The networks reported that New Jersey's Democrat governor announced they found 6,600 illegal immigrants on its voting rolls, but labored mightily to play down its importance. They added that only 400 of them voted. MRC Video content creator Justine Brooke Murray and longtime NewsBusters writer Mark Finkelstein joined the show to discuss. MRC Bulldog Award winner Drew Holden posted a set of CNN.com headlines that demonstrate their coping methods on election cheating. “Election fraud isn’t really a thing, part infinity” from Chris Cillizza. Then the story breaks: "6600 non-citizens mistakenly added to NJ voter rolls,and nearly 400 cast ballots, governor says.” Then back to a dismissive tone: “New Jersey’s non citizen voting reveal isn’t all it seems.” CNN host Abby Phillip argued the aliens who voted didn't know what they were doing was wrong. The spin is dizzying. On Thursday's Morning Joe, Jonathan Lemire wrongly claimed that the state “had to acknowledge that a few hundred voters were, you know, non-citizens were mistakenly added to the voting rolls." They never got around to the 6,600 announced by Gov. Mikie Sherrill. But John Heilemann insisted the numbers were "statistically insignifant." We know that would not be the case if Trump votes were illegally cast. Then there's the Democrat trouble with communist streamer Hasan Piker. He addressed the College Democrats of America national convention while wearing a Mao suit. People located old video of Piker praising Mao Zedong as a "great leader," although he presided over the murder of tens of thousands. But the media portray Trump as factually challenged when he finds communists among the Democrats. "It’s a great honor to be here in the heart of the American Empire, in the belly of the beast," Piker said. "I’m speaking to the future activists of the Democratic Party, but as an outsider currently pushing for an insurgency.,,,No more to the Democrats who will collaborate and cooperate with the fascists, who will fund ICE, who will fund Israel, who will help poison the planet, "We don’t need those Democrats anymore."Piker appeared on the campaign trail in Michigan with Democrat Senate candidate Abdul el-Sayed. CNN has thrown some tough questions at al-Sayed. On Sunday, Jake Tapper asked the candidate about audio captured by the Washington Free Beacon where he said he didn't want to have any comment on the death of Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran because he knew the residents of Dearborn were sad. Enjoy the podcast below.    

The Elitist Media have once again descended upon a community where an officer-involved shooting has occurred, seeking to witness and amplify local outrage. The broadcast network evening news led with the officer-involved shooting in Madison, Wisconsin. One of the networks severely downplayed the underlying incident at the heart of the protests.Although there is broad consensus that a Madison police officer was injured by the knife wielded by the suspect, ABC chooses to bury this fact towards the end of their report: WATCH: @ABCWorldNews' weird burial of the knifing of the Madison (WI) police officer. Correspondent Pierre Thomas buries that fact towards the end of the report, and then rhetorically separates the suspect from the knife:PIERRE THOMAS: Police say they were responding to reports… pic.twitter.com/OlJPHGfXBx— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 24, 2026 PIERRE THOMAS: Police say they were responding to reports of a man checking the doors of parked cars Wednesday afternoon. Officers spotting him but police say he took off on a bike. Police catching up with him roughly a half hour later. ABC News compiled available video on the incident attempting to break down what happened. Here, the suspect flying off the bike as officers attempt to arrest him. Police say he pulls out a fixed blade knife. Officers try to tase him, but police say they're unsuccessful. The struggle continues, with the man ending up on the ground on his side. Then three shots fired. That suspect later pronounced dead at the hospital. Tonight, that man identified as Corey Ruiz, who community leaders say was black. Authorities claim the officer who fired the shot was injured by the knife.The officer injury with the knife was mentioned 1 minute and 43 seconds into a 2 minute and 11 second report- that is to say, towards the end. In other words, buried. And even then, Pierre Thomas went through significant effort to disconnect the suspect from the knife. This disconnect makes no sense except as part of an effort to cast the deceased suspect in the best possible light and stoke Riot Season.CBS didn’t indulge this foolishness. Anchor Tony Dokoupil linked suspect and knife as he introduced the story: WATCH: @CBSEveningNews immediately links the suspect to the knife that injures an officer prior to the shooting in Madison, WITONY DOKOUPIL: And good evening. We begin with that breaking news out of Madison, Wisconsin, just a day after police shot and killed a man in a busy… pic.twitter.com/CbFwhnBUHR— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 24, 2026 TONY DOKOUPIL: And good evening. We begin with that breaking news out of Madison, Wisconsin, just a day after police shot and killed a man in a busy intersection there. Police say the man had fled from officers, then pulled a fixed blade knife, injuring one officer who tried to use a taser before three shots were fired.Correspondent Jonah Kaplan would then reference the knifing incident multiple times in his own report. There is no effort to bury this inconvenient and counternarrative fact. The same goes for NBC, which also referenced the knifing early on in the report: WATCH: @NBCNightlyNews also referenced the knifing of an MPD officer early into its coverage of the officer-involved shooting in Madison, WI.TOM LLAMAS: We have new details tonight in the fatal shooting of a man in Madison, Wisconsin. Authorities say he pulled out a knife as… pic.twitter.com/K3i8Vu3VRV— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 24, 2026 TOM LLAMAS: We have new details tonight in the fatal shooting of a man in Madison, Wisconsin. Authorities say he pulled out a knife as police struggled with him. The shooting, though, now sparking protests. Shaquille Brewster is there.SHAQUILLE BREWSTER: New video capturing the deadly confrontation between Madison, Wisconsin police and Corey Ruiz. Captured on camera in Madison, Wisconsin. A police officer fatally shooting the 38-year-old who investigators say was armed with a knife.JOHN PATTERSON: This is an open and active homicide investigation right now.BREWSTER: The scene sparking outrage even at a press conference with city leaders late today. Multiple videos capturing the incident from different angles. The scuffle appearing to begin here when police say Ruiz falls or is taken off his bike by an officer. Authorities were responding to a report of an individual checking car doors Wednesday afternoon they say, when the man initially fled. Watch as police appear to struggle with him. They say Ruiz pulled out a knife and injured one officer.In addition to mentioning the knifing of the officer on several occasions, NBC were the only ones to mention that the suspect had an extensive criminal record (40 convictions). NBC also took the high road by choosing to air these inconvenient facts.That isn’t to say that CBS or NBC were police puff pieces. They aired oppositional viewpoints from within the community, and observed the lack of police bodycams. They went for a semblance of balance and let viewers decide on the merits of the story. It would’ve been nice had ABC chosen to do the same.Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective network newscasts on Thursday, July 23rd, 2026:ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT7/23/266:31 PMLINSEY DAVIS: We begin tonight with growing outrage in Madison, Wisconsin over the deadly police shooting of a black man who authorities say was armed with a knife. The disturbing confrontation unfolding in the middle of the street in broad daylight. Late today, the jarring moment a protester grabs the mic from the police chief during a briefing. ABC's Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas leads us off.PIERRE THOMAS: Tonight, an eruption of raw emotion as local leaders tried to provide an update on the fatal police shooting of a black man at a busy intersection in Madison, Wisconsin.PROTESTER: Because we don't want to hear anything you've been saying.THOMAS: That stunning moment as a man spewing anti-semitic and anti-capitalism views suddenly emerges from the audience and literally takes the microphone from the Madison police chief while he's participating in a press conference on the shooting.The bizarre scene arising out of a city gripped in tension after this deadly police confrontation was caught on video from multiple angles on Wednesday. Police say they were responding to reports of a man checking the doors of parked cars Wednesday afternoon. Officers spotting him but police say he took off on a bike. Police catching up with him roughly a half hour later. ABC News compiled available video on the incident attempting to break down what happened. Here, the suspect flying off the bike as officers attempt to arrest him. Police say he pulls out a fixed blade knife. Officers try to tase him, but police say they're unsuccessful. The struggle continues, with the man ending up on the ground on his side. Then three shots fired. That suspect