◼ Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) released a gargantuan 1,141 pages of notes taken by Dr. Anthony Fauci during his time as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In one entry, Fauci declares that the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan “was not the source” of the Covid-19 pandemic but merely the “amplifier.” Yet he refused to say so publicly and repeatedly dismissed the theory that the disease had escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci has insisted that he is not responsible for the draconian lockdown policies that many states and localities enacted during the pandemic. But in another entry, he describes recommending school, bar, and restaurant closures to then–New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the team of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Fauci’s personal notes also reveal an obsession with his own fame and press coverage. “It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable person [sic] in the world,” he wrote in May 2020. At a Senate hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times in response to questions about his role in the pandemic. Many medical experts, scientists, and public health officials have asked why public trust in them has declined so severely since the pandemic. More than any other American, Fauci reinforced the public’s suspicions about the honesty of public health officials—and we’re still paying the price for his duplicity.

◼ Here we go again. Per President Donald Trump, “John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER.” While it has worthy goals, the SAVE America Act—which would introduce national voter ID requirements and require proof of citizenship for voter registration—would violate federalism by preempting states’ primary responsibility of running elections. The problem of noncitizen, and otherwise illegal, voters must be addressed with state laws. But it does not justify a one-size-fits-all federal mandate or the destruction of the legislative filibuster, a crucial bulwark against Democratic overreach that we may soon need again. Trump is characteristically failing to think past his own presidency, and his continued insistence on protracting this fight with Republican lawmakers is foolhardy. Berating the party’s representatives in Congress for a futile cause is far likelier to depress than to motivate Republican voters.

◼ The Trump administration announced sweeping new tariffs on 60 of America’s largest trading partners, with rates between 10 and 12.5 percent. Its justification is that these countries are complicit in forced labor practices that undermine domestic industry. Yet the tariffs apply to Switzerland just as they do to China. In truth, Trump is using whatever legal pretext he can to reconstruct the global tariff regime that the Supreme Court struck down. Like the old duties, the new ones will tax American consumers and businesses, alienate friendly nations, and hurt manufacturers. Republicans should be alarmed. Trump’s tariff obsession is deeply unpopular with voters, especially when the cost of living is their chief concern. Courts will have their say again, but the only permanent answer is for Congress to reclaim its Article I authority.

◼ Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh reiterated the institution’s commitment to keeping inflation at 2 percent a year. But it has run above that target for five years now, and the Fed once again refrained from hiking interest rates to bring it down. The argument that it is coming down without such hikes is looking a little worn at this point. The Fed’s credibility as an inflation fighter would rise if it announced a clear rule that would guide its future policies and showed a willingness to do what it takes to make its target a reality.

◼ The Senate voted along party lines to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence. Given Clayton’s national security experience as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), key Democrats met his nomination favorably. Democrats and some Republicans strenuously objected to the president’s installation of Bill Pulte—his Federal Housing Finance Agency director and a loyalist who pushes lawfare against Trump’s political foes—as acting DNI. Democrats refused to reauthorize the nation’s foreign-intelligence-collection authority while he was in charge. The quickest way to remove him was to confirm Clayton. Yet Clayton turned in a cringeworthy performance at the confirmation hearing, mulishly refusing to concede that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. The office of the DNI is a wasteful bureaucracy. If we’re going to have a DNI, however, it should be someone who can accept reality and deliver unwelcome facts to the president.

◼ Three New York Times reporters published a story that embarrassed Trump: The luxurious plane gifted to him by the Qatari regime had too few defensive weapons; when Iran threatened Trump during the NATO summit in Turkey, the “palace in the sky” had to be replaced by the previous, less spiffy but secure Air Force One. Enraged, the White House ordered an investigation to identify leakers and, apparently, to retaliate against the Times. DOJ regulations require that information be demanded from reporters only when there is evidence of a significant crime and all other sources of evidence have been exhausted. The Trump DOJ subpoenaed the reporters and withheld from a judge that it was also targeting their phone records. After a humiliating SDNY court hearing, the DOJ withdrew the grand jury subpoenas.

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◼ Maine Democrats have selected Troy Jackson, a former state senate president and failed gubernatorial candidate, to replace Graham Platner in the race to challenge Senator Susan Collins. Jackson supports Medicare for All, the abolition of ICE, and (although he used to be pro-life) a federal right to abortion. He wants to end all U.S. support for Israel in the name of ending what he calls the “genocide in Gaza.” These left-wing ideas will provide plenty of ammo for Collins, a centrist Republican who has survived in a blue state for 30 years. Jackson may also have baggage, if less than Platner did. According to the New York Times, Jackson was prone to bouts of anger in the Maine Senate, once throwing a water bottle across the room during a heated argument with a female state senator. On the other hand, Trump remains highly unpopular in Maine. Although it would be hard to credibly portray Collins as MAGA, she has “voted with the president”—which is to say, for the most part, with standard pre-Trump Republican positions—enough times for Jackson and Democratic ad makers to make hay of it. This is likely to be a close race, but a lot of smart people have lost a lot of money over the years betting against Collins.

