The Automatic Earth

EdgarDegas A la mer 1863

BREAKING: SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has surpassed 11,000 satellites in orbit for the first time.

Today’s successful deployment of 24 Starlink satellites brought the estimated total to 11,003, making it by far the largest satellite constellation ever built. pic.twitter.com/KCZnPWh0e0

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 19, 2026

Is today the day?

Do read Trump’s missive!

People of the day: Fang-Fang and Natalie Harp.

• Economic D-Day (ZH)

President Trump is out with a Truth Social post describing today as “ECONOMIC D-DAY” against Iran, declaring that his total economic war against Tehran will be the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY.” Trump said that with Tehran’s military and military-industrial base reduced to “now rubble” and its “currency worthless,” he will unleash severe economic consequences against “ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran.”

Here’s the full Truth Social post:

“.. Kpler Says US Navy Gaining Ground In Hormuz ..”

• UAE Cuts Ties As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Helping Washington (ZH)

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is visiting Baghdad while at the same time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the Hormuz situation and security. Except of course the two sides aren’t talking with each other. President Trump has made clear that no talks are on, and that none are scheduled, as he’s been floating a ‘new’ strategy to ‘strangle’ the Iranian economy over the long term. CNN reported Tuesday that White House officials have recently communicated that they are shifting their strategy — going from “hammer Iran ASAP” to “strangle them” over time.

As for Ghalibaf, he blasted War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday, mocking this new disengagement strategy, given the US has already failed to bring Tehran to its knees. “Americans think squeezing Iran harder will win concessions that were never part of the agreement,” Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X. “Bessent and Hegseth are way out of their league,” Ghalibaf added while referring to them as the “clown crew.” He stated:”Stop waiting for the clown crew to pull a rabbit out of their hat and clean up the mess you made.”

After declaring a new ‘offensive’ military posture in response to the crisis, Iran is showing no signs of backing off the confrontation with the US in the region. On Wednesday its armed forces warned Gulf countries against hosting or assisting American forces, saying it would be tantamount to joining the war on the US side. “We wish to warn that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor U.S. military amounts to participation in the U.S. military operation,” armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi said. “It seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly refueling aircraft could be present at regional bases without knowledge of host countries,” the official continued as cited in Mehr news agency.

It’s not known how many refueling tankers or else large warplanes are still positioned in the Gulf, but certainly the bulk of regional refueling aircraft operated by the US Air Force are currently concentrated at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion international airport – and has been subject of a lot of media attention.And in another significant escalation that effectively torpedoes any remaining illusions of hoped-for cross-Gulf detente, the United Arab Emirates has announced Wednesday a complete and immediate severance of all economic ties with Tehran. The move comes on the heels of what UAE officials claim was a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles targeted directly at Emirati territory.

Tehran had quickly denied it had fired missiles on its territory, but UAE authorities later clarified that the military observed two missiles inbound from Iran, which caused no damage or casualties – which triggered an urgent missile alert for the population on Tuesday. Meanwhile, below are some of the latest major developments and reports related to the Iran conflict:Iran has weighed attacking US military targets in Europe should Donald Trump escalate the war, according to people close to the regime, as Tehran considers its options to increase the stakes of the conflict. FT

Even as Iran projects resilience in the war with the United States, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment by Donald Trump could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy. RTRS

Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are piling up without an American military response, raising the risks of crossing the strategic waterway and frustrating some Arab allies who worry the U.S. doesn’t have a strategy to wind down the conflict. WSJ

However, shipping analytics firm Kpler has suggested that the US Navy is gaining ground in the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran is ceding some control, amid a war of words between President Trump and Iranian leadership over who has actual ‘control’.

The Trump administration appears to be indicating it favors economic warfare in its approach to the conflict with Iran, touting its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and previewing new sanctions still to be announced. https://t.co/k5g4FBcxF7

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 19, 2026

They’d still need people to execute their commands. Where are they?

• Iran’s Latest Warning Signals The Hardliners Are Just Getting Started (CNN)

US President Donald Trump is struggling to extract the United States from a war that he started almost six months ago – alternating between claims that Tehran is “begging” for a deal, and threats to renew military attacks. Now Iran’s hardline leadership is devising and promoting its own strategy for continued confrontation with Washington.The strategy emphasizes “offensive operations” as well as defensive action to neutralize enemy threats, according to one Iranian official. The more assertive stance comes as a US-Iran agreement intended to end the war, the Memorandum of Understanding, expires with control of the Strait of Hormuz still in dispute.

Iran’s military leaders believe they are in a strong position to extract concessions from the US and can further adapt Iran’s weapons systems to bridge the gap with their more powerful adversaries, according to analysts. It also likely means greater mobilization of Iran’s allies in Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. In recent weeks, Houthi militants in Yemen have threatened Saudi shipping and struck Saudi oil refineries, while Iranian-backed militia in Iraq have targeted Saudi oil infrastructure. The starting gun for the new posture in Tehran sounded with decrees reorganizing Iran’s security leadership last week issued in the name of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

An adviser to Khamenei, Mohammad Mokhber, said the “strategy of shifting the war to an offensive posture if Iran’s conditions are not met will undoubtedly transform the balance of power in the world.” The new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaie, belongs to a faction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that believes “the only way to get concessions from the US is the continuation of fighting, exerting pressure on the US and a steady dose of pain on Donald Trump,” Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East politics at George Washington University, told CNN earlier this month.

In confirming Ahmad Vahidi as the IRGC’s chief, Mojtaba’s decree spoke of the need to increase preparedness for “strong offensive operations against the enemy.” It was “clear that Vahidi’s mandate was to revise Iranian military strategy in a more assertive and offensive direction,” according to Hamidreza Azizi at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank.

Days after that decree was issued, a senior IRGC official – political deputy Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani – told Iran’s semi-official news agency Fars that “Iran’s actions are defensive, although they may also take on an offensive aspect in the future. The IRGC is developing the ability to carry out operations “on enemy soil,” said another adviser to Vahidi, Mohammad Reza Naqdi. “We need to be able to move the operations to the enemy’s soil, whenever this is needed and ordered,” he told state broadcaster IRIB. The IRGC was tasked with being able to “launch attacks against the enemy in an intelligent, selective, and targeted manner.”

This would imply again targeting US military facilities in the region. A new generation of more maneuverable ballistic missiles with cluster warheads, plus innovative use of drones, indicates Iran has adapted tactics rapidly over recent months. “The regime has withstood the US/Israeli barrage and retaliation from the Gulf Arab states, and they are still standing,” according to H.A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “Now they seek to transform this resilience into permanent political advantage in the region as opposed to letting the initiative waste away over time,” Hellyer told CNN.

“Tehran believes it has the military edge and is openly discussing going on the offensive instead of merely responding to American attacks,” says Trita Parsi at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “By that, Iran will not only have wrested control of the scope and geography of the war from the US, but also its timing.” Iran is preparing for short and long-term scenarios, Azizi believes. The current no-war-no-peace situation – with deepening economic problems – “may prompt the Iranian leadership to escalate in order to push Trump either to remove the naval blockade or to agree to an arrangement on terms more favorable to Iran,” he said.

“New energy routes would take years to build and come at a heavy cost, IRGC adviser Mohammad Reza Naqdi has told RT..”

• Hormuz Can’t Be Replaced – Iranian General (RT)

The Strait of Hormuz will remain indispensable to global energy trade despite efforts by Persian Gulf states to develop alternative export routes, a top Iranian military advisor has told RT. In an exclusive interview with the outlet, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, argued that the strategic waterway cannot easily be replaced given the concentration of oil and gas production in the Gulf.

“The Strait of Hormuz will never lose importance. [The Persian Gulf] is the production site for oil and gas. Oil wells cannot be moved elsewhere,” Naqdi told RT correspondent Saman Kojouri. The veteran brigadier general also pointed to the time and expense involved in developing new energy infrastructure. “If they want to find alternative routes to transport oil and such, it takes many years and incurs very heavy costs,” he said. Oil-producing Gulf states have been pursuing additional infrastructure and export routes as shipping through the Strait remains severely disrupted, with July transit volumes down more than 80% from pre-conflict levels.

Saudi Arabia is considering another expansion of its East–West pipeline system, although an industry estimate cited by AFP suggests it could be completed only around 2030–31. The UAE is moving faster on an additional pipeline, which is expected next year, while a revived Iraq–Syria project has no timetable. Kuwait and Bahrain currently have no pipeline routes bypassing Hormuz. Elsewhere in the interview, Naqdi offered Iran’s version of the alleged missile plot that prompted US President Donald Trump to secretly switch planes while leaving Türkiye last month, claiming it had never existed.

Yes, “Faster please.”

• The Strait of Hormuz Is Open. Also Closed. It’s Complicated. (Stephen Green)

The Strait of Hormuz “will not be opened,” Iranian warned on Tuesday, “Until the U.S. commitments in the memorandum—including lifting the blockade, releasing frozen assets, lifting oil sanctions, ending threats and military operations on all fronts, and the other conditions to which the U.S. committed—are implemented.” I guess that settles it — the Strait is firmly in the Islamic Republic’s grip.Not so fast. On the flip side, President Donald Trump said earlier this week that the U.S. naval blockade against Iran “remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated.”

Who’s right? I guess the only way to tell is to try and figure out whether shipping is actually moving through Hormuz, and how much. For that, let’s go to CNN’s David Goldman, who’s been covering Gulf oil flows. Events there are moving so quickly that his headline a week ago was “The Trump administration claims oil is flowing normally again. There’s just one problem,” but his Monday headline read “Wait… how much oil is actually leaving the Persian Gulf?” This morning, things had moved this much further: “Iran has lost significant control of the Strait of Hormuz.”

While “both Iran and the United States have claimed the upper hand,” Goldman wrote in his most recent report, “the competing rhetoric has caused considerable confusion and doubt.” “At the moment, however, the evidence is clear: The United States, patrolling the strait with its navy, is gaining ground – and Iran is losing much of its control of the critical waterway.” Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler, said this week that “It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait.”

“The expiration of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran this week in theory allows Iran to begin charging tolls again. But it doesn’t appear the country has been able to,” Goldman added. Well, good. But still… what a mess. Just because Tehran’s grip has loosened doesn’t mean Hormuz is truly open. Tankers still must take evasive measures like leaving their transponders off and avoiding Iranian waters. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that oil flows out of the Gulf are back up to about 15 million barrels a day from the prewar 20 million. But that’s counting oil rerouted away from Hormuz and not just through Hormuz.

