◼ The early optimism coming out of the White House meeting with European leaders faded a bit later in the week, as Russian officials insisted they had not agreed to American or European security guarantees for Ukraine after the war, and still demanded that Ukraine must largely disarm in exchange for a promise to not invade again. Either the Russians are changing their tune from what they said behind closed doors at the Alaska summit, or President Trump heard what he wanted to hear. Thursday morning, after Russia bombed an American-owned company in Ukraine, Trump declared on Truth Social, “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out?” This statement could represent Trump finally reversing excessively cautious Biden-era policies, taking the gloves off and allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike anywhere in Russia at any time. Or it could be the president lamenting that if Ukraine can’t “play offense,” what’s the use of continuing the fight? The world could use some clearer thinking, and clearer statements, from the American commander in chief.

◼ Trump vowed on social media to “get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS” and voting machines by executive order. He contends that “the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” but the Constitution recognizes that states are sovereign entities with primary responsibility for both state and federal elections. The Supreme Court has recognized this fact since 1890. As Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in 1995, “When the people of Georgia pick their representatives in Congress, they are acting as the people of Georgia, not as the corporate agents for the undifferentiated people of the Nation as a whole.” A distributed system of 50 state elections has served the nation well, and conservatives have long defended it, most recently against Joe Biden; it would be foolish for Trump to throw it away. Moreover, to the extent that the Constitution provides a federal override of state election laws, it gives that power to Congress—not the president. Trump is also wrong about the policy. While mail-in ballots and some types of voting machines may present security issues, states with proper safeguards have made them work, and it would be costly and impractical to get rid of all forms of machine counting of ballots so long as paper trails of ballots are retained when needed for recounts. Republicans should stand for honest elections. But presidential executive orders are not the way to ensure them.

◼ The U.S. and the European Union released a joint statement on the trade deal they struck last month. It revealed that the EU would eliminate its tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and allow greater market access for agricultural products. The U.S. would charge a 15 percent tariff on EU exports, with exceptions for some natural resources, aircraft parts, and generic drugs. The EU committed to buy U.S. energy, semiconductors, and defense equipment. Where actual trade deals contain more specific details and enforcement provisions to make sure commitments are met, this is little more than a handshake between functionaries. It does not include any changes to the EU’s Digital Services Act, which punishes American tech companies and had been a target for the Trump administration. Higher taxes on Americans, lower taxes on Europeans, and no changes to one of the most anti-American European tech laws: More “winning” on trade from Trump.

◼ President Trump says that he wants a new census done before 2030 and that it should not count illegal immigrants. It’s true that the 2020 census—conducted by Trump’s own first-term Commerce Department—disadvantaged Republican states, overcounting New York and Minnesota and undercounting Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. That was partly due to Covid and partly to blue states working harder to get a complete count. But Trump’s current commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has acknowledged that the president lacks the power to order a mid-decade reapportionment. Moreover, the 14th Amendment requires that House districts be based on “the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed”—meaning that everybody else must be counted, even people here illegally. Legality aside, this would be an expensive undertaking for nakedly partisan purposes. Yet it could easily hurt red border states such as Texas and Florida. If Republicans hold together their current coalition, they could gain significantly in the House and the Electoral College from the 2030 census. But that will have to wait.

◼ By itself, “member of Congress says something crazy” may not seem newsworthy. And that’s part of the problem—because when saying something utterly bonkers no longer generates any significant reaction, pushback, or criticism, there’s less disincentive for elected officials to spout off about any nutty idea or theory that pops into their heads. Anna Paulina Luna, the congresswoman representing Florida’s 13th congressional district since 2023, sat down with Joe Rogan and discussed unidentified aerial phenomena, which is the new term for UFOs. Luna said that witnesses kept using the word “interdimensional” to describe the craft. “Are these things preexisting maybe outside of what we currently know as our own dimension?” She also said: “Look, um, have I seen a portal open? Have I seen a spaceship personally? No. Have I seen evidence of this? Yes. Have I seen photo documentation of aircraft that I believe were not made by mankind? Yes. Is there historical significance to this? Yes. Is there multiple events that go back to, I would argue, maybe even before the time of Christ that have documented this, in text? Yes. So, do I believe that the government has access to certain technology? Yes, to an extent. And I believe that certain contractors potentially have back-engineered this tech.” Do we have hard proof that Luna is crazy? No. Do we have our suspicions? Yes.

