MIDTERM PREVIEW: Top takeaways from the latest 2026 midterms fundraising reports.

New York lawmakers gear up for 2026 midterm elections.

Multiple New York House lawmakers raked in more than $1 million ahead of the 2026 midterms, where races in the Empire State will determine control of the House.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) raised $5.8 million and ended the reporting period with $9.8 million cash on hand, an impressive feat for a Democrat who could potentially challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for his Senate seat or even mount a 2028 presidential bid.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is believed to be considering a gubernatorial bid, challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY). The New York Republican raked in $4 million and ended June with $11 million cash on hand. Stefanik’s haul is the largest amount raised for a New York Republican for an off-cycle year.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), another possible gubernatorial candidate, raised just $1.3 million in the same period and ended the quarter with $2.2 million cash on hand. Lawler represents the 17th Congressional District, which Harris won in the 2024 election.

Meanwhile: ‘Suddenly, Republicans’ lead is gone’: GOP pollster describes how Elon Musk’s America Party changes midterms.

HEH:

To prove California isn't currently a "shithole," Newsom's office posted:

Two 8 year old pictures of CA
An 11 year old picture of CA
And a picture of Nevada https://t.co/l5dOiLMTMj

— John Hasson (@SonofHas) July 16, 2025

BELMONT CLUB: The Red Sea Sharks.

For more than 48 hours, two merchant ships in the Red Sea tried to fight off repeated attacks by Houthi fighters who used rocket-propelled grenades, missiles, and drones to sink them both, kill at least three crew members, and take others hostage. No U.S. or allied warship was around to help.

What navies were supposed to come to their aid? While Biden-era and EU policy was ostensibly to keep the Red Sea open to everyone, the new Trump rules of engagement are only to respond to the Houthis if American ships are attacked. That left only the European task force Aspides to ride to the rescue.

But the EU task force Aspides needs a minimum of 10 naval ships plus land bases to cover the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and northwest Indian Ocean. Only France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Belgium actually provided a handful of ships to the freedom of navigation mission — and no land bases — while the rest provided only “support staff.” With Aspides’ limited capability, it had no chance of covering its AO and could not sail to the rescue of the two ships, both of which were Greek-owned.

Exit quote: “The simple reason the pirates sail the seas is that the relative weakness of Europe has returned.”

DECOUPLING: Chinese-made iPhones could be banned in US over theft of trade secrets.

Back in 2023, both Samsung Display and China’s BOE were filing multiple suits against one another, each concerning alleged theft of technologies. As part of this, Samsung Display also filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), and that regulator has now made a preliminary ruling.

According to ET News, the ITC has sided with Samsung over the allegation that BOE has violated trade secrets concerning the manufacture of OLED screens. Specifically, the ruling says that Samsung Display “has proven by a preponderance of evidence” that BOE has been making OLED panels through “misappropriation of trade secrets.”

The ruling is preliminary, however reportedly the ITC rarely overturns its initial findings in its final judgement. That final judgement is currently expected to be issued in November 2025, when as US President, Trump will have two months to decide whether the exercise any recommended ban.

If the ITC follows its preliminary recommendations, and those are approved, then the ban would cover the import of products, such as certain iPhones, which use BOE OLED panels.

The lesson is an old one: Don’t trust China; China is asshoe.

MIDDLE EAST UPDATE: ‘That Building Is Gone’ After Israel Hits Syrian Defense Ministry.

DECOUPLING: Apple Agrees To $500M Deal To Buy Rare Earths From American Company, Reduce China Dependence.

MP Materials said that the deal with Apple means it “will significantly expand the capacity of its Fort Worth magnetics facility,” adding that “Magnet shipments are expected to begin in 2027 and ramp up to support hundreds of millions of Apple devices.”

“We are proud to partner with Apple to launch MP’s recycling platform and scale up our magnetics business,” said James Litinsky, Founder, Chairman and CEO of MP Materials. “This collaboration deepens our vertical integration, strengthens supply chain resilience, and reinforces America’s industrial capacity at a pivotal moment.”

MP Materials’ stock reached an all-time high on Tuesday following the deal with Apple, jumping 28% and surpassing $62 per share as of Tuesday morning. Apple stock was also up 0.5% at the time this article was published.

More like this, please.

KRUISER: The Kamala Harris-ing of Gavin Newsom Is Underway. “The playbook is the same, however: pimp every interaction that Newsom has with Trump or other Republicans as being a Mortal Kombat ‘FINISH HIM!’ moment.”

TYLER O’NEIL: 3 Perverse Ways Your Tax Dollars Fund the Left’s Dark Money Network.

