At 7:09, with sweat already pooling on his face, he launched into an hour and 20 minutes of pure chaos and madness, stopping at one point to tell the crowded room that Melania Trump hates when he dances to YMCA. “She hates when I dance to that great... to the gay national anthem. That’s what it is. It’s called the gay national anthem.” He warned the crowd that he would be impeached if Democrats take back Congress. And then he declared that there really is no Republican Party anymore. It is all MAGA.

He is not exaggerating when he says the Republican Party as we knew it is gone. He is describing what he has built. A political movement where no internal dissent, institutional checks, or voices inside the room feel safe, or are allowed to say no. When there is nothing left to push back against a president, all that remains is domination.

Today, his Pentagon showed us exactly what that kind of unchecked power looks like when it reaches the last independent voices standing between the American military and state-run propaganda. They fired three people from Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has served American troops since the Civil War. The reason they were fired is the part that concerns me the most.

Max Lederer is an Army veteran who joined Stars and Stripes in 1992 and served as its publisher for 19 years. Erik Slavin was named editor-in-chief last September after joining the paper in 2005 as a reporter in Japan. He went on to embed with American forces in Iraq, report from South Korea, and oversee news operations in Europe and the Middle East. Lara Korte joined in 2024 and has spent the last six months reporting from the Middle East on the Iran conflict, living alongside the servicemembers and military families whose stories she was telling the world. All three received separation notices on Friday, all citing insubordination.

And what was the insubordination? What was the act so dangerous, so threatening to the Department of Defense, that it required the removal of three journalists from a newspaper that has existed for over 160 years? They defended the idea that the troops deserve the truth.

In a CBS Sunday Morning segment that aired last month, Slavin was asked whether he had any red lines. He answered the way any journalist with integrity would. He said that if the Pentagon tried to kill an accurate story and replace it with one written by its own public affairs office, that would be a red line. Korte said something just as direct and apparently just as unforgivable: “I’m working for Stars and Stripes. Not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker. I’m here to cover the military community.”

That is what got them fired. No breach of ethics or failure of any kind. They said what the mission of their newspaper has always been, and the Pentagon treated it as an act of defiance.

But here is the part that I keep coming back to, the detail that tells us everything about how far this has gone. According to a source who spoke to Fox News Digital, the Pentagon did not simply decide to fire Slavin and Korte on its own. Pentagon leadership directed Max Lederer to do it. They told the publisher of the troops’ own newspaper to fire his editor and his reporter for defending press freedom on television. Lederer refused, so they fired him too.

This is a travesty. The man who spent 19 years serving the troops’ right to a free press was fired because he would not become the instrument of its own destruction. He chose his journalistic integrity over his job. He chose the mission he was given over an order that betrayed it, and they ended his career for it.

They already seem to have his replacement waiting, too. Earlier this month, and without much fanfare, the Pentagon installed Navy Captain William Urban, an active-duty public affairs officer, as Lederer’s deputy. Lederer was not consulted, and he was not told it was coming. He found out after it had already happened. When Lederer announced his retirement this week, writing in a staff memo that his understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes differed “in fundamental ways” from the direction the Department of Defense has for the organization, Urban was already there, ready to step in. On Friday, Urban published an open letter about “modernization,” saying he had received “multiple assurances” from Pentagon leadership that they remain committed to editorial independence. We will have to wait and see whether he is given Lederer’s position.

They can tell us they remain committed to editorial independence, but their actions tell a very different story. This did not happen overnight. For eight months, they have been methodically dismantling the independence of Stars and Stripes from the inside. When we look at everything they have done, step by step, it becomes impossible to pretend this was anything else.

In January, Hegseth’s spokesman declared that the Pentagon would return Stars and Stripes to what he called its “original mission,” refocusing content away from “woke distractions” and toward “warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability.” That same month, applicants for jobs at the paper were being asked through the federal hiring system to explain how they would advance the President’s policy priorities.

In March, the Pentagon issued new rules declaring that content must be ‘consistent with good order and discipline.’ That phrase comes directly from the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and Slavin immediately raised an alarming question: could a servicemember working for Stars and Stripes face military discipline, even court-martial, for something they publish? The Pentagon did not answer. And that same month, the paper’s own Pentagon reporter was barred from attending a Hegseth press conference. The Pentagon claimed there was no room. They blackballed their own newspaper from covering their own briefing.

In April, they fired the ombudsman. That was the person whose entire job was to safeguard editorial independence. In June, they banned reporters from the Pentagon’s press office entirely.

And then in August. Urban was installed, and Lederer was pushed out. Today, three journalists who dared to say the troops deserve the truth were terminated.

It took them just eight months to dismantle something that had endured since the Civil War. I keep thinking about the servicemembers overseas right now, the ones stationed in the Middle East, the ones on ships, the ones in places where Stars and Stripes might be the only independent news they can access. What do they read now? What source do they have that is not controlled by the chain of command that sends them into harm’s way? Who tells them the truth when the truth is inconvenient for the people giving the orders?

What is happening makes me think of Eisenhower. In this moment, history feels less like a lesson and more like a gut punch, because General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the man who commanded the liberation of Europe, personally defended Stars and Stripes during World War II. He wanted the troops’ newspaper free from propaganda and free from the influence of military brass. He understood, in the middle of a gruesome and bloody war, that soldiers fighting for democracy needed to read the truth, not the version that flattered their generals or the version that protected politicians from scrutiny. He demanded they be told the truth.

That was the principle. For more than 80 years, through Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, and administrations of both parties, that principle held. It did not take a foreign enemy to destroy it. It just took Trump appointing and Congress confirming Pete Hegseth. And he only needed eight months to do it.

The timing of all of this is what makes what happened later in Trump’s rally so disturbing. On the same day that the Pentagon dismantled one of the military’s oldest independent sources of news, Trump showed us exactly what he plans to fill the space now that the truth has been pushed out. Fear, propaganda, and stories he can pervert, repeat, and pull out whenever he needs them.

At 8:06, near the end of the rally, he pulled out a piece of paper and brought back an old rally staple he had not used in some time. “The Snake.”

“The Snake” is a poem written in 1963 by Oscar Brown Jr., a Black civil rights activist, singer, and social justice advocate from Chicago. It is based on one of Aesop’s fables, “The Farmer and the Viper,” a story about trust and betrayal. A tender-hearted woman finds a half-frozen snake on a path. She takes it in, wraps it in silk, lays it by the fire, feeds it milk and honey. And when the snake recovers, it bites her. As she lies dying, she asks the snake why. And the snake replies: “Oh shut up, silly woman. You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.”

Trump has been reciting this poem at rallies since January 2016. He stole it from a Black civil rights activist, twisted its meaning, and turned it into a weapon against immigrants. In his sick rendition, America is the tender-hearted woman and immigrants are the snake. The moral, as he frames it for those cheering crowds, is that compassion is foolishness and cruelty is wisdom. He trains his followers, night after night and rally after rally, to believe kindness is the problem. That the woman who showed mercy deserved what she got.

Oscar Brown Jr. died in 2005, before Trump ever touched his words. But his daughters have been fighting to reclaim them ever since. The family sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Trump campaign. He ignored it. And his daughter Africa Brown said exactly what I felt hearing him recite her father’s work when she said: “Trump is the living embodiment of the snake that my father wrote about in that song.”

The American people are the tender-hearted woman. They saw what Donald Trump was. He incited an insurrection on January 6th. He tried to overturn a free and fair election. He was indicted on 91 felony counts across four cases. He was found liable for sexual abuse. He was convicted of 34 felonies. He showed this country exactly what he was. Every warning sign was there, and every red flag was flying high in the sky for all to see. And a substantial part of our country took him in anyway. They gave him a second chance. They nursed him back to power and believed him when he promised he would be different this time.

And he bit them. He bit the veterans whose newspaper he gutted today. He bit the workers whose jobs are disappearing while he stands in front of a microphone and brags about the greatest economy in history. He bit the taxpayers by increasing the deficit while grocery prices soar. And he bit the world by launching his ego war that has caused instability and sky-high fuel prices. He bit every single person who believed him when he said he was fighting for them.

And when they cry out, and they ask him why, the answer is the same one it has always been. You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in. He told them. He showed them. He never once hid what he is. And now the bite is not just for the people who voted for him. It is for all of us.

And when his time was up, and he was ready to go, YMCA blasted through the speakers one last time. The gay national anthem. He did his little dance, and then he started pretending to hit golf balls from the stage. Air golf, swinging at nothing, while the crowd cheered. Then he made kissing faces, pointing at people in the audience and blowing kisses through the air. That is how the President of the United States ended his evening.

The hardest part of watching that rally was not what came out of his mouth. Most of it was the same recycled talking points, the same chaos his deteriorating mind can hold on to. It was just the same material his handlers fill these speeches with because they know he can still perform it. I expect that. It feels like background noise at this point. What really hurt and what made me have to take breaks before turning it back on was watching the people cheer for him. People were cheering for the worst things he said. People were booing the press and the media. That is the part that breaks something in me every time. It is devastating knowing that these are my fellow Americans.

Today has been especially brutal when it comes to “reader feedback.” It happens, and my skin has grown thicker, but some days it really piles on. Watching this rally felt personal in a way it normally doesn’t. I found myself looking at their faces and wondering which one sent the email today telling me to end my life. Which one wished cancer on me. Which person cheering for our clearly soulless president decided it was acceptable to threaten my child today.

This is what is happening. Every single night. I made a decision when I started writing these posts that I would try not to delete those comments. When this is all said and done, I want people to be able to search for their family members. I want them to be able to look back and see what they said, what they did, and what this man turned them into. Maybe that is part of how we stop this from happening again. Maybe someday someone will look back and discover that the grandparent they remembered as the kindest person in the world was going onto a stranger’s page and wishing death on her and her children. There has to be a record of how people behaved during this time. There has to be.

I have not given up on these people even after this. I have to hold onto the belief that they are not all too far gone. But I am also not spending my energy trying to convert the committed. I would still welcome any one of them back if they can stop long enough to look around and ask themselves whether their lives are actually better, or whether they have simply been taught to hate their neighbors and say things to strangers they would never say to their faces. Maybe some will see it before it reaches them. Maybe others will have to feel the bite themselves before they finally see the snake for what he is.

On days like this, I turn to action. I do something meaningful to mend my heart. Today, Trump gave me the direction I needed. I did what I always do when this administration attacks the First Amendment and our free press: I rallied. Because the answer to silencing good people is making sure their voices get even louder. This is something we can all do. We can rally behind the journalists who refuse to be silenced. We can rally behind independent writers and content creators. We should support anyone willing to tell the truth about what is happening to this country, so they have the resources to keep going.

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The reality is that once they finish with legacy media by gutting it like they did Stars and Stripes and CBS, and they have frightened reporters into silence, the independent voices will be all that is left. Saving those voices is going to be a battle too. They will come for the rest of the free press the same way: slowly and methodically, until one morning we wake up and the only voices left are the ones they have approved to speak. You have been wonderful supporting me with your paid subscriptions, and I cannot tell you how much that means. Your support allows me to keep all my content free and never behind a paywall. But please do not stop with me. If you are able, think about the other people doing this hard work. The new voices just finding the courage to speak.

The people who have been doing it for years and are running on fumes and conviction. The journalists, writers, and creators working day and night to make sure the truth is reaching as many people as possible. The people you turn to when you need to understand what is really happening. See if they have a paid subscription and subscribe to them if you are able. Make sure the people telling us the truth are supported well enough to keep doing it, because we are going to need them for whatever comes next.

Towards the end of Trump’s speech tonight he said this: “Remember they say again that Trump gets a lot of votes, but if he’s not on the ballot, people don’t vote so much. I am on the ballot.” And he is right. When we go to vote in November, we are voting for Trump. We are voting to give him two more years of unchecked power, or to put restraints on that power and begin demanding accountability for what he has done with it. November is the moment the tender-hearted woman finally sees the snake for what it is and stops taking it back in. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: I had the pleasure of speaking with this morning. He is someone who cares deeply about journalism and this country. Be sure to subscribe and follow him. His morning report is a must-read. See our Substack live here.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

White House Press Pool: Live dispatches from the White House press pool
https://bnonews.com/whpool

President Donald Trump appears at rally in South Carolina: YouTube video

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stars-and-stripes-publisher-editor-separation-notices-pentagon/

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-08-21/stars-and-stripes-publisher-editor-reporter-separated-22620671.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/stars-and-stripes-editor-reporter-fired-for-insubordination-after-doing-cbs-interview

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/21/pentagon-fires-us-military-newspaper-leadership.html

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5682045

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/defense-department-says-military-newspaper-stars-and-stripes-must-eliminate-woke-distractions

https://www.c-span.org/event/campaign-2026/president-trump-campaigns-for-sen-darline-graham-in-myrtle-beach-sc/446305

After more than a month out of public view, Melania Trump emerged from the White House this afternoon, her husband gripping her hand with his own swollen, makeup-covered one before taking his seat in the Rose Garden. “Good afternoon. I heard you missed me,” she began, then spent barely 18 minutes announcing a scholarship program for children aging out of foster care. What her office chose to highlight to the press was not the substance but the outfit: a Dior skirt and Manolo Blahnik pumps totaling more than $5,000. If this were anyone else, the message might be worth celebrating. But this is the same woman who wore “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” to visit separated immigrant children, and whose husband is referenced in the Epstein files more than 38,000 times.

The event was never really about foster care. It was the opening act for a vanity IndyCar race screaming past the National Mall this Sunday, with Trump taking an honorary lap in The Beast, in a year that was supposed to celebrate 250 years of American independence. They needed a cause most Americans would support to soften the optics. Because on the same day, the Treasury reported the national debt had crossed $40 trillion for the first time in history, roughly $117,000 for every person in the country, with interest payments now exceeding a trillion dollars a year, more than we spend on national defense. Trump sold us DOGE and belt-tightening as patriotic, then gutted the programs Americans pay into their whole lives and borrowed against the country’s future anyway. The debt did not go down. It went up by $3.8 trillion in 19 months.

And while families lost programs they depend on, Trump’s own fortune nearly tripled, from about $2.3 billion to roughly $6.5 billion, a single-year gain approaching the combined net worth of all 44 prior presidents while in office. The deeper danger is that all of this is being normalized, the quiet acceptance that the president gets rich while the country goes broke, that lying is just strategy and stealing is just business. The man seated in the Rose Garden today was found liable by a unanimous jury for sexual abuse and convicted of 34 felonies, either of which should once have been disqualifying, and there he sat at an event about helping children. Some days bring anger, and some bring sadness, and this was a sad day, spent thinking about the country we are leaving the next generation. But the fact that these words are being written and read means we are not too far gone. We are still carrying the torch of truth so others can see it.

See the full story in the video.

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We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent journalism is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

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I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-20-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

First Lady Melania Trump Joins IndyCar and FOX Corporation to Expand Fostering the Future: Official White House YouTube

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/19/us-national-debt-passes-record-40-trillion

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/12/us-budget-deficit-surged-in-july-to-highest-level-since-march-2021.html

https://www.crfb.org/press-releases/treasury-confirms-18-trillion-deficit-first-10-months-fy-2026

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-did-u-s-debt-hit-40-trillion-heres-what-to-know

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/melania-trump-audio-recording-migrant-children-christmas

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/20/us-debt-hits-40-trillion-who-does-washington-owe-and-why-does-it-matter

The event started ten minutes early and was over just 18 minutes later. Information provided to the press by the First Lady’s office highlighted her attire, noting that she wore a bright red Dior pencil skirt with an oversized sky-blue shirt by Michael Kors. Her look was completed with a pair of $895 Manolo Blahnik suede pumps.

After more than a month out of the public eye, and two months without making a public remark, the First Lady of the United States spent barely 18 minutes at an event that had been hyped as a major showcase for her “Fostering the Future” program. And the information her office chose to highlight to the press was what she wore, not the substance of what she said. Doing some rough math, it appears her full outfit cost more than $5,000.

On its own, the price of Melania Trump’s outfit would be little more than a detail. But today, it became part of a much larger story. Because while the White House was making a point of telling us what the First Lady was wearing, we learned that the national debt of the United States had crossed $40 trillion.

Melania Trump stood before a wall of American flags and announced a “strategic alliance” with IndyCar and Fox Corporation for her Fostering the Future initiative, a $2 million scholarship program for young people aging out of foster care. “The greatest investment America can make is not in technology, infrastructure, or capital markets,” she said. “It’s our children.”

