THE SHOW NOTES: Selling Out Israel, Trump’s Abortion Stance, & The Total Solar Eclipse

Welcome! Here’s everything you need to know about today’s total solar eclipse.

LOL: Shephard Smith was unimpressed with the 2017 eclipse.

LIES: Amazon’s touchless checkout was manually operated by a team of people in India.

SHOCKING: Country star Morgan Wallen was arrested in Nashville for throwing a chair off of a rooftop bar at three police officers.

LESS SHOCKING: UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones was arrested for threatening to kill a drug testing agent.

BAN: The Russian Republic of Chechnya has announced a ban on music that they consider too fast or slow.

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Biden, Israel, Iran, & Gaza

Prominent Democrats from Sen. Tim Kaine to Sen Bernie Sanders are worried that President Biden’s handling of Israel’s response to Hamas in Gaza has threatened his re-election chances by painting him as an ineffective leader in the eyes of a growing number of voters.

Biden: The concern over Biden’s 2024 standing is well-founded as a growing number of polls show Biden struggling with young voters. A shocking NPR poll showed Biden trailing Trump by two points among Millenials and Gen Z while a Fox News poll claimed Trump was ahead of Biden by a staggering 18 points in a head-to-head matchup. Historically, Democrats have outperformed Republicans among young voters.

Context: The mounting pressure from Biden’s left led to his most forceful rebuke of Israel’s Netanyahu last week when he said that US support of Israel could evaporate following the accidental bombing that resulted in the deaths of aid workers in Southern Gaza.

Gaza: On the six-month anniversary of the terror attacks in Israel, the Israeli Defense Force says 12,000 Hamas militants have been killed and 4,600 captured since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza. Israel claimed it is pulling the majority of forces from southern Gaza but plans to keep a sizable portion of troops in the region’s north.

Iran: Israel and the US remain on high alert following explicit threats from Iranian government officials following last week’s Israeli airstrike that killed a senior Iranian general in Damascus.

Hamas: A civil war may be brewing between Hamas and the West Bank’s Palestinian Authority as jocking begins to control Gaza after the war. Hamas detained a Palestinian Authority aid envoy and threatened to arrest anyone working with the organization. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority issued a rare public rebuke to Iran - the primary entity funding and controlling Hamas - for attempting to exert influence in the region.

Sources: Politico, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Jewish Insider, Fox News, The Hill

Trump’s Abortion Stance

Donald Trump sent shockwaves across the 2024 presidential race by refusing to endorse a federal abortion ban and instead, announced his support of a state-by-state approach.

Why this matters: Trump has sent mixed signals on his abortion stance for months by flirting with a federal ban of 15 weeks in March in an interview on WABC in New York. Here’s Trump’s statement:

My view is now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser did not mince words in her rebuke of Donald Trump claiming his position was "unacceptable."

We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position. Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protection and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry.

Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity

The Vatican on Monday issued a new document approved by Pope Francis stating that the church believes that sex-change operations, gender fluidity and surrogacy all amount to affronts to human dignity.

The sex a person is born with, the document argued, was an “irrevocable gift” from God and “any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception.” People who desire “a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes,” risk conceding “to the age-old temptation to make oneself God.”

The document also unequivocally states the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to surrogacy, whether the woman carrying a baby “is coerced into it or chooses to subject herself to it freely” because the child “becomes a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others.”

Full story at The New York Times (paywall).

Trending news:

• Biden delays menthol ban amid 2024 concerns over black support - Washington Examiner

• Navy cancels ship briefings after damning internal report - Politico

• The U.S. Navy is Falling Behind China, and The Pentagon Knows It - AEI

• Deion Sanders rips Colorado football after professor says players disrespectful in class - USA Today

• Earth’s water future veers into sci-fi territory, researchers say - Interesting Engineering

• Biden promises student loan relief as early as this fall through new plan - USA Today

• Trump, GOP plot 2025 criminal probe of Bidens - Axios

• A Vigilante Hacker Took Down North Korea’s Internet. Now He’s Taking Off His Mask - Wired

• U.S. delivers new proposal for Israel-Hamas hostage and ceasefire deal - Axios

• The Calls for Help Coming From Above the Poverty Line - WSJ (paywall)

Market snapshot: