Good morning. I’m Thom Hartmann.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could soon be out the door, as Donald Trump is in need of a scapegoat for the failed Iran war and desperate sailors on an aircraft carrier trying to jump overboard. Disney and ABC just filed a lawsuit against Trump’s FCC over what they say is a retaliation campaign against the network’s coverage of his administration. Trump’s own former press secretary just called him an “80-year-old man-child” over his recent Oval Office tantrum directed at a female reporter. And GOP lawmakers are in a state of panic as Trump’s war is cratering his approval ratings and the midterms shaping up to be a historic shellacking.
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Trump Officials Say Pete Hegseth’s ‘Job Is in Danger’
Multiple sources inside the Trump administration recently told the South China Morning Post that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may not be in his job for much longer.
Donald Trump is apparently eyeing Hegseth as a scapegoat for his administration’s failure to resolve the Iran war, which is quickly becoming a quagmire. Trump is reportedly furious that there hasn’t been a “solid breakthrough” on the war, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed to shipping traffic and oil prices continuing to keep gas prices at roughly $4 a gallon on average.
Hegseth has also been blamed for the conditions on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, where increasingly desperate crew members have reportedly tried to jump overboard due to persistent food shortages and an unsanitary environment after nine straight months at sea. It’s also been recently reported that a U.S. Navy destroyer lost power for four straight days in the South China sea, leaving sailors stranded with no working toilets or air conditioning.
One source told the Post that Hegseth’s “job is in danger.” Another official confided that the defense secretary is “on the verge of losing his job.” Zhao Minghao, who is an international studies professor at China’s Fudan University, told the Post that Trump might need “someone to take responsibility” for the rapidly unraveling war.
For now, these reports are little more than speculation, but it shows the level of panic within the Trump administration over a war that’s quickly eating through all of his political capital.
Back in 1941, Harry Truman got in his own car and went out to look at the defense plants himself, and the committee he built out of that trip saved the country billions of dollars and God knows how many lives. That's what it looks like when somebody actually wants to fix the problem instead of shopping for someone to blame it on.
Disney Sues Trump’s FCC Over Threat to Revoke Broadcast Licenses
Disney and ABC are now suing the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), trying to block what they say is a politically motivated attempt to strip local ABC stations of their broadcast licenses. The lawsuit accuses the White House of trying to coerce and punish a network that refuses to cave to its demands.
Trump has continued to demand networks pull shows he doesn’t like, and he’s pushed his FCC more than once to yank ABC’s licenses entirely. FCC Chair Brendan Carr — who authored the section of Project 2025 pertaining to the FCC — ordered an early review of eight ABC stations in April, even though those stations’ broadcast licenses weren’t due for renewal until October of 2028. This is the first time in over 50 years the FCC has done anything remotely like that. And that review order came just one day after Trump demanded ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Disney and ABC want the court to issue a temporary restraining order freezing the license review process before the FCC can schedule a hearing. The companies’ legal team argues the administration is violating the First Amendment, and the lawsuit points out that the president has repeatedly attacked ABC’s journalism and viewpoints aired on the network.
License revocations are almost unheard of in American broadcasting. But legal experts say that even just the threat of losing a license can be enough to result in a network into softening its news coverage. That’s exactly the kind of government interference the First Amendment is supposed to prevent.
Trump’s FCC is also investigating “The View,” suggesting the all-female daytime talk show may fall under equal airtime rules due to its political discussions. And last November, Trump demanded ABC’s licenses be pulled after an ABC News reporter asked Saudi Arabia’s crown prince about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump called that question insubordinate.
In 1931, the Supreme Court struck down a Minnesota law that let public officials padlock newspapers they'd decided were malicious, and the point of that ruling was that government doesn't get to sort journalism into acceptable and unacceptable. A broadcast license is just a modern padlock, and everybody in this business understands what it's for.
Raw America will never have to worry about appeasing the government with softer news coverage, because we have no corporate parent with business interests to protect. But our independence is only possible with the support of paying subscribers. Upgrade your free subscription to a paying one today and help keep this work going.
Former Trump Press Secretary Calls Him an ‘80 Year-Old Man-Child’
Sarah Matthews, who was Donald Trump’s deputy White House press secretary in his first administration, tore into her former boss on Monday after he berated a female reporter in the Oval Office. Matthews called him an “80-year-old man-child” over his tantrum.
Matthews argued that Trump obviously gets rattled by strong women, especially reporters who ask him tough questions he can’t answer.
The incident that set her off happened earlier that day, when Trump snapped at CNN reporter Kristen Holmes after she asked him about Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff’s remarks during a recent speech. Ossoff said at a campaign rally that Trump doesn’t actually want to do the job of being president and would rather focus on his ballroom and “travel with Natalie” on a “flying palace” gifted to him by Qatar’s royal family. When Holmes tried to follow up with another question, Trump blew up at her, telling her to be quiet and accusing her of being a “fake reporter.”
This is merely the latest example of Trump going after female journalists who ask him hard questions. He’s previously confronted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for not smiling enough, and even told Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to be “quiet, piggy” when she asked him about Jeffrey Epstein. It’s a pattern that keeps repeating itself, and now even people who used to work for him are calling it out.