later pronounced dead at the hospital. Tonight, that man identified as Corey Ruiz, who community leaders say was black. Authorities claim the officer who fired the shot was injured by the knife. Police were not wearing body cameras, which are not widely used at the department. Overnight. Large scale protests in the city and frustrations running high.SATYA RHODES-CONWAY: I understand the very strong emotions that people are feeling. I'm feeling them, too.THOMAS: The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave and the police chief says state investigators, separate from his department, are conducting an independent investigation. Linsey.DAVIS: And we know you’ll be following that for us. Pierre, thank you.CBS EVENING NEWS7/23/266:31 PM TONY DOKOUPIL: And good evening. We begin with that breaking news out of Madison, Wisconsin, just a day after police shot and killed a man in a busy intersection there. Police say the man had fled from officers, then pulled a fixed blade knife, injuring one officer who tried to use a taser before three shots were fired. Protests developed almost immediately, and then today, just moments ago, demonstrators walked into a police press conference and took the microphone. One woman holding a sign saying, quote, “corrupt cops deserve to die too”, and “kill Peterson”. The reference not clear, though a police chief Patterson right there in the room. Our Jonah Kaplan has more now on that extraordinary moment and everything that led up to it. Jonah, good evening.JONAH KAPLAN: Tony, good evening. We are just a few blocks away from the state Capitol, and this right here, this is the spot where police shot and killed 38-year-old Corey Ruiz just about 24 hours ago. And that was a stunning moment. Never saw anything like that before. But it showed how the simmering tensions here, they are reaching a boiling point. As Madison's police chief detailed the independent investigation into Wednesday's shooting...JOHN PATTERSON: I'm not going to stand here today and render a verdict or an opinion about what the investigation will find because I believe that will jeopardize what we all want, which is independence.KAPLAN: He then stood still, as did other city leaders, as protesters first interrupted, then stole the microphone.PROTESTER: Give me this microphone man, excuse me. That's right. This is a public show. This is a public show.KAPLAN: This went on for more than 15 minutes. And when it resumed, the chief said this.PATTERSON: We’ve called for a thorough and independent criminal investigation into yesterday's shooting.KAPLAN: This new video obtained by CBS News shows four Madison police officers trying to revive a man they say had struggled with them during an arrest. The suspect died from gunshot wounds after police say he allegedly injured one officer with this knife. Video of the confrontation instantly went viral.POLICE: He's got a gun.POLICE: Taser! [Gunshots]KAPLAN: Today in Madison we met Jazz Brown, who said she grew up with Corey Ruiz, the victim in Wednesday's shooting. There was a picture of a big knife, right, how do you square that?JAZZ BROWN: A badge isn’t a license to kill.KAPLAN: The four officers involved have been put on leave.SATYA RHODES-CONWAY: This is an incredibly difficult moment for the Madison community. It does not matter who you are. Or what your past is. You should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement.KAPLAN: There's an ongoing vigil right now, but it's interesting, Tony, that Madison Police Department, which is right here in the state capital, pretty progressive city, no body cameras on the police officers. So any investigation is going to depend entirely on witness statements and witness videos.DOKOUPIL: Jonah Kaplan leading us off. Jonah, thanks.NBC NIGHTLY NEWS7/23/266:36 PMTOM LLAMAS: We have new details tonight in the fatal shooting of a man in Madison, Wisconsin. Authorities say he pulled out a knife as police struggled with him. The shooting, though, now sparking protests. Shaquille Brewster is there.SHAQUILLE BREWSTER: New video capturing the deadly confrontation between Madison, Wisconsin police and Corey Ruiz. Captured on camera in Madison, Wisconsin. A police officer fatally shooting the 38-year-old who investigators say was armed with a knife.JOHN PATTERSON: This is an open and active homicide investigation right now.BREWSTER: The scene sparking outrage even at a press conference with city leaders late today. Multiple videos capturing the incident from different angles. The scuffle appearing to begin here when police say Ruiz falls or is taken off his bike by an officer. Authorities were responding to a report of an individual checking car doors Wednesday afternoon they say, when the man initially