Prior to February 28, Tehran had never dared to completely close Hormuz to shipping. Doing so could pose an existential threat to the global economy, which could also put the regime at risk. Besides, like the Sword of Damocles, the real power lay in the threat. But then last summer, and again this spring, Trump went to Truth Social to demand “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” from the Islamic Republic. If the threat from Washington is existential, why not take the risk?

For whatever reason — maybe we really are dangerously low on munitions, maybe the White House decided that a collapsed Iran is a worse threat to the economy than the Islamic Republic is, maybe a lack of resolve, I don’t know — Trump still hasn’t followed through on his threat. And to think that back in March and April, it at least appeared that we were on the cusp of eliminating the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, and the lynchpin of Beijing and Moscow’s Middle East ambitions.

Instead, here we are in the waning days of summer arguing over who controls the Strait of Hormuz, when the answer appears to be nobody and everybody. Depending on who you ask and what measure of reduced oil flow counts as “open.” But looking at the bigger picture, the most important element might be this: “US Navy blockade has caused Iran’s oil exports to crater — and could finally destabilize regime.” After just six months, I hope it isn’t too soon for me to add, “Faster please.”

It’s complicated but Iran is ‘losing territory’ in the Strait.

• Iran Has Lost Significant Control of the Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

The battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz has become the focal point of the Iran war. Over the past several months, both Iran and the United States have claimed the upper hand – and the competing rhetoric has caused considerable confusion and doubt. At the moment, however, the evidence is clear: The United States, patrolling the strait with its navy, is gaining ground – and Iran is losing much of its control of the critical waterway.

More than 80% of liquids transits through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have taken the Omani route – a UN-authorized shipping channel that Iran vehemently opposes – or have been “dark” transits that likely took the Omani route, according to Kpler, which tracks ships using transponders and satellite data. Iran, declaring the strait under its control, has attacked dozens of ships that tried to to travel the waterway via the north coast of Oman. Despite the risk, most ships have recently chosen to ignore Iran’s demands and cross the strait with the promise of protection from US naval forces.

“It increasingly looks like Iran has at least partially lost control of the strait,” said Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler. That stands in stark contrast to a month ago, when Kpler observed virtually no shipping traffic via the Omani route. The sharp reduction in traffic around Iran’s preferred route has prevented Iran from charging tolls on ship traffic through the strait – as it did in the spring. The expiration of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran this week in theory allows Iran to begin charging tolls again. But it doesn’t appear the country has been able to, according to Kpler.

“Iran’s request to collect tolls is something that most Middle East folks don’t want to do and haven’t been doing,” said Dan Pickering, founder and chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners. “So the Oman route absolutely makes the most sense.”Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have chartered Very Large Crude oil Carriers (VLCCs) – the biggest oil tankers – to transit out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, then transfering the oil to customers’ tankers outside the danger zone in the Gulf of Oman, according to Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

To evade Iran’s attacks, they’ve turned their transponders off, often for weeks on end. That so-called dark traffic appears to have eluded some data-tracking services like Kpler as well. Although some can be picked up on satellite, it’s harder to track via traditional means. But the United States, with significant military force on the water, has eyes on all ships passing through the strait and has reported significantly higher oil shipping numbers than most traditional estimates had previously suggested.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright last week said that combined oil transits through the strait and rerouted around the waterway totaled around 15 million barrels per day over the course of a week – much closer to the 20-million-barrel average from before the war. That led President Donald Trump to declare Monday that the United States has “total control over the strait,” a questionable claim he has reiterated often throughout the conflict. Iran’s continued attacks and oil flows still well below pre-war levels suggest the United States does not fully control the Strait of Hormuz.

But neither does Iran. “If their goal is to be ‘in charge,’ then I’d say they were never completely in control to start with,” said Pickering. “It feels like their goal is deterrence, in order to be validated as in-control. I think they are still deterring.”But if tankers are really getting as much oil through the strait as the United States claims, then Iran’s deterrence and control of the Strait of Hormuz is diminished compared to what it was a month or two ago.

Complicating matters: Oman and Iran are engaging in talks to restore freedom of navigation through the strait – absent the United States – much to Trump’s dismay. It’s not clear how those discussions will affect oil traffic or control of the waterway. “I would take all the information and headlines ‘under advisement,’” said Lipow. “But it is fair to say that Iran has partially lost control of the strait.”

“That’s a devastating admission from inside the tent.”

• A Democrat Confessed the Midterms Could Be a Disaster for His Party (Margolis)

Harold Ford Jr. is, by any honest measure, the smarter liberal who joins the table on Fox News’ The Five. That’s not saying much when the other option is Jessica Tarlov, but hey, it’s something. Tarlov is a party booster every step of the way. She pushes Democrats’ talking points blindly. Ford is far more willing to call out his party when it deserves it, which he did on Tuesday, when he admitted that Democrats will lose if they embrace the DSA’s policies.

“If we believe that the DSA, their ideas are the right ones for the country, then we’re going to lose,” Ford said. He pointed to last week’s Wisconsin results as proof the socialist wing of the party is gaining ground it shouldn’t. “We may win a few primaries, and I was delighted to see the Wisconsin outcome last week,” he said, “with the young fellow Crowley coming from behind.” He added that another candidate, El-Sayed, “only won by a very, very small amount,” a margin Ford treated as a warning sign rather than a victory lap.

