, which would require states and local election officials to provide lists of mail voters and use special barcodes on ballot envelopes. Judge Indira Talwani, however, ruled that the policy likely violates the Constitution’s separation of powers, which gives states and Congress responsibility over elections. Talwani also warned that implementing it less than 70 days before the election “threatens disenfranchisement of millions of United States citizens who seek to vote by mail.” The Trump administration, meanwhile, argued that the rule “does not seize control of States’ administration of elections” and instead imposes “reasonable preparation requirements for certain election-related mail.” (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / CNN / The Guardian)
\n3/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let states check their voter rolls against federal citizenship and Social Security data. In June, a federal judge blocked the SAVE system, finding that the government had “haphazardly combined and repurposed” unreliable citizenship data and that states had removed U.S. citizens from voter rolls based on inaccurate information. The Trump administration, nevertheless, asked the Supreme Court to restore access to the system, which had been expanded to include Social Security data and bulk searches. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the order “indefensible” and argued that it “threatens the integrity of upcoming elections” by making it harder for states to verify citizenship. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post / CBS News)
\n4/ U.S. forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. Central Command said the warship evaded the attacks and no American personnel were harmed. The strikes comes three days after the U.S. destroyed three other Iranian tankers following attempted missile attacks on an American aircraft carrier and destroyer. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy, meanwhile, warned crews aboard oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to evacuate because the vessels “will be targeted.” (NBC News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Reuters / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNBC)
\nEARLIER: Trump called his six-month with with Iran “small potatoes” despite 18 U.S. service members being killed. The war has cost U.S. consumers an estimated $100 billion in higher energy prices. The average household has paid more than $760 in added gasoline and diesel costs since the war began Feb. 28. (Associated Press / CNN / Axios)
\nThe Pentagon gave roughly 50 members of the military’s Joint Staff members polygraph tests. Investigators reportedly questioned military officers and civilian employees about whether they disclosed classified information to journalists or provided information about shortages of long-range missiles and Patriot interceptors tied to the war with Iran. (New York Times)
\n5/ Trump ordered Canadian products removed from federal purchasing schedules after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs of 15% to 50% on roughly $20 billion in U.S. products. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged that “we relied too much on one economic partner,” adding that “It’s clear that time is over.” Trump, meanwhile, claimed Canada had “banned American Small Businesses and Companies” from its government procurement markets. Canada’s federal policy, however, directs agencies to prefer Canadian goods, while some provinces have imposed restrictions on U.S. suppliers. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Semafor / The Hill)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 56 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 791 days.
\n\nSmithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch will retire by the end of the year. Bunch acknowledged that the job had become stressful, but said that Trump’s pressure had “nothing” to do with his decision. The Trump administration, however, has accused the Smithsonian of ideological bias, ordered reviews of its exhibits, and recently threatened to cut off federal agencies’ support “under current leadership.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
\nThe Trump administration will begin excavation for Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery within two weeks, even though the project hasn’t received approval from the National Capital Planning Commission or completed its historic-preservation review. (Politico / New York Times)
\nThe U.S. was the only country to vote against a United Nations resolution promoting a world map that accurately reflects the true size of continents. The nonbinding resolution encourages governments, schools, organizations, and companies to use the “Equal Earth” instead of the Mercator map, which dates back to the 16th century and makes Africa appear smaller relative to regions near the poles. (NPR / Politico / The Guardian / Associated Press)
\nFormer staffers for Sen. John Fetterman created an anonymous social media account and threatened to publish his internal communications after a report that he routinely avoided constituent meetings, committee hearings, and skipped other Senate duties. Fetterman reportedly dismissed concerns from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia about Medicaid cuts, questioned the length of a funeral for three killed police officers, and canceled a meeting with three paralyzed Pennsylvania veterans before appearing later that day for a Fox News interview. Fetterman called the report “lies, half-truths, innuendos, smears and anonymous,” apologized for what he called a “dumb joke” about the hospital, and said he missed the veterans meeting because he had been throwing up, but felt well enough to work later. The former staffers said their first release of material is planned for Sept. 14, when the Senate returns to session. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
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", "summary": "The Supreme Court denied Missouri’s request to use a Republican-drawn congressional map for the November midterm election designed to give Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for a third time to revive its mail-ballot restrictions; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let states check their voter rolls against federal...", "date_published": "2026-09-08T17:06:30-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["supreme-court","voting-rights","midterm-election","iran","tariffs"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/03/day-2053/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/03/day-2053/", "title": "Day 2053: “The reality is I don’t know.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2053trump-c745ac.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it enforce new mail-in voting restrictions ahead of the midterms; a Missouri Supreme Court unanimously blocked the state’s new Republican-drawn congressional map from being used in the midterm elections; a federal judge blocked Trump’s second attempt to restrict birthright citizenship; the Justice Department threatened to withhold federal funding from states that don’t report undocumented immigrants; a federal grand jury indicted an ICE officer for lying to the FBI about shooting a Venezuelan man in the leg in Minnesota; the Treasury Department and IRS proposed stripping tax-exempt status from schools if they consider race in admissions, scholarships, financial aid, athletics, or other programs; JD Vance downplayed Trump’s seven-month war in Iran, saying he wouldn’t describe it as “a war” because “right now there’s no active shooting”; and 89% of Americans say corruption is widespread in the U.S. government.
\n1/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it enforce new mail-in voting restrictions ahead of the midterms. Last week, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocked the Postal Service rule that would require states to submit lists of mail-ballot voters and use approved envelopes with unique barcodes. The rule also lets the agency refuse delivery of ballots that don’t comply. Talwani, however, said the rule was likely unconstitutional and warned that it could cause “major disenfranchisement.” (Politico / Reuters / CNN / CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times
\n2/ The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously blocked the state’s new Republican-drawn congressional map from being used in the midterm elections. The map was redrawn at Trump’s request outside the usual once-a-decade cycle and designed to improve Republicans’ chances of picking up a House seat. The court, however, placed the new districts on hold after citizens submitted more than 300,000 signatures seeking a referendum and that the redrawn map won’t “go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.” Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said she will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Associated Press / St. Louis Public Radio / NBC News / New York Times / CBS News)
\n3/ A federal judge blocked Trump’s second attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, ruling that his August executive order is “almost certainly unconstitutional.” U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman accused the administration of adopting a “distorted interpretation” of the Supreme Court’s June decision that struck down Trump’s 2025 executive order that denied citizenship to children born to parents who were in the U.S. temporarily or unlawfully. “No Presidential Executive Order can undo what the Supreme Court has done,” Boardman wrote. Attorney General Todd Blanche maintained that the administration will continue fighting the case and “if we have to go back to the Supreme Court, we will.” (Washington Post / CBS News / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
\n4/ The Justice Department threatened to withhold federal funding from states that don’t report undocumented immigrants. The Office of Legal Counsel reversed a 1998 interpretation that limited the reporting requirement to agencies administering Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income. It extends the requirement to every state agency when a state accepts funding for either program, and applies only to future funding. (CNBC / CNN)
\n5/ A federal grand jury indicted an ICE officer for lying to the FBI about shooting a Venezuelan man in the leg in Minnesota. Christian Castro faces six counts of making false statements to federal officials. Federal prosecutors had initially charged the man Castro shot and another man with assaulting officers, but later dropped the charges after video evidence contradicted the officers’ account. It’s the first known federal prosecution of an immigration officer for conduct during the Trump administration’s Minneapolis immigration operation. (Politico / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
\n6/ The Treasury Department and IRS proposed stripping tax-exempt status from schools if they consider race in admissions, scholarships, financial aid, athletics, or other programs. The rules would apply to private schools, colleges, and universities and the agencies estimate as many as 18,000 institutions could be affected. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said schools “rebranding race-based preferences as equitable, inclusive, or diversity-enhancing does not change their discriminatory nature.” The proposal, however, doesn’t detail exactly what practices the administration would consider discriminatory. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
\n7/ JD Vance downplayed Trump’s seven-month war in Iran, saying he wouldn’t describe it as “a war” because “right now there’s no active shooting.” The U.S. and Iran, however, exchanged strikes earlier this week. When asked when the conflict would end, Vance replied that “the reality is I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.” Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly called the conflict a war, including earlier today. (Reuters / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
\npoll/ 89% of Americans say corruption is widespread in the U.S. government – up 10 percentage points from last year and the highest level recorded in two decades. (Gallup)
\n⏰ Dept. of I Ran Out of Time Today: House Democrats blocked a Republican-proposed constitutional amendment to limit the Supreme Court to nine justices; Elon Musk plans to spend at least $100 million in more than a dozen competitive House and Senate races; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are investigating whether any troops died from Covid-19 vaccines; the U.S. Forest Service is closing 23 research and development stations in more than a dozen states; Trump floated renaming the Strait of Hormuz to the “TRUMP STRAIT”; the U.S. Mint started selling gold-color $1 Trump coins for between about $1.55 and $2.44 apiece, depending on quantity; and Gloria Steinem, the journalist and activist who devoted her life to fighting for women’s rights, died at 92.
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 61 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 796 days.
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", "summary": "The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it enforce new mail-in voting restrictions ahead of the midterms; a Missouri Supreme Court unanimously blocked the state’s new Republican-drawn congressional map from being used in the midterm elections; a federal judge blocked Trump’s second attempt to restrict birthright citizenship; the Justice Department threatened to withhold federal funding from states that...", "date_published": "2026-09-03T18:02:23-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["voting-rights","immigration","supreme-court","elections","iran"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/01/day-2051/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/09/01/day-2051/", "title": "Day 2051: “A regretful response.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2051trump-83647c.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: A Postal Service whistleblower warned that the agency’s new mail-voting system could lead to a “catastrophic failure” ahead of the midterms; the House passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through Dec. 11; the U.S. launched “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned following months of disagreements with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and the CDC excluded Pennsylvania’s two measles-associated deaths from its national count.
\n1/ A Postal Service whistleblower warned that the agency’s new mail-voting system could lead to a “catastrophic failure” ahead of the midterms. The anonymous federal official described the effort to carry out Trump’s restrictions on mail voting as “secretive, rushed” and “risky and haphazard.” The whistleblower alleged that USPS gave itself roughly three months to build a system that would normally take nine months to a year, and warned that the portal was “untested” and would have “significant operating problems” when released. The Postal Service also adopted a “zero-percent failure policy,” under which one barcode that fails to scan or match the submitted information could cause an entire batch – potentially thousands or tens of thousands of ballots – to be rejected until the discrepancy is resolved. The disclosure called the process “entirely unforgiving” and warned that “potentially millions of American voters” may not receive their mail-in ballots in time or at all. While a federal judge has blocked the mandatory implementation of the system for now, they allowed USPS to continue building it so long as states aren’t required to use it. (Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / NPR / CBS News / The Guardian)
\n2/ The House passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through Dec. 11, punting negotiations over the full-year funding plan until after the midterm elections. The measure keeps spending largely at current levels, blocks the Trump administration from transferring new funds to Border Patrol, and temporarily prevents political appointees from canceling federal grants. The Senate approved it last month, and Trump is expected to sign it. (Reuters / NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Axios / CBS News / NBC News)
\n3/ The U.S. launched “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets. Trump said the strikes were in “retaliation for the Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait,” and for an earlier attack on a military base in Jordan. Trump warned that if the Islamic Republic retaliates, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings.” He added that “there will be very little left” of the country. Hours later, however, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the country had launched a “regretful response.” (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN / The Guardian / NBC News)
\n4/ Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned following months of disagreements with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Driscoll told Trump he was frustrated that Hegseth had fired generals involved in the Army’s transformation efforts and blocked promotions of senior Army officers. His departure leaves the Army without Senate-confirmed civilian or military leadership after Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / Reuters / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios / Washington Post / CNN)
\n5/ The CDC excluded Pennsylvania’s two measles-associated deaths from its national count. Despite Pennsylvania providing the CDC with the required epidemiological data and that both unvaccinated residents tested positive for measles, the agency said the “available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths.” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., meanwhile, suggested without evidence that the deaths may have been “fabricated.” (Washington Post / Philadelphia Inquirer / The Guardian / New York Times)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 63 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 798 days.
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", "summary": "A Postal Service whistleblower warned that the agency’s new mail-voting system could lead to a “catastrophic failure” ahead of the midterms; the House passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open through Dec. 11; the U.S. launched “large and powerful” strikes on Iranian targets; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned following months of disagreements with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth;...", "date_published": "2026-09-01T15:14:27-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["voting-rights","midterm-election","government-shutdown","iran","healthcare"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/31/day-2050/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/31/day-2050/", "title": "Day 2050: “You will only have yourselves to blame.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2050trump-e98f26.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue construction of his White House ballroom; Trump vowed to “hit them hard” after Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Jordan and launched a drone toward the United Arab Emirates; the Pentagon installed several conservative military influencers in undisclosed civilian government roles; Trump warned that communities that oppose data centers would “end up being backwards and poor” and urged them to “let Data Reign”; Trump threatened to report NBC’s Kristen Welker to the FCC for “rebuke or punishment” after she said his endorsements of Republican candidates in this year’s primaries had produced “some mixed results”; about one in six 2024 Trump voters say they wouldn’t vote for him again if the election were rerun; and 55% of Americans think politicians say they’ll help the working class just to win votes, while 27% believe politicians genuinely want to help the working class.
\n1/ The Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue construction of his White House ballroom. The 5-4 unsigned decision blocked lower-court rulings that would have stopped aboveground work, concluding that the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacks standing. However, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissent, writing that the construction is “likely unlawful” because Congress hasn’t expressly authorized the project. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios / USA Today / Wall Street Journal)
\n2/ Trump vowed to “hit them hard” after Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Jordan and launched a drone toward the United Arab Emirates. It was the first direct exchange of attacks in about a month. U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island after CENTCOM reported that Revolutionary Guard forces were preparing to deploy sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Iran then fired missiles at the bases in Jordan and launched a drone toward the United Arab Emirates. Trump, however, later said the U.S. response would be “very limited.” (New York Times / Reuters / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / USA Today / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios)
\n3/ The Pentagon installed several conservative military influencers in undisclosed civilian government roles. Pentagon records showed that one retired Air Force colonel and one retired Army colonel had active civilian government email addresses assigned to the office of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. A third retired colonel was also listed there earlier this year. All three also appeared on behalf of a task force reviewing senior military schools for ideology deemed “toxic” or “woke,” and publicly amplified Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s views and attacked critics of the Trump administration. (Washington Post)
\n4/ Trump warned that communities that oppose data centers would “end up being backwards and poor” and urged them to “let Data Reign.” Despite polls showing Americans oppose new data centers in their communities, Trump argued that slowing the buildout would threaten U.S. economic growth and help China in the artificial intelligence race, warning: “If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame.” JD Vance, however, acknowledged that higher utility bills are driving the backlash and that companies building data centers should be “putting power back into the grid, not taking it out.” (Newsweek / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / ABC News)
\n5/ Trump threatened to report NBC’s Kristen Welker to the FCC for “rebuke or punishment” after she said his endorsements of Republican candidates in this year’s primaries had produced “some mixed results.” Trump urged FCC Chair Brendan Carr to “take this Threat to our Country very seriously,” and separately called for the FCC to act on “fake polls.” The FCC’s website, however, says it generally doesn’t intervene in complaints about broadcasters’ viewpoints, because doing so “would be inconsistent with the First Amendment.” The FCC’s authority also doesn’t extend to punishing individual journalists for their reporting. (Politico / Reuters / The Guardian / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
\npoll/ About one in six 2024 Trump voters say they wouldn’t vote for him again if the election were rerun. (Strength in Numbers)
\npoll/ 55% of Americans think politicians say they’ll help the working class just to win votes, while 27% believe politicians genuinely want to help the working class. (Politico)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 64 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 799 days.
\n\nVenezuela agreed to give the U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels of oil. The deal gives the U.S. 55% of the effective output and includes an ownership stake and the right to buy oil at cost. Trump claimed the agreement would “substantially lower Gas Prices” and come “at no cost to the American Taxpayer.” The deal comes nearly nine months after the U.S. military captured then-President Nicolás Maduro. (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Axios)
\nThe Trump administration plans to give a private developer a small parcel of land inside Yosemite National Park so it can build a road from an upscale development into the park. Kingsbarn Realty Capital owns two undeveloped 40-acre parcels near Yosemite and plans to build cabins, homes, and commercial buildings there. Under the proposed exchange, the company would acquire property of equivalent value for the Park Service in return for the Yosemite land needed for the road. (New York Times / NOTUS / Washington Post / USA Today)
\nTrump ordered the creation of a U.S. Space Academy to train personnel for NASA and the Space Force. Trump said the location would be chosen “very shortly,” and declared that “Space is the hot thing.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
\nThe Trump administration deported Milo Yiannopoulos to the United Kingdom. The far-right commentator overstayed his legal authorization was issued a final removal order on July 22 after failing to appear for an immigration hearing. Yiannopoulos had publicly supported Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass deportations. (NBC News / The Guardian / NPR)
\nThe former longtime White House teleprompter operator will pay $172,000 for using nonpublic information from Trump’s speeches to make prediction-market bets through Kalshi. Gabriel Perez was ordered to return $107,539 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty. His penalty was reduced because of his “exemplary cooperation.” (NBC News / ABC News / CBS News)
\nKalshi permanently banned former Rep. George Santos and fined him $71,356 for allegedly making misleading public statements about whether he would attend Trump’s 2026 State of the Union – and then trading contracts tied to his attendance. He earned more than $17,500. (CBS News / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
\nGoogle Maps changed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for U.S. users. Canadian users, however, will continue to see Lake Ontario. Meanwhile, Trump reportedly contacted Apple directly about making the same change, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the company “may” do so soon. 61% of Americans oppose renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” while 19% support it, and 19% are unsure. (Axios / Reuters / Washington Post / YouGov)
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", "summary": "The Supreme Court allowed Trump to continue construction of his White House ballroom; Trump vowed to “hit them hard” after Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Jordan and launched a drone toward the United Arab Emirates; the Pentagon installed several conservative military influencers in undisclosed civilian government roles; Trump warned that communities that oppose data centers would “end up...", "date_published": "2026-08-31T15:36:35-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["supreme-court","foreign-policy","iran","tech-policy","media"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/27/day-2046/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/27/day-2046/", "title": "Day 2046: “Nothing unusual.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2046trump-962572.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials to not attack NATO territory; Trump dismissed reports that Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was meant to warn Russia against attacking a NATO country; the U.S. reportedly has a “beyond critical” shortage of Patriot missile interceptors in Europe largely due to Trump’s war with Iran; U.S. intelligence indicates that Putin sees the U.S. as weakened by the Iran war; Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America”; ICE arrested a record 49,571 people in July; and Texas released an ICE officer who was charged with shooting a Venezuelan immigrant to Minnesota and then lying about .
\n1/ CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials to not attack NATO territory. During his secret trip to Moscow, Ratcliffe shared the U.S. assessment on Russia’s current military and economic position with FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov, which argued that Moscow should negotiate an end to its war in Ukraine before conditions get worse. U.S. intelligence assessments, meanwhile, have indicated that Putin might test NATO with a limited attack, potentially against a Baltic state. Ratcliffe also urged Russia to reduce its military and economic support for Iran. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / ABC News / Semafor / CNBC / CBS News / CNN)
\n2/ Trump dismissed reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was meant to warn Russia against attacking a NATO country, saying “there was no message and there was nothing unusual.” Trump called Ratcliffe’s visit “standard business” and “semi-routine,” saying the CIA director sees his Russian counterpart “once every six months or once every year” and that “they have a very good relationship.” When asked whether he was concerned Russia could test NATO with an attack, Trump said: “I am not concerned […] at all. There is no problem.” Later, when asked whether the U.S. had warned Putin about attacking NATO territory, Trump declined to discuss the visit but said: “They are not going to attack NATO territory.” Russia, meanwhile, reportedly launched a “massive” strike overnight on nine Ukrainian cities, killing at least two people and wounding 14 others. (Axios / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
\n3/ The U.S. reportedly has a “beyond critical” shortage of Patriot missile interceptors in Europe largely due to Trump’s war with Iran. After missiles were moved from Europe to the Middle East and fired during Iran’s drone and missile attacks, a U.S. official warned that American and NATO forces in Europe don’t have enough interceptors to stop a sustained ballistic missile attack and would have a “very limited” ability to defend against even a single strike. (Associated Press)
\n4/ U.S. intelligence indicates that Putin sees the U.S. as weakened by the Iran war, and could give Moscow an opening to escalate against American interests and allies in Europe. The intelligence preceded CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow this week, and follows reports of troop’s experiencing exhaustion and mental health issues, munition shortages, and the loss of about 25% of the military’s Reaper drones. (Washington Post)
\n5/ Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” The order requires the federal government to use the new name and directs the Interior Department and U.S. Board on Geographic Names to update federal maps, documents and communications. The order, however, doesn’t compel Canada, international bodies, states or private companies to adopt it. When asked what message he was trying to send Canada, Trump replied: “No message. As you know, Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade.” He added: “They don’t pay for anything, and they want to be treated like a state, but they’re not a state.” (Politico / Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / NBC News / CBS News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
\n6/ ICE arrested a record 49,571 people in July. For the first time in Trump’s second term, a majority of those arrested had no criminal convictions or pending charges, while about 4% had violent criminal convictions. Nearly 34,000 people were also deported in July, another second-term high. (The Guardian / New York Times / CBS News)
\n7/ Texas released an ICE officer who was charged with shooting a Venezuelan immigrant to Minnesota and then lying about it. A judge refused to order Christian Castro’s return to Minnesota, because Gov. Greg Abbott chose not to act on Minnesota’s request and Texas law limits detention in extradition cases to 90 days. Castro allegedly fired through the door of a home and shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg, and then falsely accused Sosa-Celis and another man of attacking an ICE officer with a broom handle and shovel. However, a joint ICE-Justice Department review found that officers had probably made “untruthful statements.” Minnesota officials, meanwhile, warned that Castro could flee to Mexico, citing calls from jail in which he discussed marrying a woman and buying a house there. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
\n⏰ Dept. of I Ran Out of Time Today: The U.S. is close to striking a “massive” deal for Venezuela’a oil fields, more than doubling U.S. oil reserves; Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly lied during two congressional hearings last year that his 2019 visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines”; a Florida grand jury found that Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration “misappropriated” $10 million in taxpayer money to a charity tied to his wife; the Republican effort to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci for contempt of Congress has stalled; a federal judge declined to dismiss Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction; Trump disclosed making more than 1,000 stock transactions in June, including in energy companies directly affected by his ongoing war in Iran; and an Abu Dhabi royal referred to as the “spy sheikh” is a major shareholder in the company behind the Trump family’s crypto bank.
