This past Monday we had the Labor Day holiday, which officially marks the end of summer. I’m not quite ready to concede that summer is over, however, so even though it might horrify the more sartorially punctilious among us, it’s possible that I’ll be seen out in public still wearing light-coloured linen. Labor Day is America’s slightly less communist version of May Day, which is celebrated in most of Europe. It’s a day off, though, so I was happy to spend it doing hard labour in the garden, cutting back many plants that had gone a bit wild while I was gadding about the world.

This week we also mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and I’ve been reflecting on how things have changed since the attack that altered the world in so many ways. We also had a few of the final primary elections this week, while the latest consumer sentiment survey numbers look pretty dismal. But first up, President Donald Trump addressed a Republican convention in Dallas, where he made some claims, made some promises and was, well, peak Trump.

The GOP Convention

Normally political parties hold conventions every four years, usually to confirm their choice of candidate for the presidential election. This year, the Republican Party decided to hold a midterm convention in Dallas, presumably to gin up support and get the party faithful energised and ready to go out and vote in November.

President Trump gave a two-hour speech on Wednesday at the convention, claiming, among other things, that the crowd was huge, even though, reportedly, there were plenty of empty seats in the massive American Airlines Center. According to the RealClearPolitics average, Trump’s approval rating is now just below 40%. You’d think that, given that, he might try to take a back seat and promote some of the more popular candidates who are actually on the ballot. But we’re talking about Mr Trump, so he has done the opposite and recently told voters that they should act as though he is on the ballot.

Perhaps sensing that his personality alone might not help his party in the midterms, and recognising that the incumbent party almost always suffers at the polls in such elections, Mr Trump made the extraordinary offer of $5 000 per adult American if the GOP (as the Republican Party is also known) holds onto its majorities in Congress. Where will the money come from? Who will appropriate it? Is this in any way legal? What about our $40 trillion in debt? These are all valid questions, and my answer to all of them is … I have no idea, and nor does anyone else, least of all Mr Trump.

Aside from this silly, illegal, transparent vote-buying gambit, the convention featured Vice President JD Vance, who seems to be burnishing his credentials for a presidential run in 2028. Brandon Gill, a congressman from Texas and a rising star in the Republican Party, wowed the crowd. Gill is someone to watch, not only because he’s good-looking, which counts for a lot in politics, but because he’s funny and sharp. He opened his speech with a “land acknowledgement,” saying: “I’d like to acknowledge that we stand here today in the great state of Texas in the United States of America, the ancestral homeland of great American patriots, pioneers, and explorers, who fought for freedom all over the globe and who bled and died to build the greatest civilisation ever known to man.” It’s also worth watching Gill’s performances in congressional hearings, such as his snookering of a director of one of the Smithsonian museums that put out a pamphlet claiming politeness was characteristic of white supremacy.

Another interesting development was a video message from Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. There has been widespread speculation that this Democratic senator might jump ship and run as a Republican when he’s up for election in 2028. Fetterman is still a progressive in many respects, believing in single-payer healthcare among other things, but he has parted ways with his party over Israel. Unlike so many in his party, the Pennsylvanian has steadfastly supported the Middle East’s only democracy in its brutal fight against Islamists who seek to destroy it, and then the West.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, addressed the convention and tried to put the best spin on Trump’s economic policies, which is a tough task. I don’t mean to sound like a stuck record, but the Trump trade policies have not just cost Americans dearly through higher prices and fewer product choices; they have created such economic uncertainty that businesses have held off expanding and hiring. When the cost of your inputs could jump by 50% overnight depending on the mood Mr Trump is in, it’s hard to plan for next week’s output, let alone make investment decisions for the next ten years.

Depressingly, the yo-yoing tariffs have undermined so much of the deregulatory good of the Trump Administration, denting economic growth. This might do long-term damage to the deregulatory agenda that many of us have championed, as we may struggle to show the economic benefits that should have been clearly evident by now.

Aside from having to put lipstick on a pig at the conference, this week Bessent engaged in another round of bond buying, this time announcing $6 billion of long-term bond purchases in an attempt to lower long-term interest rates. The bond market was disappointed, however, and long-term rates rose, with the 10-year reaching 4.9%, the highest level since 2023. Whatever Mr Bessent is trying, the bond market isn’t buying it. Perhaps working to get our fiscal house in order might be a better strategy, but then that might stop his boss from offering everyone $5 000 election bribes.