The Justice Department funded at least one major Soros-backed NGO. One of Soros’ most notorious projects involves his support for “rogue prosecutors” who lower the penalties for crime. Not surprisingly, many of the cities with the highest murder rates have prosecutors backed by Soros.

The Vera Institute of Justice, which claims that the American criminal justice system is “rooted in a history of white supremacy,” has received more than $11 million from the Foundation to Promote Open Society since 2016.

Under Biden, the Justice Department paid Vera at least $73.6 million in contracts, mostly for providing legal services to immigrant children. In just over one year, the Department of Health and Human Services paid Vera nearly $200 million for “refugee and entrant assistance.”

Vera aims to “establish a right to representation for all immigrants facing deportation,” a rather curious stance to take under the Biden administration, when at least nine million illegal aliens entered the country.

Meanwhile, other NGOs also received hefty government funding to house and transport immigrants across the country, including illegal aliens. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, one of many such groups, received 98% of its revenue—a whopping $284 million—from government grants in the 2023 fiscal year. The Foundation to Promote Open Society also contributed to the committee, sending $75,000 between 2017 and 2021.

Is there anything more fall-of-Rome decadent than a government paying for a billionaire’s pet projects to undo that government?

ROBERT SPENCER: Either These Guys Were Very, Very Lost, Or They Were Up to No Good. “After the U.S. strikes on the Iranian nuclear program, there was considerable concern about sleeper cells within the U.S. being activated; now it is clear that they’re not the only threat from Iran that American officials have to be worried about. Are agents of the Islamic Republic also taking advantage of the still-vulnerable northern border? A news item on Tuesday certainly suggested as much.”

2028 CAN WAIT: An Exceptionally Good Liar: Newsom Reimagines His Record on Gun Rights in the Run-Up to 2028.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing all he can to obfuscate his abysmal record to prepare for a White House bid in 2028. His latest stunt – he received a SIG Sauer P365 XMACRO from Shawn Ryan while he was sitting for a podcast interview.

It gets better. Gov. Newsom actually said, “I’m not anti-gun at all. I’m just for some gun safe common-sense. I’m challenged by large capacity clips in urban centers, weapons of war sometimes outgunning the police. But otherwise, man, people have the right to bear arms. I got no ideological opposition to that at all.”

If you believe that, I’ve got a Golden Gate Bridge to sell you.

Here’s Gov. Newsom’s problem. We have the receipts. Heck, everyone has the receipts. The firearm industry hasn’t forgotten the time California Attorney General Rob Bonta – working for Gov. Newsom -“leaked” the personal information of every California concealed carry permit holder. Gov. Newsom’s self-professed affinity for the Second Amendment is about as hollow as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ attempt to side with gun owners by saying she owns a GLOCK handgun.

Damning details at the link.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Great Trump Tariff Tizzy of 2025 Has Gotten Quiet. “Again, I was out of my depth about the whole tariff thing, but 14 weeks seems like a pretty quick turnaround time for the pain to start going away. The people who were the loudest about doubting Trump back in April are probably even more surprised than I am. I can’t be sure, because they’re not talking much about tariffs anymore.”

DEI BAKED INTO LLM:

By golly, I tried it too. When it didn't work, I specifically asked Grok for a photo with current US racial breakdown and it simply cannot do it.
When I asked why, Grok explained it was likely trained to underrepresent whites to make up for past misrepresentations. https://t.co/fd18XOx2Xg pic.twitter.com/t0GR4kxMN1

— Sharyl Attkisson 🕵️‍♂️💼🥋 (@SharylAttkisson) July 16, 2025

As Trump turns toward Ukraine, Russians wonder if an opportunity was missed.

But Trump’s new weapons deal and his increasing criticism of Putin’s grinding military campaign have sparked an uneasiness among some factions of the Russian elite over the deepening conflict and fears that Putin could overplay his hand.

“The number of those who are upset with Putin for the fact that he could have stopped the war but didn’t do it is growing,” Stanovaya said. “It is not a question of whether such a deal was ever genuinely possible, but rather a matter of prevailing sentiment — a belief that there was a moment of opportunity, unilaterally squandered due to Putin’s obstinacy and irrationality.”

A deal was not possible because, “as [Vice President] JD Vance said, Putin wants too much,” Stanovaya said.

In the spring, there had been hope that Trump and Putin would reach an agreement and ease sanctions, especially after envoy Steve Witkoff talked about a deal for lifting sanctions and recognizing Russia’s territorial conquests in return for freezing the front line.