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 68 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 803 days.
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", "summary": "CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials to not attack NATO territory; Trump dismissed reports that Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was meant to warn Russia against attacking a NATO country; the U.S. reportedly has a “beyond critical” shortage of Patriot missile interceptors in Europe largely due to Trump’s war with Iran; U.S. intelligence indicates that Putin sees the U.S. as...", "date_published": "2026-08-27T16:24:13-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","national-security","russia","immigration"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/26/day-2045/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/26/day-2045/", "title": "Day 2045: “The solution is relatively simple.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2045trump-338a20.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: A federal judge lifted the final nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s mail-voting order; two dozen Democratic-led states and D.C. sued to block the Postal Service’s mail-voting rules; annual U.S. inflation rose 3.7% in July, the same as in June, but well above the Fed’s 2% target; Trump called Canada “one of the worst countries” in the world to deal with; Trump claimed that the U.S. is “achieving a very big victory” in his nearly six-month war with Iran and that the conflict “will continue for as long as necessary”; a federal judge struck down a 2023 Texas law that banned drag shows; Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 states to resolve a lawsuit that it intentionally designed its social media platforms to addict children; and Trump’s nominee to lead the FDA previously called for “conservative-based” scientific journals and funding research aligned with conservative policy goals.
\n1/ A federal judge lifted the final nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s mail-voting order. The decision allows the Postal Service to impose new ballot requirements ahead of the November midterms, requiring election officials to provide mail-voter information, use federally reviewed ballot envelopes with unique barcodes, and correct and resubmit mailings that fail verification. Judge Indira Talwani lifted her injunction after the Supreme Court ruled this week that a related challenge was premature. Neither ruling, however, decided whether the restrictions are legal. (Associated Press / Politico / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / Axios)
\nA Maryland judge blocked Democrats’ redistricting referendum from the November ballot, ruling that lawmakers failed to follow the required process for submitting a constitutional amendment to voters and that the ballot language was “intentionally misleading.” (Politico / Democracy Docket)
\nTrump ordered MAGA Inc. to launch a national midterm ads centered on his record. The ads are expected to promote Trump’s tax breaks, the stock market, and his efforts to “seal” the U.S.-Mexico border. (The Atlantic)
\n2/ Two dozen Democratic-led states and D.C. sued to block the Postal Service’s mail-voting rules. The states argued that the requirements exceed federal authority and could disenfranchise voters by forcing election officials to redesign ballot envelopes, build new systems, train workers, and educate voters as some states prepare to mail ballots in early September. (CBS News / Reuters / Axios / ABC News / Bloomberg / The Hill)
\n3/ The annual U.S. inflation rose 3.7% in July, the same as in June, but well above the Fed’s 2% target. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was also unchanged at 3.3%. Meanwhile, consumer spending was flat after adjusting for inflation. Spending on goods fell by about $50 billion at an annualized rate, while spending on services increased by $86 billion. (Axios / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / CBS News / CNBC)
\n4/ Trump called Canada “one of the worst countries” in the world to deal with, saying it’s “time to teach Canada you can’t do this anymore.” Trump accused Canada of taking advantage of the U.S. “as though they were a state,” adding that “they don’t have anything that we have to have.” After Trump imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian imports following the collapse of trade talks, Canada retaliated with matching tariffs on about $20 billion in U.S. goods starting Sept. 8. Trump also announced 50% tariffs on Canadian autos and parts beginning Jan. 1. Nevertheless, Trump claimed he had offered Canada “a pretty good deal,” but later appeared to acknowledge Canada’s claim that the U.S. added new conditions in the final hours before negotiations broke down. (ABC News / Reuters / New York Times)
\n5/ Trump claimed that the U.S. is “achieving a very big victory” in his nearly six-month war with Iran and that the conflict “will continue for as long as necessary.” Trump said he has “no time schedule” for ending the war or restarting negotiations, insisting that he’s “not in a hurry” because both military operations and economic pressure are “effective.” Trump also claimed the U.S. Navy had removed or detonated all mines from the Strait of Hormuz and called the waterway “a very functioning strait.” U.S. allies, however, privately warned that Hormuz was still likely mined. Centcom, meanwhile, maintained that “internationally recognized transit routes” were free of Iranian sea mines. (CBS News / ABC News / CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg)
\n6/ A federal judge struck down a 2023 Texas law that banned drag shows. For a second time, U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled that the law violates the First Amendment and was so broad that its ban on performances appealing to a “prurient interest in sex” could be applied to cheerleading, live theater, and performances by Dolly Parton (RIP), Elvis Presley, and Miley Cyrus to civil or criminal penalties. “For those who find such activities […] offensive,” Hittner wrote, “the solution is relatively simple […] just don’t go.” (NBC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / USA Today)
\n7/ 😮 Dept. of Well, that’s fantastic: Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 states to resolve a lawsuit that it intentionally designed its social media platforms to addict children. The agreement will set a two-hour daily limit for users under 18, block access from midnight to 6 a.m., and silence most notifications during school hours. The time limit could drop to one hour if TikTok, YouTube, and Snap adopt similar rules. (New York Times / Axios / Reuters / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
\n8/ Trump’s nominee to lead the FDA previously called for “conservative-based” scientific journals and funding research aligned with conservative policy goals. In a 2023 podcast interview, Heidi Overton argued that conservatives needed “alternate systems” for publishing research because “you’re up against this mountain of evidence,” claiming the NIH, FDA, and CDC weren’t prioritizing the kinds of studies she wanted funded. Overton also complained that “the left starts journals” like the “Journal of Adolescent Transgender Medicine”. However, no journal by that name exists. (Yahoo! News / Scientific American)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 69 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 804 days.
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", "summary": "A federal judge lifted the final nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s mail-voting order; two dozen Democratic-led states and D.C. sued to block the Postal Service’s mail-voting rules; annual U.S. inflation rose 3.7% in July, the same as in June, but well above the Fed’s 2% target; Trump called Canada “one of the worst countries” in the world to deal with; Trump...", "date_published": "2026-08-26T15:31:55-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["voting-rights","elections","lawsuit","economy","foreign-policy"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/25/day-2044/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/25/day-2044/", "title": "Day 2044: “Pretend, please.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2044trump-37f638.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Canada retaliated against Trump’s new tariffs with duties of up to 50% on U.S. goods; Trump threatened to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America”; the Secret Service is “aware” of an Iranian state media video threatening Barron Trump; CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Russia; Trump urged South Carolina Republicans to vote for interim Sen. Darline Graham over Rep. Ralph Norman in a special Senate runoff, telling voters to “pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot”; the EPA proposed eliminating the federal requirement that states notify the public and solicit comments before issuing permits for data centers and other “minor” pollution sources; and a federal judge rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s effort to overturn her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence.
\n1/ Canada retaliated against Trump’s new tariffs with duties of up to 50% on U.S. goods. They take effect Sept. 8, and cover about $20 billion in American goods, doubling duties on U.S. steel and aluminum to 50% and imposing rates of 15% to 50% on hundreds of other products, including dairy, appliances, seafood, clothing, and electronics. The tariffs match Trump’s latest duties “dollar for dollar, rate for rate.” The move follows the collapse of trade talks and Trump’s imposition of 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods. (New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / ABC News / CBS News / CNBC / Reuters)
\n2/ Trump threatened to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” Trump claimed he was giving the change “serious consideration” because “we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer.” He later posted an altered map with “Lake Ontario” crossed out and “Lake America” in its place. However, Lake Ontario spans the U.S.-Canada border, and while Trump could change the name used by the federal government, Canada and international bodies wouldn’t be required to recognize it. Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, meanwhile, said Canada had decided “not to respond to sort of the daily social media posts of either the president or his Cabinet secretaries.” (Washington Post / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios / CBS News)
\n3/ The Secret Service is “aware” of an Iranian state media video threatening Barron Trump. The video opens with the words “Where to kill Barron Trump?!” and depicts locations where the 20-year-old might be found while suggesting a $10 million reward. The Secret Service said it “investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees,” but said “out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence.” (ABC News / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / PBS News)
\n4/ CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Russia. It’s his first known visit to Russia as CIA director and the highest-level Trump administration visit since January. The purpose of the talks and who Ratcliffe met with, however, weren’t disclosed, while the Kremlin maintained that there were no meetings planned with U.S. administration officials. Ahead of the trip, the U.S. asked Ukraine to suspend drone and missile strikes on Moscow and other parts of northern Russia while the American delegation was traveling. (Axios / Reuters / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
\n5/ 🟥🟦 Primaries: Trump urged South Carolina Republicans to vote for interim Sen. Darline Graham over Rep. Ralph Norman in a special Senate runoff, telling voters to “pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.” Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, had never been elected to office before she was appointed to serve the remainder of his term. During last week’s debate, however, she acknowledged that “national security is not my thing” and that she was “not that informed on national security” when asked about Taiwan. Nevertheless, Trump pushed Graham to run, campaigned with her, and held a tele-rally. The MAGA Inc. super PAC also spent $827,000 on voter calls and text messages on her behalf. The winner will face Democrat Annie Andrews in November in a state where no Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in decades. (CNBC / CBS News / Associated Press / Politico)
\n6/ The EPA proposed eliminating the federal requirement that states notify the public and solicit comments before issuing permits for data centers and other “minor” pollution sources. The change would leave public participation largely to state and local discretion. The EPA claimed that the proposal would speed permitting but “does not alter emission standards or weaken environmental protections,” while nearly 200 advocacy groups and Democratic attorneys general from 14 states opposed it. Resistance to data centers, meanwhile, has spread across party lines: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott paused new projects pending an audit, Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton proposed new restrictions, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro required developers to craft “detailed community outreach plans.” (The Guardian / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post)
\n7/ 😏 Well, that’s fantastic: A federal judge rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s effort to overturn her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction and 20-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer found Maxwell’s claims “all meritless” and “all or almost all” frivolous, and concluded that evidence released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act was largely irrelevant and, where relevant, “incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges.” (CBS News / NBC News / ABC News)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 70 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 805 days.
\n\nICE arrested 49,571 people in July, the highest monthly total of Trump’s second term and 70% more than in February. More than half of those arrested had not been convicted of a crime and were not facing criminal charges, while less than a quarter had criminal convictions. (Associated Press)
\nHouse Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries defended his private meeting with Jared Kushner, describing the conversation as a “high-level, topical” discussion that produced no agreement. The meeting reportedly covered immigration, housing, and the cost of living. Some critics argued that Jeffries should be preparing to investigate Kushner, not privately discussing cooperation with Trump’s son-in-law and outside adviser. Jeffries, however, insisted that “no one is going to get a pass” and said Democrats would hold the Trump administration accountable, while leaving open the possibility of impeaching Trump if Democrats win control of the House. (CNN / New York Times / Semafor)
\nA FEMA crew violated federal law and agency policy by skipping 11 Florida homes displaying Trump signs after Hurricane Milton in 2024. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general found that during FEMA’s hurricane response, the crew leader instructed workers to avoid the houses with Trump signs over safety concerns. (Washington Post)
\nTwo unvaccinated people in Pennsylvania died from measles – the first measles deaths in the U.S. this year and Pennsylvania’s first in 35 years. More measles cases have been reported in 2026 than in any year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)
\nAfter Trump’s name was added to the Kennedy Center, ticket sales and fundraising plunged, putting the center on track to miss its revenue target by nearly $100 million. The center had budgeted about $220 million in revenue, but by late May, officials projected it would only bring in about $124 million. (Washington Post)
\nJustice Department lawyers warned that the Kennedy Center could be demolished if a federal judge blocks Trump’s planned $250 million renovation, saying the building would otherwise deteriorate into an “unsafe, decrepit structure” that would have to be “taken down.” They also argued that Trump deserved to have his name inscribed on the building because of his role in securing renovation funding and attracting donors. (New York Times / NBC News)
\nThe State Department is exploring whether it can sell a Kehinde Wiley painting that Trump administration officials called “woke.” Wiley is best known for painting Obama’s official portrait. Nevertheless, Art in Embassies executive director Erin Scavino described the work as “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifying.” Ambassador Leah Campos, meanwhile, said she wanted to move away from “woke” ideologies after the painting was removed from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic. (Washington Post)
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", "summary": "Canada retaliated against Trump’s new tariffs with duties of up to 50% on U.S. goods; Trump threatened to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America”; the Secret Service is “aware” of an Iranian state media video threatening Barron Trump; CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Russia; Trump urged South Carolina Republicans to vote for interim Sen. Darline Graham...", "date_published": "2026-08-25T15:36:58-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["tariffs","trade","primary","climate","russia"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/24/day-2043/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/24/day-2043/", "title": "Day 2043: “The right attitude.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2043trump-6984a5.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Trump administration expanded sanctions on Iran and warned foreign governments and companies that they could lose access to the U.S. financial system if they continue doing business with Tehran; Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts to 50% starting Jan. 1, 2027; Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner to discuss potential cooperation if Democrats retake the House in the midterms; Trump plans to temporarily suspend tariffs on ground beef imports and allow up to 300,000 metric tons into the U.S. in an effort to lower record-high beef prices; and the Supreme Court allowed Trump to move ahead with mail-voting restrictions.
\n1/ The Trump administration expanded sanctions on Iran and warned foreign governments and companies that they could lose access to the U.S. financial system if they continue doing business with Tehran. Treasury sanctioned about 60 entities, individuals, and vessels, broadened secondary sanctions to cover digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping as part “Operation Economic Outcast,” which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called an “economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe.” The administration, however, stopped short of immediately penalizing major foreign financial institutions, including Chinese banks, with Bessent describing the move as a “warning shot” and giving countries a “cure period” to cut targeted ties. “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?” Bessent asked, while warning that the U.S. does not have “infinite patience.” He pledged to sanction a major financial institution by the end of the week and, when asked whether Chinese banks would be targeted, replied that “no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions.” Trump, meanwhile, is calling foreign leaders with “specific requests” to stop doing business with Tehran. (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / Axios / Reuters / NBC News / NPR / CNBC / The Hill)
\n2/ Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts to 50% starting Jan. 1, 2027. The four-month delay leaves time for talks to resume after negotiations between the two countries collapsed. The threat followed separate 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods that took effect Saturday, which prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney to promise “dollar for dollar” retaliation beginning Sept. 8. Trump, meanwhile, declared that Canada “will be treated like a State no longer!” and warned that “the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” Carney, meanwhile, said Canada would return to negotiations when the U.S. came to the table “with the right attitude toward our industry and a true partnership.” (Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News / Reuters)
\n3/ Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner to discuss potential cooperation if Democrats retake the House in the midterms. Kushner reportedly discussed housing, immigration, and the cost of living with Jeffries, and suggested that he meet with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Jeffries didn’t acknowledge the meeting, but instead said that in “every conversation” with the Trump administration Democrats would demand “transformational policy change” on affordability, adding: “The question is whether Republicans will join us.” (New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC / CNN / NBC News / CBS News)
\nTrump urged South Carolina Republicans to “pretend” he’s on Tuesday’s ballot while campaigning for Sen. Darline Graham in her runoff against Rep. Ralph Norman. Graham, appointed to serve the remainder of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s term, failed to win the special Republican primary outright despite Trump’s endorsement. (Bloomberg / CBS News)
\nTexas Gov. Greg Abbott paused approvals for new data center buildouts. Less than a year after declaring Texas the “epicenter of AI development,” Abbott argued that developers “basically dug their own grave” by moving into communities without winning local support. Trump, meanwhile, argued that communities rejecting data centers are “making a mistake.” (Axios / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico)
\n4/ Trump plans to temporarily suspend tariffs on ground beef imports and allow up to 300,000 metric tons into the U.S. in an effort to lower record-high beef prices. The additional imports would amount to roughly 2% to 3% of annual U.S. beef consumption, but agricultural economists questioned whether enough beef could be redirected to the U.S. within the 90-day window or noticeably lower prices. Trump nevertheless claimed that the move “will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.” Republicans and cattle groups, however, warned that cheaper imports could depress cattle prices and discourage ranchers from rebuilding a U.S. herd already near its smallest level since the 1950s. (Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg / The Hill / CNN / Axios / NOTUS)
\n5/ The Supreme Court allowed Trump to move ahead with mail-voting restrictions. The conservative majority concluded that California and 22 other states lacked standing because the order itself hadn’t harmed them, yet. The 6-3 ruling addressed only whether the states’ challenge was premature, not whether Trump had authority to impose the rules that directs the Department of Homeland Security to compile citizenship lists, requires states to send eligible-voter rosters to the Postal Service, and calls for mail ballots to be sent only to voters on those lists using special bar-coded envelopes. However, a separate nationwide injunction against parts of the same order remains in place. Meanwhile, the Postal Service finalized rules requiring states to submit voter data and barcodes through a federal portal and use special bar-coded election mail envelopes. The agency maintained that it’s not deciding who is eligible to vote, checking citizenship, inspecting ballots, or counting votes. Trump has claimed the restrictions would combat voter fraud. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 71 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 806 days.
\n\nThe Trump administration proposed a $103,265 fee for most new H-1B visa petitions. A federal judge struck down Trump’s earlier $100,000 fee, which was structured as a condition on entering the country, as an unlawful tax imposed without congressional approval. Trump’s new proposal, however, would apply more broadly to most new H-1B petitions, including many workers already in the U.S. The administration said the fee would raise about $8.8 billion annually to help fund the broader immigration system, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and immigration courts. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Politico / Washington Post)
\nThe Trump administration plans to revoke up to 200,000 business and tourism visas. If carried out, it would be the largest single mass visa revocation in U.S. history. The State Department, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, is expected to target B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought or are seeking asylum. (Associated Press / Axios / Reuters)
\nNevada sued the Trump administration over its plan requiring Arizona, California, and Nevada to cut their Colorado River water use by roughly 20% over the next two years. Nevada alleged that the Interior Department’s drought-management framework violates the rules governing the river and failed to consider the economic consequences of deeper cuts, which could eventually reach as much as 71% of its annual allocation. The Colorado River supplies roughly 90% of the water used by Las Vegas and the surrounding region. (Washington Post)
\nChief Justice John Roberts allowed Trump to continue building his White House ballroom, blocking a lower-court order that would have stopped the above-ground construction on the $400 million project. The one-sentence administrative stay didn’t address whether Trump acted lawfully when he demolished the East Wing or began construction without congressional approval. Two lower courts, however, ruled that he exceeded his authority and that Congress must authorize the project. (Reuters / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Axios / CNN)
\nEd Martin will leave the Justice Department to “fight Legal Battles for the upcoming Midterm Election, and the Presidential Election of 2028.” Martin, a Trump loyalist and “Stop the Steal” advocate, most recently served as Trump’s pardon attorney after Trump withdrew his nomination to permanently serve as U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. “Proud to serve,” Martin said. “Fight Fight Fight.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
\nThe Pentagon fired the publisher, editor in chief, and a Middle East reporter at Stars and Stripes. The Pentagon accused them of insubordination after opposing Pentagon interference with the paper in a CBS interview. The firings also followed the Pentagon’s removal of the paper’s congressionally mandated ombudsman earlier this year and came the same day the department issued a new policy directing Stars and Stripes to avoid publishing material that would “adversely affect national security.” The military newspaper has long operated with editorial independence from the Defense Department. (CBS News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
\nTrump threatened a $5 billion defamation lawsuit against the Center for American Progress unless it retracts a report that Trump’s National Guard deployments had no effect on violent crime. The report found that violent crime was already declining before the deployments in Washington, Los Angeles, and Memphis and estimated they would cost taxpayers more than $1.7 billion if continued through the end of 2026. CAP’s general counsel called the defamation allegation “utterly absurd”: “Truth is not and cannot be defamation.” (The Guardian / Associated Press / New York Times)
\nTrump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon will use a White House “Back to School” event to promote the administration’s efforts to dismantle the Education Department and expand school choice. McMahon has shifted some of the department’s responsibilities to other federal agencies and cut its workforce nearly in half as Trump pushes to return education authority to the states. The administration is also promoting a tax-law provision that, starting in 2027, will provide tax incentives for donations funding scholarships for K-12 public and private education. (ABC News)
\nNatalie Harp described Trump as her “Guardian and Protector” in two 2023 letters, saying “You are all that matters to me” and asks Trump to “cuss me out” when she fails. The White House defended Harp, who serves as Trump’s special and executive assistant, as “one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump’s team.” Meanwhile, a review of her deleted social media posts found that she posted more than 150 times on Jan. 6, urged Republicans to “FIGHT FOR TRUMP,” promoted Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen, praised lawmakers who tried to block certification of Biden’s victory, and later shared false claims that the rioters weren’t Trump supporters and that Antifa had infiltrated the crowd before sharing Trump’s calls for the rioters to go home. (Daily Beast / CNN / CNN / Slate / New York Times)
\nTrump on the bond market: “The ultimate intervention is our military, and if we have to use that, we will.” When asked whether his administration was considering additional action to bring down bond yields, Trump replied: “We have many types of intervention. That’s one.” He didn’t explain what he meant. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, announced it would at least double its purchases of longer-dated government bonds in an effort to push down borrowing costs that had reached multi-year highs. (Yahoo! News / HuffPost / MS Now / X / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
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", "summary": "The Trump administration expanded sanctions on Iran and warned foreign governments and companies that they could lose access to the U.S. financial system if they continue doing business with Tehran; Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts to 50% starting Jan. 1, 2027; Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner to discuss potential cooperation if...", "date_published": "2026-08-24T15:36:42-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["sanctions","iran","tariffs","supreme-court","voting-rights"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/20/day-2039/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/20/day-2039/", "title": "Day 2039: “We get the best stuff.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2039trump-8f3137.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: U.S. debt topped $40 trillion for the first time; Trump threatened Iran with “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” and warned of “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” for any country providing “any type of lifeline to Iran”; the FBI raided former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Washington home; the Census Bureau published an unsigned analysis claiming that 24,000 noncitizens voted in 2020; Senate Republicans warned AI companies that data center backlash could cost Republicans an Ohio Senate seat; Trump spent 30 minutes showing off his new White House construction projects; Democrats led Republicans by eight points on the generic congressional ballot; and Democrats now view the state of American democracy during Trump’s first term more favorably than they did at the time.
