Notes from the Middleground

Get more from Damon Linker in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android

I usually take a week off in August while my family and I head to the New Jersey shore for vacation. But this year our normal house rental wasn’t available in August. So we’re taking off in mid-July. I always like to run an Ask Me Anything (AMA) post just before departing, since I can slowly work on writing it while getting my life organized for packing…

Upgrade to paid to play voiceover US President Donald Trump steps on stage to deliver remarks during the Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images) To be an “influencer” on the American right in 2026 is to be a screamer—someone who believes his or her livelihood depends on blaring at maximum volume a five-alarm fire at every available opportunity.

Upgrade to paid to play voiceover A man carries a flag in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) If you reside entirely within a right-leaning information ecosystem online, you probably think the big story of the just-completed Supreme Court term is the stab-in-the-back betrayal of the right by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

For as long as I can remember—all the way back to the time when I first fell in love with them—universities have been a topic of controversy, especially on the right (and including on the center-right). I first fell in love with universities when I was an undergraduate at Ithaca College in the late 1980s. Shortly after I arrived to campus in the fall of 1987, I came upon a copy of Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind.

Congressional candidate Claire Valdez, Congressional candidate Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier raise their hands during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally at King's Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M.

Upgrade to paid to play voiceover U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance speaks to reporters as he arrives on June 20, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Vance is heading to Switzerland for negotiations with Iran to end the war that have been delayed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon and over the opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Upgrade to paid to play voiceover US President Donald Trump reacts during a working lunch meeting of G7 members, partner countries, and artificial intelligence business leaders as part of the G7 summit, in Evian, eastern France, on June 17, 2026.

Alex Pereira of Brazil faces the crowd during the UFC Freedom 250 ceremonial weigh-in at The Ellipse on June 13, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Get more from Damon Linker in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android