The Kremlin, however, indicated that such an approach was only “okay as a starting point,” Stanovaya said. Momentum for the deal died, especially in the face of Ukrainian and European opposition to an agreement that could give Moscow the opportunity to later take additional territory, and Russia stuck to its hard-line, maximalist goals.

With no deal now in sight, concern has been growing among members of Russia’s financial elite about the deterioration of a Russian economy racked by inflation due to the existing sanctions regime and Putin’s wartime spending spree. Central Bank efforts to rein in price growth by imposing sky-high interest rates at over 20 percent have pitched the country toward a credit crisis and recession.

Absent a ceasefire in 50 days, could Trump’s 100% secondary tariffs on nations trading with Russia tip their economy into recession — or worse? Nobody really knows.

Related: The Kremlin Sure Woke Up Cranky After Trump’s Ultimatum.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE: Rep. Hank Johnson Drops a New Epstein Protest Song, and I’m Murdered.

MICHAEL BAHARAEEN: A Final, Comprehensive Look at How Trump Won in 2024.

The rightward shift nationally was propelled almost entirely by non-white voters.

Though racial minorities overall supported Kamala Harris, there was a clear move to the right among three populations: blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Black Americans were still one of the most pro-Democratic groups, backing Harris by 68 points (83 percent to 15 percent), but this represented a 14-point rightward swing from just four years earlier, with Trump nearly doubling his vote share from eight percent to 15. The movement was especially pronounced among black men, who shifted toward Trump by more than any other demographic cohort—22 points. And even black women moved right by nine points.

The group that swung by the most along racial or ethnic lines, though, was Hispanics. Longtime TLP readers will know that Democrats have been losing support from Hispanic Americans for some time now, so this development in last year’s election wasn’t exactly surprising. What was more remarkable is that Trump won a greater share of the Hispanic vote than any Republican presidential nominee on record: 45 percent.2 The result—a mere seven-point advantage for Harris—made Hispanics a true swing group in this last election.

Asian Americans can be a little harder to capture than blacks and Hispanics, as they are the smallest share of the electorate among the non-white groups these studies typically analyze. But from what we can tell, they shifted right by nearly as much as Hispanics. After backing Joe Biden by more than a two-to-one margin in 2020 (67 to 32 percent), they still supported Harris, but by a much smaller 19-point margin. The swings appeared to be greater among non-college Asian women, specifically.

For their part, white voters pretty much stood pat relative to 2020, backing Trump by 14 points, a small two-point rightward shift.

Four years of Joe Biden — and 107 days of Kamala Harris — was all it took to shift pretty much the entire country to the right. The most notable exception being neurotic, woke women.

WINNING: Trump Announces ‘Landmark’ Indonesia Trade Deal.

JOANNE JACOBS: Eat your spinach and do your homework: Rigor is unpopular.

2028 CAN WAIT: Gavin Newsom’s Four Hour, Curse-Filled, Gaslighting Interview Previews His Presidential Campaign.

WELL SAID:

Reporter: Are you on Ukraine's side now?

Trump: I am on nobody's side. I am on humanity's side. I want to stop the killing. pic.twitter.com/XJzj1A42FV

— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) July 15, 2025

I’m so old, I remember when Warmonger Literally Hitler™ Bad Orange Man was going to start World War III.

CAN YOU BLAME THEM? The Kremlin Sure Woke Up Cranky After Trump’s Ultimatum.

FLORIDA, MAN: Florida scores first place in CNBC’s economy rankings for 3rd straight year.

GOOD TO KNOW: Professor Wins Case: Classical Music Isn’t Racist.

GOODER AND HARDER, CALIFORNIA — SO GOOD AND SO HARD:

BREAKING – The California Senate has passed SB 549, granting LA County authority to purchase fire‑destroyed lots for minimal cost and convert them into low‑income housing, directly contradicting Gavin Newsom’s previous assurance to homeowners that such government‑driven property…

— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) July 15, 2025

Did Los Angelenos honestly expect Newsom or Bass to let this crisis they enhanced go to waste?

ROBERT SPENCER: A Spectre Is Haunting the Democrats: The Spectre of Communism. “This time it’s real, and undeniable. The Democrats have for years denied, with varying degrees of scorn or anger, that they are Communists, despite hating both free enterprise and borders, which are just the sorts of things you’d expect socialist internationalists to hate. Now, however, the deniability is no longer even close to plausible.”

BEARING ARMS: Third Circuit Suggests Gun Ban for Drug Users Not Always Constitutional. “Taken to its logical conclusion, the Third Circuit’s decision would appear to allow a gun prohibition on anyone who uses any kind of intoxicating substance; a conclusion reached by Judge Thomas Ambro, who partially dissented from today’s decision.”