Welcome back, one and all, to another great year at Jesuit. While I hope your summer was a relaxing one, it has been far from calm across the world. Both at home and abroad, the summer season has been… eventful. Here, we’ll look first at the world stage and then the domestic U.S. political scene.

Foreign Events

Ukraine’s war effort is overall stalling in part due to lack of U.S. support and in part due to the fact that they are beginning to see manpower issues. This doesn’t mean they are down and out, though, as on August 6th the Ukrainian Army launched a surprisingly successful offensive into Russia proper. As of almost a month later, the Russians have yet to push the Ukrainians off their land, yet another humiliating failure for the Russian Armed Forces. I didn’t even think they could get any lower, but leave it up to them. The Russian Army continues it’s incredibly costly offensives in the Donbass, and despite heavy casualties slowly gains ground. Trench warfare continues, and the World War One throwbacks intensify as Russia has been reported to be using Chlorine Gas on Ukrainian troops. Russia continues its bombing campaign as Ukrainian civilians are deliberately hit with missiles every day.

As always, the Middle East is still on fire. Israel nears the end of heavy fighting in Gaza as Hamas’ leaders are, one-by-one, picked off in airstrikes. Hamas’ supply of smuggled weapons is more-or-less cut off now that the IDF has taken Gaza’s Egyptian border. Negotiations regarding the hostages are, as always, stalled and useless. Raids continue into Hamas-controlled pockets, and war clouds stir on the northern border of Israel as Hezbollah continues its rocket fire and tens of thousands on both sides of the border are displaced. Large-scale Israeli bombing has escalated, with a coordinated series of strikes reportedly knocking out, according to the IDF, “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers on the night of August 25th-26th. With Israel’s 36th Division (well over 10,000 troops, over 200 tanks) being sent from Gaza to the Lebanese Border instead being demobilized, it is safe to say that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government is, like the public, deeply pessimistic regarding a “Third Lebanon War”.

Domestic Events

Joe Biden’s campaign had always been rocky this election cycle, but it all fell apart in the span of 90 minutes. Following a catastrophic debate performance on June 27, Democrat officials began subtle calls for President Joe Biden to end his campaign. House Minority Leader Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Shumer walked a line of ambiguity while Left-leaning media outlets began active calls for the President to abandon his campaign.

The next month, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, former-president Donald Trump was nearly assassinated after a bullet from the AR-15 of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks hit his ear. Trump had turned his head just an instant before, avoiding the bullet flying into the back of his skull. One man was killed in the attack, firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died while shielding his wife and children from the gunfire. Two others were severely wounded but have since been stabilized.

The poll numbers continued to look truly terrible for President Biden, with approval ratings staying in the low 30s. But then, the race was completely changed when the President, on Sunday, July 21, announced he was dropping out of the race. All of a sudden Trump’s (almost) guaranteed win became significantly more contested. For all intents and purposes Kamala Harris was the party’s nominee the second Biden dropped out. The polling numbers significantly narrowed, and the race was back on.

As of now, Kamala Harris continues to lead in polling, with Trump repeatedly getting in hot water because he’s Trump. The race is among the most tense in US History, with America’s disturbing rise in political violence providing a backdrop of unease to this historic year. As Harris campaigns on a platform of “I’m not Trump,” her Vice-Presidential approval ratings continue to recover from their historic lows in 2023. Trump, for his part, has adopted a strategy of calling out Harris on her past controversial statements on race, economics, foreign policy, and other subjects in an attempt to make her feel too far left for the average voter.

Conclusion

History keeps happening, the Presidential race continues, and you can be sure to get the very highest quality coverage of it all from The Roundup’s Viewpoint Section over the next 3 months. Until next time, this has been your Politics Summer Review.