That’s a devastating admission from inside the tent. Ford said Democratic voters are more focused on kitchen-table economics than revolutionary politics, and that when they realize the Democratic Socialists of America “are not for them,” they’ll bolt. He even agreed with strategist James Carville’s blunt assessment from the night before, though Ford tried to soften it. “I won’t go as far as my friend James, who used the word ‘fools,'” he said. “But you are foolish if you believe these ideas are not only going to win, but are going to make the country stronger and better.” He said politics should exist “to try to make the country better, Democrat and Republican alike,” not to score television hits or, as he put it, be “supportive of terrorist organizations.”

“If we believe the DSA and their ideas are right for the country, then WE ARE GOING TO LOSE.” @HaroldFordJr warns Democrats must reject the DSA’s far-left agenda and refocus on the economic issues voters care about, including lowering costs, cutting taxes and reducing government… pic.twitter.com/ut4F8WWEcz

— The Five (@TheFive) August 19, 2026

Ford deserves credit for saying that on Fox News, where most Democrats show up to dodge the question entirely. But here’s the problem: Ford wants to build his party’s alternative economic message around eliminating “all of President Trump’s tariffs because they’re driving up costs.” That premise has a hole in it. Namely, the runaway inflation Democrats spent months promising the tariffs would trigger simply hasn’t shown up.

He also complained that the president abandoned the fight to shrink the federal government. “I’m disappointed with President Trump,” he said, arguing Trump should have cut the government “by 5%” to pay for tax relief, since “there’s enough waste there to do it.” What Ford leaves out is that his own party has fought Trump’s downsizing efforts at every turn, from the courts to the Capitol, treating every eliminated program like a five-alarm fire. Blaming Trump for a fight Democrats themselves have waged is ridiculous. His ire should have been directed more at his party for opposing it.

Still, the tariff blind spot and the government-waste denial don’t erase the core of what Ford got right. The Democrat Party has let a small, loud, ideologically rigid faction set the terms of its future, and the voters who actually decide elections are noticing. Meanwhile, Tarlov has been out there insisting that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) counts as a moderate.

No contest.

• Democrats Nominate a Socialist for Senate in Deep Red Florida (Rick Moran)

It’s rare that a political party lines up to jump off a cliff. That’s what the Democratic Party is doing in 2026. A newly minted Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) member defeated a Democratic Party establishment favorite who outraised the socialist by 20-to-1. It clearly demonstrated, if any more proof was necessary, that the Democrats are playing Russian Roulette with a bullet in every chamber.

huge underdog, raising less than a million dollars. And yet, she easily defeated former Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. Vindman raised $20 million and was expected to coast to victory, setting up a November contest to fill the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s term. Repeat after me: Democrats are cray-cray in a big way-way.

Nixon will be led to the slaughter in November, facing off against Sen. Ashley Moody, whom Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to Rubio’s seat until the special election. = Moody probably can’t believe her luck. Florida just went from “lean Republican” to “Unbelievably safe.” Nixon ally, State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-47th District), a progressive Democrat from Orlando, said Nixon’s campaign centered around working-class issues, from affordability to healthcare. Actually, the DSA doesn’t have an economic plan beyond “seizing the means of production” and probably setting up a guillotine on the Washington Mall.

“It really just speaks to saying that money doesn’t determine everything,” Eskamani said. “They’re tired of health care not being affordable and one job not being enough.” It also speaks to the suicidal nature of Democrats. They are moving, lemming-like, to the edge of the cliff and preparing to hand Republicans an easy win. With the Florida Senate race a virtual lock two and a half months from election day, Republicans can spend more resources on other, more competitive races. “It was a wild night in Florida politics,” Republican Rep. Randy Fine said at the victory party for the GOP nominee for governor, Rep. Byron Donalds.

“I mean, the Nixon win is the greatest gift ever. She’s crazy and should be in jail for the stuff she pulled on the House floor.”= Nixon brought a bright pink megaphone onto the House floor to loudly protest a congressional redistricting vote. Pacing the floor and shouting that the maps were “illegal” and “unconstitutional,” the commotion caused enough confusion that two fellow Democrats inadvertently voted yes on the GOP-backed map, thinking it was a quorum call. A Republican representative even filed a workers’ comp claim alleging hearing damage.

Dumb and crazy. Make sure you get a good seat for the inevitable flameout. During a previous special session on redistricting, Nixon was one of the lead organizers of a floor sit-in where Democratic lawmakers gathered around the House well, sang, and disrupted proceedings, leading House leadership to temporarily shut down the session and turn off the room’s broadcasting feeds. It wasn’t all roses for the GOP in Florida on primary night. The voters registered their displeasure with Republicans as well.

Politico: “On the Republican side, Trump’s endorsement didn’t prove to be the deciding factor in two races. In Florida’s 19th District, Trump’s endorsed candidate, Lauf, a former adviser at the U.S. Department of Commerce during the president’s first term, lost to Jim Schwartzel, a media executive and owner of a conservative talk radio station, by about 7 points. It was a crowded field, with several former congressmen, including former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn and New York Rep. Chris Collins also running.

