SAD: Things don’t look good for Dodge and Chrysler.

The fact is that Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) has as a lot of brands, some of which generate way more customer excitement than others.

For instance, there is Jeep, one of the most valuable automotive brands in the world. Then there’s Ram, the pickup truck that was brand split off from Dodge in 2009. It sells trucks that haul in loads of profits. Then, on the Italian side, there are Alfa Romeo and Maserati, which sell exciting, snarling Italian luxury and performance cars.

Chrysler and Dodge play support roles, and only have a significant presence in North America. Simply put, Fiat Chrysler has better places to invest its money.

The Chrysler name doesn’t resonate much with consumers even in the United States. The fact that it shares a name with its parent company that just a decade ago narrowly avoided bankruptcy doesn’t help, said David Zatz, a blogger who follows Chrysler closely.

“The case against Chrysler being here in 2030 is pretty convincing,” he said. “The brand does not have a particularly good reputation in the US, its only major market.”

Fiat has compounded Chrysler’s woes by starving the brand of product. Chrysler’s entire lineup consists of just two vehicles: A full-size sedan in a market going crazy for CUVs, and whose platform debuted in 2004; and a minivan, which is a segment whose sales peaked in 2000.

DOUBLING DOWN ON STUPID: Yes, Democrats Should Run On Impeachment.

BUT THE NARRATIVE! Trump Approval Rating Better than Obama and Reagan at Same Point in their Presidencies.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is President Trump looking to win over African American voters?

Speaking at a rally near Lansing, Trump said, “Look how much African American communities have suffered under Democratic control. To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump? What do you have to lose?”

He didn’t lose Michigan. He carried that state and others with the help of voters who broke with their history of reliably voting for Democrats.

Democratic politicians who contemptuously refer to Trump by an assortment of synonyms for “idiot” may be surprised when they find out that his plan to win the vote of every single African American is still an active project.

Trump’s skillfully executed plan is visible in front of everybody, if you just tune in and watch him.

On May 30, Trump met with reality TV star Kim Kardashian at the White House. She wanted to make the case for commuting the prison sentence of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who had served over 20 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense.

Trump’s a busy man and he could have spoken with Kardashian on the phone, or even on Twitter, but instead he held an Oval Office meeting with the popular celebrity. Why?

So you would see it.

This isn’t dumb. Most of the 2016 GOP candidates spent their time taking stands which played well in states the GOP was going to win anyway. The trick isn’t to run up the tally in safe states — from now on we’ll refer to this move as “The Hillary” — but instead to peel away Democrat voters in potential swing states.

And as I’ve written here before, if Trump can deliver on jobs and wages to the Obama voters he won in 2016, he’ll likely improve his margins in PA, WI, and MI in 2020.

READINESS: The Air Force Has Grounded All Of Its B-1Bs Over A Fault In Their Ejection Seats. “An investigation into an in-flight emergency in May 2018 turned up the issue and the service doesn’t know when the jets will be back flying sorties.”

U.S. Air Force General Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all of the service’s combat-coded bombers, ordered the so-called “stand-down” on June 7, 2018. On May 1, 2018, a B-1B bomber assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base made an emergency landing at Midland International Air and Space Port in Midland, Texas after declaring an in-flight emergency. The incident involved a fire in one of the aircraft’s engines and resulted in an emergency exit hatch coming off in mid-air.

“During the safety investigation process following an emergency landing of a B-1B in Midland, Texas, an issue with ejection seat components was discovered that necessitated the stand-down,” Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all over the service’s combat-coded bombers, said in a brief statement on June 8, 2018. “As issues are resolved aircraft will return to flight.”

Maybe the announcement could have waited until after the Singapore Summit.

LARRY KUDLOW: Trump Lashed Out at Canada as Show of Strength to North Korea.

CHARLIE MARTIN: Dealing With Suicide.

There’s no good way to excerpt from this one, so please just read the whole thing.

INTERESTING: Use of “Mothballed” Naval Platforms to Create Semi-permanent Battle Islands and Staging Areas.

WINNING: Russia may lack the funds to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. “The development of new boosters is doubtful from a practical perspective.”

You’d think by now that the Russians would have learned that the only way to beat capitalism is with more capitalism, but no.

PRAGERU CEO: ‘We Would Be Fools or Blind to Not Be Nervous About Being on the SPLC’s Hate List.’

LET ME BE PERFECTLY CLEAR: THIS IS GOOD ADVICE. Chris Rock tells Barack Obama to stay off television.

DEMOCRAT JOE MANCHIN: Come to Think of It, Endorsing Hillary in 2016 Was Actually a Mistake.

SARAH HOYT: What Would King Solomon Do with Immigrant Children?

COLD WAR II: U.S. officials prepare to thwart Chinese spying at Singapore summit. “The Chinese have used everything from bugged hotel keys to ‘friendship’ pins to spy on Americans — and they’re getting better at it all the time.”

NOW THAT’S REAL SOCIALISM: Nicaragua is unraveling.

