The summer recess is going badly for House Republicans. Recall that Speaker Johnson adjourned the House early to avoid a floor vote demanding that the DOJ release the Epstein files. Mike Johnson apparently believed that fleeing Washington would make the media and the American people forget that Donald Trump was Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend for more than a decade while Epstein was running a child sex trafficking ring.

Mike Johnson’s plan to run away from controversy has failed miserably. Except for the few days when Trump was attempting to force Ukraine to surrender to Russia, the Republican conspiracy to prevent the release of the Epstein files remained at the top of the news cycle for the last three weeks. See NYTimes, Republican Bid to Help Trump Move Past Epstein Falls Flat. (“[H]alfway through a five-week congressional recess, the clamor shows little sign of quieting.”)

Despite Johnson’s efforts to shut down a floor vote, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice requiring the production of the Epstein files on Tuesday of this week. On Monday, the DOJ announced that it would miss the Tuesday deadline and would begin a partial production on Friday.

In other words, the cover-up continues. See MSN, Top Oversight Democrat: DOJ plan to release Epstein files in ‘batches’ a ‘cover-up’. (“Handpicked, partial productions are wholly insufficient and potentially misleading.”)

The cover-up is fooling no one, especially the constituents of Republicans foolhardy enough to hold town hall meetings. See The Independent, Republican town hall descends into chaos as angry voters rage over Epstein files and Trump agenda.

On Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik attempted to speak at an event honoring a local politician in Plattsburgh, New York. She was booed off the stage amid shouts of “Shame!” and “Unseal the Epstein files!” See USA Today, Elise Stefanik booed off stage at local event.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are continuing to pressure House Republicans to release the files. Reps. Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin have been leading the charge on cable news outlets.

But just as importantly, grassroots activists have kept the issue alive by hanging posters from freeway overpasses and waving signs on city streets and rural highways. As always, the “Epstein scandal” is first and foremost about justice for the victims. But it is also about accountability for the perpetrators. And halfway through the congressional recess, Republicans appear to be doing everything they can to delay or prevent the day of reckoning for the perpetrators.

If Trump has nothing to hide, he should honor his campaign promise and immediately release the Epstein files. Any other outcome raises the reasonable inference that Trump and his Republican enablers are concealing Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s horrific crimes.

We must not relent on this issue. An overwhelming majority of the American people support full disclosure—and believe that the government is concealing evidence relating to Epstein.

While there are other issues that demand our urgent attention, we must keep up pressure regarding the release of the Epstein files, even as we oppose Trump’s agenda on dozens of other issues—like Trump’s illegal tariffs and the provisions of the Big Ugly Bill. See, e.g., The New Republic, MAGA Rep’s Town Hall Derails Over Her Support for Trump Tariffs,

We have seized the momentum, a fact that becomes clearer with every pro-democracy rally and town hall where voters are permitted to express their views. It is no wonder that Trump is doing everything he can to forestall a blue wave election in 2026. Of course, that blue wave will materialize only with our unrelenting dedication and hard work! Keep it up!

California Republicans sue to block the Election Rigging Response Act

Governor Gavin Newsom rallied California Democrats to push through the Election Rigging Response Act to redraw the state’s congressional districts to counteract the gerrymandering efforts in Texas. Newsom and Democratic legislators did so by amending existing bills to include the necessary reforms. California Republicans are now claiming that the procedural move violated the California Constitution’s 30-day notice requirement for any proposed ballot initiative. See Democracy Docket, Republicans Sue to Stop California Response to Texas Gerrymander.

Even if the Republican lawsuit succeeds in slowing the timing of the vote on the proposed initiative, the California legislature can set a special election date in time to redraw congressional districts for the 2026 election. See discussion in Ballotpedia, California Proposition 50, Use of Legislative Congressional Redistricting Map Amendment (2025).

Meanwhile, grassroots activists showed up at more than 300 pro-democracy rallies in 44 states protesting Trump’s efforts to influence the outcome of the 2026 election by partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts mid-decade. See USA Today, 300+ protests held Saturday against Donald Trump’s redistricting push.

