Top O' the Briefing
Happy Wednesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. The Sine Qua Non Sequitur is spending the day explaining corduroy to a displaced Inuit harpoonist collective.
There is a frequent argument that happens in American politics that I've been involved in many times as an activist. When grassroots activists want to challenge an incumbent member of Congress in a primary election, the party establisment types push back with the same list of objections.
One of those is that unseating a longtime incumbent could put a relatively safe seat in jeopardy. Yes, it's a risk, but so is letting a representative or senator who can't consistently be relied upon stay in office just because he or she has been there for a long time.
Do we opt for a dysfunctional status quo just to keep the numbers up, or do we try to affect change, even if there are risks involved? That's a much easier question to answer if the party has a comfortable majority. With the Republicans' current situation, it's obviously a bigger roll of the dice.
The Senate race in Texas is no doubt inducing some dyspepsia at the Republican National Committee right now. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is running neck-and-neck with Democrat and political chameleon James Talarico. My Townhall colleague Jeff Charles covered the latest polling here, which showed Talarico ahead. It's all within the margin of error and, as Jeff notes, some polls have shown Paxton ahead.
This is a frustrating one for the GOP. Talarico keeps reinventing himself seemingly by the hour. After months of having his masculinity called into question, Talarico's campaign people have had him on a "butch it up" photo-op jag of late. They've got video of him driving a truck. They've got pictures of Talarico chowing down on meat like a man going to the electric chair. That was after he told voters that we shouldn't do that because it's killing poor Mother Earth.
Here's the latest from Talarico's ¿Quién es message macho? tour, which my Twitchy colleague Brett T. shared in a post:
Folks say James Talarico isn’t “manly enough” for Texas. But I’ve never seen Ken Paxton use a blowtorch before… pic.twitter.com/wJjhPP5uU1
— Michael Karlis (@MichaelKarlis) August 3, 2026
Disingenuous cartoonish pandering — the Democrats' secret sauce. It's maddening that this continues to work on so many voters.
As Jeff wrote in his post, this is still "anybody's race." Polls could be reflecting a lack of enthusiasm for Paxton among Senator John Cornyn's supporters. Then again, there didn't seem to be that many of them after Paxton annihilated him in the primary runoff election.
Paxton should be helped by the fact that the Republicans have an overwhelming financial advantage. As I wrote last month, the GOP's largest Senate Super PAC had a massive influx of cash during the first six months of 2026 — more than double than in any other off year. That can really tip the scales at the end of a tight race.
Texas voters are still going to have to put up with Talarico's Testosterone Kabuki Theater project. A couple more months of that should sufficiently motivate even the most ardent Cornyn fans to join Team Paxton.
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The Mailbag of Magnificence
A few quick ones, then some light stretching. Will starts us off, and he's not in a good mood:
Mr. Kruiser, although I agree with you on most issues, my frustration level regarding the war on Iran is pretty high. If Trump waits until the holidays approach to, as you wrote, "go all 'George Washington's Christmas Greeting to the Hessians' on them," the midterms may well be lost (and if the midterms are lost, that means many Democratic socialists will join Congress come January). Nearly every day, I see a headline about Trump threatening Iran, then giving them more time, then threatening, then giving them more time, ad nauseum. I no longer read those articles. What's the point? Trump should write a new book: "The Art of the Blah, Blah, Blah." Yes, you can tell I am very frustrated.
OK, I stand by my "not ready to panic" yet opinion, but you shouldn't have read too much into my holiday timeline. I mostly just wanted to get to the George Washington reference and my goofy "Let It Snow" parody. As for the midterms, my latest column is linked below and covers them. We're still in the fight.
Deborah has thoughts about the New York commie grocery stores' limited discount offerings:
Hi Stephen, Just spitballin' it here - but I'd bet that the Commie Core Basket doesn't include any bacon or pork chops. Cheers!
Well played, Deborah, well played. I hadn't thought of that, and now my curiosity is strong. Now I really want to get to NYC and check it out for myself. Maybe I can get Kevin to tag along and get video of my yelling, "HOW CAN YOU BE OUT OF BACON?!?!?!?"
Don writes:
Mr. Kruiser, didn't even finish the MB after seeing "Jihadistalin". Milk came out my nose. Like Roseanne Rosannadana, "Thought ah was gonna dah!" And now back to clean off the placemat and finish reading.
Any day that I can get a spit-take before lunchtime is a good day indeed. That wasn't planned at all, it came to me as I began to type his name. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. Oh, apologies for the mess, but I hope I can make it happen again some day.
Liz K. takes us to the finish line today:
BEST line I have ever read in a newsletter, post, tweet, etc: " I'm too busy to research a cure for stupid." I think you could retire on that one. OMG, I'm so jealous I never thought of putting it so succinctly and with humor. Hats off! You are the best!
Thank you very much, Liz. Don liked a line at the beginning and you enjoyed one from the conclusion — I think that a "kinda/sorta bookends" celebration is in order. That reminds me, we really should do a live Morning Briefing meetup one day. I gotta get on that!
Muchísimas gracias, mis amigos, por todos los emails and stuff.
Everything Isn't Awful
I think they arranged something ahead of this.
A brave 28-pound muntjac deer challenges a 1.7-ton rhino at the Wrocław Zoo pic.twitter.com/eNQnoOQzfm
— Nature Unedited (@NatureUnedited) August 4, 2026
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The Kruiser Kabana
Kabana Gallery
The Virgin (1913) is typical of Klimt's "Kaleidoscope" period. Instead of presenting a static figure, Klimt paints a swirling mass of limbs and fabric that symbolize a transition from girlhood to womanhood. The figures seem anchored by a burst of cosmic energy. #artbots #klimt pic.twitter.com/qCVlM6bwYx
— Gustav Klimt (@artistgklimt) August 4, 2026
Kabana Comedy/Tunes
This is beautiful. Also, Eddie Vedder now looks like a Humanities professor at a small liberal arts college.
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