If this were anybody else, we might be celebrating. Children are our future. They should be invested in, and we should be doing everything we can as a society to secure their future. I want nothing more than to believe that the woman standing in the Rose Garden today genuinely cares about children. But we no longer have the luxury of believing anything she says after everything she has done. And everything she has not done. This is the same woman who wore a jacket that read “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” on a trip that included a visit to a facility housing immigrant children separated from their families. The same woman whose privately recorded audio captured her saying, “Give me a f***ing break,” while complaining about criticism over family separation at the border. The same woman who has been married to a man who is referenced in the Epstein files over 38,000 times and whose administration is using the weight of his office to protect a trafficking ring that appears to include children.

So when Melania Trump tells us that America’s greatest investment is “our children,” it begs more questions than it answers. Which children? What investment? What has this administration actually done for children?

The reality is that this event was not really about foster care. It was the opening act for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, a vanity race through the streets of Washington this Sunday, where IndyCar drivers will scream past the National Mall at nearly 200 miles per hour while the President of the United States takes an honorary lap in The Beast. They know the optics and timing for this spectacle are terrible, so they needed a way to tie it to a cause that most Americans would support. That is the real reason Melania suddenly returned to public life, even for just 18 minutes.

The race chairman, Bud Denker, described the event as taking place in the president’s “backyard,” and by backyard he is referring to the People’s House, not Donald Trump’s private property. That is the capital of the United States of America that they are treating like a private estate. There is no reverence left and no respect for what these spaces are supposed to represent. Just spectacle after spectacle, each one designed to make us forget that this is supposed to be our country, not theirs.

This is the same summer that gave us a UFC fight on the White House lawn for Trump’s 80th birthday and a NASCAR race on a military base in San Diego. This was supposed to be the year we celebrated 250 years of American independence. Instead, it has turned into one stunt after another centered around Donald Trump. IndyCar has hardly been an innocent bystander in all of this. Before the race even began, it was forced to pull an officially licensed “ONE NATION ONE RACE” T-shirt featuring the Lincoln Memorial after people pointed out that the phrase could be interpreted as white supremacist language.

Preservationists have also warned that the vibrations from the race could damage frescoes and artifacts in buildings along the route, including the National Archives, which houses the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The race “celebrating” the founding of this country could literally put the documents that started it at risk.

This administration isn’t just putting our physical history at risk. We learned today that something else is in danger too: our financial future. The United States Treasury reported that the national debt has officially surpassed $40 trillion. That is the highest it has ever been in the history of this country. It took nearly 200 years to reach the first trillion, in 1981. Now we are adding a trillion every five months, and it is accelerating. On our current trajectory, we could hit $50 trillion in just six years. The deficit through the first ten months of this fiscal year is running roughly $169 billion ahead of the same period last year. In July alone, the government borrowed $14 billion a day.

When I think of that number, it is almost too large to comprehend. One way to think of it is that $40 trillion means we carry roughly $117,000 in debt for every single person in this country. Interest payments on that debt now exceed $1 trillion a year, making it the second largest line item in the federal budget, behind only Social Security. The government is now spending more on interest from past borrowing than it spends on national defense. That is money that could be going to children’s programs.

This is after Donald Trump sold us the lie that there was waste everywhere and that he created DOGE to address it. Instead, they gutted USAID, fired tens of thousands of federal workers, and went after programs Americans have spent their lives paying into with their tax dollars. Social Security. Medicare. Medicaid. Food assistance. Housing. Education. We all pay in. We share the cost. That is how public infrastructure works. We pool our resources so the collective investment makes things more affordable and creates stability for everyone. That is what our government is supposed to do with our money.

But Trump is not concerned in the least about actually being the president and executing the job he was elected to do. He told us these cuts were necessary. That we were saving money. That the belt-tightening was patriotic, and that somehow we would keep more of our money while receiving greater benefits. But that is not what happened. They cut the programs and services Americans had already paid for, and then borrowed against the country’s future to pay for an entirely different set of priorities. He created a hole. And then he borrowed to fill it.

The debt did not go down. It went up. By $3.8 trillion in 19 months. The war in Iran is costing billions. Tax cuts stripped revenue that could have reduced the deficit. Interest payments on the debt his own policies deepened continue to climb past a trillion dollars a year. And more than $100 billion went toward refunding tariffs after the Supreme Court struck them down. He created the crisis, the courts reversed him, and the American taxpayer was left paying for both the damage and the cleanup.

We can’t forget that while the national debt was exploding, American families were losing programs they depend on, inflation was soaring, and basic necessities were becoming more expensive by the month, Donald Trump’s personal wealth was doing the opposite. According to Forbes, Trump’s net worth went from approximately $2.3 billion in 2024 to roughly $6.5 billion. His personal fortune has nearly tripled. His income in 2025 alone exceeded $2.2 billion. The Washington Post reported that no past president has seen financial gains while in office like these, not even Trump himself during his first term. And one analysis found that his single-year increase in wealth approaches the combined net worth of every other president while in office. All 44 of them. Combined.

And it wasn’t just him. By last September, the Trump family, including Melania, his children, and Jared Kushner, was worth approximately $10 billion, nearly double what they were worth around the 2024 election. Donald Trump Jr. went from roughly $50 million to $300 million. Eric Trump’s net worth increased tenfold, to roughly $400 million. During Trump’s first term, Eric publicly swore off foreign business deals while his father held office. During the second, Trump told The New York Times there would be no such restrictions. He didn’t just take down the guardrails. He sold them for scraps.

I continue to be deeply concerned that all of this corruption is being normalized. I worry that too many people have simply accepted it as part of American life. There are no large-scale, nationwide protests happening anymore. People are exhausted. They have jobs and families and bills to pay, and after years of constant crisis, I think a lot of people are desperate to feel normal again. I understand that. But there is a real danger in learning how to live around corruption instead of continuing to be outraged by it. Eventually, things that would have caused a national scandal ten years ago barely hold our attention for a day. We lower our expectations, and we stop expecting investigations. We stop believing accountability is even possible, and the people abusing their power learn from our exhaustion too. They realize they can go a little further because the public has become accustomed to what they did before.

We cannot allow ourselves, our children, or our grandchildren to grow up believing this is simply how the world works. That the president gets rich while the country goes broke. That lying is just strategy, and that stealing is just business as usual. Because what happens at the highest levels of government eventually changes the standards we apply everywhere else. When the most powerful people in the country can lie openly, enrich themselves, ignore laws, punish their enemies, and face no meaningful consequences, we are teaching an entire generation that rules are really only for people without enough money or power to escape them. We are teaching them that integrity is something we talk about but do not actually require from our leaders. And once that becomes accepted at the top, it becomes much harder to demand something different from corporations, schools, local governments, employers, or even from one another. That is what normalization does.

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And right now, the lesson being taught from the highest office in the land is that there are no consequences for anything. That you can take whatever you want, hurt whoever you want, and no one will stop you. I think about the kids watching this. I think about the generation growing up right now who have never known a version of the presidency that was not this. And I think about what kind of country we are building if we let this become their baseline for what is acceptable.

And this is the part that we must never allow to become normal, because it is the foundation that everything else is built on. The man who sat in the Rose Garden today in front of his wife is the same one who was found liable by a unanimous federal jury for sexually abusing a woman in a department store dressing room. He is also the same person who was convicted of 34 felony counts.

In any other era, either one of those things alone would have been permanently disqualifying. Both of them together should have ended not just a political career, but the willingness of any institution or person to associate with him. And yet here he is, in the Rose Garden for an event about helping children.

Some days I’m angry and some I’m just sad. Today was a sad day. Not because of a single moment, but because I just keep coming back to what kind of country we are leaving to the next generations. Right now, many of them will be living in a country saddled with debt, having fewer rights than their parents did, and thinking that is just what the United States of America is. But then I remember that the fact that I am writing this, and you are reading it, means we are not too far gone. None of us are sticking our heads in the sand to avoid what is happening. We are still carrying the torch of truth so others can see it too. And we have no plans to stop. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the Day: My husband has kept this Fifty Trillion Dollar bill from Zimbabwe on his desk for years. It is worth about 40 cents. Tonight felt like the right night to share it.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

First Lady Melania Trump Joins IndyCar and FOX Corporation to Expand Fostering the Future: Official White House YouTube

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/19/us-national-debt-passes-record-40-trillion

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/12/us-budget-deficit-surged-in-july-to-highest-level-since-march-2021.html

https://www.crfb.org/press-releases/treasury-confirms-18-trillion-deficit-first-10-months-fy-2026

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-did-u-s-debt-hit-40-trillion-heres-what-to-know

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/melania-trump-audio-recording-migrant-children-christmas

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/20/us-debt-hits-40-trillion-who-does-washington-owe-and-why-does-it-matter

Yesterday afternoon, the President of the United States hobbled into the Roosevelt Room to meet with the crypto executives who are making him rich. For 41 minutes, in a room named for two presidents who broke up monopolies and built Social Security, he introduced the CEOs one by one like pageant contestants. Then, one by one, they returned the flattery, praising a “golden age of American innovation” while saying nothing about the war in Iran or other critical issues facing the nation. But this was never a meeting about American finance. Trump has personally earned more than $1.4 billion from the crypto industry he now regulates. He is both the referee and the beneficiary, writing the rules for the industry making him a billionaire, and the men in that room praise him for it while the American people carry the risk.

The mask slipped more than once. He admitted he hopes for “bad numbers” because it would push interest rates down, openly rooting against the country so his own scoreboard looks better. He praised Kim Jong Un as “very well-behaved” and explained he gutted joint military exercises with South Korea, a 70-year ally, simply because its president declined to join his war, laying out a foreign policy where dictators who flatter him get rewarded and democracies that tell him no get punished. He claimed Republicans had “tremendous success” in the primaries the night before, when in fact three of his endorsed candidates lost, one by 13 points. And after handing off the microphone, he appeared to fall asleep standing up, his eyes closing and his body swaying, while not one person in the room showed any concern. That is what complicity looks like in 2026, when interrupting would interfere with the profits.

That spectacle is not separate from what is happening behind the scenes. It is the cover for it. While the country watches him struggle to stay awake, the people around him are testing how much of our constitutional system they can dismantle. Rigging the midterms before a vote is cast, floating the idea of refusing to seat duly elected members of Congress, normalizing talk of a third term, are all normal now. He performs the presidency while they dismantle the democracy that makes it possible. When this chapter is over, we cannot pretend these enablers did not know exactly who they were standing beside. They could see what the rest of us see, and they chose the money anyway. There has to be a price for that, so the next group tempted to help someone like him knows it will cost them. The midterms are 11 weeks away. Trump is failing, the people propping him up are vulnerable, and the American people have had enough.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent journalism is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-19-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump Delivers Remarks with Technology Leaders: YouTube video

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-talks-about-north-korea-interest-rates-while-hosting-cryptocurrency-leaders-at-the-white-house

https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/pres-trump-speaks-to-reporters-on-white-house-renovations/684196

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/financial-disclosure-1-billion-cryptocurrency-earnings-meme-coins-rcna352497

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/30/trump-earned-over-1-billion-cryptocurrency-coin-ventures-last-year/

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/us-south-korea-joint-military-drills-scaled-back-trump-order-rcna593264

https://www.ms.now/news/trump-plans-to-meet-kim-jong-un-north-korea

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6039728-trump-calls-lower-rates-bond-market/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/gop-rep-cory-mills-loses-florida-primary-investigations-rcna593238

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/politics/live-news/florida-primary-election-results

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2026-08-19/winners-and-losers-from-primaries-in-alaska-florida-and-wyoming

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/17/g-s1-138969/trump-exercises-south-korea

With Trump finally in the room, he took his place at the podium. Using his right hand that was discolored and bruised, he turned the pages to read his remarks, and it was hard not to see just how much makeup had been applied to the decaying skin across the back of his hand.

Then he started talking. For the next 41 minutes, in a room named after Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, two presidents who broke up monopolies, created Social Security, built national parks, and led this country through the Great Depression and a world war, Donald Trump held court with the men and women who are making him rich. He opened his remarks by introducing each executive by name as if he were introducing contestants at a pageant. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. “He’s one of the greats,” Trump said. “You look much younger. You look good.” The CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. “He owns a thing called the New York Stock Exchange, a quite nice asset, right?” The CEO of Robinhood. The CEO of Kraken. The Winklevoss twins. And then, turning to the room with a grin, he called them “my male models who happen to be genius, they’re brilliant and they look good, right?”

These are the people the President of the United States has bet the future of the American financial system on.

And then, one by one, they returned the favor. The CFTC chairman called this “a golden age of American innovation.” The SEC chairman thanked Trump for “making IPOs great again.” Brian Armstrong called his campaign strategy “astute.” Every single one of them stood at that podium and praised him while the country falls apart around them. Not one of them mentioned the war in Iran that has no exit strategy, or the bond market crisis that saw long-term borrowing costs hit their highest levels this week. They were only there to praise him and play his game because they all knew that if they didn’t play it, someone else would.

Because this wasn’t really a meeting about the future of American finance. It was a meeting between people who have figured out how profitable it can be to keep each other in power. According to Reuters, Donald Trump has personally earned more than $1.4 billion from the cryptocurrency industry. That includes hundreds of millions from a $TRUMP meme coin and from selling tokens through World Liberty Financial, a company he co-founded with Steve Witkoff, who now serves as his special envoy. Donald Trump wasn’t in that room as the president. He was there as the man who is profiting with them. He is the regulator and the beneficiary. He is writing the rules for the industry that is making him a billionaire, and the men in that room know it, and they praise him for it. Someone has to pay for all of that wealth, and it is the American people. We are the ones carrying the risk, absorbing the losses, and living with the consequences while they walk away richer. What we saw in that room was a business transaction at the expense of the American people.

At one point during his remarks, Trump said, “One year ago this summer, I signed landmark legislation known as the GENIUS Act. I named it after myself.” The room laughed. He laughed. And moments later, while trying to describe the future of financial technology, he said, “We’re also on the very beginning of a revolution in fictional and financial.” He meant to say something else. But fictional may be the single most honest word he has spoken in months. Because everything about this presidency is fiction. The booming economy is fiction. The successful foreign policy is fiction. The “golden age” is fiction. And the only people who say it are not doing so because they believe it. They are saying it because they are being paid to repeat it.

Then he left crypto behind entirely and drifted to North Korea. “I do have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un, as you know, you’ve seen,” he said. “He didn’t like Biden, he didn’t like Obama, he didn’t like anybody, but he likes me.” He confirmed he plans to meet with Kim later this year, and he called the dictator who runs concentration camps, starves his own people, and has built an arsenal that Trump himself says includes 57 nuclear weapons, “very well-behaved.” And then he explained why he had just gutted joint military exercises with South Korea, one of our most important democratic allies, a country that has stood beside the United States for 70 years. “I was not happy when South Korea said, no, they’re not interested in helping us with the Hormuz Strait,” Trump said. “I felt that to do a massive war exercise, I thought that was very insulting to somebody that frankly has been, during my term at least, very well-behaved.”

That is Trump actually telling the truth about how he leads our country. He explained his entire foreign policy. The dictators who manipulate him get rewarded with flattery and favors. The democracies that have stood by us for generations get punished the moment they decline to do what he demands. Kim Jong Un gets praised as “well-behaved” because he figured out long ago that all you have to do is flatter Donald Trump and he will give you whatever you want. South Korea, which hosts tens of thousands of American service members and has a mutual defense treaty with the United States, gets its military exercises slashed because its president said no to joining Trump’s war. Kim Jong Un’s own sister responded publicly and said she was unaware of any communication between the two countries and had “no interest” in the reduced exercises. A retired South Korean special forces commander said, “North Korea and China would be the ones most pleased by this.” Trump does not even understand or care what he has just done.

Then came the interest rates. He told a room full of cameras, “I almost like to hear bad numbers; I’m saying I hope we have bad numbers today, interest rates will go down.” The President of the United States said he hopes for bad economic numbers. He then added, “Every time I hear a country is doing well, I say, oh, it’s too bad because they lift up interest rates.” The president just said that good news for the country is bad news for him. He is rooting against us and would rather see the numbers go down so his scoreboard looks better. And when a reporter asked directly whether Americans should be concerned about volatility in the bond market, Trump said, “No, I don’t think so.” He then explained his theory of economics: “When our country is strong, interest rates should go down. When our country is weak, frankly, they should go up.” That is the opposite of how any of this works, and the president of the United States should know this. He does not understand the most basic economic forces governing the lives of over 330 million people, because he has never bothered to learn.

Then he went into last night’s elections. “The public’s pretty smart, you see that last night. We had some great success last night; the Republican Party had tremendous success last night.” That was another lie. The night before, three of his endorsed candidates lost their primaries. Cory Mills, whom Trump endorsed in February and called “an America First Patriot,” lost by 13 points and is facing a DOJ investigation and a House Ethics Committee probe over allegations of assault, campaign finance violations, and threats to distribute sexually explicit images. Catalina Lauf got just 22 percent of the vote. Megan Degenfelder lost the Wyoming governor’s race by more than 15 points. Trump’s primary losses just keep piling up, and yet he stood in the Roosevelt Room and told a room of billionaires it was a tremendous success.

