October 5, 2026: Donald Trump Says "Let 'em Take Out Los Angeles"

NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.

August 11, 1984: President Ronald Reagan is preparing for his weekly Saturday morning radio address, with a remote hookup from his ranch in California. A live feed was being transmitted to radio stations around the country. Many rebroadcasters were already recording the feed, to be ready for the official transmission. Many in the media heard Reagan's impromptu remarks as he gave them, but they were not broadcast live.

Reagan, known for his sense of humor, decided to have a little fun. He said, "All right. My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." Laughter could be heard. It's not clear who in the room was laughing.

It was shocking. The President of the United States was making a joke about starting a nuclear war that would have destroyed cities all over the world, and killed millions of people. People began to wonder if the 73-year-old Reagan was losing his mind. Within days, though, he had his Republican Convention, got renominated, and cruised to victory as everyone either forgot or "decided to forget" what he'd done.

Strange how Republican Presidents, and Presidential candidates, can get away with such things, and the Democratic equivalents can't:

October 5, 2026: Donald Trump tells a crowd of his supporters that he is willing to have America's enemy -- the enemy he started a war with, over a lie -- that he is willing to let them destroy two of America's largest cities.

And it barely registers a ripple. Because of the hold he has over the American media.

Trump had started a war with Iran 7 months earlier, because the economy was going badly, and he was implicated in the Epstein Files. The distraction backfired, as Iran caused a lot of damage to American military bases all over the Middle East. At the time, the U.S. Department of Defense (which Trump had illegally renamed the Department of War) had admitted that 19 U.S. military personnel had been killed. Given how many U.S. bases have been hit, it has been speculated that the Trump Administration is lying as usual, and covering up a much higher total.

The economy was not getting better, partly because the war was causing oil prices, and thus gasoline prices, to continue to rise. People still wanted the full Epstein Files released. And his Year 6 midterm elections were coming up. Year 6 midterms had been bad for Franklin Roosevelt in 1938, Harry Truman in 1950, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, Lyndon Johnson in 1966, Gerald Ford following Richard Nixon in 1974, Ronald Reagan in 1986, George W. Bush in 2006 and Barack Obama in 2014.

And polls showed that the Democrats were going to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. They showed that the Democrats had a good shot of winning control of the U.S. Senate. And they showed Trump with his lowest approval ratings ever, because even people who had voted for him 3 times were now admitting that inflation was hurting them personally.

So he did what he always does when things aren't going well for him: He went on a political rally tour, so he could get the approval that he has always craved, because he never got enough love from his parents, never got enough approval from other rich people in New York, and never got a majority of the popular vote in any election.

This time, though, it didn't work. In 2015, he scheduled a rally for the Mitchell Center, the 10,000-seat arena at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, but there was so much demand that it had to be moved to the 33,000-seat Ladd Peebles Stadium. In 2024, Trump had won Alabama with 64 percent of the vote, winning 55 out of 67 Counties, including Mobile County with 57 percent. You've heard the term "Deep South"? You can't get much deeper in the South than Mobile, at least geographically.

But on October 2, 2026, Trump went to the Mitchell Center, and it was only half-full. He later went on Truth Social, the social-media platform he owns, and claimed that the media was never reporting his crowds of 50,000. That's because he wasn't getting them anymore.

On October 5, Trump went to the Nebraska State Fairgrounds in Grand Island. In 2024, he won Nebraska with 59 percent of the vote, winning 91 out of 93 Counties. Grand Island is in Hall County, which he won with 68 percent of the vote.

He began his speech by bragging about having won Nebraska 3 times, which is no big deal: No Democrat has won the State since LBJ in 1964, and only he since FDR in 1936. He praised Senator Pete Ricketts, Representative Adrian Smith, and Governor Jim Pillen, all Republicans running for re-election.

He yammered on about how MAGA -- "Make America Great Again" -- was "probably the greatest movement in the history of any country." Until he interrupted himself by saying, "By the way, we're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right? It's going to end one way or the other. It's going to end very soon and your prices are going to come tumbling. All your prices have been tumbling down. In fact, oil is less than it was under Biden, just so you understand." In other words, he lied.

Then he lied again: "We have the greatest military in the world and I built it during my first term. I built it." He did not build it: It was built by many Presidents over 85 years, starting with FDR after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. They may not have been willing to admit that he was lying, but they knew it.

And then, 12 minutes into the speech, he said something that makes people like me, who have called him dumb, or insane, or both, look like we've actually been understating the case. He invoked inflation, but also Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which President Barack Obama had eliminated in 2015. About the high gas prices, he said:

It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay and it's going to be over with very soon. It's essentially almost over with and they might keep going a little long.

