June may be over, but in American politics, it seems every month is Pride Month. In Washington, Joe Biden is angrily refusing to step down, frustrating the dreams of an entire class of vicious but wimpy politicians and pundits who really thought D.C. worked like a season of Aaron Sorkin’s “The West Wing.”And about 800 miles away in Milwaukee, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is effectively steamrolling grassroots activists, breaking protocols and precedent to shape a platform in the Republican nominee’s image. But first, the Democrats. For four years, the party had held the line on Biden’s clearly degenerating mental state with winks, nods, and blacklists. That ended with his debate performance, but to what end? After the gun smoke cleared, Biden was still standing and even calling in to an episode of his favorite “Morning Joe” to angrily denounce his critics and defiantly promise to stay in the race. The past two weeks haven’t shown any sudden turn toward honesty in reporting but have instead exposed a panic that Donald Trump might win. Only the Lord himself could dislodge Biden from the Oval Office, the president told George Stephanopoulos. Short of that, Biden’s arrogance will keep him firmly in place. While endangered swing-state Democrats held a secret meeting complete with tears, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-N.Y.) joined his New York colleague, left-wing Squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in publicly standing behind their man. The president, meanwhile, held a video call with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Caucus members, who have enjoyed important chairmanships and White House access during Biden’s administration, pledged their continued loyalty — and warned that black voters don't want a change to the ticket. Conservative pundits who had expected a quick decapitation were correct to point to the Democratic Party’s determination to win at any cost, but they forgot there isn’t any special genius behind that viciousness. And while Democrats display a will to power that’s unique in American politics, that power isn’t centralized in the New York Times editorial board or the D.C. morning show hosts or even the Obamas in Martha’s Vineyard. And the White House has a good deal of that power. That’s not to say Biden’s problems are going away. His mental decline isn’t going to reverse, and every misstep will hurt a lot more than it would have before the June debate. Even a strong teleprompter read at the NATO conference in D.C. will only soothe rather than heal, and the years-old leaks from worried world leaders will carry new weight in this media environment. Biden’s chances of surviving, however, are decidedly better today than they were on Sunday. The memo has gone out that he's not leaving the stage, and that means further intraparty fighting that Republicans will use to win. That could shut people up fast. It’s important to remember that the past two weeks haven’t shown any sudden turn toward honesty in reporting but have instead exposed a panic that Donald Trump might win. If Biden survives the first week of elected Democrats getting chased through the halls for comment, he’ll get a week’s rest while the Republicans meet at their convention in Wisconsin. After that, it’s just a week and a half with Congress in session before the long August recess and the Democratic National Convention. And then he’s the nominee. Speaking of conventions, there’s more than a little pride afoot in Milwaukee as well. Republican delegates flew in Sunday for their quadrennial meeting, where they form committees and subcommittees, offer amendments, take votes, and hammer out the party platform. Only this time, they didn’t. There were no press, no activists, no subcommittees, and no amendments. Delegates were handed a shiny party platform, entertained with speakers and multimedia presentations, and then suddenly there was a motion to approve, it was seconded, and it was done. Upset delegates were told to pipe down, followed to the bathrooms to prevent them from using their phones, and generally bullied. We’ve seen this on the state level before. President George W. Bush’s team, for instance, famously bulldozed the Texas state convention in 2008 as a sort of cementing-his-legacy action. “Parliamentarians were escorted off the floor,” one attendee recalled to Blaze News. “It was a joke.” The national level is another thing, however. "It’s never happened before,” Utah platform committee delegate Gayle Ruzicka told a reporter Monday. "They didn’t allow any amendments; they didn’t allow any discussion. They rolled us, that's what they did. You know, I spent thousands of dollars to be here, and everything they told us they were going to [do] isn’t what happened. None of it happened. I’ve never seen this happen before. I don't understand why they did it.” Another delegate confirmed this treatment to Blaze News, adding that it was “unprecedented.” In the end, the Trump team got what it wanted: watered-down sections on life and marriage as part of a broader platform that reflects the candidate more than the party activists so loyal to him. And that’s not all: By Tuesday afternoon, word was out that America’s most popular Republican governor, Florida’s Ron DeSantis, wouldn’t have a speaking role at the convention either. “They’re exerting an insane amount of control over the convention,” one Republican Senate aide remarked. It’s all personal. The president is angry at several national pro-life groups and angered by disappointing 2022 electoral results that he blamed in part on them. He thinks many of them are grifters, and he’s got a point about a few. Nor does he have any love for DeSantis, whose sins include both challenging Trump for the nomination and winning re-election by a historic margin in his home state. In short, they’ve stung the nominee’s pride. Sure, he might be right about this slight or that, but when you stack up the treatment of delegates, activists, pro-lifers, and other Republican officials, you see a pattern. A pattern that risks turning a show of unity into a show of force. Trump’s got the advantage right now. It would be prideful and foolish to spend it on friendly fire. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter. IN OTHER NEWS Republicans gear up for Wednesday fights The House is expected to vote Wednesday on both Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy’s bill to prohibit illegal immigrants from voting and Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller’s bill for disapproval of the Biden administration’s Title IX order giving men access to women’s sports and bathrooms. While neither bill is going anywhere the U.S. Senate, both fit well into the summer’s election prep — and Democrats are set to fall into both traps. While maintaining that illegal immigrants cannot vote in the first place, the White House, for instance, has condemned the bill making it explicitly illegal for the millions of people the Biden administration has allowed over the border to vote. Officials claim it’s not happening, and they don’t want any law to make sure it’s not happening. This might be good politics with their activists, but it’s terrible with voters. Immigration is consistently a top issue with voters. Likewise, a bill condemning men in women’s bathrooms and sports is meeting unified Democratic resistance. What will be more telling on this one is if any gutless Republicans join the Democrats in their opposition.

Hurricane Beryl — now classified as a weakened tropical depression — made landfall on the Texas coast early Monday, causing significant flooding and knocking out power to millions of Americans. According to PowerOutage.us, approximately 1.7 million residents, primarily in the southeastern portion of the state, were still without power as of Wednesday morning. President Joe Biden told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday that his administration had been unable to provide prompt emergency aid to the Lone Star State following the storm's landing due to the White House's inability to "track down" state leaders and obtain a formal request for a major disaster declaration. "I've been trying to track down the governor to see — I don't have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor," said Biden. The Chronicle, which endorsed Biden earlier this year, originally published the Democratic president's suggestion without comment from state leaders. Its report also contained a line that has since been removed claiming that a White House spokesperson "said officials tried to reach Abbott and Patrick multiple times," apparently without success. Texas officials have suggested that Biden's suggestion and the Chronicle's report did not track with the reality of the situation. Both Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R) and Governor Greg Abbott (R) indicated Tuesday that Biden was either lying or suffering a memory malfunction. 'Biden's memory fails again.' "I am disappointed that President Biden is turning Hurricane Beryl into a political issue," Patrick wrote on X. "We had a cordial call today that ended up with him granting my request for a major disaster declaration. But that's not good enough for him. He is falsely accusing me that I was not reachable." Patrick indicated further that Biden, who has been facing intense scrutiny from friends and critics alike over his decrepitude, "obviously did not know his own employees from FEMA were side-by-side with me for 3 days!" "All he had to do was call them and have them hand their phone to me. I even took a photo with them!" continued Patrick. "Before we made an official ask, we needed to determine what our outstanding needs were. We were working with local officials as we traveled the impacted areas. As I was being briefed today, the president called." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Asia on Friday in order to cultivate and strengthen economic partnerships in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Until Abbott's return on Saturday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has been serving the Lone Star State as acting governor. On July 5, days before the storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, Patrick declared a state of disaster, authorizing the use of all available state resources necessary to "cope with this disaster." The governor's office confirmed Tuesday that Patrick had gone a step farther and had spoken to Biden, requesting a federal disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency — a request that was granted. Adopting one of Biden's go-to turns of phrase, Patrick said, "This is a load of malarkey, and he's shoveling it!" On Wednesday morning, Patrick criticized "Biden's lie" further, summarizing the situation accordingly: "I asked for a federal disaster declaration at the proper time without delay and the president agreed. Sadly, President Biden is attacking Gov. Abbott and me, trying to score political points, for reasons that make no sense. Mr. President, as you like to say, 'C'mon, man!' — (@) Abbott similarly shredded Biden's apparent attempt to suggest his administration had been unreachable. "Biden's memory fails again," Abbott wrote Tuesday evening. "Not once did he call me during Beryl. He has my number & called me on Memorial Day after tornadoes hit Texas. I've had daily calls with state & local officials during Beryl. I spoke with FEMA Admin while on our trade mission but Biden never called." Andrew Mahaleris, the governor's press secretary, said, "This is a complete lie from Biden, and frankly doesn't make any sense. Biden and his Administration know exactly how to get in contact with the Governor and have on numerous occasions in the past, most recently on Friday when FEMA called and spoke with him." Mahaleris also blasted the Houston Chronicle, noting, "A lie travels halfway across the world before the truth puts it's [sic] boots on. @HoustonChron ran a false exclusive story on this nonsense, based off what an incoherent President said, before we had a chance to refute it. This is why Americans have lost faith in media." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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Movie lovers have been blessed throughout the decades with lighting in a bottle across multiple genres. But is it possible to recapture the wonder of the original masterpiece? A team of Hollywood and Italian filmmakers wants to find out as veterans from the U.S. and abroad set up shop to make a remake of A Fistful of Dollars. Released in 1964, A Fistful of Dollars is responsible for launching the spaghetti Western genre into international regard. It was originally directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starred Clint Eastwood in his first major role as The Man with No Name. Now, 60 years later, it is making its big return to town. ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ originally starring Clint Eastwood is the latest classic set up to get a remake A Fistful of Dollars is set to get a remake, 60 years after its release / Everett Collection A remake of A Fistful of Dollars is coming to the big screen, brought to viewers by Euro Gang Entertainment, which was founded by Gianni Nunnari of 300 fame and Simon Horsman, part of the Magazine Dreams team. RELATED: 93-Year-Old Clint Eastwood Is Apparently Embracing A ‘Letting Loose’ Attitude In Final Years Just as the original A Fistful of Dollars had an international squad behind it, so too will this remake, as they are joined by Italian producer Enzo Sisti, along with the company Jolly Film, based in Rome. By time of writing, the film is in the early stages of production so details are limited. There is no official writer tied to the program, nor have there been any cast announcements or a start date for filming. Deadline theorizes that the film can be expected to be in English. Following in the footsteps of giants The film launched Clint Eastwood’s career and gave him his first big role / Everett Collection Following up an act like the original A Fistful of Dollars will be no easy task for this upcoming remake. Indeed, others have tried and faltered before even gaining momentum, like a Mark Gordon TV version that never made it off the ground. The original, itself, drew inspiration from legendary films of years past, most prominently Akira Kurosawa’s 1961 film, Yojimbo. The resemblance was so strong that the production company Toho filed a successful lawsuit and Kurosawa himself wrote to Leone, saying, “Signor Leone, I have just had the chance to see your film. It is a very fine film, but it is my film. Since Japan is a signatory of the Berne Convention on the international copyright, you must pay me.” The original spaghetti Western also drew strong inspiration from movies of the past / Everett Collection A Fistful of Dollars had a budget of around $200,000, while Eastwood was paid $15,000 for his role in it. Its humble beginnings launched the Dollars Trilogy, completed by For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and established the popularity of not just the spaghetti Western genre but the career of a man who would work on at least 60 films—and counting! Click for next Article The post Clint Eastwood’s ‘A Fistful Of Dollars’ Is The Latest Hit To Get A Remake appeared first on DoYouRemember? - The Home of Nostalgia. Author, Dana Daly