Primary season draws to a close

Finally, dear reader, you won’t have me banging on about the primary elections much longer, as they are almost over. As the dust settles, it seems that each political party decided to load up its pistol and shoot itself in the foot.

The Democrats managed to elect some real beauts. Take Darializa Avila Chevalier, who will likely be elected to the House of Representatives from a very safe Democratic seat in New York. Before she decided to run for Congress, Ms Chevalier was a radical student protester who, when she wasn’t demanding the destruction of Israel, was calling for the complete abolition of the police and prisons.

Then there is Milat Kiros, who is running for a safe seat in Denver, Colorado. Ms Kiros, like her friend from New York, is also comfortable with Israel being wiped off the map. When a deranged Egyptian attacked a group of Jews in Denver with Molotov cocktails, killing one of them, who had peacefully gathered to draw attention to the hostages held by Hamas, she couldn’t bring herself to say the man was motivated by Jew-hatred. And, as with almost all antisemites, Kiros also seems to detest America and the West in general.

These two will join the other Democratic Socialists in Congress next year, inevitably pushing that party further and further to the Left. This City Journal piece by Aidan Grogan and Stu Smith should give you a flavour of what to expect from the Democratic Socialists in the future.

To some degree, these radical candidates might bring more Republicans out to vote than would otherwise have been the case. But the gerrymandering of district after district means that there really isn’t that much electoral competition, with only a handful of House seats up for grabs.

The Senate, however, is now in play after Republicans chose some deeply flawed candidates. There hasn’t been a Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas since 1988, but this might be the year that changes. As we discussed on Talking Sense, James Talarico, who is a leftist with some pretty un-Texan views on gender nonconformity, might well beat Ken Paxton, the Trump-backed and deeply flawed state attorney general. This was a seat that Republicans could easily have held had the party stuck with John Cornyn, the reliable and solid GOP senator. As I might have explained previously, Trump decided Mr Cornyn wasn’t quite sycophantic enough towards him and so decided to campaign against him.

If a GOP loss in Texas means the Democrats take the Senate, Mr Trump might live to regret that decision.

By rights, the solid Mike Rogers should win the Michigan Senate seat for Republicans, given that he’s going up against Abdul El-Sayed, an Islamo-socialist who spent his time campaigning with the hate-monger Hasan Piker. But this is 2026 and this is Trump’s Administration, and so the President has relaunched his trade war with Canada, imperiling Michigan businesses and making it very hard for Mr Rogers to make the case for the Republican Party.

November is a long way away and anything could happen. But if I were a betting man, which I’m not, I’d be putting my money on the Democrats running away with both Houses. The upside of that will be that our massive, gargantuan, colossal, ginormous debt won’t immediately be increased by Mr Trump’s ludicrous proposed $5 000 election payments.

The Grumpy Consumer

This week the University of Michigan released its preliminary Consumer Sentiment survey for September, and it continues to show weakening consumer confidence. Rather like the previous survey, which came out at the end of August, this latest one revealed that the American consumer is less than pleased with the state of the economy.

Around 1 000 Americans are surveyed, and they are asked five questions:

1. Are you financially better or worse off than a year ago?
2. Do you expect your finances to be better or worse a year from now?
3. Do you expect good or bad economic conditions in the country over the next 12 months?
4. Do you expect generally good economic conditions or periods of unemployment/depression over the next five years?
5. Is now a good or bad time to buy major household items?

The responses are collated and an index is produced, providing a useful barometer of how the American consumer feels about the economy. During the first Trump Administration, when the president was guided by the sensible, pro-market Mike Pence, economic growth was good and real incomes were rising, especially for the poor. Before the pandemic, in February 2020, the Consumer Sentiment Index measured 101. The August survey came in at 51.7. Today’s preliminary figure came in at 47.8, and the decline in consumer optimism is across the board, with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all feeling glum about the future.

Sticky inflation, trade uncertainty, high petrol prices, and the war against the Islamic Republic are all weighing on consumers. None of this is good news for the Republicans seeking re-election, or for the country, for that matter.

The good news is that policies can be changed. Mr Trump could recognise how damaging his mercurial trade policy is to the economy. He could do more to rein in spending. He could pursue further deregulation and stop the cronyism of having the federal government take stakes in public companies. Will he do any of this? Most likely not, so don’t expect the index to start rising any time soon.

Remembering 9/11

Flags in DC are at half-mast as the country remembers the victims of the September 11 attacks. It’s worth reflecting on some of the developments since the worst terrorist attack in American history.

The attack, perpetrated by the worst of humanity, resulted in the best of humanity stepping up, risking their lives to run into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon to save others. The brave passengers on United 93 realised what was happening and sacrificed their lives to thwart the terrorists’ evil plans. We must never forget the remarkable bravery of the men and women from every background, every race, every political persuasion, and every creed who stood up against those determined to destroy civilisation and replace it with the caliphate.

I happened to be in London on that day and stared at the television in utter disbelief. The jihadist’s lust for death and destruction was incomprehensible to me. It still is.

While there were some in the United Kingdom (UK), such as the historian Mary Beard, who claimed that America had it coming, that was a minority view. The day after the attack, I attended a rapidly organised memorial service at St Luke’s and Christ Church in Chelsea. The church was packed with ordinary people, most of whom, I’m sure, were not regular churchgoers. We gathered to pray, to remember and to express deep sympathy and solidarity with America. The service ended with all of us singing the Star-Spangled Banner, and there was barely a dry eye in the church.

How things have changed.

I know several Americans who, immediately following the attacks, joined the military to fight back and seek justice. A 2024 survey, however, found that only 41% of Americans would be personally willing to fight if the country were attacked. Gallup measures the extent to which Americans feel pride in their country. After 9/11, the percentage of those who were extremely proud to be American reached 70%. Today it is 33%.

In the UK, a YouGov survey found that 33% of Britons between the ages of 18 and 39 would refuse to defend the country if it were attacked. A YouGov poll in 2025 found that only 41% of young Britons were proud to be British, compared with 80% in a similar survey taken in 2004.

Would America’s allies stand with us if we were subjected to a similar attack? I have my doubts. On October 7, 2023, Israel, a democratic outpost of Western civilisation and ally, suffered a devastating terrorist attack. While Hamas terrorists were still murdering, raping, torturing, and kidnapping innocent men, women, and children, the streets of Western capitals were filled with protesters. They came out not because they were outraged by the demonic Islamists, but to condemn those being attacked.

The Hamas terrorists are interested not only in the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, but in the destruction of the West entirely. Yet Western governments, including those of Britain, France, Canada, and others, are busy imposing sanctions on Israel, thereby encouraging the Islamist forces that have already launched terrorist attacks in their countries. Do UK and French politicians believe that punishing Israel will make attacks such as the July 7, 2005 bombings in London or the November 13, 2015 Bataclan massacre in Paris less likely? Maybe, but they are dead wrong. Appeasing the Islamists will only ever embolden them and make future terrorist attacks more likely.

Just as the UK has elected members of Parliament who side with Islam over the West, so the United States (US) is likely to have several new members of Congress with similar views. One leading anti-Westerner in Congress is the Somali-born Ilhan Omar, who once described the 9/11 attacks at a Council on American-Islamic Relations meeting as “some people did something.” And in Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently put out an advisory to its journalists telling them not to call the events a “terrorist attack.”

Thanks to US military intelligence and vigilance, we have not suffered a major terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 since that day. But our loss of faith in Western values, our lack of enthusiasm for defending the West, and the desire to whitewash terrorism out of our lexicon will not make the threats any less real. In fact, they make a future conflict more likely.

It’s interesting to note that since 9/11 the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia have worked hard to rid their societies of radical Islam, just as it is metastasising in the West. And it’s worth noting the increasingly close military, intelligence, and security relations between those states and Israel. These countries recognise the threats and are prepared to act while we in the West lie to ourselves about them. I hope it won’t take another hideous attack to wake the Western nations up.

With that I’ll end this Dispatch and wish you a good weekend. And I promise to try not to use pretentious phrases like “sartorially punctilious” in the future.