Good morning everyone! First, a political earthquake in Iowa: Democrats just flipped a state senate seat in a district Donald Trump carried by more than 11 points—shattering the GOP supermajority in Des Moines. In Washington, D.C., veterans protesting the militarization of the capital have forced National Guard troops to retreat from Union Station. And globally, Trump’s 50% tariffs on India officially take effect today—threatening to drive up prices at record speed.
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With that, here’s the news:
Democrat Catelin Drey flipped a deep-red Iowa State Senate seat — a district Donald Trump won by 11.5 points in 2024 — defeating Republican Christopher Prosch in a landslide special election and breaking the GOP supermajority.
Her decisive victory, built on a platform of protecting reproductive rights, defending public schools, and restoring local control, ended Republicans’ unchecked power in Des Moines and signaled a broader national trend: Democrats are outperforming expectations across suburban and rural districts, even in Trump-leaning states, as voters increasingly reject GOP extremism and rally behind community-focused Democratic campaigns.
More than 180 FEMA employees sent a letter to Congress warning that the agency’s inexperienced Trump-appointed leadership has undermined its ability to manage emergencies, putting the U.S. at risk of a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina.
FEMA suspended about 30 employees who signed a letter to Congress warning that Trump administration cuts had gutted the nation’s disaster response capacity, with critics calling the suspensions retaliatory and employees cautioning that scaling back FEMA could trigger another Katrina-level catastrophe and even the agency’s dissolution.
Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen after intelligence reports alleged that at least three Americans with ties to Trump’s administration conducted covert influence operations in Greenland to promote its secession from Denmark, prompting concerns over foreign interference in the Arctic territory’s future.
European postal services in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France, Austria, and the U.K. suspended or planned to suspend shipments of goods to the U.S. after the Trump administration ended the “de minimis” exemption that allowed duty-free imports under $800, creating confusion over new tariffs and customs procedures as a 15% levy on most EU goods takes effect Aug. 29.
Donald Trump announced his administration will seek to reinstate the death penalty for murder cases in Washington, D.C., part of a broader effort to expand capital punishment nationwide, even as crime rates in the city have declined; legal obstacles remain since D.C. abolished the death penalty decades ago, but Trump framed the policy as a strong deterrent while deploying federal control and National Guard troops to address crime in the capital.
The sit-in conducted by United States veterans at Union Station in Washington, D.C. has successfully driven away the National Guard from the area just one day after the sit-in began.
A federal appeals court ruled that Pennsylvania cannot discard mail-in ballots over misdated or undated envelopes, finding the requirement an unconstitutional burden on voting rights with little fraud-prevention benefit; the decision, backed by a bipartisan panel of judges, is expected to aid Democrats in future elections and carries major implications for the 2028 presidential race in this crucial swing state.
Trump’s 50% tariffs on India took effect Wednesday as punishment for its continued purchase of Russian oil, straining a key U.S. strategic relationship in the Indo-Pacific; Prime Minister Modi vowed to resist U.S. pressure, warning of harm to farmers and small businesses, while economists cautioned the steep levy could undercut decades of growing ties and force India to seek new markets.
Russian troops entered villages in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time, though Kyiv said they failed to gain a foothold, as Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff revealed Moscow’s peace demands centered on Donetsk; while Zelenskyy pushed for stronger security guarantees amid continued drone strikes, the Kremlin cast doubt on Trump’s stalled peace push despite praising his Alaska summit with Putin.
According to CBS News, the Trump administration reinstated long-dormant “neighborhood checks” for U.S. citizenship applications, directing USCIS officers to conduct on-the-ground investigations and seek testimonial letters from neighbors and coworkers to assess applicants’ “good moral character,” a shift critics say is meant to intimidate immigrants and discourage naturalization after decades of relying on FBI background checks instead.
California Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher announced legislation proposing a “two state solution” to split California in response to Democratic redistricting efforts, suggesting a new state encompassing Northern California, the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, and the Inland Empire — a longshot conservative push that has surfaced repeatedly but never succeeded.
The NAACP sued Texas over its newly redrawn congressional maps, alleging they constitute a racial gerrymander that dilutes the political power of Black voters.
A whistleblower claims Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) uploaded sensitive Social Security data of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, potentially violating federal privacy laws; Doge staffer Edward Coristine, recently assaulted in Washington DC, was named in the complaint.
The European Union is moving to fast-track legislation to eliminate all tariffs on U.S. industrial goods by the end of the week, responding to President Trump’s demand in exchange for the U.S. lowering duties on European automobile exports, Bloomberg reported.
The White House claimed credit for Cracker Barrel’s decision to scrap its rebrand and restore its original logo after President Trump criticized the change on social media, with aides boasting that executives acknowledged his influence; the move came as the company’s stock rebounded following a sharp decline tied to backlash over the new logo.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, former GOP congressman and Fox host, announced the cancellation of $175 million in funding for four California High-Speed Rail projects, deriding the initiative as a “boondoggle” in a partisan press release.
Immigration advocates sounded alarms after Border Patrol agents detained Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, a DACA recipient and activist, at El Paso airport despite her legal protections, sparking protests nationwide and highlighting what critics call the Trump administration’s escalating efforts to strip Dreamers of rights through aggressive detentions lacking clear legal basis.
Pope Leo XIV urged Israel to end the “collective punishment” and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire, safe humanitarian access, and respect for international law, while also demanding the release of 50 Hamas-held hostages as he decried the 22-month war’s terror, destruction, and loss of life.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Donald Trump will chair a White House meeting on Gaza, predicting the war could be settled by year’s end, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepares to meet Israeli FM Gideon Saar; meanwhile, Israeli tanks advanced into Gaza City’s Ebad-Alrahman neighborhood overnight, shelling homes and displacing residents, while Israeli forces also launched a major operation in Nablus in the West Bank.
Good news:
Scientists at Oxford University, working with partners in the UK and Denmark, engineered yeast using CRISPR to produce six essential sterols found in natural pollen, creating a superfood that boosted honey bee colony growth 15-fold compared to standard synthetic diets — a breakthrough that could strengthen hive resilience and secure future fruit and nut production amid declining wildflower availability.
An Australian woman was reunited with her iPad lost two years earlier in the U.S. after posting on a Columbus, Ohio Reddit forum, where locals helped trace it to a recycling shop called e-Cycle; employees confirmed ownership through the serial number and arranged its return, turning her plea for a “miracle” into a heartwarming example of online community kindness.
Police in Rybnik, Poland are searching for a teenage “hero” who, wearing a Hello Kitty t-shirt, intervened to stop a man violently attacking a woman at a bus stop, pulling the assailant off long enough for her to escape before being attacked himself, with authorities praising his bravery as part of their “See—react” campaign encouraging civilian action.
See you this evening.
— Aaron
