Iran MOU Collapse and Strait of Hormuz Tensions, Florida’s Primary Day Showdown, Socialists Running for Governor | Your News Talk America | August 18, 2026
Your News Talk America
Show Notes · Tuesday, August 18, 2026
9:00 · Show Open: Election Integrity and Illegal Voting
Carlos Felipe Jaramillo Grajales, a Colombian national living in Jacksonville, Florida, was sentenced to three years in federal prison after using a stolen American citizen's identity for roughly two decades to obtain a driver license, a passport, and to register and vote in U.S. elections, including the 2020 general election. A federal judge also ordered his removal to Colombia after his sentence. Jake opens the show asking whether three years is a fitting penalty for two decades of illegal voting.
- DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the fraud allowed the defendant to obtain a driver's license and vote in our elections, and called election security a matter of national security.
- The case was built by Homeland Security Investigations, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, and the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General.
Sources: Fox News · Department of Justice · Fox News: Illegal Immigration · Fox News: National Security
Panelist: None this segment. Dial producers and callers only.
9:20 · The Economy Since the Q2 GDP Numbers
Real GDP grew at a 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter of 2026, down from 2.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Growth in consumer spending, investment, and exports was partly offset by lower government spending and a rise in imports. Meanwhile the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 3.4 percent year over year in July, down from June's 3.5 percent, as gasoline and grocery costs eased.
- Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2 percent for the month and 2.5 percent over the year, matching the slowest annual pace since March 2021.
- The Federal Reserve has held rates steady all year despite inflation running above its 2 percent target, and gets one more inflation reading before its mid September meeting.
- Inflation hit 9.1 percent in June 2022, the highest level in roughly 40 years.
Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis · CNBC · Bloomberg News
Panelist: Dr. Julia R. Cartwright, Senior Research Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Institute for Economic Research.
9:35 · The Socialists Running for Governor
Thirty six states, including Wisconsin, elect a governor this November, and Jake argues the real socialist threat is not in Washington but in statehouses. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's promised free bus program has not delivered free rides, but it has cost the city an estimated $31 million in lost fares so far.
- The MTA reported paid bus ridership fell nearly 8 percent in June compared with a year earlier, and bus fare revenue fell $31 million during Mamdani's first six months in office as an estimated half of riders now skip the $3 fare.
- A new CBS poll found six in ten Democrats hold a positive view of socialism, rising to 71 percent among Democrats with a college degree or more, alongside a negative view of capitalism.
Sources: Washington Examiner · MTA · Fox News · Washington Examiner: Wisconsin
Panelist: Brooke Medina, Vice President of Communications at State Policy Network, whose Washington Examiner piece The Most Dangerous Socialists Aren't in DC. They're Running for Governor! is linked here.
10:00 · The 60 Day MOU Is Toast: What Happens Next
President Trump threatened to bomb Oman if the country "gets in the way" of U.S. efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war with Iran, while Iran's Foreign Ministry said Tehran had reached its own agreement with Oman on future shipping routes through the strait. Jared Kushner met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel a day after meeting Hamas leaders in Egypt to discuss the latest Gaza peace proposal, which Netanyahu rejected last week.
- Kushner also delivered an ultimatum to Hamas: disarm in Gaza or face an Israeli operation to finish the job, according to Fox News and Reuters.
- Russia lost roughly 42,860 soldiers killed and wounded in July, its fourth bloodiest month of the war, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry, even as Kyiv made its largest territorial gains in more than a year.
- Ukraine has used drones and rapid battlefield innovation to expose weaknesses in Russia's conventional military, while Moscow leans on North Korean troops and munitions to keep pace.
Sources: CBS News · CBS News: Iran Tensions · CBS News · Fox News · Fox News: Hamas · Fox News: Donald Trump · Reuters · OilPrice.com
Panelist: Dr. James S. Robbins, Senior Vice President for Research and Business Development at the Institute of World Politics, national security columnist for USA Today, and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council.
10:30 · Florida's 19th District Primary Day
It is primary day in Florida's 19th Congressional District, where a crowded field of 10 Republican candidates is competing to replace Byron Donalds, who is running for governor. John Strand is the only candidate in the field to qualify by voter signature, and he is running on mass deportations and affordability.
- Jake asks Strand about the risk of facing communist aligned members if elected to the House, and whether he would support codifying the Communist Control Act of 1954, signed by President Eisenhower.
- The conversation also covers penalties for illegal voting, tying back to the show open, and safeguards against another Deep State style episode like January 6th.
Panelist: John Strand (@JohnStrandUSA), Republican candidate for Florida's 19th Congressional District and author of Patriot Plea: The J6 Journey of a Political Prisoner in the Divided States of America. This is Strand's second appearance on YNTA, though he is not the Trump endorsed candidate for the 19th district.
11:00 · Young Americans and the Socialism Surge
A new CNBC Generation Lab poll of 1,088 people found that 46 percent of Americans ages 18 to 34 now hold a favorable or very favorable view of democratic socialism, against 23 percent who hold an unfavorable view. It is the first year the survey has been conducted, and it lands alongside the broader CNBC All America Economic Survey released last month.
- Jake asks what should be done if college students, past and present, are being pulled toward this worldview.
Sources: CNBC · CNBC All America Economic Survey Topline
Panelist: Dan Perkins, coauthor with Sheriff Richard Mack of the new book The Democrat Murder of America.
11:30 · The Jobs Report and the Real State of the Economy
The July jobs report grabbed headlines, but Jake and his guest argue the broader economy is more resilient than many Americans realize. Unemployment remains low at 4.1 percent, private sector hiring and manufacturing jobs are growing, and AI investment continues to drive economic activity.
- Why do Americans stay pessimistic when many indicators remain strong?
- Is today's inflation being driven more by energy and global instability than domestic weakness?
- Do Republicans have an economic messaging problem rather than an economic performance problem?
Panelist: Allen Mendenhall, PhD (@allenmendenhall), Research Fellow in the Roe Institute and Senior Advisor for the Free Enterprise Initiative at the Heritage Foundation.
11:50 · Salute the Troops: Michael Isaiah Nance
Today's Salute the Troops honors Michael Isaiah Nance, 24, of Glenwood, Illinois. Nance was killed when an Afghan soldier opened fire on him and another paratrooper. He died Monday, July 29, 2019.
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