Political News for August 21

Dear Everybody,

 

Here’s the news for August 21.

 

This is John Stith, filling in for Connie Willis for August 21-22-23.

 

In a very crowded field, today’s most baffling news is that Michael Cohen has apparently patched things up with The Donald. Trump appeared on Cohen’s radio show. Cohen once called Trump a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.” I had money on “bury the hatchet in the other’s back.” https://apnews.com/article/trump-michael-cohen-fixer-breakup-reconciliation-interview-7c183e3e579be93df6d83d64b7402379

 

Ballrooms THIS big. Chief Justice John Roberts issued an administrative stay Friday allowing construction of Trump’s roughly $400 million White House ballroom to continue temporarily while the Supreme Court considers the administration’s emergency request. This is despite a lower court finding that Congress had not authorized it. Roberts is counting on the first dance. https://www.reuters.com/world/supreme-court-lets-trump-continue-work-white-house-ballroom-now-2026-08-21/

 

Watch what people do, not what they say, example 23,303. Erik Slavin, editor in chief of Stars and Stripes, said today that the Pentagon fired him for “insubordination” after he gave an interview criticizing possible military censorship of the newspaper. Publisher Max Lederer and Middle East reporter Lara Korte have also been removed or given separation notices amid a broader Pentagon effort to reshape the paper. Congress has historically required it to operate with substantial editorial independence, but that does not appear to be how Hegseth and Trump prefer things. This continued trend of MAGA crapping on military and military-adjacent activity undermines their stated values. https://apnews.com/article/stars-stripes-pentagon-censorship-media-d42affb0c17fef31c6089645c8dbbe70

 

Amendment 1, Trump 0. Trump threatened to sue the Center for American Progress, a think tank, because he didn’t like their report that said National Guard deployments have not greatly affected the crime rate. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/politics/trump-lawsuit-liberal-think-tank.html

 

Trump retaliation, step 832. The DOJ expanded its inquiry into officials involved in the Mar-a-Lago search. The selective retrospective prosecution continues as the Justice Department is seeking voluntary interviews with FBI officials connected to the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, part of a broader investigation examining earlier federal investigations of Trump. The search recovered more than 100 documents marked classified and eventually led to charges accusing Trump of unlawfully retaining sensitive material and obstructing efforts to retrieve it. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/doj-seeks-question-fbi-officials-tied-search-trump-mar-a-lago-estate-sources-say-2026-08-20/

 

Midnight is the deadline to stave off new Canada tariffs. In July, Trump threatened more new tariffs. I wish we could slip a note to Natalie Harp to tell him Americans pay the tariffs. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/world/canada/trump-carney-tariffs-trade-deal.html

 

A Russian “double-tap” drone attack on a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih killed at least 14 people and injured more than 120 on Friday, including 22 children, according to Ukrainian authorities. A second drone struck about 30 minutes after the first, while emergency personnel were responding. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/five-killed-52-wounded-russian-strike-ukraines-kryvyi-rih-2026-08-21/

 

In today’s news most easily mistaken for news from another day, the US has threatened Iran’s economic lifelines and Iran promised a “devastating” response. Washington is preparing what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the “toughest sanctions in history” against Iran and is warning other countries against providing Tehran an economic lifeline. Iran responded Friday by threatening a “devastating” response to further U.S. pressure. US Treasure chief Scott Bessent said, “I’m not sure why oil ​has popped up on this” (Oh, Oh, I’ve got this!) “If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart.” “Kinetic Restart” is new code for military force. Only seven commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz Thursday, about half Wednesday’s already depressed number. Before the war, daily traffic routinely exceeded 100 vessels. Reportedly, the sanctions will be even more crippling than “Double Secret Probation.” https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-says-it-will-impose-toughest-sanctions-history-iran-2026-08-20/

 

Today two private letters Natalie Harp wrote Trump in 2023 were published in full, after portions had previously been described in Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s reporting. They are strikingly personal rather than conventional employee-to-boss correspondence. Harp describes Trump as her “Guardian and Protector,” expresses intense concern about pleasing him and preserving their relationship, and tells him, in one of the most widely quoted lines, “You are all that matters to me.” She also writes about feeling inadequate, wanting his approval and experiencing jealousy or unhappiness about other people receiving his attention. It’s not over until the rabbit cooks. https://www.thedailybeast.com/natalie-harps-intimate-letters-to-trump-revealed-in-full/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

 

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its 5,000 sailors and Marines are heading home after a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea and reports of crew stress and poor mental health. The trip will take about a month. Both the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes published articles after speaking with the family members of service members on board that several sailors have made multiple attempts to jump overboard and are experiencing low morale, exhaustion, and issues with their mental health and suicidal thoughts. So the administration is simultaneously saying there was nothing at all wrong on the ship, AND is sending the ship home and moving the sole Western Pacific carrier to take its place. https://www.livenowfox.com/news/uss-abraham-lincoln-aircraft-carrier-leaving-middle-east

 

The Navy is reportedly trying to decide whether to name a new aircraft carrier after a Black WWII hero or Donald Trump. Gosh, I simply cannot imagine what’s going to happen. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/navy-discusses-renaming-aircraft-carrier-trump-black-uss-doris-miller-rcna593667

 

The US national debt has topped $40 trillion. https://www.wgal.com/article/us-national-debt-in-four-charts/73487070

 

In Good News:

 

DHS confirmed just 185 non-citizens on Nevada voter rolls after claiming there were as many as 16,000. This is very near the same ratio as GOP senators with a backbone compared to total GOP Senators. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/21/dhs-confirm-nevada-voter-numbers

 

Texas and Iowa state races have moved from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up.” Both are states Trump won. And both lean Republican. https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/seismic-texas-iowa-shift-toss-141144963.html

 

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Justice Department cannot enforce subpoenas issued to New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office because John Sarcone, the Trump ally who issued them, was unlawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney in Albany. The subpoenas were part of a federal investigation involving James’s past cases against Trump and his business. Repeated rulings are establishing that Trump cannot simply rearrange titles and delegations to make Senate confirmation effectively optional. https://www.reuters.com/world/appeals-court-upholds-block-doj-subpoenas-ny-ag-james-office-2026-08-21/

 

Primates who like Pets are the luckiest Primates in the World. It turns out some other primates also enjoy having pets. The article discusses new examples and includes a reminder of Koko, the world-famous gorilla, and her adopted kitten. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/science/primates-pets.html A related article in Forbes says two-thirds of US households own a pet and that 97% of pet owners consider their pets to be a part of their family. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/ Thank you, Scamp. Thank you, Bunter. Thank you, Archie. Thank you, Sitka. Thank you, Nero. …

 

This is John Stith, covering for Connie Willis for August 21, 22, 23.

As Connie says, keep calm and carry on,