Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
Republicans are worried Trump reigniting tensions with Iran is going to ensure Democrats sweep back into power after the midterms. A federal judge just handed the administration another stinging loss, blocking Trump’s attempt to strip grants from blue states and cities. CNN is taking great pains to distance itself from MAGA pundit Scott Jennings’ claims that Mitch McConnell is healthy and well. And Trump’s so-called “Freedom Fuel” gas stations are already charging more than the price plastered all over the White House’s own promotional posts.
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‘He’s Screwing Us’: Republicans Say Trump Dooming Their Chances of Staying in Power
Donald Trump suddenly announced earlier this week that the ceasefire with Iran is over. He said Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz justified the U.S. military’s response of bombing more than 170 targets inside Iran in 48 hours. Iran has since hit back at American targets in four different countries across the region.
Capitol Hill Republicans are furious. Not because they disagree with fighting Iran, but because they think Trump may have just handed the midterms to Democrats by relaunching the war.
One unnamed House Republican told Politico that both Trump and Iran’s leaders share the same instincts for survival and control. They noted that while “not screwing us” might be the president’s goal, “he’s screwing us into political oblivion” anyway.
Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett also didn’t hold back. He pointed out the party has no unifying economic message, and now they have to contend with a messy international crisis mere months before the election.
Some Republicans want Trump to keep hitting Iran hard, while others are worried about gas prices climbing right as families go on summer road trips. Ultimately, the GOP looks like a rudderless party right before voters decide who controls Congress for the next two years.
Federal Judge Slaps Down Trump’s Attempt to Defund Blue States
A federal judge in California just delivered Trump another loss in his ongoing war against blue states.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick — a Barack Obama appointee — blocked the administration from attaching anti-DEI strings to federal grant money headed to Oregon and California. The judge said the move oversteps Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending, which is plainly spelled out in Article 1, Section 8.
That funding helps cities support programs for domestic violence survivors, human trafficking victims, disaster relief and anti-terrorism. Trump apparently uses the term “DEI” to apply to anything helping children, elderly people and Americans targeted by abuse.
Orrick wrote in his ruling that nothing in the Constitution or federal law gives the president the power to restrict these funds, in full agreement with the plaintiffs.
This is now the third time in just a matter of weeks that federal judges have blocked Trump’s anti-DEI moves. It’s starting to become a predictable pattern. The regime keeps trying to use federal money as a political weapon, and the courts keep stepping in to tell the White House no.
CNN Distances Itself from Scott Jennings’ Claims About McConnell’s Health
The mystery surrounding Mitch McConnell’s health keeps getting messier. CNN is making it clear it wants no part of the confusion.
A CNN spokesperson clarified to the Daily Beast that MAGA commentator Scott Jennings, who used to work for McConnell, isn’t a full-time journalist there, and his personal account of a conversation with his former boss doesn’t count as CNN reporting.
Jennings has been claiming he spoke with McConnell’s staff and that the 84 year-old senator may be soon returning to work. On Jake Tapper’s show, Jennings said he’d talked with senior staff and that McConnell is gearing up to go back, though he admitted he didn’t know the exact timeline.
CNN host Kasie Hunt pressed him harder on her show, even suggesting he call McConnell live on air so the public could hear directly from him. Jennings demurred, admitted he didn’t know why McConnell’s been hospitalized and that he didn’t ask for medical details during what he said was a private call.
McConnell has been hospitalized for nearly a month, and hasn’t been seen at the Capitol in more than six weeks. Dispatch audio from the day he was taken to the hospital referenced an unconscious person in cardiac arrest. His staff has said almost nothing publicly. Most of what Americans know is coming from GOP allies like Jennings and top Republican senators like John Thune and John Barrasso, who also claims to have spoken with him on the phone.
To be clear, we have no video showing McConnell is healthy and well, and no public statement from the senator himself. Just secondhand claims from his fellow Republicans. CNN is making it clear that the network won’t vouch for any of it.
Trump’s ‘Freedom Fuel’ Gas Stations Are Already Raising Prices
The White House rolled out the so-called “Freedom Fuel Network” this week, promising gas would be $3.47 a gallon in honor of the “47th President.” But it didn’t take long for that number to change.
The app GasBuddy has been tracking prices at most of the 25 Freedom Fuel locations and found most were charging at least $3.57 a gallon by this morning. Social media posts from New Jersey and Pennsylvania showed the same thing. Not a single tracked station was actually selling gas at the advertised $3.47.
One station in New Jersey was even caught charging $3.89 earlier in the week before it eventually lowered the price.
The White House is now claiming it isn’t actually behind the network and isn’t subsidizing the prices, though its own social media post credited Trump directly for lowering gas costs. When pressed by a Pennsylvania CBS affiliate, a White House spokesperson simply said prices would “fluctuate.”
Energy analyst Tom Kloza told the New York Times that these kinds of promotional pricing schemes never last, saying stations selling at a loss usually only manage to do so for hours, not days or weeks. Gas nationally was well under $3.47 a year ago, but now that Trump has reignited the Iran war, prices are already creeping back up.
That’s your Thursday rundown: Republicans panicking over the war jeopardizing their chances of staying in power, Trump once again losing a court battle over funding for blue states, a major cable news network refusing to let a MAGA commentator’s rumors be mistaken for journalism and the president’s attempt to be a hero on gas prices falling apart just as soon as it got off the ground.
We all know the media outlets captured by MAGA oligarchs won’t report on these stories honestly. And if they do, they’ll be softened and watered down beyond recognition. This is why we created Raw America, because right-wing billionaires shouldn’t get to dictate the narrative. But independent journalism can only survive with your support. If you found this newsletter valuable and you’re still reading on a free subscription, make today the day you upgrade.
Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris, with Raw America. We’ll see you next week.
Here are a few stories you may have missed:
Trump’s Record Stock Trades Are Beating the S&P 500. President Donald Trump’s flurry of second-term stock trading has so far netted him a 37.3 percent return, according to the group Unusual Whales, which tracks politicians’ investments. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index has appreciated by just 23.5 percent over that same time period. Trump made 21,285 stock trades in 2025 alone, which is the equivalent of 85 trades per trading day. Trump’s son, Eric, maintains that neither the president nor his family have control over his trading, and that independent investment managers are responsible for all of the trades.
JD Vance Brags About ‘Army’ of Private Chefs While Americans Struggle to Afford Food. Vice President JD Vance recently appeared on a podcast and boasted about how his life has “totally transformed” since becoming vice president. Vance said that while he previously enjoyed cooking, he now has “an army of people willing to cook my food.” He also bragged about “no more TSA lines for me and the kids,” since he now travels with his own 757 jet. Meanwhile, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” recently turned one year old, and cut food stamp funding by tens of billions of dollars while food banks are seeing higher demand from millions of Americans having difficulty buying groceries.
ICE Agents Who Shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Weren’t Wearing Body Cameras. The Associated Press is now reporting that the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas on Tuesday were not wearing body cameras during the shooting. This is despite the Department of Homeland Security receiving $20 million in federal appropriations earlier this year to equip agents with body cameras, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem vowing that all federal agents would wear them following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this January.
Man Spotted Leaving McConnell’s Home with Floor Samples. Independent journalist Nick Ballasy recently filmed a man leaving Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) townhouse in Washington D.C. with a palette of swatches containing floor samples. The man told Ballasy he was measuring the home for new flooring, setting off a wave of speculation about why McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, was apparently remodeling the couple’s home while her 84 year-old husband is hospitalized. McConnell has said he would be leaving the Senate in January of 2027 rather than seek another term, meaning Chao could be preparing to list the home for sale.