\n1/ U.S. debt topped $40 trillion for the first time. The Treasury Department said the total public debt outstanding reached $40.047 trillion Tuesday, more than double the level from a decade ago. Interest payments have topped $1 trillion this year and are now the government’s second-largest expense behind Social Security. Meanwhile, the Treasury has doubled the size of its buybacks of long-term government debt after 30-year yields reached their highest level in nearly two decades. The government ran a $432.3 billion deficit in July, the highest monthly shortfall in more than five years, as the deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal 2026 has already passed the total for all of fiscal 2025. Trump, who promised during his 2016 campaign to eliminate the national debt within eight years, has instead added roughly $11.6 trillion in additional debt across his two terms so far. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Semafor)
\n2/ Trump threatened Iran with “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” and warned of “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” for any country providing “any type of lifeline to Iran.” Iran, however, dismissed Trump’s “economic D-Day” as a “diversion from America’s own crisis,” saying that “doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. would announce new sanctions next week, adding: “you are either with us or against us […] it is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision.” (CNBC / New York Times / The Hill / NBC News / USA Today / CBS News)
\n3/ The FBI raided former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Washington home. Agents also seized an iPhone and MacBook Pro from Swalwell at San Francisco International Airport under warrants as part of a federal investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him. Swalwell, however, hasn’t been charged with a crime. He resigned from Congress and dropped out of the California governor’s race in April after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, including sexual assault and sending unsolicited explicit images. Swalwell has denied the allegations, while state and local authorities in New York and Los Angeles are also investigating allegations against him. (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News)
\n4/ The Census Bureau published an unsigned analysis claiming that 24,000 noncitizens voted in 2020. The report matched 128 million voter records against federal administrative records but relied on an incomplete commercial voter file that didn’t include Social Security numbers, a key identifier for accurately matching records. The report also didn’t identify which candidates the alleged voters supported. Trump, nevertheless, claimed the analysis “proves that over 24,000 Noncitizens voted illegally!” and declared, “I WON THE ELECTION!” (NPR / CNN / Democracy Docket)
\n5/ Senate Republicans warned AI companies that data center backlash could cost Republicans an Ohio Senate seat. In a private memo, the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote that Democrats had made data centers a “centerpiece” of their campaign against Sen. Jon Husted, warning that if Husted loses and data centers take the blame, “politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.” Communities, meanwhile, have fought projects over electricity costs, water use, noise, environmental impacts, and fears about AI-driven job losses. 71% of Americans say they would oppose a data center in their area. (Axios / Wall Street Journal)
\n6/ Trump spent 30 minutes showing off his new White House construction projects. He showed reporters the helipad, new granite driveway, fresh grass, flagpoles, facade work, and planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, saying “One thing I know how to do is build,” calling the California-mined granite “very special stone,” boasting that he’s “very good at flagpoles,” and that, “If you’re grass, you’re very happy.” At the unfinished 100-foot-wide helipad, Trump signed the underside of a granite eagle that will become part of the presidential seal. Trump also acknowledged ordering crews to redo the landing pad because he thought it had “too much slope,” delaying the project by about a week and a half. “We get the best stuff,” Trump said, adding that the projects “will be here long after we’re gone.” (Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / The Hill)
\npoll/ Democrats led Republicans by eight points on the generic congressional ballot. Among likely voters, 51% backed the Democratic candidate while 43% supported the Republican candidate, and 6% were undecided. (Emerson College Polling)
\npoll/ Democrats now view the state of American democracy during Trump’s first term more favorably than they did at the time. In 2020, Democrats gave U.S. democracy a score of 52 out of 100. But, when asked to look back on 2020, they gave it a 60. (Washington Post)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 75 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 810 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "U.S. debt topped $40 trillion for the first time; Trump threatened Iran with “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” and warned of “TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences” for any country providing “any type of lifeline to Iran”; the FBI raided former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s Washington home; the Census Bureau published an unsigned analysis claiming that 24,000 noncitizens voted in...", "date_published": "2026-08-20T17:58:57-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["economy","sanctions","iran","census","tech-policy"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/19/day-2038/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/19/day-2038/", "title": "Day 2038: “National security is not my thing.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2038trump-c26f2b.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump paused his 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods for three days; in Florida, democratic socialist state Rep. Angie Nixon upset the far better-funded Alex Vindman for the Democratic Senate nomination and will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody; in Alaska, former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan advanced to November’s Senate election; Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff called Trump a “draft-dodging, crook president” who “has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win.”; interim Sen. Darline Graham said she was “not that informed on national security” and that “national security is not my thing”; North Korea denied that Trump and Kim Jong Un have been in direct communication after Trump said he plans to meet with the North Korean later this year; Trump nominated an abortion opponent and supporter of the administration’s overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule to lead the FDA; the Justice Department urged a federal judge to reject James Comey’s effort to dismiss charges accusing him of threatening Trump with an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47”; and Trump, his businesses, and his administration have been involved in 61 media and defamation lawsuits since 2015.
\n1/ Trump paused his 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods for three days, claiming that the U.S. and Canada “have a DEAL!” Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, said only that “substantial progress” had been made and that “important work” remained. The White House nevertheless claimed Canada had committed to remove trade barriers affecting U.S. alcohol, dairy, and motor vehicles, while the U.S. trade representative said the agreement would include “comprehensive market access for all American goods,” economic security commitments, and digital trade alignment. Canadian officials haven’t publicly confirmed those commitments. Trump, meanwhile, said the U.S. may lower its 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and hinted at reducing auto tariffs. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC / NBC News / The Guardian / NPR / Axios / Semafor / Bloomberg)
\n2/ 🟥🟦 Primaries: In Florida, democratic socialist state Rep. Angie Nixon upset the far better-funded Alex Vindman for the Democratic Senate nomination and will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody. Vindman raised more than $16 million to Nixon’s less than $1 million. Trump-backed Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for governor and will face Democrat David Jolly. Republican Rep. Cory Mills, who faces a House Ethics Committee investigation, and Trump-backed House candidate Catalina Lauf lost their primaries. Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz won theirs. In Alaska, former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan advanced to November’s Senate election, with Peltola leading Sullivan 48% to 42.8% as votes were still being counted. In Wyoming, state Sen. Eric Barlow defeated Trump-backed Megan Degenfelder for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Trump ally Harriet Hageman won the GOP Senate primary, while election denier Chuck Gray won the Republican nomination for the state’s lone House seat. (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / ABC News / CNN / The Hill / Wall Street Journal)
\n3/ Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff called Trump a “draft-dodging, crook president” who “has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win.” Two days earlier, Ossoff accused Trump of “lying a nation into war, treating citizens as fools and those who serve as pawns,” and said that while “the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war,” Trump “sleeps through his meetings” and “golfs and trades stocks.” Ossoff also mocked Trump for wanting to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” Harp, Trump’s executive assistant. In response, Trump called Ossoff “Pee-wee Herman” while White House communications director Steven Cheung called him a “cuck loser.” Ossoff is running for reelection. (CNN / The Guardian / Politico / The Hill / CNN / Axios)
\n4/ Interim Sen. Darline Graham said she was “not that informed on national security” and that “national security is not my thing.” Graham’s comments came during the only debate before South Carolina’s Republican Senate runoff when she was asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are U.S. national security issues. Graham, who was appointed to the seat after the sudden death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, maintained that she supports the military as gasps and boos came from the audience. Her opponent, Rep. Ralph Norman, called Taiwan an ally and argued that the island is worth protecting against China. (CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / USA Today)
\n5/ North Korea denied that Trump and Kim Jong Un have been in direct communication after Trump said he plans to meet with the North Korean later this year. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, acknowledged that Kim “personally holds good memories and feelings toward Trump,” but maintained that the U.S. “hostile policy remains unchanged.” She also dismissed Trump’s decision to scale back joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises as insufficient. When asked whether he’d exchanged letters with Kim Jong Un, Trump refused to answer, but said they get along “very well” the dictator. (Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
\n6/ Trump nominated an abortion opponent and supporter of the administration’s overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule to lead the FDA. If confirmed by the Senate, White House health policy aide Heidi Overton would take over an agency that has been without permanent leadership since May. Overton has also criticized the abortion pill mifepristone and called for tighter restrictions on its use. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / The Guardian / CBS News / NBC News / ABC News / Associated Press)
\n7/ The Justice Department urged a federal judge to reject James Comey’s effort to dismiss charges accusing him of threatening Trump with an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47.” Prosecutors argued that “there is no serious dispute” and that an objective viewer could interpret the photo of seashells as “Kill President Trump.” Comey, however, denied the charges, deleted the post, and argued that the post was protected political speech. (Associated Press / The Hill / The Guardian / CNBC)
\n8/ Trump, his businesses, and his administration have been involved in 61 media and defamation lawsuits since 2015. 25 came between 2025 (16) and 2026 (9), while 36 lawsuits were filed from 2015 through 2024. (Axios)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 76 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 811 days.
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", "summary": "Trump paused his 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods for three days; in Florida, democratic socialist state Rep. Angie Nixon upset the far better-funded Alex Vindman for the Democratic Senate nomination and will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody; in Alaska, former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan advanced to November’s Senate election; Georgia Sen....", "date_published": "2026-08-19T15:24:21-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["tariffs","primary","midterm-election","north-korea","nomination"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/18/day-2037/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/18/day-2037/", "title": "Day 2037: “Open and operating.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2037trump-3cb40c.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump posted a map of the Strait of Hormuz that was labeled as “new U.S. territory”; U.S. Customs and Border Protection paused all border security construction in Big Bend National Park; ABC and Disney sued the FCC to block its early review of eight ABC broadcast licenses; the White House attacked CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes and her children after asking Trump to respond to Sen. Jon Ossoff’s criticism of him; the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Rep. Jimmy Gomez over sexual misconduct allegations; Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary; the Justice Department plans to send about 1,000 federal monitors to polling places for the November midterms; and 33% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – the lowest of his presidency.
\n1/ Trump posted a map of the Strait of Hormuz that was labeled as “new U.S. territory.” He also declared that no talks were underway or scheduled with Iran, contradicting Jared Kushner, who said conversations with “different areas of the Iranian government” were ongoing and “probably more robust” than ever. Nevertheless, Trump claimed that the waterway was “open and operating” and that “all water mines have been removed or detonated” even though shipping remains a fraction of prewar levels. Iran, meanwhile, maintains that Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, removes sanctions, and ends military operations. (Associated Press / Reuters / USA Today / CNBC / The Hill / ABC News)
\n2/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection paused all border security construction in Big Bend National Park. Commissioner Rodney Scott ordered the pause until he could conduct a “personal evaluation” and meet with local officials, law enforcement, and other stakeholders after the project drew bipartisan opposition, protests, and lawsuits over bulldozing and excavating in parts of the protected landscape. Republican Sen. John Cornyn and local sheriffs argued that Big Bend’s rugged terrain already acts as a natural barrier in a region that accounts for about 1% of border apprehensions. CBP, nevertheless, has already begun clearing land in the park for patrol roads and vehicle barriers. (Reuters / CNN / NBC News / Axios / New York Times)
\n3/ ABC and Disney sued the FCC to block its early review of eight ABC broadcast licenses. In April, the FCC ordered an early review of the licenses while investigating Disney’s diversity and inclusion practices. The order, however, came immediately after Trump attacked ABC and called for Jimmy Kimmel to be fired over a joke that Melania Trump had a “glow like an expectant widow.” Chairman Brendan Carr separately argued that ABC’s decision not to air Trump’s Oval Office address could be raised during the review. ABC called the early review an “existential threat.” The FCC denied that the review was retaliatory, arguing that broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
\n4/ The White House attacked CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes and her children after asking Trump to respond to Sen. Jon Ossoff’s criticism of him. The White House’s “rapid response” account called Holmes a “disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession” and told her that her children would someday be “sickened and embarrassed” by her question. Trump told Holmes to “be quiet,” called her “disrespectful” and a “fake reporter,” and told her “you report fake news” as she tried to ask another question. CNN, meanwhile, called personal attacks on journalists asking questions “beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press.” (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Fox News)
\n5/ The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Rep. Jimmy Gomez over sexual misconduct allegations. The bipartisan panel is reviewing allegations that Gomez “may have engaged in sexual misconduct,” including “engaging in inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer.” However, the committee cautioned that the investigation “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.” Gomez acknowledged making “personal mistakes outside my marriage,” but maintained that his actions were consensual and didn’t violate the law or House ethics rules. Gomez is seeking a sixth term. (Axios / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / CBS News / NBC News)
\n6/ Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, even as he continues to push to restrict mail-in voting and has repeated baseless claims that mail-in voting is susceptible to widespread fraud. It was at least the third time Trump’s voted by mail in Florida. The Trump administration, meanwhile, asked the Supreme Court to revive parts of Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting ahead of the midterms after lower courts blocked parts of it.(Politico / The Guardian / New York Times / Reuters)
\n7/ The Justice Department plans to send about 1,000 federal monitors to polling places for the November midterms. Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon called the deployment “probably going to be a historic number for a Republican administration.” While the department routinely sends monitors to enforce federal voting laws, an estimated 700 people were deployed for the 2024 presidential election and fewer than 300 for the 2022 midterms. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CBS News / The Hill)
\npoll/ 33% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – the lowest of his presidency. (Reuters)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 77 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 812 days.
\n\nThe Trump administration has deleted or altered nearly 400 federal datasets. At least 28 were deleted and 338 modified, with health data accounting for about 40% of the affected collections. Multiple CDC surveys removed gender-identity questions under Trump’s “Restoring Biological Truth” order, while at least four health datasets have stopped being updating entirely. (The Guardian)
\nA federal judge blocked Trump’s plan to keep the FBI headquarters in Washington. Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that the FBI and General Services Administration lacked authority to abandon the 2023 Biden-era decision to relocate the agency to Maryland and redirect $555 million to the Ronald Reagan Building, including $323 million Congress had appropriated for the Greenbelt project. (Reuters / ABC News / Washington Post / CBS News / CNN)
\nThe Justice Department asked an appeals court to reinstate charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed the human smuggling case as presumptively vindictive, finding prosecutors failed to show Abrego Garcia would have been charged without his successful wrongful deportation suit. Prosecutors, however, argued that the indictment rested on “legitimate reasons” and that then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s comments reflected a “normal assessment of the societal interest in punishment,” not retaliation. (Associated Press / ABC News)
\nA federal judge allowed the Trump administration to end deportation protections for Ethiopians. The ruling lifted the last judicial block on ending Temporary Protected Status for more than 5,000 Ethiopians, making them eligible for deportation and ending their authorization to live and work in the U.S. (CNN / Reuters)
\nU.S. borrowing costs hit their highest level since 2007. The 30-year Treasury yield topped 5.3% as investors pointed to inflation from the Iran war and higher oil prices, growing government debt, and heavy A.I. borrowing. (New York Times / Reuters / Bloomberg / ABC News)
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", "summary": "Trump posted a map of the Strait of Hormuz that was labeled as “new U.S. territory”; U.S. Customs and Border Protection paused all border security construction in Big Bend National Park; ABC and Disney sued the FCC to block its early review of eight ABC broadcast licenses; the White House attacked CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes and her children after asking...", "date_published": "2026-08-18T15:10:29-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","climate","media","ethics","voting-rights"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/17/day-2036/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/17/day-2036/", "title": "Day 2036: “Accept the reality of defeat.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2036trump-e3d201.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump threatened to “bomb the shit out of” Oman if it “gets in the way” of U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz; Iran rejected Trump’s threat to declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory; U.S. Central Command chief acknowledged mental health challenges aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln; Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea; Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge Justice Department independence from the White House; the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s effort to overturn the $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict; the Democratic National Committee approved its 2028 presidential primary calendar with South Carolina going first; and 60% of Americans called the U.S. economic system unfair.
\n1/ Trump threatened to “bomb the shit out of” Oman if it “gets in the way” of U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. The threat comes after Iran said it hd reached an “understanding” with Oman on a route map for ships through the strait. The U.S., however, has demanded that Iran reopen the strait first before it lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Iran missed the 60-day deadline for a peace deal. Trump ruled out extending the June agreement, which called for an end to military operations, the reopening of the strait, and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran, however, claim that negotiations “never began” and the 60-day period was “fundamentally no longer relevant.” Trump, meanwhile, declared that he has “no time schedule” to end the war and is “not in a hurry” to make a deal. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Reuters / USA Today / Bloomberg / NBC News / The Guardian)
\n2/ Iran rejected Trump’s threat to declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory. On Friday, Trump claimed that he’d “pretty soon” declare the strait “a territory of the United States,” insisting that “no ships get through unless we want them to.” Early Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi responded that the waterway “will only be opened and closed under Iran’s command,” adding that the U.S. must “accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in delusions.” Gharibabadi added that the strait “cannot be seized with a tweet, nor with an aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor through an election speech.” (NBC News / The Guardian / The Hill / USA Today)
\n3/ U.S. Central Command chief acknowledged mental health challenges aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Adm. Brad Cooper claimed the carrier has “among the lowest number of cases related to mental health” of the Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers after visiting. However, he acknowledged that “this doesn’t mean that all is perfect” and that serving at sea for long periods “isn’t for everyone.” Reports cited shortages, contaminated water, plumbing problems, deteriorating morale, and sailors attempting to go overboard during the extended deployment. Trump, meanwhile, dismissed concerns about the crew’s mental health and whether the deployment had gone on too long, responding “No. No. No.” and “Not nearly long enough.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC)
\n4/ Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea. Trump called the drills costly and “hostile” toward North Korea and his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un. Trump criticized Seoul for declining to join the U.S. effort against Iran, but called that issue “somewhat unrelated.” The order came days after North Korea launched ballistic missiles and threatened unspecified action over the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield joint U.S.-South Korean exercises, which North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called “a rehearsal for an aggressive war.” (Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN / Axios / CBS News / The Hill)
\n5/ Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge Justice Department independence from the White House. Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney and newly confirmed attorney general, added that he’d “of course” consider Trump’s views on individual prosecutions, but claimed Trump has never told him to prosecute a specific person and “never will.” Trump, however, has publicly called for the prosecutions of James Comey, Letitia James and Adam Schiff. And the Justice Department later charged Comey and James, which were dismissed. Prosecutors, however, charged Comey again. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / USA Today / The Guardian)
\n6/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s effort to overturn the $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict. The unsigned order denied his request to reconsider the court’s earlier refusal to hear his appeal, leaving intact the 2023 jury finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll. The justices, meanwhile, are separately considering whether to hear Trump’s appeal of an $83.3 million defamation judgment, where he argues that presidential immunity shields him from statements he made while president. (Axios / Reuters / CNN / NBC News / USA Today)
\n7/ The Democratic National Committee approved its 2028 presidential primary calendar with South Carolina going first. South Carolina votes Jan. 22, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia. The schedule drops Iowa from the early-state lineup and pushes New Hampshire to third, putting states with larger Black and Latino electorates at the front of the nominating process. New Hampshire Democrats, however, resisted the change in part because state law requires its primary be held before any other state. Some Iowa politicians, meanwhile, threatened to hold an early contest anyway. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters)
\npoll/ 60% of Americans called the U.S. economic system unfair. 69% said they’re dissatisfied or angry with how the system is working, 73% said the income gap between the richest Americans and the middle class is increasing, and 67% said wealthy Americans pay less than their fair share in federal income taxes. However, two-thirds said the free-market system is good for the economy, and capitalism was viewed more positively than socialism overall. Among Democrats, 58% viewed socialism positively, while 32% viewed capitalism positively. 53% also viewed the “democratic socialist” label positively. Meanwhile, 68% of Democrats want the party to pursue “big or fundamental changes” on economic policy even if they’re harder to accomplish. 83% said it was more important to show they’re “fighting for people” than to show they have a detailed plan, while 44% said the party is “not as progressive as you want it to be,” compared with 8% who said it is “more progressive than you want it to be.” (CBS News)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 78 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 813 days.