Under investigation by the House and shunned by some of his GOP colleagues in Congress, pressure has been building on Mills for weeks and only intensified recently as Republicans like DeSantis and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna came out against him. Mills has remained adamant that he has done nothing wrong amid a long line of incidents — including a restraining order placed on him at the request of a former girlfriend — and had defied calls from other Republicans to step down from his central Florida congressional seat.

GOP voters lanced a boil in getting rid of Mills in a safe Republican district. The national party can stop worrying.= Indeed, by taking Florida off the Democrats’ board, Republicans can breathe a lot easier. It’s still going to be a difficult year for Republicans as they are defending 22 seats compared to just 13 for Democrats. But their 53-47 advantage in the upper chamber gives them some wiggle room.

“.. the Democrats’ new campaign tactic: bringing sexy back.”

• Axios — Dems Might Be Commies but Hey, They’re Sexy! (Stephen Kruiser)

It has been quite interesting to watch how the hacks in the mainstream media have handled the family feud between the out and proud Democratic Socialists of America commies and their closeted commie elders in the Democratic Party establishment. There are days when it seems as if the media really wants the upstarts to win this one. Then there are others when they’re so nervous about how the changing of the guard might play out that they come perilously close to committing acts of journalism. No, really, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Today we’re going to look at how one alleged news organization — Axios — is dealing with it. I won’t give too much away here at the beginning, but let’s just say that the kids are going to need therapy when this is all over. Axios has pretensions of being the cutting edge future of journalism. Let’s take a look at a snippet from the site’s “About” page:We launched Axios originally to combat what we termed the “crap trap,” the perverted incentive of traditional media to mass produce click-bait nonsense to drive engagement and higher valuations. We rightly warned this was a fool’s path.

We can probably all agree that’s both noble and ambitious. If you have even a passing familiarity with the work of the Axios writers, you know that none of them have ever read the “Our Vision” section of the aforementioned “About” page. I often think that Axios only exists to make the Dem leg-humpers at Politico appear to be unbiased and full of gravitas. Near the end of last month, I wrote a column describing Axios as going “full fangirl” over Republican squishes. The Axios piece was a hot mess of cheerleading and wishcasting, which is fairly boilerplate for the organization. My Twitchy colleague Brett T. covered an example of the site’s latest bit of inane “Rah-Rah!” for the Democrats:

Axios’ Alex Thompson, who co-authored a book with CNN’s Jake Tapper about how the White House had fooled them about President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline with its “cheap fakes” defense, would like you to read an article by Avery Lotz about the Democrats’ new campaign tactic: bringing sexy back. Don’t think we haven’t noticed, James Talarico. If you need to pause to make sure that your last meal doesn’t start to come back up, it’s totally understandable. Here’s the post on X (TWEET) that Brett shared right after that paragraph:

.@ajlotz8 reports on Dems latest campaign tactic: thirst traps.

Unbuttoned shirts on CNN.
Exposed bicepson the rally stage.
Made-for-TikTok thirst trap b-roll.
And the return of the tan suit.https://t.co/tPpf4CMdLV

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) August 18, 2026

That seems to me to be the kind of “click-bait nonsense” Axios is supposed to eschew in its efforts to not fall into the “crap trap.” The title of the article is, “Democrats enter their thirst trap era.” Are you not feeling the weightiness of this hard-hitting journalism? We’re almost a year away from the next time that the Pulitzer Prizes will be handed out but everyone else who might be in the running should voluntarily remove themselves from consideration.

She says he saved her life by approving an experimental bone cancer treatment.

Being alive instead of dead can make you very grateful.

• Natalie Harp is A Main Conduit Between Trump And The Outside World (CNN)

Natalie Harp wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was October 2023, and Donald Trump was due at a New York City courthouse to fight his latest set of legal troubles. But as the motorcade idled outside his Trump Tower residence, staffers confronted a more immediate problem: There wasn’t room for Harp, the hyper-loyal aide whose devotion to Trump had quickly entrenched her within his orbit.

A screaming match in the lobby ensued, with Harp insisting that Trump had personally asked her to attend the court appearance, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Denied a seat but determined not to be left behind, Harp jumped into an SUV trunk, according to the two sources and confirmed by a photo obtained by CNN. The episode, which has not been previously reported, served as an encapsulation of the role Harp has carved out in recent years as a constant and intensely dedicated presence at Trump’s side. Her methods have irked senior aides and at times prompted efforts to box her out of the president’s inner circle, according to multiple sources who described the dynamic to CNN.

A former right-wing television host, who began working for Trump after crediting him with saving her life, Harp has become a main conduit between the president and the outside world, passing along messages from allies and setting up meetings, tapping out Truth Social posts and toting printouts of laudatory articles, all while staying in close physical proximity at all hours of the day. “[Trump] likes the attention and the fact that she is 100% committed and loyal,” one White House adviser told CNN. “She doesn’t second guess, doesn’t question.”

Harp’s relationship with Trump came under fresh scrutiny this week after Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff mentioned her by name in a now-viral speech attacking Trump. The Georgia senator swiped at the president’s “travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” a reference to her joining the president — along with a very limited group — when he secretly boarded a smaller aircraft to leave Turkey due to a threat from Iran in July.

The comment spurred outrage from the White House, which repeatedly labeled Ossoff a “cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid” and “lightweight loser” — as well as rampant attention online. Harp’s rapid rise within Trump world has stood out in large part because of the intensity of her dedication to the president since joining his staff in 2022. Despite having no formal title on Trump’s reelection campaign, Harp trailed him across the country, feeding him positive stories, social media posts and other correspondence so frequently that allies dubbed her the “human printer.”

Illustrating how she’s become indispensable to Trump, one Republican lawmaker noted that while they occasionally reach out to the president directly, they always make sure Harp is aware. “She always responds. I don’t know how she manages it all,” the source said, adding that in addition to relaying messages to Trump, Harp often personally sends lawmakers articles or notes on the president’s behalf. Since following him to the White House, multiple sources said, Harp has been omnipresent. In videos of Oval Office signings and events reviewed by CNN, Harp can often be spotted on the outskirts of the room, smiling or nodding along with the president as he speaks.

She is frequently one of a smaller coterie of aides beside Trump as he travels to rallies.“Natalie is so fast,” Trump has mused to allies after asking her to find or print something for him.The ubiquity sometimes ruffles feathers within the White House, especially for some Trump advisers who at times have wanted to meet privately with the president — only to find Harp sitting in on the meeting as well, one of the sources familiar with the dynamic told CNN. The 35-year-old is also territorial about Trump and has told others that she only reports to him, irritating other staffers who work within the White House’s chain of command, another source said.

Fang Fang, aka “Rusty Thumbs”.

• Swalwell and Fang Fang Distilled (CTH)

Many people are interested in the John Solomon release of FBI information regarding former congressman Eric Swalwell and his relationship with a known Chinese operative named Fang Fang, aka Christine Fang. Personally, I’m not that interested in rehashing the Swallwell-Fang Fang storyline. However, there is a lot of mistaken information regarding the story. So, here’s the full background context that will hopefully make sense of the FBI conduct as it relates to the Chinese compromise.

[Fang Fang, aka “Rusty Thumbs”]

[Rusty Thumbs was chosen by the FBI as the codename because the rumor was that Swallwell liked a sexual position known as the “rusty trombone.” Fang would stimulate Swalwell thusly. I know, TMI.]

• The FBI has two basic missions. The #1 primary mission is to protect the interests of Washington DC officials from the outcome of their own conduct. The #2 secondary mission is to protect the American people from known wolves.

• The Dept of Justice National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) monitors foreign influence in Washington DC. The DOJ-NSD use the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as the primary legal tool to monitor the political influence. Former Attorney General Eric Holder, on behalf of President Obama, took this monitoring to new political levels of weaponization.

These two facets come together in the story of California members of congress who are long known to have been the primary conduit of Chinese money into DNC operations at a federal and individual campaign level. The FBI have known about this for a long time, a very long time.

There was a Chinese Spy named Russell Lowe employed by former Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for several decades. Russell Lowe began working with Dianne Feinstein in the 1970’s. According to reporting by CBS Lowe passed along information gained from Feinstein to the Chinese government. [H/T Rosie Memos] The story of Russell Lowe inside Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Vice-Chair Dianne Feinstein’s political life surfaced as an outcome of the Fang-Fang revelations. However, in reality Fang-Fang entered the orbit of Eric Swalwell as a result of Feinstein’s compromise with the Chinese spy ring.

It is said that Feinstein’s staff introduced Fang Fang to Swalwell when the Freshman Congressman first won election in 2012, taking office in 2013. Who was Dianne Feinstein’s lead staff? Dan Jones.

Dan Jones left the SSCI prior to the 2016 election and went to work pushing the Trump-Russia narrative through his media contacts. Dianne Feinstein abdicated her Vice-Chair position on the SSCI after the 2016 election, to Mark Warner. Dan Jones took over funding Fusion-GPS and Chris Steele in 2017 at the same time Senator Mark Warner took over as SSCI vice-chairman. Dan Jones and Mark Warner coordinated the efforts outside and inside government on the same objective. The Senate Intel Committee was part of the Trump-Russia collusion effort.

As a result of their alignment and common purpose the SSCI didn’t investigate the origin of the Trump-Russia narrative; and instead positioned themselves as a shield to block any investigative inquiry into what took place.

“At the same time that Fang was fundraising for Swalwell and sleeping with him, by his own admission, the files show that the FBI knew Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service ..”

• Pelosi, Democrats Kept Swalwell On Intel Committee Despite FBI Warnings (JTN)

Liaisons dangereuses: Swalwell admitted to an intimate relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, while he still sat on the House Intelligence Committee. The FBI had warned Democratic leadership about the risks years before he was removed from the seat. When allegations of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s relationship with a woman suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence first surfaced in 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the FBI’s findings. The public now knows the bureau had evidence at the time that the woman, Fang Fang, had potentially compromised Swalwell with sex, foreign interns and illicit donations, but Pelosi and Democrats still refused to remove the lawmaker from the powerful House Intelligence Committee.

The FBI briefings received by Pelosi and her Republican counterpart were so concerning to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that he called for Swalwell to be booted from the sensitive committee where members have access to classified information.

