Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Why Are Democrats Really Fighting Each Other?
Last night’s primaries got sold as a war over socialism. It’s not. It’s about the economy. Stephanie Ruhle put it plainly at MS NOW. The rise of the Democratic Socialists of America isn’t a revolution. It’s a bill coming due. The latest CNBC All America survey found 61% of Americans are pessimistic about where this economy’s headed. That’s not a partisan number. That’s everybody. Trump’s own base is drifting away, and it isn’t over principle. It’s over prices. And in Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed beat establishment favorite Haley Stevens for the Senate nomination. In Missouri, Cori Bush lost her comeback bid to Wesley Bell. Republicans are already licking their chops, ready to scream communism at anybody who mentions rent or groceries. But the question voters keep asking is simpler. Who’s actually got a plan to fix this economy? Nobody’s voting for Marx. They’re voting for a raise.
Did Trump Just Get Locked Out of His Own War?
Donald Trump started a war with Iran alongside Israel back in February. Now Iran and Oman are close to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without him. Ships would sail into the Gulf through an Iranian controlled lane and out through an Omani one. Both countries would collect service fees and split the money down the middle. Trump’s response was a social media tirade calling Iran “unbelievably duplicitous.” He told reporters, “I’m not going to let them charge.” Except nobody’s asking his permission. Iran says the strait stays shut until Washington lifts its naval blockade anyway. So here’s where the bombing got us. Iran ends up with more control over the world’s most valuable oil corridor than it had before the first missile flew. How is that a victory?
Should We Believe The Man Who Broke CBS News?
David Ellison wants to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, and that would hand him CNN too. Twelve Democratic attorneys general are suing to stop it. So Ellison bought himself space in the New York Times to promise he won’t meddle in the newsroom. Remember what he did last time. He took over Paramount, installed conservative activist Bari Weiss atop CBS News, and watched the place turn into a Trump megaphone. Reporters got purged. Scott Pelley says management told him to inject “falsehoods and bias” into a story. Weiss spiked a Sixty Minutes report on that Salvadoran prison. Ratings hit record lows. Christiane Amanpour warned in May that CNN could be next. Ellison’s father is billionaire Larry Ellison, a Trump ally. You won’t notice what’s missing from the news. That’s exactly how this works
Sanders Draws A Line On Social Security
Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Senate Democrats this week with a simple message. Don’t touch it. There’s a bipartisan bill called the PROMISE Act, and Sanders says it’s a trapdoor. It would hand four unelected members of the Social Security Advisory Board a little over a month to draft a plan making the program solvent for 50 years. Then Congress gets an up or down vote. No amendments. Barely any public input. Five of the bill’s seven sponsors either lost their races or are heading for the exits. Sanders calls that “absurd, anti-democratic, and unacceptable.” AARP flatly opposes the bill too. Sanders says the fix is obvious. Scrap the cap so billionaires pay the same rate as your mail carrier. Democrats who won’t say that out loud shouldn’t wonder why nobody trusts them.
Who Profits When Airport Security Goes Private?
Trump wants private contractors running your airport checkpoint. The program’s called TSA Gold Plus, and Tampa, Charleston, and Des Moines have already signed up for next year. The budget pushes to expand private screening from roughly twenty airports to as many as two hundred twenty. The contracts carry a ceiling near thirteen billion dollars over ten years. One TSA worker put it bluntly. “They’re selling the safety of the traveling public.” The union representing 47,000 officers is weighing its options to fight back. Private screeners earn less, get worse benefits, and lose their bargaining rights entirely. This was Project 2025’s plan from page one. We federalized airport security after September eleventh because the low bid model failed catastrophically. Now they want to run that experiment again, with your family on the plane.
And that’s the way it is, Today Wednesday, August 5, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann.
