Year: 2026

Fauci Still More Trusted than RFK Jr.

Buck Banks

50%

A new Annenberg Public Policy Center poll finds 50% of Americans say they are somewhat or very confident that Dr. Anthony Fauci provided the public with trustworthy information about matters concerning public health, a statistically significant decline of 5 percentage points since April 2026. By comparison, just 38% of Americans in August 2026 say they are confident that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the secretary of health and human services, is providing trustworthy information about public health.

Young Americans Think Dysfunction Is Normal

Buck Banks

“Young Americans today have never witnessed Congress authorize a war, they’ve never seen a U.S. administration balance its books, they’ve never watched a well-funded and empowered state department operate, and they see only mistrust between allies. They assume the situation is normal. It is not. … The real cost of forgetting the pre-9/11 world is not a country that has changed, but one that no longer knows it could be different.”

— Jane Haman

Trump’s Iran War Has Cost Americans $100 Billion in Energy Inflation

Buck Banks

$100 billion

“The war in Iran has now cost U.S. consumers $100 billion in higher energy prices, and the bill is rising another $1 million about every two minutes, per a real-time estimate from Brown University as of Monday morning,” Axios reports. “Energy inflation shows up across the entire economy, and the recent surge in diesel prices in particular threatens to have a dramatic impact on freight and travel in the weeks and months to come.”

Iran Promises ‘More Painful’ Response to U.S. Aggression

Buck Banks

“If they haven’t understood by now, they should understand before it’s too late that the rules of the game have changed and that from now on, any violation of Iran’s interests and security will receive a ‘faster, heavier, and more painful’ response.”

— “Iran’s ‘proportionate responses’ to U.S. attacks are over, the country’s parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Sunday, while acknowledging the economic impact of the war,” CNBC reports.