The Matterboard is our weekly assessment of what’s worth your attention and what isn’t. Here’s last week’s edition, here’s an overview of the project, and here’s the full archive.
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Here’s what’s new on The Matterboard:
PAY ATTENTION ⚠️
The Iran war could last until 2029. Not kidding. A top Iranian official said recently, “Trump will not reach an agreement with us. We will accompany him until his term ends.” Analysts interpret that to mean Iran plans to string Trump along until he leaves office in 2029. That would mean continued harassment of Gulf energy shipments, and elevated energy prices, for another two-and-a-half years, unless Trump can find a way out.
If the war does simmer that long, however, energy markets will adapt and Iran’s leverage will decline. One expert at the Atlantic Council argues that Trump should calm down, maintain the oil blockade of Iran, and wait it out. Americans aren’t happy with $4 gasoline, but it’s not killing the economy, either. We’re already learning to live with the Iran situationship.
The Democratic Socialists rose from RESULTS MAY VARY to the PAY ATTENTION quadrant this week, mainly due to Abdul El-Sayed’s win in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary. El-Sayed says he’s not a socialist. But he’s in the Bernie Sanders camp, backing policies such as government-run health care.
We care less about El-Sayed’s policy views than his role as a GOP bogeyman and the odds that a few high-profile lefties will leave the Democrats’ brand more damaged than ever. President Trump calls El-Sayed a communist. El-Sayed is Muslim, and the Internet is filled with false claims that he wants to enact Sharia law in the United States. (Emphasis: false.)
A huge question in the 2026 elections is whether the growing slate of far-left Democrats on the ballot, socialist or otherwise, will energize young voters and create momentum for Democrats, or horrify centrists who flee to the other side. You can read more here about the Democratic Socialists’ awful branding problem.
MIGHT GET SPICY 🤔
Trump hiding in the catering truck. The memes are delightful (“Operation Iran Away”)😄. And we still don’t know some of the most important details. Is there a specialized presidential catering truck built to military specs? Or does the president of the United States have to ride in an off-the-shelf catering truck? Were there chairs? Or did Trump sit on the floor?
But still: The story of Trump sneaking off Air Force One on July 8 to secretly board another plane is pretty stunning. The Secret Service ordered the switcheroo because of reports that Iran might try to shoot down Air Force One as it left the NATO summit in Turkey, bound for home. There have already been at least two assassination attempts against Trump. The Iranians might not have gotten very far, but they’ve tried before and they’ll keep trying. Crazy times could get crazier.
[“The lousy, stinking politicians”]
Vaccine lunacy. If you don’t trust the government, good. Trump signed an executive order on August 10 reducing the list of recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11. He did that based on nothing except prodding by the kook Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the laughably unqualified Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you take health advice from Trump and RFK Jr., god help you. Don’t listen to them! Just do what your doctor recommends.
RESULTS MAY VARY 🤷♂️
Trump’s approval rating keeps sinking. It hit 33% in the latest YouGov poll, with his net approval rating (approve minus disapprove) at -29. Both are record lows for Trump. The worst Joe Biden net approval was -23, and that was after Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June 2024. Trump is doing worse than Biden was at his most feeble.
Biden hurting. Hunter Biden says his father Joe’s prostate cancer is worsening and has spread to other parts of his body, most likely the bones. It’s not necessarily terminal, and Joe Biden continues to make public appearances. We put this on The Matterboard because it’s the first Biden health update in a while and we sincerely wish Biden well. For all his foibles as president, he was mostly decent and normal.
SAFELY IGNORE 🚫
Chipflation is something you’re likely to encounter eventually. The cost of DRAM memory components is expected to soar by 400% from the start of 2024 to the end of 2026, according to JP Morgan. That’s already raising the cost of flash drives and memory chips. It will probably start to push up the cost of smartphones, computers and other things that require chips, such as cars. We expect chipflation to rise higher on The Matterboard as it becomes more noticeable.
[The AI boom is just getting started]
You need to know about “The Zapper.” She’s a young White House staffer with a Barbie-style blank stare seen standing next to Trump at his White House desk, possibly for the sole purpose of zapping him back to life when he falls asleep. The theory is, she wears some kind of gizmo beneath her clothes and pushes a button when a nearby aide nods or gives her a signal. It then pings a vibrating device somewhere on Trump’s person, reviving him. Check it out here.
Look, it’s obviously probably not true, but The Zapper made The Matterboard because of the bizarre spectacle of Trump repeatedly nodding off with the cameras rolling. Any other president would do something, like take stimulants before boring TV events or just stop doing them. Trump is such a publicity-hog that he can’t say no to the cameras, even when he’s sleeping. Americans voted for this farce.
Leavitt Leaving. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the job at the end of August to spend more time with her family. That excuse is a classic cover story when somebody screws up and needs to go, but Leavitt had a baby in May, so this may be one instance when it’s actually true. Another Trump loyalist will replace her and end up with the thankless job of covering for Trump’s mistakes and explaining his many inanities. Press secretaries come and go, and Leavitt’s departure would only be especially notable if it turns out she knows some huge controversy is brewing and wants to get out before the storm hits. Meanwhile, she’ll doubtless turn up as a talking head, probably on Fox.
AOC’s pregnancy plans. Why does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want everybody to know she’s freezing her eggs so she can still have a baby later in life? This is normally a private decision and we don’t need to know. But something’s going on with AOC, who is 36.
Around the time she posted a series of egg-freezing videos, it became public (deliberately leaked?) that she broke up with her fiancé a couple of years ago. Put them together, and the message is, she doesn’t have a family that might get in the way of her job, but she’s family-minded and hopes to have kids someday.
AOC also made news on Aug. 9 when she said on an ABC news show, “Woke 1.0 was crazy,” referring to the peak political correctness mania that occurrred around 2020.
AOC has senatorial and maybe presidential ambitions, and she’s disowning some of her most fiery leftist positions, such as defunding the police and bashing moderate Democrats. In a way, it’s a public version of how a passionate, radical-minded young person learns how the world works and becomes more rational. Is it AOK? We’ll find out if she ever needs the votes of people beyond her deep-blue Congressional district in New York City.
Enjoy a real cartoon.
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Everyone, quit your grousing. Just about everything has both good and bad points. Don't let your biases blind you one way or another. Keep an open mind that: A) you don't know everything about the item in question, and B) you might be wrong. That latter possibility often doesn't enter the calculus of forming an "informed decision."
I think once a big time socialist then deep down you probably want change.AOC at her age though would be a hold lot better than Trump which means what? Not Much!America just need to stop voting for losers . Every body should do a little investigating on who they vote for and, stop voting for a PARTY.It takes people to make a Party but, if your not care full a whole PARTY can be worthless.