Shortly after he turned the microphone over to others, he almost immediately struggled to stay awake, appearing to fall asleep as he stood there. Multiple times during the event, his eyes closed, and his body began to sway before he caught himself. And not one person in that room acknowledged it or showed any real concern. And that is what complicity looks like in 2026 so as not to interfere with their profitability.

Maybe the most disturbing part was that they all just stood there as Trump used this event to once again attack Democrats, to call the Biden era “weaponization,” to spread lies, and to deepen the divide in this country. They stood there and let him do it. They nodded along. They waited for their turn at the microphone. Because none of it mattered enough to interrupt an arrangement that was making them richer.

Each one of them chose to be there and chose to stand beside him. They chose to praise him. These are the rats coming out of the gutters, and we need to remember that. Every name and all of their companies.

When this chapter of American history is finally over, when the investigations begin, and the consequences come, we cannot just go back to life as normal. We cannot pretend this was a passing storm, or that they were simply following the regulatory process, or that they somehow didn’t understand who they were standing beside and what he was doing to this country. They knew. They could see exactly what the rest of us could see, and they made their choice anyway.

And we need to remember that choice. We need to hold every single one of them accountable, so that the next time someone like Donald Trump tries to take this country, the people deciding whether to help him know there will be a price for doing it. Because if there is no consequence for standing in the Roosevelt Room and praising a man while he dismantles our democracy, then we are not just allowing this group of enablers to escape accountability. We are teaching the next group that enabling authoritarianism is profitable, and that when it is all over, they can simply walk away with the money and pretend they had nothing to do with it.

What worries me most about where we are right now, in the year 2026, is that we have law enforcement officials and constitutional legal scholars running scenarios to protect the Constitution from the President of the United States. I’m thankful they are doing this, but I’m deeply concerned that they have to. We have a president who constantly threatens to run again in 2028 and serve a third term, who talks openly about overriding the constitutional limits on his power, who pulls out a “Trump 2028” hat and treats the whole thing like a joke. We have a Speaker of the House being discussed openly as someone who could refuse to seat duly elected and certified members of Congress simply because they are not Republicans. And we have a President of the United States actively working to rig the outcome of the midterm elections before a single vote has been cast because he knows losing control of Congress could mean losing the protection that comes with it.

That is what is happening, and it is happening while he falls asleep in meetings and calls dictators “well-behaved.” That spectacle is not separate from what is happening behind the scenes. It is helping to provide the cover for it. While the country watches him struggle to stay awake and make it through his remarks, the people surrounding him are testing how much of our constitutional system they can dismantle before enough of us realize what they are doing. He performs the presidency while they dismantle the democracy that makes the presidency possible.

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The midterms are 11 weeks away. Nothing matters more right now. The primaries are finishing up across the country, and once our candidates are set, we go. We donate. We volunteer. We send postcards. We make calls. We knock on doors. We talk to our friends and our neighbors. We do every single thing within our power to make sure people understand what is at stake. Everyone’s part in this is going to look different, but every one of us has a part. And for the next 11 weeks, we go all in.

We also have to keep the pressure on to make sure every voter in this country sees the failure sitting in the Oval Office. We cannot let him distract us long enough for us to forget what he has done and still plans to do. He has 11 weeks to try. Eleven weeks to throw rallies and tantrums, manufacture distractions, sign rocks, attack his enemies, and tell us everything is wonderful while the country can see with its own eyes that it isn’t. Let him try. We’re not moving on. We’re showing up every single day, and we’re not stopping until the balance of power in this country shifts back to where it belongs: with the people.

I am more hopeful than I have ever been that we will come out of this on the other side and that these midterms are going to be the point in which everything shifts. Donald Trump is failing, the people enabling him are vulnerable, and the American people have had enough. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: I can't remember the last time I had an ice cream, let alone in a cone, and it reminded me of the simple things in life that spark joy.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

President Trump Delivers Remarks with Technology Leaders: YouTube video

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-talks-about-north-korea-interest-rates-while-hosting-cryptocurrency-leaders-at-the-white-house

https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/pres-trump-speaks-to-reporters-on-white-house-renovations/684196

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/financial-disclosure-1-billion-cryptocurrency-earnings-meme-coins-rcna352497

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/30/trump-earned-over-1-billion-cryptocurrency-coin-ventures-last-year/

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/us-south-korea-joint-military-drills-scaled-back-trump-order-rcna593264

https://www.ms.now/news/trump-plans-to-meet-kim-jong-un-north-korea

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6039728-trump-calls-lower-rates-bond-market/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/gop-rep-cory-mills-loses-florida-primary-investigations-rcna593238

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/politics/live-news/florida-primary-election-results

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2026-08-19/winners-and-losers-from-primaries-in-alaska-florida-and-wyoming

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/17/g-s1-138969/trump-exercises-south-korea

For an entire day, the President of the United States never appeared before the American people, staying hidden inside the White House while the press waited. With Trump, the quiet usually means something is happening he does not want seen. And in his absence, his administration went to work on propaganda. The official White House account posted a grainy, menacing black-and-white image of Trump looming over the camera like a figure from a 1930s propaganda ministry, captioned “DEPORT. DEPORT. DEPORT.” But the photo was not from any presidential moment. It was pulled from footage last summer of a confused man wandering the West Wing roof to look at his ballroom, telling reporters he was “taking a little walk.” They took a strange, aimless moment and tried to manufacture a strongman out of it.

After the Census Bureau released a preliminary analysis flagging about 24,000 records as possible noncitizen voters out of 128 million from 2020, a fraction of a fraction of a percent from a check known to produce false positives, Trump instantly declared “I WON THE ELECTION,” though he lost the popular vote by more than seven million. But none of this is about 2020. It is about November 2026. Last time, he tried to overturn an election after he lost. This time he is laying the groundwork beforehand: government data to cite, the SAVE America Act to sell as the fix, and a “noncitizen voting” narrative to make Americans distrust the results before a single vote is counted.

But someone fought back today. Disney sued the FCC for waging what its lawsuit calls a retaliatory censorship campaign against ABC over Jimmy Kimmel and “The View,” with one First Amendment attorney saying no administration has ever so deliberately sought to limit the freedom of the broadcast press. When a company the size of Disney decides suing the government is less dangerous than staying silent, it tells us how serious this moment is, and that the resistance is growing. In 1954, it took just one question, “Have you no sense of decency?”, for the Senate to turn on Joseph McCarthy, because enough people inside still believed the institution mattered more than one man. None of what we are living through had to happen. These are choices. And if a government can choose to build all this, then someday we can choose to tear it down and build something better.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-18-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/abc-disney-sues-fcc-trump-administration-first-amendment-rcna593088

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/media/disney-abc-fcc-trump-lawsuit-the-view-retaliatory

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/18/nx-s1-5936406/abc-and-disney-sue-fcc-alleging-first-amendment-violations

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/18/disney-abc-first-amendment-lawsuit-fcc.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disney-abc-sue-fcc-early-license-renewal/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/more-ultrawealthy-in-trumps-administration-than-previous-three-presidents-combined-report-shows

https://fortune.com/2026/08/17/trump-wealthy-officials-biden-obama-bush/

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/17/nation/trump-administration-ultra-rich-wealth/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-takes-unexpected-walk-white-172921282.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/08/05/trump-takes-a-little-walk-on-white-house-roof-after-announcing-200-million-ballroom-plans/

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/18/headlines

https://electioninnovation.org/research/claims-noncitizen-registration-voting-analysis-tracker/

https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/

https://www.propublica.org/article/save-voter-citizenship-tool-mistakes-confusion

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/august-18-2026-pbs-news-hour-full-episode

https://bnonews.com/whpool

At 6:06 pm, White House correspondent John Bennett posted, “After a very quiet day, the White House called a travel/photo lid at 6 p.m. Have a good evening, folks.” Thus ending a full day in which the President of the United States never appeared before the American people.

In normal times, we wouldn’t question a president who made no press appearances for a day, even though he had six policy meetings on his schedule. But this is Donald Trump. He lives on drama and chaos, constantly looking for ways to distract his fellow Americans from the real issues he is unwilling or unable to confront. When he goes quiet, it normally means something is happening behind the scenes that he doesn’t want anyone else to know about.

Even though Trump stayed hidden away from the American people, his administration and enablers were still hard at work. They were just not doing the work we expect our government to do. They were focusing on propaganda, manufacturing new threats, and trying to convince us they are strong, in control, and that their power is not slipping away.

Like most things the Trump administration does, they failed at their goal. This morning, the official White House account, the voice of the United States government, posted a grainy black-and-white image of Trump standing on top of a building, staring down. The picture shows Trump photographed from below, looming above the camera like a figure out of an authoritarian regime’s propaganda office. The caption read: “DEPORT. DEPORT. DEPORT. DEPORT.” Beneath it was a banner that read “DEPORTATIONS ARE SPIKING,” with today’s date added right under. The image was dark and intimidating, clearly designed to project raw dominance and power. It looked like something produced by a fascist propaganda ministry in the 1930s or 1940s, not something the United States government would stand behind in 2026.

But here is what makes it worse. The photograph is not from some important presidential moment. It is from late summer of 2025, when Trump wandered onto the roof of the West Wing of the White House for nearly twenty minutes to survey his vanity ballroom project with his personal architect. When reporters shouted up to him asking why he was on the roof, he said he was “taking a little walk.” When they asked what he was building, he joked, “Nuclear missiles.” What we really saw that day was a confused man pacing a rooftop, pointing at things, shouting down to reporters below that could barely hear him. And his communications team looked at that footage and saw an opportunity. They took a concerning yet strange moment and turned it into propaganda meant to make him look powerful and intimidating. They took a man who looked confused and aimless and turned him into the strongman they desperately want us to believe he is.

The White House wasn’t the only one peddling propaganda today. Trump posted an image on Truth Social today showing the Strait of Hormuz labeled “NEW U.S. Territory.” This came days after Trump said he would “soon” declare the strait American territory. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister called it a “delusion.”

The consequences of what he posts are very real. He started a war he cannot finish, and now he is pretending that he will be conquering the area when all he is doing is destabilizing the region and making gas more expensive for everyone.

This wasn’t the only thing we learned about Iran today. According to a European government document obtained by NBC News, Russia is shipping drone components, ammunition, and TNT to Iran through the Caspian Sea to help Tehran replenish the stockpiles our military has spent months trying to destroy. The country whose leader Trump has praised repeatedly, whose president he invited onto an American airbase in Alaska while U.S. troops knelt on the tarmac to straighten the red carpet, is actively resupplying our enemy in the middle of a war.

This war and all of his other military excursions are pushing our military to its breaking point under the weight of all of it. It is not just the USS Abraham Lincoln, which I wrote about last night. The USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer, spent four days adrift in the South China Sea last month after an engineering failure left the ten-thousand-ton warship unable to maneuver under its own power. Sailors aboard were left without easy access to food, water, toilets, and air conditioning. This is what happens when a government stops functioning. Our national defense is weakening and fracturing, and every fracture is a signal to every adversary on earth that the United States is vulnerable.

Then came Trump’s big lie of the day. The Census Bureau released an analysis today showing that it had cross-referenced 128 million voter records from the 2020 election against federal citizenship data and found more than 24,000 linked to noncitizens. Trump immediately jumped on this and shared on Truth Social that this meant he had actually won the 2020 election. He wrote, “I WON THE ELECTION!” He then demanded passage of the SAVE America Act. But the actual math from that election destroyed his larger argument. Joe Biden won the 2020 election by more than seven million votes and the Electoral College 306 to 232. The Census Bureau’s preliminary analysis identified just over twenty-four thousand records it classified as noncitizen voters out of the first one hundred and twenty-eight million voter records it analyzed. That is less than two-hundredths of one percent. And this is only what the Census Bureau itself calls a “beginning analysis,” based on matching voter records against government databases. Similar government database checks have produced false positives and numbers that fell dramatically once election officials investigated individual cases. Trump took this preliminary nationwide number and immediately told the country that he won, even though he lost the national popular vote by more than seven million votes and lost the Electoral College 306 to 232.

But none of this is about the 2020 election. It is all about November 2026. Trump is preparing now to reject the midterm results if Republicans lose control of Congress. In 2020, he tried to overturn an election after he lost, scrambling to find any possible way to stay in power. This time, he isn’t waiting until after the votes are counted. He is putting the pieces in place beforehand. He has the Census Bureau producing data he can use. He has the SAVE America Act ready to be sold as the solution. He is already pushing “noncitizen voting” as the reason Americans shouldn’t trust the results. And in battleground states holding primaries today, election deniers are running for offices that could give them power over how future elections are administered. This is about creating as many ways as possible to challenge the election before a single vote has even been counted.

The man we have to blame for this latest scheme is Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. A billionaire whose name appears in the Epstein files and who gave millions to Trump’s campaign. A report released this week by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen found that he was just one of 57 officials in the Trump administration who are worth at least 100 million dollars. Eight of them are billionaires. More than half were donors to Trump’s 2024 campaign, giving a combined $65 million to his political committees. The tally does not include Trump himself or Elon Musk. By comparison, George W. Bush had five officials with that kind of wealth. Barack Obama had three. Joe Biden had five. The combined total across all three of Trump’s predecessors is 13. Trump has 57. Thirty-two percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, and it’s not hard to understand why. Senator Bernie Sanders called it what it is: “a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.” This is not an everyday administration, and they are not public servants. They are investors protecting their portfolios from inside the most powerful offices in the world.

And yet, in the middle of all of this, someone fought back today. Disney filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, alleging that the agency is waging a retaliatory campaign against ABC in violation of the First Amendment. The FCC had ordered Disney’s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals years ahead of schedule, a move tied to the administration’s fury over Jimmy Kimmel and “The View.” The lawsuit states that the administration “has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.” The sole Democratic FCC commissioner called it “a campaign of censorship and control” and said she was “glad Disney has shown courage.” Longtime First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams said that not until the Trump administration has the government “so directly, so deliberately and so dangerously sought to limit the freedom of the broadcast press.” When a corporation the size of Disney decides the legal and financial risk of suing the federal government is less dangerous than the cost of staying silent, we need to recognize this for what it really is, a dangerous time in our history, but also one where the resistance is growing.

There was a time in this country when politics, even at its most brutal, still had a floor. In 1954, when Senator Joseph McCarthy was destroying lives with baseless accusations and loyalty tests, attorney Joseph Welch looked at him during a televised hearing and said, “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Everyone heard his words and knew exactly what he was saying. Enough senators in that room knew who was right and who was wrong, and McCarthy was censured by his own colleagues. The institution held because enough people inside it still believed the institution mattered more than one man’s grip on power. Abraham Lincoln filled his cabinet with the men who had run against him for the Republican nomination. William Seward. Salmon Chase. Edward Bates. He chose competence and opposing viewpoints over loyalty because he understood that governing a nation at war required the best minds in the country, not the most obedient. That was what government looked like when the people in charge believed the country was more important than themselves. Today we have a president who fills his administration with 57 people worth more than $100 million, most of whom bought their seats with campaign donations. A president who draws circles on maps and calls them territory and who hides from the press all day and lets his administration fill the emptiness with state media in his absence. The distance between Lincoln’s cabinet and Trump’s could not be any farther apart, and it shows in all the decisions Trump and his cronies are making.

When I think about what this country could look like right now, about what we could be doing with all of our resources, the talented people here, and our tax dollars, it causes a physical reaction in my stomach. Because none of this had to happen. We did not have to spend our resources helping 57 people who were already richer than most of us could ever comprehend become even richer. We did not have to lose at least 18 Americans in a war with Iran that Donald Trump started without any support from Congress or our allies. We did not have to put thousands of people into what amount to modern-day concentration camps, where we still do not know the full extent of the cruelty taking place behind those walls. American citizens did not have to be killed in the streets by federal agents. And families across this country should not be standing in grocery store aisles deciding what food they can live without because they can no longer afford to buy everything they need. That is not a political talking point. That is hunger in the richest country in the world, and it does not have to be this way.

