Welcome back! I was largely off the grid for a week and a half, enjoying a vacation with my wife in Hawaii. But it's good to be back in the saddle.

I hope everyone enjoyed last night's presidential debate. It may well prove to be the only one all cycle, for better or for worse. As for my quick takes: It was a truly absurd moderation performance by moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News. Indeed, that was probably the single most overtly and unapologetically biased presidential debate moderation I have ever seen in my adult life. But the reality is that any given Republican presidential candidate—especially one as reviled by the corporate media as Donald Trump—has to nonetheless expect such dripping bias, going in. In other words, when one accepts a debate invitation, as a Republican running for president, he must reasonably assume it will be a gang-up effort. Given that unfortunate reality, former President Trump did not perform particularly well, and he played defense for far too much of the evening. He took every bit of "bait" offered and did not stick to challenging the awful Biden-Harris record, as he should have. But Vice President Harris was also hardly effective or inspiring—and she was palpably nervous out of the gate, almost physically trembling at times on stage. Ultimately, I sincerely doubt the debate moved the needle with many swing/independent voters. My new episode of "The Josh Hammer Show" today will break it all down for you.

Speaking of last night's debate—a New York Times/Siena College poll from this past weekend revealed that Americans, by roughly a two-to-one margin, view Donald Trump as more of an outsider and change agent than Kamala Harris. This makes a great deal of sense, of course: Harris is the sitting vice president of the United States, and is thus partially personally responsible for the myriad woefully unpopular policies implemented since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. But this one polling cross-tab from the Times poll does more than merely make sense. At an intuitive level, it indicates the clear path to victory for the Trump-Vance ticket. If the GOP can successfully paint itself as the party of a national populist grassroots uprising and the Democrats as the party of the failed status quo, it will be in good shape for November. I explained in a recent episode of "The Josh Hammer Show" how this can be done—especially in the aftermath of the endorsement of the Republican presidential ticket by numerous highly visible ex-Democrats, such as Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

What the hell is going on with Tucker Carlson? I asked this question in another recent episode of "The Josh Hammer Show." I was once a staunch defender of Tucker, even going so far as to espouse, following his firing from Fox News last year, that he will "hopefully ... retain something approximating his exceptional level of cultural and political influence in whatever role he next serves, because his witness to truth and civilizational sanity has never been more necessary." Suffice it to say I regret that one—big-time! I have previously explained how Tucker has gone wildly off the rails since his ouster from Fox News, and his platforming of a literal Nazi fanboy last week on his popular show is the latest tragic evidence of that. I explained everything you need to know about Tucker's fawning conversation with Darryl "Churchill is the chief villain of World War II" Cooper in this Monday's "Josh Hammer Show" episode. This is a huge problem for the Right—if conservatives cannot adequately condemn someone who posts Nazi merchandise and speculates that Hitler is in heaven, as Cooper publicly has, then they will have stood for nothing at all. Can the Right rise to the Tucker Carlson challenge?

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. You can listen to all episodes of "The Josh Hammer Show" at the Newsweek website or 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 our presence on terrestrial airwaves!) As a reminder, I also 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 my 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.

Our highlighted Newsweek op-eds from the past week includes selections from Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Arsen Ostrovsky and Asher Fredman, Daniella Greenbaum Davis, Mary Szoch, and Gad Saad.

Thanks as always for reading. We'll be back in your inbox next week!