Trump’s War Math Is Collapsing While Russell Vought Quietly Grabs More Power
Today’s news is a lovely little tour through an administration that wants Americans to stop asking questions while it politicizes science, hides military casualties, collects private medical records, expands surveillance, terrorizes immigrant communities, and turns transgender children into ballot initiatives. Apparently, government transparency now means showing us exactly how much contempt it has for us, one horrifying policy at a time.
Key Developments
- Trump’s proposed federal grant rule could give political appointees sweeping control over scientific funding, restrict international research, and allow grants to be terminated with little explanation. Nothing says American scientific leadership quite like letting political loyalists decide which discoveries are sufficiently obedient.
- Russell Vought’s expanding power has made the Office of Management and Budget a command center for dismantling agencies, blocking congressional spending, and concentrating presidential control. Trump may love the spotlight, but Vought appears to be the man quietly rewiring the building while everyone watches the chandelier.
- Trump’s intelligence nominee struggled with a basic question during confirmation scrutiny, raising fresh concerns about whether loyalty has once again replaced competence. National intelligence is apparently just another position where knowing things is treated as an optional personality trait.
- Russia’s next coup may unfold very differently because Vladimir Putin’s execution of Yevgeny Prigozhin and obsession with absolute loyalty have weakened independent military leadership. Putin may have eliminated one rebellion while teaching every general that initiative can be fatal.
- The Pentagon’s Iran casualty count suddenly jumped to 624 wounded troops and 18 deaths after officials divided the conflict into separate reporting categories. The soldiers were wounded in one war, but the Pentagon would apparently prefer that Americans solve a spreadsheet puzzle before counting them.
- Trump’s Iran war numbers continue to shift while the administration promotes convenient statistics about casualties, trafficking, and military success. When the numbers refuse to support the propaganda, this White House simply gives the numbers a makeover.
- Iran has rejected claims of current negotiations with the United States despite a pause in military exchanges and Trump’s claim that Tehran requested a meeting. Apparently, even diplomacy now comes with two completely different realities and a complimentary fog machine.
- The mifepristone water scare is based on a study that did not actually test drinking water for mifepristone. Anti abortion activists found an unidentified substance and immediately promoted it as an abortion drug because facts are inconvenient when panic has better branding.
- Members of Congress condemned a new Red Scare report that portrays civil rights activism and leftist organizing as suspicious foreign influence. The government is once again dusting off the old suggestion that demanding equality must be a foreign plot because America could never produce its own conscience.
- ICE and Border Patrol abuse records document 59 men connected to immigration enforcement agencies or affiliated federal roles who were accused, charged, or convicted of sexual or violent offenses. Federal agencies handed these men badges, weapons, access, and authority, then left vulnerable people to discover what the vetting process had apparently missed.
- Charges involving immigration officers include an alarming concentration of alleged sex offenses and crimes involving children, with 25 documented cases dating from 2025 and 2026. The administration keeps demanding more agents, less training, and fewer questions, which is exactly how institutional danger gets issued a badge.
- The Atlas of Surveillance database helps residents identify Flock cameras and other police surveillance technology operating in their communities. If local officials will not volunteer where the machines watching everyone are located, citizens can finally return the favor and watch the watchers.
- Emergency room records are being demanded by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, including names, addresses, diagnoses, vaccine reactions, and suicide attempts. A tiny product safety agency suddenly wants deeply personal medical information, and somehow we are expected to believe this is about household appliances.
- Anti trans ballot initiatives are advancing in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Washington with millions of dollars from wealthy conservative donors. Billionaires are spending fortunes to make voters inspect children’s bodies and overrule families, doctors, and common decency.
- Winsome Earle Sears has launched a campaign against Virginia amendments protecting marriage equality and reproductive freedom. After losing the governor’s race, she has apparently decided that her next public service should involve asking voters to preserve discrimination in the state constitution.
- Community members can protect neighbors from ICE by learning their rights, documenting enforcement activity, joining local response networks, and attending community defense workshops. Authoritarian power depends on isolation, which is precisely why organized neighbors remain one of its least favorite problems.