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Imagine what we could be doing instead. Our government could be pouring its resources into curing cancer. We could be working to end homelessness. We could be building enough affordable housing that young adults can actually imagine buying a home, raising a family, and putting money into a retirement account so they don’t have to work until they pass away. We could make sure older Americans are not spending the final years of their lives watching every dollar because their Social Security check barely covers their rent. We could improve our schools, strengthen our communities, and make life a little easier for the millions of people who work hard every day and still feel like they are falling further behind. That is what our tax dollars should be doing. They should be building something for us. Instead, we are watching them fund a billionaire cabinet protecting its own wealth. These are choices. And if our government can choose to build all of this, then someday we can choose to tear it down and build something better in its place. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: We went for a night walk tonight, and the moon put on a show.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/abc-disney-sues-fcc-trump-administration-first-amendment-rcna593088

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/media/disney-abc-fcc-trump-lawsuit-the-view-retaliatory

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/18/nx-s1-5936406/abc-and-disney-sue-fcc-alleging-first-amendment-violations

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/18/disney-abc-first-amendment-lawsuit-fcc.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disney-abc-sue-fcc-early-license-renewal/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/more-ultrawealthy-in-trumps-administration-than-previous-three-presidents-combined-report-shows

https://fortune.com/2026/08/17/trump-wealthy-officials-biden-obama-bush/

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/17/nation/trump-administration-ultra-rich-wealth/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-takes-unexpected-walk-white-172921282.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/08/05/trump-takes-a-little-walk-on-white-house-roof-after-announcing-200-million-ballroom-plans/

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/8/18/headlines

https://electioninnovation.org/research/claims-noncitizen-registration-voting-analysis-tracker/

https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/

https://www.propublica.org/article/save-voter-citizenship-tool-mistakes-confusion

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/august-18-2026-pbs-news-hour-full-episode

https://bnonews.com/whpool

At 1:51 in the afternoon, seated in the Oval Office with a heroic teenage lifeguard and the ten-year-old boy he saved sitting less than two feet away, the President of the United States launched into an unprovoked attack on a CNN reporter. Kristen Holmes had asked a simple question: whether Kim Jong Un had asked him to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea. For that, Trump told her to “be quiet,” called her fake, and then turned to the ten-year-old beside him and tried to recruit the child into the attack. “Don’t you find her disrespectful?” he asked the boy, who said nothing. But the question mattered, and he knew it. Either the dictator asked him to reduce an ally’s military readiness, and he complied, or he abandoned South Korea on his own while praising the man threatening them. Either answer is devastating. Holmes held her ground and calmly restated the question as Trump continued his attack.

The event was supposed to honor Ryder Williams, a 16-year-old who pulled a drowning boy from violent surf. Asked what message he had for his generation, Ryder said, “Try to look out for everybody around you. And just try to help everybody out as much as you can.” When Trump had the chance to say something similar, he looked at the boy who nearly drowned and said, “You’re lucky I wasn’t on the service that day,” admitting he probably would not have saved him, and the room laughed.

During the event, he spent more time defending his White House ballroom than he spent on Iran, North Korea, and the imperiled sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln combined, dismissing the documented food shortages and mental health crises aboard that ship as “a CNN fake report.” When it was over, the official White House accounts went after Holmes by name, calling the press “scumbags,” and posting that Holmes’s own children would someday be “sickened and embarrassed” by their mother. He weaponizes his anger against the women who ask what he does not want to answer, from Kaitlan Collins to Catherine Lucey to Nancy Cordes to Mary Bruce. It is almost always women, and always the question he cannot face.

Maybe today’s meltdown went deeper than any one question, because the Supreme Court had just declined, for the second time, to hear his appeal of the E. Jean Carroll verdict. His own appointees refused him. He is now, for the rest of recorded history, a man found liable for sexual abuse by a unanimous jury, upheld by every court that reviewed it, including his own. No amount of screaming at reporters erases it. Men like him do not get quieter when they lose control. They get louder and more reckless.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-17-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

https://abcnews.com/US/heroic-16-year-lifeguard-saved-child-recognized-white/story?id=135707080

https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/president-trump-dismisses-reports-about-conditions-aboard-uss-lincoln-as-cnn-fake-report/5204475

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/17/white-house-attacks-cnn-reporter-after-trump-clash-targets-her-children/

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/trump-attacks-cnn-kristen-holmes-north-korea-dictator-1236836707/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/natalie-harp-trump-aide-jon-ossoff-questions-rcna593003

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-bomb-oman-iran-strait-hormuz-rcna592971

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/us-iran-war-deal-expired-strait-of-hormuz/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/17/politics/fact-check-trump-south-korea-cost-sharing-biden

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6034334/trump-dismisses-uss-lincoln-report/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/17/politics/ossoff-natalie-harp-trump

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/17/trump-supreme-court-e-jean-carroll.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-declines-trump-appeal-e-jean-carroll-award-rcna592887

https://www.axios.com/2025/11/29/trump-targets-female-reporters-with-disparaging-rhetoric

JD Vance’s public rise is often presented as the ultimate American rags-to-riches story: a child surviving a chaotic home in Middletown, Ohio, joining the Marine Corps, graduating from Yale Law School, writing the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, and reaching the vice presidency by 40. Behind the carefully curated narrative is a story of shifting identities, powerful elite backers, and a radical transformation from a self-described “Never Trump” conservative to a leading architect of far-right Christian nationalism.

From changing his name to recalibrating his political ideology for personal advancement, Vance has repeatedly reshaped his image to fit his route to power. Backed by Silicon Valley billionaires like Peter Thiel, Vance transitioned from explaining “forgotten America” to elite audiences to using government authority to advance a hierarchy of belonging.

This documentary is narrated by Pete Reese.

*This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

*This commentary represents our personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Trump: “Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. You’re very disrespectful in front of this young man, okay? Don’t you find her disrespectful?” (He turned to the ten-year-old. The boy did not respond.) “He understands. Quiet. Who are you with?”

CNN Reporter Holmes: “I’m with CNN.”

Trump: “Fake news. You’re fake news. You’re a loud, boisterous person. You’re faking news. Be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet. You’re a fake reporter, and you report fake news.”

All Holmes wanted to know was whether Kim Jong Un had asked him to scale back South Korean military exercises. For that, the President of the United States told her to be quiet, called her fake, and then turned to a ten-year-old boy sitting next to him in the Oval Office and tried to recruit him into the attack. The child said nothing. Because what do you say when the most powerful man in the world points at a woman doing her job and asks you, a grade schooler, to help him condemn her?

For her part, Holmes held her ground. After he finished his tirade, she calmly restated the question: “I was trying to find out if you had been talking to Kim Jong Un, if he had asked you to scale back on those military exercises.”

His response came quickly. Once again opting to attack her instead of providing any real answer, “Be quiet,” he said one more time, before another journalist jumped in with a new question for the president.

The question that Holmes had asked mattered, and he knew it. Because either Kim Jong Un did ask him to scale back allied military exercises, which means the President of the United States reduced the military readiness of an ally at the request of a dictator for possible nefarious reasons. Or Kim did not ask, and Trump did it on his own, abandoning our ally for no strategic reason while repeatedly praising the dictator who is threatening that ally. Either answer is devastating.

Over those 34 minutes, what played out in that room told a much larger story than one exchange with a single reporter. Donald Trump turned a celebration of courage, selflessness, and a child’s life saved into something that should never happen anywhere close to the Oval Office. What we all witnessed was yet another public viewing of his presidency collapsing.

The honoree today was Ryder Williams, a 16-year-old lifeguard from Santa Cruz, California, who pulled ten-year-old Nathaniel Rai from dangerous surf last month. The rescue went viral because of just how violent the waves were and how much bravery Ryder showed in saving him. When a reporter asked Ryder what message he had for his generation, he answered with clarity well beyond his years: “I hope that everybody can take away from this and try to help more people. Try to look out for everybody around you. And just try to help everybody out as much as you can.”

When Trump had the opportunity to express that same kind of message, he chose very different words. “He’s a real hero. You know, when you see that, I don’t know if I’d do it. I wouldn’t probably.” Then, speaking directly to the ten-year-old boy who had nearly drowned, Trump added, “You’re lucky I wasn’t on the service that day.”

He laughed, and the room laughed as the President of the United States told the child who nearly died that he probably would not have saved him.

Then Trump turned to Ryder’s mother, Shannon Williams, and said: “You did a good job. It’s good genetics. When you look at him, you can see really good.”

Once Trump was satisfied with the fanfare surrounding the event, he opened the room to questions from reporters. And his attack on Holmes was only the beginning.

A reporter asked about Senator Jon Ossoff’s comments regarding Trump’s aide Natalie Harp, who is often referred to as his “human printer,” “diaper nurse,” “binky,” or “comfort blanket.” Ossoff had said at a rally the day before that Trump “doesn’t want to do the job” and would rather “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie.”

Trump didn’t offer much of a response beyond calling Ossoff a “Pee-wee Herman lookalike,” admitting that he would “much rather do other things,” and then launching right into a lengthy defense of the White House ballroom. He brought up how President Xi of China is coming on September 24 for a dinner of 2,000 people and that Xi has his own ballroom. He called the National Trust for Historic Preservation “very disloyal to our country” for filing the lawsuit to stop the construction.

He spent more time defending his ballroom than he spent talking about Iran, North Korea, and the safety of the sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln combined.

A reporter then asked about his phone interview from that morning, where he told Fox News he would “bomb the shit out of” Oman, if it interfered with U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. The reporter asked whether he was out of patience with Oman.”No, I don’t think they behaved very well, but we’d handle them very easily just like we do other things.” He casually threatened yet another ally.

When another reporter asked how Trump would respond to critics who say he is prioritizing the interests of adversaries in North Korea over longtime partners by scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea, he didn’t hold back. He told the room that he had called South Korea’s president and asked him to help with the Iran war. South Korea declined. That is the simple truth about why Trump is now punishing them. He added, “We have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong-un, your next door neighbor, and you’re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran.”

He also praised Kim Jong Un: “Kim Jong-un has always treated me with great respect. I understand him. He understands me.” He said Kim did not like Biden, Obama, or anybody, “but I get along with him very well.”

Immediately after the Holmes exchange, a different reporter asked if there is enough food on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Trump dismissed the report on the troubles facing the ship as “a CNN fake report.” He proved this by recounting a conversation he supposedly had with an unnamed retired admiral he met “at a big group” over the weekend who told him the ship is “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.” Families have been publicly pleading about deteriorating conditions, mental health crises, and food shortages. Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee responded by posting a photograph of an actual dinner served aboard: diced carrots and a hamburger patty as their own evidence of what is really happening aboard that ship.

Near the end, as the room grew more chaotic and reporters shouted over one another, Trump turned to the 16-year-old hero lifeguard, patted him on the leg and said: “Don’t we find them nice, huh? Nice people, right? Look at him. You say what? He’s saying where do people like this come from? Your son is saying where do people like this come from?” It was a very odd moment where he tried to narrate what the teen was supposedly thinking as he used him one final time as a weapon against the press.

And then, just as abruptly as it started, the whole thing was over. The press was ushered out, and the Trump administration immediately went on damage control duty. The White House Rapid Response account posted that CNN reporter, Kristen Holmes is “a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession.” It called the White House press corps “scumbags” and “the lowest of the low.” And then, roughly 30 minutes later, a second post was made, this time involving even more children: “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive. It’s quite troubling.” That is the official White House of the United States going after a journalist’s children because she asked the President whether a dictator influenced his military decisions. White House communications director Steven Cheung called Senator Ossoff “Jon Jackoff” and “the biggest cuck loser in politics.” I don’t even have the words in this moment to express how truly diabolical it is that an official United States government account would use a vulgar and sexually degrading insult against a sitting United States senator.

This is Trump’s go-to play when he feels cornered and when he feels power slipping through his fingers. He weaponizes his anger against women who ask the questions he doesn’t want to answer. He called Kaitlan Collins: “stupid and nasty.” Catherine Lucey of Bloomberg was told, “quiet, piggy.” Nancy Cordes of CBS was asked, “Are you stupid?” Rachel Scott of ABC was told she was “obnoxious,” a “terrible reporter.” Mary Bruce of ABC was degraded and called “terrible” for asking the Saudi crown prince about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It is more often than not women, and it is always when they ask the question he does not want to answer.

We have seen this before. In the final year of Richard Nixon’s presidency, as Watergate closed in around him, his hostility toward the press grew even more toxic, and he made it personal. He was erratic and impulsive. He kept an enemies list and ordered surveillance of reporters. He raged privately and publicly at the journalists who were pulling the threads that would eventually unravel his presidency. His staff began working around him, managing his outbursts, limiting his exposure, and questioning whether he was still fit to lead. The anger came from a position of paranoia. He could feel the ground giving way beneath him, and he had no idea how to stop it. And the more cornered he became, the more dangerous he became, not just to the press, but to the country. Anger in a president that keeps escalating like this never ends well. Nixon proved that, but what we are watching now is worse, because Nixon, for all his corruption and cruelty, at least understood that the presidency carried obligations he could not openly abandon. Trump does not even pretend to care.

Maybe today’s meltdown went deeper than questions in the Oval Office. Maybe it had more to do with the Supreme Court’s decision to decline, for the second time, to hear his appeal of the E. Jean Carroll verdict. His own justices refused him, and Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, noted that the verdict “As a result, the jury’s unanimous verdict that Donald Trump sexually assaulted and then defamed E. Jean Carroll is now final and cannot be challenged in any court.” He did not mention it today in his office, but you could feel it in the air, especially when he snarled “be quiet” at a woman asking a question he did not want to answer.

What he did today was not just embarrassing, it was dangerous. A president this reactive, and incapable of controlling himself in a room with a teenager and a ten-year-old, is a national security threat. Our adversaries are watching. Putin, Xi, and Kim are watching. And they are not impressed by his “great respect” relationships. They are calculating how easy he is to manipulate. He was baited by a single follow-up question from a reporter and had a meltdown. That is the most dangerous kind of weakness a president can have.

As I watched him speak on camera, I thought about what it teaches every kid who saw it. About power and women and about what happens in this country when you ask a question the powerful do not want anyone else to know the answers to. I thought about my own daughters and grandchildren I might have one day. I thought about every parent who watched that moment and felt the same thing I did. That sinking feeling that this is the country we are handing them. I do not want to live in a country, or raise children, or have grandchildren in a country where the president of the United States treats anybody like that, and I refuse to accept that this is what we have become.

I made a promise when I started writing these posts. Every time this administration attacked the press, the First Amendment, or the right of the American people to speak truth to power, I would call it out by name. Today they took it to a new level. And I am calling it out. What happened in that room was an attack on every one of us who has ever written about what is really happening inside the United States, shared a post, called a representative, or showed up to a protest. They want us to feel it. They want us to hesitate the next time we go to speak. Our answer has to be that we do not hesitate. We say it louder.

This is the moment to put our money where our voices are. Every time this administration attacks the First Amendment, we respond by funding the people defending it. That is the most direct form of resistance available to us right now. Protecting the media that is still standing is how the truth stays alive when every other system is being captured. That includes legacy media and independent media, because they both have a place in the battles ahead. Kristen Holmes asked a legitimate question today on behalf of every American who deserves to know whether a dictator is influencing our military decisions. And for that, the President of the United States told her to be quiet, and his government went after her children. So tonight, let’s go to her social media and thank her for her bravery and show her she is not alone. We can do the same for CNN. Let’s share that we want more of that. We want journalists asking the hard questions no matter how the president feels about having to answer them.

So tonight I’m asking you to think beyond just my voice. Think about every writer, every journalist, every podcaster, every independent outlet that you turn to when you need the truth, and you need to trust what you’re reading. The ones who are still standing with the truth even when doing so comes at great cost. Because what this administration is trying to build requires our silence. And the most powerful thing we can do right now is make sure the people refusing to be silent can keep going. Every paid subscription is a vote against Trump trying to take away our First Amendment rights.

And here is the thing Trump does not want us to see. He is making these threats and attacks because he is scared. His own Supreme Court, including justices he appointed, just told him for the second time that the E. Jean Carroll verdict stands. He is, for the rest of recorded history, a man found liable for sexual abuse by a unanimous jury, upheld by every court that reviewed it, including his own. No amount of screaming at reporters will erase it.

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The walls are closing in, and the midterms are right around the corner. He can feel it, and men like him do not get quieter when they lose control. They get louder, and they get more reckless. Nixon got louder too, and we know how that ended. We should expect the same escalation here, and we should prepare for it. But we should also see it for what it is. The flailing of a man who knows the ground is shifting beneath him. Regimes on the right side of history do not come for our words when they feel secure. They come for our words because they know what happens when enough of us keep using them.

