Think More: Monday, July 20, 2026
China's grab of military voter files, the Save America Act fight, the RNC's never-resident lawsuits, Medicaid fraud, and more.
Lead · The Ballot and the Adversary
China Obtained Military Voter Files That Expose Deployment Locations
President Trump disclosed Thursday that Chinese entities obtained U.S. voter registration files, including records of service members deployed overseas. Amanda Head explains the stakes: a ballot mailed to an address abroad can reveal an operating location, and bulk data lets Beijing build dossiers on troops and their families for espionage recruitment, blackmail, or harassment. Smaller and contingency sites carry the greatest exposure.
The Ballot and the Adversary
An Alleged Chinese Fake-License Scheme From 2020 Is Under FBI and Senate Scrutiny
Tim O’Brien revisits the allegation, under FBI and Senate Judiciary investigation since July 2025, that China used stolen TikTok data to manufacture fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses intended to generate mail-in ballots for Joe Biden in 2020. The claims remain unproven, and wire-service fact checks at the time disputed any voter-fraud link, but Trump elevated them in his July 16 address.
A State Department Report Maps Cuba’s Activist Network Inside the United States
A new State Department report describes a Cuban-cultivated network of American activist groups, naming ICAP, the National Network on Cuba, Code Pink, the People’s Forum, the DSA, and the National Lawyers Guild. A publicly posted rapid-response plan calls for protests at military bases and ICE facilities within 24 hours of any U.S. strike on Cuba.
The Save America Fight
Roger Kimball Makes the Case That Only Cheats Fear the Save America Act
Roger Kimball reads Trump’s prime-time election-integrity address as a call to action for the Save America Act: photo identification, proof of citizenship, and mail-in ballots limited to the ill, travelers, and deployed troops. The declassified findings behind the speech are posted at the White House website. His verdict on the act’s opponents sits in his headline.
The RNC Sues Six States Over “Never Residents” Casting Ballots
Fred Lucas reports the RNC’s pending litigation against Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Virginia over laws letting citizens who never lived in a state vote there absentee. A North Carolina court struck down that state’s version in June. The committee counts more than 160 active election-integrity cases across 36 states.
Why Senators Handed Their Power to Party Leaders
James Wallner | Legislative Procedure
James Wallner, the Senate proceduralist, explains why rank-and-file senators surrendered their power to party leaders: a closed, leader-run floor offers predictability, convenience, and less accountability than open debate. The surrender is chosen, not imposed by the rules, which means senators could reclaim the floor whenever they decide the price of deference is too high.
The Fraud Ledger
RFK Jr. Pegs Medicaid Theft at $100 Billion a Year, and It May Be Low
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pegs annual theft from his department at $100 billion, citing 800 shuttered hospices, among them a Los Angeles hotel whose every room was a hospice address without patients. John Hinderaker suspects the figure runs low; Minnesota auditors estimated half the spending in 14 Medicaid programs went to fraud.
Stolen Identities Are Draining the Welfare Rolls; Verification Would Save $29 Billion
Michael Greibrok | Foundation for Government Accountability
A Foundation for Government Accountability paper finds identity theft embedded in the welfare rolls: 2.8 million Social Security numbers tied to Medicaid enrollees in multiple states, payments for people dead since the Reagan administration, and numbers issued before enrollees’ births. Requiring identity verification for applicants, Michael Greibrok estimates, would save taxpayers $29 billion.
Identity fraud in the welfare rolls: Foundation for Government Accountability, July 17
24M
Identity theft victims each year
2.8M
SSNs enrolled in multiple states
$29B
Saved by verifying identities
Cadres and Credentials
What Maine Democrats Knew About Graham Platner, and Chose to Ignore
Writing from Portland, Abigail Ryland argues that Graham Platner’s withdrawal after a sexual assault allegation, which he denies, was no belated act of responsibility. Maine Democrats gave him 72% of the primary vote with his record already visible, and the standard shifted only when the latest allegation threatened their shot at Susan Collins’s seat.
An AfriForum Veteran Maps the South Africanization Playbook, From Cape Town to City Hall
Ernst J. van Zyl | The American Mind
Ernst J. van Zyl of AfriForum offers a field guide to South Africanization: cadre deployment, corruption made compulsory, a grant system leaving half the population state-dependent, and race-based transformation as moral veneer. His prompt is Zohran Mamdani citing the ANC’s Freedom Charter as an inspiration in his inaugural address as mayor of New York.
The House Summons the ABA’s President Over DEI in Law School Accreditation
Rep. Brandon Gill has summoned American Bar Association President Michelle Behnke for a Wednesday hearing on whether the nation’s dominant legal accreditor weaponized its power over law schools to force DEI into admissions and coursework. The ABA’s accrediting council voted in May to end its DEI rule after Trump’s return to office.
The Wartime Economy
Kevin Warsh’s Task Forces Point the Fed Back Toward Humility
Allison Schrager | City Journal
Allison Schrager reads Kevin Warsh’s first press conference as chairman as a return to the pre-Bernanke Federal Reserve: task forces on communications, the balance sheet, data, and the inflation framework, plus his refusal to join the dot plot. The harder work is shrinking a balance sheet that peaked near $9 trillion.
The Iran War Climbs Back to Second Among Voter Concerns
Scott Rasmussen | Napolitan News Service
Scott Rasmussen’s latest survey of 1,000 registered voters finds the Iran war back in second place among voter concerns, with 20% naming foreign policy, Iran, or the war as the top issue facing the nation. The war’s economic fallout still ranks first at 31%. Republicans rank the war higher than Democrats do, 26% to 13%.