In 1892, a mob in Memphis destroyed Ida B. Wells' printing press because she wouldn't stop reporting the truth about lynching, and she kept publishing anyway from a thousand miles away. The urge to shut up a woman who asks the wrong question is very old in this country, and every generation gets to decide whether it rewards that urge or punishes it.
Republicans Panic as Trump’s ‘Mess’ of a War Appears Likely to End Their Majorities
Republicans are now staring down a political disaster of their own making, and they appear increasingly convinced that this president has doomed any chance of them holding onto their majorities after November.
Trump’s prolonged war with Iran is turning into exactly the kind of midterm liability Republican strategists feared most. Republican Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia called the administration’s handling of the conflict a “mess” and warning his party that they’re completely out of touch with working-class voters who are getting squeezed at the gas pump and the grocery store.
Justice said for months, Republicans just assumed things would work out, while he was a lone voice in the wilderness warning that regular folks are getting bled dry and that leaders are focusing their efforts elsewhere.
Arizona Republican strategist Barrett Marson didn’t hold back, saying Trump is apparently the one person in the country who doesn’t seem to care about stubbornly high gas prices, and that he is solely in control of the political fate of everyone else in his party. He said Republican candidates are in a delicate balancing act, trying to simultaneously stay loyal to the president while acknowledging voters’ pain.
Republican Congressmen Tom Barrett of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania recently crossed party lines to support limiting Trump’s war powers when it comes to Iran. Republican Jen Kiggans of Virginia, who is trying to hold onto her swing district, is also pushing hard for a quick end to the war.
In the Senate, Republicans have criticized the White House’s request for another $70 billion dollars in emergency funding for the war, and are demanding more transparency from the Pentagon when it comes to munitions supply and an exit strategy. Vice President JD Vance reportedly tried to wave those shortage concerns away as misdirection meant to encourage the enemy in a closed-door briefing, but a lot of senators in the room apparent;y weren’t buying it. Some even said that denying the logistical reality of the war leaves them exposed out on the campaign trail with no good answers to constituents’ valid questions.
The polling backs up the grim outlook. A new survey from Reuters and Ipsos just found Trump’s approval rating has cratered to a career low of just 33 percent, with 64 percent of respondents disapproving of his performance as president. Only three in ten voters approve of how he’s handled the Iran war, while a staggering 80 percent of Americans — including 71 percent of Republicans — expect the U.S. to be mired in Iran for the foreseeable future.
Democrats are hitting Republicans hard on the war in both House and Senate races. But Trump is continuing to brush off Americans’ economic pain, telling supporters at a recent rally that paying a little more at the pump is a good trade-off to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. But GOP candidates in swing districts don’t have the luxury of shrugging that off, not with an election bearing down on them in less than three months.
Before You Go, Support Journalism That Only Answers to You
Even though we only have a fraction of the resources our billionaire-owned competitors have, this newsletter proved that we’re doing what they could never do: give you the full truth without fear of being censored or having our coverage watered down to please an advertiser. David Ellison would never let CBS News report on how Republicans are in full panic mode about this president’s reckless war. Rupert Murdoch would never allow Fox to report on how Trump is apparently trying to make Pete Hegseth the scapegoat for his disastrous war in Iran. But Raw America doesn’t answer to them. We only answer to you, the reader. And that won’t change as long as we’re in business.
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I’m Thom Hartmann. Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting independent media.
Here are a few stories you may have missed:
Ron DeSantis Appointee Arrested on Child Sex Abuse Charges. 67 year-old Republican official Michael Allen Caruso was arrested by authorities in Palm Beach County, Florida for allegedly molesting a child. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Caruso — a former Florida state legislator — as Palm Beach County’s clerk of courts and comptroller last August, and Caruso is running for a full term this November. DeSantis is reportedly planning to issue an order suspending Caruso of his duties in the wake of his arrest.
Trump Votes By Mail in Florida Primary. President Donald Trump voted by mail in the Republican primary in his home state of Florida, despite repeatedly calling for an end to voting by mail and baselessly alleging the practice was fraudulent. The president has voted by mail in every election since his second term began, while his administration has pressed hard for Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which imposes severe restrictions on absentee and mail-in voting.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Remarks That MAGA Hats Have Become Increasingly Rare. In a recent post to her official X account, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote that she “can’t remember the last time” she saw someone in public wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat. Greene wrote the post while commenting on the recent news that a MAGA merchandise store in Tennessee was closing down due to a lack of business. That store is noq liquidating its inventory and offering a broad 50 percent off discount.
Trump DOJ Seeks to Re-Introduce Criminal Charges Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Department of Justice is now petitioning the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a decision by U.S. District Judge Beverly Crenshaw — a Barack Obama appointee — that dismissed the two-count federal indictment against El Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Last year, Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador and tortured in the country’s infamous CECOT mega-prison. The Trump administration sent him to El Salvador in spite of a 2019 court order preventing him from being sent back to his home country over the likelihood that he would be murdered by gangs if he went back. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have been petitioning the administration to deport their client to Costa Rica.