And the proof that this country is still worth fighting for was sitting right across from him today. A 16-year-old boy shared a message for his generation: “Try to look out for everybody around you. And just try to help everybody out as much as you can.” He is the future of our country, and his generation is watching all of this. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Share

Subscribe now

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Thoughts on bringing back bumper stickers again? We could get some really good ones going.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

President Trump Greets Lifeguard Ryder Williams: White House Official YouTube

https://abcnews.com/US/heroic-16-year-lifeguard-saved-child-recognized-white/story?id=135707080

https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/president-trump-dismisses-reports-about-conditions-aboard-uss-lincoln-as-cnn-fake-report/5204475

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/17/white-house-attacks-cnn-reporter-after-trump-clash-targets-her-children/

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/trump-attacks-cnn-kristen-holmes-north-korea-dictator-1236836707/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/natalie-harp-trump-aide-jon-ossoff-questions-rcna593003

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-bomb-oman-iran-strait-hormuz-rcna592971

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/us-iran-war-deal-expired-strait-of-hormuz/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/17/politics/fact-check-trump-south-korea-cost-sharing-biden

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6034334/trump-dismisses-uss-lincoln-report/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/17/politics/ossoff-natalie-harp-trump

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/17/trump-supreme-court-e-jean-carroll.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-declines-trump-appeal-e-jean-carroll-award-rcna592887

https://www.axios.com/2025/11/29/trump-targets-female-reporters-with-disparaging-rhetoric

At 5:04 p.m., one minute after Donald Trump stepped off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews and boarded Marine One, he sent a message that told every remaining American ally exactly what our promises are worth. He announced that he had instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises with South Korea, calling them costly, inappropriate, and hostile toward a North Korea that he described as unthreatening and respectful. That single post threatened to unravel an alliance built over more than 70 years.

The praise Trump lavished on Kim Jong Un collided with reality on every line. North Korea has conducted 13 suspected ballistic missile tests in 2026 alone, three of them in the last ten days, with projectiles fired more than 700 kilometers toward our allies. Kim runs political prison camps documented for decades by satellite imagery, executes dissidents with anti-aircraft guns, has threatened to turn Seoul into a sea of fire, and has tested a hydrogen bomb powerful enough to shake the ground hundreds of miles away. Yet Trump chose to stand beside that dictator and to vilify the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises with roughly 18,000 South Korean troops and personnel from 11 additional UN Command member states, specifically designed this year to account for North Korea’s deepening partnership with Russia and the battlefield experience its soldiers gained fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. This followed South Korea’s refusal to join his separate campaign against Iran. They said no thanks, and now he is punishing them. This is not a business deal. It is extortion, with the safety of millions on the Korean Peninsula used as leverage.

The stakes reach far beyond that peninsula. If Pyongyang concludes that the United States is no longer serious about defending Seoul, China recalculates on Taiwan, and Japan reconsiders whether they can still rely on the United States for protection. The Baltic states are already bracing for a weakened NATO and asking whether America keeps its word at all. The last time the global alliance structure fractured this way was in the 1930s, when major powers stopped trusting the agreements that held the peace, and we know how that ended. South Korean soldiers fought and died alongside ours in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and their nation rebuilt from ashes into one of the strongest democracies on earth. That betrayal is also a warning to every friend we have left. Our task now is to protect what is left, to make our voices heard in November, and to build not what was but what was always supposed to be.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-16-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

Martin Bella on Instagram

Trump boards Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews: YouTube

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-orders-pentagon-to-scale-back-joint-exercises-with-south-korea

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-08-11/north-korea-launches-a-suspected-ballistic-missile-japans-says

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/

At 4:00 p.m., the president finally arrived at Morristown Airport aboard Marine One. As he walked across the tarmac toward Air Force One, he waved to the press gathered nearby and told them he had a “great” weekend and had “lots of meetings” while he was at Bedminster. He continued walking towards the plane, never stopping to talk to them, and ignoring the rest of the questions reporters shouted at him.

At 5:03 p.m., Trump stepped off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews. Once again, he ignored the press and immediately boarded Marine One. At 5:04 p.m., one minute after stepping off the plane, Donald Trump sent the post heard around the world:

It took him exactly one minute to get from the plane to that post. He walked off Air Force One, boarded Marine One, and within a single minute, from somewhere inside that helicopter, he shared a single message that told every remaining ally on earth exactly what American promises are worth with Donald Trump as our president.

He called Kim Jong Un “unthreatening and respectful.” North Korea has conducted twelve suspected ballistic missile tests in 2026 alone, including three in the last ten days, one on August 6 and another on August 12. He fired projectiles more than 700 kilometers across waters towards our allies. He chose the word “ unthreatening “ for a dictator who starves his own people. Kim Jong Un runs political prison camps that satellite imagery has documented for decades. He executes dissidents with anti-aircraft guns. He called him “respectful,” knowing that North Korea has threatened to turn Seoul into a ‘sea of fire’ and has tested a hydrogen bomb powerful enough to shake the earth beneath the feet of people living hundreds of miles away. That is who Donald Trump is choosing to stand beside and to protect. He chose this man over our democratic ally who has stood beside us for more than 70 years.

He also chose to call these exercises “hostile.” What he is attempting to vilify are the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which are planned to begin tomorrow with approximately 18,000 South Korean troops and personnel from eleven additional UN Command member states. They were specifically designed this year to account for the increasing threat caused by North Korea’s growing military partnership with Russia and the battlefield experience North Korean troops gained fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. A senior UN Command officer said just days ago that the exercises were built around this evolving reality. These were rehearsals for their countries’ survival, not provocations.

“While somewhat unrelated (?).” Trump wrote, putting a question mark in parentheses as if that somehow gave him plausible deniability while he admitted, out in the open, exactly what he was doing. He asked South Korea to join his war with Iran. They said no. And now he is punishing them for it.

This isn’t some business deal where Trump can punish someone for refusing to give him what he wants. He is playing with an alliance built over generations, and with the safety of millions of people on the Korean Peninsula and around the entire world. The President of the United States of America is retaliating against an ally and using American military protection as leverage to pressure them into joining his war. What he is doing is extortion. Plain and simple.

What’s at stake in the game Donald Trump is playing could not be more serious, because this extends way beyond the peninsula. If the deterrent of having our support erodes, and Pyongyang believes that the United States is no longer serious about defending South Korea, the consequences could be catastrophic. A weakened American presence in Korea changes China’s calculation regarding Taiwan. It forces Japan to reconsider whether it can continue to depend on the United States for its defense, and hold to Article 9 of its constitution renouncing war, or whether it needs to start building the kind of military it has deliberately avoided since 1945.

What Donald Trump said in a social media post could send a shockwave through the entire Indo-Pacific security order that has prevented large-scale destabilization and conflict for 80 years. The last time the global alliance structure fractured this way was when major powers stopped trusting the agreements that held the peace, back in the 1930s. And we know how that ended.

Donald Trump does not want a wide-scale war, but he doesn’t want peace either. He wants a production with cameras and drama. He wants to be the handshake that ends conflict even if he is the one who caused it. Trump has always been impulsive and never considers the consequences or ramifications of his actions. He’s now bored with Iran. He thought he was special and that he would be the one who could snap his fingers and somehow end decades of hostility because everyone would bend to Donald Trump. Instead, he was humiliated, and now he is looking for something, anything, that will make him look powerful again.

This is a betrayal of South Korea. But it is also a warning to every ally we have left. If Trump will do this to a nation of more than 50 million people, he will do it to anyone. South Korean soldiers fought and died alongside ours in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Their country has hosted American troops for more than 70 years. They rebuilt from the ashes of war into one of the strongest democracies and economies in the world. This is an alliance built over generations, through sacrifice, trust, and the shared belief that America would keep its word.

Japan is watching. Taiwan and Australia are watching. The Baltic states, already preparing for what a weakened NATO could mean with Russia at their doorstep, are also watching. Every country that built its national defense around the belief that America keeps its word now has to ask a question that would have been almost unthinkable two years ago. They are asking themselves, and each other, whether they can still trust the United States. And right now, the answer is no.

It breaks my heart to even write that. Because I love my country. I love what America has stood for at its best. But I also care deeply about the rest of the world. I care about people of different nationalities and their right to live safely and freely in the countries they love. None of us exists in isolation on this planet. We are deeply interconnected, and stability anywhere helps create stability everywhere.

Most of us, aside from our Indigenous communities, came from somewhere else at some point in our family histories. We are tied to places near and far, sometimes to countries we have never visited and people we will never meet. Our blood and our stories still run through those places. And loving our own country should never require someone else to lose theirs.

Donald Trump has never understood that. To him, patriotism is possession. America being strong means someone else must be weak. America winning means someone else must lose. But that was never what made this country powerful. Our greatest strength came from building alliances with people who loved their countries just as fiercely as we loved ours, and understanding that we were safer when we stood together.

Trump is tearing that apart. He just told the world that commitments only matter for as long as he personally finds them useful. Give him what he wants, and he calls us allies. Tell him no, and decades of cooperation and sacrifice will disappear in an instant. Donald Trump has turned the United States into a protection racket. We are on the verge of complete isolation because when the most powerful country in the world starts treating its friends that way, eventually it stops having any.

We have never had an American president like this. We have had corrupt presidents and incompetent ones. We have had presidents who lied to the public, who overreached their authority, who made catastrophic foreign policy decisions that cost thousands of lives and destabilized entire regions. But we have never had a president who treated allied nations like enemies or threats. We have never had a president who openly sided with a nuclear-armed dictator over our democratic ally. Donald Trump is the first to use the security of millions of civilians as a bargaining chip because their government would not join his separate, unrelated losing war.

Donald Trump is a deeply flawed man. He is corrupt to a level unseen before in American history. He is indifferent to human life and suffering on a scale that no American president has ever displayed in public. And he is not ashamed of it. He is proud.

Ever since I saw that terrible Truth Social post, that he reshared again hours later, I’ve been asking myself what America means. Not what it has become under this president, but what it is supposed to be. What it used to represent to the rest of the world. And I keep coming back to a conversation I had years ago, in a place I never expected to learn something about my own country.

Seven or eight years ago, we were in Jamaica to create content about traveling to the island. We had booked a private tour through a guide that came recommended to us by another guest at the resort. She was leaving the day we arrived, and she told me the tour was the highlight of their entire trip. She and her husband had booked a plantation tour and learned so much history, including American history, which made sense once I understood how deeply intertwined Jamaica’s colonial past is with the transatlantic slave trade and the economic systems that built the American South. The same plantations, ships, and human suffering shaped both countries. She said she wanted to come back with her teenage children because there was so much they needed to see. I immediately booked the same tour for my family.

When he came to pick us up, he was not alone. He had someone else with him, which I thought was odd because everything I had been told said it was just him. And as we drove, it became clear we were not heading toward the historic plantation I had booked. We were driving up into the hills, and he was telling us about the country in a way that no resort brochure ever would. He explained how the higher up the mountain you live, the more expensive the homes are because you are closest to the fresh water, and by the time it reaches the communities at the bottom, it has been contaminated. He told us about disease and poverty throughout the island, and about the infrastructure that most tourists never see. At one point, we passed a school, and all of the children came rushing to the fence to watch us go by. He said they did not see many visitors up here. I was confused but still hopeful after all of the positive reviews I had read.

It turned out I had booked what amounted to a working farm tour rather than the historical plantation I had planned. And as so often happens when you travel, the thing that went “wrong” turned out to be the thing that mattered most. One of the greatest lessons traveling has taught me is to stay flexible and to lean into the unexpected, because when things don’t go the way you planned, there is almost always something better around the corner. That has been true nearly every single time.

We spent the day on a small working farm, learning about farming practices, tasting tropical fruit straight from the trees, walking among the rows, hearing about the dozens of varieties of mangoes that grow in Jamaica. It was beautiful and unhurried and nothing like what I had planned. And while I was walking the grounds, I started talking with one of the men who worked the farm.

He lit up when he learned we were from America and shared, in such a profound way, why to him it was the greatest place on the planet. He said it was hard work, but it was the land of opportunity. And then he said something that I have carried with me every day since: “More importantly, it is the safe place. It is where there are standards. Where the government respects the people. You are the good guys. You are there when the world needs help. You set the standards for the rest of us.”

Nothing he said took away from the love he shared for his own country. On the contrary, he looked at America as a beacon for what he wanted for Jamaica. He wasn’t saying he wanted his country to become ours. He wanted the same safety for his family and the same opportunity. The same expectation that government should respect its people and that there should be standards no one, no matter how powerful, was allowed to cross.

And I think that distinction matters so much right now. Loving America was never supposed to mean believing we deserved something other people didn’t. At our best, America gave people around the world a reason to believe those things were possible for them, too.

And this isn’t about blind American exceptionalism. We have never been perfect, and there are long, painful chapters of our history when we failed spectacularly to live up to the values we claimed as our own. We were never simply “the best.” But there was a promise embedded in what America was always striving to become. That freedom should expand, and that democracy should endure. That people should be safe from their government, not afraid of it. And that when we fell short of those ideals, we were supposed to keep fighting our way closer to them.

That was the America he saw from that farm in Jamaica, and I don’t want us to lose the country he believed we could be.

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America was built on a radical and extraordinary idea, one that held true to the promise that ordinary people could govern themselves. That power flows up from the people, not down from a throne. That you do not have to be born into the right family or the right country to have a chance at a decent life. No other nation in history was founded on a thesis statement. Most countries are built on geography, or ethnicity, or conquest. America was built on a sentence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” It has never fully lived up to that sentence. Not for Native communities or for Black Americans. Not for women or for immigrants who built this country with their hands and have been told so many times throughout our 250 years they did not belong here, but never gave up. Every generation has fought to expand who is included in this promise. From abolitionists to suffragists to civil rights marchers and marriage equality advocates, they have all made this country more of what it was always meant to be. That is what separates America from every empire that came before it. We have never been perfect, but we have never stopped trying.

There was another consequence of that struggle that we rarely talk about. The rest of the world was always watching. Every time we expanded freedom, confronted another piece of our own hypocrisy, or chose democracy over the easier path of raw power, we were telling people far beyond our borders something about who America was trying to be. That reputation was never perfect, and it was never universally deserved. But it mattered, and now the world is losing what little faith it still has in us. Martin Bella shared a post on social media that says what millions of people around the globe are thinking, and that we, Americans, need to hear before it is too late:

“To the people of the United States of America: you realize that you are being seen by the rest of the world as no better than Russia, no better than China? You’ve threatened Canada, threatened Greenland, invaded Venezuela, and starved Cuba. You’ve caused untold pain around the world. The Strait of Hormuz and the blocking of oil supplies has brought countries to their knees. Now your president is saying that he’s going to make the Strait of Hormuz American territory? Have you people lost touch with reality? While he sits in that chair, the American people are responsible. Go a little further and have a look at the way you are allowing him to treat your sailors: The disrespect he showed the bodies of your servicemen that came back. The way American citizens are being treated on the street. You are allowing it. The people of Iran rose up, and thousands of them were killed. You sit back and watch this man prey on the rest of the world. Disgraceful.”

I saw his video, and I thought about the man on the farm. I thought about the look on his face when he said the word “safe.” About how certain he was that America was the place that would always do the right thing. It breaks my heart to think about what he might say about us now.

But I also keep coming back to something else. The America he believed in does not have to disappear just because Donald Trump is trying to destroy it. In fact, maybe our responsibility now is to finally build it. We aren’t just fighting against an authoritarian. We are fighting for the promise of better days and for the country we were always meant to be. This is what we are voting for in November, and why so much is riding on the midterm elections. It is up to us to save our country and our place in the world. And in true American fashion, when our voices are heard and Trump’s power is finally weakened, we are going to do what this country has done at every turning point in its history. We are going to take whatever is left, whatever he has not managed to burn down, and we are going to build it back. But this time, we are not going to rebuild what was. We are going to build what was always supposed to be. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the Day: I am already planning our Halloween decorations for this year, because finding joy wherever you can is part of the resistance, too. This guy was the focal point at our old house last year. I am thinking about how he can do his part for democracy this year as well. Maybe a “VOTE” sign? Open to suggestions.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

Martin Bella on Instagram

Trump boards Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews: YouTube

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-orders-pentagon-to-scale-back-joint-exercises-with-south-korea

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-08-11/north-korea-launches-a-suspected-ballistic-missile-japans-says

https://bnonews.com/whpool

https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/topic/calendar/

Yesterday morning, the President of the United States sent his entire traveling press corps away, cutting off all access for the day and ensuring he would face no cameras and answer no questions. Just before that, he had posted a photo of himself standing side by side with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, praising the dictator as a friend he gets along with “GREAT.” Then, from his private golf club in Bedminster, he spent his Saturday posting AI-generated images of himself with George Washington, positioning himself as an equal. But Washington is the opposite of everything Trump pretends to be. He could have been king and chose not to be. He walked away from power because he believed no one man should hold it too long. Trump said this in January: “we shouldn’t even have an election,” and already tried once to overturn one and keep himself in power by force.

