by Steve Benen | Jul 20, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics
On the day Donald Trump announced the start of the Iran war, the average price American consumers paid for a gallon of gas was $2.98. In May, as combat operations continued and the Strait of Hormuz closed, prices climbed past $4.50 a gallon.
It was around this time that anxieties among Republican officials and candidates reached new levels. The party was already facing headwinds ahead of the midterm elections, and the GOP’s troubles were poised to be even worse as angry voters, who were already struggling with affordability and the cost of living, weighed their electoral choices.
Last month, however, offered some modest relief — both for consumers and the president’s party — as gas prices eased and the United States and Iran embraced a ceasefire. The developments renewed hopes that prices might yet move closer to where they were in February by the time Election Day 2026 rolled around.
Time will tell what people are paying at the pump in 15 weeks, but for now, relief in mid-June has given way to discouragement in mid-July. The New York Times reported:
After a brief respite, the price of gas is back on the rise. On Monday, the average price at the pump in the United States climbed to $4 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club, as the war with Iran reignited, halting most shipping and pinching already-depleted global refineries.
The price has surged 13 cents higher from a week ago, when it averaged $3.87 across the country.
An Axios report added, “As gas prices go, so may GOP hopes in the midterms.”
Over the weekend, Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on ABC News’ “This Week”
by Steve Benen | Jul 20, 2026 | Iran, Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
After months in which no American troops were killed as part of the war in Iran, the news took a devastating turn in recent days: U.S. Central Command confirmed that three American service members — two in Jordan and one in Iraq — were killed in action and one remains missing after Iranian attacks over the past few days.
Soon after, the U.S. military responded by carrying out a new round of airstrikes to “swiftly punish” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
What’s more, The New York Times reported that shortly before the latest round of U.S. fatalities, Iran carried out other strikes against U.S. forces in Jordan that injured dozens of U.S. service members — developments which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Trump administration officials failed to disclose.
It was against this backdrop that Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo said something on the air of surprising significance.
Maria Bartiromo questioned how Iran could still be fighting, saying she does not understand how the country retains those capabilities when Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s military.— Mediaite (@mediaite.com) 2026-07-19T17:36:56.496Z
“I don’t understand how it’s possible that Iran has the capabilities to fight this way and continue to try to lash out at Gulf countries and U.S. military bases,” the conservative host said Sunday morning, “because the U.S. has obliterated Iran’s military, and [Donald Trump] continues to reiterate that.”
I won’t speculate as to Bartiromo’s motivations, but she stumbled onto an important detail. On the one hand, there’s the incumbent American president who’s spent the last several weeks, if not months, assuring the world that the U.S. military, at his direction, has destroyed Iran’s military capabilities.
Indeed, less
by Carole House | Jul 20, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, White House
We are living through a technological transformation as significant as the birth of the internet, and the decisions Washington makes now will determine who bears responsibility when that technology is used to cause harm. Right now, however, Congress is getting its bill to rein in crypto dangerously wrong.
The CLARITY Act, sponsored by lawmakers who say it is needed to give federal regulators clear jurisdiction over crypto markets that currently fall through the cracks between the SEC and the CFTC, would create a separate regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. The bill may be well-intentioned, but it is riddled with dangerous loopholes that can be exploited by bad actors. For example, even if the bill were to become law, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard could continue laundering funds through decentralized finance platforms, which run on code rather than traditional banking rails, to fund proxy militias. Cartels, meanwhile, could continue using the same platforms to obscure proceeds from narcotrafficking.
Is it OK to deliberately design a system where nobody bears the responsibility?
Think about it this way: When something goes wrong in a powerful automated system, should there be someone responsible, or is it OK to deliberately design a system where nobody bears the responsibility? Under the CLARITY Act, the more a crypto or artificial intelligence system spreads control across algorithms, token holders and automated contracts, the less accountable it becomes. Under such a law, distributing responsibility would stop being a technical choice and become a legal choice to ensure that when fraud happens, when sanctions are evaded, when markets are manipulated, nobody is left holding the bag.
