As summer temperatures have suddenly hit DC, global and domestic politics are heating up too. As has been the case for a while, the outcome of war against the Islamic Republic remains uncertain, but that has not stopped commentators from retreating to the ideological priors and declaring either defeat or victory based on whether it suits their respective political agendas.

Notwithstanding the global uncertainty the United States (US) stock markets shrugged off the initial losses following the start of hostilities and hit all-time highs this week. That’s good news for those with retirement savings in the stock market, which I write about below, as well as about the ongoing battles between President Donald Trump and the current Federal Reserve chair, sex scandals rocking Washington, and new evidence of the foreign policy political horseshoe.

New Retirement Investment Options

Around 90 million Americans make tax-free savings for their retirements in what are known as 401(k) plans. These private plans are heavily regulated and until recently the fiduciary officers were forced to restrict investment options almost exclusively to bonds and equities traded on the major stock exchanges. Last year the Trump Administration issued an executive order expanding the range of investment options and the Department of Labor and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have now issued the rules that will govern these investments.

The new rules will allow ordinary Americans to use their savings to invest in equity, debt, and other financial instruments not traded on public exchanges. It will also allow investments in real estate, commodities, and digital assets.

There has, for far too long, been a very patronising view from our overlords in Washington, DC about what the little people should and shouldn’t be allowed to do with their own money. The Trump Administration’s efforts to democratise investments and allow us all to take the same kinds of risks, and hopefully reap the same kinds of rewards, as the super-rich, is very welcome. The SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, who will surely go down as one of President Trump’s finest picks and one of the SEC’s best-ever leaders, explained that the new rules will allow Americans to “participate more fully in innovation and economic growth through well-diversified long-term investments”. Amen to that.

The country’s combined 401(k) accounts hold more than $10 trillion in assets. If even a small fraction of that amount is invested in private equity and alternative investments, we can only guess at the boost it could give to private enterprise.

Leading leftist Democrats like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders predictably decried these new retirement investment rules as being too risky and opaque. Of course no one will be forced into these alternative investments, but we will all have the option if we want it. I thought these leading progressives were “pro-choice” … turns out they are only pro-choice when they are the ones doing the choosing.

The Forever Fed Fight

Producer price inflation came in high, with the highest 12-month rate in three years. This is perhaps an outcome of higher energy prices thanks to the war against the Islamic Republic, but it poses a problem for the Federal Reserve, which had been gradually reducing interest rates. But the Fed has other concerns. The current chair, Jerome Powell, is set to step down next month and President Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace him. Warsh is, by all accounts, an excellent choice, but it remains to be seen if he will be confirmed by the Senate.

At issue is the way the Trump Administration launched a criminal investigation against Powell over the Fed’s costly renovations to its grand DC offices down on Constitution Avenue. The investigation is surely pretextual and is a classic Trump bullying tactic because Powell wouldn’t lower rates fast enough. This is the stuff of banana republics, which is why the Republican senator from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, who sits on the Banking Committee, says he will not vote Warsh out of committee until Trump drops the case against Powell.

Tillis is not standing for re-election, so he doesn’t have to worry about Trump targeting him at home. But Trump is now a lame duck, unable to run again for the highest office, so with every passing day his power ebbs. We are seeing a good standoff between Congress and the Executive. Predictions are dangerous, but my bet is that Trump drops the investigation against Powell, somehow claims it as a great victory, and Tillis votes for Warsh just in time.

Karma is a B*tch

Meanwhile over in California, a US congressman, Eric Swalwell, dropped out of that state’s governor’s race and also resigned from Congress because of multiple sexual assault allegations. Swalwell, who is married and has three children, had been a rising star of the Democratic Party and served on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. He played an important role in investigating the allegations of Russian “collusion” during Trump’s first election campaign as well as the House’s impeachment of Trump. He also stood a good chance of becoming California’s next governor.

Swalwell had also been outspoken during the confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who had, readers may recall, been accused of committing a sexual assault when he was a teenager. After the initial accusation, several more women came forward and claimed Kavanaugh had assaulted them. As with so many swept up in the “me too” movement, Swalwell tweeted out #BelieveSurvivors, saying that the victims “should be heard”. He also implied Kavanaugh was guilty by asking, “What are the chances that three or four women independently who never met each other would have similar experiences with one person?”

Well, it turns out Kavanaugh’s accusers were not credible. He is an upstanding man who didn’t sexually assault anyone that we know of, and the Senate did the right thing and confirmed him to the Supreme Court. There are, however, at least four women who have accused Swalwell of rape and he’s suddenly a lot less keen on the idea of #BelieveSurvivors. Indeed, notwithstanding his resignations, he says the accusations are false and that he will fight them, and of course he has every right to defend himself.

But for Swalwell to suddenly realise that due process is important only after he’s the one being accused demonstrates what a poor candidate he was for any public office – he shouldn’t even have been elected to be the local rat catcher.

But there are more troubling aspects to l’affair Swalwell. For instance, about a decade ago he had ties, including possibly a sexual affair, with a Chinese spy called Christine Fang. This was while Swalwell was on the House Intelligence Committee, so one can only imagine the classified information Fang discovered.

There was a time when elected officials would resign after scandals such as these came to light. In 1963 the British politician John Profumo resigned and devoted the rest of his life to charity and good works after his affair with Christine Keeler came to light. That was when the phrase “I take responsibility” meant something and resulted in some action. But Profumo was a man of decency, courage, and integrity … something in short supply among politicians today. After the links to Fang became public, Swalwell was protected by his party’s leaders.

But it also turns out that a California journalist, Steve Taveres, claimed that everyone has known for years about Swalwell’s peccadillos and his less-than-gentlemanly interpretation of the concept of “consent”. The reason Taveres gives for not writing about Swalwell’s misconduct is because he says he couldn’t get any victims to go on the record. That may be so, but I’d be prepared to bet any amount that had Swalwell been a Conservative, multiple journalists and outlets would have been falling over themselves to publish the claims.

The reason the Democratic Party and the media finally pounced on Swalwell is because he had outlived his usefulness. California has a “jungle” primary for the governor race, in which the candidates for both Democrats and Republicans run together, and the top two primary winners are chosen for the general election. There are about eight Democrats running and two Republicans. Given the wide Democratic field and the dilution of votes, it turns out that the two Republicans are leading in the primary. The very idea of a gubernatorial race with only two Republican candidates in heavily Democratic California would not stand, and so Swalwell was the obvious candidate to kick to the curb.

Few people are shedding tears for Swalwell, least of all the billionaire Tom Steyer, who is also running for governor and now has a better chance of winning the primary. Steyer’s campaign is based on all sorts of incoherent nonsense. For instance, he wants to charge ahead with more green energy programmes while also promising to lower electricity costs. Those two goals are incompatible, as anyone in Western Europe could tell you.

Oh California, will you ever return to sanity?

The Foreign Policy Horseshoe

Another contentious Senate primary battle is taking place on the other side of the country. Maine’s Democrats are being asked to choose between that state’s sitting governor, Janet Mills, and a former marine, Graham Platner. The winner will go up against Republican Senator Susan Collins, a seasoned and skilled politician who has been reelected six times.

Mills is the establishment choice and Platner is charging ahead as the progressive, with endorsements from the aforementioned Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders. Platner once must have thought of socialists as namby-pamby, because he came out and declared himself a communist just a few years ago. But it gets more interesting, because Platner also sports a tattoo of Nazi SS Totenkopf (death’s head) symbol. He claims he had no idea it was a Nazi symbol when he got the tattoo. But he also claims that he’s a military history buff and devours books on the subject. Something doesn’t add up here … school children who have studied the most rudimentary history of World War II could pick out the Nazi symbol, but apparently the history buff Senate hopeful had no idea what the Totenkopf was. Pull the other one, Mr Platner.

More recently, Platner used his campaign X account to amplify a post by Stew Peters, whom the Anti-Defamation League labels as a “prolific antisemite”. The post criticised both Democrats and Republicans over the war against the Islamic Republic. There are many mainstream and sensible commentators who oppose the war against Iran. Platner could have amplified their posts, so it’s revealing that Platner chose to amplify one by a vicious Jew hater. It might almost make one think that he did in fact knowingly get a Nazi tattoo.

At a recent town hall event, Platner said that he would be willing to work with Republican congressman Thomas Massie, adding that they were very aligned on foreign policy. Massie is probably the most libertarian congressman, and while your correspondent sees eye to eye with him on a host of domestic issues, such as spending and regulation, we part ways when it comes to foreign policy. Massie is vehemently anti-Israel, voting with the hard-left Democratic “Squad” on all matters related to Israel. He even joined the progressive Democrats in voting against a resolution condemning Iran’s 2024 attacks on Israel.

So there you go – the horseshoe means that an erstwhile communist, Nazi tattoo-sporting progressive, who seeks to increase spending and taxes and the size and scope of government, can find common ground with a libertarian who wants the exact opposite, as long as it hurts Israel and the Jews.

What a strange time to be alive.