Partisan gerrymandering should be unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court has given up trying to prevent it. And while Trump’s attempt to squeeze more “safe” Republican seats out of the Texas congressional map is reprehensible, it is also a difficult task.

Why?

Because state legislatures did their best to gerrymander congressional maps after the 2020 census. Per The Hill,

[T]he maps drawn after the 2020 census were already well gerrymandered. Of the 435 total seats, just 36 were deemed competitive in 2022, defined as winners determined by a margin of victory below 5 percent.

Although the number of “competitive” seats increased to 43 in 2024, efforts to turn those competitive seats into “safe” seats have a mathematical limit. To create more “safe” seats, the Texas legislature must “borrow” Republican voters from other districts—decreasing the partisan margin in an existing safe seat.

In other words, there are only so many Republican voters to distribute among a set number of districts. The more districts into which those GOP voters are sprinkled, the less concentrated their partisan advantage becomes.

Diluting “safe” districts to create more “safe” districts means that the partisan margin must decrease in some districts. And in a wave election year, a district that is viewed as “safe” because it is R+ 5 may suddenly look as though it is vulnerable to a Democratic blue wave.

I am not an expert in statistics or mapping, but I do know that we should not declare defeat merely because the Texas legislature redistributes a finite number of Republicans among a larger number of congressional districts.

Moreover, Texas will use the 2024 results as a guide for redistricting—an election that may have been anomalous in the level of Latino support for Trump. Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric appealed to some Latino voters who obtained US citizenship legally. But many of those Latino voters were not expecting family members, long-time co-workers, fellow parishioners, and community members to be rounded up like hardened criminals.

Multiple polls indicate that 2024 may have been the high-water mark for Trump among Latino voters, which means that using the 2024 election results to redraw maps in Texas is a risky endeavor for Republicans. See, e.g., Newsweek (8/15/2025), Donald Trump’s Popularity With Hispanics Plummets: Survey.

Here’s my point: The redistricting battles are unsettling. But we should not assume that redistricting will determine our fate. Although Texas does not require party registration to vote in primaries, surveys show that Democrats outnumber Republicans in Texas by a large number. See Independent Voter News, Are There More Democrats In Texas Than Republicans? (Democrats 46%, Republicans 37%, Independents 15%).

Thus, partisan gerrymandering can be overwhelmed by turnout. We can control the outcome. We are not passive victims of a rigged political process. We have agency and power. Let’s use it!

Right-wing media outraged by Gavin Newsom’s ALL CAPS parody of Trump’s narcissistic rambling messages.

Geez! Republicans can’t take a joke, much less understand one. For the last two weeks, California Governor Gavin Newsom has been imitating the style, font, punctuation, and syntax of Trump’s Truth Social posts. Newsom’s point is to highlight the ludicrous nature of Trump’s deranged social media posts.

However, right-wing media and Republican officials have expressed outrage over the lack of decorum and unhinged rhetoric in Governor Newsom’s parody of Trump’s posts. See Huffington Post, Republicans Keep Falling For Gavin Newsom’s Trump Trap.

With no sense of irony or self-awareness, Fox News entertainers posing as journalists have criticized Gavin Newsom. For example, Fox host Dana Perino said,

You have to stop it with the Twitter thing. If I were his wife, I would say: You are making a fool of yourself, stop it.

In response, Newsom turned the parody “all the way up to 11.” Newsom’s most recent post responds to Dana Perino’s criticism as follows:

DANA “DING DONG” PERINO (NEVER HEARD OF HER UNTIL TODAY!) IS MELTING DOWN BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM! FOX HATES THAT I AM AMERICA’S MOST FAVORITE GOVERNOR (“RATINGS KING”) SAVING AMERICA — WHILE TRUMP CAN’T EVEN CONQUER THE “BIG” STAIRS ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE!!! TRUMP HAS “LOST HIS STEP” AND FOX IS LOSING IT BECAUSE WHEN I TYPE, AMERICA NOW WINS!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN

Newsom’s tactics are effective in highlighting the ridiculous nature of Trump’s communications. More Democrats should engage in similar tactics. Trump is both an existential threat to democracy and a joke. We must not lose sight of either of those facts.

Trump’s efforts to negotiate peace in Ukraine: Smoke and mirrors

Trump’s efforts to negotiate peace in Ukraine are nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Said differently, Trump is simply lying about the status of the negotiations.

This article from the New York Times catalogs the various claims of Trump’s press secretary regarding the current state of negotiations versus the reality. See NYTimes, For Trump, Flashy Summits Come First. Grunt Work Comes Next. (Accessible to all.)

I won’t bother to review the list of lies. But as the NYTimes’ article makes clear, every claim of progress by Trump has either been contradicted or not confirmed by Russia. The only claim with any substance is that President Zelensky is willing to meet face-to-face with Putin. There is no indication that the reverse is true, despite Karoline Leavitt’s claim that Putin has agreed to such a meeting.

Per the Times,

Ms. Leavitt said Mr. Putin had promised to meet with Mr. Zelensky in the coming weeks. But Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, played down the prospect of such a meeting.

Putin is playing “Rope-a-Dope” with Trump. Unfortunately, Trump has no idea that he is a dope or that he is on the ropes.

Concluding Thoughts

For understandable reasons, there was a strong uptick in emails from readers on Tuesday expressing some form of resignation, anxiety, or fear. Trump’s claim that he will prohibit mail ballots pushed some readers over the edge of despair. I get it. He is unrelenting in his efforts to undermine democracy.

When I receive such emails, I do my best to urge readers to persist. However, there are only so many ways I can articulate my reasons for confidence and hope in the face of the challenging obstacles we encounter. That is why I was pleased to see Marc Elias of Democracy Docket address the issue of uncertainty about the future in a newsletter on Monday entitled, What gives me hope.

Marc’s essay is in a premium newsletter for paying subscribers, so I am not certain the above link will work for everyone. (I am a paying subscriber to Democracy Docket.) But here is the gist of Marc’s answer to the question of “What Gives Me Hope:”

I am hopeful when I see everyday Americans stand on street corners, in the heat of summer or the cold of winter, holding signs to protest Trump’s cruel treatment of migrants. They cannot reverse policy alone, but their visible witness matters. It reminds all of us that cruelty is not normal, that silence only benefits the oppressor.

I feel hope every time an opposition leader — elected or not — stands up to Trump and the GOP, making their efforts to subvert our elections just a little more difficult. Each obstruction slows the march toward authoritarianism. Each act of courage buys time for others to organize, resist, and fight back.

Most importantly, I have hope when people refuse the cool cynicism of despair. Despair is peddled by the right to convince us that resistance is futile, and it is echoed by too many on the left who would rather sit back and say all is lost. Cynicism asks nothing of us; hope demands everything. When people choose to act rather than surrender, that is what keeps democracy alive.

Will these efforts be enough? Will the cynics be proven right in the end? I don’t know. None of us does. But our job — all of our jobs — is to ignore the temptation of despair and to keep fighting authoritarianism every single day, in every way we can.

Well said by Marc. He is one of the handful of people I turn to when I need a boost in confidence about the future or feel weighed down by widespread anxiety and panic among readers about current events.

In the end, the answers are simple: It is up to us. We must not quit. We must rise to meet the moment.

As Marc notes, success is not guaranteed despite our best efforts. But if we do not try, then failure is certain.

Trump has flooded the zone over the last few weeks with efforts to divert attention from his plummeting favorability and heavy presence in the Epstein files. His efforts are signs of weakness, fear, and desperation.

He fears us. He fears our voices at town halls, along roadsides, and on freeway overpasses. But most importantly, he fears our voice at the ballot box. That fact should inspire confidence and determination to continue the battle with greater vigor and courage than ever before!

Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!

Daily Dose of Perspective

The Sombrero Galaxy is 31 million light-years from the Milky Way and is 105,000 light-years in diameter.

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