Trump makes private revelation about successor – WaPo

The US president reportedly told Republican donors “We need to elect JD [Vance],” despite publicly maintaining ambiguity

Published 7 Aug, 2026 08:38

US President Donald Trump has privately indicated that he wants Vice President JD Vance to succeed him in the White House, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

During a closed-door Republican donor meeting in the Oval Office roughly two weeks ago, Trump reportedly said, “at the end of the day, we need to elect JD.”

The remark contrasts with Trump’s public refusal to endorse a 2028 successor. He has praised both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, suggesting they could even run on the same ticket.

The newspaper said that despite the apparent declaration of support, the president continued asking aides after the donor meeting which of the two would make the stronger presidential candidate. Several advisers also cautioned that Trump frequently tells different things to different people and could still change his mind.

Trump has since dismissed the WaPo report, telling a journalist on Thursday that it was “way too early to even be thinking about” officially endorsing anyone, according to the New York Post.

Trump aides widely agree the president will delay formally endorsing a successor to avoid appearing to be a “lame duck,” WaPo wrote, adding that aides are only expecting an official endorsement after the 2026 midterm elections in November.

Under the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, a president is limited to two elected terms, whether consecutive or non-consecutive. Trump, who returned to office last year after serving from 2017 to 2021, is therefore constitutionally barred from seeking another term in 2028, despite occasionally joking about the possibility at rallies and on social media.

Neither potential contender has announced plans to run. Vance has repeatedly said he remains focused on serving as vice president and will decide whether to seek the presidency only after the midterm elections. Rubio, meanwhile, has recently reduced his media appearances to avoid fueling speculation about his 2028 ambitions, according to WaPo.

https://www.rt.com/news/643980-trump-private-revelation-2028-successor/

Eric Daugherty

@EricLDaugh

🚨BOOM! Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton just PACKED his campaign event today in San Antonio

The venue was filled to the brim!

Time to CRUSH James Talarico and hold the Senate 🔥

If TX and MI stay and go red, Democrats are LOCKED OUT. @KenPaxtonTX

James Barragán 🌟

https://xcancel.com/EricLDaugh/status/2086187709454807315

Barbara Boyd Looks at the Money Trail Behind Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed

August 8, 2026 | Sundance |

Some people have started looking at the Muslim Brotherhood network similarities behind Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in 2026 and the former Illinois Senate candidacy of Barack Hussein Obama.Indeed, if you look at the political timeline, there is a comparative similarity between a mid-term senate race (Obama in ’06) and El-Sayed in ’26; with politically higher aspirations for 2028.

In this video, Promethean Action PAC’s Barbara Boyd looks at the money behind the New York mayor and the Michigan senate candidate. Strong ties to the Brotherhood. WATCH:

(It’s on the board already, these are comments)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/08/barbara-boyd-looks-at-the-money-trail-behind-zohran-mamdani-and-abdul-el-sayed/

Secretary Bessent Outlines Reality of Capital Markets Making the Strait of Hormuz Irrelevant

August 8, 2026 | Sundance |

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gets it. When asked about the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent notes that yes, things will likely never return to the way they were before; however, there is a distinction that must be applied.

Even if Iran completely acquiesced to all of the most stringent terms and conditions requested by President Trump, they will never again recapture the position they held with the Strait of Hormuz as a chokepoint.

Capital markets respond to risk in the medium and long term; risks are always mitigated. With the Strait now identified as a strategic risk, the emphasis will be on forever neutralizing that risk and avoiding the issue in the future. As a consequence, Iran’s strongest point of leverage is disappearing now and will continue to disappear. WATCH (prompted):

As further explained by James Thorne on X: “By repeatedly signaling its willingness to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran hasn’t strengthened its hand, it has accelerated the market’s exit. Capital does not tolerate chokepoints; it routes around them.

Saudi Arabia is expanding its East-West pipeline. The UAE has already built out Fujairah as a bypass. Iraq is revisiting overland export corridors. Every marginal dollar now flows toward redundancy, not reliance. What was once a geopolitical lever is being engineered into irrelevance. Bessent gets it: markets don’t absorb coercion; they arbitrage it away.

Energy markets are not static, and they are not sentimental. The shale revolution already diluted OPEC’s grip. LNG has globalized gas. Now infrastructure is doing the same to maritime risk. Once these pipelines are built, they don’t get unbuilt. Volume shifts become permanent. Pricing power follows.

Tehran’s miscalculation is classic: overplay a scarce asset, and the world invests to make it abundant. The more Iran rattles Hormuz, the faster it erodes the very leverage it seeks to exploit.

In the end, this is not deterrence. Its substitution and substitution, once funded, is irreversible. Iran is underwriting its own marginalization.“

A 40-year generational problem is being resolved forever!

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/08/secretary-bessent-outlines-reality-of-capital-markets-making-the-strait-of-hormuz-irrelevant/

Secretary Bessent Extends “Geographic Targeting Order” Restricting Financial Transactions in Minnesota 1/2

August 7, 2026 | Sundance |

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continues on two domestic financial approaches toblock banking services for illegal aliens and simultaneously target use of the financial system by those engaged in fraud of the U.S. government.

