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[mike1339]

[mike1339]

[mike1339]

The CIA director confirmed the briefings never happened. Tulsi Gabbard didn’t even know what Senator Kelly was talking about. Obviously, because it was never real. It was a trick. The donors paid for a thing that did not exist. And if it did exist, that would be very illegal. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

Think about who that email is built for. People so devoted to this President that they panic at the thought of letting him down. Supporters who open their wallet no matter how absurd the email sounds. This deception is how the President’s team raises money, and it’s nothing new. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

That is a donation ask disguised as an emergency alert. Any reasonable person could see right through it. But Trump’s fundraising machine isn’t hunting reasonable people. It’s hunting the vulnerable, and it knows exactly how to trick them. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

Trump broke 50 years of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a candidate, hiding for years behind an audit he said was ongoing...before he spent the last 18 months using the presidency as a personal ATM, while his earnings were recorded in the documents he now has to produce. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

Trump sued the British Broadcasting Corporation for 10 billion dollars over an unfavorable edit of his January 6th speech. In that case, he claimed the broadcast had damaged his reputation, brand and businesses. But yesterday, a judge ordered him to hand over the financial records to prove it. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

Flatter Trump, hand him a shiny trophy, tell him he’s great, & he’ll try to make you the head of the United Nations or greenlight tourist flights into a war zone. There is zero policy or strategy here. Just a man handing out enormous, dangerous favors in exchange for being told he’s wonderful... https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

The State Department...has it at Level 4, Do Not Travel, the highest warning there could be. The warning cites “risk of crime, terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, landmines & armed conflict.” Level 4 is the same level as North Korea. But the President said Americans should go “enjoy this beautiful land.” https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

Trump’s unpopular war is dragging on, and Republicans can feel November coming quickly. Politico has reported that the party is entering a bleak new phase, with some allies openly saying they’re stuck in a quagmire heading into the election. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

A recent Washington Post poll found just 28 percent of Americans think this war is worth fighting. The American people do not trust this administration, and performances like Hegseth’s yesterday are certainly not helping. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

We are more than four months into this thing, and not one person in this administration can tell you how it ends. Not Hegseth. Definitely not the President. They can’t define the goal, they don’t have a plan, and the American people know it. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

It doesn’t seem like Hegseth knows what combat ineffective means. If Iran has no navy, no air force, like he’s said, then why would American troops and bases still be under fire? And why would he need another 67 billion dollars? https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/breaking-congress-grills-pete-hegseth?r=49qi9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[mike1339]

In the space of a few weeks, the Israel issue has finally flipped. The critics have become the mainstream and the defenders of Israel are now the outliers. Polls show that 58 percent of Democratic voters say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel and 52 percent call Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. https://prospect.org/2026/07/22/the-israel-issue-flips-palestine-trump-netanyahu-gaza-war/

[mike1339]

In our winner-take-all, single-member-district system, a party in power in a state can deny political representation to an opposing party or a minority group by splitting it up across districts. Gerrymandering loses most of its payoff in proportional systems... https://prospect.org/2026/07/22/proportional-representation-gets-a-new-look-election-reform-voting-rights-act-gerrymandering-redistricting/

[mike1339]

Proportional Representation Gets a New Look. Supreme Court decisions and unrestrained partisan gerrymandering are focusing attention on a fundamental election reform. But one version is more feasible than the others. https://prospect.org/2026/07/22/proportional-representation-gets-a-new-look-election-reform-voting-rights-act-gerrymandering-redistricting/

[mike1339]

Why Paramount Should Be Worried. A look inside the judge’s ruling for a brief pause in Paramount’s proposed deal with Warner Bros. reveals that the merger is in a shaky position. https://prospect.org/2026/07/22/why-paramount-should-be-worried-warner-bros-merger-ellison/