This is the July 21, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
On the Fourth of July, Donald Trump warned of communism rising here at home. “It’s like a cancer,” he said. “You got to cut it out fast.”
Last week, Mike Johnson claimed that communists were taking over the Democratic Party. “The barbarians are inside the gate,” he said.
They’re right. But they’re looking the wrong way.
No president in modern history has seized control of the private sector like this one. His administration has taken equity stakes in Intel, U.S. Steel, and Lithium Americas, and cut itself into Nvidia’s chip sales to China.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the federal government now holds $26.7 billion in ownership stakes across 30 private companies — the most since World War II.
Meanwhile, the national debt stands at $39 trillion. Interest payments alone will hit $1 trillion this year — more than the entire defense budget.
These people aren’t spending money like drunken sailors. They’re spending money like drunken socialists.
If you’re a young voter right now, all you’ve ever known is Trump running over every institution in Washington. A trillionaire wielding a chain saw. Income inequality growing at such a clip that even Alan Greenspan once called it the greatest risk to American capitalism.
And yet the president and the speaker of the House continue to lecture the rest of us about communism.
That’s what Jesus called looking for a speck in your neighbor’s eye when the plank is in your own.
CHART OF THE DAY
Source: Survey of 2,648 U.S. adults conducted July 8-13, 2026. Margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points
WHAT THEY SAID
Katty Kay on Iran
“There are likely both economic and diplomatic solutions to this conflict. But they would require two things that have so far been missing: patience and expertise.”
Jonathan Lemire on Pete Hegseth
“Secretary Hegseth is still liked by the president, and he does not have that many fans in the administration. But I am told that if Iran continues to bog down — whether it’s a low-level conflict or a high-intensity resumption of war for months — Trump will eventually look for a fall guy. And it’s hard to imagine that being anyone other than Pete Hegseth.”
Jim Messina on midterms
“We can have ideological debates later. For the next 108 days, we have to stay focused on mainstream issues, actual voters, and what we can do to make their lives better.”
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