While Trump posts images aligning himself with the founders, the people closest to him are doing something far more dangerous, something built to outlive him. They are buying the country. Friday night, his own administration granted preliminary approval for the Trump family’s crypto venture to become a federally chartered bank, a venture that has already earned them more than $1.6 billion, is 49 percent owned by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, and is run by the son of Trump’s own Middle East envoy. Josh Kushner, brother of Jared, is buying the Lakers. Jeff Bezos just bought into Liverpool FC. Larry Ellison’s son is acquiring Warner Bros, which would put CBS News, CNN, and HBO under one family that already installed a handpicked editor at CBS. Sports and news are where millions of people from different backgrounds still come together, and they are being commandeered one deal at a time.

Here is what they forget. The model only works if the money keeps flowing up to them, and we are the ones who decide whether it does. Every dollar we spend is a choice about which companies and which future we fund, and being deliberate about where our money goes is one of the most powerful tools we have. The urgency of everything they are building tells us something important: they are moving this fast because they know they are losing. CNN reported yesterday that Trump’s own advisers privately admit their chances of holding Congress are “dwindling,” that his approval is scraping new lows, and that even Trump himself keeps asking, “Why am I doing this? I want to be doing other things.” They are not buying up the country because they expect to win in November. They are buying it as an insurance policy against losing. They can start a bank, buy our sports teams, and influence the news. But they can never buy us.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-15-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

https://us.cnn.com/2026/08/15/politics/trump-midterms-campaign-strategy

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/14/world-liberty-trump-occ-bank-charter-stablecoin.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-14/crypto-bank-tied-to-trumps-wins-preliminary-approval-from-occ

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-12/quiet-token-sales-boosted-trump-crypto-wealth-by-660-million

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-over-1-billion-on-crypto-ventures-financial-disclosures/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-31/trump-hasn-t-approved-any-midterm-spending-from-401-million-pac

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-80-fantasizes-about-dead-president-in-bizarre-truth-social-posting-spree/

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/bob-iger-disney-ceo-exit-josh-damaro-shareholder-meeting-1236692268/

https://thehill.com/business/6031421-trump-family-crypto-firm-bank-charter/

That was just the beginning. The President of the United States spent his Saturday away from cameras once again this weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, posting AI-generated images of himself and other rage-bait pictures. At 4:22 PM, he shared an image of himself and George Washington sitting side by side, both holding quill pens, signing documents together as equals. As if these were the two men responsible for drafting the future of the nation and signing their names to our founding documents. This is how he truly sees himself. Whether it is from pure ego and delusion or a deteriorating mind, he feels his place in this country and our history is at the same level as, or higher than, our first president. Three minutes later, at 4:25 PM, he posted another image, this time with him and Washington riding horseback together through golden fields at sunset. Just two founders, side by side, riding into history. And in between those two, at 4:24 PM, he posted a black-and-white photo of himself wearing a “Trump 2028” baseball hat, looking over his rain-covered shoulder, with the words “we are going to win” across the bottom.

What Trump always gets wrong when he posts about George Washington is that he is the opposite of everything Donald Trump wants us to think he is. He could have been king and chose not to be. He voluntarily gave up power when he walked away from the presidency because he believed no one man should hold that amount of power for too long. He set the precedent that made peaceful transfers of power possible for over two centuries. Trump, on the other hand, said just this past January, “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.” He already tried to overturn an election so he could stay in power even after his humiliating loss in 2020. He incited an insurrection and sent his rabid supporters to storm the Capitol to keep him in power. And now he is posting images trying to align himself and his personal and professional failure with George Washington.

These are the moments when past presidents would have been stopped. Their administration would have stepped in. For love of country and for survival, they would have been forced to make some very difficult decisions, but they would have done it. The people around Trump never will. They do not care about what is happening to our country or to the world. They just need him to stay in power long enough to finish what they are building, so they can remain in power even when their figurehead is no longer in control of the government.

Because the people closest to him are doing something far more dangerous that will outlive Trump and his hold on us. They are buying the country.

They are acquiring the infrastructure of not just daily American life, but outside the US too. They are acquiring targets sector by sector, and deal by deal, in transactions both large and small, all interconnected, but not overly obvious so that by the time most people notice, it will already be done. And no election will be able to undo it or the damage it will cause.

Last night, Trump’s own administration, through the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is part of the Treasury Department and run by a Trump appointee, granted a preliminary approval for World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture, to become a federally chartered bank. The Trump family has already made more than $ 1.6 billion from this venture alone. A UAE sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, owns 49 percent. The son of Trump’s own Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is running it. The sitting president’s family is building a bank that was approved by the president’s own administration, and it is being funded by a foreign government. The level of corruption coming from within this government cannot be adequately put into words.

And then there are the sports teams. Josh Kushner, Jared’s brother and the son of Charles Kushner, Trump’s ambassador to France who was pardoned by Trump, is buying the Los Angeles Lakers for 12.5 billion dollars with Bob Iger, who stepped down in March after his second stint as CEO of Disney. Iger was a long-term Democrat until switching his party affiliation to independent in 2016 when Trump took office. The deal still needs NBA Board of Governors approval. Jeff Bezos has also been shopping for a new athletic acquisition and just bought roughly 30 percent of Liverpool FC through a consortium, with an option to become majority owner within a year.

Neither of these are just business investments. Sports are where people go to feel something together. They are the last spaces where millions of people from different backgrounds and different politics come together to share the same moment. They are buying community and people’s identity. When you own the team, you do not just own a franchise. You own the platform itself. You reach an audience that would never follow you on social media, read your news outlet, or subscribe to your streaming service. You reach them through something many of them have loved since childhood, something that feels like it belongs to them. And now even that is being commandeered into Trump’s inner circle of enablers.

There is also Larry Ellison’s son David, who is in the process of acquiring Warner Bros through Skydance Paramount. If it goes through, which it most likely will, one family will control CBS News, CNN, HBO, and 28 local television stations. Democratic senators have raised concerns about Saudi, Qatari, and Emirati sovereign wealth fund money financing the acquisition. Those are the same sovereign wealth funds that appear in the Trump bank deal and in Jared Kushner’s investment firm. Larry Ellison, one of Trump’s biggest campaign donors, already placed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. He also controls TikTok’s U.S. data infrastructure through Oracle. Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, has forced out many of its long-standing and respected journalists since he took over, leaving the Post a shell of what it once was.

And while this small group of extraordinarily wealthy men is accumulating more money and influence than most of us could ever imagine, we need to see it for what it really is and stop treating each one as a separate story. They believe too much of this country’s wealth has been flowing to ordinary people, and they want even more of it flowing upward to them.

Like so much of what we are watching happen in America right now, none of this is new. The names are different, and the methods have changed. But we have seen this playbook before. In Russia in the 1990s, some of the country’s most valuable state assets were sold to politically connected businessmen through notoriously corrupt and rigged auctions. A small group of oligarchs accumulated extraordinary wealth and political power, gaining influence over banks, industry, media, and even the government itself. Then Putin came to power, and the arrangement changed. The oligarchs who remained powerful learned that their fortunes depended on remaining loyal to him. Independent media outlets were taken over, shut down, or brought under the control of the state and Kremlin allies. Business, government, media, and political power became increasingly intertwined. Elections still happen, but they no longer provide a meaningful democratic check on that power. The same network surrounding Putin remains in control regardless of what ordinary Russians want. That is where we are headed.

Trump and his enablers’ version is uniquely American. But the outcome is the same. Trump wants a small and permanent ownership class with the rest of us silenced into a permanent underclass. He envisions a country where the people who funded the regime own so much of daily life that it does not matter what the voters decide, because the real power never changes hands again.

If it feels like this is accelerating and that they are moving fast, know that you are right. They know they are losing support and that November will be a devastating defeat for the GOP.

CNN reported today, August 15, that Trump’s top campaign advisers privately acknowledge that Republicans’ chances of keeping control of both the House and the Senate are “dwindling.” One source told CNN, “There is a path where we keep the House and the Senate. I’m not in a place today where I’m prepared to say we’re cautiously optimistic about that.” An adviser close to Trump acknowledged that with the president’s approval ratings scraping new lows, there is “little expectation he can win over large numbers of independents and swing voters.” Their entire midterm strategy now rests on turning out millions of MAGA voters who typically do not show up for midterm elections. And even Trump’s own commitment to the effort is uncertain. An adviser told CNN, “Once he’s traveling, he’s like: ‘Why am I doing this? I want to be doing other things.’” Lawmakers and operatives have “privately agonized for months” over his reluctance to commit the vast sums, estimated at over 400 million, in his MAGA Inc. super PAC to helping elect Republican candidates across the country.

They are not buying the country because they think they are going to keep Congress. They are buying it because they know there is a very real possibility that they won’t. Every deal and acquisition is an insurance policy and a permanent power structure that is completely independent of elections and whoever might occupy the White House.

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But what they forget is that the oligarch model only works if the money keeps flowing up to them, and we are the ones who decide if it does.

This is an opportunity that has gone largely untouched. I try to mention this often, because it is one of the most powerful tools we have right in front of us. I think of it as strategic economic spending and being ultra deliberate about where our money goes. It’s not perfect, and there are no purity tests here. It’s about paying attention to our spending and making changes where we can.

I have been working through every penny our household spends to make sure our money is not going to companies that have aligned themselves with this administration. It is tedious and time-consuming, and again, it is imperfect, because sometimes there are simply no other options. But it matters. It has also freed up more money to support causes and people that matter to me.

And as soon as these primaries are over, all of our energy needs to go to supporting our candidates. Because this is the deciding factor for our country for decades to come, if not longer. We absolutely have to take back both chambers of Congress. We have a very real shot at the House, and to a slightly lesser degree, the Senate. We have 80 days. That is how long we have. And everything we do between now and then counts.

We need to remember that they can start a bank. They can buy our sports teams, and they can influence the news. But they can never buy us. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Just another day thankful we live on a planet with pups!

Sources used in the writing of this post:

https://us.cnn.com/2026/08/15/politics/trump-midterms-campaign-strategy

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/14/world-liberty-trump-occ-bank-charter-stablecoin.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-14/crypto-bank-tied-to-trumps-wins-preliminary-approval-from-occ

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-12/quiet-token-sales-boosted-trump-crypto-wealth-by-660-million

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-over-1-billion-on-crypto-ventures-financial-disclosures/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-31/trump-hasn-t-approved-any-midterm-spending-from-401-million-pac

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-80-fantasizes-about-dead-president-in-bizarre-truth-social-posting-spree/

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/bob-iger-disney-ceo-exit-josh-damaro-shareholder-meeting-1236692268/

https://thehill.com/business/6031421-trump-family-crypto-firm-bank-charter/

This post was edited at 10:38 AM PST to correct a few typos that got past me last night, including a capitalization error, a date that read 2026 when it should have been 2016, and a spelling correction.

After days spent largely hiding from public view, the President of the United States reemerged for a campaign rally at a police academy in Garden City, New York. The event was billed as the unveiling of the FBI’s 2025 Crime Statistics Report, but over 70 minutes it became a campaign rally in which he praised loyalists, attacked the press, and admitted, “I hate reading these boring speeches.” And then came the most disturbing moment of the day, when an 80-year-old man whose name appears more than 38,000 times in the Epstein files became fixated on the young women who work in the White House. “These young, beautiful girls,” he said, over and over, standing in a room full of law enforcement officers, many of them women. “Now, I’m not supposed to say beautiful, but what the hell?” He could not stop himself.

The crime report he came to tout showed declines in violent crime, murder, and robbery, and Trump took credit for all of it, calling it the largest single-year drop since 1937. What he forgot to mention is that violent crime has been falling since 2022, more than two years before he returned to office, and that during his 2024 campaign he called these very same FBI statistics “fake news,” “phony,” and “a fraud.” When shown data in 2023 that crime was dropping, he had said, “There is no way that crime went down.” He simply says whatever serves him in the moment, trusting that the outlandishness will cover the lie. The officers in that room played their part, cheering when he called Democrats “Dumocrats,” booing their own sitting governor, and turning to jeer at the journalists in the back when he pointed and said, “look at all that fake news.”

But the world he describes does not exist, not even inside his own company. Truth Social’s traffic fell 36 percent last month compared to a year ago. Trump Media shares have collapsed from around $60 to roughly $9, with a net loss of $238 million in a single quarter, and the scheme to sell traders early access to his posts drew barely ten customers. His most devoted fans are growing tired of him, and the donors he expected to pay up are quietly stepping off a sinking ship. He rounded out the event by warning the room that what is happening in their state is “a guaranteed failure,” and though he meant New York, he was describing himself. Because for the average American, the ones not getting richer from his inner circle, life is actually simple: we want to do right by our neighbors, keep our families safe, afford our homes and groceries, and believe the people around us still care. Trump wants us divided, looking across the street and seeing enemies instead of looking up at the people accumulating power while the rest of us fight over what remains. We do not have to participate in that. We can choose each other instead. In two and a half months, we decide what the future looks like.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent journalism is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-14-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump Delivers Remarks, Aug. 14, 2026: Official White House YouTube video

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-to-highlight-violent-crime-reduction-during-visit-to-ny-police-academy

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-iran-strait-hormuz-us-territory-9.7307977

https://www.ms.now/news/trump-touts-crime-stats-as-inflation-complicates-midterm-message

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/06/trump-now-citing-murder-stats-he-used-to-dismiss-as-fake-news/

https://www.thetrace.org/2026/02/trump-state-of-union-crime-fact-check/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/u-s-retail-sales-unexpectedly-post-largest-drop-in-more-than-a-year

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-congress-2026-elections-doj-live-updates-rcna592467

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-oddly-claims-young-beautiful-195511194.html

https://gvwire.com/2026/08/10/traffic-to-trumps-truth-social-falls-sharply-this-summer/

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/facts-bail-reform-and-crime-rates-new-york-state

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/gop-midterm-prospects-darken-as-trump-approval-falls/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-do-special-elections-mean-for-the-midterm-elections/

The event was promoted as the unveiling of the FBI’s 2025 Crime Statistics Report, but it was really a highly produced campaign rally ahead of the midterm elections. Because over the 70 minutes that Donald Trump spoke, he praised loyalist politicians, while attacking the press and the Democrats. He lost his train of thought often, even sharing, “I hate reading these boring speeches… to be honest with you.” He declared he would be taking over territories that do not belong to our country, and he said he is not sorry for the high prices we are paying because of his war in Iran. But the most disgusting moment of the entire event was when he became completely fixated on young women and girls in the White House, and went into a bizarre tangent about how ‘beautiful’ they were and how he knows he shouldn’t say what he was saying but that he was going to say it anyway.

“Every day I come to the White House, people are thanking me. ‘Thank you, sir! Thank you! Thank you, sir!’ Now, these young, beautiful girls. These young, beautiful girls. These young, beautiful girls in the White House, you know, they come in. Now, I’m not supposed to say beautiful, but what the hell? These young, these gorgeous, beautiful girls, they want to be safe, and they come. ‘Mr. President, may I speak to you?’ Yes. ‘Thank you, sir, thank you.’”

That was the President of the United States speaking. An 80-year-old man whose name is referenced more than 38,000 times in the Epstein files, while he was standing in a room full of law enforcement officers. He spoke about young girls like that in front of all of them, including many women. He told the audience he knows he should not say it, and then he said it over and over again. He could not stop himself. On X, Aaron Rupar shared a clip of the president saying this and wrote, “Epstein’s best friend says what?”

The irony of his words at an event that was supposed to be about crime was not lost. His purpose for even being at this event was for the release of the FBI’s 2025 Crime Statistics Report, which showed a 9.3 percent drop in violent crime, an 18.1 percent drop in murder, and an 18.5 percent drop in robbery. Trump stood at that podium and took credit for every single one of them. He called it the largest single-year drop in violent crime since 1937 and added that “Every single number is the lowest number in recorded history.”

But what he forgot to mention was that violent crime has been declining since 2022, more than two years before he returned to office. He did not mention that the murders had already begun falling in 2022, and then dropped sharply in 2023 and 2024 while President Biden was still in office. He also said nothing about how during his 2024 campaign, he called these same FBI crime statistics “a lie,” “fake news,” “phony,” and “a fraud.” When a reporter from Time magazine presented him with FBI data showing a drop in homicides in 2023, Trump said, “There is no way that crime went down.” He has no shame and no conscience. He just says whatever benefits him in the moment.

I kept thinking about something today while I was watching the President’s speech. When we live our lives trying to tell the truth, it can actually be shocking to watch someone lie so easily. Lying makes most of us uncomfortable. We might worry about the consequences and about hurting someone. We feel that little knot in our stomach even thinking about lying because we physically can’t imagine being untruthful. But when lying becomes second nature, that discomfort disappears. There is no hesitation, and there is no shame. They don’t have a conscience that steps in and says to stop. The lies just come out one after the next.

