The Trump economy is growing
Economic doomsayers suffered a blow Wednesday when a new Bureau of Economic Analysis report revised second-quarter GDP growth in 2026 up to 2.2%. A strong, stable economy is a good sign for the party in power heading into an election, and the U.S. economy is doing well despite ongoing trade issues, energy price instability, and inflation. The first half of 2026 averaged 2.15% growth, slightly above the 2.1% growth recorded in FY 2025. Original estimates for April, May, and June were only 1.5%, a worrying sign, so this upward revision is welcome. Inflation also had a hopeful sign, with YTD inflation rising to 3.4% instead of the expected 3.7%. The economy is not booming, but neither is it contracting; the evidence points to a resilient economy that will keep performing.

Tennessee inmate survives two lethal injections
Convicted murderer Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection yesterday, but after receiving multiple doses of pentobarbital, she is still alive. An hour after the injections, witnesses said she was sleeping and breathing normally. Attempting to prevent any agonizing side effects, she has since been taken to the hospital to receive treatment. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee put a hold on all executions within Tennessee for the rest of the year. It stands to reason that there may have been something wrong with the drug that was administered, and it could mean that the drug was either mismanaged or tampered with. Given that a pro-capital-punishment governor has put a temporary hold on said punishments, an investigation into the incident is likely to take place.

Hegseth announces new base
War Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an invitation on Wednesday, in a speech at MCB Quantico, for governors to bid on housing the “next great American” base. “If your state wants the honor of hosting 15,000 to 25,000 of America’s great troops,” Hegseth stated, “show us why and how you’re going to do it, cutting through the red tape, offering up the land and rolling out the red carpet for our military families.” The U.S. Naval Station Everett in Washington, built in the 1990s, is the last base built in the U.S. Hegseth also announced the creation of the Office of Religious Affairs, noting that while 95% of service members hold to a religious faith, “Political correctness and secular humanism got a vote. Chaplains did not.” He added, “Decisions about faith and religion were made by secular careerists in cubicles and lawyers running around with red tape.”

Unregistered Flock cameras found in Florida
St. Lucie County residents decided to remove all of their county’s Flock cameras, but after local law enforcement removed all of theirs, 14 other cameras were found within the county. Citizens are understandably unnerved about this revelation and are concerned about who owns these cameras and, more importantly, who is watching them. Three of the cameras were claimed by the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, but information concerning the ownership of the remaining 11 remains unknown. As an alternative solution, the county placed plastic bags over the unknown cameras. This episode may be due to clerical errors, of course, but having this many cameras outside local law enforcement control calls into question the dealings of Flock Safety or similar companies.

Trump announces Alaska pipeline
South Korea is committing $200 billion to U.S. energy projects, with $54 billion earmarked for the Alaska LNG pipeline, which has been discussed for five decades. President Trump announced the pipeline project on Wednesday, stating it will deliver four billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day. South Korea’s $350 billion investment pledge from last year’s trade talks will be split into $150 billion for shipbuilding and $200 billion for strategic investments, including eight nuclear power plants. Glenfarne owns 75% of the project, along with the state of Alaska, and plans to build the first 739 miles to supply Alaskans, after which it will build the export terminal. According to Glenfarne, Alaska will need to overhaul its tax structure before the company makes a final decision on the investment. In March, Glenfarne confirmed commitments for 13 million tons of natural gas annually.

California Democrat gubernatorial candidate obsessed with Trump
CNN hosted a California gubernatorial debate Wednesday night, but viewers may be forgiven for thinking it was a presidential debate. Democrat candidate and frontrunner Xavier Becerra made the whole night about “Trump, Trump, Trump.” The two candidates tangled over immigration, AI, Becerra’s sorry record as Joe Biden’s secretary of health and human services, and the Democrat Party’s struggle to find a candidate. Republican candidate Steve Hilton, who has just a 3% chance of winning, according to Decision Desk HQ, either held his own or ran circles around Becerra, depending on the source. Either way, Hilton acquitted himself well; hopefully California will abandon the insanity, as Hilton put it, of voting Democrat.

Hispanic voters care about inflation more than immigration
It has become a popular political narrative that Hispanic American voters are largely motivated by concerns over immigration and vote accordingly, which is why Democrats have long conflated legal and illegal immigration. President Trump’s historic gains among Hispanic voters in 2024 were driven less by immigration than by economics. Due to recent polling, though, Republican candidates in heavily Hispanic districts are distancing themselves from the Trump administration over immigration enforcement. Yet the real issue is the economy. Steve Cortes, an adviser to Trump’s Hispanic outreach during his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, observes, “Hispanics are overwhelmingly a working-class population ... and so inflation hits much harder. Gas prices are especially punishing to Hispanic workers, especially Hispanic men, and that’s where most of the gains were made [in 2024], and that’s where we’re seeing most of the losses now.”

New York vaccine rule threatens to force the Amish out
The Empire State is discriminating against the Amish as it once again attempts to deny religious exemptions for vaccine mandates. Amish plaintiffs petitioned the Supreme Court to slap down the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a second time for approving New York’s ban on religious exemptions. When they struck it down the first time, the justices instructed the lower court to review the case in light of recent precedent affirming parental rights in the religious upbringing of their children. “If New York wins, the Amish will be forced to flee the state,” one of the lawyers for the Amish warned. The double standard is evident, as the public schools in New York allow more than 100,000 “noncompliant [a.k.a. unvaccinated] students” to keep attending public schools, and the state doesn’t threaten unvaccinated teachers or students who have medical exemptions.

Mosquitoes, ticks banned by executive order
Ticks and mosquitoes often transmit deadly diseases, and this summer, both populations have seen record highs. On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order to improve illness diagnosis and bug-killing techniques. Starting in the DC area, Trump aims to reduce the pest population by 2028. Rather than spraying chemicals, though, companies will release millions of harmless male mosquitoes exposed to Wolbachia, a bacterium that stops eggs from hatching. Google has already tried the sterilization strategy, but only in small areas because it is so labor intensive and is awaiting EPA approval. Trump assigned the Interior Department to carry out the new strategy nationwide.

Headlines

  • Senate approves Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department (NY Post)
  • AG Todd Blanche files judicial misconduct complaint against virtually the entire bench in Minnesota (Townhall)
  • Nebraska city council changes homeschool hiring policy after enormous public outcry (Washington Stand)
  • Judge OKs plan for Paramount-Warner Bros. merger (Center Square)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.