{"id":18229,"date":"2026-07-23T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T02:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=18229"},"modified":"2026-07-23T19:16:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T02:16:00","slug":"trumps-war-expanding-driving-gop-toward-midterm-disaster-bradcast-7-23-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=18229","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s War Expanding, Driving GOP Toward Midterm Disaster: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 7\/23\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center style=\"margin-bottom: 32px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_TrumpShadowLimo_072326.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>We carefully navigate through another incoming fire-hose of news on today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradCast.BradBlog.com\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a>. But as bad as much of it is, I&#8217;m continually reminded that each of these bad news stories for Americans is likely to become good news for America in just over 100 days&#8230;if we survive until then. [<i>Audio to full show follows this summary.<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>After a few words on what it&#8217;s gonna take for all us to work together to make it to November 3rd (and beyond, until results are counted, confirmed and certified), here are a few of the news item we try to make sense of on today&#8217;s program&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Climate Chaos Summer: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/tropical-storm-bertha-gulf-florida-alabama-louisiana-c98b62c56f938bc6b7c0c26e7b08cfeb\">Tropical Storm Bertha<\/a> drenches <b>Louisiana<\/b>&#8216;s Gulf Coast and, especially, already-drenched <b>Texas<\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>As relentless attacks between the <b>U.S.<\/b> and <b>Iran<\/b> continue, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in <b>Yemen<\/b> on Thursday appeared to join the fight. They have reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/iran\/houthis-attack-oil-tankers-red-sea-iran-trump-battle-trade-hormuz-rcna588842\">begun attacking<\/a> Saudi oil tankers transiting the <b>Red Sea&#8217;s Bab el-Mandem Strait<\/b>, shutting down another majority artery for oil and gas out of the Middle East. Oil prices <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/houthis-say-they-attacked-saudi-tankers-red-sea-threatening-new-chokepoint-iran-2026-07-23\/\">spiked<\/a> back above $100\/barrel in the bargain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The <b>U.S. stock market<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/07\/22\/stock-market-today-live-updates.html\">tumbled<\/a> in response to the news and the <b>Fed<\/b> may begin raising interest rates again to help control inflationary pressures from Trump&#8217;s War on Iran which is quickly becoming a War in the Middle East.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Along with all of that, the average 30-year U.S. mortgage rate <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/interest-rates-home-sales-mortgage-rates-housing-173e9fb5ed07cb5f2f739ea67e0412d8\">climbed to its highest level<\/a> in nearly a year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/07\/23\/economy\/trump-new-tariffs\">launches new tariffs<\/a> on 60 trade partners, including the <b>EU<\/b> just to make things worse for them and for struggling American consumers who will have to pay those new taxes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Before leaving for August Recess (in July), <b>House Republicans<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/07\/22\/house-passes-115-trillion-defense-bill-tees-up-billions-more-iran-war\/\">passed a framework budget bill<\/a> to give Trump&#8217;s <b>Dept. of Defense<\/b> another $73 billion to help pay for his Middle East boondoggle. They also found $10 billion to help states make it harder for some to vote, and several billion to bail out farmers struggling because of Trump&#8217;s tariffs and Trump&#8217;s War. That after slashing billions in health care and food assistance to Americans who desperately need it. That otherwise bad news &#8212; which will not pass as is in the Senate &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2026\/7\/23\/800073923\/congress\/house-gop-defense-bill-iran-war-vote\/\">may be seen as good news<\/a>, since it lays out the twisted GOP priorities that voters will want to keep in mind on November 3rd.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Americans have already noticed. A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/fox-news-poll-voters-want-major-change-amid-economic-political-discontent\">Fox &#8220;News&#8221; poll<\/a> this week finds <b>Democrats<\/b> with a larger advantage on the so-called generic ballot (&#8220;If the election were held today, would you vote for the Democrat in your district or the Republican?&#8221;) than seen in any Fox &#8220;News&#8221; polling since 1996. Fox &#8220;News&#8221; only began polling in 1996. In battleground Counties, the same poll finds, it&#8217;s even worse for <b>Republicans<\/b>. Voters choose Dems over Repubs by a remarkable <i>18 points<\/i> in those Districts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s not just Fox. An <a href=\"https:\/\/emersoncollegepolling.com\/july-2026-national-poll-democrats-with-11-point-generic-ballot-advantage\/\">Emerson College survey<\/a> released today finds the general gap on a similar generic ballot question to favor the Dems by 11 points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Some voters, of course, hate both major political parties. Those so-called <b>&#8220;double haters&#8221;<\/b> went for Trump bigly when he won in 2016 and 2024. This year, they are breaking big for Democrats, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gelliottmorris.com\/p\/2026-07-14-double-haters-2026?utm_campaign=email-half-post&#038;r=1ih5s&#038;utm_source=substack&#038;utm_medium=email\">recent survey from pollster\/analyst G. Elliot Morris<\/a> &#8212; by 26 points! And that&#8217;s not even the worst of the news for the GOP in that survey, as he explains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Today we produced <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=18222\">our 1,600th <i>Green News Report<\/i><\/a> &#8212; even though we forget to mention it on the episode itself. (<i>But thanks to all of you who support our work on GNR with a <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/donate\"><b>much-needed donation<\/b><\/a>!<\/i>) Among the many stories on today&#8217;s episode is the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-saudi-arabia-nuclear-program-uranium-15fdb262bb9c83d0d959ca96b7561c12\">deal struck<\/a> by <b>Donald Trump<\/b> with <b>Saudi Arabia<\/b> to allow them to begin enriching uranium. Within hours of reporting on that ill-considered agreement on the <i>GNR<\/i>, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/5987273-trump-saudi-nuclear-deal-abraham-accords\/\">tried to backtrack<\/a> on it. The Saudis seem to be saying: &#8220;Too late! You already signed it!&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We close &#8212; because we need him now more than ever &#8212; with <b>Randy Rainbow<\/b>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z1ikcHaEadE\">newest<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Everything&#8217;s coming up roses! Enjoy! (And continue to get ready to vote like you&#8217;ve never voted before!)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-IranWarExpands-OilSpikes-GOPPollsSink_072326.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/256-the-bradcast-w-brad-friedm-30973643\/\">iHeart<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-START--><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f0e0; border:2px solid #6b5a2e; border-radius:6px; padding:10px 14px; text-align:center; font-family:Georgia,serif;\"><span style=\"display:block; margin:0 0 8px 0; color:#3a2e0e; font-size:0.95em; line-height:1.5;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\">The BRAD BLOG<\/a>, <em>The BradCast<\/em> and <em>Green News Report<\/em> are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/Donate\" style=\"display:inline-block; background:#6b5a2e; color:#ffffff; padding:6px 18px; border-radius:4px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; font-family:Georgia,serif; font-size:0.9em;\">Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-END--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We carefully navigate through another incoming fire-hose of news on today&#8217;s BradCast. But as bad as much of it is, I&#8217;m continually reminded that each of these bad news stories for Americans is likely to become good news for America in just over 100 days&#8230;if we survive until then. [Audio to full show follows this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,675,543,299,272,479,390,2053,548,407,134,477,501,540,300,738,198,1312,444],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2106],"class_list":["post-18229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-climate-change","category-democrats","category-dept-of-defense","category-donald-trump","category-economy","category-election-2026","category-extreme-weather","category-green-news","category-iran","category-kpfk","category-nuclear-power","category-oil","category-republicans","category-saudi-arabia","category-us-house","category-wall-street","category-yemen","bb-type-bradcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18229"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18232,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18229\/revisions\/18232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18229"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=18229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}