I am incapable of the incomparable Nicole Lafond today and tomorrow when she takes a well -deserved break.
For the moment, Pastor Doug Wilson has his moment.
Wilson is a radical pastor of Idaho who, as I wrote, wants to try to do America Christian again by establishing a theocracy. In some ways, it’s funny: Wilson is out of the central cast as a pastor of Idaho with great ideas. He built a small religious empire short from Moscow, Idaho: in addition to directing his own church (and founding his own Protestant name), Wilson has a blog, a podcast, a publishing house, a college and more.
It is a moderate quantity of influence that may not be particularly exceptional for a regional religious movement without one thing: Wilson can count the members of the Trump administration – the most highlight, the defense secretary Pete Hegseth – as devotees of his work, and as members of churches belonging to his name. As I pointed out for the first time in May, Hegseth and Wilson met for the first time this year.
Wilson has done things further this year. In July, his Congregation of Moscow – Christ Church – opened a branch in DC, with Capitol Building blocks. Pete Hegseth attended his first service, which I also documented for TPM.
For Wilson, Hegseth represents a unique chance to spread his extreme ideology. Some in its church oppose female suffrage; His name is against women in combat, homosexuality, abortion and pushes to an extremely traditional interpretation of the family structure.
All of this has earned Wilson the attention of CNN, who, in an interview with the man, won the incredibly memorable quote, “women are the kind of people whose people come out.”
In my interactions with the members of the movement, I was struck by the way Wilson, the pastors and the faithful in the name are open. Hegseth himself does not seem to be an exception. He republished the full CNN segment last week, including a section featuring pastors opposed to female suffrage:
– Josh Kovensky
Truth and reconciliation 2.0
After months of exhausting negotiations and intraparty fights for the “Big Beautiful Bill”, some Senate Republicans indicate that they are not in a hurry to create another set of reconciliation.
“You must have a reason to do so,” said senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), according to Politico. “It’s not easy to do, so you must have a goal to do it in the first place.”
Many senators were on board with the first because they wanted to obtain major legislative victories for the second term of President Donald Trump in office – one of them making Trump’s tax reductions in 2017 permanent and preventing an increase in taxes.
“Without pressure, I do not see how you do,” said a republican senator who spoke to politico subject to anonymity. “I don’t think I see what is the pressure here.”
Meanwhile, President Mike Johnson (R-La) and the Républicains de la Chambre Press for a second megabill. The greatest thrust seems to come from so-called deficit hawks that say they want to use another reconciliation bill to further reduce expenses.
An anonymous manager of the White House told Politico that another reconciliation bill was under study. But the chairs of the armed services of the Senate and the Budget – Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)-recently declared that they had not received advice from the White House on legislative priorities for another Megabill.
– Emine Yücel
Offensive
President Trump and Russian chief Vladimir Putin is expected to meet in Alaska on Friday for a summit discussed the war in Ukraine. The details of what they are even discussed are somewhat vague. This is partly because of an supposed “misunderstanding” involving Steve Witkoff, the absence of a Ukrainian representative at the top and, to date, a Russian military offensive which threatens the whole premise.
Russian commentators have taken this as an opportunity to reflect on the past of Alaska. It was a colony of Tsarist Russia sold in the United States in 1867; Some Russians believe that the United States has stolen it.
The point here is not so much to highlight an absurd Russian plan to recover Alaska (although such fantasies exist), but to emphasize the extent in which the fact of having even a meeting with the American president on American soil is itself considered a victory there, whatever the result.
– Josh Kovensky
In case you missed it
5 points on judicial cases that could cancel Trump’s prices
How the judges held one of their own drying in the historic case of extraterrestrial enemies
Trump takes control of the DC police, promises a deployment of the National Guard
The most read story of yesterday
Fires next time
What we read
Steve Vladeck’s deep dive in President Trump’s threat to “federalize” the Columbia district
Dr. Phil d’Oprah route to ice raids
Rick Perry’s long and strange trip
