- Tuesday August 18th, 2026
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
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World & Nation
Trump posts map labeling Strait of Hormuz ‘new US territory’ before announcing no talks with Iran planned
President Trump doubled down Tuesday on his claim to the Strait of
Hormuz on behalf of America, posting a revised map of the area on
social media that labeled the waterway “new US territory.”
Trump posted the image on his Truth Social site, before claiming in
subsequent posts that the area had been cleared of Iranian mines and no
further talks with the Islamic Republic were scheduled.
The president initially revealed the possibility of a permanent US presence in the strait during a Friday event on Long Island.
“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated —
pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the
United States,” Trump said while stumping for Republican candidates in
New York’s gubernatorial and congressional elections.
US ambassador to Turkey 'deeply concerned' about Israeli strikes on Syrian air base
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said the United States is "deeply
concerned" that Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase in Syria
"constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional
stability."
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has not "adopted a predatory posture
nor maintained proxy forces" and has "repeatedly indicated a preference
for de-escalation with Israel," Barrack said.
Barrack said the U.S. "continues to believe that restraint and
engagement offer the more constructive course," urging all parties "to
prioritize logical discourse over further military incidents."
In a statement to Fox News, a senior Israeli official said "highly
sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance" of
the strike on the air base.
“Al-Sharaa understands that he cannot operate like the previous Syrian
regime, which maintained proxy forces. It’s possible that he didn’t
understand what was going on, or didn’t know,” the Israeli official
said.
Fox News Power Rankings: As Democrats turn left, Black voters tap the brakes
Two-thirds of young Americans and 71% of Hispanics disapprove of Trump, but Black voters haven't fully returned
President Trump’s return to office was made possible in part because of
increasing support from three traditionally Democratic groups: Hispanic
voters (41% supported Trump, a 6-point improvement from 2020), young
voters (46%, up 10 points) and Black voters (15%, up 7 points).
There isn’t much evidence that Democrats have figured out how to talk
to these voters again, but for two of the three groups, Trump’s
declining approval rating is doing the job for them.
In a recent Marquette survey, two-thirds of young Americans said they
disapproved of Trump, and 56% said they would support the Democratic
candidate in their district. Hispanics were also unhappy with the
president: 71% disapproved of his performance and 56% said they’ll
support a Democrat this November.
Black voters haven’t come all the way home yet. One in five Black
Americans approves of Trump, but only 69% say they’ll support a
Democrat in their district. That’s 21 points below Biden’s 2020 share
of the Black vote, when he thanked those voters for delivering his
victory.
Ukraine just delivered a masterclass to Putin in a painful missile lesson: Russia can’t stop the attacks on the homeland
Ukraine’s campaign of long-range attacks inside Russia continued on
Monday, less than 24 hours after it launched one of its biggest drone
barrages of the war.
According to Russian officials, six people were killed and four wounded
in the attack, including a 14-year-old in the Belgorod village of
Koloskovo close to the border with Ukraine.
Separately, the Astrakhan regional governor, Igor Yuryevich Babushkin,
said a woman had been killed overnight after a Ukrainian drone struck
an industrial site.
The fresh strikes arrived less than 24 hours after hundreds of
Ukrainian drones were launched against targets across Russia. Moscow’s
Defense Ministry said it destroyed some 822 drones on Sunday. Moscow
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said roughly 600 were headed toward the capital,
with 201 destroyed in the Moscow region.
Poland says it foiled a Russian plot to assassinate an American citizen on NATO soil, acting on a tip from US intelligence
In recent years – and with increasing frequency in recent months -
Russia has been either suspected or accused of numerous actions that
violate the territorial integrity and threaten the security of NATO
member nations. These include airspace violations, drone incursions,
sabotaging undersea communications and data cables, and - most recently
- landing a drone with a high-yield explosive warhead at a NATO heavy
airlift terminal at Halle Airport in the East German city of Leipzig.
Moscow has now added a new act of aggression to its list of dirty
tricks. It is implicated in a plot to assassinate an American citizen
on NATO territory.
