Letters from an American

Today began with yet another demonstration of the fact that the U.S. options for extricating itself from Trump’s war on Iran with conditions anywhere near as good as they were under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated with a number of countries under President Barack Obama, or even as good as they were in February 2026 before Trump and Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu launched air strikes on Iran, do not appear promising.

The United States is currently in the grip of an outbreak of the Cyclospora parasite, which causes severe diarrhea and has sickened more than 3,000 people across the U.S. Last August, Aria Bendix of NBC News reported that on July 1, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would no longer track infections caused by cyclospora and five other common causes of foodborne illnesses.

This was the seventh week of videos from the 250 to 250 Project that we’re producing to honor the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This one is a particularly fun week for me: in the wide range of stories are many that I insisted we include, and then a dream list of people took time out of their crazy busy schedules to narrate them. I hope you all are enjoying these are much as we are.

Last night the Department of Justice subpoenaed reporters from the New York Times over a story the newspaper published on Wednesday. Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt reported that the Secret Service had security concerns about the new Air Force One Boeing 747-8 given to the U.S. by Qatar.

Presumably afraid of investigations into his actions, President Donald J. Trump appears to have abandoned all pretense of governing for the good of the country and is focusing on rigging the 2026 election to keep Republicans in power.

Discussion about this post This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts

Today marks the anniversary of a dramatic reworking of the U.S. constitutional order. On July 9, 1868, Americans changed the U.S. Constitution for the fourteenth time, adapting our foundational document to construct a new nation that brought the principles of the Declaration of Independence to life. They required the federal government to protect the equal rights of all American men.

Discussion about this post This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts

Thank you for this insightful conversation and for all you both do to educate and inform Americans! I want to share this powerful statement with you from a group that rarely shares a public voice. More than 100 retired California judges recently renewed their lifetime oaths to affirm the vital importance of a rule of law. Check out the resulting "Wall of Justice" video: https://youtu.be/m_lpnkZMbGc?si=LaGVj5X05fzO7QV

After the U.S. resumed bombing Iran yesterday evening, Iranian forces retaliated early this morning with strikes on U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. In Ankara, Türkiye, for a NATO summit, President Donald J. Trump told reporters that Iranian leaders are “scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people, and they’re, they’re vicious, violent people,” Trump saidin his comments earlier Wednesday. “Far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them.