Pun Salad

Compare and contrast their July 2026 print issue covers:

Katherine Mangu-Ward's lead editorial lead editorial may not be out from behind the paywall yet, but I'll quote from it anyway:

Frankly, I was expecting something a little more semiquincentennial from National Review. What are they waiting for, 300?

Also of note:

• Just when you thought they couldn't be any more spineless. Jacob Sullum seems slightly surprised: Even Republicans are rebelling at Trump's blatantly corrupt 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'

  Last week, Republican senators grilled Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" created by President Donald Trump's settlement of his lawsuit against the IRS. About 45 senators attended the meeting, and "at least half of them were blasting the attorney general," Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) reported. "They were pissed."

  It is not hard to see why. The lawsuit that provided the pretext for using taxpayer money to compensate purported victims of "lawfare and weaponization" was legally dubious, the fund has nothing to do with Trump's claims against the IRS, and the main beneficiaries are apt to be the president's allies and supporters.

  I've said this before, and probably will again: Grounds. For. Impeachment.

• Did they do something to hurt his wittle feelings? Matthew Petti asks: Why has Trump stopped selling weapons to Taiwan?

  Before he became the Trump administration's chief military planner, Elbridge Colby had a single-minded mission: to muster the resources of the United States in defense of Taiwan. "Taiwan would not be the end of Beijing's ambitions. So the question is, how do we deter China from attacking Taiwan and not just in some distant future, but as early as the coming years?" he said in a 2023 debate, arguing that U.S. commitments in other parts of the world (such as Ukraine and the Middle East) were a dangerous waste of military resources.

  More than a year into Donald Trump's second presidency, it's safe to say that the administration is doing the opposite of what Colby recommended. In a congressional hearing last week, acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said that the U.S. is "doing a pause" on weapons sales to Taiwan "in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury," the name of the U.S. operation against Iran.

  I don't see this ending well, do you?

• Not to go all conspiracy-theorizing on you, but… Jim Geraghty could not help but notice The Well-Funded Online Influence Network Pushing Graham Platner. (archive.today link)

  The phrase “it’s an op” – meaning an influence operation – is often, though not always, a marker of paranoia, a tendency towards conspiracy theories, or a belief in forces that are unseen and cannot yet be proven to exist.

  Still, from the very start of SS-tattooed Democrat Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate, something seemed odd. The New York Times is not in the habit of writing a largely glowing profile of every long-shot, little-known Democrat who announces a bid for Senate. Platner was the harbormaster of Sullivan, Maine, population 1,246.

  Yet the Times wrote its profile of Platner before he officially announced his campaign, in August.

  Jim goes on to note that the Times tonguebath was followed by equal obsequious treatments in the New Yorker … and GQ … and Bon Appetit (!). It turns out to (indeed) be a successful, "well-funded" campaign, selling Prooduct Platner like a new burger from McDonald's.

• And I helped. Marian L. Tupy rebuts AOC: Jeff Bezos Earned His Fortune.

  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently made a point that every critic of billionaire wealth should confront: “If I do my job right, the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving.”

  To see if he is correct, consider the one resource that is truly finite: time. Modern debates about wealth start in the wrong place. They begin with the fortune. They should begin with customers and their time. Mr. Bezos is worth roughly $275 billion. That number offends many people because they assume wealth must have been taken from someone else. But Amazon didn’t become valuable by force. It became valuable because hundreds of millions of people chose to use it.

  Consumers weren’t forced to buy books, batteries, diapers, cables, razors, tools, groceries or printer ink from Amazon. They did so because Amazon saved them time, money, effort or uncertainty. Sellers weren’t forced to use Amazon’s marketplace. They did so because it gave them access to demand. Firms weren’t forced to use Amazon Web Services. They did so because renting computing power was cheaper than building and maintaining their own information-technology infrastructure. That is capitalism: People get rich by creating something others value enough to buy.

  Not hard to understand, frankly. Unless you have a political motive for not understanding it.

• More gun news from the University Near Here. The College Fix notes some cherry-picking down Durham way: School president cites study finding guns don’t increase crime to oppose campus carry.

  New Hampshire lawmakers should vote down campus carry because some people might feel less safe, according to a university president.

  Legislators were considering House Bill 1793, which would prohibit public universities from regulating guns on campus and establish a commission to study campus carry. The bill officially died last Thursday, however.

  According to a student government survey cited by The New Hampshire, a majority of respondents said they would be less likely to attend UNH if campus carry were allowed. In response to the perceived campus climate, the student senate passed a resolution opposing the bill.

  The cited "studies" failed to detect any increase in actual criminal behavior on campuses allowing carry. Instead, it was all about the feelz.

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