Secretary Bessent hasextended the Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) within Minnesota that covers two counties, Hennepin and Ramsey.

All financialtransactions over a $3,000 limitare subject to increased reporting requirements and scrutiny from the U.S. treasury. {citation}

The measure isintended to identify any person who attempts to transfer funds obtained by fraudwho operate in the region to take advantage of HHS funding programs. “Treasury promised to follow the money, and that is exactly what we are doing,”said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “We will continue to give law enforcement critical tools to trace criminal networks that siphon taxpayer dollars and move them overseas. The Trump Administration will not allow criminals to profit from programs intended to help vulnerable Americans.”

Additionally, the Treasury Department has now concluded the 90-day assessment laid out inan executive order titled “Restoring Integrity to America’s Financial System,” on May 19 and directed the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC, National Credit Union Administration and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to strengthen customer identification and due-diligence rules andto reassess how banks weigh credit risk for borrowers without work authorization.

Bessent is now giving banks and payroll companies additional guidelines and rules to ensure that illegal aliens are not exploiting the U.S. banking system. Bessent is following a path that is predicted to eventually require banks to verify legal citizenship or legal status. The guidelines are the first steps toward that process.

• ARIZONA – […] The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency followed with an advisory on lending to borrowers not authorized to work in the U.S., instructing banks to weigh a borrower’s “willingness and capacity to repay” as part of standard underwriting.

• Bessent said Arizona’s compliance programs, employee training, suspicious-activity reporting and information-sharing reflect the kind of partnership the executive order envisions.

• In return, Bessent said, the Treasury Department is committed to giving banks better tools to catch fraud early, and he promised officials in Washington would listen more closely to community bankers.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/07/secretary-bessent-extends-geographic-targeting-order-restricting-financial-transactions-in-minnesota/

>>24916422

2/2

• Legal and tax analysts caution that the order’s effectiveness will depend on how the regulations are written. In a June 3 client alert, law firm Debevoise & Plimpton noted the order doesn’t impose new compliance obligations on banks, though it does start agency actions that could reshape anti-money-laundering compliance, customer due diligence and lending standards.

• The CFPB is also weighing whether borrowers’ risk of deportation and lost wages should be factors in determinations of their ability to repay loans. The firm noted the order stopped short of an earlier, more sweeping proposal that would have required banks to verify citizenship status for all customers. (more)

During the Biden era our nation was forced to import 10 million people who are non-functioning in a first world system. The illegal aliens are generally uneducated; most cannot speak the language; almost all don’t understand simple American customs and norms; they need housing, medical treatment, transportation and basic services. At the same time people wonder why housing costs, insurance rates and general commodity prices skyrocket.

We do not need more H1B workers, or any visa workers at all. Cancel them all,then watch what happens to the wages and job opportunities of young tech Americans.

Deport 1 million illegal aliens per month; shut down all welfare systems and safety nets for illegal aliens; eliminate all healthcare services and taxpayer funded education for illegal aliens;make all systems for immigration status originate from consulate offices outside the United States– effectively eliminating the process within America; ban illegal aliens from access to banking and remittance payments, and begin the process of filing criminal charges against any/all employers who have illegal alien workers in their organizations.

Immediately suspend the business and regulatory licenses for any employer caught using illegal alien labor and watch the wages of blue-collar workers jump faster than the 30+ million empty houses and apartments can hit the market.

The unemployment rate in July dropped from 4.20% to 4.10% because the labor force dropped by 257,000 in the same month of July. That’s illegal alien workforce deportations in action. We need this to continue only at a much faster pace.

We need 1 million forced deportations every month to turn the economy around. If we can deport those illegal alien workers, then cancel all H1B and visa programs, American wages will rise. American employers will compete for American talent. American benefits will expand with employment competition. American housing and insurance costs will drop very quickly. American overall life will improve, and Generation Z will flourish.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/07/secretary-bessent-extends-geographic-targeting-order-restricting-financial-transactions-in-minnesota/

Heated Rep🔥rts

@heatedreports

🚨#BREAKING: The Guinness World Records has just officially announced that the fireworks show in Washington, D.C. which took place on America’s 250th birthday, has broken the world record for the largest fireworks display in history, with a staggering 840,537 fireworks shells launched over the National Mall during the historic Fourth of July celebration which lasted for over 39 minutes and 48 seconds

https://x.com/heatedreports/status/2086167590196617353

WSJ Promotes Leaked Narrative of Putin Plan to Strike NATO Country

August 7, 2026 | Sundance |

The article itself is weak sauce in the extreme, “according to new U.S. intelligence reports that posit possible scenarios” blah, blah, blah… You know the routine.

However, that said, there is a general alignment of intent that tracks this narrative as expressed by the Wall Street Journal.

Clip

CTH doesn’t try to convince anyone. Convincing is an endless quest.However, if you just look at the datapointsthat have surfaced since June 11th, there is a greater likelihood of some kind of western kinetic activity that can be carried out in order to stimulate more opposition to Russia.Some form of false flag operation.

