THIS STUFF ACTUALLY HAPPENED:
Naming wrongs. President Trump has a tell: When he’s completely out of ideas, he makes absurd territorial claims. The latest is Lake of America, Trump’s new name for Lake Ontario. That’s his punishment for Canada standing up to his latest round of tariffs by imposing their own retaliatory tariffs on US imports.
Trump has also declared the Strait of Hormuz—which is 6,800 miles from the mainland United States—to be US territory. And one of his first moves as president in 2025 was renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
Every rational person in politics should sign a joint statement saying that when Trump is gone, we’ll simply undo all of his inane renamings and other pointless acts. But people are afraid. Google Maps actually shows the Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America.” So it may feel it has to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Since Trump signed executive orders on both of those, there’s a sense of officialness. But other nations don’t need to abide by Trump’s orders, and they use the traditional names. Obviously a future president can sign orders undoing Trump’s, and put the whole naming absurdity to rest. Let’s hope that is what happens, if we ever have a normal president again.
Trump’s trade war with Canada, alas, could do more damage than scribbling a new name on a map. So far, Trump and Canada have each announced new import taxes on $20 billion worth of imports. There are rumblings that Trump may pledge to withdraw from the entire free trade deal with Canada and Mexico that he himself orchestrated in 2020. Analysts have been expecting Trump to go full-tariff, again, once the midterm elections are past, but he’s getting a jump on that. Tariff Man is off the mat and we’ll all end up worse for it.
[Trump’s tiresome Canada tariffs]
Economic D-Day on hold. The Trump administration hyped a big speech by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on August 24, at which he announced an “economic D-Day” against Iran. But D-Day has only been announced. The threatened package of sanctions and other measures—which the administration calls “Operation Economic Outcast”—hasn’t gone into effect yet, and it’s not clear when or if it will.
If this gives you a sense of deja vu, it’s because Trump launched “Operation Economic Fury” against Iran in April. In May, it announced it was ramping up Operation Economic Fury. Economic Fury has now morphed into Economic Outcast.
Their operational nomenclature could use some work. Going from “fury” to “outcast” sounds like de-escalation, not tightening the screws. It also sounds like Operation Ho-Hum. Iran has been an economic outcast for decades, hamstrung by various western sanctions since the 1979 revolution.
[What the bond market wants you to know]
What next? Operation Stern Lecture? Trump has lost the plot on the Iran war, and maybe the war itself.
Youngsters sour on oldster. About one-fifth of the people who voted for Trump in 2024 are sorry they did. And the youngest Trump voters are the sorriest. A new Navigator poll finds that 31% of Gen Zers who voted for Trump wish they hadn’t. The portion of Trump voters who regret their vote declines with age.
I can’t keep track of who’s in what generation, so here’s the age breakdown, as of 2026:
Gen Z: 14-28 (but only those aged 20 to 28 were eligible to vote in 2024)
Millennial: 29-45
Gen X: 46-61
Baby Boomer: 62-80
Trump only got 43% of the under-30 vote in 2024, but that was the best showing among young voters for a Republican presidential candidate in 20 years. The shift of young voters away from Democrats, toward Trump, may even have put him over the top in crucial swing states, clinching the win.
Young voters may now be moving back toward Democrats. Here’s a breakdown of the Navigator poll results:
The Pinpoint view is that analysts make too much of this or that demographic group aligning with either Democrats or Republicans. Many voters these days are simply disgusted with the status quo, which means they turn against whoever is in power. If Democrats do well in this year’s midterm elections, it won’t be because Americans suddenly love their party. It will be because they’re sick of Trumpism. They could just as quickly get sick of whatever the Democrats have to offer.
[What’s changing at the Federal Reserve, and why it matters]
Stupid golf people. The golf company Callaway ended a brand partnership with media venture Good Good Golf over one of the most idiotic ads in memory. The ad shows a female golfer reaching for a golf bro’s driver, which sets him off. He races over and pushes her to the ground, warning, “do not touch my new driver,” as she lies looking up at him. Have a look:
The lesson of this ad is that there are stupid people everywhere. Bosses at both Good Good Golf and Callaway approved the ad, which ran on social media. Maybe they figured woke is out, so obnoxious behavior toward women is cool again.
The ad was supposed to spoof the horror flick Obsession, but it wasn’t remotely funny and wouldn’t have been funny even without the smackdown of the lady golfer. Everybody apologized … this doesn’t reflect their values … blah blah blah. Funny how values are often absent until you have to prove you have some.
Enjoy a cartoon.
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Phil Mattingly of CNN shrewdly observed that the Great Lakes mnemonic taught in schools - HOMES - just became SHAME after Trump renamed Ontario. Nomenclature reassignment surgery, anyone?
Loved "Operation Stern Lecture"!!
SMH at these WTFs... And this was a light week due to the dog days of August...