On Thursday, 13 August, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced
that the National Counterintelligence and Internal Security Service
(Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego or ABW) and law enforcement
personnel arrested a Russian national on charges of plotting to kill a
dual Ukrainian American citizen living in Warsaw.
“Thanks to the truly brilliant action of our services...we detained a
Russian citizen recruited by Russian intelligence services,” said Tusk.
The Russian national was identified through cooperation with and based
on information provided to Poland by US intelligence. “At the last
moment, thanks to an operation by the ABW and police, we managed to
prevent this execution, this assassination,” stated Tusk.
White House officials slam ‘Jon Jerkoff’ Ossoff after Dem senator’s dig at Trump’s ‘travel with Natalie’ Harp
White House officials unloaded Monday on Sen. Jon Ossoff after the
Georgia Democrat insinuated President Trump was shirking his “job” as
commander-in-chief to go on taxpayer-funded trips with a favored female
aide.
Ossoff’s barb ruffled feathers inside the West Wing, with White House
communications director Steven Cheung deriding “Jon Jerkoff” as “the
biggest cuck loser in politics.”
“Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon
should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he’s a miserable
person who hates this country,” Cheung wrote on X. “It’s because he’s a
radical, extremist Dumocrat.”
Ossoff, who is seeking a second Senate term and is seen by some
analysts as a potential 2028 presidential contender, had accused Trump
of preferring to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” — an
apparent reference to White House aide Natalie Harp — over his
presidential duties in a fiery rally speech Sunday.
Trump Warns Alaska: Vote for 'Real Dan Sullivan'
President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning warned Alaskans to make sure
they vote for "the real Dan Sullivan" in the state's U.S. Senate
primary.
"ALASKA: Be careful, VOTE FOR THE REAL DAN SULLIVAN TODAY," Trump
posted on Truth Social, reiterating his endorsement of incumbent
Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, who is seeking a third term.
Trump accused Democrats of trying to confuse voters by putting forward
another candidate with the same name, Dan J. Sullivan, a retired
fifth-grade teacher who describes himself as a pragmatic Republican.
Trump Weighs Cabinet Rotation Once Leavitt Departs
President Donald Trump is considering whether to use Cabinet members to
conduct White House press briefings indefinitely once press secretary
Karoline Leavitt leaves her position at the end of the month.
Leavitt, whom Trump described as "one of my most trusted aides,"
announced last week she will step down to spend more time with her
family after the birth of her second child.
Leavitt was on maternity leave from late April through last month, giving birth to her daughter, Viviana, in May.
During her absence, Trump relied on a rotation of senior administration
officials, including Vice President JD Vance, to conduct press
briefings. Leavitt returned to the briefing room July 16.
Democrats’ South Carolina presidential-primary scheme is a last-ditch effort to hold off the DSA
By Daniel McCarthy
Don’t believe the Democratic National Committee’s official storyline:
The DNC’s decision to make South Carolina the first Democratic
presidential primary in 2028 isn’t about introducing more racial
diversity into the early contests.
It’s actually about keeping power in the hands of the party
establishment — the people who backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe
Biden in 2020, and who are likely to wind up supporting Kamala Harris
in 2028.
The fix is in.
South Carolina was the establishment’s firewall against Bernie Sanders’ left-wing insurgency twice over.
To win in November, Republicans need to take a page from Obama’s playbook
With Trump's approval rating below 40% and generic ballot favoring Democrats, GOP needs a new strategy
By Justin Haskins
If history is any guide, Republicans could be in store for a beating at the ballot box in November.
President Donald Trump’s average approval rating has dipped below 40%,
while his disapproval rating has climbed into the high 50s. In previous
elections, when presidents had approval ratings below 50%, their
parties have almost always performed poorly in the midterms. Trump is
nowhere near that threshold.
Congressional Republicans are not doing much better. The generic ballot
shows that most midterm voters favor Democrats, and congressional
disapproval has soared in 2026 compared to 2025. It now sits in the
high 60s.
Republicans clearly need a new strategy. As strange as it might sound,
one of the best models could come from their former nemesis, President
Barack Obama, who managed to pull off one of modern political history’s
biggest turnarounds in 2012.
