TUESDAY: Sommers says the magic word!

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2025

Something we've been withholding: Is it possible that President Trump is serious? 

Is it possible that he's serious about pursuing criminal charges against former President Obama? Or is he, for whatever reason, simply playing Director Gabbard's "treasonous conspiracy" card as a way of distracting attention away from the Epstein files, whatever may be lurking in that haunted forest?

We have no idea. We ask that question because earlier today, in the Oval Office, there he went again!

As you can see on this first chunk of videotape, he started off like this

PRESIDENT TRUMP (7/22/25): The witch hunt that you should be talking about is, they caught President Obama absolutely cold—Tulsi Gabbard. 

What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016 but going up all the way, going up to 2020 in the election—they tried to rig the election and they got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that.

[...]

Obama’s been caught directly. So people say, “Oh, you know, a group.” 

It’s not a group, it is Obama...And what they did in 2016 and in 2020 is very criminal. It’s criminal at the highest level. 

The conduct which Gabbard has uncovered was criminal at the highest level! Moments later, the president added this, as you can see on this second chunk of tape:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: You know what? If you look at those papers, they have him stone cold—and it was President Obama...

The leader of the gang was President Obama—Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? And except for the fact he gets shielded by the press his entire life, that's the one they—

Look, he's guilty!...It's there—he's guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election...And we have all the documents. And from what Tulsi told me, she's got thousands of additional documents.

Tulsi has told him all about it! It was treason, the president said. Treason committed by Barack Hussein Obama!

In one respect, it's true! Over the weekend, on one Fox News Channel program after another—serviced by waves of Fox News Channel "messaging persons"—Gabbard charged President Obama with taking part in a "treasonous conspiracy," but also in "sedition" and in "a yearslong coup."

As we noted in this morning's report, treason is criminal at the highest level, with consequences which can be severe.

In spite of Gabbard's absurd presentations, is President Trump actually serious about pursuing such charges? We don't have the slightest idea—but this is why we ask:

Over the weekend, then on into Monday and Monday night, viewers of Fox News Channel programs were swamped with tribal affirmation of Gabbard's absurdly flimsy, conflation-based allegations.

On Saturday and then again on Sunday, Rachel Campos-Duffy was calling for the former president's head. So were the tools on The Big Weekend Show. As of Monday night, so was Laura Ingraham.

(She was helped along by the always gloomy Victor Davis Hanson, then by the comedy stylings of the persistently silly Raymond Arroyo.)

Tens of millions of people in Red America were being propagandized hard. As they kept hearing the caterwauling about Obama's treasonous conduct, our major pundits in Blue America were staring off into air.

Our own cable stars barely mentioned the four-day onslaught. They were still burning time away, hoping that Trump would somehow turn out to be a pedophile, just like his one-time friend.

You can't stop people from pursuing the strategies which badly failed the last time. But as we Blues continue to dream about catching Trump is some such conduct, tens of millions of fellow citizens were being propagandized in a way our stars wouldn't even address.

Can a major nation expect to survive this astounding degree of (unacknowledged) tribal division? We'd say the answer is increasingly obvious.

In a second manifestation, we turn to something Christina Hoff Sommers (no relation) has said. You can read about it in a Mediaite report which starts like this, edited headline included:

Trump White House Roasted Over ‘Cultish and Cringe-Inducing’ Graphic Depicting Trump as ‘The Hunter’

Observers on social media reacted to a graphic shared by the Trump White House on Monday night with equal parts horror and embarrassment.

The graphic, which depicted Trump in the foreground with American flags, eagles, and fireworks in the background included a quote attributed to Trump that read, “I was the hunted—NOW I’M THE HUNTER.”

“They came after the wrong man,” added the White House’s official X account in its caption. On the campaign trail in 2023 and 2024, Trump oscillated between promising retribution against his enemies and insisting that success in office would be his ultimate revenge.

The post provoked a wide range of critical reactions, including from conservatives.

“Cultish and cringe-inducing. Also, insane,” commented The American Enterprise Institute’s Christina Hoff Sommers.

Sommers is a thoroughly intelligent pre-Trump conservative. She was speaking colloquially—but what might a medical specialist possibly say?

"Something we were withholding made us weak!" So said Robert Frost, in a poem which became instantly famous on a snowy day in Washington, D.C. in January 1961.  

Back when we were still colonials, Something we were withholding made us weak, or so Frost mused in his poem. Today, we run and hide from the Fox News Channel every hour of every day of every single week.

We also run away from the understandings of modern medical science. 

Could something be wrong with President Trump? Is something wrong with the collection of broken toys, Gabbard included, with whom he has littered his playroom?

Is something wrong with President Trump? If so, that's a tragic loss of human capability and potential.

Sommers said the magic (colloquial) word. What makes us refuse to inquire further?