In short, the bill creates exemptions from financial accountability for
by Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr. | Jul 17, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, White House
A federal judge this week rightly rebuked President Donald Trump’s outrageous $10 billion lawsuit against his own country, which originally ended in a bogus settlement that created a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund for his allies and would have granted him and his family sweeping immunity from IRS audits. In ruling that Trump manipulated the judicial process for his own benefit, the judge reinforced what many Americans had concluded long ago: Trump has transformed the presidency into one giant grift.
Trump’s shameless attempts to cash in on the U.S. presidency are why I have introduced legislation to establish basic safeguards that should apply to every president, regardless of party. My proposals would require presidents to place their assets in blind trusts and prohibit sitting presidents from owning or trading individual stocks. I have fought to prevent presidents from receiving blanket immunity from federal tax law, and I have introduced a constitutional amendment that would let Congress review the most egregious abuses of the presidential pardon power.
Trump has transformed the presidency into one giant grift.
Most of these proposals have been flatly rejected by the Republican-controlled Rules Committee along party lines. My constitutional amendment has gained the support of one lone Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who’s retiring.
But these aren’t partisan ideas. Nor are they radical. They’re commonsense protections rooted in a simple principle: Public office exists to serve the public — not enrich the officeholder.
Because corruption isn’t just unethical. It’s also expensive.
Americans know what it feels like paying more for groceries, gas, housing, healthcare and energy. Families are stretching every paycheck and making impossible decisions about what they can afford. At the
by Charles F. Coleman Jr. | Jul 16, 2026 | culture, Opinion, Politics
Rapper Boosie Badazz had a problem. In 2025 the Louisiana-based artist, who had already been convicted of a felony, was facing up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for being found in possession of a weapon. As NOTUS reported Monday, Boosie (whose legal name is Torence Hatch) gave $600,000 to right-wing lobbying firm JM Burkman and Associates to help him get a pardon from President Donald Trump and says he was told on New Year’s Day that it had been secured. But it wasn’t. On Jan. 13, 2026, in exchange for his guilty plea, a federal judge sentenced him to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service and a $50,000 fine, a fraction of the amount he paid in an attempt to get a pardon.
Here it is July, and Boosie hasn’t been pardoned. And not only is he trying to get at least half his money back, he’s making a social media spectacle by calling out the right-wing influencers he says were supposed to help sell his case to Trump, according to the firm’s associates.
He’s calling out the right-wing influencers he says were supposed to help sell his case to Trump, according to the firm’s associates.
Boosie’s case is another illustration of the rottenness of the pardon system in Trump’s presidency. MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian brought to light pay-to-play allegations related to Trump pardons in the series “Justice Interrupted”; in May, Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., sent letters to 17 people they say received pardons or commutations from Trump “under circumstances that warrant further congressional scrutiny.”
In those letters, the lawmakers sought information including: “The
by Steve Benen | Jul 15, 2026 | Iran, Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
For the first two months of the war with Iran, the White House faced plenty of questions about just how much the conflict was costing American taxpayers. Trump administration officials insisted they didn’t want to talk about the price tag and refused to offer even vague answers.
In late April, however, the Pentagon shifted gears. Jules Hurst III, the Defense Department’s chief financial officer, told lawmakers that the military offensive had, as of April 30, cost the United States “about $25 billion.” Two weeks later, that same official offered a revised total, telling lawmakers that the price tag for the conflict was “closer to $29 billion.”
It was tempting to be pleased with any kind of budget figure from the administration, especially after months of silence and stonewalling, but a different kind of problem soon emerged: Many Democrats said the cost estimates were suspiciously and unrealistically low.
There’s fresh reason to believe that their skepticism was warranted. NBC News reported:
The cost of the war with Iran could be more than triple the most recent estimate of roughly $30 billion, according to three U.S. officials and three people familiar with the internal cost estimates.
The Defense Department’s internal overall cost estimate is $80 billion to $100 billion when the costs of repairing damaged U.S. bases, replacing destroyed aircraft and fully replenishing expended American weaponry are factored in, according to the sources.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, was published just hours after the Pentagon’s acting comptroller, Jay Hurst, said at a Senate confirmation hearing that he didn’t have an updated cost estimate for the conflict.
The comments were not well received. Sen.
