by Steve Benen | Aug 13, 2026 | 2026 election, Congress, elections, Maddowblog, News, Politics
For generations, members of Congress haven’t just benefited from the power of incumbency when running for re-election, they’ve also been largely immune from bruising primary fights that end their careers.
But as is true in so many ways, this year is proving to be quite different. MS NOW reported:
Connecticut Rep. John Larson has been in the U.S. House since before the turn of the 21st century.
A lengthy career in a reliably blue district like this would normally become a safe path to continue serving in Congress. But not this year, when a growing anti-incumbent fervor seems to be gripping the country, dealing blows to Democratic House members and Republican senators alike during a bruising primary season.
Larson, who turned 78 years old last month, ended up losing to Luke Bronin, the former mayor of Hartford, who ran on a platform of generational change. It proved surprisingly effective: Bronin prevailed in a 21-point landslide.
For those keeping score, seven incumbent House Democrats — Al Green of Texas, Julie Johnson of Texas, Dan Goldman of New York, Adriano Espaillat of New York, Diana DeGette of Colorado, Shri Thanedar of Michigan and Larson — have all come up short in primaries since March. That said, it’s not an entirely one-sided phenomenon: Three House Republicans — Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Andy Ogles of Tennessee — have also lost in recent GOP primaries.
Even two sitting U.S. senators — Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas — have seen primary rivals end their career.
The explanations for the outcomes do not fall neatly along straight lines, though the sheer volume of primary losses
by Steve Benen | Aug 13, 2026 | Congress, Maddowblog, News, Politics
The Defense Department this week renamed a military base in Charleston, South Carolina, for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke at a ceremony to honor the occasion. This should not have been an especially challenging task for the Pentagon chief.
All he had to do was travel to South Carolina, say some nice things about the longtime senator and former Air Force judge advocate general, and fly home.
But Hegseth apparently felt compelled to add some unrelated thoughts, condemning “a radical leftist ideology” that he believes has “run rampant in the media, in academia and even among a few members of Congress.” At a ceremony ostensibly intended to honor Graham, the defense secretary proceeded to condemn “the hard left” for having “declared war on our own military,” then the “radical woke ideology,” all before expressing concerns about the evils of “communism.”
When describing Hegseth, all kinds of unflattering words and phrases come to mind, but at his core, the former Fox News host is relentlessly partisan — and not just at military ceremonies. Politico reported:
The Pentagon is shutting congressional Democrats out of classified briefings — and even Republicans are shocked by the brazen partisanship.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth trekked to Capitol Hill at least twice in recent weeks to make closed-door pitches for his record $1.5 trillion defense budget. But lawmakers in both parties say he followed an increasingly familiar pattern of excluding Democrats.
There were no legal, political or procedural reasons for the Pentagon chief to offer exclusive classified briefings to members of one party. Hegseth apparently simply chose to do this because he wanted to.
Part of the problem
by Steve Benen | Aug 13, 2026 | Economy, Maddowblog, News, Politics
On Tuesday night, Donald Trump spoke briefly to reporters on an airport tarmac and summarized why he’s so pleased with the state of the nation.
“The country’s doing well,” the president said. “The stock market, a fantastic record, and we have 79 records so far in a short period of time. More people are working right now in the United States than ever before, and prices are dropping fast. Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine. We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. We have control over it. Nobody else, only us. Our Navy is unbelievable. And things are going great for our country.”
almost every single word Trump said to reporters tonight in this 53 second clip was a lie— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-08-12T03:16:46.595Z
Most of the claims in the Republican’s summary were brazenly untrue. Consumer prices in the United States are clearly not “dropping fast”; the reference to setting “79 records” appears to have been entirely made up; the war with Iran is not “going fine”; and the U.S. military most certainly does not have “control” over the Strait of Hormuz.
But there was one part of Trump’s celebration of the status quo that stood out for me: “More people are working right now in the United States than ever before.”
