◼ In a national address, President Donald Trump insisted, again, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Trump described intelligence pointing to China’s acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files, which include names, addresses, phone numbers, and party registrations. He said that members of the “deep state” had withheld evidence of attempts by China to meddle in the 2020 election from his daily intelligence briefings back then. Obviously, any effort by China to hack voter files or interfere with U.S. elections should be investigated. That said, Trump presented no evidence that China deleted or changed votes in an effort to elect Joe Biden. After years of flyspeck examination of everything having to do with the 2020 elections, Trump and his partisans have found no evidence that electoral cheating accounted for the results. This year’s election, meanwhile, deserves some presidential attention. Trump’s approval rating has been sinking, and Republicans face an uphill battle. Trying, lamely, to revive widely unpopular “stolen election” claims won’t make their job any easier.

◼ Yet it is also true that voter fraud occurs, as scandalous revelations from New Jersey confirm. Governor Mikie Sherrill has admitted that the state’s voter rolls include thousands of noncitizens. Hundreds of them are believed to have voted in the past three years. According to Sherrill, these were voters who made no attempt to conceal their noncitizen status when registering, and the problem was computer error rather than deliberate fraud. Even so, the fact that these errors went undetected for two to three years shows why periodic reviews of voter rolls are essential. If voters had to show proof of citizenship to a human being when registering, it is less likely that they could be registered without some entry in the system clearly classifying them as ineligible to vote. Measures such as voter ID, or allowing states to check for citizenship when registering voters, could address these problems. While our elections may never be perfect, our democratic system depends on correctly counting legal votes. There is no excuse for failing to take reasonable steps to ensure that.

◼ Iran has escalated its war against the United States by expanding its assault on global commerce. The Islamic Republic continues to strike ships in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting down the economic choke point once again. In addition, the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen are striking oil tankers in the Red Sea, a second key waterway. Domestic fuel costs are already increasing. Trump abandoned negotiations with Iran after it became clear that the regime would make no real concessions. He has lurched back to aggression, resuming nightly air strikes and threatening to destroy Iranian infrastructure. The regime appears nevertheless to believe that the worst is behind it. Congress is also losing confidence in Trump’s ability to win, as the House passed another resolution to terminate the war. The onus is on the president to prove everyone wrong.

◼ The White House has announced new 50 percent tariffs on Canadian imports “ranging from wine to hockey sticks to cement”: a blow to American affordability as well as Canadian exporters. In an era of rising geopolitical tensions, concern about supply lines, and worries about the Arctic, alienating Ottawa makes little sense. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent unwise diplomatic pivot toward China was something that he was probably always inclined to do, but the Trump administration has now made it easier for him to continue this course. We hope that the White House can see that trying to bludgeon its way to what it sees as a fairer trade relationship with Canada is hurting more than it helps. It should throw a few olive branches on the table as trade talks between the two sides continue. Congress should also step up. The best efforts of the Supreme Court notwithstanding, the law still gives the president too much latitude to turn tariffs into his playthings. The Constitution makes tariffs, like other taxes, a matter for the legislature. Congress should reacquaint itself with its constitutional duty.

◼ A former Army mechanic was charged with arson after he set a fire outside the entrance to a federal building in lower Manhattan that houses the FBI’s New York field office and Department of Homeland Security immigration agencies. Federal investigators say that Andrew Arrabaca, 43, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., admitted to perpetrating an attack motivated by opposition to the U.S. government. According to the criminal complaint, Arrabaca told the FBI that he targeted the entrance of the building, by allegedly pouring flammable liquid on the ground and igniting it with fireworks, because it was “busy.” Three people reportedly suffered minor injuries. Arrabaca is also said to have shot a BB gun at the facility and to have arrived in a wagon bearing an “ICE Off Our Streets” sign that was loaded with pellet rifles, a machete, and two hatchets. If convicted on the charge, he faces up to 40 years’ imprisonment, as he should.

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◼ In his mayoral campaign last year, Zohran Mamdani promised to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister ever visited New York City. Of course, Netanyahu had not committed any crime within the NYPD’s jurisdiction. Mamdani pointed to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu, issued in November 2024, but U.S. federal law—the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act—states that “no agency or entity of any state or local government, including any court, may cooperate with the International Criminal Court.” What’s more, the United Nations guarantees immunity from arrest for any official traveling to or from the annual U.N. General Assembly or for any other reason. Mamdani grudgingly acknowledged that he never had any authority to carry out this campaign promise. But he urged the federal government to arrest Netanyahu, and perhaps associates of his, anyway. Netanyahu might feel that he must attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York this year to prove that no one has the authority to arrest him on U.S. soil. If only Mamdani were as tough on actual criminals as he is on Israeli officials.

