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A Big Night for Progressives – The Wednesday AM Quickie 8/12/26

By Corey Pein —

Congrats to Phyllis Zorn, the Kansas newspaper reporter who endured a corrupt police raid in retaliation for her scrutiny of public officials in Marion County, and who just won a second settlement in the case for $850,000. They're calling it the new journalists' retirement plan. - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

Elections Roundup: Primary Results from Six States

  • Socialist Francesca Hong Narrowly Loses Wisconsin Democratic Gubernatorial Primary to David Crowley "'This was a local race, not a nationalized race,' said one progressive Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly. 'Bernie, AOC, and most national groups stayed out. In order to show economic populists can win swing states, we need perfect test cases.'" via the Associated Press, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Politico.
  • Bernie Sanders-Backed Blue Dog Democrat Rebecca Cooke Wins in Wisconsin's Third District "'I am a Blue Dog and a New Dem, but I’m also very progressive where it counts,' Cooke told NBC News last year. 'I don't like the labels and the boxes that kind of have been created, because immediately, you know, you're written off and 'othered' in your party because you're this or because you're that. And really, I'm just — I’m running because I’m for western Wisconsin, period.'" via NBC News, the New York Times, and the AP.
  • 'Authentic MAGA Activist' Who Wants to Nix Wisconsin's Elections Commission Wins GOP Primary for Secretary of State "Nathan Pollnow, a beef farmer endorsed by the state Republican Party, came in a distant second in the primary," while Jay Schroeder, who says he would have overturned the 2020 election, won in a landslide. via the Wisconsin Examiner.
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's Weird Son-in-Law Wins Republican Nod in Wisconsin's Seventh District After marrying Duffy's daughter Evita when he was 22, Michael Alfonso "worked for a year as a producer on a podcast hosted by Dan Bongino, a fervent Trump supporter and a former deputy director of the FBI." via the New York Times and HuffPost.
  • MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell Loses Minnesota's GOP Gubernatorial Primary; Lisa Demuth Will Face Democrat Amy Klobuchar "Lindell refused to concede the GOP primary race to Demuth late Tuesday night, even after the race was called," telling supporters, "This is mathematically, it looks impossible." via the Minnesota Star Tribune, the Minnesota Reformer, and HuffPost.
  • Progressive Peggy Flanagan Winns Minnesota Senate Primary "She energized the party’s base and won its convention endorsement with a soaring progressive platform: Medicare for all, universal childcare, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants." via the Minnesota Reformer, the Minnesota Star Tribune, and Politico.
  • Anti-ICE and Anti-AIPAC Progressive Matt Little Wins House Primary in Minnesota's Second District "'This win proves that even $3.5 million dollars of outside money couldn't buy this election,' Little said in a statement. 'It proves people believe real change is possible; that if we are bold and brave, we will stop Trump's corruption, we will hold ICE accountable, and we will make life affordable, so the American dream is real for everyone!'" via the Minnesota Reformer and the New York Times.
  • Fourteen-Term Incumbent Democratic Rep. John Larson Loses to 47-Year-Old Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin "Larson is the 10th House member to lose a primary this year: seven Democrats and three Republicans." via NBC News, the New York Times, and Politico.

Trump Used Staff and Journalists as Decoys in Secret Escape from Turkey 

Every day this newsletter brings you the latest outrages from the felonious dotard Donald Trump and his corrupt right-wing regime. Some are almost unbelievably petty, like his insistence on prosecuting an Olympic swimmer for imaginary vandalism. Some are horrifically galling, like his extralegal scheme to redevelop post-genocide Gaza into a gilded tourist destination. And then, every once in a while, comes a truly confounding story that manages to be both, revealing what a small man holds the world's biggest office.

Such was the case yesterday when the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that Trump evaded a credible Iranian assassination threat following a visit last month to Turkey by secretly ditching Air Force One for a military aircraft. Amusingly, after Trump boarded AF One in view of television cameras, he snuck out by hiding in "an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight."

Arguably less funny was the fact that the White House staff and the media pool who departed Turkey under threat of Iranian missile strike were essentially decoys to be unwillingly sacrificed so that an 80-year-old career criminal could live another day. "It appears that the idea was we can reduce the danger to [Donald] Trump by offering up 100 or so people to be killed by the Iranians in his place," former CIA intelligence officer Steven Cash tells the Guardian.

Reporters questioned Trump as they pieced together why he eventually deboarded a different plane than the one he supposedly shared with them. Trump initially denied the deception, while confirming they were on "a dangerous flight" near a war zone. “But if I go, you go. Right?" he said. "Perhaps someday you want to change professions."

Then yesterday, under further questioning, he deflected blame to the Secret Service. "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," Trump said, absurdly.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal have demanded a Congressional briefing about the episode, noting that Trump wasn't the only person in danger. According to NBC News, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who are in the presidential line of succession, were among those aboard the decoy Air Force One.

Trump insists he wasn't scared. "I don't worry about anything, to be honest. Whatever it is. You know my attitude? Whatever!"

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Hundreds Dead, Thousands Injured, and Even More Missing in Massive Colombia Quake "Small successes have broken through the flattened buildings: rescuers pulling a dust-covered baby through a crack in a concrete wall and onlookers cheering as teams lift a woman onto a stretcher." via the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and the Guardian.
  • US Treasury Says Companies No Longer Have to Report Who Owns Them Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls the decision "a gift to cartels, criminals, and US adversaries that exploit shell companies to move millions through our financial system." via the Washington Post.
  • ICE Goons to Get 'Compliance' Gloves That Deliver Electric Shocks “ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do," says Jenn Rolnick Borchetta of the ACLU. "Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public." via the AP.
  • Human Rights Groups Sue Regime Over ICC Sanctions A complaint filed by Human Rights Watch and three other groups says Donald Trump's executive order targeting the International Criminal Court is a "blatantly illegal attack on international justice and should be struck down." via the AP.

SOME NUMBER

406

That's how many civilians were killed or wounded by US military strikes on Yemen last year, according to a Pentagon review. As the Washington Post reports, the Pentagon office that investigates civilian harm has had its staff cut by more than 90 percent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

8/12: Sam will be hosting solo. The guests will be John Nichols, executive editor of The Nation, breaking down Tuesday night's primary results; and Usamah Andrabi, communications director at Justice Democrats, discussing how 2026 is already among their most successful primary cycles.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

US Media Showing Its Ass BIG TIME With Hasan Piker Obsession

It is, as they say, cringe.

Mamdani Explains Why DSA Is More 'New Deal' Than Today's Dem Party

They called FDR a communist too.

PARTING WORDS

"We're built for snow. We're built for cold. We're not built for this."

-- Javid Jenkins of Homewood, Illinois, speaking to the Associated Press about devastating storms that swept the Midwest yesterday, forcing his family into the basement, killing three people, and knocking out power to more than a million people. The "derecho" storms "threw out lightning strikes and hail as large as baseballs," triggered tornadoes, and poured down flooding rains that are expected to last for several days.

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