That approach would track with what wehave witnessed in the past two months as Ukraine makes public claims in media that are expressly opposite of the action they are taking. CTH has been pointing this out along the way. It is prudent to notice things, particularly when those things can be consequential to the interests of EU-controllled intelligence.

• WASHINGTON—Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to test NATO’s resolve with a limited assault on an allied country in the next few years, according to new U.S. intelligence reports that posit possible scenarios ranging from a cyberattack to a small-scale land incursion.

• The assessments, described by U.S. officials, come amid a shortfall in certain critical munitions that the military would need to confront Russia or China in a potential future war.The U.S. has severely degraded its stockpile of these weapons because of transfers to Ukraineafter Russia’s invasion, as well as the U.S. conflict with Iran. Stockpiles at risk include long-range Precision Strike Missiles and Army Tactical Missile Systems, as well as short-range Stinger surface-to-air missiles, other officials said.

• The U.S. had previously assessed that Putin wouldn’t provoke a North Atlantic Treaty Organization country while he is still fighting in Ukraine. But that assessment changed earlier this year, the U.S. officials said, as Putin is squeezed in Ukraine and under pressure at home to secure a victory. Kyiv’s drones are inflicting growing damage on both Russia’s army and oil industry, while Putin’s forces are making smaller gains at the front line amid heavy casualties. (read more)

(The whole story is BS and Kiev setting up false flag to try to drag Russia into a trap, that won’t work. Plus Trump and Putin relationship is good and they trust each other. Trump wouldn’t believe and Putin could see through the nonsense.)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/07/wsj-promotes-leaked-narrative-of-putin-plan-to-strike-nato-country/

==US judge brands Meta ‘public nuisance’ akin to air pollution=

The landmark New Mexico ruling brings total penalties for Facebook’s parent company to nearly $1 billion over harm to children

Published 8 Aug, 2026 00:49 | Updated

A New Mexico judge has declared Meta a “public nuisance,”comparing the social media giant to a polluting factory. The ruling orders the company to establish an abatement fund and overhaul key features of its platforms over alleged harm to children.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid on Thursday ordered the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to pay an additional $567 million, bringing the total penalties in the case to $942 million after a $375 million judgment in March.

The ruling appears to be the first time a social media company has been found to constitute a public nuisance– a legal concept traditionally reserved for hazards that affect society at large, such as air pollution, toxic waste, or contaminated water.

“Just as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air,the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms,” the judge wrote, as quoted by the Financial Times.

New Mexico sued Meta in 2023, accusing the company of exposing children to sexually explicit material, sexual predators, and addictive platform features.

Biedscheid cited evidence that the state’s youth mental health crisis had worsened in recent years, including higher rates of depression, eating disorders, and suicide among adolescents.

He ordered Meta to establish a fund to mitigate those harms, with $420 million earmarked for clinical and behavioral health programs.

The ruling alsorequires Meta to prevent adults from messaging minors, stop recommending underage accounts to adults, remove public “like” counts for users under 18, limit push notifications overnight and during school hours, impose a monthly usage cap for minors across Facebook and Instagram, and delete accounts belonging to users under 13 along with all personal information collected from them.

Meta said it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal.

The decision comes amid a broader crackdown on children’s use of social media. Australia has adopted a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts, France has passed a ban for under-15s, and the UK has tightened age-verification and online child-safety rules.Meta still faces thousands of lawsuits across the US alleging its platforms harmed children’s mental health or failed to protect minors.

https://www.rt.com/news/643989-us-meta-public-nuisance-fine/

Ivy Plus school accused of racial discrimination – DOJ

Black applicants to Duke Law have significantly higher chances of being admitted, the US government has said

Published 7 Aug, 2026 23:08 | Updated

Duke University School of Law has largely disregarded the US Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action and continued to discriminate against white and Asian applicants, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has alleged.

In 2023, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, sharply limiting the use of race in determining college admissions under constitutional equal-protection principles.

The DOJ said on Thursday thatDuke Law had formally acknowledged the ruling while effectively preserving an admissions system that favored black and Hispanic applicants over white, Asian, and other candidates.

According to the department, the Durham, North Carolina-based law school relied on “race or closely related proxies,” including personal essays and first-generation college status, to advance its diversity goals.At the same time, traditional academic indicators, including Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores, were allegedly given less weight.

The admissions system used for classes enteringbetween 2023 and 2025 “gave a black applicant a roughly 3.5x higher probability of admission than an equally strong Asian applicant with similar academic credentials,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s top civil rights official, wrote in an open letter outlining the department’s findings.

Dhillon called on Duke Law to end the alleged discriminatory practices voluntarily or face possible enforcement action.

Duke University is widely regarded as an “Ivy Plus” institution, a group of highly selective universitiesconsidered comparable in prestige to the eight Ivy League schools. Duke Law said it was reviewing the DOJ letter and remained committed to acting lawfully in a manner “consistent with our academic mission.”

In May, theDOJ similarly accused Yale School of Medicine of engaging in discriminatory admissions practices.

(These schools have been doing this for years, Victor David Hansen say they do regardless how illegal it is. He said DEI is the schools biblical mandates.)

https://www.rt.com/news/643985-duke-law-discrimination-doj/