◼ New York City’s government published a comprehensive list of properties that might be affected by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new pied-à-terre tax on high-value second homes. When pitching the tax, Mamdani claimed that only the wealthiest residents would be subject to it. The database, however, contains more than 960,000 properties flagged as potential non-primary residences—a quarter of all homes in the city—along with names and addresses. This government doxxing of taxpayers’ private information is an appalling breach of trust. At a moment of rising political violence, property owners may now be targeted by ideologues. At best, publishing the database was a terrible mistake. At worst, it was a deliberate “hit list” to name and shame New Yorkers, some of whom may soon be former New Yorkers.

◼ According to the city government, antisemitic hate crimes surged by 182 percent in 2025. That figure is unlikely to decline in 2026. The recent stabbing of a 51-year-old man as he emerged from an Orthodox synagogue by an attacker who shouted “Allahu Akbar” is just the latest evidence that New York, home to the largest Jewish diaspora outside Israel, is an increasingly unsafe place for American Jews. Critics of Mamdani were quick to note that the city’s public officials, the mayor among them, had encouraged this kind of violence. “We want the mayor to stop demonizing the only Jewish state using the most vilifying rhetoric focused solely on the only Jewish state and the supporters of it,” said local Jewish activist Eric Goldstein. “Words matter,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin agreed, albeit without naming Mamdani, “and we all have a responsibility to bring that temperature down.” The mayor will not tone anything down. And if a little anti-Jewish violence accompanies his ceaseless demonization of the Israeli people and their representative government, that’s apparently a small price to pay.

◼ Call it Schrödinger’s war: The U.S. is simultaneously fighting the Iranian regime and holding back. The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. was “surging forces, medics and weaponry to the Middle East” as Trump “considers expanding the conflict against Iran.” A few days later, the paper reported that Trump “has put off a major escalation . . . amid efforts to revive diplomacy to open the Strait of Hormuz and a debate over the impact of declining munitions stocks.” Iran, meanwhile, fired multiple missiles on American bases in Jordan, which were successfully intercepted. “We’re going to beat the f***ing sh** out of them,” Trump told Fox News the next morning. U.S. strikes followed. At this point, they seem like summer thunderstorms: abrupt, intense, and brief.

◼ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Trump in the Oval Office. Both men said that the meeting went well. In recent weeks, Trump has publicly praised Zelensky’s leadership as Ukraine’s position has improved. But Ukraine remains under sustained attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no interest in any kind of compromise. And there are no serious signs of a Russian collapse. Still, it is welcome news that the relationship between Zelensky and Trump remains on an even keel. For that to continue, Trump must accept that a quick peace will remain elusive. More difficult, perhaps, he must work with European leaders to ensure that transatlantic tensions do not jeopardize support for Ukraine in a war with geopolitical ramifications that spread far beyond the Donbas.

◼ The White House made the surprising revelation that Trump would acquiesce to a request by Saudi Arabia to let U.S. companies develop an indigenous nuclear program in the kingdom. The deal would not require Riyadh to renounce weaponization. It would not forbid domestic uranium or plutonium enrichment after a period of “study.” Unless there were secret annexes to the deal, it would not require diplomatic concessions from the Saudis, such as a commitment to normalize relations with Israel. Critics of the arrangement were loud enough that Trump swiftly reversed course. Within days of the announcement, Trump took to social media to declare that the deal was off unless the kingdom formally joined the Abraham Accords: an unlikely prospect. That might scuttle the deal. Nuclear capabilities are more durable than diplomatic relations between states. Saudi Arabia is increasingly Western-oriented today; Washington should not take that for granted.

◼ WNBA guard Sophie Cunningham caused outrage when she commented on males’ competing against females in sports. “I think that I am here to extend love,” Cunningham said in an interview with ESPN. “But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Not surprisingly, LGBT enthusiasts condemned Cunningham as a bigot. Thankfully, she stood by her statements. Cunningham is entirely correct: Female athletes, and girls in particular, must be protected from the harms directly inflicted when males are welcomed in their divisions. It’s unfortunate that stating something so obvious requires courage.

◼ Ann Widdecombe was determined to be a Conservative member of Parliament. When she finally became one, she was equally determined to stick to her principles. She was a Catholic convert, a social conservative, a Euroskeptic firmly on the Tory right, and, beneath a formidable carapace, a kind woman. Her wit, intelligence, unusual charisma, and forthright views contributed to, and capped, her rise in government. Later in life, she briefly served in the European Parliament and became a spokeswoman for Reform UK. She was scheduled to be interviewed on television on the day when she was murdered in her cottage. Although the apprehended suspect’s motives remain unclear, police have confirmed that she was the victim of a targeted attack. Dead at 78. R.I.P.