And that is what I kept seeing today. Donald Trump would say something that was demonstrably untrue and simply keep moving. There was no concern that the police officers standing in front of him might know better. No respect for their training or intelligence. No apparent embarrassment that someone could check what he had just said or how it would make him look. He simply said whatever served him in that particular moment and trusted that the outlandishness of it would cover for the obvious lie.

With Donald Trump, there is no moral center underneath any of this. He is not bothered or concerned about truth or facts. He only cares that people are cheering for him. Everything is transactional and exists only to serve Donald Trump. And I think that is also why he is so comfortable surrounding himself with some of the worst people in the world. They don’t require decency from him or ask him to become a better person. They don’t care whether he tells the truth because truth isn’t particularly useful to them either. They accept the hollow version of him exactly as he is, because that version is useful to them. They can manipulate and use him. And in return, he doesn’t just accept them, he elevates and legitimizes them.

The entire event was a performance in grandstanding. Trump and his enablers were attempting to position his administration as powerful men who have performed well in their positions. They were hoping this would distract from everything that is actually going wrong.

And the officers in that room played their part. They cheered when Trump called Democrats “Dumocrats.” They laughed on command, and they booed when he mentioned Kamala Harris. They booed the sitting governor of their own state. And when they did this, the harm went far beyond publicly aligning themselves with someone who has no regard for the rule of law. They weren’t just standing behind and cheering for someone convicted on 34 felony counts. They were sending a message that further divides our country.

Police departments across this country are constantly fighting for public trust and to prove that they serve all communities equally. They are supposed to be nonpartisan when they are in uniform and on the clock so that the public can trust that they protect everyone regardless of who they vote for. This is for everyone’s safety. The more the public trusts its law enforcement officers, the safer everyone is. In one afternoon, the officers in that room reinforced some of the deepest fears communities across this country already have about the people who are supposed to keep them safe.

And then he lied directly to them about their own area of expertise. Trump attacked New York’s no-cash-bail law, saying, “You kill somebody, you rob a store, you go right back out on the streets. It is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.” Every single officer in that room knows that is not how cashless bail works. They know it does not apply to serious violent crimes, and they know that people charged with murder are not simply released to go kill again the next day. He was lying about the very system they operate within every day, and they stood there and let him do it. They just stood there while the President of the United States made a mockery of their training. He disrespected every single person there today.

And when Trump told them he would “always protect our qualified immunity,” he said it as if he were offering them a gift. “Would you like qualified immunity, everybody?” he asked, and they cheered. What he was really offering them was protection. The suggestion that if they stand with him, he will stand between them and accountability. That is not what qualified immunity is supposed to mean. It is a legal doctrine meant to shield government officials from certain civil liability, not a blanket promise from a president that law enforcement can do whatever it wants without consequences. Donald Trump was not strengthening good policing today. He was encouraging impunity. He was telling law enforcement that he will protect them, and asking for their loyalty in return.

He also tested a new talking point today, repeatedly layering the phrase “common sense” throughout his speech. “I’m a commonsense guy more than a conservative guy,” he said. “It’s all about common sense.” He doesn’t want his audience to examine whether what he is saying is actually true. He wants them to accept his words as the obvious conclusion that any reasonable person should already understand. Once people accept that, everything else he says becomes the logical response, even the unpopular culture-war distractions become “common sense.” Even policies that might otherwise sound extreme can begin to feel reasonable because he has already told the audience that respectable people agree with him.

That is what makes this kind of rhetoric so effective. It flatters the listener into believing they are part of the rational group, the people who simply “get it,” while anyone who disagrees must therefore lack common sense. Facts and scrutiny no longer matter because disagreement itself becomes evidence that the other side is irrational. He is making everyone who challenges him on anything at all seem unreasonable simply for asking questions.

Dividing people is one of Donald Trump’s favorite weapons, and he will use anything available to do it. He called Chuck Schumer ‘a Palestinian,’ adding that “The radical extremists has not been disavowed by Chuck Schumer, who’s a Palestinian. He’s a full-fledged Palestinian. In fact, I’m looking for Palestinian garb. I’m going to send it to him for his birthday.” Chuck Schumer is Jewish. He is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history. Donald Trump used “Palestinian” as a slur to describe a political opponent who is Jewish.

This moment had nothing to do with Israel or Gaza. This was about Trump seizing the opportunity to take an entire group of human beings, strip away their individuality and humanity, and turn their identity into something his followers are supposed to fear, hate, or laugh at. He does it to immigrants when he calls them animals and invaders. He does it to women when he reduces them to their appearance. And today he did it to Palestinians and to the Jewish people. Every one of these attacks pushes us a little further apart from each other. It teaches one group of Americans to look at another group of human beings as something beneath them, something to fear and to ridicule.

And he didn’t stop there. He called New York Attorney General Letitia James “a real slob” and “essentially a dirty cop.” He called communism and by extension Democrats “the greatest threat to our country in history, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11.” Then he pointed toward the press gathered at the back of the room and said, “Well, look at all that fake news,” encouraging a room full of law enforcement officers to turn around and boo the journalists covering the event. And they did. He is trying to strip what we have in common. He wants us to remember that there is always someone we are supposed to hate and blame. He wants us to walk around always feeling like there is not enough for everyone here, that our resources are stretched too thin, and that some of us are less American than others and less deserving of dignity. And that the people he is telling us to hate are somehow responsible for everything that is wrong in our lives.

The targets keep growing, but the purpose never changes. He needs us to stay angry and suspicious of one another. If he can do that and keep us fighting among ourselves, we might never stop long enough to look at the power and taxpayer money he is taking from all of us.

When it came to the gas prices his war has created, he told the room, “For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember, you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a nuclear weapon... you’re at $4. It’s OK. I mean, it’s... I’ll never apologize.” According to AAA, we are paying the highest August gas price in recorded history.

Trump continues to present a version of the world that simply does not exist. He said once again today that we are the “hottest country” in the world. But that is not even close to being true. Not even inside his own company.

This week, The New York Times reported that traffic to Trump’s Truth Social platform plummeted 36 percent last month compared with the same period last year. Shares of Trump Media have fallen from a high of around $60 to roughly $9. The company reported a net loss of $238.1 million in the second quarter of 2026 alone. And its grand strategy to monetize the platform by selling Wall Street traders early access to Trump’s posts for as much as $100,000 a month attracted just over ten customers. His loyal fans, the Americans who hang on every word he says, are even growing tired of him. And the big donors and businesses he expected would pay for this new membership simply because he offered it are jumping off his sinking ship and starting to distance themselves from him.

He rounded out his event today by telling those in the room with him that what is happening in their state is going to fail. He said, “They’re destroying the city. They’re destroying the state. We want to be there for the state, but we don’t like... what’s happening is a guaranteed failure. It’s a guaranteed failure. It’s not like, oh, maybe it’ll work. It’s a guaranteed failure.” He might have been talking about New York, but he was describing himself and his presidency. He ended his time on stage with that awkward dance and then left the stage.

Looking around that room today, I just kept thinking about how different most Americans are from the man standing on that stage. Because for the average American, the people who are not getting richer from Trump or benefiting from access to his inner circle, life is actually pretty simple. We want to do right by our neighbors. We want our families to be safe. We want to be able to afford our homes and groceries, send our kids to good schools, go to work, come home, and believe that if something terrible happens, the people around us will still care. Nearly everyone agrees that we don’t want to keep living like this. There are fringe people who enjoy the cruelty and like being entertained by watching other people suffer. But I don’t believe that is most of the people. I think about the people we used to have relationships with, our friends and those we called family. Somewhere underneath everything they have been told to fear and hate, there is still a human being in there. And I have to believe that matters.

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I don’t write these every night because I think I am going to convert Donald Trump’s most devoted followers. I write these for you and for me. For those of us who see what is happening and sometimes feel completely alone, exhausted, angry, and frustrated, but know we cannot stay quiet in the face of what is happening to our country. And maybe part of why I keep doing this is because I need the reminder too. I need to remind myself every single day that humanity still exists inside most of us, even when it doesn’t feel that way. Because beneath all of the propaganda and anger, the truth is still the truth. It remains true no matter how many times someone twists it, or how much money or power someone gains by convincing other people to believe a lie.

In two and a half months, we all get to decide what we want the future to look like. Because lies will not keep us safe. Turning against our neighbors will not make our families richer or our lives easier. Surrendering our judgment to an authoritarian will never give us the freedom he promises in return. It only makes us participants in whatever comes next. History has a way of catching up with people who convince themselves that they were only going along with it, and that they didn’t really mean it, or that they thought they would somehow be spared. In the end, we are remembered not only for what we believed we were building, but for what we were willing to help tear down.

And that is why November matters so much. We cannot control what Donald Trump says tomorrow or who he chooses to target next. But we can slow down his destruction of our country, and we can send a message to his enablers that we will never forget what they did.

Donald Trump wants us divided. He wants us looking across the street at our neighbors and seeing enemies instead of looking up at the people accumulating power while the rest of us fight over what remains. We do not have to participate in that. We can choose each other instead. He is trying to drag all of us down with him. But we are not going to let that happen. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Her favorite person is out late tonight, so she was sulking on the couch in the basement. She perked right up after being given treats, so all is good in her world again.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

President Trump Delivers Remarks, Aug. 14, 2026: Official White House YouTube video

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-to-highlight-violent-crime-reduction-during-visit-to-ny-police-academy

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-iran-strait-hormuz-us-territory-9.7307977

https://www.ms.now/news/trump-touts-crime-stats-as-inflation-complicates-midterm-message

https://www.factcheck.org/2025/06/trump-now-citing-murder-stats-he-used-to-dismiss-as-fake-news/

https://www.thetrace.org/2026/02/trump-state-of-union-crime-fact-check/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/u-s-retail-sales-unexpectedly-post-largest-drop-in-more-than-a-year

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-congress-2026-elections-doj-live-updates-rcna592467

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-oddly-claims-young-beautiful-195511194.html

https://gvwire.com/2026/08/10/traffic-to-trumps-truth-social-falls-sharply-this-summer/

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/facts-bail-reform-and-crime-rates-new-york-state

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/gop-midterm-prospects-darken-as-trump-approval-falls/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-do-special-elections-mean-for-the-midterm-elections/

Standing beside a guided-missile destroyer docked in Panama, the Secretary of Defense dismissed reports of harrowing conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln as “completely misrepresented.” But the sailors aboard that ship are telling a very different story. What was supposed to be a routine seven-month Pacific deployment was redirected to the Middle East in January as Trump prepared for his war with Iran, and it has now stretched to nine months away from home. The Lincoln went 208 consecutive days at sea without a single day in port, longer than any aircraft carrier in the modern era, with five straight months of near-constant combat. Families describe food shortages so severe one sailor said his meal was half a cup of rice and two tortillas. Moldy showers, broken toilets, weeks without hot water, mail that simply stopped arriving. And Pete Hegseth’s response was not to fix any of it, but to reassure the country that this blockade could be maintained “indefinitely.”

The human cost is heartbreaking. Multiple sailors aboard the Lincoln have tried to jump overboard. One wife said her husband is now on medical hold after attempting to jump, terrified his 13-year career is ruined simply because he was burned out. On August 3rd, a sailor did go over the side, spending nearly an hour in the water before a helicopter rescued him. The Navy did not contact his wife for four days. She found out from a friend on the ship, and accused the Navy of trying to cover it up. This is not the first time Hegseth waved this away. Back in April, when families first shared photos of half-empty trays with gray slabs of meat, he called it “fake news.” Four months later, that same crew is trying to jump off the ship. Here in San Diego, 200 family members packed a banquet room to confront Navy leadership, one saying her husband had messaged that same day that he “hopes he does not wake up tomorrow.”

But in the middle of this crisis, a beam of light broke through in an unexpected place. Military families spoke out. That is not an easy thing to do, because speaking publicly about a deployed ship can carry real consequences for a spouse’s career, the next assignment, the next promotion. They did it anyway, giving their real names, telling their stories to reporters. And because of them, the pressure worked: the Pentagon is now sending the USS George Washington to relieve the Lincoln. One of those voices was Nicole Conrad, a mother of a sailor on the ship, who voted for Trump and now says he “put our nose in a war that we shouldn’t be in,” telling Hegseth to go visit the ship himself. There is no partisan version of supporting the troops that treats them this way.

See the full story in the video.

Subscribe now

We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent media is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

Subscribe now

I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-13-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/08/11/multiple-uss-abraham-lincoln-sailors-have-tried-to-go-overboard-amid-extended-deployment-families-say/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/13/politics/uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-extended-deployment-hnk

https://www.ms.now/news/conditions-safety-uss-lincoln-iran-war

https://www.ms.now/news/navy-meeting-san-diego-uss-lincoln

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-08-11/abraham-lincoln-middle-east-mental-health-town-hall-meeting-22506344.html

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028091-pete-hegseth-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-middle-east/

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028854-george-washington-replaces-abraham-lincoln/

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/08/13/senator-presses-navy-for-answers-on-uss-abraham-lincoln-deployment/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2026/08/06/uss-abraham-lincoln-faces-poor-morale-from-twice-extended-deployment/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-abraham-lincoln-democratic-senators-inquiry-demand/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/families-rage-at-trump-over-american-forces-aboard-uss-lincoln/

https://www.ms.now/news/uss-lincoln-conditions-pete-hegseth-iran-war

https://www.newsweek.com/uss-abraham-lincoln-deployment-sailors-overboard-safety-concerns-12312965

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/13/reports-of-us-sailors-in-middle-east-trying-to-jump-ship-spark-outcry

https://news.usni.org/2025/11/24/uss-abraham-lincoln-quietly-deploys-from-san-diego

Hegseth comments from Panama: Facebook Video

When the USS Abraham Lincoln left San Diego on November 21st of last year, sailors and their families were told it would be a routine seven-month Pacific deployment. In January, the carrier was redirected to the Middle East as Donald Trump prepared for his war with Iran. It has been stationed in the Arabian Sea ever since. The seven-month deployment turned into nine months away from home.

The crew of more than 5,000 sailors and Marines has been aboard that ship every single day since they left San Diego, except for only two days when they went onto dry land. They stopped in Guam in December, however, many sailors were not allowed to leave the ship. The other time was in Oman just a few weeks ago in July, where those who could get off were confined to a secure compound inside the port. Typically, carriers pull into port every 30 to 45 days for maintenance, rest, and supply replenishment. The Lincoln went 208 consecutive days at sea without a single day in port, which is much longer than any aircraft carrier in the modern era. It wasn’t just about being out to sea so long, though. The crew has also spent five straight months in near-constant combat operations. One sailor described what that feels like: “We’ve just been turning and burning the whole time we’ve deployed. Nothing to really look forward to at this point.”

Families have described food shortages so severe that one sailor told his mother his meal was “half a cup of rice and two tortillas.” Those onboard have described the conditions as having moldy showers, broken toilets, inoperable laundry facilities, and weeks without hot water. Sailors have run out of toothpaste, deodorant, and soap, and are standing in line for more than an hour at the ship’s store only to find the necessities they desperately need unavailable. Care packages sent from home have been lost in transit for months. Mail has simply stopped arriving. A Navy veteran whose son is serving aboard the Lincoln said what so many of us are thinking: “It’s the most dangerous place in the world already, and now you’re grinding it out, day in and day out, with no breaks. It’s an environment that’s ripe for accidents.”

Now we are hearing some truly heartbreaking reports of just what this has done to these service members. Multiple sailors aboard the Lincoln have tried to jump overboard. Annabelle Loma, the wife of one sailor, told the Military Times that her husband is now on medical hold after attempting to jump from the carrier. He had been repeatedly overextended before he broke. She said he is terrified that his career is over because he was pushed past the point a human being can endure. “He’s scared,” she said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right.”

Maria Rodriguez shared another incident where she said her husband grabbed a fellow sailor by the arms and pulled him back onto the deck as he was preparing to go over the side. Three other sailors heard the struggle and came running.

CNN confirmed today that it has gone even further. On August 3rd, a sailor actually went overboard. He was in the water for nearly an hour before he was rescued by a helicopter. The Navy described it as a mental health episode. His wife told MS NOW in an exclusive interview today that the Navy did not contact her for four days. She only found out because a friend of her husband’s on the ship sent her a message. She accused the Navy of trying to cover it up. That is how the military now operates under Pete Hegseth’s leadership. Instead of jumping in to help, they want to pretend it isn’t happening.