For those who keep an eye on the president’s rhetoric, the boast probably seemed familiar. In fact, earlier that same day, he said during an interview on Real America’s Voice, “We’re doing better than we’ve ever done. … We have more jobs than, you know that more people are working now than at any time in the history of our country
by Steve Benen | Aug 12, 2026 | Justice Department, Maddowblog, News, Politics
One of the most contentious elements of Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation fight was the since-withdrawn $1.776 billion compensation fund he helped to create. To hear the Republican lawyer tell it, the fund, widely panned by both parties as a “slush fund,” need not be a point of concern: It’s dead, Blanche assured senators, and it’s not coming back.
That was good enough for nearly every GOP senator, but there were a couple of exceptions. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, for example, explained when announcing her opposition to Blanche’s nomination, “I am … keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund — which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters — is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”
So what to make of Donald Trump’s answer when he was asked again earlier this week about the so-called anti-weaponization fund, which the president continued to champion during Blanche’s confirmation fight?
“Well, that’ll be up to Todd Blanche,” he said on Monday.
Asked Wednesday for clarification during a Justice Department press conference, the newly confirmed attorney general added some fresh thoughts on the subject.
Blanche: The president feels very strongly, as do I, that there were people who were victims of a DOJ that was absolutely weaponized. He feels very strongly he would want to make them whole, as do I. But it will not be through the anti weaponization fund. pic.twitter.com/1DMWSMP9Uo— Acyn (@Acyn) August 12, 2026
“The president feels very strongly, as do I, that there were people who were victims of
by Steve Benen | Aug 12, 2026 | Iran, Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics, World
As this week got underway, The Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump had privately expressed optimism about reaching a deal with Iran that would finally reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the president’s confidence didn’t last long. MS NOW reported a day later that Iranian officials said they would only agree to reopen the strait if the U.S. meets all of the conditions that Tehran contends are in the June memorandum of understanding between the two countries.
That would mean, among other things, that the White House would have to unfreeze Iranian funds and take steps to the end recent fighting in Lebanon.
It’s reached the point at which some in the region are reportedly starting to see Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz as a new normal that will persist, even if they’d prefer this were not the case.
It’s against this backdrop that the American president apparently has an idea: pretend that Iran doesn’t control the Strait, reality notwithstanding.
In his latest missive published to his social media platform, the Republican wrote, “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! … Praise be to Allah!” The weird post came roughly 12 hours after he made similar comments to reporters during a brief Q&A on an airport tarmac.
Trump preposterously claims that the US “owns” the Strait of Hormuz— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-08-12T03:23:13.091Z
“We totally control the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said. “We have control over it. Nobody else, only us.” He added soon after, “We have total control over the Hormuz Strait right now. They don’t have control. We have total control. We own
by Steve Benen | Aug 12, 2026 | 2026 election, elections, Maddowblog, News, Politics
In Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, Republican officials have long recognized the challenge they face. They realized months ago that the party was poised to nominate Rep. Tom Tiffany, an election denier and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus who is likely to struggle in a statewide race in one of the country’s most competitive battlegrounds.
To boost their odds, Republicans decided to meddle in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. The rationale was simple: If they spent millions of dollars to boost Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist state lawmaker, they could try to turn the race into a referendum on her progressive views and controversial social media history as opposed to Tiffany’s MAGA record and allegiance to President Donald Trump.
The plan had a certain logic to it, but it didn’t work out. MS NOW reported:
In an upset, Francesca Hong was defeated Tuesday in Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary by David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive who some argue is better positioned to build the broad coalition needed to win in November in the swing state.
Crowley defeated Hong, who was aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, according to The Associated Press. He only recently re-entered the Democratic contest and was backed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
With just about all the ballots tallied, Crowley’s victory was very narrow, but it was enough.
Time will tell what becomes of the Wisconsin race over the next 12 weeks, but as the dust settles in the Badger State, it seems like a good time to take stock of the broader GOP. How have Republican plans to meddle in Democratic primaries worked out over the course of the election cycle