fled. Watch as police appear to struggle with him. They say Ruiz pulled out a knife and injured one officer. Authorities say a taser was deployed but it was not successful. Then three shots are heard.PATTERSON: The officer who sustained injuries from the knife was the same officer that fired the shots.BREWSTER: Public records show Ruiz had at least 40 criminal convictions, including several for resisting or obstructing law enforcement.SATYA RHODES-CONWAY: You should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement. BREWSTER: The shooting leading to a night of demonstrations. Protesters here interrupting a concert at the state Capitol. Jasmine Brown says she knew Ruiz personally. You’ve known him for 20 years. What was lost in that shooting?JASMINE BROWN: I mean, a father. A son. A friend. A loved one. And he's gone.LLAMAS: Shaq Brewster joins us now live. You mentioned in your report one the officers was injured. Do we know how they're doing tonight?BREWSTER: Well, Tom, the police chief saying that the officer who was injured with that knife was hospitalized but released within hours. But investigators say there was a second officer who was hospitalized and released though the condition of that officer and the status and what led to the hospitalization was not clear. Tom.LLAMAS: Shaq Brewster at those demonstrations there in Madison tonight. Shaq, thank you.

MS NOW's The Last Word on SnapStream Many Americans disapprove of the war in Iran, but only the most unrealistic and TDS-afflicted would want a fake court to investigate the President for his social media posts. As crazy as that sounds, Catherine Rampell, the substitute teacher of MS NOW, did exactly that when she filled in for Lawrence O’Donnell on Wednesday’s episode of The Last Word.Rampell could barely hide her glee when she imagined Donald Trump being dragged before an international kangaroo court, presumably the International Criminal Court, as she interviewed Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters:So, what I was asking before the break was, with Donald Trump threatening potential war crimes again this morning, what consequences would he face if he actually goes through with that threat?   Peters replied with a noncommittal answer about how he hopes the military’s leaders “will push back and not allow those kinds of operations,” and that Trump may face “the condemnation of the whole world community.” He also gave a strange account of the war, in which Trump was unable to push the Iranians towards signing a deal:We can target military targets in a way to cause the kinds of - really the kind of actions necessary to bring Iran to the bargaining table, to negotiate, to try to end this war. The President has to be able to do that.As we saw with the ceasefires and MOU, which the Iranians recently broke, the issue isn’t that Trump can’t negotiate. It’s that the Iranians will break any deal they sign, thereby prompting further military action. No one can deny that Trump has worked harder than the Iranians, who seem content to allow their country to be bombed into oblivion, to end this war.But Rampell wasn’t satisfied with Peters's answer that blamed Trump, but not as much as she wanted. So, she clarified what she really wanted to hear:Well, with all due respect, I'm not sure that the threat of disapproval from the rest of the world, or disrespect from the rest of the world is going to be a whole lot in the way of deterring Donald Trump from, again, executing war crimes as he has threatened to do. So, my question, once again, is what actual consequences might this President face if he crosses that line of deliberately taking out civilian infrastructure in violation of the Geneva Conventions? Are there any tools that lawmakers have to hold him accountable, or international bodies have to hold him accountable beyond, you know, wagging their finger and saying, 'this is unacceptable'?Firstly, Trump threatened infrastructures that support the Iranian military in retaliation for Iran attacking ships in the Hormuz Strait. The Geneva Conventions’ Protocol 1, which the U.S. has not ratified, provides exemptions from targeting electric plants if they benefit the enemy’s military. Bridges can be classified as military targets if they are used to facilitate troop movements or military logistics.Secondly, the ICC, the main international body investigating violations of the Geneva Conventions, has no power in the United States. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently learned that the hard way. Iran also never signed the Rome Statute, so they cannot ask the ICC to investigate America’s alleged war crimes against them. And if they did, the ICC would certainly find more war crimes and human rights violations from the Iranians.Peters sadly informed Rampell that Congress cannot take action without the assent from the Republicans, which is not likely.So, ultimately Rampell didn’t get any supporting information for her fantasy of seeing Trump at the center of a new Nuremberg trial. Sad! The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:MS NOW's The Last Word7/22/2610:16:12 p.m. EasternCATHERINE RAMPELL: We are back with Senator Gary Peters. Apologies for the technical difficulties there. Live TV, always an adventure. Senator, thank you for sticking with us.  So, what I was asking before the break was, with Donald Trump threatening potential war crimes again this morning, what consequences would he face if he actually goes through with that threat?SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Well, certainly the condemnation of the whole world community. This is - this simply is unacceptable.  We'll see exactly what actually happens, you know, Donald Trump says a lot of things, doesn't necessarily mean it actually happens.  I would certainly hope that our military leaders who understand the rule of war, and how it's important to abide by those rules, will push back and not allow those kinds of operations.  Those would basically be illegal orders, if he's asking folks to commit crimes.  But we just have to make sure that the President understands that this type of behavior is unacceptable.  The United States, we have the best military in the world. We can target military targets in a way to cause the kinds of - really the kind of actions necessary to bring Iran to the bargaining table, to negotiate, to try to end this war.  The President has to be able to do that. But we don't see a strategy.  And when you look at what's happened so far, he says his number one goal was to deal with the nuclear arsenal. We heard it on an earlier clip that you have, that nuclear material is still there. Nothing has changed from before the war. He said that we've basically destroyed the missiles, and they aren't going to be able to have those attacks. Unfortunately, we have soldiers that were recently killed by missiles that seem to be more lethal, and actually more maneuverable. So, they are developing new weapons as well.  And as you mentioned, the Straits of Hormuz - the Strait of Hormuz, which was open, and oil was flowing to the world and the United States, has been closed because it wasn't adequately dealt with at the beginning of this war.  So this has been, certainly, a failure on the part of leadership. This is, both Hegseth and President Trump have failed.  And we have to make sure that in this failure, they are not flailing and engaged in actions that really bring disrespect to the United States and the - our forces, who always fight with honor and under the rule of law.RAMPELL: Well, with all due respect, I'm not sure that the threat of disapproval from the rest of the world, or disrespect from the rest of the world is going to be a whole lot in the way of deterring Donald Trump from, again, executing war crimes as he has threatened to do.  So, my question, once again, is what actual consequences might this President face if he crosses that line of deliberately taking out civilian infrastructure in violation of the Geneva Conventions? Are there any tools that lawmakers have to hold him accountable, or international bodies have to hold him accountable beyond, you know, wagging their finger and saying, 'This is unacceptable'? PETERS: Well, certainly there's some actions, the international courts can do it as well. The international community, as we've seen, of states that have violated humanitarian laws that you could possibly bring into play. Certainly the Congress should take action against the President as well. We'd have to get my Republican colleagues to actually do that.  Unfortunately, as you know, my Republican colleagues have never been willing to step up and hold the President accountable. They never ask anything when he asks something of them other than how high that they should jump. So, the Congress can't act. But we do need to have Republicans stand with us. That has not happened in the past. I'll be honest with you, I don't know if that would happen in the future.  So ultimately, we have to have a majority in the Congress to be able to step up and take Congressional action. And that means elections. And they're coming up really soon.  And we now have to - the American people have to understand that it's time for us to take action and basically rein in a president who has been lawless in so many ways, not just during this war in Iran, but lawless on the streets of America as well.RAMPELL: Senator Gary Peters, thanks so much for your time tonight.PETERS: Thank you.