Interns, influence, and illegal donations
The full extent of the FBI’s probe into Swalwell and Fang’s relationship was revealed on Monday when the White House Government Transparency Task Force released the investigation files that had been previously declassified by President Donald Trump. They show that Swalwell admitted to having sex with Fang, to his staff placing Fang’s interns in Congress, and to not having a strong enough campaign finance system to detect the straw donations she allegedly passed through U.S.-citizen conduits, Just the News reported. The memos indicate all of this information was possessed by the FBI at the time that it briefed then-Speaker Pelosi in December 2020.

At the same time that Fang was fundraising for Swalwell and sleeping with him, by his own admission, the files show that the FBI knew Fang was tied to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s notorious intelligence service. In fact, the investigators specifically identified her parents as MSS agents.

Fang Fang’s efforts to influence U.S. politicians were first reported by Axios in 2020. According to the outlet’s comprehensive investigation, U.S. officials believed Fang sought to ingratiate herself with local politicians in the San Francisco Bay Area using campaign fundraising, networking, her charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships. Swalwell was identified as among the most significant targets of Fang. Swalwell has consistently maintained that he did nothing wrong, fully cooperated with the FBI investigation, and ceased communicating with Fang after the FBI provided him with a defensive briefing about her activities.

“A vehicle for political retaliation”: Swalwell’s lawyer says
“There is nothing new here. The government’s own memorandum confirms what Congressman Swalwell has said for more than a decade: he did nothing wrong, and there was no basis to charge him with any offense,” said Sara Azari, legal counsel for Swalwell, on Monday after the files were released. “What is new and deeply concerning is the apparent use of federal law enforcement information to punish or embarrass an outspoken critic of the current administration. An investigation that produced no charges and no finding of wrongdoing should not be resurrected years later as a vehicle for political retaliation.”

After that report, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from Swalwell’s home state of California, said the allegations “disqualified” the congressman from serving on the Intelligence Committee and called for him to be removed from the panel. “Swalwell is a national security liability,” the Republican leader said in a post to social media.

McCarthy then requested a briefing from the FBI about the full extent of Swalwell’s involvement with Fang. After that briefing, which was also attended by Speaker Pelosi, McCarthy doubled down on his calls for Swalwell to be removed from the powerful committee. “One thing I know for sure — I had questions about whether he should. That’s the one question that was answered, he should not be on Intel,” McCarthy told reporters after the briefing.

After the Axios story, Pelosi confirmed that Democratic leadership was first briefed on Swalwell’s relationship with Fang in the Spring of 2015, shortly after the party nominated him to the Intelligence Committee. She said that after Congress was made aware, Democratic politicians cut off communication with Fang. “When that was made known to the members of Congress, it was over. That was the end of any communication with those people,” Pelosi said. The Speaker also said that Republicans were briefed about the relationship at the same time. “We knew when they knew,” explained Pelosi. Summing up her views on the matter, Speaker Pelosi told reporters that she did not “have any concerns about Mr. Swalwell.”

McCarthy filed a resolution in early 2021 that would remove Swalwell from the sensitive committee after Speaker Pelosi reappointed him to the panel in the new Congress. The House voted mostly along party lines to reject the measure with 200 votes for and 218 against. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff also backed Swalwell in the face of the resolution that would have removed him from the committee. Schiff, in a letter at the time of the vote, said that Swalwell was a “trusted member of our committee” and he had “acted fully in accordance with his responsibilities” after the 2015 counterintelligence briefing about Fang.

“Democratic leadership ‘jeopardized’ Congress”: McCarthy says
When Republicans regained control of the House in 2023, now-Speaker McCarthy blocked Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, citing the lawmaker’s alleged relationship with Fang. “If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have Swalwell on any committee,” McCarthy said after blocking the appointment. “One thing I know for sure – I had questions about whether he should. That’s the one question that was answered, he should not be on Intel.”

The Republican Speaker told reporters that the Democratic leadership “jeopardized” Congress by allowing Swalwell to remain on the committee, which provides access to sensitive intelligence, for many years. “The only way that they even knew it came forward is when they went to nominate him to the Intel Committee. And then the FBI came and told the leadership then, he’s got a problem,” McCarthy explained. “And they kept him on. That jeopardized all of us.”

How much longer, Tony?

• Fauci Advisor Pleads Guilty to “Conspiracy to Defraud the United States” (CTH)

Dr. David Morens, 78, served as a senior adviser to Anthony Fauci (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) from 2006 through 2022. Morens sits at the epicenter of the NIAID coverup to hide the origins of COVID-19. Today, Fauci’s Senior Advisor Dr. David Morens plead guilty to “Conspiracy to Commit Offenses and to Defraud the United States” in connection with his conspiring with Peter Danzak, President of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr Gerald Keusch, associate director at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Institute and a recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), together with others to defraud the public about NIH-funded gain-of-function research and the origin of COVID.

Morens and others plotted to conceal/destroy federal records re: COVID-19 and federal grants to avoid FOIA and the Federal Record Act. Morens admits to using his gmail account to intentionally defraud the U.S. government and conceal communication and records about his activities. In addition, Morens admits to receiving “gifts” of material value in exchange for his efforts on behalf of the co-conspirators. The conspiracy involved a “kickback” scheme in which Morens accepted and was promised gifts – including bottles of wine and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants – in exchange for performing “official acts that were favorable” to his co-conspirators.

VIA CBS – Washington — “A former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from a scheme to hide federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a deal reached with federal prosecutors in Maryland, David Morens, 78, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. He faces up to five years in prison.