\n✨ Well, that’s fantastic: Opening arguments start Tuesday in California over allegations that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children, misled consumers about the risks, and illegally collected data from users under 13. California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are seeking potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties and nationwide changes that could force Meta to remove infinite scroll, autoplay, beauty filters, and engagement-optimized algorithms and delete children’s personal data, along with algorithms and models trained on it. Meta’s attorneys estimated damages could reach $1.4 trillion. (NPR / CNBC)
\n\nAttorney General Todd Blanche said “absolutely, it’s a possibility” that he’d appeal the 22 cases the Justice Department has lost to the Supreme Court to obtain voter-roll data. The Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., after they refused to turn over voter information including names, birth dates, addresses, driver’s-license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. The administration claimed it wants the data to investigate election “deficiencies” or “anomalies,” including whether noncitizens are registered to vote. Elections, however, are administered by the states. (NBC News)
\nTrump family’s crypto business received conditional approval to establish a bank. The charter would allow World Liberty Trust to issue and manage stablecoin services in-house rather than relying on third parties. Trump and his family owns 38% of the company. (CBS News / CNBC)
\nThe BBC asked a federal court to authorize subpoenas for Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner. The broadcaster argued that the three have “personal knowledge” and likely possess records relevant to Trump’s intentions and actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump sued the BBC for $10 billion over its editing of his Jan. 6 speech. (The Guardian / Politico / CBS News / CNBC / The Hill)
\nThe Justice Department charged a Kentucky woman with two federal felonies for allegedly vandalizing the World War II Memorial. Melissa Farris was accused of filling the fountain with bubbles and spray-painting graffiti that read “Clean hands dirty $” on the memorial. She was charged with depredation against federal property and destruction of a veterans’ memorial. Each offense carries up to 10 years in prison. (Politico / New York Times / CBS News / NBC News)
\nTrump blamed vandals for the dead grass on the National Mall where the stage and seating were during his July 4 celebration. Photos, however, taken after the event show workers removing the structures and exposing brown, damaged turf underneath. (Associated Press / The Hill / Fox News)
\nTrump’s appointed 57 officials worth at least $100 million to his administration. That is more than four times the combined total under George W. Bush, Obama, and Biden. Trump claimed wealthy business leaders have “great competence” and are “some of the smartest business leaders.” 32% of U.S. adults, meanwhile, approved of Trump’s handling of the economy last month, down from 40% at the start of his second term. (Associated Press)
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", "summary": "Trump threatened to “bomb the shit out of” Oman if it “gets in the way” of U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz; Iran rejected Trump’s threat to declare the Strait of Hormuz U.S. territory; U.S. Central Command chief acknowledged mental health challenges aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln; Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South...", "date_published": "2026-08-17T15:08:15-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","national-security","iran","supreme-court","justice-department"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/14/day-2033/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/14/day-2033/", "title": "Day 2033: “I didn’t really ask too much about it.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2033trump-cdd0f1.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule; Trump signed executive orders to narrow birthright citizenship and end “birth tourism”; ICE plans to spend up to $20 million in a no-bid contract on thousands of electric shock gloves to use on people they’re trying to detain; Trump authorized U.S. companies to conduct government-directed cyberattacks against foreign hacking groups; Trump secretly after hid inside an airport catering container to secretly get off Air Force One and fly out of Turkey using a smaller military jet last month; the Navy is replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East following complaints about exhaustion, supply problems, and sailors’ mental health; the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general; the Trump official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service demanded for more resources to fight a seven-acre wildfire near his Idaho ranch; a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard; the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow construction to continue on Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom despite a federal appeals court ruling that the project likely requires congressional approval; U.S. consumer sentiment fell 8% in August as the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July; Trump reported at least $2.2 billion in income in 2025 while the average American family lost about $1,625 to inflation; the White House gave Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook 21 days to answer to allegations that she made false statements on mortgage documents; Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another term, ending speculation that the 76-year-old conservative justice would retire and give Trump the chance to name a fourth Supreme Court justice; and Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board voted to re-add his name to the building’s facade and close the main venue for a two-year renovation.
\n1/ Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule. The order splits the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three shots, and spread childhood immunizations across separate doctor visits. It recommends routine vaccination against 11 diseases and directs the Justice Department to challenge some state vaccination laws. An earlier attempt to overhaul the schedule has already been blocked in federal court and legal experts say it’s unclear whether Trump even has the authority to impose the changes. Nevertheless, Trump claimed without evidence that the combined MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal” and again suggested vaccines contribute to autism, despite decades of research finding no link. The CDC also says there is “no published scientific evidence” of any benefit to separating the MMR vaccine. No individual measles, mumps, or rubella vaccines are currently approved or available in the U.S. (New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Reuters / Washington Post)
\n2/ Trump signed executive orders to narrow birthright citizenship and end “birth tourism,” weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that his previous attempts to end automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. were unconstitutional. One order would exclude children born to some foreign-government employees, people designated as “alien enemies” or members of foreign terrorist organizations, or mothers who entered the country solely to give birth. The other order directs the State Department and Homeland Security to issue rules and guidance targeting birth tourism, which federal visa rules already restrict. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Axios)
\nThe Trump administration is reportedly intensifying efforts to deport noncitizens who registered to vote, including green card holders who inadvertently signed-up and never cast a ballot. Homeland Security is reopening old voter fraud cases and using a federal immigration database to hunt for registrants. State audits have repeatedly found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare. (New York Times)
\nThe 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a challenge to Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. The court said the case was “moot” because the administration had already deported the three named plaintiffs under other immigration laws. The Supreme Court’s injunction blocking removals under the act, however, remains in place while other challenges can now move forward. (ABC News / New York Times / NBC News)
\n3/ ICE plans to spend up to $20 million in a no-bid contract on thousands of electric shock gloves to use on people they’re trying to detain. The Department of Homeland Security described the CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E. as a “conductive distraction and de-escalation device” that will be issued to immigration enforcement and criminal investigative officers. The manufacturer, however, warns they shouldn’t be used as punishment or for “verbal defiance or belligerence” and advises against using them on children, pregnant women, elderly people, and people with disabilities. White House border czar Tom Homan defended the devices as a less-lethal option to could keep officers from using deadly force. Separately, Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract for 10 used planes that were “urgently” needed for deportation flights. The fleet, however, has mostly sat idle for months despite DHS invoking an “unusual and compelling urgency” exemption to skip competitive bidding. (Associated Press / CNN / NPR / Washington Post / Axios / New York Times)
\n4/ Trump authorized U.S. companies to conduct government-directed cyberattacks against foreign hacking groups. The memorandum reverses decades of U.S. cybersecurity policy that largely confined offensive cyberoperations to the military and intelligence agencies and allows vetted companies to surveil, disrupt, manipulate, or destroy computer systems and digital infrastructure overseas. Companies are required to receive federal approval before an operation, but attacks that could cause death or serious injury or rise to the level of an armed attack under international law are prohibited. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
\n5/ Trump secretly after hid inside an airport catering container to secretly get off Air Force One and fly out of Turkey using a smaller military jet last month. The White House had said Trump would leave Ankara aboard the legacy Air Force One, and Trump publicly claimed the switch was “for old time’s sake.” Instead, he boarded the plane in view of cameras, exited through a catering truck, and flew to Britain on a C-32A while reporters, White House staff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained on the decoy aircraft without knowing Trump was gone. Trump later acknowledged the flight, saying the Secret Service and military “wanted me to go on a different flight” because “there was a threat out there,” adding: “I didn’t really ask too much about it.” CIA analysts, however, reportedly had “low confidence” in the Israeli-provided warning and didn’t view it as compelling. (Washington Post / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / CBS News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
\nTrump said he’s “low-keying it” with Iran, saying the U.S. is “just watching Iran” as its economy falls apart. Iran is demanding an end to the U.S. blockade, sanctions, a military withdrawal, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and war reparations before it’ll reopen the strait. (Axios / Semafor / The Hill)
\nThe Senate passed a Russia sanctions bill, which will let Trump impose tariffs of up to 100% on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India. The measure also targets Russian leaders and oligarchs, and extends sanctions on Iran’s weapons and energy sectors. The bill heads to the House, where Democrats warn it gives Trump too much authority over tariffs. (NPR / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)
\n6/ The Navy is replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East following complaints about exhaustion, supply problems, and sailors’ mental health. Sailors have reported shortages of food and basic supplies, plumbing problems, disrupted mail, exhaustion, declining morale, and mental health issues. The Lincoln left San Diego in November for what was supposed to be a normal deployment to the Pacific before being redirected to the Middle East ahead of the war with Iran. Since then, the Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days and gone more than 200 days without a port call. Trump, meanwhile, dismissed concerns about deteriorating living conditions and mental health aboard the Lincoln, saying its extended deployment was “not nearly long enough.” Trump said the Lincoln was leaving the region “right now or very shortly” and would be replaced by the USS George Washington. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called reports about the conditions aboard the Lincoln “completely misrepresented,” while Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao acknowledged that sailors “have been pushed to their limits,” but no meals were missed and that “a small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life.” Senate Armed Services Committee Democrat Richard Blumenthal demanded that the Pentagon account for the Lincoln’s conditions and the decisions behind its extended deployment, warning that repeatedly extending carrier deployments could create “tomorrow’s readiness crisis.” (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN / NPR / The Guardian / Reuters)
\n7/ The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general, putting Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer in control of the Justice Department. Blanches’ nomination faced weeks of bipartisan concern over his independence from Trump, including his role in the IRS settlement that created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and immunity from tax audits for Trump, his two sons, and their businesses. Blanche, however, secured enough Republican support only after agreeing in writing to kill the fund and narrow the tax protections. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / Reuters / CBS News)
\nTrump named White House staff secretary Will Scharf as his next White House counsel. Scharf, a former federal prosecutor and member of Trump’s personal legal team, will take over weeks before the midterm elections and is expected to handle fights over subpoenas, investigations, testimony, and executive privilege if Democrats win control of Congress. Scharf also chairs the National Capital Planning Commission, which approved Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. (CBS News / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
\nWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave the Trump administration at the end of August, less than three months before the midterm elections. Leavitt will become one of Trump’s “top outside advisors.” Leavitt returned from maternity leave in July after giving birth to her second child and said she couldn’t “be the best mom my two young children deserve” while meeting the demands of the job. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
\nWhite House deputy national security adviser Andy Baker will leave the Trump administration in the coming weeks. Baker previously served as JD Vance’s national security adviser, and was personally involved in negotiations with Iran. Mike Needham will remain a deputy national security adviser at the White House, while Cliff Sims will continue as Vance’s national security adviser. (Axios / Reuters / Bloomberg)
\n8/ The Trump official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service demanded for more resources to fight a seven-acre wildfire near his Idaho ranch. Michael Boren, the undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment, is a tech billionaire and Trump appointee who oversees about 200 million acres of national forest and public land. The response was reportedly greater than what’s typical for a fire that posed no significant threat to life or property. (Washington Post)
\n9/ A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard, which accused Harvard of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism. Judge Richard Stearns, however, said the incidents cited were “too isolated and episodic” to establish that Harvard was out of compliance with Title VI. (Reuters / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CBS News / NBC News / CNN)
\n10/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow construction to continue on Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom despite a federal appeals court ruling that the project likely requires congressional approval. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the project is already “65% complete” and warned that stopping above-ground work would threaten “national security.” The court ruled earlier that “each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House.” Trump has claimed that the ballroom and its security facilities are “vital for National Security and Military Operations.” The court, however, already rejected that argument, saying national security claims “are not an automatic get-out-of-law-free card” and that whether “a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.” (NBC News / New York Times / CBS News / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times / Reuters / Washington Post)
\n11/ U.S. consumer sentiment fell 8% in August as the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. May and June payrolls were revised down by a combined 103,000, as unemployment fell to 4.1%, but for the “wrong reason”: more than 260,000 people left the workforce. Consumers, meanwhile, expect prices to rise 4.3% over the next year, and 8% expect their income growth to exceed inflation. In July, inflation outpaced wage growth. (Axios / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
\n12/ Trump reported at least $2.2 billion in income in 2025 while the average American family lost about $1,625 to inflation. The Joint Economic Committee minority staff attributed about $636 million of Trump’s income to his memecoin and blamed tariffs and other Republican policies for $219 billion in added household costs. Through June 2026, the committee estimates that the average family has paid more than $3,500 in additional inflation-related costs since Trump returned to office. (MeidasTouch)
\n13/ The White House gave Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook 21 days to answer to allegations that she made false statements on mortgage documents, reviving Trump’s effort to fire Cook after the Supreme Court blocked his first attempt in June. The court ruled that Cook must receive notice and a chance to respond before she can be removed “for cause.” (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Axios / CNBC / NPR)
\n14/ Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to remain on the Supreme Court for at least another term, ending speculation that the 76-year-old conservative justice would retire and give Trump the chance to name a fourth Supreme Court justice. “Obviously I’m here for another term,” Alito said, adding that calls for him to step down are “a reminder of mortality” and “like, what are those vultures doing up there?” The court’s next term begins in October and runs through late June or early July 2027. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Reuters / USA Today / ABC News)
\n15/ Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board voted to re-add his name to the building’s facade and close the main venue for a two-year renovation. The board approved an inscription reading “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” to be added below the Kennedy Center’s sign and renamed the grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” A federal judge previously ruled that the center “cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” ordering Trump’s name removed from the facade. (NPR / Reuters / Axios / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / New York Times)
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", "summary": "Trump signed an executive order to scale back the federal childhood vaccine schedule; Trump signed executive orders to narrow birthright citizenship and end “birth tourism”; ICE plans to spend up to $20 million in a no-bid contract on thousands of electric shock gloves to use on people they’re trying to detain; Trump authorized U.S. companies to conduct government-directed cyberattacks against...", "date_published": "2026-08-14T14:17:26-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["healthcare","immigration","executive-order","national-security","sanctions"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/06/day-2025/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/06/day-2025/", "title": "Day 2025: “Extremely happy.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2025trump-820355.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump denied that munitions shortages are threatening to limit his military options in Iran, but acknowledged that some weapons are in “tighter” supply; the Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times and refused to answer questions about the origins of Covid-19; the Trump administration proposed eliminating most federal Head Start regulations; Trump has repeatedly called Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh since he took office in May; Mitch McConnell was discharged from a rehab center and has returned home; the FCC eliminated the 39% cap on how many television households a single broadcaster can reach; and a federal judge temporarily blocked the BBC from obtaining Trump’s financial records in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
\n1/ Trump denied that munitions shortages are threatening to limit his military options in Iran, but acknowledged that some weapons are in “tighter” supply. “The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” Trump claimed, while threatening “long term jail sentences” for officials who leak information about the depleted stockpiles. U.S. Patriot interceptor stocks fell from an estimated 2,330 before the war to roughly 759–827, while THAAD inventories have dropped from about 452 to 234–278, with ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles also in limited supply. Trump also denied reports that he confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David over the shortages, calling the story “completely FALSE” and saying he is “extremely happy” with Hegseth. The Pentagon, meanwhile, is asking Congress for $67 billion in emergency war funding to refill weapons stocks, which could take years to rebuild. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Axios / CBS News / CNN / The Hill / The Guardian)
\n2/ The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times and refused to answer questions about the origins of Covid-19. Rand Paul argued that Fauci’s Biden-era pardon eliminated his risk of federal prosecution. The committee bypassed a full Senate vote and instead sent the referral directly to the Justice Department, which said it was reviewing the resolution. Fauci’s lawyer called the vote “a crude political stunt.” Meanwhile, Ron Johnson’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations obtained a copy of the government-issued iPhone Fauci used during the pandemic, adding to millions of pages of Fauci-related records already turned over to congressional investigators. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / Axios / CBS News / NBC News)
\n3/ The Trump administration proposed eliminating most federal Head Start regulations and letting states set standards for class sizes, child-to-staff ratios, background checks, and transportation. HHS said the changes could save about $2.2 billion and allow Head Start to serve hundreds of thousands more children. Head Start currently serves about 700,000 children and families. (Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
\n4/ Trump has repeatedly called Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh since he took office in May. Trump has asked Warsh about his views on the economy, including the effects of the war in Iran and artificial intelligence. It’s unclear if they’ve discussed interest rates. Warsh, however, told lawmakers last month that Trump hadn’t tried to interfere with the Fed, but declined to say whether the two had spoken. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
\n✨ Well, that’s fantastic: Mitch McConnell was discharged from a rehab center and has returned home. He didn’t say when he plans to return to the Senate. McConnell hasn’t been seen in public since he was hospitalized after a June 14 fall that left him “briefly unconscious,” and said he will continue an “intensive regimen of physical therapy” while working from home. McConnell, who is retiring when his term ends in January, has missed 51 Senate floor votes since his hospitalization and is expected to miss the vote to confirm Todd Blanche for attorney general. (NBC News / Axios)
\n5/ The FCC eliminated the 39% cap on how many television households a single broadcaster can reach. FCC Chair Brendan Carr called the 22-year-old restriction “outdated,” while Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez said the move was “unlawful on its face” because Congress set the cap in federal law. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
\n6/ A federal judge temporarily blocked the BBC from obtaining Trump’s financial records in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the network. Trump sued over a 2024 documentary that spliced together portions of his Jan. 6 speech in a way that appeared to show him directly urging supporters to attack the Capitol. While the BBC apologized for the edit, it maintains that it was unintentional and didn’t meet the legal standard for defamation. U.S. District Judge Roy Altman paused the discovery order while he considers Trump’s request to drop claims that the documentary damaged his businesses, and instead focus on personal reputational harm. The BBC, however, argued that those records remain relevant, because Trump’s reputation is closely tied to his business success. Trump’s proposed amended lawsuit still seeks $10 billion in damages. (Politico / The Guardian / CNBC / The Hill)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 89 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 824 days.
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", "summary": "Trump denied that munitions shortages are threatening to limit his military options in Iran, but acknowledged that some weapons are in “tighter” supply; the Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times and refused to answer questions about the origins of Covid-19; the Trump administration...", "date_published": "2026-08-06T15:09:06-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","iran","covid","education","media"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/05/day-2024/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/05/day-2024/", "title": "Day 2024: “Reluctantly.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2024trump-9f08eb.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Progressive candidates won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary and two closely watched House primaries, while establishment-backed Democrats won key races in Missouri and Virginia; the Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as CDC director; the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into allegations that Rep. Max Miller abused his ex-wife and toddler daughter, and used illegal drugs; Trump still hasn’t “made a determination” on whether to fire U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro; Iran and Oman are finalizing a temporary deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; the White House declassified memos showing that the FBI investigated whether Trump fired James Comey in 2017 while acting as a Russian asset; and a federal judge “reluctantly” granted the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the final Jan. 6 indictments, including the seditious conspiracy conviction against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and seven others.
\n1/ 🟦🟥 Primaries: Progressive candidates won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary and two closely watched House primaries, while establishment-backed Democrats won key races in Missouri and Virginia. Progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens and will face former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Progressive William Lawrence won the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 7th District, democratic socialist Donavan McKinney beat Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar in the Detroit-based 13th. In Missouri, incumbent Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell defeated former Democratic Rep. and democratic socialist Cori Bush, while in Virginia, former Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria and prosecutor Shannon Taylor won the Democratic nominations. Trump-backed Republicans John James and Ty Masterson won gubernatorial nominations in Michigan and Kansas. Voters in Kansas and Missouri rejected Republican-backed ballot measures affecting judicial elections and citizen-led constitutional amendments. And in Michigan’s 8th District, Thomas Smith, who had suspended his campaign and endorsed another candidate, defeated Trump-backed Amir Hassan for the Republican nomination. (Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Bloomberg / Reuters / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News)
\n2/ The Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as CDC director – the agency’s first permanent leader in nearly a year. During her confirmation hearing, Schwartz pledged to “never compromise on the science,” but declined to say whether she’d oppose Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or alert Congress if ordered to adopt “unscientific” or harmful policies. Instead, she said she didn’t believe Kennedy or Trump would issue such directives. Republican health committee chair Bill Cassidy, meanwhile, said her testimony was “not quite the direct answer” he wanted, but backed her after private assurances that she “will stand against those who do not” follow the science. Cassidy voted to confirm Kennedy after also receiving private assurances from Kennedy, who later broke those promises when he fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. Schwartz inherits an agency that has lost more than a quarter of its workforce and is dealing with a major measles resurgence and the country’s largest documented cyclosporiasis outbreak. (Associated Press / Axios / The Hill / CBS News / Washington Post)
\n3/ The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into allegations that Rep. Max Miller abused his ex-wife and toddler daughter, and used illegal drugs. After Miller asked the committee to investigate him, Speaker Mike Johnson said the claims “don’t look good” and are “serious.” He refused to call on Miller to quit, saying “we have to allow this process to play out.” (Washington Post / The Hill / Politico)
\n4/ Trump still hasn’t “made a determination” on whether to fire U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she dropped a felony “vandalism” case over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro’s filing said the liner failed because of “flawed installation by the contractor,” citing damage throughout the pool and internal warnings predating the defendant’s arrest. Trump, nevertheless, called Pirro “totally wrong,” said she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” and insisted the liner had been cut with “a knife or a box cutter.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, meanwhile, said Pirro was “doing a great job,” while acknowledging that Trump can fire her “or anybody else” whenever he chooses. (Politico / New York Times / ABC News)
\n5/ Iran and Oman are finalizing a temporary deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending inbound ships near Iran and outbound traffic through Omani waters. Iran said the waterway won’t fully reopen until the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. Trump, meanwhile, continued to claim that a deal could be announced within 48 hours. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
\n6/ The White House declassified memos showing that the FBI investigated whether Trump fired James Comey in 2017 while acting as a Russian asset. The “sensitive investigative matter” looked at whether Trump was “wittingly or unwittingly” acting for or on behalf of Russia, and whether he posed a national security threat. The case was later folded into Robert Mueller’s investigation, which was closed in April 2019 without charges against Trump. Mueller found no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but never cleared Trump of obstructing justice. (Axios / CBS News)
\n7/ A federal judge “reluctantly” granted the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the final Jan. 6 indictments, including the seditious conspiracy conviction against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and seven others. “Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of presidential power — to buckle,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote. “The court cannot write a different ending.” The Justice Department, meanwhile, claimed that dismissing the charges were in the “interest of justice” and would protect the defendants from future “harassment.”Mehta called the argument “strange,” and said the government was bestowing “unearned grace” by “wiping their records clean” and surrendering convictions for “crimes against the United States itself.” (ABC News / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 90 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 825 days.