Snapstream Over the last week, the media have continuously ridiculed President Trump’s address to the nation, in which he pointed out major election security concerns. In typical hypocritical fashion, however, they have been actively entertaining Democrats’ conspiracy theories of rigged midterm elections instead. With a history of eagerly entertaining ridiculous theories about a Trumpist takeover, MS NOW reinforced their narrative on this Thursday’s Morning Joe.The segment opened with correspondent Ali Vitali interviewing House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on his “doomsday plans” for if Trump made a move against free elections. Vitali summarized Schumer’s concerns:Schumer feels there is enough information to go off of from the president's own statements, not just in recent weeks, but in recent years, casting doubt on elections that Republicans lose. To Schumer's mind, it says that Democrats have not just an edge going into the midterms, but that they need to be able to have some reflexes to draw upon if there are attempts to sow disinformation or send federal troops to polling places. Those are just some of the fears that he has.Not long after Vitali aired Schumer’s doubts about 2026, fill-in host Jonathan Lemire would attack Trump’s:But at the same time, I think it's necessary to be out there and saying, “look, this is coming,” because President Trump is doing that! He had an oval office address last week with sort of ridiculous claims about 2020. But really, it's clear the goal of that was to sow doubt for 2026. Today's MS NOW Morning Joe, Ali Vitali entertains Senator Chuck Schumer's paranoid conspiracies about Trump rigging the elections. This is the same network that laughed off Trump's warnings about vulnerabilities in the election system just a week ago! It's all just fearmongering. pic.twitter.com/Py6lAu6r5O— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 23, 2026 Lemire might have been upset about Trump sowing doubt around elections, but he’d have done better to look at his side’s own conduct! Mere minutes earlier, Vitali and Schumer were doing the exact same thing, but against the right.As the show went on, MS NOW’s hypocrisy only grew. Terrified of Trump possibly being right, Lemire and national affairs analyst John Heilemann downplayed massive new evidence of voter fraud:LEMIRE: He [Trump] got his single best headline on any topic in months when the state of New Jersey had to acknowledge-HEILEMANN: Yes, Yes.LEMIRE: -that a few hundred voters were noncitizens, were mistakenly added to the voting rolls, and some did. And it was a mix of Republican and independents-HEILEMANN: And statistically insignificant. Like not to diminish it and defend it, if anything it breaks the law, and we should be serious and vigilant about making sure that there's no voter fraud. But-LEMIRE: It was a mistake.HEILEMANN: -400 votes were cast in, you know, against, against- given the raw vote totals, it's a statistically insignificant number. And that's been the case, we've seen voter fraud in the history of America, but just not on a scale that's ever been enough to tip an election.LEMIRE: But for his campaign?HEILEMANN: Incredible! Incredible, especially in a blue state. Then, when actual voter fraud occurs in Democrat New Jersey, John Heilemann brushes it off as "statistically insignificant", downplaying the severity of the breach. They seem more concerned with how the story will help Trump than the dangers in the election system it exposes! pic.twitter.com/qQyGJgTIsM— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 23, 2026 Trying to trivialize the breach in electoral security, Lemire claimed that only a few hundred noncitizens were involved in New Jersey. According to the governor’s actual admission, however, that number was actually in the thousands. The implications of this bombshell report for the American election system are massive, but MS NOW didn’t focus on that. Skimming over the consequences of the scandal, they were more concerned about how Trump would benefit from the news.The transcript is below. Click "expand" to view.MS NOW’s Morning JoeJuly 23, 202606:20:32 a.m. Eastern(…)ALI VITALI: The exercise that you just did, I imagine in all of your years here in the Senate, you've never prepared for a midterm election that way, right?SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): That is exactly right.VITALI: So why is this moment different?SCHUMER: We've never had a president like Donald Trump, whose ambition, whose sole focus and desire, it seems, is to overturn the election and cheat in the election.[Cuts to live]JONATHAN LEMIRE: So behind closed doors this week, Democratic senators were running through what Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called “doomsday scenarios” surrounding this November's midterms. The simulations are part of a broader effort in anticipation of threats that Democrats believe could emerge from President Trump and his allies, from misinformation campaigns to potential disruptions at polling places. Republicans, however, argue that Democrats are exaggerating the risks. Let's bring in MS NOW senior Capitol Hill reporter and the host of Way Too Early, Ali Vitali. You just saw her there with Senator Schumer. Ali, good to see you. Talk to us, if you will, about what the minority leader says they're preparing for.ALI VITALI: I mean, look, this is happening just steps away from the Senate floor yesterday, in a room where almost a dozen senators gathered with top election officials, or rather, experts to game-play some scenarios that they're thinking could happen in the lead up, on the day of, and after election day in November of 2026. And I think the fact that Senator Chuck Schumer is involved - this is not an effort of rank and file senators - this is led from the top, because Schumer feels there is enough information to go off of from the president's own statements, not just in recent weeks, but in recent years, casting doubt on elections that Republicans lose. To Schumer's mind, it says that Democrats have not just an edge going into the midterms, but that they need to be able to have some reflexes to draw upon if there are attempts to sow disinformation or send federal troops to polling places. Those are just some of the fears that he has. And so they're doing these closed door scenarios to try to mock what it might look like and what the response should be. (...)06:26:52 a.m. EasternLEMIRE: John Heilemann, Ali makes a good point about the delicate balance the Democrats are trying to strike here, where they do have to put out these public warnings, and they do have to do some game planning, because it certainly seems as if some efforts may be underway. You know, and I think that you don't want to depress your voters about it.But at the same time, I think it's necessary to be out there and saying, “look, this is coming,” because President Trump is doing that! He had an oval office address last week with sort of ridiculous claims about 2020. But really, it's clear the goal of that was to sow doubt for 2026.JOHN HEILEMANN: Well, and to lay down a pretext for if the elections go the way the polls suggest they are going to go for Donald Trump, to be able to stand up and say: “see, remember that that you all made fun of that Oval Office address I gave back over the summer. But I told you that China could infiltrate our voting systems. And although we don't have evidence of that yet, we know there's a good chance- they're all very vulnerable, and they have all those voter files that you can publicly obtain. So we got to investigate it. This election is in doubt. We must- you know, we're not going to certify the results of this election.” I think, Jonathan, you know, you've been covering the big lie since the beginning, right? And one of the really consistent patterns of Donald Trump is that he obsessively, compulsively, delusionally does not want to accept the results of any election that he is seen as a loser in, or that he's actually lost, right? And everything he's done over the course since he came back into office has been telling people as clearly as he can through his actions, through his words, through his deeds, and through his history, that Democrats should be worried about this. And the message to voters that “we need to turn out in large numbers,” Democrats to their voters, “we need to turn out large numbers, make this too big to rig,” is a good message to try to keep people motivated. But until yesterday, what I had seen was a lot of Democrats talking about this problem rather than doing anything about getting ready for it. It's kind of like “we must come up with a really sophisticated policy on dealing with the economic impacts of A.I.” Well, what's your policy, senator? “Well, we haven't- we have to- we're-” talking about the thing without actually coming up with the thing you're talking about. Democrats have been warning about this now for the past 15, 16 months. This is the first time you've seen some kind of an actual “let's go to a war- let's get together and do a war-gamed out scenario of what we would actually have to do if specific things take place in November.” And I think if Democrats don't do a lot more of that, not necessarily on a big public stage, but behind closed doors as they did yesterday, they'd be nuts not to be taking this that seriously.LEMIRE: Yeah, we've heard some governors issue similar warnings. Also, I mean, you're right. I remember, I mean, the opening scene in my book titled The Big Lie was Donald Trump in an August rally in Ohio, warning that the general election could be rigged. That’s the first time we had ever heard a presidential candidate say something like that. He, of course, has been sort of repeating that theme for a decade now. And I mean, again, for his purposes, earlier this week, he got his single best headline on any topic in months when the state of New Jersey had to acknowledge-HEILEMANN: Yes, Yes.LEMIRE: -that a few hundred voters were noncitizens, were mistakenly added to the voting rolls, and some did. And it was a mix of Republican and independents-HEILEMANN: And statistically insignificant. Like not to diminish it and defend it, if anything it breaks the law, and we should be serious and vigilant about making sure that there's no voter fraud. But-LEMIRE: It was a mistake.HEILEMANN: -400 votes were cast in, you know, against, against- given the raw vote totals, it's a statistically insignificant number. And that's been the case, we've seen voter fraud in the history of America, but just not on a scale that's ever been enough to tip an election.LEMIRE: But for his campaign?HEILEMANN: Incredible! Incredible, especially in a blue state. And I'll just say, you know, Donald Trump doesn't throw every punch he telegraphs, but every punch he throws, he does telegraph. And he's been telegraphing this one for a pretty long time. So, you better get ready for it.LEMIRE: Yeah, this one's coming. Agree.

After an illegal alien from El Salvador was charged for Saturday’s fatal hit-and-run that killed three people in North Carolina, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed a detainer asking the state’s law enforcement not to release him.On Sunday, the deadly details of the previous night’s hit-and-run were released by the Salisbury, North Carolina Police Department:“On Saturday, July 18, 2026, at approximately 10:45 p.m., officers responded to the area of Mooresville Road (N.C. 150) near Town Court following a reported traffic collision. When officers arrived, they found one of the vehicles occupied by three individuals who had sustained critical injuries. Two occupants were pronounced deceased at the scene. A third occupant was airlifted for medical treatment but later died from injuries sustained in the collision.“With assistance from a Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office K-9 team, officers located the driver, who was transported to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center before being transferred to a Charlotte-area hospital for additional treatment.“Following the preliminary investigation, the driver of the second vehicle, Javiel Pena Sola (DOB: 05-14 -1984), has been charged with three counts of Felony Hit and Run Involving Serious Injury or Death.”Sola was arrested by Salisbury police on Tuesday when he was released from the hospital, prompting ICE to file its detainer request, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported in a statement. At the time, Pena Sola's bond was set at $1,000,000.But, during his first appearance in Rowan County District Court on Wednesday, the court modified his conditions of release to no bond, meaning that he cannot post bail and be released from police custody.This isn’t Sola’s first run-in with U.S. law enforcement - or even his first hit-and-run. However, after his 2016 conviction, the Obama Administration ordered that he be released from ICE custody, DHS explains:“This illegal alien was RELEASED into the country by the Obama Administration after law enforcement turned him over to ICE following his conviction for a prior hit-and-run.”….“Sola’s criminal history includes prior convictions for reckless endangerment, failure to stop after accident involving damage to attended vehicle, and driving without a license in Maryland in July 2015, and an arrest for escaping from custody. After his arrest in Maryland on the charge of escaping from custody, officials in Baltimore honored an ICE detainer and turned him over to ICE custody in March 2016. He was then RELEASED by the Obama Administration two months later in May.”“Although ICE had arrested him in 2016, the Obama Administration RELEASED him into American communities. These deaths were 100% preventable. Open borders and sanctuary policies have deadly consequences,” Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in the DHS statement.ICE’s detainer request will be honored, since the North Carolina Border Protection Act prohibits sanctuary cities and counties and compels law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials.The provision supporting federal immigration law enforcement was passed on June 24, 2026 when the state’s lawmakers succeeded in overriding a veto by North Carolina’s Democrat Governor Josh Stein.