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Last night’s Maine Democratic Senate debate to replace Graham Platner was a train wreck. Don't believe me? Feel free to check out this excellent rundown by my colleague, Nick Arama. Keep in mind that this not only looked like a train wreck, but it comes with the realization that this crop of misfit toys has only surfaced after the Democrats' previous muse, an accused rapist with a Nazi tattoo and an unhealthy fascination with portapotties, was forced out of the race. Among the new group was one candidate, Ashley Webb, who believes some of the best qualifications for serving in the Senate are writing songs and books.

The season of triangulation is upon us. First, presidential aspirant Rahm Emanuel tried to establish a compromise position on Israel to stave off the Democratic Party’s anti-Zionist bull rush. Now that the bull rush is on, Hakeem Jeffries—who will be speaker of the House if Democrats win enough seats in November—is trying a similar tactic. Yesterday, more than 100 House Democrats voted to end aid to Israel. The battle appears lost—unsurprising, since the battle was almost entirely one-sided. So now Jeffries is negotiating the terms of his surrender, and those terms are similar to the ones Emanuel tried to sell to the same party. Via Jewish Insider, Jeffries outlined some familiar principles.

Let’s see: Gulf War III is back in full swing, Mitch McConnell has become Schrodinger’s senator, but the biggest stories in America right now are a buffalo trying out to be an NFL placekicker, and Taco Bell deciding that a life-imitating-art menu is the best life after all. Too bad about the Whirled Cup soccer thing, but losing to . . . Belgium? Maybe we can appeal to the Whirled Court. Oh, wait. . .

Abe Greenwald’s July 15 newsletter discussed a bizarre scene in which Rep. Ro Khanna, an anti-Israel demagogue testing a run for president, was repeatedly badgered by left-wing podcasters to say that Palestinians have a right to kill Israelis, which they did on October 7. The Dropsite podcasters were precisely the sort of company Khanna has been keeping lately—anti-Zionists obsessed with violence. As Abe wrote: “Khanna came face to face with the lunacy of the mob that he’s been trying to please with tweets, speeches, stunts. And he let [Jeremy] Scahill down by refusing to speak the monstrous words that would have admitted him into the esteemed ranks of the radicals.

Left-wing violence has become almost a daily fact of our political life. And I am not talking about the extreme left, I am talking about the left that represents the center of gravity in the Democratic Party. Congressman Adam Smith illustrates the point in the tweet embedded below. Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, is a former supporter of Israel who voted with 102 Democratic colleagues to cut off military aid to that country. Smith says he cast his vote to send a message to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, with which he is “frustrated.” But this is perhaps the more salient point: I am deeply concerned