Greatest Show on Earth

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Monday, July 6th, 2026

Bill Bonner, from Youghal, Ireland

Even the planet seems to have turned against the US empire. On the occasion of 250^th anniversary, temperatures soared. Crowds disappeared. And the AC stopped working. The Independent:

In a segment from the fair, CNN’s Tom Foreman reported Wednesday that the event had suffered “intermittent power problems” and air conditioning units at some exhibits had failed. The fair suffered a similar power outage the day after its official opening last Thursday, causing frozen desserts to melt.

“You can’t expose yourself to this for very long,” Foreman warned viewers amid the searing heat. “They’ve lost AC today, so much that the workers there simply left their stations and said, ‘Fend for yourself,’” Foreman claimed.

And then came the storms. The Daily Beast:

An immediate evacuation order was issued Saturday night for Salute to America, President Donald Trump’s much-hyped July 4th bash on the National Mall, due to severe weather.

“The safety of our guests, performers, and staff is our top priority,” Freedom 250 Spokesperson Danielle Alvarez shared in a social media post. “Due to approaching severe storms, Freedom 250, United States Secret Service, United States Park Police, National Park Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and all public safety partners are asking all guests to evacuate event grounds and seek temporary shelter in a nearby building.”

Followed by the nutty explanations. The Independent:

A MAGA faithful and prominent 2020 election denier claimed the intense heat oppressing the nation’s capital and disrupting America’s 250th celebrations was “geoengineered” by a person with Trump Derangement Syndrome.

“Same way they geoengineered Trump’s inauguration to be one of the coldest in U.S. history. People with [Trump Derangement Syndrome] hate Trump more than they love America,” Kremer wrote on X.

All part of the Greatest Show on Earth!

This comes after brouhahas about the Reflecting Pool, the Triumphal Arch, the Trump-Kennedy Center, and the West Wing ballroom. But none of these is very important. Nor are they necessarily reflections on the incompetence of the Trump Team. When you try to do things, there are bound to be problems...and the naysayers will say their nays.

But the important issues, too, seem to be plagued by a kind of klutzy dysfunction. Inflation doesn’t go down. DOGE disappears. Deficits increase. The economy stalls. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday:

US snaps hiring hot streak with only 57,000 jobs added in June

The share of the working-age population that is either working or looking for work — known as the labor-force participation rate — edged down to 61.5% in June, the lowest since March 2021.

David Stockman adds perspective:

During the first 18 months of the Donald’s alleged “red hot” US economy, there has actually been a 337,000 job loss outside of the government-funded health care and social services sector.

During the four years of the Biden administration, by comparison, in the same sectors, the economy racked up 267,000 new jobs per month.

And those who have jobs have suffered negative wage growth for the last two months; consumer prices rose faster than their paychecks.

But it’s the war on Iran that draws the fiercest criticism. The US attacked. Then, the Trump administration seemed unprepared for what came next — a closure of the Hormuz Strait. This sent oil prices skyward...and cut off critical the imports of fertilizers and industrial chemicals needed by US factories and farms.

Team Trump tried to salve the wounds it had inflicted with more taxpayer money to the farmers. It also withdrew some of its own sanctions and tariffs, including those on the object of its aggression. The Week:

US lifts oil sanctions on Iran amid chaotic talks

Fox News:

Donald Trump on Monday declared an emergency aimed at protecting the U.S. food supply and temporarily suspended import duties on certain Moroccan fertilizer products.

Analysts wondered what it was all about. Foreign Policy:

Iran Is a Bigger Defeat Than Vietnam

A war of choice has turned into a strategic disaster for Washington.

This prompted a grim thought. What would future historians make of it? What was the point, they will ask? What was accomplished?

And how was it possible that the most powerful empire in the history of the world went to war twice against much smaller, s***hole countries...and was humiliated both times? Does the US have the most inept empire ever?

Let’s look at it tomorrow.

Regards,

Bill Bonner

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