Morens, a senior adviser at NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022, was indicted in April and charged with five counts for what prosecutors said at the time was his role in a scheme to defraud the U.S. by shielding federal records related to the COVID-19 pandemic from the public. Tim Belevetz, a lawyer for Morens, said, “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so.”

Prosecutors said Morens worked with two co-conspirators. The first, “co-conspirator 1,” served as the president and CEO of a New York-based nonprofit that received a grant in 2014 titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, received a subaward from the New York group on the coronavirus grant, prosecutors said, though the National Institutes of Health terminated the award in April 2020 following allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the lab. The NIAID is part of the NIH.

The second co-conspirator was described in charging documents as a physician, scientist and professor who worked for an academic institute that received federal grants. Emails made public by the GOP-led Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic indicate that the New York-based nonprofit is the EcoHealth Alliance and co-conspirator 1 is its president, Peter Daszak. The indictment stemmed from several Freedom of Information Act requests NIAID received between April 2020 and December 2022 that sought communications between Morens, the New York-based nonprofit and its president.”

“Brussels keeps misreading public backlash as foreign influence when much of it is simply exhaustion with elite overreach and failure..”

• Hey Ursula, Angry Voters Aren’t ‘Pro-Russian’, Just Fed Up (Rachel Marsden)

Look, Queen Ursula, we need to talk, girlfriend. Yes, I’m addressing you directly, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, because I’m not going to pretend that there’s anyone in charge in Europe who’s actually elected by the people and crafting EU policy. And since you’ve apparently been more interested in monitoring Russian media platforms for dissident views that could potentially qualify as “Russian-aligned” than stopping online clarion calls for mass migration pushes into the EU, RT seems as good a place as any for an intervention.

Because the problem for the EU is that it’s getting so dissociated from the realities and concerns of its own people that even the pure data wonks are starting to sound the alarm. Seat projections for the EU parliament are set to swing populist to the detriment of the right-left establishment majority for the first time ever, according to recent reporting by Euronews on research data complied by the Europe Elects platform.

Now, the next EU election isn’t until 2029, which is a long way off, and you could very well decide to drop all of this in someone else’s lap by then. After all, you keep telling us that Putin is coming to Western Europe around that time, so maybe you’ll want to personally be busy window shopping in New York by then, instead of dealing with the headache of his arrival – or alternatively, his non-arrival after spending years scaring up billions from European taxpayer pockets for military hardware to mark the occasion.

I hate to break it to you, Queen, but the data from this very non-Russian research outfit (Europe Elects), published by a non-Russian media outlet (Euronews), is basically saying that right now, Europeans are looking more increasingly pro-Russian than not. To the point where the EU parliament, after the next election, could see pro-Russian gains and the anti-Russian firewall lose its majority. Or at least that’s how you guys see it when you look down on the plebes.

Because apparently there is no such thing as people who are just genuinely fed up with how you guys are running things. We either support you – or support Russia. We’re just mindless units to be fought over, like the last jars of Nutella in a supermarket blowout sale. Look, unlike you guys, the average European is fed up with hearing about Russia and Ukraine, and with European policies revolving around that conflict and sucking the life out of everything else that actually falls within your purview.

Perhaps it would be different if you had everything else under control, and had the luxury of jacking around outside of the Eurozone that you’re actually responsible for – but that’s clearly not the case. The usual way that politics is supposed to work is that the establishment takes action A, and its impact is direct, positive, and visible on issue A. Instead, what we’re getting is action A being taken on issue A, and causing not only aggravation and worsening of issue A, but also of issues B, C, D, E… which happened to be more or less fine before. This is what has happened with the EU’s Ukraine obsession, and now it seems like it’s becoming par for the course for other issues, too.

It’s like we’re spending money to see pure ideology in action rather than success as defined in the dictionary and not through some kind of Orwellian rhetoric that flips everything on its head.In just the latest example, even one of the most stalwart establishment entities of an EU state has explicitly asked what the heck you think you’re doing. The EU has fallen into line in pushing this authoritarian control of internet use, promoting a “harmonized” bloc-wide control of internet use under the pretext of protecting kids – which apparently requires ID collection from every single adult user, as well.

Turns out that even the French Constitutional Court told French lawmakers to take their law and shove it somewhere else other than up the rears of the French populace. “By prohibiting minors under the age of 15 from accessing certain online services, the law inherently requires every person, even an adult, to prove their age before accessing them,” the court ruled. “By failing to specify the conditions and limits under which such proof must be provided, the legislature has not established the legal safeguards necessary to ensure compliance with these requirements.”

The court obviously doesn’t understand that the whole idea is to use kids to push a mass surveillance scheme. Or else it does understand – and isn’t going for it. Is the judge populist? Does he have a photo of Putin hidden in his desk? Or maybe the judge – like so many others – is just genuinely fed up with establishment hacks on all sides colluding with some opaque agenda whose advancement routinely seems to leave the average person worse off.

Never forget how powerful and pervasive the psywar was- and continues to be. https://t.co/yMQk39VPL0

— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) August 18, 2026

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When fully ramped, this factory will pump out 10 million humanoid robots per year$TSLA pic.twitter.com/zFmVbCHQmW

— Dalton Brewer (@daltonbrewer) August 18, 2026