We have been living through the most insane series of news cycles that I can ever recall!

On Saturday evening in Butler, Pennsylvania, America narrowly escaped—by mere inches—a presidential assassination that would have drastically heated up America's already-festering cold civil war. Praise God that Donald Trump is still alive today, and may the memory of Corey Comperatore—who died a hero—be a memory to all those who remember him. There are two elements to this absolutely insane event that most stand out.

First, how in the world did this happen? How did the U.S. Secret Service not sweep the single most obvious rooftop in the entire area? Perfunctory finger-shaking here will not suffice; Congress and the executive branch seriously need to get to the bottom of this fiasco, and—sooner rather than later. Second, despite President Biden's self-serving Oval Office address Sunday evening, the question remains: Will Democrats and the media finally tone down their wildly overheated rhetoric about former President Trump? Early signs, including Biden's sit-down interview with NBC News' Lester Holt, are not promising.

I discuss all this and more in a recent episode of "The Josh Hammer Show." We have released a new episode every day this week and will have another new one tomorrow, so make sure to subscribe and keep up if you are not already doing so. You can listen to all episodes of "The Josh Hammer Show" at the Newsweek website, on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. (The show is also on the radio in multiple markets, and we are looking to expand!)

I suspect that the unfathomable recent Trump news will put a dagger in the Biden palace intrigue story—namely, whether frantic Democrats will be able to successfully oust Biden from the top of their ticket before this November's elections. Democrats now find themselves in a truly horrible political predicament regardless, and I explained in my recent column how the party itself and its media lapdogs are entirely to blame. Democrats made this mess all on their own.

In other huge news, Donald Trump selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. I have known J.D. for a few years now and consider him a friend. I am simply over the moon for him. In March, I wrote a column explaining why J.D. was (and is) Trump's single best pick for vice president. You can read that column here.

I also delivered two speeches last week, both in the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia area. First, I spoke at the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon), where I discussed the legal and historical lie of so-called "separation of church and state" and proposed a grand "Jewish-Christian Anti-'Separationism' Alliance." You can watch my full NatCon speech here. Second, I spoke at Young America's Foundation's (YAF) National High School Leadership Conference, where I discussed foreign policy realism and how it differs from foreign policy moralism, the Abraham Accords, U.S.-Israel relations, and more. You can watch my full YAF speech here.

I am flying to Utah tomorrow for another conference, and then I will be back in the nation's capital next week to speak at YAF's National Conservative Student Conference. To keep up with everything I'm doing and all my various media hits, make sure to follow me on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook. As of January, I now have a second show, "America on Trial with Josh Hammer," with The First; you can subscribe and listen to the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure to subscribe to both shows and leave your reviews! Make sure to also check out my new Subtext chat, which you can read all about and sign up for here. It's only $2.99/month to subscribe to this private chat.

Our highlighted Newsweek op-eds from the past week includes selections from Lee Habeeb, Sean M. O'Brien, Jason D. Greenblatt, Monica Crowley, and Robert Patterson.

We'll see you next week!