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◼ Soon after Trump’s inauguration, there was a spate of media coverage about how Americans were afraid of air travel. DOGE was gutting air traffic control, they said, and the deadly plane-helicopter collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was a harbinger of the danger of flying in Trump’s America. Most Americans haven’t thought that at all. The number of air-travel passengers has been at record highs this summer. It is possible to cut government without cutting safety, and most Americans don’t think about Trump as much as the media do.

◼ The President’s Test of Physical Fitness had bipartisan support until President Obama ended it in 2012. And unlike many such ideas, its fluctuating combination of running, stretching, pull-ups, and other exercises, with a pass/fail element, had some merit. The former kids who have populated mainstream media coverage of Trump’s revival of the test with memories of gym-class horror may disagree. But even these accounts surely self-select for strong antipathy and cannot help but include a few testimonies from people who felt positive about the test. A stronger argument against revival acknowledges the importance of getting kids to be active but denies that the test–inherently competitive, with a strong possibility of failure–is the best way to do it. Fitnessgram, the test’s successor, already did away with its predecessor’s high stakes: Most children pass it. But if the fitness test did not prevent the rise of childhood obesity, the post-test landscape has been far worse. Even before Covid, about one in five people in the U.S. ages 2 to 19 were obese; Covid exacerbated the crisis. Time to start moving.

◼ Political patronage of the arts has worked some times in some places–Justinian building Hagia Sophia, James I encouraging the London theater–but in the United States it runs a risk. Our arts culture is more from the ground up than high: more rock, jazz, and minstrel show than Aaron Copland (and Copland, recognizing it, appropriated popular forms). President Trump’s determination to take over the board of the Kennedy Center and turn it in a more populist direction is thus both realistic and unnecessary–vox pop already picks the nation’s winners. His compulsion to inject himself into every cranny of public life risks backfire. “I turned down plenty” of nominees for this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, he said. “They were too woke. I had a couple of wokesters.” He hosted the awards ceremony himself after initially expressing reluctance, once his handpicked board picked him to do it (how they must have twisted his arm). The next Democratic POTUS will be sure to tap rainbow-party stalwarts. But since the arts community breeds such folk spontaneously these days, perhaps the backlash is not such a risk.

◼ The White House sent a letter to the Smithsonian Institution saying that it would conduct a thorough review of its museums to root out partisan narratives and ideology. Specifically, the Trump administration wants the Smithsonian to recommit to Americanism, or “the people, principles, and progress that define our nation.” If done well, this review can help remove countless progressive distortions of American history that have accumulated on the National Mall. The Smithsonian has, for years, dabbled in a niche progressive worldview that considers oppression to be the defining characteristic of America and the West. Many of its museums have run exhibitions that have reflected a fixation with victimhood: from reducing Latino identity to an endless series of persecutions, to glorifying the Marxist activist Angela Davis, to examining the racist history of sculpture. Rather than keep pounding this same critical note, the Smithsonian should present the full range of American history, including all that makes our country distinctive and wonderful.

◼ Skibidi (/ˈskɪ.bɪ.di/), adj. (humorous slang): a word that can have different meanings such as “cool” or “bad,” or can be used with no real meaning as a joke. Is this the best the Cambridge Dictionary can do? Merriam-Webster’s the ticket: It doesn’t (yet) list this word at all–or the other latest Cambridge Dictionary additions, “delulu” and “tradwife.” Change in our vernacular is inevitable, but what’s the rush? Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese already embarrassed himself by accusing the Liberal–National Coalition of being “delulu with no solulu.” Don’t encourage him. Political speech is the first to go down the skibidi.

◼ Family values, GOP primary fights, and corporal punishment: These are James Dobson’s legacy. Born to a religious family in Louisiana, Dobson was a founder or co-founder of several conservative Christian organizations, including the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Alliance Defending Freedom. But he achieved fame first as a psychologist who promoted spanking for misbehaving children. For several presidential election cycles, Republican candidates spent time either courting or distancing themselves from Dobson, whose large radio audience mattered in primary elections. Focus on the Family produced valuable resources for parents, such as reviews of movies and TV shows from a Christian moral perspective and children’s entertainment such as the Adventures in Odyssey series. It was unjustly branded a “hate group” by the left for its principled opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. Obergefell happened, but so did Dobbs. James Dobson has died at 89. R.I.P.