Here in my hometown of San Diego, 200 family members packed themselves into a banquet room at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego to confront Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other senior officials last week. Spouses were very emotional, and one went so far as to accuse Navy leadership of “broken trust between us and the leadership.” Another told officials that her husband had messaged her that same day saying he “hopes he does not wake up tomorrow.” One parent said her daughter believed she was never going to come home and that she would die aboard the ship. Another woman questioned the mission itself, saying she found it difficult to be proud of her sailor because she believed the military was killing innocent civilians. Those in attendance clapped for her. Bonnie York, a stepmother of another sailor aboard the Lincoln, said the ship’s own doctor or therapist warned that they needed to get back on dry land soon, or people were going to start losing their minds.

Pete Hegseth’s was just to say it was “completely misrepresented.” He did not address the food shortages or the water contamination. He did not vow to fix the broken toilets, soap shortages, mold in the showers, or the mail that they have struggled to move for months now. What he did do was to tell reporters, “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment.”

He then mentioned that the United States could maintain this blockade “indefinitely.” Even after everything being reported with the suffering of our military and their families, he thought saying it could go on forever was the best way to reassure the American people that they were addressing the crisis.

This isn’t even the first time Hegseth has dismissed what is happening on the Lincoln. In April, when families first reported food shortages with photos showing half-empty trays with slabs of a gray meat-like product being served to the crew, Hegseth called it “fake news” on social media. The Navy has continued to deny there were any shortages and noted that the crew was “resilient.” Here we are, four months later, and that same crew is trying to actually jump off the ship.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Armed Services Committee, sent a letter this week to Hegseth and to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, demanding answers to questions on the deployment extensions and their toll on the crew. He wrote that there have been “widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system,” and asked for assurances that the Navy can sustain Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

Senator Ruben Gallego called for a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the Lincoln, saying there is no reason to deny access. Senator Cory Booker stated, “We cannot claim to support the troops while leaving them hungry.” Senator Mark Kelly, a former Navy captain who flew 39 combat missions and a retired NASA astronaut, called the reports “disturbing” and said that long deployments are hard, but “they are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined, and there is no end in sight.”

The pressure must be working, because we also learned that the Pentagon is now sending the aircraft carrier USS George Washington from the Pacific toward the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln. This is good news for all on that ship, but it also means the Navy’s only forward-deployed carrier out of the Pacific will no longer be there, leaving a large area without a carrier for an undetermined period of time, at a moment when the modern world has never been this insatiable.

This is the human cost of this presidency, with real people hurting. We are watching some of our bravest Americans suffering. These are people who understand sacrifice better than most of us ever will, who volunteered to defend this country. They gave up years of higher pay in the civilian world. They missed their children’s birthdays, their first steps, their school plays and so much more. They left behind spouses who held everything together alone, who learned to sleep in empty beds and answer hard questions from kids who just wanted to know when Mom or Dad was coming home. They did all of this because they believed in something bigger than themselves. And in return, they were sent into a war without a plan to make sure their most basic needs would be met.

What is happening is wrong. Our military deserves better. They deserve leaders with experience and who are capable of winning the wars they start, and better yet, not launching into unnecessary wars without Congress’s and allied countries’ support. If you know a military family in your community, reach out. Ask how they are doing. Ask if they need help with groceries or help with anything else. These spouses are holding their families together alone, some of them for nine months and counting, and many of them are afraid to ask for help because the culture tells them to be strong and stay quiet. We can be part of that change.

If you are near a military base, look into local organizations that support military families. Groups like the Armed Services YMCA, Blue Star Families, and Operation Homefront do real, tangible work, providing meals, financial assistance, and community support to families whose loved ones are deployed. You can volunteer your time and/or your money. These organizations are especially critical right now, so let’s all do what we can to support them.

We can also contact our representatives and demand that they act. That’s our members of Congress and senators. We need them to know that this is unacceptable, that the conditions aboard the Lincoln are a disgrace, and that every elected leader, regardless of party, should be demanding accountability, transparency, and an immediate plan to bring these sailors home and to make sure it never happens again.

There is no simply partisan argument for what is happening on that ship. There is no version of “supporting the troops” that treats them this way. I still remember all of those yellow bows and ribbons we tied everywhere during the Gulf War in the early 90’s. They were symbols of pride, hope, and patriotism that let our service members and their families know that we support them.

This is our time to prove that we really care. This is the moment when we don’t just demand better, we actually hold our elected officials accountable for what is happening.

In the middle of this latest chaos and crisis, we saw a beam of light break through in an unexpected place. Military families spoke out. That is not an easy thing to do. Military spouses understand better than most that speaking publicly about conditions on a deployed ship carries real weight and breaks multiple unwritten rules. There are real concerns about what it could mean for a spouse’s career, the next assignment, or the next promotion. And yet they are doing it anyway, even giving their real names. They are telling their stories to reporters, and because of them, the George Washington is on its way.

Nicole Conrad, a mother of a sailor on the Lincoln, voted for Trump. But she told MS NOW that he “put our nose in a war that we shouldn’t be in.” She told Hegseth to go visit the ship himself. “If you want to sit here and you want to say that Trump is taking care of the soldiers, go yourself.”

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Nobody is looking away from what is happening. Even Trump’s most loyal fans are not happy about what is happening to our military members, and they are starting to see who is responsible for all of these terrible things happening. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: My youngest and I went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and had such a great time. We saw this newborn from the tram while listening to our guide talk about how the consequences of war reach far beyond humans. Animals and entire ecosystems are impacted, too. He gently reminded us that we don’t have to keep living through such destructive times, and that the entire world, humans and animals alike, would benefit from greater peace and stability. I wholeheartedly agree.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/08/11/multiple-uss-abraham-lincoln-sailors-have-tried-to-go-overboard-amid-extended-deployment-families-say/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/13/politics/uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-extended-deployment-hnk

https://www.ms.now/news/conditions-safety-uss-lincoln-iran-war

https://www.ms.now/news/navy-meeting-san-diego-uss-lincoln

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-08-11/abraham-lincoln-middle-east-mental-health-town-hall-meeting-22506344.html

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028091-pete-hegseth-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-middle-east/

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6028854-george-washington-replaces-abraham-lincoln/

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/08/13/senator-presses-navy-for-answers-on-uss-abraham-lincoln-deployment/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2026/08/06/uss-abraham-lincoln-faces-poor-morale-from-twice-extended-deployment/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-abraham-lincoln-democratic-senators-inquiry-demand/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/families-rage-at-trump-over-american-forces-aboard-uss-lincoln/

https://www.ms.now/news/uss-lincoln-conditions-pete-hegseth-iran-war

https://www.newsweek.com/uss-abraham-lincoln-deployment-sailors-overboard-safety-concerns-12312965

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/13/reports-of-us-sailors-in-middle-east-trying-to-jump-ship-spark-outcry

https://news.usni.org/2025/11/24/uss-abraham-lincoln-quietly-deploys-from-san-diego

Hegseth comments from Panama: Facebook Video

Shortly before 9 p.m., under the bright lights of Joint Base Andrews, the President of the United States stepped off Air Force One and launched into a proclamation that the country was not just surviving but thriving. Then came the question he had been waiting for: Is he serious about seeking a third term? He smirked and laughed. “I’d love to run, but the law is very strong,” he said, three times, as if it were off the table. But this is the same man who posts “Trump 2028” memes regularly and wears a Trump 2028 hat. The 22nd Amendment was written deliberately and permanently after FDR’s four terms, because the country decided no one person should hold that much power for that long. There are no loopholes. There are no third terms. And yet he keeps saying it, because this is how authoritarian leaders normalize the unthinkable. Say it once, people laugh. Say it 15 times, and suddenly people debate it. You do not need to change the law if you can change what people are willing to accept.

He was also asked, for the first time face to face, about the secret plane swap in Turkey, when he was hidden in a catering truck and flown separately while the press and his own staff were left aboard the decoy plane during an Iranian assassination threat, never told the danger they were in. Given every opportunity to express regret, he instead invented an alternative reality, claiming “the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” and pivoted to bravado: “I don’t worry about anything to be honest.” Hours later came another shakeup. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is departing at the end of the month, with Trump announcing she will become one of his “top outside advisors.” And buried in that phrase may be the real story, because the Justice Department just issued a memo claiming the president can assert executive privilege over communications with private outside advisers. She may be walking out of the White House and directly behind the newest wall they are building against congressional oversight. Whether she was pushed out or is getting off a ship taking on water, we will have to watch and see.

The energy is shifting, and resistance in 2026 does not always look like a courtroom battle or millions in the street. Sometimes it looks like Taylor Swift quietly pulling her music off the internet after Team Trump used her song “August” in a propaganda video, taunting her by name. Days later, the audio was gone, replaced by a copyright notice. She never said a word. She just removed the music and let the silence do the talking. The primaries are winding down state by state, the midterms are right around the corner, and after everything this country has been through, they have not been able to silence us. The courts have held when it mattered. People are finding their footing and their voices. The resistance has evolved, and it is ramping right back up.

See the full story in the video.

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We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

Thank you for your continued support. Your paid subscriptions have enabled me to add a video editor and reach more people.

Independent journalism is under attack. You can make a difference with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country, defend myself from constant pressure from MAGA extremists, and ultimately spread the message to more people.

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I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE, and based on the events of 8-12-2026.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Sources:

President Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews, Aug. 11, 2026: YouTube video

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6024436-donald-trump-third-term-talk-ohio/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-third-term-jokes_l_6a67a7c8e4b006a1a83748bc

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/10/trump-flew-secrecy-amid-iran-threat-air-force-one-became-decoy/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-step-down-end-of-august-rcna592223

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6022381-doj-executive-privilege-outside-advisers/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/10/politics/taylor-swift-trump-music

“So, the Patriot Games were tremendous, a tremendous success, great young athlete, the future of our country, and we had a great time in Ohio, a fantastic time in Ohio. The country is doing well. The stock market’s fantastic record. We have 79 records so far in a short period of time. More people are working right now in the United States than ever before. And prices are dropping fast. Iran is going fine. Going just absolutely fine. We totally control the Strait of Hormose (sic). We have control over it. Nobody else, only us. Our Navy is unbelievable and things are going great for our country.”

As soon as he was finished with that planned statement, the questions came quickly. “Mr. President, you mentioned 2028 several times in the last few weeks. At the dinner, you put on a Trump 2028 hat. Are you serious about seeking a third term?”

He only spoke to the press for 4 minutes and 56 seconds, but this moment in particular got Trump very excited. He smirked and laughed as he said, “Everybody asked me that question, and you know that the law is very strong on that. I’d love to run, but the law is very strong. I get asked by every, well, even tonight they’re screaming at the event, 2028. No, everybody wants me to do it, but the law is very strong. Thank you very much.”

He might have said “the law is very strong” three times as if it was completely off the table, yet he posts memes teasing another term regularly. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was written after Franklin Roosevelt won four terms and the country decided, deliberately and permanently, that no one person should hold that much power for that long. They knew this moment would eventually come, and they knew the threat it would bring. Trump has already thrown around possible loopholes, such as claiming that the amendment does not say “consecutive terms.” But even he seems to understand that is not going to work, because the language does say that no person who has been elected president twice shall be elected again. Constitutional scholars have been clear, there are no third terms.

Before we set this aside as a joke, we need to see it for what it really is, he is attempting to condition us into wanting this more than even he does. This is how authoritarian leaders normalize what should be unthinkable. You say it once, and people laugh. You say it again, and they debate it. You say it 15 times, and suddenly people see it as a real possibility and a God-given right being taken away from Trump if he does not get to run again. You do not need to change the law if you can change what people are willing to accept. And that is exactly what Trump is doing. He is testing how far he can push this, because he is hoping that someone, somewhere, will find a way to let him do it. Or that if he says it enough, the resistance to the idea will soften, so that by the time 2028 arrives, the Constitution becomes just another easy obstacle to override.

Anoo D. Vyas, an assistant professor of law at the University of Massachusetts School of Law, noted that “If the joke is really a secret way to test the waters on how much a legally dubious theory can fly, then yes, there’s absolutely danger there.” And Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, warned that the real crisis would come if Republicans actually nominated him, because the Constitution prohibits serving in office but does not explicitly prohibit running for it. “If Republicans nominated him,” Burden said, “they would be betting that they can violate the Constitution and somehow allow him to serve if he wins.”

There was one other moment that Trump tried to use manipulation tactics. When a reporter asked about his secret plane swapping in Turkey last month on the catering truck while the press and members of his own staff were left on the decoy plane during the Iranian assassination threat, Trump did not express concern for the people he left behind. He had every opportunity to express regret or concern for the danger they were in. Instead, he tried to make himself sound brave and the one who faced the risk head on instead of the person who was hidden in a food cart and who took the safer risk, leaving others in the dark about the threat that they now faced alone.

When a reporter pressed him directly, asking why it was too dangerous for the president to fly on Air Force One but not too dangerous for the press, Trump was cornered and created an alternative reality, saying, “The plane that I flew on was at greater risk. I think they would be more likely to go for it.”

Without missing a beat, he pivoted to framing himself as fearless. “Not surprised. I have a lot of threats. I have a lot of threats that you don’t know about. When asked if he worries about a shoulder-fired missile, he said, “I don’t worry about anything to be honest. Whatever it is, you know my attitude. Whatever.”

Trump struggled to communicate anything that resembled the truth last night, and he is about to have even greater communication struggles in just a couple of weeks. Because at 3:34 pm this afternoon, Trump posted on Truth Social that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt would be “departing her role at the end of the month so she can spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!” He called her “one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office” and said she would become “one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections.”

Eight minutes later, Karoline posted her own statement on X. It read more like a campaign launch than a resignation letter. She thanked Donald Trump for “granting me” the privilege of working in the West Wing. She said she had “relished holding the liberal media accountable.” And then she shifted into full right-wing opportunist mode, writing, “Our country is facing an existential threat from an increasingly extremist Democrat Party that seeks to destroy everything great about America, and I believe it is incumbent upon all of us who care about this country to fight back against that threat. My fight is entering a new phase, but it is far from over.”

The questions surrounding her departure are mounting. She appears to be walking away from the White House podium voluntarily, less than a month after returning from maternity leave. Trump never named a replacement for her while she was gone, and briefings became rare during and after her return. The question at this time really is whether she was pushed out or really chose to leave on her own. On social media, people are wondering if Trump was frustrated with her. Or did she look around and decide that this was the right moment to get off a ship that is starting to take on water?

One thing that is worth mentioning was a line she included in her resignation post on X, with the Department of Justice recently issuing a memo stating that the president could claim executive privilege over communications with private outside advisers. Leavitt’s stated that she would be transitioning to a “top outside adviser.” It sounds like she might be aligning any future conversations with Trump as shielded from congressional oversight in ways they never would have been while she was a government employee. Whether that was the plan all along or just a convenient result, we will have to watch and see.

The last month or so, the mood around Trump and the accelerating destruction he is unleashing on our country seemed to have caused a deepening sense that the future was already written and resistance was futile. But the energy seems to be shifting. We are getting through the primaries state by state, and the midterms are right around the corner. When we look back over the last two years, right before Trump was re-elected, we have been through a lot. Our country and the world have been through a lot. But we have survived. Not without tremendous loss and suffering that is still ongoing, but they have not been able to silence us. The courts have held when it mattered, and people have been finding their individual footings and voices. The resistance has not been seamless, nor ordinary. We seem to have abandoned protests and rallies, and I will never understand why we are not out in the streets, but that never meant we had given up. We have just evolved. One example is that Taylor Swift has been systematically removing her music from social media to stop Trump and White House from using it with their social media posts. The Team Trump account posted a video of Donald and Melania watching fireworks set to Swift’s song “August,” with the caption, “I’m sure @Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song!” Days later, the audio was gone. TikTok now displays this message on those posts: “The copyright owner hasn’t made this sound available in your country.” Taylor Swift never said a word about any of it. She just removed the music and let the silence do the talking.

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This is what resistance looks like in 2026. It does not always look like a courtroom battle or a congressional hearing, though we need all of those too. And it doesn’t have to look like millions of people in the street either. Sometimes it looks like a songwriter quietly pulling her music off a propaganda video posted by the president’s team. We need all the resistance we can muster. And from the looks of it, we are ramping that resistance right back up. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

Heather Delaney Reese

I built a blog that reached millions, now I'm fighting for America's future and survival. I expose MAGA lies and the government's failures, cut through the propaganda, and say what we're all thinking.

Subscribe now

Share

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: Saw this on a car in the parking lot today. Had to take a picture.

Sources used in the writing of this post:

President Trump Gaggles with Press at Joint Base Andrews, Aug. 11, 2026: YouTube video

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6024436-donald-trump-third-term-talk-ohio/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-third-term-jokes_l_6a67a7c8e4b006a1a83748bc

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/08/10/trump-flew-secrecy-amid-iran-threat-air-force-one-became-decoy/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-step-down-end-of-august-rcna592223

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6022381-doj-executive-privilege-outside-advisers/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/10/politics/taylor-swift-trump-music