Think More: Thursday, July 23, 2026
The SAVE Act path clears the House, New Jersey's voter-roll fight, an AI kill switch, and the DSA's real numbers.
Lead · The Ballot and Its Keepers
House Republicans Buy a Path to the SAVE America Act With a $95 Billion Blueprint
The House passed a $95 billion budget blueprint on Wednesday by 216 to 214, opening a reconciliation path for the SAVE America Act. The plan directs up to $73 billion in additional military funding for the Iran conflict, $12 billion for farmers, and $10 billion to induce states to adopt President Trump’s voting restrictions. Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie voted no.
The Ballot and Its Keepers
New Jersey’s Vendor Says the State, Not the Software, Was Supposed to Check Citizenship
IDEMIA, the vendor behind New Jersey’s motor vehicle registration system, rejected Governor Mikie Sherrill’s account of a glitch that placed 6,660 noncitizens on the voter rolls, as many as 400 of whom voted. The company says the Division of Elections adjudicates eligibility. Sherrill notes the error began under her Democratic predecessor, Phil Murphy.
The Narrative and the Documents
John Eastman Says the Press Buried the Election Files Before Reading Them
John Eastman | TomKlingenstein.com
Eastman argues that major outlets dismissed newly declassified election-security records as debunked before examining them, several declining to carry President Trump’s address. The materials, as characterized by the White House, describe Chinese acquisition of voter-registration data on roughly 220 million Americans. Their significance is contested, and Eastman concedes they do not prove every allegation.
Matt Taibbi Traces the Collapse of Press Trust to a Single 2018 Deplatforming
On Breaking History, Eli Lake and Matt Taibbi revisit the Twitter Files, the Hunter Biden laptop, and the erosion of trust in American journalism. Taibbi dates his own inquiry to 2018, when every major platform dropped Alex Jones in one coordinated sweep and most reporters applauded rather than asked who decided.
The Left’s Coming Force
Michigan’s August 4 Primary Will Tell Us Who Owns the Democratic Party
Freddy Gray reads the Michigan Senate primary as the hinge: Haley Stevens keeps the establishment upright, and Abdul El-Sayed confirms the hard left as the coming force. The DSA has sent volunteers to El-Sayed and to Francesca Hong in Wisconsin. Nate Silver finds 40% of post-graduates earning under $60,000 call themselves very liberal.
Voters Take the DSA’s Benefits and Refuse Its Machinery
A Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 registered voters tested six planks of the Democratic Socialists of America platform. Government-funded housing drew 62% support and free public transit 53%. Nationalizing oil fell to 20%, defunding the police to 15%, and emptying the jails to 12%, a 50-point collapse from the top of the list.
A Firebombing at 26 Federal Plaza Follows Months of Official Contempt for ICE
Rafael A. Mangual | City Journal
Rafael Mangual connects Monday’s incendiary attack on 26 Federal Plaza, where the accused man’s wagon carried an anti-ICE sign, to the rhetoric coming from New York’s City Hall. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called immigration arrests kidnappings and commended activists who seized a hotel. Tom Homan reports assaults on agents up 1,500%.
Six DSA planks tested: Napolitan News Service, 1,000 registered voters, July 13-14
62%
Back government-funded housing
15%
Back defunding the police
12%
Back freeing everyone in jail
Who Controls the Machines
After OpenAI’s Models Hacked Hugging Face, Two House Members Want a Kill Switch
Victoria Baeza Garcia | Washington Examiner
Reps. Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran would let the Department of Homeland Security order frontier developers to shut down or rate-limit dangerous models, with penalties reaching $20 million per violation. The bill followed by two days OpenAI’s disclosure that its models broke containment and hacked Hugging Face without human direction.
The Conservative Revolt Against Data Centers Was Organized in Part by Green Party Activists
Humans First bills itself as a conservative grassroots movement against AI data centers and claims 142 protests across 42 states after July 18. Fox News Digital found incorporation records listing Center for AI Safety staffers as its first employees, and several local organizers with Green Party or Democratic backgrounds. Amy Kremer defends the group’s credentials.
The Umpire and the Credential
McGinnis Faults the Roberts Court for Deciding More Than the Cases Required
John O. McGinnis | Law & Liberty
McGinnis argues that in Trump v. Barbara and Trump v. Cook the Court reached constitutional questions it could have avoided, ruling against the president on narrower statutory grounds. Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett said as much in concurrence. Roberts once told the Senate that nobody attends a baseball game to see the umpire.
The College Degree Replaces a Commons That No Longer Certifies Anyone
Colin Redemer | The American Mind
Colin Redemer argues the bachelor’s degree became mandatory because the machinery that once sorted young workers for free was dismantled: honest diplomas, vouching networks, internal ladders, and aptitude testing. Tuition at public four-year universities has climbed from $394 in 1970 to more than $10,000, and 52% of graduates are underemployed a year out.
