Joe Manchin told CBS's Margaret Brennan on Sunday he'd never support a socialist candidate. "No way. My God, no," he said, when Brennan asked whether he could back a self-described socialist even if they had good ideas. James Carville was just as blunt, telling The Hill that if Hasan Piker becomes a force in the Democratic Party, "I'm out of here."

I hope the Democrats don't listen to either of them. Manchin and Carville understand how to win conservative states. A party that tunes them out and elevates Piker instead will have a hard time winning Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan in November. Two of those Senate seats flip Republican, and Trump has the votes to confirm judges for the next two years without breaking a sweat.

Sources: Breitbart, Breitbart, Fox News, Leading Report, Gateway Pundit

The U.S. Was hours from the largest military strike since World War II. Trump called it off Saturday night after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran all asked him to hold. Negotiations are scheduled to begin Monday afternoon, per Fox News. Tehran says there's no deal.

What Trump actually said: Speaking aboard Air Force One, the president described a strike already staged and ready. "We were all set to go. Just about at this time. Right now," he told reporters. He posted on Truth Social that Iran and regional partners had agreed to "the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat." He called the deal "imminent" and said Iran's regime is internally divided — one faction wanting to fight, one wanting to negotiate.

What Tehran actually said: A military source told Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency that the Hormuz agreement is "completely baseless" and that "as long as the United States continues its hostile actions and acts of aggression, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed." Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted separately that a memorandum of understanding between the two countries should serve as "the center of gravity" of Iran's future foreign policy — which at minimum confirms some document exists, even if its terms are disputed.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump before the strike was canceled and "expressed concern and asked for clarity," per Axios

The opposition read: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) called Trump's approach "erratic" and "escalatory" on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday, pointing to 18 dead Americans, rising prices, and veterans who "can't afford to put gas in their car." That's the strongest version of the critique. The problem: the alternative (letting the Strait stay closed) produces exactly the economic damage Kelly is describing, at scale, indefinitely. You can watch Senator Kelly’s full interview here.

Watch Trump describe the canceled strike aboard Air Force One.

Sources: Fox News · Breitbart/UPI · Breitbart/CBS · Al Jazeera · The Independent

🏥 UMich medical center to pay $410,000 to Christian employee fired for objections to trans medicine
University of Michigan Health-West will pay $410,000 to physician's assistant Valerie Kloosterman, whom it fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns and refer patients for gender transition procedures. First Liberty, her legal team, secured a settlement that also forces the hospital to adopt a formal religious accommodations policy. Under it, no employee can be compelled to affirm gender transition treatments that contradict their faith or medical judgment.

⚖️ Oklahoma Colleges Now Under Scrutiny for Race-Based Scholarship Program
Medical advocacy group Do No Harm has filed a Title VI civil rights complaint against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and Northeastern State University over a nursing scholarship restricted to American Indian applicants. The NEORAAIN program explicitly limits eligibility by race, which Do No Harm argues violates the same federal law that ended race-conscious admissions at universities nationwide. Both schools are public institutions.

🗳️ Newt Gingrich details plan for senators to win big in November: Exploit 'weird' socialist values
Newt Gingrich delivered a strategy memo to Senate Republicans at a closed luncheon this week, obtained by the New York Post, arguing that Democrats' "greatest vulnerability" is their alignment with Big Government Socialism and what he calls "weird values." Left-wing candidates have already posted wins in New York and Colorado, with Michigan and Wisconsin contests still ahead. Gingrich warned that if Republicans let November become a referendum on inflation and the Iran war, they lose. Make it a choice election, he argues, and Democrats face historic annihilation.

🛡️ Trump immigration agenda faces setback as Obama-appointed judge issues fresh TPS stay
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee in Massachusetts, issued a new administrative stay blocking the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, days after the First Circuit reversed similar stays on Ethiopia and South Sudan. Plaintiffs rewrote their lawsuit around Fifth Amendment claims specifically to survive the Supreme Court's June ruling in Mullin v. Doe, which sharply curtailed lower courts' ability to block TPS terminations. DHS Chief Counsel James Percival called the pattern "naked political activism" by a subset of district judges working around SCOTUS.

💣 Former CBS News Reporter: There Might Be Proof Showing Bidens Were Blackmailed by China
Catherine Herridge, formerly of CBS News and Fox News, says she found documents in the Trump administration's declassified China election interference release that point to Beijing blackmailing the Biden family. The records were prepared for Joe Biden's presidential daily brief. "I can conclude, I think, that it was probably about targeting his family," Herridge said on NewsNation July 25. Tony Bobulinski raised the same possibility in 2020 and handed his documents to the FBI, where they sat for years.