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\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Progressive candidates won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary and two closely watched House primaries, while establishment-backed Democrats won key races in Missouri and Virginia; the Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as CDC director; the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into allegations that Rep. Max Miller abused his ex-wife and toddler daughter, and used illegal drugs; Trump still hasn’t “made a determination”...", "date_published": "2026-08-05T17:06:00-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["primary","jan-6","indictment","foreign-policy","iran"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/04/day-2023/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/04/day-2023/", "title": "Day 2023: “Things aren’t looking good.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2023trump-66ef51.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The U.S. military has reportedly used “virtually all” of its surface-to-surface weapons during Trump’s five-month war with Iran; Trump didn’t fire U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she brought a box of evidence to the White House showing that the Reflecting Pool’s damage was due to a “botched installation” and not vandalism; the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general; twenty-five states sued to block Trump’s latest tariffs and to recover duties already paid; Trump warned Rep. Max Miller that “things aren’t looking good” and told him his reelection campaign would be “really hard” following allegations by his ex-wife that he poured hot water on her, held a gun to her head, and broke their 2-year-old daughter’s collarbone; voters in Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia, and Washington will choose candidates tonight in primaries that could shape control of Congress and several state governments; ICE reportedly arrested 51,000 people in July; and Trump personally ordered contractors to redo weeks of work on the White House’s $5 million-plus helipad because he disliked how it looked and questioned the slope of the South Lawn.
\n1/ The U.S. military has reportedly used “virtually all” of its surface-to-surface weapons during Trump’s five-month war with Iran. A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the U.S. has used about 65% of its Patriot interceptors and reduced its THAAD stockpile by at least 38% since February. The military has also used a little less than half of its Tomahawk missiles. Trump, meanwhile, denied the military was short on weapons, saying the U.S. has “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and “far more than we need.” (Reuters / CNN)
\n2/ Trump didn’t fire U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she brought a box of evidence to the White House showing that the Reflecting Pool’s damage was due to a “botched installation” and not vandalism. Pirro’s office said that Interior Department records showed a “rushed and flawed installation process,” and “had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.” Trump nevertheless insisted “there was vandalism,” and accused Pirro of choking and “folding like an umbrella,” but conceded that he wasn’t “100 percent thrilled with the contractor.” (CNN / CBS News / New York Times)
\n3/ The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general. The 12-10 party-line vote sends the nomination to the full Senate, where Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Bill Cassidy aren’t committed to supporting him. Although Blanch agreed in writing to kill a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization” fund and limit tax protections for Trump, his family, and their businesses, they don’t amend the original settlement between Trump and his own administration, which requires Trump to personally agree to the change. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
\n4/ Twenty-five states sued to block Trump’s latest tariffs and to recover duties already paid. The states argued that the White House used forced-labor concerns as a pretext to replace tariffs the Supreme Court already struck down with nearly uniform 10% to 12.5% levies on economies that account for more than 99% of U.S. imports. The White House, meanwhile, called Section 301 a “legally durable tool” for addressing trade practices that burden U.S. commerce. (CNBC / The Guardian / The Hill / Bloomberg / Reuters / CBS News / Associated Press)
\n5/ Trump warned Rep. Max Miller that “things aren’t looking good” and told him his reelection campaign would be “really hard” following allegations by his ex-wife that he poured hot water on her, held a gun to her head, and broke their 2-year-old daughter’s collarbone. Miller, who represents Ohio’s 7th Congressional District and is seeking another term in the House, denied the allegations.and instead said he’s staying in the race. He cited polling figures he claims show him “winning by 9.” Several Republicans have called for Miller to resign, while Trump called him “a good person.” The House Ethics Committee, meanwhile, opened an investigation into the domestic violence allegations. (Axios / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / The Hill / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
\n6/ ICE reportedly arrested 51,000 people in July. It was the highest monthly total in Department of Homeland Security history. In June, DHS said there have been 356,389 total deportations so far this fiscal year. (ABC News)
\n7/ Trump personally ordered contractors to redo weeks of work on the White House’s $5 million-plus helipad because he disliked how it looked and questioned the slope of the South Lawn. Crews removed a partially installed, 100-foot-wide granite presidential seal and are considering whether to reshape the lawn so the pad sits level with the horizon. The White House claimed the grounds had “desperately needed a proper Helipad” to protect the “beautiful South Lawn grass” from the “fierce exhaust fumes of the incredible Marine One.” Lockheed Martin is paying for the project. (Washington Post)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 91 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 826 days.
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", "summary": "The U.S. military has reportedly used “virtually all” of its surface-to-surface weapons during Trump’s five-month war with Iran; Trump didn’t fire U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she brought a box of evidence to the White House showing that the Reflecting Pool’s damage was due to a “botched installation” and not vandalism; the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Todd Blanche’s nomination for...", "date_published": "2026-08-04T16:07:14-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","iran","tariffs","immigration","primary"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/03/day-2022/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/03/day-2022/", "title": "Day 2022: “Last chance before decapitation.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2022trump-4725aa.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund”; Capital One closed more than 300 bank accounts linked to Trump and his businesses in 2021 after “months of analysis and a careful review” by its anti-money laundering team; Trump accused ExxonMobil and Chevron of “making too much money” off the oil shortage caused by the war in Iran that he started; Trump said he wants to give Iran “every last chance before decapitation” even though there are no “new” negotiations planned; Trump baselessly blamed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for cyberattacks on more than 30 of the state’s water systems; and Trump is reportedly considering firing U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dismissing the Reflecting Pool vandalism case after concluding that a “hasty and botched” renovation, not vandalism, caused the damage.
\n1/ Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” In a one-page order, Blanche wrote that the fund “is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.” A separate Justice Department document narrowed Trump’s tax-audit protections to past returns involving Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization, while leaving future tax filings subject to audit. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, who had threatened to block Blanche’s nomination over Trump’s settlement with his own IRS, said they were “pleased” the department had issued a written order “legally ending” the fund and that they “look forward to voting to advance his nomination.” The underlying settlement, however, requires written agreement from all parties, and Blanche’s order wasn’t signed by Trump or his lawyers. (CBS News / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Axios / NPR)
\nFRIDAY: Trump said the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” is “dead,” but added that “I wish it weren’t.” Trump said the administration has “agreed not to have a fund” that compensates his political allies, who were “horribly treated, horribly abused” and “should be given compensation for what has been done to them.” (Associated Press / ABC News / Axios / Politico)
\nSATURDAY: Trump threatened to revive the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” if Senate Republicans blocked Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general. He said he’d keep Blanche as acting attorney general and “push hard” to pass the fund, reversing his declaration a day earlier that it was “dead.” (Bloomberg / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times)
\nEARLIER: Trump appealed a federal judge’s ruling that his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was brought to “manipulate the judicial process.” The appeal seeks to overturn Judge Kathleen Williams’s finding that the settlement to create a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” and grant himself tax immunity had “no viable basis in law or fact.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / USA Today / CNBC)
\n2/ Capital One closed more than 300 bank accounts linked to Trump and his businesses in 2021 after “months of analysis and a careful review” by its anti-money laundering team. The bank said “transaction patterns” triggered the review, but didn’t accuse the Trump Organization of money laundering. Trump’s trust, several of his companies, and Eric Trump sued Capital One, alleging the bank unlawfully shut down roughly 385 accounts for political reasons after the Jan. 6 attack and caused “considerable financial harm.” Capital One is seeking to have that case thrown out, saying it “never publicized the termination decision,” gave the account holders months and multiple extensions to find new banks, and that the closures became public only because Trump sued. (ABC News / CNN / Associated Press)
\n3/ Trump accused ExxonMobil and Chevron of “making too much money” off the oil shortage caused by the war in Iran that he started, and demanded that they “give some of that back to the public” and “they better cut the retail price, the consumer price.” Exxon earned $14.5 billion and Chevron $12.1 billion in the second quarter as average gasoline prices climbed to about $4.10 a gallon, up from $2.98 before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February. Trump also attacked Chevron CEO Mike Wirth for failing to credit the administration, claiming that “without the genius, foresight, strength, and stability, of the TRUMP Administration, the Oil Industry, and our Country itself, would be DEAD!” (Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
\n4/ Trump said he wants to give Iran “every last chance before decapitation” even though there are no “new” negotiations planned. Tehran also denied that any new talks with the U.S. were taking place and that its only negotiations were with Oman over a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. Nevertheless, Trump insisted that negotiations were underway while calling Iran’s leadership “unbelievably duplicitous,” and claiming “They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin.” Trump added that a deal would first “completely open” Hormuz and then the denuclearization of Iran.” (Associated Press / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CBS News)
\n5/ Trump baselessly blamed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for cyberattacks on more than 30 of the state’s water systems. “I think the governor is behind it,” Trump claimed without evidence despite U.S. intelligence agencies saying the cyberattack was probably from Iranian hackers. Walz said Trump “knows exactly who is responsible for this attack and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran.” (New York Times / Reuters / Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 92 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 827 days.
\n\nThe Senate reached a bipartisan deal to fund the government through Dec. 11 and avoid a shutdown before the midterm elections. The bill would maintain current spending, protect funding for nutrition, housing, disaster relief, and veterans’ health care, block the administration from shifting money to Border Patrol, and temporarily stop a rule giving political appointees broad authority over federal grants. (NBC News / Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News)
\nTrump is reportedly considering firing U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dismissing the Reflecting Pool vandalism case. Pirro’s office concluded that a “hasty and botched” renovation, not vandalism, caused the damage, and said newly disclosed Interior Department records “significantly undermine” the evidence used to indict former Olympian David Hearn. A visual inspection reportedly found peeling “even in the middle of the pool, where a vandal wouldn’t likely attempt” to reach, making it “difficult to attribute” the damage to vandals. Trump nevertheless insisted “it was vandalism,” saying Pirro “choked,” “made a mistake,” and “folded like an umbrella,” even as he acknowledged that “the contractor was rushing” and that he wasn’t “100% thrilled” with the work. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC / Politico)
\nTrump announced a phased deal for Hamas to disarm as Israel withdraws from Gaza. Israel, however, hasn’t approved the deal and Hamas has disputed that it agreed to surrender its weapons. The roadmap calls for verified weapons transfers, tunnel destruction, and heavy-arms decommissioning over as many as 350 days. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NPR)
\nThe State Department displayed a map of Africa that mislabeled every country during a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference. The State Department called it “an unfortunate error,” blamed a team member who “hastily altered” the slide deck, and said it took “full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation” caused. The image contained a watermark associated with OpenAI. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / Semafor / NBC News)
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", "summary": "Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund”; Capital One closed more than 300 bank accounts linked to Trump and his businesses in 2021 after “months of analysis and a careful review” by its anti-money laundering team; Trump accused ExxonMobil and Chevron of “making too much money” off the oil shortage caused by the...", "date_published": "2026-08-03T15:37:50-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["justice-department","corruption","taxes","iran","energy"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/01/last-week-in-wtf/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/08/01/last-week-in-wtf/", "title": "Last Week in WTF: July 27-31", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/lwiwtf07270731-ebf7e1.jpg", "content_html": "Last week in one sentence: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it impose new mail-in voting restrictions in 23 states and the District of Columbia; Trump demanded that the Senate cancel its August recess until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act or eliminate the filibuster; Trump threatened to “beat the fucking shit out of” Iran; the Trump administration plans to end a $3.6 billion Medicare drug subsidy program after 2026; Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear demanded that Mitch McConnell “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of [his] capacity to serve, or resign”; Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn the $83.3 million defamation judgment against him for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll; and Trump threatened to temporarily withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general rather than accept limits on an IRS settlement that protects Trump, his family, and their businesses from tax audits.
\nThe Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75%; the economy slowed to a 1.5% annualized growth rate in the second quarter; and the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure eased to 3.7% in June, but remains nearly twice the Fed’s 2% target.
\n64% of Americans say the war with Iran hasn’t been worth fighting. 60% of voters oppose U.S. military action against Iran, while 34% support it.
\n32% of Americans said Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act hurt their finances, while 8% said it helped them a lot. 49%, however, said they couldn’t explain what the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” does.
\n67% of Americans say they’re concerned that political leaders will pressure election officials into changing election outcomes, and 80% are concerned political leaders will take actions they know could be illegal.
\nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "July 27-31", "date_published": "2026-08-01T06:00:00-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["politics"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/30/day-2018/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/30/day-2018/", "title": "Day 2018: “Considerations.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2018trump-b63447.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump threatened to temporarily withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general rather than accept limits on an IRS settlement that protects Trump, his family, and their businesses from tax audits; Iran vowed to “punish the aggressor” after the U.S. launched a “heavy wave of strikes” against dozens of Iranian targets; ICE expanded immigration arrests at airports beyond travelers with deportation orders to people who entered the country legally, but overstayed their visas; the U.S. economy slowed to a 1.5% annualized growth rate in the second quarter; and the Energy Department admitted that it selected more than 600 clean-energy grants for cancellation “solely” because the projects were in states Kamala Harris won in 2024.
\n1/ Trump threatened to temporarily withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general rather than accept limits on an IRS settlement that protects Trump, his family, and their businesses from tax audits. The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote after Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis demanded written guarantees that the nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” can’t be revived and that the protections only cover past returns and the parties named in Trump’s lawsuit. Trump, meanwhile, said he had “no objection” to pulling Blanche’s nomination and trying again after the senators leave office in January. Cornyn warned that Trump was “mistaken” if he believed the objections ended with them, while Tillis said the administration’s position was “not popular” and “killing some of our candidates.” (ABC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / Politico / NBC News / Reuters / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
\n2/ Iran vowed to “punish the aggressor” after the U.S. launched a “heavy wave of strikes” against dozens of Iranian targets. The strikes came in response to ballistic missiles Iran fired at American forces in Jordan. Central Command said the operation hit command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal defenses, and maritime capabilities tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The war also widened to Egypt for the first time, where an unidentified drone set fire to two gas vessels at the Mediterranean port of Damietta, including a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, formed a 14-country maritime coalition intended to protect Red Sea shipping as attacks increasingly threaten the remaining energy and trade routes. (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
\n3/ ICE expanded immigration arrests at airports beyond travelers with deportation orders to people who entered the country legally, but overstayed their visas. Six immigration lawyers said some of those detained have pending asylum applications, work permits, or protections limiting removal to their home countries. The arrests appear to coincide with increased information sharing between ICE and the TSA. The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said immigrants in the country illegally “can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.” (Washington Post)
\n4/ The U.S. economy slowed to a 1.5% annualized growth rate in the second quarter, down from 2.1%. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, meanwhile, eased to 3.7% in June from 4.1% in May, but remains nearly twice the Fed’s 2% target. Core inflation was 3.3%, the personal savings rate fell to 2.7%, and renewed fighting with Iran pushed gasoline prices above $4 a gallon. Employers added 57,000 jobs in June, less than half May’s gain. Weekly unemployment claims rose to 197,000. (Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News / Reuters / Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / Axios / Associated Press / Reuters)
\n5/ The Energy Department admitted that it selected more than 600 clean-energy grants for cancellation “solely” because the projects were in states Kamala Harris won in 2024. The Office of Management and Budget later terminated 284 of the grants in October 2025. The admission came from a class-action lawsuit brought by University of California researchers seeking to overturn the cancellations and restore funding. The Energy Department later denied that “any of the termination decisions were based on political considerations,” directly contradicting the department’s own federal court filing. (CNN)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 96 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 831 days.
\n\n60% of voters oppose U.S. military action against Iran, while 34% support it. 74% oppose sending U.S. ground troops, 66% say the war hasn’t been worth fighting, and 54% say the U.S. is not winning. (Quinnipiac)
\n64% of Americans say the war with Iran hasn’t been worth fighting. 28%, meanwhile, approve of Trump’s handling of Iran, down from 34% last month, while his overall approval stands at 33%. (Associated Press)
\n63% of Americans say Republicans are spending too little time on the cost of living, compared with 52% who say the same of Democrats. A majority of voters say Congress would be better off if most current members were unseated. Democrats lead Republicans by 8 points among registered voters. (CNN)
\n67% of Americans say they’re concerned that political leaders will pressure election officials into changing election outcomes, and 80% are concerned political leaders will take actions they know could be illegal. 57% are concerned ballots won’t be properly handled, counted, or secured, and 52% worry about voter intimidation near polling places. (Gallup)
\n39% of Americans say they’d consider voting for a democratic socialist for president, while 55% wouldn’t. 75% of Democrats would consider supporting one. 30% say democratic socialism is similar to communism, 32% say it is different, and 36% are unsure. (Washington Post)
\n72% of MAGA Trump voters say they’d continue supporting a Republican candidate accused of domestic violence, 66% say they’d support with a GOP candidate accused of sexual assault. (Politico)
\n\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Trump threatened to temporarily withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general rather than accept limits on an IRS settlement that protects Trump, his family, and their businesses from tax audits; Iran vowed to “punish the aggressor” after the U.S. launched a “heavy wave of strikes” against dozens of Iranian targets; ICE expanded immigration arrests at airports beyond travelers with deportation...", "date_published": "2026-07-30T15:12:41-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["nomination","taxes","immigration","iran","economy"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/29/day-2017/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/29/day-2017/", "title": "Day 2017: “There will be repercussions.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2017trump-24d215.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump threatened to “beat the fucking shit out of” Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard launched five ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan; the Senate Homeland Security Committee will vote on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions about the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response; Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn the $83.3 million defamation judgment against him for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, citing the court’s 2024 decision granting presidents sweeping immunity for actions taken in office; the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75%; Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general is in doubt after Sen. John Cornyn said he’s “not prepared to vote yes” unless the Justice Department rewrites Trump’s settlement with the IRS; James Comey asked a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s seashells case as a vindictive and selective prosecution driven by Trump; 33% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court’s performance; and 73% of Americans say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.
\n1/ Trump threatened to “beat the fucking shit out of” Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard launched five ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. Tehran’s “surprise attack” was intercepted without any reported casualties or damage, and Trump promised that the U.S. was “going to be hitting them very hard, because it’s our turn to hit them,” adding that “They know it’s coming. They’re asking us not to do it.” Trump’s comments followed a separate U.S.-Saudi operation on sites used by Iran-backed militias in Iraq in response to more than 30 drone attacks on American forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. (Fox News / CNN / CBS News / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Axios / Semafor)
\nIran is expected to receive up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air defense missile systems within weeks. The QW-12 and FN-16 surface-to-air missile systems are designed to engage low-flying aircraft, helicopters and drones. (Reuters)
\nU.S. stockpiles of Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors are severely depleted. Analysts estimate fewer than 827 Patriot interceptors and 278 THAAD missiles remain. (CNN)
\n2/ The Senate Homeland Security Committee will vote on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions about the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during the nearly three-hour hearing, declining to discuss COVID-19’s origins, government-funded research in China, school closures, or his pandemic-era diaries. Fauci said Rand Paul’s “unhinged obsession” with putting him “behind bars” meant “the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something — anything” that could expose him to a perjury allegation. Paul argued that Fauci’s privilege was “unsupported because of his blanket pardon,” warned that “there will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today,” and ordered Capitol Police to remove Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, after he tried to argue that Fauci had “a valid Fifth Amendment privilege.” (CNN / Axios / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / ABC News / CBS News / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico)
\n3/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn the $83.3 million defamation judgment against him for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, citing the court’s 2024 decision granting presidents sweeping immunity for actions taken in office. Trump claimed his 2019 denials of Carroll’s sexual assault allegation were “official” communications, because he issued them from the White House. Separately, the Justice Department argued that the federal government should replace Trump as the defendant under the Westfall Act, which would effectively end the case because the U.S. can’t be sued for defamation. The request comes a month after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal of a separate $5 million verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / NBC News / ABC News)
\n4/ The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at 3.5% to 3.75%. Three officials voted for a quarter-point increase as the Iran war, Trump’s tariffs, and AI-driven demand have added to inflation pressures. Inflation has remained above the Fed’s 2% target for more than five years. Trump, meanwhile, praised Chair Kevin Warsh as “fantastic,” but claimed the Fed board was “political” with “bad intentions” that prevented his handpicked chair from lowering rates. Warsh, nevertheless, described the meeting as a “good family fight,” insisted there is “no soft inflation target,” adding that higher rates “could well be part of” the solution if inflation remains elevated. (ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC / Politico / Associated Press)
\n5/ Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general is in doubt after Sen. John Cornyn said he’s “not prepared to vote yes” unless the Justice Department rewrites Trump’s settlement with the IRS. Cornyn demanded binding language that formally rescinds the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” as well as narrowerer provisions that shield Trump, his family, and businesses from tax audits. The Justice Department claimed it sent Cornyn a written proposal, but Cornyn said he’s not seen “a single piece of writing” responsive to his demands and warned, “Maybe they think they can roll me.” When asked whether they could, he replied: “No.” (CNN / CNBC / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico)
\n6/ James Comey asked a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s seashells case as a vindictive and selective prosecution driven by Trump, arguing that the charges “effectuates a yearslong campaign by the President to use the criminal process to punish Mr. Comey for his protected speech.” Government records show that the Secret Service tracked Comey’s phone without a warrant, and that investigators didn’t believe “anyone’s life was in immediate danger” from Comey’s Instagram photo. One agent warned that “legally it was a bad idea to ping the phone.” A filing also shows that Trump “very interested” in the investigation and made a “direct request” for notes from Comey’s interview while aboard Air Force One. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / CBS News)
\npoll/ 33% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court’s performance – a record low and down 6 percentage points from 2025, the court’s previous low. (Axios)
\npoll/ 73% of Americans say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, while 27% saying he’s had the right priorities. (CNN)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 97 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 832 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Trump threatened to “beat the fucking shit out of” Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard launched five ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan; the Senate Homeland Security Committee will vote on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions about the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response; Trump asked the Supreme...", "date_published": "2026-07-29T16:38:14-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","iran","national-security","covid","supreme-court"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/28/day-2016/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/28/day-2016/", "title": "Day 2016: “Just a little bit of proof.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2016trump-9aab7c.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear demanded that Mitch McConnell “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of [his] capacity to serve, or resign”; Trump and congressional leaders eulogized Lindsey Graham as a “true American original” during the South Carolina senator’s memorial service in Washington; Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul released more than 1,100 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pandemic-era diary ahead of compelling him to testify about Covid-19’s origins; the Trump administration imposed a new rule that could send nearly 450,000 asylum applicants directly into deportation court; and the Trump administration plans to end a $3.6 billion Medicare drug subsidy program after 2026.
