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Sunday, August 2, 2026

The Republican Opportunity in 2026

 by Newt Gingrich

Despite the many current challenges America is facing — and the propaganda media’s constant efforts to attack the administration and conservatives — Republicans have a tremendous opportunity before them in November.

The key to a Republican victory will be making the midterm elections about one question: Which party is better for you, your family, and America? This is the path to an historic victory for President Donald J. Trump and Republicans in 2026.

While the question is simple, convincing Americans to choose the GOP will be difficult. After all, the leftwing media has spent 11 years emphasizing every negative story about President Trump and Republicans — and downplaying all positive ones. Similarly, the Democrats’ disdain for Trump has led them to stop him at all costs — even if that means undermining our security, weakening our economy, or disrupting our government’s ability to function.

Winning requires Republicans to understand and communicate four big ideas about the nature of reality and the facts and truth of the situation. The GOP should treat each as its own campaign.

The Socialists Are Taking Over

The greatest vulnerability of the 2026 Democrats is the degree to which they have become the party of big government socialism and weird values. The pattern of Democrats moving toward openly socialist, anti-American positions is building. Consider the spate of recent candidates in New York, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, who boasted about using the American flag as a napkin. This is creating an opportunity to brand the Democrats for a generation or more as unelectable.

Republicans have a simple case to make: Big government socialism does not create jobs, increase wages, train people for the future, make people healthier, or simply work at a practical level. It just runs out of other people’s money to spend. Of course, establishment Democrats and the media are trying to downplay this shift in the party. But when establishment Democrats get to Washington, they talk and vote like big government socialists to appease the activist fundraising apparatus.

Even those who are inoculated from the socialist strain would rather stop Trump than help Americans.

We Must Bring Down Costs

Republicans must have an intense, compelling, focused plan for affordability and jobs with good incomes. A recent Pew Poll found that 73% of Americans said healthcare costs were a major problem, 66% said food and consumer costs were a problem, 62% said housing affordability was a major problem. Ultimately, Republicans must go where the people are — not try to get people to come to where their campaign would be comfortable. A Republican Affordability and Jobs Plan is a major building block of victory. Part of it also must describe what Democrats are doing to kill jobs, raise prices, and undermine affordability — while outlining what President Trump and Republicans have done to help raise family incomes and create opportunity and jobs.

Be the America Party

President Trump’s focus on patriotic and foundational cultural issues and emphasis on America and the Freedom 250 project have set the stage for Republicans to become the American Party (much as Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party became the American Party which marginalized the Federalists). A positive President Trump-Republican campaign emphasizing popular 70% to 90% issues that the Democrats demonstrably oppose — and appealing to everyone who cares about those issues — would strengthen the image of the Republican Party and isolate the Democrats.

The Healthcare Opportunity

New science, technology, and understanding of how to stay healthy is creating an opportunity for a health-oriented Republican program to create a totally new dialogue around healthcare. Efforts to make the healthcare system more transparent and understandable to everyday people will expose waste and abuse and bring down costs. Healthcare is a matter of life and death — and makes up about 18% of the national economy. It is the highest value for most Americans at a practical level. If Republicans can become the party of a healthy America, we would create an opportunity involving every life in our country.

Because this is the boldest and newest development it will take more training for members, candidates, staffers, committees, and campaigns to talk about it comfortably. It offers an enormous opportunity to work with the American people in a positive program that dramatically broadens Republican appeal and shows us as the caring, compassionate, problem-solving party that we are. In the process of helping people lead healthier, better lives, we would also liberate several trillion dollars now tied up in wasteful, bureaucratic, bad policies, and obsolete approaches.

It has always been harder to govern than to campaign. This is why historically the party in the White House normally loses seats in the midterm elections. If the liberal media and the Democrats can make 2026 a referendum on the current state of things, they might be able to win a normal off-year victory.

However, if Republicans decisively win these four arguments, 2026 will be one of the most historic elections in our 250-year history.

https://www.gingrich360.net/p/the-republican-opportunity-in-2026

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Iran denies agreeing to reopen Strait of Hormuz

 There is currently no agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, accepted by the Iranian authorities, Iran's semi-official media outlet Fars News Agency reported on Sunday, citing a source close to the nuclear negotiating team and denying an earlier report that claimed that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi agreed to the mediators' proposal for reopening the waterway.

"As long as the US continues its hostile actions, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed and the passage of vessels will only be possible via the announced route and with the permission of the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC Navy," an informed military source cited in the report claimed.

According to the previous report, the vessels would enter the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian territorial waters and exit through Omani territorial waters

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Iran-denies-agreeing-to-reopen-Strait-of-Hormuz/66831278

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Lebanese army retracts Israeli strike claim

 The Lebanese army on Sunday withdrew its earlier claim that an Israeli strike had wounded five soldiers in the Bint Jbeil district, saying a subsequent inspection found the explosion was caused by a "suspicious object."

The military had initially said the soldiers sustained minor injuries "due to a hostile Israeli strike" while escorting civilians in the town of Kafr Kila. In an updated statement, it said a specialized unit determined the blast was caused by a "suspicious object" and that the investigation is ongoing.

Separately, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) also reported Israeli explosions in Kounine and near Haddatha in southern Lebanon.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Lebanese-army-retracts-Israeli-strike-claim/66831404

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CCP Bans Sale Of Retired Military Equipment, Citing Security Risks

 by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times,

The Chinese regime's military and public security authorities have jointly issued an order banning the sale, assembly, and marketing of retired military equipment, citing "security risks to military secrets."

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers take part in military training at Pamir Mountains in Kashgar, northwestern China's Xinjiang region, on Jan. 4, 2021. STR/AFP via Getty Images

The Notice on Prohibiting Sales Activities Involving Retired or Scrapped Military Equipment was issued on July 28 by the Chinese regime's six central governmental departments, including the top defense command and decision-making body of the Chinese military - Central Military Commission's Logistics Support Department, Equipment Development Department, and Political and Legal Affairs Commission, along with the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The notice acknowledges that, in recent years, some vendors have openly sold - both online and offline - retired or scrapped military equipment containing sensitive information, resulting in "adverse effects" and creating "security risks." It also said one of the purposes of the ban is "to uphold the positive image of the people's military."

The notice stipulates that no entity or individual may sell retired or scrapped military equipment. Such equipment - as defined by the military - encompasses various types of hardware, ammunition, devices, related components, and materials that have been officially retired from service and designated for disposal as scrap.

The notice also prohibits any unit or individual from using dismantled parts of decommissioned equipment to produce, modify, and re-assemble them, and then sell them as imitations of military equipment that the public might believe was real. Commercial marketing and promotion of decommissioned and scrapped equipment and related imitations are also prohibited.

The official notice did not disclose the types, quantities, or sources of decommissioned equipment currently on the market, nor did it state whether any military information had been leaked.

Li Yuansong, a Chinese military equipment and memorabilia collector, told The Epoch Times that Chinese military-issued gear has long been collected by enthusiasts.

"Much of the Chinese weaponry is derived from technology dating back to the former Soviet era [1922-91]. While a small number of firearms produced after the 'Reform and Opening-up' incorporated Western technology, the majority remain updated versions of Soviet-based hardware," he said. "The craftsmanship is crude and hardly advanced. If Western weapons experts were to dismantle and analyze them, they would likely laugh about them.

"The real fear isn't so much about leaking secrets, but rather that foreigners might discover just how backward China's conventional weaponry actually is," Li said of the new ban.

Li Xiangyang, a Chinese military scholar who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that in recent years, individuals have been reselling military equipment online.

"Some components bear serial numbers, model designations, and signs of use. In the eyes of the authorities, these could reveal information regarding production batches, maintenance standards, and quality," Li said.

"Regulations dictate that many decommissioned items must be destroyed, with metal materials collected and melted down. This notice is primarily aimed at enforcing the Anti-Espionage Law, as the authorities do not want foreign entities to gain insight into the Chinese regime's military-industrial technology."

Su Pei, a China-based military scholar who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that the mention of upholding "the positive image of the people's military" in the ban notice shows that the Chinese regime is concerned about more than just so-called secret leaks, but also about hiding the backwardness of the Chinese weaponry.

"It also worries that individuals within the military might sell used military equipment through underground channels - goods that could ultimately be resold to foreign adversaries. Such incidents have already occurred in coastal regions," he said.

The notice does not prohibit the trading of all decommissioned and scrapped equipment. Exceptions are made for dual-use dismantled parts included in the public sales catalog of the China Rongtong Asset Management Group, as well as other equipment authorized for sale by the military. The China Rongtong Group is a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) centrally managed commercial state-owned sole proprietorship company, according to public information.

Su noted that the Chinese military has long operated in a "black box" environment, lacking external oversight regarding equipment procurement, decommissioning, and asset disposal, which leads to corruption.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ccp-bans-sale-retired-military-equipment-citing-security-risks

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No, The Spanish Invaders Have Not All Just 'Gone Home'

 by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Spanish authorities and their leftist allies are pushing the line that the tens of thousands of migrants who stormed Ceuta have mostly "gone home." The claim is pure fantasy. Fresh video from the streets shows the city still under siege, with invaders assaulting facilities, smashing graves, clashing with locals, and turning a Spanish enclave into a no-go zone.

This is the same dangerous mass migration reality that open-borders ideologues keep denying, even as the evidence piles up in real time.

The official narrative landed hard on Friday. Spain's Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares declared that "the practical totality of those who entered Ceuta have already returned to Morocco." The Spanish Embassy in the UK amplified the message, insisting almost everyone was gone, that no one could reach the mainland without ID checks, and that Schengen integrity remained fully guaranteed.

The Guardia Civil's own association posted that Ceuta was "breathing again," with returns advancing little by little and normality returning thanks to security forces.

Locals on the ground immediately called it a lie. One Ceuta resident posted that around 50,000 invaders remained, the city was collapsed, and the official numbers were pure spin. Video filmed that same afternoon showed streets still packed, nothing like the "most have left" story.

Just days earlier, we documented the initial invasion and the subsequent rampage through homes and streets.

The claim that the crisis simply evaporated overnight collapses under the weight of the footage still circulating.

While Madrid spun the returns, Moroccan migrants were filmed storming a public asylum centre in Ceuta. The CETI facility came under direct assault as the government continued insisting order had been restored.

Elsewhere, invaders smashed Christian graves and hurled the broken pieces at Spanish citizens. Locals fought back with whatever they could grab while police and military presence remained inadequate.

Knives came out in the open. Migrants stabbed one another in the streets while Spanish residents stayed locked indoors, prisoners in their own city of roughly 80,000 people now overrun.

Cars belonging to locals were attacked simply for driving past and showing dissatisfaction. Grocery stores had to be fenced off and guarded by police to stop looting by the hungry crowds.

Vehicles burned at the border as the surge continued. Groups of military-age men, far from the "families and refugees" talking point, were filmed taking escalators and moving through the city with the swagger of occupation rather than desperation.

A morning drive through the "conquered" enclave captured the new normal: streets transformed, Spanish life subordinated.

One clip captured the pure contempt: an invader brutally attacking a Spaniard. Another showed the broader pattern of violence and disorder that leftist outlets prefer to ignore.

A simple question cut through the spin: if these were genuine asylum seekers looking for safety and a better life, why the rampage, the attacks on civilians, the destruction of graves, and the open hostility?

A hospital worker described axes and sticks in the streets, people entering homes, shops boarded up, and police turning on protesting Spaniards while the border remained porous.

Estimates put the influx at 50,000 according to Interior, up to 60,000 according to Ceuta's own president, in a city of 84,000. Twenty-four bodies had already been recovered from the coast by that point. Sánchez visited for three hours, spoke alone without the local president, and left to shouts of resignation.

Spanish intelligence reportedly warned the government in advance, including details of rehearsals and coaches massing in the nearby Moroccan town of Castillejos. The warnings were ignored.

The fury was not confined to Ceuta. Thousands of Spaniards gathered outside PSOE headquarters in Madrid, chanting against Pedro Sánchez and rejecting the government's handling of the invasion.

Instead of securing the border, Sánchez went on the offensive against other European leaders. In a letter to EU heads of government he denounced those who had tightened controls as "selfish."

Italy suspended free movement under the Schengen agreement with Spain for a month. Meloni made clear that uncontrolled illegal migration threatens Europe's security and that Italy would not stand by. France ramped up checks on its Spanish border, planning a fivefold increase in officers.

Sánchez wrote: "In the current international context, the European Union cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction." He demanded an emergency meeting of interior ministers. Spain's interior minister echoed the line, asking for "greater solidarity, more responsibility and less selfishness" while reminding critics of Lampedusa.

The European Commission confirmed no migrants had reached the mainland or the wider Schengen zone, yet the political fallout continued. At least 67 people died in the crossings according to Spanish figures released on Saturday. A 500-metre floating barrier was being installed at the Tarajal breakwater. Soldiers broadcast messages in Arabic telling the young men to go home.

The numbers and the images do not match the soothing government script. Ceuta's president estimated 60,000 entries. Returns were real, but thousands remained and the disorder persisted.

Footage kept arriving of assaults, desecration, violenace, and a city that had not simply returned to normal overnight. Leftist voices seized on the official talking points to deny the obvious: this was a coordinated mass breach that exposed the fragility of open-border policies and the willingness of socialist governments to prioritise ideology over their own citizens' safety.

When a government treats a sudden invasion of tens of thousands of military-age men as a temporary inconvenience that can be papered over with press releases, the people on the ground pay the price.

What is happening in Ceuta is the direct result of years of failed deterrence, amnesty incentives, and the refusal to treat borders as non-negotiable. Europe's more serious leaders are already acting. Sánchez prefers to lecture them for defending their own populations.

The footage keeps proving who is living in reality and who is not.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-spanish-invaders-have-not-all-just-gone-home

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