So doubtlessly you've heard the story -- which has gotten heavy coverage in the political press all week long, of course -- of the very progressive Democrat who not only won the primary for an open Senate seat but also impressively outperformed polling expectations, right? It was a huge story -- because it will mean there will now be three progressives on November Senate ballots in three swing states. Progressives scored a big win, which has given rise to much discussion among the pundits over whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for the Democratic Party, because it is such a risky strategy right now (with control of the Senate hanging in the balance).

What's that? You didn't hear about all of this?

Well, that's because the mainstream media decided a different primary race was worth all their ink and airwave time instead. They obsessed over a progressive who very narrowly lost a primary in a governor's race (which is just not as important, to national politics, as the Senate races), because they could barely contain their relief and glee over seeing a progressive lose (even though the polls said she would win).

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I have to begin by pointing out that, technically, that headline should be in quote marks, since it is a direct quotation (from the guy who inadvertently started the whole thing). I was thinking of calling this article "Whistling Past The Graveyard" before I came across that quote, but I had to admit it was indeed a catchier title.

So what is the "great burrito debate," if you haven't already heard about it all? Here's how Forbes explained it (complete with the quote's source):

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Donald Trump is getting increasingly desperate to declare some sort of victory in his ill-begotten war of choice with Iran (despite his constant bluster that they are the ones who really want a deal right now). Things have gotten so bad that Trump is now reportedly considering just punting the question of Iran's nuclear capabilities altogether. If true, this would be a major development, since while Trump's reasons for starting and fighting this war have changed and evolved over time, the nuclear issue has always remained Trump's main go-to reason for attacking Iran. So throwing in the towel on getting any sort of nuclear agreement with Iran would be seen as an enormous defeat for the U.S. There's no other way to look at it, really.

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The 2026 primary season is almost over. This week's crop of primaries generated some big news, mostly due to a young and very progressive Democratic candidate winning the nomination for an open Senate seat in Michigan. This was seen as an epic defeat for both the establishment of the Democratic Party and for AIPAC, who spent tens of millions of dollars unsuccessfully trying to defeat Dr. Abdul El-Sayed -- who narrowly won the nomination, despite being outspent almost 9-to-1.

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Maybe we should call Donald Trump's war of choice against Iran the "On-Again/Off-Again War"? That's what it feels like, at any rate, as Trump and Iran both stumble along, taking potshots at each other, with absolutely no end in sight. Trump in particular seems to have no idea what he's doing, no plans whatsoever to bring the conflict to an end, and an unclear understanding of what that end should look like. Which doesn't exactly build confidence, obviously.

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The war between the U.S. and Iran has now become nothing more than a classic war of attrition. The key question is: which side will run out of missiles first? Nobody knows the answer to that, but every day that Iran and the U.S. trade attacks with each other brings the answer closer and makes it more critical. In the future, this war will doubtlessly be studied as a new paradigm for modern warfare that is similar but different in one big way to the war being waged between Ukraine and Russia -- since neither Iran nor the U.S. is able to easily and quickly replace their dwindling stockpiles of crucial munitions. Which makes it a textbook example of a war of attrition.

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We have now entered the sprint phase of the 2026 midterm election season, with fewer than 100 days left on the calendar until Election Day. While nothing is guaranteed, up until now it has seemed that the Democratic Party has had the wind at its back, heading into the crucial part of the campaign. But there were worrisome reports in the media for both parties lately, so I thought it'd was high time we take a closer look at the state of things.

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Donald Trump has ramped up his war of choice once again, bombing Iran on a nightly basis while Iran launches missiles at U.S. military installations and other targets in the region. Sadly, four more American soldiers lost their lives as a result of all this crossfire. And the war seems to be escalating, as the Houthis in Yemen have now entered the fray by blocking the strait at the southern end of the Red Sea to any Saudi ships. All of this has caused oil prices to spike above $100 per barrel once again, and gas prices here in America to spike to over four bucks a gallon once again.

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As the M.O.U. crumbles, the price of gas is going back up again. That's where America stands with Donald Trump's on-again/off-again war of choice with Iran. The Memorandum Of Understanding that both sides signed less than a month ago now lies in tatters, Trump just announced that U.S. military ships will re-impose the blockade of Iranian ports, and ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz are under attack again from Iran. All of which has spooked the world's oil market, where prices are (once again) rising fast.

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Last week, we warned everyone that July was going to be a sketchy month for us, in terms of our ability to write these Friday columns. So we begin today with a program update. Today's offering is not a complete Friday Talking Points column. It is bare-bones, at best. We're not even really going to attempt reviewing the past week, and we're also not going to write out talking points at the end (although we did complete the two awards sections). Just to warn everyone up front.

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