Good morning, and welcome to Thursday, May 21, 2026. Today is National American Red Cross Founder's Day and World Fish Migration Day. It’s National Waiters and Waitresses Day, and Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day. Also, Shavuot begins tonight — commemorating the day God gave the Torah to Israel at Mount Sinai. Traditions include staying up all night to study religious texts, decorating synagogues with flowers, and eating dairy foods like cheesecake and blintzes.
1819: The first bicycles in the U.S., called swift walkers, debut in NYC.
1832: The first Democratic National Convention is held in Baltimore.
1881: Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross.
1892: Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera I Pagliacci premieres at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan.
1906: Louis H. Perlman patents a demountable tire-carrying rim for cars.
1908: First American horror movie, the silent film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, premieres in Chicago.
1914: Carl Wickman founds the Greyhound Bus Company in Hibbing, Minn.
1927: Aviator Charles Lindbergh, in the Spirit of St. Louis, lands in Paris after the first solo air crossing of the Atlantic.
1929: The automatic electric stock quotation board is installed in NYC.
1932: After flying for 17 hours from Newfoundland, Amelia Earhart lands near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, completing the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman.
1964: The first nuclear-powered lighthouse begins operations in Chesapeake Bay.
1977: Electric Light Orchestra releases "Telephone Line" in the UK; it would peak in the Top 10 in the UK and the United States.
Due to time constraints, I'm taking a bye on Birthdays Today. They'll be back tomorrow. And if today is your birthday, have a happy one.
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Now that the primary dust has settled, it's time to take inventory of the mid-terms as they’ve developed so far.
President Trump's endorsement machine rolled through Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Alabama on May 19 and ran the table — 37 wins, zero losses.
In Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, Ed Gallrein didn't just beat incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie — he obliterated him, handing MAGA one of its most satisfying revenge tours of the cycle.
Andy Barr seized the Kentucky Republican Senate primary, looking to step into the seat Mitch McConnell has spent 40 years warming.
Indiana's GOP senators who blocked Trump's redistricting push paid for it — nearly all of them lost their primaries to Trump-backed challengers.
In Louisiana, Sen. Bill Cassidy — who voted to convict Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial — didn't just lose: He finished third. Third. His political career now joins the long list of things Trump has outlasted.
Legacy media previously tried to frame these results as a referendum on Trump. Well, they’re not doing that anymore because it makes Trump look stronger than they’d prefer. Now the claim has evolved to “This is just Trump being vindictive and retributive.”
Thing is, that angle misses the point entirely. Many of the candidates who lost their primaries never believed they'd have to reckon with a second Trump term. They felt safe defying MAGA. They established their “brand” on that notion. They were wrong.
The takeaway is that MAGA was never purely about Trump — it was always about what actions voters want taken. These primaries made that unmistakable.
The message to every Republican in office is now unambiguous: Cross MAGA and lose. Massie's scalp stands as the loudest warning shot yet about what the GOP rank and file actually want — and that point keeps getting buried in the legacy media coverage of these primary wins. They forget that not only did Trump win the White House in overwhelming fashion, but the voters spoke yet again the other night, in an unmistakably loud voice, given that mid-term primaries do not usually get huge participation. Any doubt about the voters supporting MAGA should go out the door with the losing incumbents.
Salem News Channel’s Larry O’Connor spoke with Speaker Johnson about these primaries:Next on the hit parade is John Cornyn. Trump has endorsed Ken Paxton for Cornyn’s Senate seat. I’ll be watching that race closely but at the moment, I have no cause to think Paxton won’t win that primary and for the same reasons these others lost their primary bids.
Maine, North Dakota, Nevada, and South Carolina are up on June 7.
California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota are next, on June 2.
Oklahoma and Virginia on June 16.
Colorado, Maryland, New York, and Utah on June 23.
Other states have primaries between now and September, but they're too far out to get into at the moment.
Thought of the day: Forgive me, but I don’t understand how the same Democrats who can get Commercial Driver's Licenses for illegals who can’t speak or read a word of English say it’s too hard for minorities or women to get an ID because I’m a racist.
Thanks for being here today. You do make a difference. VIP members can make an even bigger difference by hitting that heart on the lower left and speaking up in the comments. Take care, gang. I'll see you here tomorrow.
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