At a Mack Truck factory in Pennsylvania, the President of the United States launched into nearly 80 minutes of a campaign rally that was supposed to be about saving a vulnerable Republican congressman fighting for his seat. Instead, it took him nearly an hour to even mention the man by name, and when he did, he told the crowd, “Nobody wants to hear you, Ryan,” before ordering him onstage. He told stories about himself. He aired old grievances. He did an extended, deeply uncomfortable reenactment involving moaning and groaning that someone unfamiliar might mistake for a medical episode. He praised his truck tariffs at a factory that laid off hundreds of workers last year because of those very tariffs. He bragged that the stock market hit a new high on a day when every major index closed down. The performance didn’t work. It just showed more people the truth. He cannot make anything about anyone other than himself.
By evening, the mask slipped further. After the Senate passed a war powers resolution 50 to 48, the first time both chambers had done so since the Iran war began, Trump posted that the four Republicans who broke ranks had provided “aid and comfort” to the enemy, language pulled directly from the constitutional definition of treason, and called them “Losers” for doing their jobs. But his post revealed something deeper. He claimed Iran was “on the ropes,” yet the United States is not even conducting its own negotiations anymore. We are negotiating through Pakistan and Qatar at a resort in Switzerland, because our word means nothing. Oman’s foreign minister said publicly that the U.S. has “lost control of its own foreign policy.” The country that built the Marshall Plan and brokered the Camp David Accords now needs intermediaries, because no one trusts us at the table. That is what is being lost beneath the daily chaos, and it will take generations to rebuild.
But the most important thing happened far from that rally. ABC News decided to stop complying. After the FCC launched an investigation into The View and forced an early review of all eight Disney-owned ABC station licenses, retaliation widely seen as punishment over Jimmy Kimmel, ABC began airing national ads directly challenging the FCC and asking viewers to use their voices. They hired a conservative former Bush solicitor general to lead the fight, calling the FCC’s actions “an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion.” For over a year, institutions folded before they were even asked, what historian Timothy Snyder calls “anticipatory obedience.” ABC tried that. They settled. They suspended Kimmel in the past. It made no difference. So now they are doing the opposite. That is what it looks like when the fear starts to lift, when one institution stands up and makes it a little safer for the next one. The danger is still real. The midterms are still months away. But the fear is lifting.
This is the audio and video version of my written post from 6-24-2026, which can be found HERE.
*This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
