Greetings! Dictionary alert: In a NY Times column this week, conservative pundit Bret Stephens used these insulting adjectives to describe Pete Hegseth: oleaginous (having oily properties), turgescent (becoming inflated), insufferable (not to be endured), and bombastic (speech or writing marked by exaggeration). His fellow columnist Frank Bruni called Hegseth unctuous (smug). All descriptions are on-the-nose perfect. Thank you Merriam-Webster and Stephens/Bruni. Worth noting: I still refer to the SecDef as “Hairgel” Hegseth although I’m considering renaming him Mr. T after his testosterone edict earlier this month... Clever right-wing headline of the week, courtesy of the Washington Examiner: “The Hanging of an Iranian Activist Exposes a Regime at the End of Its Rope”... Required Reading: Vanity Fair’s Graham Platner and the Undoing of the Consultant Class, by Maria Comella, former key staff member to Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie.  Key line: “There is a wayward consultant class that will back anyone to win because winning achieves personal ambitions for power and money”...Weekend Watch: The best drama of the weekend just might be tonight’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which raises money to support First Amendment scholarships. It is also raising eyebrows about how Trump can be spotlighted and applauded in a room full of journalists he despises.  Trump's speech tonight is expected to lash out against the press. But will the journalists in the room push back against the Trump’s remarks? Will they applaud?  Boo? Walk out? The festivities begin at 8 p.m. EDT and can be seen live on C-SPAN (and its website) and streamed on USA Today’s YouTube Channel.  The event was rescheduled after a gunman stormed the dinner in April before Trump had a chance to speak...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Blasphemous: Trump told a blatant lie to reporters at the dignified transfer of four fallen U.S. soldiers at an air base in Delaware yesterday. “All of them said very strongly, ‘We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,'" Trump maintained they said in front of a gaggle of reporters at the Dover Air Force Base.  As Mother Jones observed, “There is no evidence that the service members killed, as Trump so confidently claimed, ever said or believed this. It conveniently happens to be one of the exceedingly few talking points Trump has had for continuing an increasingly unpopular war on all his own”...Book-critic-in-chief: Trump tried to do a Fox News anchor a solid yesterday by promoting his new book in a Truth Social post.  But the Portly Potus completely botched his blurb for Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher’s upcoming tome Turns Out They Were Right: Life Lessons I Learned...Eventually. First, he didn’t name the book or even describe what it might be about. He then failed to link to an online retailer where an interested reader could buy it.. Finally, Trump tneglected to mention that book isn’t available until September 15. Sloppy, Mr. President....Anger management: Uh-oh.  Looks like Troy Jackson, the presumptive replacement for scandal-scarred Graham Platner as Maine’s Democratic nominee for the Senate appears less than an ideal candidate.  With his background as a logger, he ticks the working class machismo box so appealing to Democrats. However -- and this ain't good -- he struggles containing his anger, according to this Washington Post article.  Here’s a key line in the story: “During the six years Jackson presided over Maine’s Senate, until he left office in 2024, his temper was a feature of his leadership.” Jackson frequently yelled and cursed at his political colleagues, per the Post. Yikes!...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard