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WSJβs Editors like the Greenland deal but hate the dealer; Republicans finally unleash campaign war chest and the establishment canβt decide how to spend it; and more, in todayβs concise roundup.
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Good morning, C&C, itβs Monday! Thanks to my genetic forefathers (so-called βfamily historyβ), Iβm going in for a routine cardiac scan later today. Hooray. But this has produced two unpleasant blogging side-effects: the preparatory meds have made me groggy, and βmuch worseβ the instruction sheet bans morning caffeine. (And this outrage is what they call βmedicine.β Okay.) Anyway, together theyβre a deadly combination. My cerebral cortex feels like it has been plucked out and packed in cotton. And gotten narcolepsy. So todayβs roundup is a couple quick hits and observations, which is as much as I could safely knock out without risking saying something compromising. Safety first.
ππΊπΈ ESSENTIAL NEWS AND COMMENTARY πΊπΈπ
π₯ We begin with the necons at the Wall Street Journalβs Editorial Board, which yesterday evaluated the publicly disclosed parts of the new Greenland Deal and concluded that, unlike the New York Times, they like it. They just didnβt appreciate all the mean tweets.
I wasnβt kidding about the mean tweets thing. In their very first paragraph, the Editors condescendingly noted that, βitβs fair to ask whether this deal could have been reached without the collateral damage to U.S. alliances from Mr. Trumpβs bullying threats.β Itβs also fair to ask whether the Editors are incontinent nincompoops, but I digress.
The gist was, they appreciated the historic accomplishment and all that, but they wish the President could word his social media posts differently. Nicer. Less judgmental. I will never get that. The most important thing is not winning but making sure everyone had a good time.
Their βgentle scoldingβ might have been more persuasive had the Boardβs geopolitical geniuses suggested how theywould have run the Greenland negotiations if theyβd been in charge. Maybe they could quit talking and show the President how itβs done. Go negotiate a different deal yourselves where the US gets everything it needs and pays zero by asking nicely.
On Friday, President Trump called it the βInfinite Life Agreement.β He added, and I quote: βthere is no end!β (The Infinite Life Agreement sounds like something youβd buy at a gas station next to the beef jerky, promising eternal vitality and 300 milligrams of caffeine. But the branding is perfect: who could oppose infinite life? The Democrats are going to have to run against infinity.)
Itβs the most comprehensive sentence ever written about an island most Americans could not find on a map, including βand I say this with all due affectionβ a small crowd of Congressmen.
The Journal announced that the deal will be signed this week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, though it still needs ratification by the Danish and Greenlandic parliaments, because even infinite life requires bureaucracy.
π₯ In light of the Greenland deal (which I covered more extensively and with less brain fog yesterday), Iβll share this chart Iβve been saving up for the right story. My pharmacologically-addled brain thinks now is a good time. Behold the results of less than 18 months of transformative βdiplomacy.β
As of September, 2026, the United States (or NATO) has effective control of seven of the worldβs most important naval checkpointsβ all long known as strategic jewels. Now stop. Guess how many of the seven were in the inventory of US control as of January, 2025 (as the Cabbage rolled out)? Two.
In January, 2025, there were only two on the list: the Turkish and Danish straits, both of which are NATO-run. So from a purely American point of view, excluding the NATO ones, you could also say we controlled zerobefore Trump 2.0, and now we have five. We went from 2 to 7β a nearly 300% increase in number, and an immeasurable increase in influence.
Excepting only Hormuz, Trump acquired them all by dealmaking. Two of the deals βMalacca and Gibraltarβ appeared as fait accomplΓ with no prior warning. Which makes you wonder if there might be any more surprises percolating out there.
π₯ The next story also comes from this morningβs Journalβ it was the firing of a starting gun for which everyone was been waiting. Republicans, the WSJ reported, are turning on the money spigots.
The 2026 midterms are seven weeks away, and the Wall Street Journal brings us the delightful news that Republicans are βunleashing their fundraising advantageβ against the Democrats. Unleashing. Great verb choice. You donβt βspendβ money in politics anymore; you unleash it, like the kraken, or Walmart cologne. Somewhere in a windowless office in Virginia, a consultant is poised over a giant red button labeled βFUNDRAISING ADVANTAGEβ while dramatic music plays. Call it forth!
The numbers behind the kraken are genuinely staggering: the Republican National Committee sits on roughly $128 million with no debt, while the Democratic National Committee has about $16 million in the bank and $18.5 million in debt β and, in a detail that is indescribably wonderful for bloggers everywhere, the DNC was forced over the summer to put its own Washington headquarters up as collateral for a $15 million loan.
The Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc. alone is sitting on roughly $400 million. Add the congressional super PACs βSenate Leadership Fund with $238 million on hand versus $126 million for its Democratic counterpart, Congressional Leadership Fund with $142 million versus $115 millionβ and Republicans are working with something in the neighborhood of $850 million. Thatβs not a war chest; thatβs a war dresser. With matching nightstands.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, never one to let a nine-figure sum go un-sneered-at, dismissed the Republican advantage without a second thought: βThe hole that Donald Trump has dug for the Republicans and continues to dig every day is not something that can be made up with a few $100 million worth of feel-good ads.β Pause on the phrase βa few $100 million,β delivered as it was with the breezy casualness of a woman asking for a few extra napkins.
A few hundred million! In Washington, $100 million has now apparently become a rounding error. Warren then argued voters are βangryβ about the economy, the Iran war, and corruptionβ and her theory is that no amount of streaming-TV ads can fill the hole. Itβs a bold theory, and weβll find out in seven weeks whether holes or krakens win elections.
Everybodyβs been waiting for the kraken to surface. Now itβs finally here, and beginning to wave its giant tentacles around. The midterms are on.
π₯ There are two things going on here. First, the GOP and closely associated PACs have a war chest that is multiples of Democrats. But so far, all that powder has been kept dry. Donβt fire till you see the whites of their eyes. Now, itβs on.
The second is the polls, which corporate media keeps assuring us strongly favor Democrats in the midterms. Republicans are βunleashing one of their biggest advantages over Democrats,β the Journal reported, βas they seek to overcome electoral headwindsin the final weeks before midterm elections.β
Putting it nicely, polls are unreliable. The polls have been wrong three times out of three when it comes to Trump elections. At this same point in 2024, Quinnipiac showed Harris up by large margins across the swing states. For instance, it had Pennsylvania 51β45 for Harris, and Michigan 50β45. An Emerson College/Hill poll forecast a Harris win by margins ranging from 50β48 in Nevada to 53β46 in North Carolina.
The polls were not just a little wrong. They were wildly off. And all three times, they were off in the same direction. Always showing an illusory Democrat advantage. The polls either donβt work or they are sold out. They mean nothing.
What then can help us navigate the complex political map, if not polls? Common sense. Contrary to the Journalβs lazy framing, this election is not about Trumpβs approval rating, βeconomic malaise,β or βclimbing fuel prices.β It is a midterm, and midterms are largely turnout contests: the out-party always arrives more motivated. Itβs human nature. So Democrats will likely benefit from their anti-Trump intensityβ nothing more than the conventional midterm advantage always enjoyed by the annoyed, out-of-power party.
The real question is whether Republicans can match or beat that enthusiasm gap: whether our voters, who are less reliably drawn to low-turnout elections and are being enervated by blackpiller nonsense, will show up in sufficient numbers to offset Democratsβ TDS bump. I cannot say I am completely comfortable in my mind. Iβm not sure Republicans have quite got the formula.
One reason I wonder is that the Journal dutifully reported that Senate Republicans, clearly aware that βwe have more money than youβ is not a complete governing philosophy, held a luncheon last week to discuss the best way to pitch the sale. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) urged colleagues to sell voters on economic advantages βbeyond tax cuts, including permitting reform for affordable housing and energy projects.β
Permitting reform! Nothing gets a crowd on its feet like permitting reform. Picture the rally: ten thousand people chanting βSTREAMLINE THE NEPA REVIEW PROCESS!β I will say this for the GOP Establishment: it takes real courage to look at $850 million and decide what the people truly hunger for is a white paper on low-income housing permits.
But you know what I always say: We canβt just sit around waiting for somebody to save the bacon.
What can you, individually, do to help? The first thing you can do is open your calendar, right now, and block off time on Tuesday, November 3rd for voting. (Or whichever date, if you have early voting. You know what I mean. Stop quibbling.) If youβre a list person, put it on your list, or lists. Put it on all of them.
Remind your conservative friends and family to mark their calendars too. Letβs start a calendaring movement.
Donβt get me wrong. Dollars are good, because they can amplify a message. (Assuming itβs better than βfaster windmill permits.β) But dollars cannot substitute for voters taking the time to cast ballots. That will be up to us. Letβs get working on it now.
Thatβs all I have in the tank this morning. Thank yβall for your patience. Have a marvelous Monday! Weβll dive right back in with a normal C&C roundup tomorrow. See you then.
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Rose Rambles... 