Harps, Heart, and Trunks 😱 ✡️🌻 😱 🚀🚢 🗳️

Quagmire Chronicles:  Remember the sixty-day memorandum of understanding with Iran that was supposed to be the beginning of the end of the Iran war, well forget about it because the MOU has expired.  Trump who continues to insist that the Strait of Hormuz is open even though it isn’t, said on Tuesday that there is no ongoing dialogue with Iran to end the war, and no discussions scheduled and son in law Kushner, Trump’s not so qualified special envoy, reported that Iran is "not showing any interest" in striking a deal that "makes sense" for the United States.  According to the Wall Street Journal, it’s not just that Iran isn’t showing any interest in a deal, they viewed the ceasefire that accompanied the now expired MOU as an opportunity to prepare for a longer war with the Revolutionary Guard using the time to consolidate its control and bolster the regime’s supply of missiles and drones while also tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has now threatened to bomb Oman, saying that its independent efforts to cut a deal with Iran to open the Strait is getting in the way of the US making a peace deal. Trump isn’t going to bomb Oman, but his outrageous threat which should but won’t provoke a 25^th Amendment removal, provides further evidence of how much he’s flailing.  His attempt to reignite his love affair with North Korea’s Kim Jung Un is a further admission that his Iran adventure is a festering failure.  He needs to distract with a new shiny object, so what if that object destabilizes South Korea and our Asian allies.  The WSJ reports that Trump is now pushing for his aides to schedule a meeting with Kim Jong Un, to “convince him to abandon his nuclear program” because he’s so good at getting countries to give up their nukes?

The Ballot Box 🗳️:  It turns out that very few Alaskan voters found the presence of an extra Dan Sullivan on their ballot confusing.  The “faux” Dan received only 2% of the votes, while the “real” one, incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, received 43%, coming in second to Democrat Mary Peltola who received 48% of the vote.  Incumbent Dan and Peltola will advance to the November election which is likely to be close with Peltola standing a chance of picking up a Senate seat for the Democrats, maybe.  In Florida, place saver incumbent Republican Senator Ashley Moody who Governor DeSantis had appointed as Marco Rubio’s interim replacement easily won her primary, She’ll face off against State Representative Angie Nixon who easily beat Alexander Vindman.  Much is being made of Nixon’s victory because she’s a “progressive” who recently changed her affiliation from Democrat to Democratic Socialist.  However, the odds of her beating Republican Moody in November aren’t great and her “socialist” affiliation probably won’t help her in Florida. The November Governor’s race in Florida might be much closer.  MAGA Congressman Byron Donalds easily won the Republican primary but failed to get 50% of the vote despite Trump’s endorsement.  With 61% of the Democratic vote, David Jolly the former Republican who is now a moderate Democrat, cruised to victory in his primary. Though Democrats haven’t won a statewide race in Florida since they won the Commissioner of Agriculture seat in 2018, Jolly stands a chance of beating Donalds in the fall partly because Donalds is a divisive candidate but also because it’s not clear that some reliably red voters, particularly those in the Panhandle area will show up for a Black candidate and Donalds is Black. Continuing with the racial theme there was lots of noise about Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a victim of Republican redistricting, having the nerve to run in the majority Black district she ran in, but the long-term Congresswoman ran there anyway, and won and is expected to win again in November. To be clear, the Congressional Black Caucus doesn’t oppose her politics, she’s long been a reliable ally, it’s just that they’re frustrated by how many of their members have been gerrymandered out of their seats.  The District’s prior representative Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick had earlier resigned as the result of a scandal. Despite being challenged by an anti-Israel Democratic Socialist, incumbent Jared Moskowitz won his race too.  Moskowitz’s November race will be a tough one since his new South Florida district has been gerrymandered to advantage Republicans.  On the anti-Semitic front, much to the relief of the Republican party, Nazi loving, pro-Hitler candidate Dan Bilzerian lost his primary, that’s a good thing, but not so good is that the party’s victor in his race is incumbent Randy Fine, an extreme Islamophobe.  Despite being endorsed by Trump, embattled incumbent Cory Mills lost his reelection bid.  That’s good news for those who believe that men who beat up the women in their lives shouldn’t be in Congress,  

More 💩:  Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff who is up for reelection and doing remarkably well according to the polls, for what that is worth and in his case his 7 points lead over Republican Mike Collins is likely worth a lot.  His polling position is particularly notable since his seat was supposed to be an easy pick-up for Republicans.  Ossoff, who is really good at staying on message, is living rent free in Trump’s head.  Quite a few of his Trump slamming speeches have gone viral in a good way, and this week he went where few have been willing to go, mocking the “draft dodging, crook” Trump for “only wanting to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie.” The Natalie in question is Natalie Harp, the 35- year-old Ivanka clone who previously was best known for being Trump’s human printer. Harp was one of those who Trump took on his decoy plane when he snuck out of Turkey. She is so attached to Trump that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles became concerned about the adoring ❤️ notes she shares with him. Reports are that staying close by is so important to Harp, and presumably Trump, that she sleeps in the women’s locker room when he’s at his Bedminster club, and once jumped into and rode in the trunk of his SUV when there was no room for her inside the vehicle. While Harp isn’t going anywhere, another woman, Emily Underwood who as top deputy to Stephen Miller was a senior policy strategist, is exiting.  Rats 🐀 leaving the ship. Money is leaving the ship too. SCOTUS refused to hear Trump’s last ditch bid to overturn the $5 million, now $5.6 million awarded to E Jean Caroll meaning the money is finally hers.  Trump is still appealing the much larger $83 million that was awarded to her after he continued to trash her.  Lastly, count yourself smart and a bit richer if you are long Moderna stock.  This morning the company announced that it and Merck’s mRNA shot for melanoma showed positive results in a late-stage trial. Further evidence that the mRNA technology that the RFK crowd likes to slam is a good thing.