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It’s Wednesday, August 19th. Trump’s been rambling outside like a lunatic about drone ports, grass, and other nonsense. Let me try to cut through the noise and bring you the latest news. As a reminder, remember to preorder our book WTF America and let us know if you did in the comments!
Here are the top stories:
Trump gave reporters a bizarre tour of the White House grounds, obsessing over his ballroom, “drone-proof” roof, bomb shelters, cocktails, grass, and hyping a company that donated to his campaign
Trump called the disastrous situation in Iran “so good”
Trump faces a triple humiliation in yesterday’s elections… We break down the biggest stories out of Tuesday night
Treasury dramatically expanded some long-term debt buybacks as yields remain under pressure
Trump says he expects to meet Kim Jong Un this year, while Kim’s own sister says she knows of no recent communication between the two
China’s completed the first stage of a nearly 6KM artificial island in the disputed South China Sea
Some very bizarre new stories about the Trump-Natalie Harp relationship
And in very good news: Merck and Moderna announced a positive Phase 3 trial for personalized mRNA cancer treatment in high-risk melanoma patients
Quick note before we get into all of this: We put these updates together so you can cut through the noise and quickly understand what actually matters each day. If that’s valuable to you, become a paid subscriber to Meidas+ if you haven’t yet and help us keep this independent operation growing.
You’ll unlock the full update below, including all the stories we’re tracking this afternoon.
Trump’s Rambling Spectacle on the White House
Lawn
While Americans are dealing with the consequences of Trump’s policies, Trump spent Wednesday morning giving reporters a tour of his White House vanity projects. He bounced awkwardly from his reconstructed helipad to his planned ballroom, which he again emphasized will have a “drone-proof roof,” defensive drones protecting Washington, bomb shelters, and…a place for cocktails. He compared his ballroom with a “phenomenal” room he visited while in China.
Then, he started ranting about grass. He said it has “a lot of good ingredients. If you're grass, you're very happy.” And what’s a nonsensical rant about grass without some stock manipulation? Trump praised Scotts Miracle-Gro for providing new grass for the White House, admitted the company had contributed to his campaign, and thanked its owners. The company’s stock rose immediately after Trump’s comments.
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A reporter then confronted Trump about what will happen if the Supreme Court rules against his ballroom. Trump said he “can’t imagine” that happening.
Meanwhile, with the war continuing to spiral out of control, GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan reported that the national average for diesel had reached $5.50 a gallon for the first time since May 28, just 32 cents below the all-time national record. In California, the average is $7. So with all that in mind, let’s turn to what Trump said about the war…
“So Good”
Trump was asked whether he planned to reopen negotiations with Iran, to which he said maybe eventually. But he then emphasized the situation with Iran right now is “so good.” So good? Trump also falsely claimed the U.S. has “possession, complete control” over the Strait of Hormuz, before finally admitting the oil situation isn’t going to be “perfect.” That’s the understatement of the century.
Trump’s Triple Humiliation
Tuesday night saw a whole lot of election results around the country, and a lot of it was bad news for Trump.
In Wyoming, Trump-endorsed Megan Degenfelder was decisively defeated by state Sen. Eric Barlow in the Republican gubernatorial primary. And it wasn’t particularly close. Barlow won with 45% of the vote to Degenfelder’s 30%.
In Florida’s 7th congressional district, scandal-plagued Republican Rep. Cory Mills lost his primary to Ryan Elijah by a lot as well. Trump had enthusiastically endorsed Mills, but today claimed that he actually tried to convince Mills to exit the race. Ok, Donald. Trump-backed Catalina Lauf also lost her race for Florida’s 19th congressional district.
The Trump-backed Byron Donalds won his race in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary. He’ll face off against Democrat David Jolly in November.
Then, there were the upsets.
Progressive Angie Nixon defeated Alexander Vindman in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. And in Pennsylvania, Democrat Brandon Dukes FLIPPED state House district 12, a district Trump carried by about 18 points in 2024. The district has been held by Republicans for nearly 3 decades. Not anymore.
Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltoa finished ahead of Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s top-four Senate primary, although both will advance to November.
Trump’s North Korea Obsession
Trump also announced he expects to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un later this year. But Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, says she’s unaware of any recent communication between the two. North Korea also dismissed the U.S. decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea, saying it “doesn’t change anything.”
Eyes on Treasury
The Treasury Department announced it is at least doubling the maximum size of certain liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated Treasury securities, from $2B to at least $4B per operation in the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors. Longer-term yields dropped on the announcement. Economics Mohamed El-Estian cautioned that efforts to bring down longer-term yields through this kind of financial engineering as “far from a free lunch,” warning of collateral damage and unintended consequences without fundamental changes in policy. Peter Schiff argued that issuing short-term debt while buying back older long-term debt could increase interest expenses and leave the government increasingly exposed as the shorter-term debt matures. Keep your eyes on all of this.
The Natalie Harp Stories Keep Getting Weirder
The New York Times released some new reporting about Trump aide Natalie Harp, AKA Trump’s “human printer.” The Times reviewed several videos showing Harp sprinting long distances across Trump’s Scottish golf courses trying to keep pace with his golf cart. The paper also reviewed a personal letter Harp sent Trump in which she apologized if she’d embarrassed him by walking the course in Scotland, said she always wanted things to be right between them, and described becoming so distracted that she was forgetting to eat and barely sleeping. She signed the letter, “With all my heart, Natalie.” This relationship continues to get stranger the more we learn. Melania Trump, by the way, has not been spotted publicly in over a month.
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Finally, Some Really Good News
I want to end today’s update with something positive. Merck and Moderna announced positive Phase 3 results for their personalized mRNA cancer therapy, intismeran autogene, in combination with Keytruda for certain patients with high-risk melanoma that had been surgically removed. The treatment is personalized to the mutations in each individual patient’s tumor. So researchers essentially analyze the tumor, identify the distinctive mutations, and create an mRNA treatment designed to teach that patient’s immune system what cancer-related targets to attack. The combination has significantly improved recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival compared with Keytruda alone, per the recent tests. This marks the FIRST-EVER successful Phase 3 trial for an individualized neoantigen therapy. It’s not a universal cancer vaccine, nor is it a cure for all cancers. The results apply to a specific personalized treatment for a specific group of melanoma patients, and detailed data and regulatory review are still needed. But this is a MAJOR scientific milestone worth noting.
OK, that’s my update for now. Stay tuned for more. By the way, we’ve heard from lots of people that they recently had trouble playing episodes of the MeidasTouch Podcast. Can you make sure it’s working for you now and let us know in the comments? We’ve been told the issue has been resolved, but want to be sure. And thanks again for everyone who continues to preorder our book, WTF America!
Shoutout to the Meidas Mighty!!!
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