◼ Arizona Representative Andy Biggs, who routed fellow Congressman David Schweikert to become the Republican Party’s nominee for governor against pompous incumbent Katie Hobbs, is a more seasoned politician than Kari Lake or Blake Masters. But Biggs is also a bomb-thrower widely identified as one of the leaders of the 2020 “stop the steal” movement. Mark Lamb, the Republican who is running to replace Biggs after having lost the Senate primary to Lake in 2024, is dogged by a sex scandal. Democrats, meanwhile, dodged a bullet when Representative Greg Stanton beat back a socialist challenger. But the state’s headline race may be the one to replace Schweikert in Arizona’s toss-up first congressional district. Jay Feely, a Trump loyalist and former NFL kicker, won the GOP nod, while Democrats renominated Amish Shah, a progressive who had lost to Schweikert in 2024. Moderate voters in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and Mesa, have been the deciding force in recent Arizona elections. President Trump says that state is “FINALLY” turning Republican “AFTER DECADES,” which is the exact reverse of the truth. Since Governor Doug Ducey left the scene, Republicans have not found or even seriously looked for candidates who could carry Maricopa while also motivating the hard-edged base of the party elsewhere in the state. How many more losses will it take to persuade the state’s Republicans to change course?

◼ The results from Maine’s various local conventions have made it clear that the disgraced Graham Platner will be replaced by Troy Jackson as the state’s Senate candidate. Jackson, a former Maine state senator, is singularly unimpressive. He finished third in Maine’s recent Democratic gubernatorial primary. He has gone from being a pro-lifer to a Bernie bro, complete with advocacy for outlawing private health insurance. GOP veteran Susan Collins, running to retain her seat, has meanwhile proven her resilience in past elections. It will take a very Republican-hostile year to defeat her, but this may shape up to be one.

◼ A federal judge imposed a temporary restraining order on the planned merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Trump administration had already cleared the deal, but a dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued on antitrust grounds, alleging that the merger would stifle competition. Their thinking is antiquated. Yes, the two companies combined control nearly a third of theatrical film proceeds and basic cable offerings. But the modern media landscape renders such figures irrelevant. Revenue from the box office pales in comparison with streaming services. Democrats are concerned that one company will own both CBS and CNN, but the rise of digital news means that only a fraction of Americans tune in to either channel. The sale of Warner Bros. has suffered enough interventionism, as federal antitrust cops appeared to favor Paramount over Netflix, which ultimately bowed out. It’s time at last to let shareholders decide where the most value lies.

◼ A coalition of Catholic religious orders, including the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, filed a lawsuit challenging New York’s newly enacted Medical Aid in Dying Act, arguing that the law unconstitutionally forces them to facilitate assisted suicide in violation of their religious beliefs. The law, which will go into effect on August 5, nominally allows health-care providers to opt out of directly participating in assisted suicide but still requires religious providers to engage in referrals, counseling, evaluations, or patient transfers to willing providers. The plaintiffs argue that these requirements would make Catholic groups such as the Dominican Sisters—who are concurrently suing the state over a law requiring them to affirm gender dysphoria—complicit in a practice that their faith condemns. The Dominican Sisters, who have long operated Rosary Hill Home, a hospice serving terminally ill cancer patients free of charge, are invoking the First Amendment in their defense. They should not have to be in federal court at all, but New York’s zealotry on behalf of progressive ideology has left them no other recourse.

◼ What does a six-pack of beer cost? For Alaska bush pilot Ken Jouppi, the answer was a $95,000 aircraft. Alaska strictly enforces its laws against bringing alcohol into dry towns. Jouppi brought a passenger, who was carrying a six-pack of Budweiser, into one such town. Authorities charged that the beer was visible to Jouppi; he was convicted and spent a few nights in jail. They also seized his 1969 Cessna. The Supreme Court will hear Jouppi’s case. He is arguing that his treatment violated the Eighth Amendment’s excessive-fines clause—which the Court applied against the states in Timbs v. Indiana (2019). A central issue will be whether fines must be proportional to the crime on the books or to the specific facts of the case. Jouppi argues that he has no criminal history and was caught transporting the minimum amount of booze covered by the law. Given how easily and often forfeiture has been abused, it is good that the Court is looking closely at its outer limits.

◼ The hapless Keir Starmer is no longer Britain’s prime minister. Unfortunately, he has been replaced by Andy Burnham. The new PM, a more skilled media performer than his predecessor (low bar), may prove more effective at selling Labour’s policies. He might also, with his even greater emphasis on an activist state, push Britain still further to the left. So far, Burnham has promised greater devolution and a war on “neoliberalism.” The first means that London and the southeast, the region that drives the United Kingdom’s ever shakier economy, are in for a kicking. The second means reversing what little remains of Margaret Thatcher’s reforms. This promises a reenactment of the country’s 1970s, a decade of crises the most humiliating of which was then–Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey’s going to the International Monetary Fund with a begging bowl. As it happens, Burnham has appointed John Healey (no relation) to the same post. With some luck, a reenactment of the 1980s, too, might soon follow.