Nicaragua is showing all the symptoms of a failed state. At the center of the storm is the corrupt minority government of Daniel Ortega, the former revolutionary leader who now acts more like a cartel boss than a president. Over the past seven weeks, Ortega’s police and paramilitaries have killed more than 120 people, mostly students and other young protesters who are demanding the president’s ouster and a return to democracy, according to a human-rights group. Police hunt students like enemy combatants. Sandinista Youth paramilitaries, armed and paid by Ortega’s party, drive around in pickup trucks attacking protesters. Gangs of masked men loot and burn shops with impunity. Cops wear civilian clothing, and some paramilitaries dress in police uniforms. “This is starting to look more like Syria than Caracas,” one Nicaraguan business leader told me.

The asymmetrical fighting has claimed the lives of at least 120 people, including one U.S. citizen, and injured more than 1,000, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (known by its Spanish acronym Cenidh). Most of the fatalities have reportedly been unarmed young people, including a 15-year-old shot in the neck for bringing water to student protesters.

Reagan was 100% right about the Sandinistas.

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO SHOW UP: Women who refuse to have babies — to save the planet!

THE RETURN OF FEDERALISM: Senators introduce bipartisan bill to protect state laws on marijuana.

POLL: Seattle Residents Fed Up With Spending More On The Homeless With Little To Show For It.

SALENA ZITO GETS STUCK IN TRAFFIC and finds even more of the real America.

Don’t miss the responses, either.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON ANTHONY BOURDAIN from a longtime fan.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Deep Stater Busted for Lying about Leaking and Much, Much More. “A former staffer on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee (SSCI, actually pronounced “sissy”) was busted for lying to the FBI about leaking classified information to the press. He wasn’t busted for leaking, just lying, which is interesting.”

ILLINOIS IS BETTER OFF BANKRUPT: “The best hope for a failed state such as Illinois is to let the state go bankrupt.”

The State of Illinois incurred deficits reaching nearly $15 billion in 2017, and those deficits are projected to double to $30 billion in 2018. Illinois has also accumulated hundreds of billions in unfunded liabilities in public sector pension and health-care plans. This has exposed local jurisdictions to the risk of default or bankruptcy. In response, Illinois has issued large bailouts, further weakening the finances of the state’s government. The courts have exacerbated this problem by ruling the Illinois Constitution mandates state bailouts for public sector pension and health plans.

Fiscal rules in Illinois have been ineffective in constraining deficits and debt. Illinois, like 48 other states, has a balanced budget provision in its state constitution. But, in recent years, the state legislature has failed to pass a budget at all — let alone one that would balance revenues and expenditures.

In April 2018, a constitutional amendment to cap the rate of growth in spending at the rate of growth in the state economy was introduced in Illinois’ legislature. A majority of Illinois state legislators have yet to show support for such a fiscal rule.

Of course they haven’t, because they’re expecting another bailout.

BLUE WAVE? Republicans Are More Eager to Vote This Year Than Democrats.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 70% of Likely Republican Voters say they are more likely to vote this year than they have been in past election years. That compares to 64% of Democrats and 51% of voters not affiliated with either major political party.

Among all Likely Voters, 62% say they are more likely to vote this year. Only six percent (6%) say they are less likely to do so, while 30% say they are just as likely to vote this November as in any other year. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

By comparison, in July 2014, 57% said they were more likely to vote that November compared to past elections. Enthusiasm was higher two years ago during the presidential campaign, with 67% who said they were more likely to vote.

As Glenn has suggested, if you want to make a difference spend less time on the internet and more time volunteering for a local candidate.

BLUE ON BLUE: House Dems seethe over superdelegates plan.

But the members’ angst may not help them since it appears that the DNC is ready to rein in the status of superdelegates, also known as “unpledged” delegates, no matter what lawmakers say or do.

Superdelegates include members of Congress, governors, party elders such as former presidents and vice presidents, DNC members and other assorted “distinguished party leaders.” They made up roughly 15 percent of the delegates during the 2016 convention. Unlike other delegates, they are free to vote for any candidate they want.

The logic is that party leaders immersed in the candidates and issues of the day can provide a guardrail against selecting an “unelectable” nominee for the general election. But the party base loathes this elite class of delegates, saying it stacks the primary process against the wishes of regular voters.

This development was probably inevitable once Tom Perez and Keith Ellison got control of the DNC. In any case, they’re clearing the deck for Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, or some other hard-progressive candidate.

DAVID FRENCH: It’s Time for an Iran-Deal Reckoning.

In other words, the Obama administration tried to do Iran an immense financial favor, one not required by the deal itself, to uphold the mythical “spirit” of the agreement (yes, that’s their off-the-record excuse). Iran had reportedly complained that it “wasn’t reaping the benefits it envisioned,” and the Obama administration attempted to help — even though it had publicly assured Americans that “Iran will be denied access to the world’s most important market and unable to deal in the world’s most important currency.”

Keep in mind, this attempted favor happened even as the Obama administration’s pie-in-the-sky hopes for the deal were crumbling before the world’s eyes. It was the administration’s hope that lifting sanctions, bringing Iran back into international markets, and providing it with immense sums of cold, hard cash would somehow make the jihadist regime want to “fully rejoin the community of nations.” Commerce and forbearance would work their magic, Iran would moderate, and we’d have peace in our time.

Instead, it was already clear that Iran wasn’t moderating one inch.

I know you’re never suppose to attribute something to malice which can be attributed to stupidity, but there’s no way anything this stupid could be due to anything but malice.

Or as I wrote the other day, “It might be time to start saying: ‘Just think of them as Iranian intelligence officers with American security credentials, and it all makes sense’.”