Featured Resisters and Resources
- Southern Woven is a reproductive healthcare and telehealth platform that provides access to medication abortion services, educational resources, and reproductive health support across the United States. The organization focuses on expanding access to confidential and medically supervised abortion care through secure online consultations with licensed healthcare providers. Southern Woven offers FDA approved abortion medications, multilingual patient support, educational guides, legal resource referrals, financial assistance information, and discreet mail delivery services designed to help people access reproductive healthcare safely and privately. The platform places a strong emphasis on healthcare accessibility for people living in rural communities, restrictive states, and underserved regions where reproductive healthcare access may be limited. Southern Woven also provides extensive educational content about medication abortion, reproductive rights, healthcare privacy, and patient safety while connecting users with trusted legal, emotional, and financial support organizations.
- Mutual Aid Hub is a nationwide digital platform that connects individuals with local mutual aid networks, community support groups, and grassroots resource-sharing initiatives. The site features an interactive map that allows users to locate nearby organizations offering assistance such as food distribution, housing support, medical aid, and emergency resources. It also enables users to directly contact groups, offer help, or submit requests for support.
What We Are Watching Today
- 12:15 PM EDT
State Officials on Midterm Election - 3:00 PM EDT
U.S. Senate - 4:30 PM EDT
Michigan U.S. Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Campaigns with Fellow Democrats in Lansing - Any pressers with Trump and BIBI and Zelensky
- Scheitler sleeping at Sen. Graham’s funeral (if he attends)
Today’s Call to Action
1. Read Today’s Resistance Survival Guides
2. Sign these Petitions and Send These Pre Written Letters
- https://petition.edwardswire.com/beshear
- Add your name to the petition denouncing Donald Trump for cancelling hundreds of clean energy grants worth a total $8 billion solely because they were going to blue states, and demand Congress put a stop to Donald Trump’s war on clean, affordable energy production.
- Sign the petition: Congress must reject the $1,000,000,000+ Republican military budget. This is a massive, 20-25% increase over last year, and more than four times the proposed increase to social spending.
- Add your name to the petition: The U.S. Senate must reject the SAVE America Act and protect every eligible American’s right to vote.
- Sign the petition: Stephen Miller must resign or be fired.
- Sign the petition: Congress needs to investigate Trump’s insider trading.
- Sign if you agree: It is long past time for Congress to take back tariff power from Donald Trump. Trade policy should not be controlled by the maniacal whims of one man.
- Sign name to the petition denouncing the Trump administration for proposing a new rule that could kick millions of Americans off Medicaid, most because of added paperwork.
- Sign if you agree: It’s wrong for the Treasury Department to break with tradition and put Donald Trump’s signature on our currency.
- Congress must stop Trump’s attack on sacred public lands
3. Verify your voter registration status and help at least one other person check theirs
4. Save contact information for local legal aid and voting support organizations
5. Attend an Event
- Join us Tuesday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET for Why Electric Bills Are Skyrocketing.
- Attend a Virtual Event About the Iran War: Transforming IMEC in Response to the Iran War examines how the war is disrupting energy, shipping, and trade across the Middle East. The panel will discuss alternatives to vulnerable waterways such as the Strait of Hormuz. Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern
- Learn How To Organize Student Voter Registration Drives: Building Civic Engagement Through Student Led High School Voter Registration Drives will give educators and organizers tools for helping students understand voting and lead registration drives in their schools. Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern
- Attend a Discussion About Journalists at Risk: Reporters at Risk: The State of Press Freedom in Iraq brings together journalists and press freedom experts to discuss intimidation, detention, violence, and assassination targeting reporters in Iraq. Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern
6. Contact Your Lawmakers Directly
- Call Your Senators: Stop Unauthorized War With Iran
- Action: Call both United States senators and demand that they support the War Powers Resolution and require congressional authorization for continued military action against Iran.
- Script: Hello, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [CITY AND ZIP CODE]. I am calling to demand that Senator [NAME] support the War Powers Resolution and vote to end unauthorized military action against Iran. The Constitution gives Congress the power to decide whether this country goes to war. American troops are being harmed, weapons supplies are being depleted, and the conflict is spreading across the region. Congress must stop surrendering its authority to the president. Please record my demand for a public vote against any continued military action that has not received congressional authorization. Thank you.
- Call Your Senators: Reject the Saudi Nuclear Deal
- Action: Call both United States senators and demand that they oppose the Saudi nuclear agreement unless it includes strict international inspections and a complete prohibition on uranium enrichment and fuel reprocessing.
- Script: Hello, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [CITY AND ZIP CODE]. I am calling to ask Senator [NAME] to oppose the Trump administration’s nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia unless it includes the strongest possible safeguards. Saudi Arabia must accept comprehensive international inspections and permanently give up domestic uranium enrichment and fuel reprocessing. The United States cannot claim to oppose nuclear proliferation while creating a dangerous exception for a politically connected monarchy. Please demand the full agreement, hold public hearings, and vote against it if these protections are missing. Thank you.
- Call Congress: Stop the SEC Cellphone Surveillance Contract
- Action: Call your United States representative and both senators. Demand an investigation into the SEC plan to acquire artificial intelligence tools capable of monitoring cellphone locations, social media activity, and credit information.
- Script: Hello, my name is [NAME], and I am a constituent from [CITY AND ZIP CODE]. I am calling to demand immediate congressional oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed surveillance contract with Babel Street. Public documents indicate that the agency wants artificial intelligence tools capable of analyzing cellphone location data, social media activity, and credit information. A financial regulator should not be quietly building a system that can track ordinary people without meaningful transparency or clear protections. Please demand the contract documents, hold a public hearing, and block funding until Congress establishes strict warrant, privacy, retention, and audit requirements. Thank you.
7. Boycott Fascist Businesses
- Why boycott Amazon: An estimated 123,000 Amazon employees receive Medicaid at an annual public cost of approximately $927 million. Jeff Bezos grows richer while taxpayers help provide the health care Amazon wages fail to cover. Do instead: Buy directly from manufacturers, independent bookstores, local shops, eBay sellers, or worker owned businesses.
- Why boycott Walmart: An estimated 156,000 Walmart employees receive Medicaid, costing taxpayers approximately $1.04 billion annually before dependent coverage is included. The Walton family has accumulated extraordinary wealth while the public subsidizes its workforce. Do instead: Shop at local grocers, farmers markets, Aldi, Costco, thrift stores, cooperatives, and independent retailers whenever possible.
- Why boycott Tesla: Elon Musk continues denying the human consequences of the DOGE assault on foreign aid, including programs that supplied food, medicine, and disease monitoring. Do not reward him for converting government destruction into personal branding. Do instead: Keep the vehicle you already own, use public transportation, or consider an electric vehicle made by a unionized manufacturer.
- Why boycott X: Musk uses X to spread his political message, attack critics, and dismiss concerns about the consequences of DOGE cuts. Every active user, advertisement, and paid subscription helps preserve the platform’s political influence. Do instead: Move conversations to Bluesky, Mastodon, independent forums, newsletters, or your own website.
- Why boycott Botanic Tonics: The company sells Feel Free, a kratom and kava tonic that critics have linked to dependency and described as gas station heroin. Growing public health concerns deserve more attention than the company’s political connections or wellness marketing. Do instead: Do not purchase Feel Free products. Ask local gas stations, smoke shops, and convenience stores to stop selling them, especially near products marketed to young people.
Let’s Roll Kitties
The common thread today is power without accountability. Russell Vought wants political control over science and federal spending. The Pentagon wants Americans to chase casualty numbers across separate categories. Immigration agencies want more badges without answering for the people already carrying them. Federal officials want medical records, surveillance systems want our movements, and billionaire funded campaigns want control over bodies they will never inhabit.
This is not random chaos. It is a governing strategy built around making oversight difficult, truth negotiable, and resistance exhausting. Unfortunately for them, some of us are extremely stubborn, properly caffeinated, and still keeping receipts.
