The Daily Briefing highlights the news of the day and research that reveals the spirit of the day.
The Daily Briefing is a newsletter sent straight to your inbox every morning that provides biblical insight on today's news.
Top News
6. Trump dangles $5,000 checks as debt surges — but only if GOP can clear major midterm hurdle (Fox News)
“President Donald Trump vowed to issue Americans a $5,000 "dividend" that could cost the federal government more than $1 trillion — but it's contingent on Republicans retaining control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. Trump made the pledge Wednesday night during his nearly two-hour speech at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas, promising to issue the payment to every adult citizen if the GOP wins both the House and Senate in November.
"Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," Trump said. The president's proposal comes as the national debt hovers just north of $40 trillion and the federal government recorded a budget deficit of roughly $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”
“In addition, the Trump administration said on Thursday that it planned to issue $500 in rebates to nearly one million people insured under the Affordable Care Act, describing the money as payments for “overcharges” by the previous administration. The checks are scheduled to be sent next month, just weeks before the midterm elections.”
Jerry Maguire isn’t the only one screaming Show Me The Money… Interestingly enough, one study analyzed 20,000 specific campaign promises from 57 elections in 12 countries. It found that roughly 85 percent of promises by winning candidates were at least partly enacted.
Chris Stapleton is interested in Broken Halos, but what is the impact of a broken promise? A fascinating research project identified 3 impacts relative to broken promises from elected officials: targeted impact, not total judgment (people lower their opinion of how well that leader handled that specific issue, but not their overall job performance); pre-existing opinions matter most (broken promises rarely change minds significantly); and double standards (people are quick to excuse their side, but slow to forget the other side).
As Christians, we follow the Word and honor our word, letting our yes be a yes and no be a no. Pres. Trump has made a bold promise, but he will need a little help (the legislative branch) to actually follow up on it. Promises are like baking in that they require careful consideration and diligent execution. Spurgeon put it well: “He who tells little lies, will soon think nothing of great ones, for the principle is the same.” (Mt. 5)
5. Iran-backed terror group’s latest territorial grab threatens second global shipping chokepoint (NY Times)
“Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen seized a key port city on the Red Sea on Thursday, providing what could be substantial leverage for the Iranian regime in the ongoing U.S.-Iran war.
“The advance threatens the southern gateway to the Red Sea just as Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on that route to bypass Hormuz — putting pressure on critical shipping lanes on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula and raising the risk of further disruptions to oil and commercial traffic through a key global trade choke point.
“More than 100 US military advisers are on the ground in Saudi Arabia providing intelligence and targeting support to the Kingdom in its military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, multiple sources familiar with the effort say. The assistance comes as fighting on the peninsula intensifies and risks spilling into open war with the Houthis, threatening a second major shipping corridor out of the Middle East.”
Gloria Gaynor Will Survive, but what about the Houthis without Iran? The Houthis are part of the Axis of Resistance, an Iranian-led informal alliance that has threatened regional security in the Middle East. However, as Michael Rubin notes, their existence is not contingent upon Iranian support. “The Houthis are simply the latest manifestation of Yemen’s pre-republic Imamate, the traditional leaders of the regime before Arab nationalists seized the government of North Yemen in 1962. While the Houthis have been happy to accept Iranian cash and weaponry, they do have more legitimacy in the mountainous interior. They have existed for decades without Iranian assistance and so will simply persist even if the Islamic Republic falls.”
Consider one of their slogans: “God is great, Death to America, Death to Israel, God curse the Jews, Victory to Islam.” The slogan doesn’t rhyme, but it is clear. Belonging to the Zaidi sect, the Houthis are traditionally classified as Shia Muslims, however, they hold very different beliefs. For example, they, unlike Sunnis and Shias, believe they have a religious obligation to rise up against unjust rulers.
Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. The Houthis are dispensing justice in the name of their god, but they will one day be held accountable for their actions by our God. As David Wilkerson put it: “God has never, in the history of mankind, allowed his name to go long offended.” (Rom. 12:19)
4. Newsom signs strict social media protections for teens (WaPo)
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a ban on “addictive” social media features for anyone under 16 on Thursday, advancing some of the country’s most significant new restrictions on tech platforms. The legislation will force companies to modify their products and remove features deemed “addictive” for younger teens if they want to keep serving them. It is part of a nationwide trend of states across the political spectrum moving to curb youth use of social media.
“The bill — which will almost certainly face legal challenges — passed easily in the Democratic-controlled legislature late last month. While many states, including California, have already passed restrictions on young people’s social media use, advocates cast California’s latest move as especially significant given its size and identity as the home of Silicon Valley.”
“Overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation,” according to Johnathan Haidt. In his book The Anxious Generation, Haidt writes: “Over the course of many decades, we found ways to protect children while mostly allowing adults to do what they want. Then quite suddenly, we created a virtual world where adults could indulge any momentary whim, but children were left nearly defenseless. As evidence mounts that phone-based childhood is making our children mentally unhealthy, socially isolated, and deeply unhappy, are we okay with that trade-off? Or will we eventually realize, as we did in the 20th century, that we sometimes need to protect children from harm even when it inconveniences adults?”
Have you floated down the Lethe? This refers to the mythical river where the waters transport an individual into forgetfulness and oblivion, moving on from a past life into a new one. Such is social media, impairing both short-term and long-term memory, and hindering emotional and social growth. With most posts being alarming, the brain becomes desensitized and starts to interpret alarming content as routine.
Freedom is a precious gift that is subtly and frequently threatened. The idea of freedom isn’t simply doing whatever you want; it’s the opportunity, as Pres. Eisenhower said, to exercise self-control. As those set free by God, we have been warned not to submit ourselves again to a yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). This doesn’t mean we need to get off social media, but it does mean we need to be careful when engaging it.
Cultural News
3. CBS News poll: 25 years after 9/11, most see a changed country and some success fighting terrorism (CBS News)
“Twenty-five years later, Americans view the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a defining event — one that fundamentally changed the country and that needs to be remembered. A new Ipsos poll finds that about half of U.S. adults name the 9/11 attacks in an open-ended question about the most important historic occurrences in their lifetimes. That’s despite other momentous events that have happened since then, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the elections of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
“Despite the widespread impact, the Ipsos poll finds relatively few Americans will be marking the anniversary in some way. Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults plans to do something to commemorate Friday’s 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks."
The actions of a few changed the lives of us all… In his book Fluke, Brian Klaas argues that this world is driven by strange interactions and random events. Utilizing the illustration of a Garden of Forking Paths, Klaas highlights how “seemingly random events” have the power “to sway trajectories” that alter our paths into the future. “You’ll be astounded to realize how much of your day-to-day schedule has been determined by people no longer with us."
Do you subscribe to contingency thinking or convergence thinking? Klaas differentiates these 2 modes of considering our lives. Relative to contingency, this is the “stuff happens theory.” Small fluctuations and events “play a huge role in everything from our career trajectories to whom we marry and the children we have.” Concerning convergence, this is the “everything happens for a reason” school of thought. In this thinking, small or chance events are interesting but don’t radically change our lives.
The Bible is littered with these pivotal moments: Eve eating fruit from a tree, Joseph being pushed into a pit, and Samson sharing a secret. These invisible pivots changed our view of the trajectory of this world, but didn’t change God’s desired end of a new Jerusalem. I don’t know where it goes from here, but I do know who goes with us from here until the end. (Gen. 3, Gen. 37, Judges 16-17, Rev. 21-22, Ps. 77:19)
News You Can Use
2. “ALS has forced me to realize that who I am is so much bigger than what my body can do.”
Watch it here. "For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality." (1 Cor. 15:53)
1. Meet the chefs who kept Ground Zero workers fueled after the 9/11 attacks
Watch it here. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)
