Greetings! Today’s required reading: J.D. Vance’s bestseller Hillbilly Elegy.  I read Vance’s memoir  when it was published in 2016 and was impressed by his inspiring story of a hardscrabble childhood and his drive to make something of himself. The book had an anyone-can-make-it-in-America vibe, yet doesn’t clearly reflect Vance’s MAGA world view that could land him a heartbeat away from the presidency….Not required viewing:  the Netflix  movie version of the book, which reduces Vance’s journey to routine soap opera… A Wall Street Journal columnist argues that one of the positive lessons of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was that it allowed the world to see a tough leader in the U.S.  “It may be important to let foreign enemies know that there are still some strong American leaders that they may have to deal with,” writes Thomas Sowell of the conservative Hoover Institute…The right wing media watchdog NewsBusters showers CNN with rare praise for grilling Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on the Secret Service’s conduct in the botched  assassination attempt…No matter how many serviceable interviews President Biden does with NBC’s Lester Holt, I can’t  unsee his disastrous June 27 debate performance…Dept. of Irony: while Biden and other political leaders call for “turning down the temperature,” the mercury is expected to hit 100 degrees in Washington today…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Donald Trump’s website features the iconic image of him standing bloodied but defiant, with his fist pumped under the backdrop of the American flag.  The disturbing headline reads: “Fear not.  I am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT!  I will always love you for supporting me.  Unity. Peace. MAGA.”   This morning on the home page, there were no other navigation bars to take visitors deeper into the site, with copy well below the image soliciting funds for Trump’s White House run…The attempted assassination inspired parodies on the right wing The Babylon Bee.  Two satiric stories standout: Trump indicted today for inciting assassination attempt and Clumsy Trump hit head on bullet…I turned on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” at 6:15 today expecting pointed Washington insider takes on the news that’s still shaking the world.  To my dismay, the lively yakfest was preempted for live news coverage.  NewsBusters wonders if network honchos were worried about “unseemly outbursts'' on the show and cited the reporting of CNN’s Oliver Darcy…Dept. of Bad Timing: Former Ex-Trump official Peter Navarro’s new book hits retail shelves tomorrow and likely guarantees no one will pay attention in the aftermath of the assassination attempt.  The tome, by Navarro, who was convicted for contempt of Congress, is called The New MAGA Deal – a yawn-inducing title that will excite no one except a dozen people on the buffet line at Mar-a-Lago.  The book is positioned as “the unofficial deplorables  guide to Donald Trump’s 2024 policy platform”…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard