Iran Strikes Hormuz Tankers, China Nuclear Missile Test, Macron Escapes Damascus Bomb | Your News Talk America | July 7, 2026
Your News Talk America with Jake Smith
Daily Show Notes · Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Today's Panelist
Paul Davis is a professor at the Institute of World Politics and the founder and president of JANUS Think. A former lead intelligence analyst with the DIA Iraq Division, his analytic career spans the Cold War, North Korea, and the modern Middle East. He appears twice this morning, during the show open and the 9:20 foreign policy segment. Bio: iwp.edu/faculty/paul-m-davis
9:00 Show Open
Jake opens with Iran hitting another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and the question of how President Trump responds. He also flags the timing of the long awaited Ayatollah funeral, held during America's 250th birthday celebration, and asks why crowds were once again chanting death to America if the Iranian people are supposed to want freedom.
- Iran strikes another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. How does Trump respond?
- The Ayatollah funeral landed on the 250th birthday weekend. Why the death to America chants?
- When do the Iranian negotiators step up? As Yogi Berra put it, it is getting old, early.
Panelist: Paul Davis (see bio above) · iwp.edu/faculty/paul-m-davis
9:20 NATO Summit in Turkey and China's Missile Test
Paul Davis breaks down the NATO summit in Turkey, the fight over F-35 fighters for Erdogan, and what a Trump and Zelensky meeting would center on, including Ukraine's push for more Patriot missiles. The segment closes on Beijing flexing its muscle.
- Reading the NATO summit in Turkey.
- Do the F-35 fighters go to Erdogan?
- A likely Trump and Zelensky meeting and the Patriot missile question.
- The Trump administration criticized China for a test launch of a provocative, nuclear capable, submarine launched missile the State Department called a sign of Beijing's continuing arms buildup. Analysts say it is likely an advanced JL-2 or a new JL-3 multiple warhead submarine launched ballistic missile shown at a September military parade.
Source: Washington Times, China accused of nuclear proliferation
Panelist: Paul Davis (see bio above) · iwp.edu/faculty/paul-m-davis
9:35 Monologue
Jake's monologue: Oh, those skeletons.
9:45 America Has the Chips, but Needs More Power
Diana Furchtgott-Roth argues the AI race with China depends less on chips alone and more on a reliable, fast growing electricity supply. America needs more power plants, not more AI hype.
- China is rapidly building coal, nuclear, grid, and industrial capacity while the United States stays slowed by permitting and regulation.
- Trump's energy agenda helps, but new plants, transmission lines, and reactors still face years of delays.
- A skilled labor shortage hits electricians, welders, and energy infrastructure workers.
- Diana's case: America has the resources, capital, and technical lead to win, but only if it builds energy and workforce capacity faster.
- Are the NIMBYs in the way? QTS withdrew its $30 billion Digital Gateway project despite strong infrastructure, raising the question of whether permitting certainty and community opposition now rival power availability as deal breaking factors.
- Prince William County loses what would have been the world's largest and most powerful AI data center, a project it was well suited for.
Sources: Washington Examiner, America's AI race with China · Data Center Knowledge, the canceled QTS project
Panelist: Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Distinguished Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation. An Oxford educated economist, she served in President Trump's first term as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation and Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and served in the White House under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. She is the author or coauthor of six books on economic policy and hundreds of articles.
10:00 Macron Narrowly Misses a Damascus Bomb
An explosive device detonated near the Damascus hotel hosting French President Macron during his Syria visit. The blast is believed to have come from a device planted on a vehicle near the hotel, and Macron had left the area moments earlier.
- Iran has now attacked two ships in the Strait of Hormuz. How does Trump respond?
- Can Lebanon's military destroy Hezbollah's military infrastructure?
- Dr. James Robbins on the warning that Hamas dissolving its Gaza government is a trick to keep its weapons. As Dr. Moshe Elad frames it, the move pulls the wool over everyone's eyes and delivers nothing real.
- Reading the NATO summit in Turkey and whether Erdogan gets his F-35 fighters.
Sources: Jerusalem Post, blast near Macron's Damascus hotel · Jerusalem Post, Hamas Gaza government dissolution
Panelist: Dr. James Robbins, Dean of the Institute of World Politics and a former Senior Advisor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bio: iwp.edu/leadership/james-s-robbins
10:20 If Trump Responds in Hormuz, What Gets Hit
Ryan Morgan takes the Pentagon view on Iran targeting at least two ships in the Strait of Hormuz and what a military response would look like.
- Iran targeted at least two ships in the Strait of Hormuz today. What targets get hit if Trump elects to respond militarily?
- The latest on the reported Trump and Netanyahu meeting next week.
- What to make of China's test launch of a likely advanced JL-2 or new JL-3 multiple warhead submarine launched ballistic missile shown at a September military parade.
Panelist: Ryan Morgan, Pentagon and Military Reporter for the Epoch Times · ryan.morgan@epochtimes.us
10:30 Energy Affordability Is a Choice
Tom Pyle walks through a new analysis from Always on Energy Research and the Institute for Energy Research showing how state energy policy shapes the cost of keeping the lights on, starting with the original 13 colonies that declared independence in 1776. The expanded Blue States, High Rates analysis spotlights the policies driving rates higher.
- Renewable portfolio or carbon free electricity mandates.
- Net metering programs.
- Carbon pricing or cap and trade participation.
- Adoption or absence of data center consumer protections.
- Access to affordable natural gas.
- Utilities pursuing independent net zero goals.
Source: bluestateshighrates.com · AOER and IER analysis
Panelist: Tom Pyle, President of the Institute for Energy Research.
10:50 Do Americans Even Know Their Own History
Gary Benoit asks whether it is any wonder that more Americans flirt with a United Socialist States of America when a recent poll finds 46 percent of Americans do not know U.S. history.
- If public schools are to blame, where does parental responsibility begin in teaching children about America's rich history?
Panelist: Gary Benoit, editor in chief of The New American, a publication affiliate of the John Birch Society, and author of Vanguard of the Americanist Cause: A Close Look at The John Birch Society.
11:00 Air Conditioning Saves Lives, so Why Does Europe Resist It
Ronald Stein on why America learned long ago that air conditioning saves lives while Europe stays stubborn, arguing that the case against it treats cooling as a threat to the planet.
- Was the past week's heatwave the result of climate change, or does the climate crowd return to global warming to press its case?
- Why have the climate hoaxers been so quiet, or have they? Are they working behind the scenes to undermine America's energy dominance?
- The cancellation of the world's largest AI data center in Virginia, driven by lawsuits, has their fingerprints on it.
Sources: New York Post, Europe and air conditioning · Heartland, Without Crude Oil Society Is Dismantled
Panelist: Ronald Stein, PE, an energy literacy consultant, member of the CO2 Coalition, and author of Clean Energy Exploitations. His latest opinion piece is Without Crude Oil Society Is Dismantled. Bio: heartland.org, Ronald Stein
11:20 DIAL Producers and Callers
An open floor driven by DIAL producers and callers.
- Chuck Todd fumes that Trump made the country's birthday about Donald Trump. When did he do that?
- Graham Platner's ex, Jenny Racicot, accuses him of rape, saying the Maine Senate hopeful was very drunk and would not take no for an answer.
- A reminder of the standard from the left: we must always believe the woman.
Source: New York Post, Chuck Todd on Trump
Panelist: None. DIAL producers and callers.
11:30 Inside Iran, the Funeral, and the Streets
Beni Sabti reacts to the Ayatollah funeral and the disconnect between a population said to want regime change and the death to America chants in the streets.
- If the Iranian people are desperate for regime change, why the death to America chants?
- Iran targeted at least two ships in the Strait of Hormuz today. What gets hit if Trump responds militarily?
- The latest on the reported Trump and Netanyahu meeting next week.
- Can Lebanon's military destroy Hezbollah's military infrastructure, and what is the latest on Gaza?
Panelist: Beni Sabti, an Iranian born Israeli Iran expert at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies.
11:50 Could Mars Become a Second Earth
Rainer Zitelmann on how the conversation has shifted from simply reaching Mars to whether humans could actually terraform an entire planet, and how entrepreneurial innovation is reshaping the future of space exploration.
- Elon Musk's long term vision of making humanity a multiplanetary species.
- The science of terraforming, from artificial greenhouse effects to orbiting solar mirrors.
- New research using engineered nanoparticles to warm the Martian atmosphere more efficiently than greenhouse gases.
- Whether asteroid impacts, atmospheric engineering, and artificial magnetic fields could one day make Mars habitable.
- The biggest scientific and engineering hurdles still in the way, and why incremental breakthroughs such as growing crops outside protected habitats could redefine what is possible long before full terraforming.
Panelist: Rainer Zitelmann, author of New Space Capitalism: The Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars.
Salute the Troops
Today we salute Sam Wiley, USN (ret). Thank you for your service.
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