4 Stories You Need to Know Before the Weekend

1. Kyle Rittenhouse flips script on Trump... twice

On Thursday night, MAGA star Kyle Rittenhouse, the young gunman who shot three protestors, killing two of them, at a Black Lives Matter riot in 2020, temporarily suspended his support for Donald Trump, sparking a firestorm of indignation on the Right.

“A lot of people are upset that I said I’m going to be writing in Ron Paul for president of the United States,” said Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of all criminal charges in 2021, “and that is true. I will be writing in Ron Paul.” 

Why?

“Unfortunately, Donald Trump had bad advisers making him bad on the Second Amendment, and that is my issue,” he continued. “If you cannot be completely uncompromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you.”

Needless to say, the internet verdict against the 21-year-old was immediate and unforgiving.

“How [expletive] dare you turn against President Trump after all he did for your dumb [expletive]?” vented one profanity-proficient social media user. “I hope your dumb [expletive] is happy to burn up all the good will you had in the MAGA community.”

“I regret ever supporting Kyle,” another user complained.

“I can stomach a lot of things,” posted one prominent account, “but backstabbing millions who supported you at your lowest point. Then turning on Trump right after he got shot. Can’t stomach it - won’t put up with it - forgotten forever.” 

In the end, both sides looked rather rash and, frankly, silly when Rittenhouse walked back his demurral the very next day.

“Over the past 12 hours, I've had a series of productive conversations with members of… Trump's team and I am confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights,” he wrote on “X.”

“My comments made last night were ill-informed and unproductive. I’m 100% behind Donald Trump and encourage every gun owner to join me in helping send him back to the White House.”

Crisis averted, MAGA. Now, can we please go back to whatever we were doing before we decided to go torched-earth against each other?                                         

2. Schumer introduces “No Kings Act” targeting Trump

After President Joe Biden unveiled his bid for Supreme Court reform earlier this week—including proposals to roll back former presidents’ immunity—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer responded by introducing legislation challenging Trump’s immunity claims. This comes after the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of those claims last month.

Titled the “No Kings Act,” Schumer’s bill denies that presidents are entitled to any immunity, “absolute, presumptive, or otherwise,” asserting that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in favor of Trump was decided “incorrectly.” Critics argue that presidential immunity shields former executives from endless prosecution by both sides.

“In a dangerous and devastating ruling, the MAGA Supreme Court has once again subverted the will of the American people, and the very idea of democracy itself,” stated Schumer. “The Founders were explicit – no man in America shall be a king. Yet, in their disastrous decision, the Supreme Court threw out centuries of precedent and anointed Trump and subsequent presidents as kings above the law. Given the dangerous and consequential implications of the Court’s ruling, legislation would be the fastest and most efficient method to correcting the grave precedent the Trump ruling presented.  With this glaring and partisan overreach, Congress has an obligation  – and a constitutional authority – to act as a check and balance to the judicial branch.”

Convention of States President Mark Meckler urged that if Biden is, as he claims, opposed to any presidential immunity, he should lead by example and waive his own immunity.

3. Democrat Party Revived by Kamala

In 2020, Joe Biden was the anti-Trump candidate, something most Republicans still fail to understand. Biden might not have sold out rallies or inspired nationwide “Biden Trains,” but he did not need to. He simply rode the pervasive anti-Trump sentiment, as he might say, from Scranton to the White House.

In other words, Biden was never an inspiring candidate, but he fit the bill of someone who could beat Trump.

By July 2024, the unshakeable aura of blandness surrounding Team Biden had only intensified. True, Biden managed to provoke some emotions, but they were far from positive—panic, anxiety, and concern were the predominant reactions. Following his catastrophic presidential debate and a string of ruinous interviews, the president had become more than just boring: he had provided his base and undecided Americans with a laundry list of reasons not to vote for him. His path to victory, his allies in the media confirmed, had closed.

Enter Kamala Harris. Despite her numerous weaknesses and vulnerabilities as a candidate, the vice president-turned-presumptive-Democratic-nominee possesses a strength that Biden never had—she’s an exciting candidate. Presumably, Democrat voters will not simply turn out against Trump. They will vote for her.

“There was no excitement,” marveled one party strategist. “Now, there’s tons.”

“The Joe Biden-turned-Kamala Harris campaign raised $310 million in July — a monster sum of cash sparked by the vice president’s entry into the presidential race,” Politico reported. “Harris’ haul more than doubled the $137 million brought in by former President Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt and headlined the Republican National Convention last month.”

This, of course, is Kamala’s honeymoon. Fervor likely will cool. But, with the two candidates now polling neck and neck, Kamala Harris’s Beyoncé-inspired fan club, the “KHive,” is ramping up to take on MAGA this November, and the ensuing clash may be closer than anyone would have predicted two weeks ago.

4. “Project 2025” experiences coordinated attacks from the outside and internal turmoil

“Project 2025” has been the apocalyptic buzzword of the 2024 election thus far—all the Democratic Party’s fears about “threats to democracy” rolled into one 900-page white paper. Headlines such as “Project 2025’s Holier-Than-Thou Plans for Your Health” and “The Radical Conservative Plan to Reshape America” tell you everything you need to know about how the media feel about this so-called “mandate” for conservative leadership.

There’s just one problem—Trump, the unquestioned party leader, wants nothing to do with the Project.

“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way,” clarified the Trump campaign’s top advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.

It is not entirely clear why Trump has distanced himself from the Presidential Transition Project. The document is openly conservative and distinctly MAGA in tone. Additionally, Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance penned the foreword for “Dawn’s Early Light,” an upcoming book by Dr. Kevin Roberts, who wrote the preface for Project 2025.

Whatever the reason, Trump’s team applauded recent news that the Project’s director, Paul Dans, will resign in August. “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign— it will not end well for you,” his campaign stated.

A far less celebratory Dr. Roberts responded to the news differently. “Under Paul Dans’ leadership,” he said, “Project 2025 has completed exactly what it set out to do: bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state, and returning it to the people. This tool was built for any future administration to use.”

Nevertheless, despite the media’s doomsday fear-mongering about the Project, it appears the 2025 mandate for conservative leadership will not factor prominently in America’s political future.

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