\n1/ Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear demanded that Mitch McConnell “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of [his] capacity to serve, or resign.” The 84-year-old Republican has gone 43 days without appearing publicly or casting a vote following a June 14 fall and hospitalization. McConnell’s office released two photos and a statement saying he was “still working hard to get back to my full schedule.” Beshear said those updates don’t establish whether McConnell can “speak, reason, or carry out [his] duties as a senator,” adding: “All we’re asking is just a little bit of proof.” (Axios / CNBC / ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / The Hill)
\n2/ Trump and congressional leaders eulogized Lindsey Graham as a “true American original” during the South Carolina senator’s memorial service in Washington. Trump called Graham “one of the great figures in Senate history” and said “nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it,” while JD Vance remembered him as someone who could “fight with you on one issue, but fight for you on another.” Before serving 23 years in the Senate, Graham helped prosecute Bill Clinton’s impeachment as a House manager. He later he helped secure Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation and turned himself from a Trump critic in 2016, who called him “unfit for office,” into the president’s so-called “Trump whisperer.” The Pentagon, meanwhile, directed the Air Force to rename Joint Base Charleston as Joint Base Lindsey Graham, saying the change “honors Senator Graham’s decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.” Graham served more than six years on active duty as an Air Force lawyer, later joined the Air Force Reserve, and retired as a colonel in 2015. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN / Politico)
\n3/ Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul released more than 1,100 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pandemic-era diary ahead of compelling him to testify about Covid-19’s origins. Fauci described Trump’s briefings as “disturbingly rambling,” wrote that the president “still does not understand the pandemic,” and said Trump was acting “erratically” while blaming rising infections on increased testing. Trump initially told Fauci, “I love you, Tony. I feel like giving you a big hug,” but later demanded more upbeat messaging: “Everybody wants me to fire you […] but you have to be positive.” Paul, meanwhile, claimed that the diary showed Fauci privately entertaining a lab leak while publicly dismissing it, but the entries show that Fauci wrote that the Wuhan market was “the amplifier,” not necessarily the source, and that “somewhere the virus jumped from animals to humans.” Trump responded to the diary release, saying that he eventually “grew tired of” Fauci. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / CBS News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
\n4/ The Trump administration imposed a new rule that could send nearly 450,000 asylum applicants directly into deportation court, bypassing interviews with asylum officers and exposing some cases to dismissal without a hearing. Officials claimed the change would reduce a 1.4 million-case backlog and stop applicants from using asylum for “delay and work authorization.” Separately, the Office of Refugee Resettlement shared more than 460,000 leads about migrant children, sponsors, and household members with ICE after Trump returned to office. More than 12,000 people were arrested following those referrals. And, court filings in Los Angeles, meanwhile, cited body cameras and text messages showing ICE and Border Patrol agents using racial slurs to describe Latino men they considered potential targets for immigration enforcement. In a deposition, one ICE agent said officers regarded an “older Hispanic male” as suspicious. (Washington Post / Reuters / CalMatters / Los Angeles Times)
\n5/ The Trump administration plans to end a $3.6 billion Medicare drug subsidy program after 2026. The Biden-era program helped cut average Part D premiums by an estimated 27% and was scheduled to continue through 2027. About 45% of enrollees are expected to face monthly increases between $11 and $20 in 2027, while the base premium will rise 6%, from $38.99 to $41.33. An administration official claimed the subsidies encouraged insurers to raise rates, but didn’t provide evidence that ending the program would lower premiums. Nearly 25 million people have standalone Part D plans. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Reuters)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 98 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 833 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear demanded that Mitch McConnell “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of [his] capacity to serve, or resign”; Trump and congressional leaders eulogized Lindsey Graham as a “true American original” during the South Carolina senator’s memorial service in Washington; Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul released more than 1,100 pages of...", "date_published": "2026-07-28T15:23:17-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["immigration","healthcare","covid","congress","oversight"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/27/day-2015/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/27/day-2015/", "title": "Day 2015: “Is this supposed to be fun?”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2015trump-a9bd58.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it impose new mail-in voting restrictions in 23 states and the District of Columbia before the November midterms; Trump demanded that the Senate cancel its August recess until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act or eliminate the filibuster; Trump paused U.S. strikes on Iran after 13 consecutive nights to give negotiations “some space,” but “if they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action”; former FBI Director James Comey urged a judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s federal charges over his “86 47” seashell post on Instagram; Trump ordered the National Park Service to install signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, warning visitors that its exhibits contain “inaccurate information”; Mitch McConnell is not medically cleared to leave rehabilitation or return to the Senate, six weeks after falling at home; Trump attacked journalists at Friday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, and then continued escalating his attacks over the next three days; 32% of Americans said Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act hurt their finances, while 49% said they couldn’t explain what the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” does.
\n1/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it impose new mail-in voting restrictions in 23 states and the District of Columbia before the November midterms. Trump’s order directs federal agencies to build a citizenship-based voter list and requires the Postal Service to withhold ballots from voters who don’t appear on the state-approved lists. A federal appeals court, meanwhile, declined to lift a lower-court injunction blocking the order because the Constitution gives the authority over elections to the states and Congress, not the president. The appeals court warned the “unprecedented” federal intervention would “sow confusion” and “threaten disenfranchisement of many eligible voters.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / USA Today / ABC News / Reuters)
\n2/ Trump demanded that the Senate cancel its August recess until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act or eliminate the filibuster. Republicans, however, lacks the votes for either approach. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’d support keeping senators in Washington only if someone could show him “the picture of victory at the end,” noting that Republicans have already repeatedly tried to advance the bill. The legislation would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo identification to vote, while a House-passed budget framework includes $10 billion for related election changes that Thune said also lacks the 50 Senate votes needed. The Senate is scheduled to leave Washington on Aug. 7 and return Sept. 14. (Associated Press / Politico / USA Today / The Hill / Talking Points Memo)
\n3/ Trump paused U.S. strikes on Iran after 13 consecutive nights to give negotiations “some space,” but “if they don’t work out, we will go back to very strong military action.” Trump claimed the two sides were in “very deep talks,” but Iran denied any direct negotiations. Trump denied that weapons shortages drove his decision to pause the strikes, but acknowledged that the U.S. would “certainly like” more of its most sophisticated weapons. (Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters / New York Times)
\n4/ Former FBI Director James Comey urged a judge to dismiss the Justice Department’s federal charges over his “86 47” seashell post on Instagram. Comey’s lawyer argued “no reasonable observer” would interpret the post as a serious true threat” against Trump, adding that the image was protected political speech and forcing Comey to stand trial “would itself be an unconstitutional punishment of free speech.” Comey was indicted in April on charges of threatening Trump and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after posting the numbers formed from shells on a North Carolina beach. (Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
\n5/ Trump ordered the National Park Service to install signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, warning visitors that its exhibits contain “inaccurate information.” The signs promote a 162-page White House report accusing the museum of “extreme political activism,” and telling visitors that the exhibits should be renovated to align with the administration’s findings. The order, however, doesn’t identify the specific errors that need to be corrected or what resources the administration considers accurate. Nevertheless, Museum director Anthea Hartig disputed the report, saying it “does not fairly or accurately” characterize the museum’s work and that the institution “does not take sides in America’s political debates.” (The Hill / Politico / CBS News / CNN / ABC News)
\n6/ Mitch McConnell is not medically cleared to leave rehabilitation or return to the Senate, six weeks after falling at home. The 84-year-old has missed 38 Senate votes since June 14, and provided no timeline for his return, but noted that he’ll miss Kentucky’s Fancy Farm picnic this weekend. McConnell isn’t running for re-election in November and plans to retire when his term expires. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / NBC News)
\n7/ EARLIER: Trump attacked journalists at Friday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, and then continued escalating his attacks over the next three days. The rescheduled event, held three months after a gunman disrupted the original dinner, opened with Trump asking: “Is this supposed to be fun?” Over the next hour, he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to “just smile,” mocked her appearance, insulted other reporters and political opponents, and ended in a “Trump 2028” hat as most of the room sat silent. On Sunday, Trump posted a doctored mock Bud Light advertisement replacing transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s face with Collins’s, which an official White House social media account then amplified. By Monday, journalists were calling to end or overhaul the dinner. The White House, meanwhile, dismissed the backlash, saying: “The liberal media can dish it but they can’t take it.”(Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
\npoll/ 32% of Americans said Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act hurt their finances, while 8% said it helped them a lot. 49%, however, said they couldn’t explain what the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” does. 26% of Trump voters nevertheless believed it delivered substantial tax breaks for the working class. (Politico)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 99 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 834 days.
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", "summary": "The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to let it impose new mail-in voting restrictions in 23 states and the District of Columbia before the November midterms; Trump demanded that the Senate cancel its August recess until Republicans pass the SAVE America Act or eliminate the filibuster; Trump paused U.S. strikes on Iran after 13 consecutive nights to give negotiations...", "date_published": "2026-07-27T17:38:11-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["voting-rights","supreme-court","midterm-election","congress","iran"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/25/last-week-in-wtf/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/25/last-week-in-wtf/", "title": "Last Week in WTF: July 20-24", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/lwiwtf07200724-1a1a07.jpg", "content_html": "Last week in one sentence: Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, and 10% tariffs on the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and India, and 12.5% tariffs on goods from China, Japan, South Korea, and dozens of other countries; the House passed a temporary funding bill to avert a possible government shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections; Arizona Republicans nominated three 2020 election deniers for statewide offices that would be responsible for overseeing and certifying the 2028 presidential election; the Justice Department submitted its first-ever application asking the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport an unnamed noncitizen; the U.S. has reported 2,295 measles cases so far in 2026 – the most in 35 years and already more than all of last year; House Republicans passed a $1.15 trillion defense policy bill and advanced a separate $95 billion budget plan to pay for Trump’s unauthorized war in Iran; the House passed a nonbinding resolution directing Trump to end the war in Iran; Senate Republicans blocked a separate measure that could have required Trump to seek congressional authorization or withdraw U.S. forces; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimated that the war with Iran has cost taxpayers $37.5 billion so far; Trump used the dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war to promote his war, claiming that all four had said “we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon”; and Bill O’Reilly suggested that Trump should “take the next month off.”
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", "summary": "July 20-24", "date_published": "2026-07-25T06:00:00-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["politics"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/23/day-2011/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/23/day-2011/", "title": "Day 2011: “The clock is ticking.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2011trump-fe3bb0.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump said he’s “close” to deciding whether to launch a “massive attack” on Iran that would be larger than the opening strikes of the war; the House passed a nonbinding resolution directing Trump to end the war in Iran, while Senate Republicans blocked a separate measure that could have required him to seek congressional authorization or withdraw U.S. forces; the Trump administration will impose 10% tariffs on imports from the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and India, and 12.5% tariffs on goods from China, Japan, South Korea, and dozens of other countries; House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan referred former special counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department, alleging that Smith lied to Congress; the Secret Service has opened roughly 10,000 investigations into threats against Trump and other protectees since January; the Secret Service placed a member of JD Vance’s protective detail on leave while investigating if the employee compromised “operational and information security”; the Justice Department withdrew subpoenas seeking phone records and grand jury testimony from three New York Times reporters; Trump used the dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war to promote his war, claiming that all four had said “we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon”; and Bill O’Reilly suggested that Trump should “take the next month off.”
\n1/ Trump said he’s “close” to deciding whether to launch a “massive attack” on Iran that would be larger than the opening strikes of the war. The threat follows the 12 consecutive day of U.S. strikes and Trump’s warning that another Houthi attack on tankers in the Red Sea would bring “major military punishment” against both the Houthis and Iran. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that Iran wants to negotiate but “hasn’t received enough pain yet.” Tehran, however, warned that attacks on its bridges, power plants, or other infrastructure would trigger a “severe and escalatory” response. (Axios / Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Bloomberg / The Guardian / ABC News / CNN)
\n2/ The House passed a nonbinding resolution directing Trump to end the war in Iran, while Senate Republicans blocked a separate measure that could have required him to seek congressional authorization or withdraw U.S. forces. Four House Republicans joined Democrats to pass the House resolution 214-208, while in the Senate, Susan Collins was the only Republican to support advancing the joint resolution and John Fetterman was the only Democrat to oppose the measure, which failed 47-49. The split leaves Trump free to continue the nearly five-month war that Congress never authorized. The administration, meanwhile, claimed that a new 60-day War Powers clock began after Trump notified lawmakers this month that hostilities with Iran had “resumed.” Thom Tillis voted against ending the war but warned that “the clock is ticking,” while Tommy Tuberville laughed off Congress’s earlier rebukes: “Do you think he cares? No.” (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CBS News / NPR)
\n3/ The Trump administration will impose 10% tariffs on imports from the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and India, and 12.5% tariffs on goods from China, Japan, South Korea, and dozens of other countries. The duties apply to trading partners that account for roughly 99% of U.S. trade, and take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, when Trump’s temporary 10% global tariff expires. The move keeps Trump’s near-global tariffs in place despite the Supreme Court striking down his earlier duties. The administration invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, claiming the targeted economies either lack bans on forced-labor imports or fail to enforce them. Oil and gas, fertilizer, certain foods, USMCA-compliant goods, and products already subject to tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum, and copper are excluded. (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
\n4/ House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan referred former special counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department, alleging that Smith lied to Congress. Jordan accused Smith of misleading the committee after Smith testified that subpoenas for lawmakers’ toll records didn’t include call or text content. While recently released records showed that prosecutors received messages between 44 members of Congress and the Trump White House from the National Archives, Smith wasn’t asked about those records during his congressional testimony. Nevertheless Jordan said Smith’s testimony created a misleading “impression” and amounted to a “half truth,” while Smith’s lawyers called the answers “unimpeachably truthful” and said the referral seeks to criminalize his failure to volunteer information “that was not responsive to a question asked.” (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / Axios / CBS News / The Hill)
\n5/ The Secret Service has opened roughly 10,000 investigations into threats against Trump and other protectees since January, nearly 40% more than during the same period last year. Director Sean Curran called the volume “off the charts” and said the threat environment is the most volatile of his 24-year career. The warning comes ahead of Friday’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria, after an armed man allegedly rushed a screening checkpoint at the original April event, prompting Trump’s evacuation.(Axios / ABC News / NBC News / CBS News)
\n6/ The Secret Service placed a member of JD Vance’s protective detail on leave while investigating if the employee compromised “operational and information security.” The agency said the investigation could become criminal, but declined to identify the employee or explain what was allegedly disclosed. The employee is suspected of supplying information for a report about agents’ frustration with Vance’s last-minute travel demands, including a planned helicopter trip with his son for a golf lesson. (NBC News / CBS News / The Guardian / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press)
\n7/ The Justice Department withdrew subpoenas seeking phone records and grand jury testimony from three New York Times reporters. Judge Arun Subramanian said subpoenas targeting reporters must be “the last step, not the first step.” The Justice Department acknowledged “inadvertent errors,” including subpoenas seeking phone records belonging to one reporter’s mother and two journalists’ spouses, but said the leak investigation involving reporting on Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet remains ongoing. (Associated Press / CNN / The Guardian / New York Times)
\n8/ Trump used the dignified transfer of four U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war to promote his war, claiming that all four had said “we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” Trump didn’t explain how he knew their views on the war, which has killed at least 18 service members and wounded roughly 500. Before the ceremony, Trump called receiving the fallen soldiers “one of the hardest things to do as a president.” But hours later, at a political rally in Georgia, he called the war a “skirmish,” said Iran was “getting hit so hard,” reenacted one grieving family’s “Wow!” reaction to riding on Air Force One, and told them their son “was going all the way” and “would have been a general very quickly.” (New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / Associated Press / Politico)
\n9/ Bill O’Reilly suggested that Trump should “take the next month off.” The former Fox News host added that Trump needs “a breather.” (The Hill)
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", "summary": "Trump said he’s “close” to deciding whether to launch a “massive attack” on Iran that would be larger than the opening strikes of the war; the House passed a nonbinding resolution directing Trump to end the war in Iran, while Senate Republicans blocked a separate measure that could have required him to seek congressional authorization or withdraw U.S. forces; the...", "date_published": "2026-07-23T16:15:05-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","iran","congress","tariffs","justice-department"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/22/day-2010/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/22/day-2010/", "title": "Day 2010: “Own the chaos.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2010trump-6d0635.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Arizona Republicans nominated three 2020 election deniers for statewide offices that would be responsible for overseeing and certifying the 2028 presidential election; the House passed a temporary funding bill to avert a possible government shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections; House Republicans passed a $1.15 trillion defense policy bill and advanced a separate $95 billion budget plan to pay for Trump’s unauthorized war in Iran; Trump threatened to “bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT” for every ship Iran attacks in the Strait of Hormuz; the Trump administration signed a civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could open a path to enriching uranium for nuclear reactors; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dropped his campaign pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acknowledging that the city lacks the “independent legal authority” to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant; Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on imported generic drugs unless manufacturers build plants in the U.S.; the U.S. has reported 2,295 measles cases so far in 2026 – the most in 35 years and already more than all of last year; 37% of self-identified MAGA voters say the Iran war is worth its economic costs, down 13 points since May; and 50% of registered voters say they’d support Democrats in the generic congressional ballot.
\n1/ Arizona Republicans nominated three 2020 election deniers for statewide offices that would be responsible for overseeing and certifying the 2028 presidential election. Trump-backed Rep. Andy Biggs, who voted against certifying Biden’s victory, won the nomination for governor, Alexander Kolodin, who filed lawsuits challenging the 2020 and 2022 results and was disciplined by the state bar, won the nomination for secretary of state, and Warren Petersen, who launched a taxpayer-funded review that confirmed Biden won Maricopa County, won the nomination for attorney general. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs warned that if Biggs wins, Arizona would become “the first swing state with an election denier in charge” heading into 2028. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
\n2/ The House passed a temporary funding bill to avert a possible government shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections. The bill funds the government through Dec. 4. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Republicans need Democratic support. House Democrats opposed the extension, because it maintains current funding without new restrictions on Trump’s immigration crackdown, while Speaker Mike Johnson said Democrats would “own the chaos” if the government shuts down after funding expires Sept. 30. (Associated Press / Reuters / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
\n3/ House Republicans passed a $1.15 trillion defense policy bill and advanced a separate $95 billion budget plan to pay for Trump’s unauthorized war in Iran. The Senate, however, is unlikely to pass either measure in its current form. The defense bill would also attaches Trump’s SAVE America Act, including new proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal voting, and renames the Pentagon the “Department of War.” The separate budget framework would fast-track $73 billion for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, $12 billion for farmers, and $10 billion for election-related measures without offsetting cuts. Democrats opposed both measures, arguing that Congress is funding an escalating conflict it never authorized, while Senate Republicans remain divided over using reconciliation to bypass Democratic opposition. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico)
\n4/ Trump threatened to “bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT” for every ship Iran attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, including infrastructure in or near Tehran. Iran’s foreign minister responded that its doctrine is “eye for an eye,” warning that any strike on Iranian infrastructure would bring a “powerful and decisive response,” while Iran’s military said it would target oil, gas, electricity, and other economic infrastructure across the region and prevent “even a single drop of oil” from being exported. Iran’s parliament speaker said the strait “will not return to its pre-war status,” adding: “In a region where we cannot sell oil, no one will sell oil.” The threats came after an 11th consecutive night of U.S. strikes and as negotiations remained stalled, with Trump saying Iran is “not ready” for a deal, but “will be ready very soon.” Meanwhile, tankers turned away from the Red Sea after Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, pushing oil prices above $95 a barrel and putting both of the region’s major energy chokepoints at risk. (Associated Press / Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CBS News / CNN / Reuters / New York Times / Bloomberg)
\n5/ The Trump administration signed a civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could open a path to enriching uranium for nuclear reactors. The deal requires a two-year study of whether domestic enrichment is warranted, and if approved, U.S. companies would reportedly build and control the enrichment facility under a “black box” arrangement that would keep sensitive technology from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis reportedly rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol for expanded inspections, with sensitive inspections instead handled by U.S. teams under a bilateral safeguards agreement. Congress has 90 days to act. Blocking it would likely require a veto-proof majority. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
\n6/ New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dropped his campaign pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acknowledging that the city lacks the “independent legal authority” to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant. Instead, Mamdani urged the federal government to arrest Netanyahu when he attends the U.N. General Assembly in September. Trump, however, said Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form” while in the U.S., which is not a member of the ICC. The court has accused Netanyahu of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / NBC News)
\n7/ Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on imported generic drugs unless manufacturers build plants in the U.S. The Trump administration said it plans to use Section 232 national security authority, but hasn’t issued a formal order. Generic drugs account for more than 90% of U.S. prescriptions and are largely produced overseas. (Bloomberg / Politico)
\n8/ The U.S. has reported 2,295 measles cases so far in 2026 – the most in 35 years and already more than all of last year with five months remaining. The total is the highest since 1991. More than 90% of infections occurred among people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. (Washington Post)
\n✨ Well, that’s fantastic: “Regime Change” by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan has sold more than 500,000 copies in its first month, putting the exposé about Trump’s second term on track to become 2026’s bestselling nonfiction book. The book has held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for three weeks as Simon & Schuster has ordered a seventh printing. (Axios)
\npoll/ 37% of self-identified MAGA voters say the Iran war is worth its economic costs, down 13 points since May. Nearly one in five self-identified MAGA voters want the U.S. to end the war regardless of cost. (Politico)
\npoll/ 50% of registered voters say they’d support Democrats in the generic congressional ballot, compared with 43% who would back Republicans. Among likely voters, the Democratic lead grows from 7 points to nearly 9 points. The 7-point advantage is enough to flip the House majority. (Strength in Numbers)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 104 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 839 days.
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", "summary": "Arizona Republicans nominated three 2020 election deniers for statewide offices that would be responsible for overseeing and certifying the 2028 presidential election; the House passed a temporary funding bill to avert a possible government shutdown ahead of the November midterm elections; House Republicans passed a $1.15 trillion defense policy bill and advanced a separate $95 billion budget plan to pay...", "date_published": "2026-07-22T15:58:53-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["elections","voting-rights","government-shutdown","foreign-policy","iran"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/21/day-2009/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/21/day-2009/", "title": "Day 2009: “Spiraling out of control again.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2009trump-d4297a.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimated that the war with Iran has cost taxpayers $37.5 billion so far as the Trump administration asks Congress for roughly $67 billion more in funding; New Jersey removed roughly 6,600 self-identified noncitizens from its voter rolls after a software error automatically registered them through the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission; the Trump administration withheld an additional $1.07 billion in federal Medicaid payments from California and Minnesota over suspected fraud; a federal appeals court rejected Biden’s effort to block the Justice Department from releasing redacted recordings and transcripts of his private interviews with a memoir ghostwriter; and Trump has pardoned nine companies in his second term to erase nearly $200 million in criminal penalties.
\n1/ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimated that the war with Iran has cost taxpayers $37.5 billion so far as the Trump administration asks Congress for roughly $67 billion more in funding. Hegseth called the request an “urgent, necessary” infusion and warned that “without these funds, we face critical shortfalls.” The estimate includes some anticipated expenses through Sept. 30, but excludes damage to U.S. bases. Lawmakers, however, questioned why the Pentagon needs more money after approving a $1 trillion defense budget and about $75 billion from an earlier package remains unspent. Sen. Patty Murray argued that “the problem is not a lack of money, but poor planning” and warned that the conflict was “spiraling out of control again.” Gen. Dan Caine, meanwhile, acknowledged that “air power’s got limits” as fighting intensifies, the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, and the U.S. death toll has risen to 17.(Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Washington Post)
\n2/ New Jersey removed roughly 6,600 self-identified noncitizens from its voter rolls after a software error automatically registered them through the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission. Gov. Mikie Sherrill said fewer than 400 noncitizens voted and that the state has “no evidence, at this time, that any elections were swayed.” The error occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, even though applicants had answered “no” when asked whether they were U.S. citizens. Sherrill ordered an investigation and is replacing the vendor responsible for the system, calling the failure and lack of transparency “unacceptable.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Axios / Bloomberg)
\nThe intelligence documents Trump declassified to support his claims that China tried to sway the 2020 election instead highlighted Russia’s efforts to help him defeat Biden. A 2020 National Intelligence Council assessment said Putin and senior Russian officials oversaw operations to damage Biden and worked with prominent Americans to manufacture a corruption scandal involving Biden and Ukraine. (New York Times)
\nFBI Director Kash Patel is planning a trip to Russia in October, with the FSB likely serving as his host. The agenda is unclear, as is whether Patel would meet Putin or senior Kremlin officials. (Politico)
\n3/ The Trump administration withheld an additional $1.07 billion in federal Medicaid payments from California and Minnesota over suspected fraud, freezing $867.5 million for California and $199 million for Minnesota until the states provide documentation showing the claims were legitimate. In total, more than $2.5 billion in Medicaid funding to the two Democratic-led states have now been deferred this year. Federal officials cited billing anomalies for in-home care and other high-risk services, including providers billing for multiple patients simultaneously or after a beneficiary’s death. Minnesota said it had already submitted records and accused the administration of acting in “unprecedented and punitive ways,” while California said its home-care spending grew because keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of nursing homes saves money. (Associated Press / CBS News / Politico / Axios / New York Times / Bloomberg)
\n4/ A federal appeals court rejected Biden’s effort to block the Justice Department from releasing redacted recordings and transcripts of his private interviews with a memoir ghostwriter. Special counsel Robert Hur obtained the recordings while investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents, which ended without charges. The 2-1 ruling said the public interest in assessing that investigation likely outweighed Biden’s remaining privacy concerns. Biden, meanwhile, accused the Trump administration of using the Justice Department for political retribution. (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News / CBS News)
\n5/ Trump has pardoned nine companies in his second term to erase nearly $200 million in criminal penalties. The pardons included the corporate owner of crypto exchange BitMEX, which owed a $100 million anti-money-laundering fine, and Ozy Media, where a commutation eliminated $97 million in penalties owed alongside founder Carlos Watson’s fraud conviction. Trump also pardoned six auto businesses convicted of tampering with diesel-emissions controls, claiming they were prosecuted for “fixing their car.” The White House said the Constitution doesn’t limit pardons to individuals, but legal scholars said no modern president had previously used clemency to shield corporations from criminal liability. (Bloomberg)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 105 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 840 days.
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", "summary": "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimated that the war with Iran has cost taxpayers $37.5 billion so far as the Trump administration asks Congress for roughly $67 billion more in funding; New Jersey removed roughly 6,600 self-identified noncitizens from its voter rolls after a software error automatically registered them through the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission; the Trump administration withheld an additional...", "date_published": "2026-07-21T15:17:43-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","iran","economy","voting-rights","healthcare"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/20/day-2008/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/20/day-2008/", "title": "Day 2008: “Maxed out.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2008trump-54d4a5.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, invoking a never-before-used provision of a 1930 trade law in response to what the administration called Canada’s “discriminatory treatment of American products”; the Pentagon didn’t disclose three Iranian strikes on U.S. forces in Jordan that injured dozens of troops and damaged several helicopters until after a fourth attack killed two soldiers and left another missing; the U.S. launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran in an effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; the war with Iran has pushed the national average price of gasoline back above $4 a gallon; the Justice Department subpoenaed phone and text records from several New York Times reporters in an effort to identify confidential sources behind stories about security concerns involving Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One jet; Trump will stop flying on the Qatari-donated Air Force One while it undergoes “additional upgrades and enhancements” to be “maxed out”; a man set off fireworks and started a fire outside the federal building in Lower Manhattan; the Justice Department submitted its first-ever application asking the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport an unnamed noncitizen; Trump presented Spain with the World Cup trophy less than two weeks after calling the country “hopeless” and its people “bad people”; and Trump reportedly installed a life-size bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson in the White House Rose Garden.
\n1/ Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, invoking a never-before-used provision of a 1930 trade law in response to what the administration called Canada’s “discriminatory treatment of American products.” Canada’s restrictions on American alcohol and autos, however, were largely retaliation for tariffs Trump imposed last year. The duties will take effect in 30 days, leaving time for the two countries to negotiate, and will apply even to goods previously protected under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Energy, potash, certain fish and minerals, and products already subject to national-security tariffs will be exempt. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
\n2/ The Pentagon didn’t disclose three Iranian strikes on U.S. forces in Jordan that injured dozens of troops and damaged several helicopters until after a fourth attack killed two soldiers and left another missing. The Defense Department identified the dead as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, while the unidentified remains recovered at the base are being examined to determine whether they belong to the missing service member. Central Command later said four troops wounded in Friday’s attack were hospitalized and discharged and that others suffered minor injuries, but it hasn’t disclosed how many were hurt in the three earlier strikes. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell denied concealing casualties and pointed to an aggregate database listing 427 injuries and 14 deaths, though it doesn’t identify specific attacks and hadn’t been updated to include the deaths from this weekend. Trump called the deaths “a very sad thing” over the weekend, saying the troops died “in service to our country.” He later threatened that “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” None of the reports, however, say whether Trump contacted the families, and the Pentagon hasn’t held a major briefing on the nearly five-month war since May 5. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News)
\n3/ The U.S. launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran in an effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, targeting military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping. Separately, Iran-backed Houthi rebels declared a blockade on Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, threatening one of Riyadh’s main routes for bypassing the largely closed Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has routed more than 3.6 million barrels of oil and related fuels a day through the Red Sea, representing more than 3% of the global oil market. (Associated Press / NPR / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times)
\n4/ The war with Iran has pushed the national average price of gasoline back above $4 a gallon. Gas prices rose 13-cents in a week and are 86-cents higher than a year ago. Oil prices jumped more than 15% last week as renewed U.S. and Iranian attacks disrupted the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies typically transit. Between Friday and Sunday, just 30 ships crossed the strait, compared with roughly 130 a day before the war. The White House, meanwhile, claimed prices would “plummet back to pre-conflict levels” as the military degrades Iran’s ability to disrupt commercial shipping. (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Axios)
\n5/ The Justice Department subpoenaed phone and text records from several New York Times reporters in an effort to identify confidential sources behind stories about security concerns involving Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One jet. The subpoenas also targeted two reporters’ spouses and one reporter’s mother. A federal judge temporarily paused the demands, including separate subpoenas seeking reporters’ grand jury testimony, until a Thursday hearing. Some requests went back to Jan. 1, months before the stories were published, which the Times said suggests the government is using the investigation to “forage” through journalists’ source relationships rather than pursue a narrowly tailored leak inquiry. Meanwhile, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche denied the administration was targeting reporters, calling them “material witnesses.” (New York Times / Status)
\n6/ Trump will stop flying on the Qatari-donated Air Force One while it undergoes “additional upgrades and enhancements” to be “maxed out.” The Secret Service had urged Trump to switch aircraft when leaving the NATO summit in Turkey, because the Qatari-donated jet didn’t have all the security systems and defensive capabilities of the older Air Force One. Trump nevertheless denied that security concerns were the reason the plan will be sent for upgrades, saying that “the life of a president is very dangerous.” The White House, meanwhile, insisted that the jet is “perfectly safe.” (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times)
\n7/ A man set off fireworks and started a fire outside the federal building in Lower Manhattan, prompting an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation. Federal officials said the man poured what appeared to be gasoline on the entrance steps and carried two apparent pellet guns, anti-ICE material, and a manifesto. Authorities didn’t release his name, announce charges, or identify a motive. Several people suffered minor injuries, including the officer and a bystander, but no one was seriously hurt. The building houses ICE, the FBI, immigration courts, and other federal offices. (New York Times / CBS News / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
\n8/ EARLIER: Trump used his primetime White House address to cast doubt on U.S. elections and pressure Congress to pass the stalled SAVE America Act. He claimed that the voting systems were “vulnerable” and “easily compromised” despite newly declassified documents concluding that vote-tabulation systems would be difficult to manipulate at scale and that audits and paper trails would likely expose any attack. The intelligence community also previously concluded that no foreign actor altered any technical aspect of the 2020 voting process, and John Solomon, who helped lead the declassification effort, acknowledged there was “zero evidence” a foreign power flipped a vote in 2020, 2022, or 2024. Nevertheless, Trump also alleged that China obtained 220 million voter files, Venezuela manipulated its own voting machines, and roughly 278,000 noncitizens were registered to vote. He provided no evidence that foreign actors changed votes or that the alleged noncitizens cast ballots. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and restrict mail voting, but remains blocked in the Senate. (New York Times / CNN / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CBS News)
\n9/ The Justice Department submitted its first-ever application asking the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport an unnamed noncitizen. Congress created the secretive five-judge court in 1996 for cases where ordinary immigration proceedings could expose classified information or threaten national security, but it’s never received an application. The Justice Department’s one-page filing is sealed and apparently classified, leaving the person’s identity, alleged conduct, and the legal basis for removal undisclosed. Chief Judge Joan Ericksen questioned whether the alleged actions fit the law, saying the government “could benefit from the opportunity for more thoughtful consideration,” and ordered it to provide additional facts and legal analysis by Wednesday. (Court Watch / Axios / Politico / Associated Press)
\n10/ Trump presented Spain with the World Cup trophy less than two weeks after calling the country “hopeless” and its people “bad people.” Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win its second World Cup, forcing Trump, who had threatened to cut off trade with Madrid and attacked Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over military spending and Iran, to award medals and hand the trophy to captain Rodri. (Politico / New York Times / NPR)
\n11/ Trump reportedly installed a life-size bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson in the White House Rose Garden. Three of the five statues he’s installed – Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and “Freedom’s Charge” – are on loan from billionaire conservative donor Harlan Crow. The White House had previously described their source only as “generous private American patriots.” The White House declined to comment on Crow’s role and said Trump is working “to beautify and honor our Nation’s Capital” for the country’s 250th anniversary. Trump has also installed a recreation of a Christopher Columbus statue torn down in Baltimore and is planning a 250-figure “American heroes” sculpture garden in West Potomac Park. (Washington Post)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 106 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 841 days.
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", "summary": "Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, invoking a never-before-used provision of a 1930 trade law in response to what the administration called Canada’s “discriminatory treatment of American products”; the Pentagon didn’t disclose three Iranian strikes on U.S. forces in Jordan that injured dozens of troops and damaged several helicopters until after a fourth attack killed two soldiers and...", "date_published": "2026-07-20T14:56:43-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["tariffs","iran","national-security","subpoena","immigration"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/16/day-2004/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/16/day-2004/", "title": "Day 2004: “A wink and a nod and a handshake.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day-2004-trump-1204c3.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Jeffrey Epstein survivors after Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold the committee vote needed to advance Blanche’s nomination; the Justice Department refused to give New Mexico investigators unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, leaving the state without the federal evidence it says it needs to investigate alleged abuse at Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch; the U.S. carried out a sixth consecutive day of strikes on Iran; Trump fired Seattle’s new U.S. attorney 54 minutes after after 17 federal judges unanimously appointed him; the FBI sent an evidence team to inspect the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for alleged vandalism even as four waterproofing experts say the peeling strongly suggests an installation flaw; Trump Media will sell Wall Street firms real-time access to Trump’s Truth Social posts; Trump promoted at least 21 companies on Truth Social within days of his investment accounts buying their stock; Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid leave after allegations that he used advance knowledge of more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches to make around $100,000 betting on Kalshi; and Trump is expected to use a primetime national address tonight to revive his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and allege that China compromised U.S. voter data.
\n1/ Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Jeffrey Epstein survivors after Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold the committee vote needed to advance Blanche’s nomination. The hourlong Justice Department meeting came after survivor Dani Bensky testified that Blanche had ignored repeated requests to meet, and that the department’s release of Epstein records had exposed victims’ personal information. Blanche acknowledged that about 1% of the redactions required correction, but defended the review of roughly 3 million records, while Bensky said survivors deserved to be heard directly, “not dismissed and ignored.” While the meeting resolved one hurdle, Blanche’s nomination remains at risk as Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn continue to demand guarantees that the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund cannot be revived. Tillis said he wants “definable, ratified, executed agreements,” not “a wink and a nod and a handshake.” (CNN / ABC News / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / CBS News / Axios)
\n2/ The Justice Department refused to give New Mexico investigators unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, leaving the state without the federal evidence it says it needs to investigate alleged abuse at Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch. New Mexico reopened the criminal probe in February, but Attorney General Raúl Torrez said that after more than 130 days the Justice Department produced only 31 pages of previously public material, unusable redactions, and photocopied news stories. The department said “federal law, court orders, and privacy protections for victims and witnesses” prevents the release of millions of unredacted documents, even though federal prosecutors routinely modify protective orders for state criminal investigations. Torrez gave the department until July 31 before pursuing “all available legal remedies,” while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted federal officials are “continuing to work with” the state. (Reuters / Axios / Washington Post)
\n3/ The U.S. carried out a sixth consecutive day of strikes on Iran as both sides continued their fight over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said the attacks were intended to degrade Iranian military capabilities, while U.S. forces enforcing the renewed blockade redirected three commercial vessels, disabled one, and boarded another. Shipping through the strait fell to 13 vessels, from more than 130 a day before the war. Iran warned that it would target regional infrastructure if the U.S. struck Iranian power plants or bridges. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Reuters / ABC News / Associated Press)
\n4/ Trump fired Seattle’s new U.S. attorney 54 minutes after after 17 federal judges unanimously appointed him. Roger Rogoff was sworn in before 8 a.m. and removed by email while waiting to meet Charles Neil Floyd. Floyd’s 120-day interim term expired in February, and Trump never submitted him for Senate confirmation. Instead, the Justice Department renamed him first assistant while leaving the job vacant. Rogoff retained employment lawyers and is considering a lawsuit that could test the limits of both the judges’ appointment power and the president’s removal authority. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / CBS News)
\n5/ The FBI sent an evidence team to inspect the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for alleged vandalism even as four waterproofing experts say the peeling strongly suggests an installation flaw. Investigators used laser-scanning and measuring equipment after Trump claimed that vandals had cut hundreds of feet of the newly installed liner. Although former Olympic canoeist David Hearn and three others were charged with removing or damaging small sections after it had already begun peeling, no one has been accused of making the long gashes Trump described. And the administration hasn’t provided evidence that those gashes exist. The experts found that all seven documented failures tracked seams between sections applied at different times, suggesting the coating didn’t properly bond. (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian)
\n6/ Trump Media will sell Wall Street firms real-time access to Trump’s Truth Social posts, allowing paying customers to receive “licensed, real-time access” to policy decisions and market-moving news.The new Truth API data feed will include real-time access to posts from the platform’s top 10 trending accounts. Trump owns about 41% of Trump Media through a revocable trust. “It’s a huge conflict of interest,” Ethics attorney Virginia Canter said, arguing that Trump is funneling official information through “a private channel in which he has a private interest.” (Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNBC)
\n7/ Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid leave after allegations that he used advance knowledge of more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches to make around $100,000 betting on Kalshi. The prediction market said its surveillance system flagged Gabriel Perez’s wagers on the words and phrases that Trump would say, froze more than $90,000 in profits, and referred the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is reportedly negotiating a settlement that could require him to surrender the profits and stop making similar trades. Trump called the allegations “a disgrace.” (Politico / CBS News / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / CNBC)
\n8/ Trump is expected to use a primetime national address tonight to revive his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and allege that China compromised U.S. voter data. A 2021 intelligence assessment, however, concluded with high confidence that Beijing didn’t try to influence the election’s outcome or interfere with election infrastructure. Nevertheless, officials familiar with the speech said Trump may also claim that the CIA knew about the alleged breach and withheld it from him. The address comes as Trump continues to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification to vote and proof of citizenship to register. Trump’s national address is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET tonight. (Associated Press / CNBC / CNN / New York Times / CBS News / Politico)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 110 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 845 days.
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", "summary": "Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Jeffrey Epstein survivors after Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold the committee vote needed to advance Blanche’s nomination; the Justice Department refused to give New Mexico investigators unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, leaving the state without the federal evidence it says it needs to investigate alleged abuse at Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch; the...", "date_published": "2026-07-16T17:35:28-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["justice-department","nomination","iran","judiciary","disinformation"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/15/day-2003/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/15/day-2003/", "title": "Day 2003: “Optimizing your natural capabilities.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2003trump-4068b7.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: U.S. forces struck Iranian military sites for a fifth straight day; House Republicans released their $95 billion plan to fund the Iran war, subsidize farmers, and revive parts of Trump’s stalled SAVE America Act; Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence testified during his Senate confirmation hearing that “I’m not an election denier,” but repeatedly refused to say Biden “won” the 2020 election; Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced five hours of bipartisan questioning over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files and the settlement shielding Trump and his family from IRS audits; Trump ordered ICE to resume most traffic stops one day after the agency temporarily suspended the practice following two fatal shootings by agents; the Pentagon will start screening the testosterone levels of soldiers 30 and up; and the U.S. Mint began producing a $1 coin with Trump’s face to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary.
\n1/ U.S. forces struck Iranian military sites for a fifth straight day. Central Command said an American aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into an oil tanker attempting to sail toward Iran’s main oil-export terminal after it ignored warnings. It was the first ship disabled since the blockade resumed. The military also launched three waves of attacks in the last 24 hours, including strikes on missile and coastal-defense sites on Greater Tunb Island. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard threatened to stop all oil and gas exports from the Middle East, declaring that they would be available “either for everyone or for no one.” (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CBS News / ABC News / Reuters)
\n2/ House Republicans released their $95 billion plan to fund the Iran war, subsidize farmers, and revive parts of Trump’s stalled SAVE America Act. Republicans, however, aren’t proposing tax increases or spending cuts to pay for the package, but rather allow committees to write legislation that adds as much as $60 billion through Armed Services, $13 billion through Intelligence, $12 billion through Agriculture, and $10 billion for election-related measures to federal deficits through 2036. The new borrowing would come as the annual deficit approaches $2 trillion this year. Republicans are hoping to use reconciliation to bypass a Democratic filibuster, but the package faces resistance from some conservatives, while Senate rules limit what can be included. Republican Rep. Warren Davidson called it “D.O.A.” and warned that “bankrupt nations are difficult to defend.” (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
\n3/ Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence testified during his Senate confirmation hearing that “I’m not an election denier,” but repeatedly refused to say Biden “won” the 2020 election. Jay Clayton initially said only that Biden had been “certified” as president before later conceding that he was “fairly and duly elected under our process.” Democrats said the evasive answers raise doubts about whether Clayton would challenge Trump or deliver intelligence that contradicted his political claims. Clayton also defended subpoenas ordering New York Times journalists to testify in a national security investigation tied to reporting on Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One, but declined to say whether he consulted the White House. The Republican-controlled Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on Clayton’s nomination next week. (Politico / CBS News / Reuters / NBC News / New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC)
\n4/ Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced five hours of bipartisan questioning over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files and the settlement shielding Trump and his family from IRS audits. At his Senate confirmation hearing, Blanche acknowledged “mistakes” in the release of the Epstein records and apologized for redaction failures that exposed victims’ information, but declined to commit to personally meeting with survivors. He also insisted that the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created through the IRS settlement was “dead,” even as he acknowledged the agreement hasn’t been formally rescinded. (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
\n5/ Trump ordered ICE to resume most traffic stops one day after the agency temporarily suspended the practice following two fatal shootings by agents in Texas and Maine within a week. Trump called traffic stops one of ICE’s “most important and effective Crime Fighting tools,” claimed ending them would be “playing right into the criminal’s hands,” and told agents to “be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.” (USA Today / The Hill / Axios / CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
\n6/ The Pentagon will start screening the testosterone levels of soldiers 30 and up. Soldiers diagnosed with testosterone deficiency would be offered hormone therapy. “If treatment is recommended, it’s entirely your choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “It’s not about artificial enhancement. It’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities.” Hegseth promoted the program as the “High-T Department of War,” claiming it would keep troops on the “leading edge of lethality.” (Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
\n7/ The U.S. Mint began producing a $1 coin with Trump’s face to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary. The “gold” coin contains no gold or other precious metals. Although federal law generally prohibits living people from appearing on U.S. currency, Treasury officials claimed the design is allowed under a 2020 law authorizing commemorative coins for the semiquincentennial. A federal coin advisory panel, however, refused to review designs featuring Trump with one member calling the coin “illegal.” (Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 111 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 846 days.
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", "summary": "U.S. forces struck Iranian military sites for a fifth straight day; House Republicans released their $95 billion plan to fund the Iran war, subsidize farmers, and revive parts of Trump’s stalled SAVE America Act; Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence testified during his Senate confirmation hearing that “I’m not an election denier,” but repeatedly refused to say Biden “won”...", "date_published": "2026-07-15T16:14:48-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["iran","foreign-policy","congress","nomination","immigration"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/14/day-2002/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/14/day-2002/", "title": "Day 2002: “Whatever the cost.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2002trump-5b8f93.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: The U.S. resumed its naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched a fourth consecutive day of strikes as the ceasefire collapsed; the Trump administration temporarily stopped most ICE vehicle stops nationwide after agents fatally shot two immigrants who weren’t the intended targets; consumer prices fell 0.4% in June, the largest monthly decline since April 2020, while annual inflation slowed to 3.5% from 4.2% in May; Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett asked Congress for $14.6 million to expand their security details as threats against the court are expected to rise 38% this year; Darline Graham Nordone was sworn in to finish the Senate term of her late brother, Lindsey Graham, becoming the first woman to represent South Carolina in the chamber; E. Jean Carroll collected her $5.6 million from Trump after a jury in 2023 found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her; Trump reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by more than 90%; the House passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent and end the twice-yearly clock changes; the Trump administration launched a “whole-of-government” campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court; Trump reportedly plans to use his Thursday prime-time address to the nation to revive his debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him; and voters who dislike both parties prefer Democrats by 26 points in the 2026 House midterms.
\n1/ The U.S. resumed its naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched a fourth consecutive day of strikes as the ceasefire collapsed. U.S. Central Command said more than 20 warships and hundreds of military aircraft were enforcing the blockade and that the latest attacks were intended to degrade Iran’s ability to strike commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump promised that the bombings would continue “until I say it’s enough.” He also threatened to target Iranian power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran returns to negotiations, saying “You better make a deal. You’re not going to have anything left.” Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against U.S.-linked facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. Trump, meanwhile, abandoned his day-old plan to charge ships a 20% transit fee after Gulf leaders urged him to “do it a different way,” saying: “I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the Strait” and claiming that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates would instead make “massive investments” in the U.S. Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tehran had “no obligations” under the ceasefire agreement and would exercise sovereignty over the strait “whatever the cost.” (New York Times / ABC News / CBS News / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Reuters / Associated Press / Washington Post)
\n2/ The Trump administration temporarily stopped most ICE vehicle stops nationwide after agents fatally shot two immigrants who weren’t the intended targets. The pause applies to ICE deportation officers, with exceptions for serious criminal cases, while the agency reviews its tactics and provides additional training. Federal officials claimed both drivers tried to flee and endangered officers, but witnesses disputed parts of those accounts. The government hasn’t released video or other evidence supporting those claimes, and the Maine agents weren’t wearing body cameras. Border czar Tom Homan nevertheless dismissed the directive as “not a policy change,” calling it a “short pause” to determine whether “something could have been done better,” like not killing innocent people. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CBS News / ABC News)
\n3/ Consumer prices fell 0.4% in June, the largest monthly decline since April 2020, while annual inflation slowed to 3.5% from 4.2% in May. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, were unchanged, but rose 2.6% from a year earlier. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, meanwhile, dismissed the the better-than-expected inflation report as “one data point” and rejected any declaration of “mission accomplished,” saying the central bank has “no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation” and that the five-year surge in prices “will be a thing of the past.” Warsh declined to say whether bringing inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target will require higher interest rates. He also defended giving markets fewer clues about future policy moves. (Politico / ABC News / CNN / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)
\n4/ Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett asked Congress for $14.6 million to expand their security details as threats against the court are expected to rise 38% this year. The money would add six agents for each justice as part of a broader $228 million budget request. Barrett described a recent swatting incident at her home and recalled having to explain a bulletproof vest to her 12-year-old son. Kagan warned that political attacks on judges are “dangerous,” saying criticism of rulings is “fair game,” but intimidation “crossed the line.” (CBS News / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
\n5/ Darline Graham Nordone was sworn in to finish the Senate term of her late brother, Lindsey Graham, becoming the first woman to represent South Carolina in the chamber. Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Nordone, who has never held elected office, and she will serve until January. South Carolina will hold an Aug. 11 special primary and a November election for the next full six-year term. “Lindsey has always been there for me,” Nordone said. “And now I will be there for him.” (Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / CBS News)
\n6/ E. Jean Carroll collected her $5.6 million from Trump after a jury in 2023 found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. The payment includes the original $5 million award, plus interest and was released from a court-supervised account after the Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s appeal. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Trump had been “stalling this case for years” and ordered him to “pay the judgment.” Trump, nevertheless, continues to deny Carroll’s allegations, while a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment against him remains under appeal. (New York Times / Axios / Reuters / CNBC)
\n7/ Trump reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by more than 90%, opening more than 2.9 million acres of public land in southern Utah to mining, drilling, grazing, logging, and motorized recreation. The proclamations cut Bears Ears from 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante from 1.87 million acres to 181,500 acres. The reductions are deeper than those Trump ordered during his first term, which Biden later restored. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Reuters)
\n8/ The House passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent and end the twice-yearly clock changes. The Trump-backed Sunshine Protection Act would keep most of the country on the time observed from March through November, while allowing states to opt out and remain on standard time. The bill heads to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain, because winter sunrises could be pushed past 9 a.m. in parts of the country. Medical groups also oppose permanent daylight saving time, arguing that permanent standard time better aligns with human circadian rhythms. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
\n9/ The Trump administration launched a “whole-of-government” campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court, threatening sanctions, travel bans, visa revocations, and more of countries that rely on U.S. assistance and support the court. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. would “systematically disable” the tribunal “brick by brick, if necessary.” Officials are pressing member states to withdraw and cut off funding. Rubio argued that the ICC threatens U.S. sovereignty by claiming authority to investigate and prosecute American officials and service members. The U.S., however, isn’t a member of the court, which prosecutes genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity when national governments are unable or unwilling to act. The European Union, meanwhile, rejected Rubio’s claim that the court threatens U.S. sovereignty, saying the ICC prosecutes individuals, not sovereign states, and that threats against its officials “are simply not acceptable.” (ABC News / The Guardian / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill)
\n10/ Trump reportedly plans to use his Thursday prime-time address to the nation to revive his debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump said his speech will focus on voting machines and “free and fair elections,” while White House officials said he may cite newly declassified intelligence and alleged system vulnerabilities. U.S. intelligence agencies and Trump’s own Justice and Homeland Security officials, however, have found no evidence that foreign interference, voting machines, or widespread fraud changed the 2020 result. Recounts and court reviews also upheld Trump’s losses in Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Trump is urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and prohibit universal mail-in voting. (Washington Post / Axios / The Hill)
\npoll/ Voters who dislike both parties prefer Democrats by 26 points in the 2026 House midterms with 55% backing Democrats and 29% supporting Republicans. These “double haters” make up about one-fifth of registered voters and account for roughly 80% of Democrats’ seven-point advantage on the generic ballot. (Strength in Numbers)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 112 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 847 days.
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", "summary": "The U.S. resumed its naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched a fourth consecutive day of strikes as the ceasefire collapsed; the Trump administration temporarily stopped most ICE vehicle stops nationwide after agents fatally shot two immigrants who weren’t the intended targets; consumer prices fell 0.4% in June, the largest monthly decline since April 2020, while annual inflation slowed to...", "date_published": "2026-07-14T16:01:35-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["foreign-policy","iran","immigration","economy","climate"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/13/day-2001/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/13/day-2001/", "title": "Day 2001: “At best, misleading and, at worst, disingenuous.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day2001trump-4afaa6.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: A federal judge ruled that Trump filed his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in bad faith to “manipulate the judicial process”; an ICE officer shot and killed a man during an immigration enforcement operation in Maine; the U.S. resumed strikes on Iran and reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports, while Trump claimed that America will now be “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT” and charge a 20% fee on all cargo passing through it; South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham Nordone to serve the remainder of Lindsey Graham’s Senate term, who died Saturday at 71 after “a brief and sudden illness”; and Mitch McConnell said a fall left him briefly unconscious and hospitalized for nearly a month, but offered no timetable for returning to the Senate.
\n1/ A federal judge ruled that Trump filed his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in bad faith to “manipulate the judicial process” by manufacturing legitimacy for a deal that would shields him from tax audits while creating a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization” fund. Judge Kathleen Williams said “there was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy,” because “the Lead Plaintiff and the Government are one.” Williams barred Trump, his family, the Justice Department, and the IRS from citing the agreement as a legitimate settlement in any official proceeding. Williams, however, didn’t explicitly void the audit protections, but said the provision “directly contravenes” federal law barring political interference in tax investigations and described the arrangement as an effort “to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President” while also earmarking billions for grievances “not defined in the law.” Williams referred Trump lawyer Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar, restricted Daniel Epstein from appearing in the Southern District of Florida for a year, and directed that the ruling be sent to New York and Washington, D.C., bar authorities investigating acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. She also called Blanche’s testimony about the court’s inability to review the deal “at best, misleading and, at worst, disingenuous.” (Associated Press / Reuters / New York Times / CBS News / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Axios)
\n2/ An ICE officer shot and killed a man during an immigration enforcement operation in Maine. It’s the second fatal shooting involving federal immigration agents in less than a week. Initial accounts said the 26-year-old Colombian man tried to flee in a vehicle “in the direction of the officer,” but Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin later confirmed that the man wasn’t the subject of the warrant. None of the agents were wearing body cameras and DHS hasn’t publicly released evidence supporting its account of the shooting. Maine’s state attorney general, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into whether the man posed a threat and whether deadly force was justified, while the officer was placed on leave. (ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
\n3/ The U.S. resumed strikes on Iran and reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports, while Trump claimed that America will now be “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT” and charge a 20% fee on all cargo passing through it. “We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it,” Trump said, adding that it will remain open “with or without Iran” and that “the process and formation will begin immediately.” The blockade takes effect at 4 p.m. Tuesday and will stop ships traveling to or from Iranian ports. U.S. forces, meanwhile, began a third consecutive night of strikes aimed at degrading Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping. Oil prices surged more than 9% as the ceasefire unraveled. (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Axios / CBS News / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters / NPR)
\n4/ South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham Nordone to serve the remainder of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate term. Graham died Saturday at 71 after “a brief and sudden illness.” A preliminary medical examiner’s report said he suffered an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Trump had urged McMaster to choose Nordone, who has never held elected office, calling the appointment “a fabulous tribute.” Nordone said she would “support the president” and continue Graham’s work on behalf of South Carolina and the country until the term expires Jan. 3. The appointment restores Republicans’ 53-47 Senate majority once she is sworn in. South Carolina Republicans will hold a new primary on Aug. 11 to choose a replacement nominee for Graham, who had already won the Republican nomination for a fifth term. Trump, meanwhile, called Graham a “true American Patriot” and “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.” He said he spoke to Graham hours before he died, adding that “other than being tired, he was fine.” (NBC News / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press)
\n5/ Mitch McConnell said a fall left him briefly unconscious and hospitalized for nearly a month, but offered no timetable for returning to the Senate. The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican was treated for pneumonia, and doctors reportedly ruled out a heart attack, stroke, concussion, fractures, tumors, and hemorrhaging. The Capitol physician attributed McConnell’s repeated falls to his post-polio condition and said he’s now undergoing intensive rehabilitation. McConnell said he intends to finish his term in January. (NPR / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / Axios / Washington Post / ABC News)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 113 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 848 days.
\n\nThe landmark bipartisan housing bill became law without Trump’s signature after he refused to sign it in protest over the Senate’s failure to pass an unrelated voting restrictions bill The law, the most significant federal housing legislation in decades, aims to speed home construction, ease federal regulations, and limit some large investors from buying additional single-family homes. Trump dismissed the measure as “a yawn” compared with the unrelated SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot but does not have enough support to clear the Senate. Because Trump neither signed nor vetoed the housing bill within the constitutionally mandated 10-day window, it automatically became law. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NPR / CNN / New York Times)
\nThe FBI fired two analysts who raised concerns that its review of Fulton County’s 2020 election records lacked evidence and was politically motivated. The bureau assigned 260 analysts to crosscheck hundreds of voter names, addresses, and identification numbers against a commercial public records database by July 17. The investigation faces a likely expired five-year statute of limitations. (CBS News)
\nThe Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times reporters to testify before a federal grand jury about their reporting on security problems with Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One. Federal agents delivered some of the subpoenas after the Times reported that Trump left Turkey aboard the older Air Force One at the Secret Service’s urging and that the retrofitted jet lacked advanced defenses, including antimissile capabilities. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / NPR)
\nTrump threatened New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman would “pay the price” after she criticized the secrecy surrounding his health. Trump called Haberman “Maggot Hagerman,” claimed her new book was “90% Fake News,” and then claimed he’d “just finished a perfect physical” and aced another cognitive test even though the White House confirmed he was referring to his May exam. Hours earlier, Haberman had called Trump’s health a “black box” inside the administration. (HuffPost / Daily Beast)
\nThe Trump administration ended the 50-year-old Endangered Species Act, allowing farming, drilling, mining, logging, and development to damage or destroy habitat so long as no animal is directly killed or injured. (New York Times)
\nTrump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family’s crypto projects last year while his stock-and-bond portfolio grew at least fourfold from between 2024 and 2025. Trump’s money managers moved a significant share of his wealth into traditional assets even as the Trumps promoted crypto projects that left retail investors with an estimated $2.3 billion in losses. (Reuters)
\nEric Trump and Trump Jr. invested in more than a dozen defense and technology companies that have since received at least $3.2 billion in government contracts and another $3.1 billion in future contract options. Most of the investments occurred after Trump’s reelection. (Washington Post)
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", "summary": "A federal judge ruled that Trump filed his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in bad faith to “manipulate the judicial process”; an ICE officer shot and killed a man during an immigration enforcement operation in Maine; the U.S. resumed strikes on Iran and reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports, while Trump claimed that America will now be “THE GUARDIAN...", "date_published": "2026-07-13T15:39:06-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["lawsuit","taxes","immigration","foreign-policy","iran"] }, { "id": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/09/day-1997/", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2026/07/09/day-1997/", "title": "Day 1997: “Ease real burdens.”", "image": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/uploads/day1997trump-5a2028.jpg", "content_html": "Today in one sentence: Trump, despite the Supreme Court already rejecting his attempt to end birthright citizenship by executive order, said he wants the court to reconsider its decision; the family of a Mexican national fatally shot by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Houston called for an independent investigation into his death; Iran retaliated after the U.S. struck about 90 military targets along Iran’s coast overnight in what Central Command called an effort to “degrade” Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz; Graham Platner suspended his Maine Senate campaign after a woman he previously dated accused him of raping her in 2021; former Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to a felony charge that he damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; and Trump’s EPA proposed weakening pollution rules for heavy-duty trucks and buses.
\n1/ Trump, despite the Supreme Court already rejecting his attempt to end birthright citizenship by executive order, said he wants the court to reconsider its decision, calling the ruling “absolutely insane” and warning it would “destroy America” if the justices don’t reverse their ruling. The court ruled 6-3 last week that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly all children born in the U.S., invalidating Trump’s order denying automatic citizenship to babies unless at least one parent was a citizen or lawful permanent resident. Rehearings, while technically allowed within 25 days, are almost never granted. The last rehearing was in 1965, and the court has only once reheard a case and reversed itself. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
\n2/ The family of a Mexican national fatally shot by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Houston called for an independent investigation into his death. Federal authorities claimed an agent fired in self-defense after 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle” as ICE officers attempted to arrest him. Officials didn’t provide evidence, explain why Araujo was being arrested, or release video of the incident. Araujo was shot in the abdomen, taken to a hospital, and died. His son, Ronaldo Salgado, said he learned of his father’s death from a social media news report, not law enforcement. Araujo’s family said he was in the process of obtaining a work permit. The DHS inspector general, meanwhile, is investigating the incident, while the FBI’s Houston office is investigating what authorities called an assault on a federal officer. (New York Times / ABC News / Axios / USA Today)
\n3/ Iran retaliated after the U.S. struck about 90 military targets along Iran’s coast overnight in what Central Command called an effort to “degrade” Tehran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said it fired missiles and drones at U.S. military sites in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Jordan, but the attacks appeared to be mostly intercepted and there were no reported U.S. casualties or major damage to U.S. facilities. Trump, meanwhile, called the overnight strikes “retribution” and warned that if Iran attacked ships again, “it will get much worse.” (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Reuters / CNBC / CBS News / ABC News / CNN)
\n4/ Graham Platner suspended his Maine Senate campaign after a woman he previously dated accused him of raping her in 2021. State officials, however, said he hasn’t formally withdrawn, yet. Platner has until 5 p.m. Monday to file the signed paperwork that would let Democrats replace him. Meanwhile, Platner has denied “any accusation of nonconsensual behavior” as “categorically false,” saying he’s stepping aside not because of the allegation but because party leaders were taking away “the things that we need to run a campaign,” like money and voter data. The Maine Democratic Party said it’ll hold a nominating convention if a vacancy is created and has until July 27 to name a replacement against Susan Collins in one of Democrats’ few chances to flip a Republican-held Senate seat. (NBC News / Axios / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / The Guardian)
\n5/ Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to a felony charge that he damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Federal prosecutors accused Hearn of ripping up the recently installed sealant and causing more than $1,000 in damage. Hearn faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The case comes after Trump’s $14 million-plus renovation of the pool quickly ran into algae, peeling coating, and water-quality problems, which Trump has blamed on vandals without providing evidence. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Hearn’s alleged conduct was “a deliberate act,” while Hearn’s lawyers called the evidence “weak” and accused the administration of using him as a “scapegoat” for the failed renovation. (Associated Press / The Hill / CNN / NPR)
\n6/ Trump’s EPA proposed weakening pollution rules for heavy-duty trucks and buses by delaying warranty and useful-life requirements for emissions-control systems and eliminating a mandate that engines automatically lose power when those systems stop working. The EPA said the changes would “ease real burdens for operators” by saving $4,130 to $6,152 per affected diesel engine, despite its own analysis finding the rollback would increase ozone-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from heavy-duty trucks by 4.2% in 2030 and 11.6% by 2055. The agency, however, didn’t model the effect on air quality or human health. (NPR)
\nThe 2026 midterms are in 117 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 852 days.
\n\n \nSubscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free
\nSupport today’s essential newsletter and resist the daily shock and awe: Become a member
", "summary": "Trump, despite the Supreme Court already rejecting his attempt to end birthright citizenship by executive order, said he wants the court to reconsider its decision; the family of a Mexican national fatally shot by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Houston called for an independent investigation into his death; Iran retaliated after the U.S. struck about 90 military...", "date_published": "2026-07-09T14:51:17-07:00", "authors": [ { "name": "Matt Kiser", "url": "https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/" } ], "tags": ["immigration","supreme-court","executive-order","iran","climate"] } ] }