Hello and welcome to the day after the big day. It's July 5, 2026. My calendar says it's National Bikini Day, National Graham Cracker Day, National Apple Turnover Day, National Workaholics Day, Algeria Independence Day, and Mechanical Pencil Day — so pick your fighter today: sunbathe in swimwear invented as a nuclear metaphor, eat one-third of a s'more, or finally finish that email you've been "getting to" since Tuesday, but not all three, because even a made-up holiday deserves your undivided attention.
Today in History:
1687: Isaac Newton publishes Principia Mathematica, laying out the laws of motion and universal gravitation.
1775: The Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition, a final appeal to King George III to avoid war. He rejects it and threatens to execute the people who wrote it.
1811: Venezuela declares independence from Spain, launching its war for independence.
1852: Frederick Douglass delivers his landmark speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" in Rochester, N.Y.
1865: President Andrew Johnson signs the order confirming the convictions of the conspirators in Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
1911: A deadly heat wave peaks in the northeastern U.S., with temperatures reaching 106°F in Nashua, N.H.
1948: The United Kingdom's National Health Service begins operations, offering universal healthcare funded by taxation.
1954: Elvis Presley records "That's All Right" at Sun Records, a session often cited as the birth of rock and roll.
1962: Algeria gains independence from France after 132 years of colonial rule.
1971: The 26th Amendment is certified, lowering the U.S. voting age to 18.
1975: Cape Verde gains independence from Portugal.
1975: Arthur Ashe defeats Jimmy Connors to become the first black man to win Wimbledon.
1994: Amazon is incorporated, beginning as an online bookstore.
1996: Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, is born.
Birthdays Today Include: P.T. Barnum (circus entrepreneur, founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus); Georges Pompidou (former president of France); Jean Cocteau (poet and filmmaker, known for Beauty and the Beast, Orpheus); Robbie Robertson (musician, guitarist for The Band); Huey Lewis (musician, frontman of Huey Lewis and the News); Bill Watterson (cartoonist, creator of Calvin and Hobbes); Edie Falco (actress, known for The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie); Kathryn Erbe (actress, known for Law & Order: Criminal Intent); Katherine Helmond (actress, known for Soap, Who’s the Boss?); RZA (musician and producer, member of Wu-Tang Clan); François Arnaud (actor, known for The Borgias).
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I got to thinking last night after I watched President Donald Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore, followed by the left's bedwetting response — the kind of reflex a bad meal at the local diner triggers right before it comes back up. And the thought landed with brutal clarity.
Trump said: "The American dream still lives, and the American flag still flies more proudly than ever before over the people who will not quit."
He also said, "The nation that will not fail, the country that will not fall no matter how hard the enemy tries — we cannot be beaten."
The contrast between the president’s speech and the leftist reaction was a stark one.
It's a little early yet for the full picture of the left's response to emerge, but we have New York City's Mayor Zohran Mamdani's. He has been a target of Trump of late, and justifiably so. He gave a competing July 4th-eve speech that didn't name Trump directly but seemed aimed at his rhetoric, invoking the idea that American ideals "are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them." The point Mamdani misses, of course, is that ever since Marx put pen to paper, socialism has proven itself to be the very definition of authoritarian.
Sure, the left insists it can't stomach the president because of its perception of the yawning gap between what he preaches and what he does. But here's the uglier possibility keeping leftists up at night: maybe they can't stomach him because of themselves — because of the gap between his willingness to act and their willingness to actually confront evil. The evil they themselves have championed.
My take: the left has marinated so long in ambiguity and inaction both on the world stage vis-à-vis Iran, and the socialism that has become so loud recently, that Trump's call for decisive action — and his habit of actually taking action against that evil — doesn't register as leadership. It reads as an insult to their treasured sense of nuance, their preference for negotiating with and capitulating to that evil instead.
Here's what Trump's critics won't say out loud: they've convinced themselves and are trying to convince you that opposing him with everything they've got is the defining moral fight of our era. It isn't. He already named the real one, and it was never about him. And keep in mind, it's a little hard to argue from a moral perspective when you’ve spent the last five decades arguing against the very concept of morality.
That's exactly why he's so hard to beat, and why his supporters won't flinch no matter how ugly his approval numbers get. (They haven't budged, by the way — but that's a separate topic.)
Trump’s opponents run on moral certainty that he's the villain: remove him, defeat him, shame him. He runs on moral certainty that the mullahs and the IRGC, Palestinian militant factions, and Communist movements are the villains — and that defeating them is the point. Set those side by side, and it’s clear Trump’s position is driven by conviction. The left’s constant whining sounds like a grudge wearing a suit.
That gap hands ammunition to every conservative who's ever argued that liberals traded real conviction for something cheaper: distaste. Distaste doesn't demand courage. Distaste doesn't require a plan. It just needs someone disliked loudly enough, for long enough, that the dislike starts masquerading as principle. They’ve been doing it so long, it’s all they’ve got left, and it shows. All they have left after so long of it being the core argument is stubbornness and hatred. And that’s never going to sell.
It's one reason I remain confident regarding the mid-terms, assuming the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (also called the SAVE Act or SAVE America Act) is passed.
Maybe someone ought to get John Thune to read this piece.
Thought of the day: Inspiration doesn't exist until you're working.
VIP members: Let's hear your comments. And hit that heart.
Have a great day today, gang. Have that BBQ, have that ice cream. Smile today. Don't let the day slip by you. I'll see you tomorrow.
https://pjmedia.com/eric-florack/2026/07/05/conviction-vs-contempt-why-the-left-cant-match-trumps-moral-clarity-n4954686
