The Week Ahead
We celebrate an historic event this week. August 26 is the anniversary of the certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. The amendment prohibits the federal government and states from denying any citizen the right to vote based on sex.
The passage of the 19th Amendment capped decades of struggle led by activists such as Susan B. Anthony to win the right to vote for women.
Incredibly, some states tried other tactics to restrict voting by both women and men through poll taxes and literacy tests until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The struggle to ensure that every American citizen continues to have the right and ability to vote in our democracy continues as President Donald Trump’s undermines public confidence in election results, attempts to limit mail-in ballots, and threatens to send thugs to polling places on Election Day. All while the Supreme Court hacks away at provisions of the Voting Rights Act that ensured fair representation in Congress for minorities.
As the saying goes: The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Which starts with keeping up with current events, precisely what this newsletter is all about. Thank you for subscribing.
That Was The Week That Was
She’s ever-present, her adoring smile showing up wherever President Donald Trump seems to be, her letters of affection for her boss making cringe-worthy headlines.
The most sensational story of the week centered on 35-year-old Natalie Harp, our 80-year-old president’s constant companion, human printer and ego fluffer, the woman who Trump sneaked off Air Force One in Turkey to avoid Iranian threats while leaving Cabinet members on the decoy jet.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff said out loud what everyone was thinking:
“He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do his job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
As USA Today reported, “She went from background character in the Trump administration to a national focal point in a blink…”
In case you missed it, here’s a very good summary:
Angie Nixon’s surprise victory
Angie Nixon was a Black progressive woman working with a shoestring budget and no political party backing, but she proved a candidate can win a statewide election in Florida with a populist message.
Without a single major television buy, Nixon, a state representative from Jacksonville, won by 12 percentage points over Lt. Col. Alex Vindman who was highly favored by the Democratic establishment.
Now she’s the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, and the question is: Can she do it again?
Sources for more information:
Orlando Sentinel: Democrat Angie Nixon stunned politicos Tuesday night. Can she win again?
Tropic Press: Primary turnout was abysmal, which may have helped Nixon but could hurt Dems in November
Here’s how America’s $40 trillion debt can hit your wallet
The U.S. national debt this week topped $40 trillion, raising fresh concerns about how rising federal borrowing could affect Americans’ finances.
Americans don’t personally owe the national debt, but rising debt could pressure lawmakers to raise taxes, cut spending or change federal benefits.
That figure includes debt the government owes itself. Trump’s tax-and-spending law is projected to add trillions to federal deficits over the next decade, while the White House has sought tens of billions of dollars in additional funding tied to the Iran war.
Higher national debt could make mortgages, student loans and small-business borrowing more expensive by putting upward pressure on interest rates, according to a new report from the Conference Board, a nonprofit think tank.
Supreme Court Allows Trump to Move Forward With White House Ballroom
The Supreme Court is letting President Trump move forward with his expensive White House ballroom.
Chief Justice John Roberts ordered a stay in the preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that would have halted work at 11:59 p.m. This means that for now, construction can resume while the high court gives a full review to the lower court’s ruling earlier this month that the ballroom is illegal due to a lack of congressional approval.
Trump Boasts of Declassifying Secrets, but Withholds Key Election Files From Public
The White House in recent weeks has made public a steady drip of previously classified intelligence about foreign threats to elections and other matters, offering President Trump and his allies ammunition for baseless conspiracy theories about potential vote rigging.
But one crucial document has not been among the releases, despite a congressional requirement for it to be: the assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies of foreign meddling efforts during the 2024 election.
The omission of the report on the 2024 election shows the highly selective nature of the Trump White House’s approach to declassification. It is just one example of many where the administration has ignored bipartisan pressure from Congress, including legal requirements, by withholding certain documents from public view even as it publishes hundreds of pages of material it has promised will reveal deep-state coverups of foreign meddling efforts.
Meme of the Week
He Said It
“They say Florida is a red state. I don’t believe that’s true. Working people all over this country — in red states, in blue states, in the North, and in the South — are sick and tired of status quo politics and status quo policies. They want change, real change.”
— Sen. Bernie Sanders
Letter of the Week
The problem with judging the electorate's mood by primary results in a closed-state election like Florida's is that, while registered Republicans in Florida outnumber registered Democrats by nearly six to four, one in four Florida voters register NPA and were thus left out of the poll. Another change I've noticed in the political landscape since the 1950s and 1960s is that American cultural values have shifted so far toward the left that the cultural center is now somewhere around traditional progressivism. While far-right MAGA fascists may be correct that "Jews will not replace us," it is likely that progressives already have. Even the word "socialist" may have become politically acceptable!
— Charles G. Masi
Looking Ahead
When I’m not writing this newsletter, I also scribble a current events column for Florida Weekly. You should check it out. Here are some snippets, from there and elsewhere, to help guide your week ahead. (Paid subscribers to this newsletter have full access to the complete Onward Thru the Fog archive.)
August 23. North American Grilled Veggies Day. Just as a reminder, cooking vegetables kills bacteria, viruses, and parasites, in case you’re still concerned about Cyclospora and mounting food recalls.
August 24. British troops invaded Washington, D.C., on this day in 1814, setting fire to the White House and the U.S. Capitol during the War of 1812. There was no East Wing on the White House then. Or now, for that matter, thanks to Trump.
August 25. National Park Service Day marks the 1916 creation by President Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. National Park Service. Despite some rumors, Yogi Bear was not there. He wasn’t born until 1958.
August 26. It’s National Hot Dog Day in addition to Women’s Equality Day.
August 27. Mars Attacks. On this day in 2003, we had a close encounter with another planet when Mars came within 34.6 million miles of Earth. It was the nearest the Red Planet had been in 60,000 years. Important to note, Mars is not our nearest planetary neighbor. Venus comes closer in its orbit at 24 million miles. But oddly, when Venus and Mars are further away in their orbits around the Sun, sometimes Mercury is actually closer than either of them.
August 28. Happy birthday, St. Augustine. It was on this day in 1565 that the United States’ oldest continuously occupied European-established city was founded on the northeast coast of Florida. You will note there were several qualifiers there, since long before the so-called New World was “discovered” by Europeans, people actually lived here whether the Euros knew it or not.
August 29. Hello, Goodbye. The Beatles played their final ticketed concert to a paying public at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on this night in 1966. Shortly thereafter, John Lennon told his bandmates he was calling it quits.
Last Week’s Tropic Press headlines
In case you missed it, here are some of the stories that headlined Tropic Press this past week. Click on the headlines to read the stories.
It’s primary election day. What you need to know before you vote
How can we ‘86’ these attacks on the First Amendment?
Primary turnout was abysmal, which may have helped Nixon but could hurt Dems in November
Donalds kept House re-election campaign alive during run for Governor
The November lineup is set as Florida voters nominate Donalds, Jolly, Moody and Nixon
As Florida’s primary nears, Trump hints at using ‘emergency’ powers for the general election
Thanks for your support
Since this newsletter was launched a year ago, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have joined the Tropic Press community, making this one of the fastest-growing publications of its kind.
Our goal here is to reach as many voters as possible, so that we can increase engagement in the political process and, hopefully, raise interest in voting this coming November.
If you are encountering this newsletter for the first time, please consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, consider upgrading your subscription to help this work continue.
Regardless, every person you share this with is one more potential vote for change.
Please share and help us make Florida — and America — better for all of us.
Thanks.
J.C. Bruce