"Let them take out Los Angeles." There are about 18.5 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. "Let them take out San Diego." There are about 3.3 million people in the San Diego metropolitan area. In addition, both cities are major ports, and San Diego is home to a major naval base.

Now, it could be argued that what he meant was that, if we let Iran have a nuclear weapon, they could "take out" a major city. Except they can't do that. They don't have the capability, and never did. So, at the very least, it's a stupid lie.

At the very most, it sounds like he was asking Iran to "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego. In 2024, Trump got 32 percent of the vote in Los Angeles County, where former Vice President and 2024 Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris lives; and 40 percent in San Diego County, once a very conservative County.

He did not mention San Francisco, long thought of as America's ultimate liberal city, and contiguous with San Francisco County. There, Trump got 15 percent. Across the Bay, in Alameda County, where Harris lived most of her life, he got 21 percent. Even in Orange County, east of Los Angeles, where Richard Nixon was born and raised, and considered the seat of the conservative movement that got Ronald Reagan elected Governor in 1966 and put him on the path to the Presidency, he got 47 percent, to Harris' 49.

Apparently, the audience at the Fairgrounds seemed to think he was saying, "Let Iran bomb Los Angeles," because they cheered him.

Then he tried the old "Red Scare":

And now we're on the cusp of beating the communist socialists, radicalized lunatics, and villains once and for all. We're going to beat them big. This is the most important midterm election. And we need to come all this way and defeat all those dangers and all those parties and all those people, all those sickos, only to watch our country be taken over by a group of people that hate America. They hate America.

But if they win the midterms, all of the things that we've accomplished, everything we accomplished, we'll never be able to do it again. Once you get on the wrong path, I used to say, "This country will never be a socialist country," but they've actually taken it a step further. Now I change it. "This country will never be a communist," because it's not going to be a socialist country, because I like to be right about everything.

So I said, remember the State of the Union, "This country will not be a socialist country." Okay. Now I say, "This country will never be a communist country," because they've skipped socialism. They went down to the bottom of the barrel, and now I see El-Sayed in Michigan. I mean, he's a total communist.

He kept going and going, with the lies: "They gave us the dark age of America. That was two years ago. We were living in a dark age, but we quickly turned that into the golden age of America. It's the golden age. Right now we have the golden age of America. Our nation is doing better now than it's ever done before. You don't hear that from these lunatics. We are stronger. We are doing better."

He went back to lying about the economy: "You know, they're the greatest numbers in history." He mentioned that his people were telling him he was a better President than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. That might be true, not that he is, but that they're telling him he is: They would tell him that, because he hired people based on loyalty to him.

Then he told some lies about Russia's genocidal war on Ukraine. Then he asked his new aide/suspected mistress, Natalie Harp, to come out. She didn't. Then he told a few more lies about the economy. Then he told some lies about voter fraud. Then he told some lies about transgender people.

Then he repeated his offer of $5,000 to every American citizen if the Republicans hold both houses of Congress, which is an offer of a bribe. Then he said he could pay for it because his Vice President, JD Vance, had found a lot of fraud in Obamacare. This was so big of a lie, he hadn't even been asked to do that. Trump compared Vance to Eliot Ness, who led the team of Prohibition agents in the 1920s, immortalized in the TV show The Untouchables. Then he told some more lies about immigration and the U.S.-Mexican border. Then he told some lies about his "one big beautiful bill."

"We abolished all discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion policies throughout the federal government." This was the truth, but it turned out to be a bad thing. "We got critical race theory and transgender insanity and mutilization out of our schools." This was a lie: Those things were never in our schools -- and the word should have been "mutilation." "We made English the official language of the United States of America." This was a lie: The Republicans have long threatened to do that, but they have never even tried.

Then he mentioned the price of eggs, supposedly a reason why he won in 2024: "We took care of it. We got eggs down lower now than even during my Administration." This was a half-truth: Egg prices did go down, but that was because the "bird flu" epidemic that had hit in 2024 ended in 2025. Trump and his Administration didn't have anything to do with it.

Then he told some lies about Dan Osborn, the independent, not a Democrat, running against Senator Ricketts there in Nebraska. Then he told some lies about Lynne Walz, the former State legislator running against Pillen for Governor. "And Jim's opponent, Lynne Walz, is a crazy relative of disgraced Minnesota Governor. Probably, and I've known some bad governors, probably the worst Governor in history, Jim Walz." Then he corrected the name, if not the record: "Tim Walz is the worst." In fact, Lynne is only related to Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2024, by marriage.

The speech lasted 1 hour and 22 minutes. Trump has always loved dictators, but when he makes a speech, the dictator he most resembles is a Communist he probably hated, Cuba's Fidel Castro.

Since he began running for President in 2015, Trump's strategy seems to have been, "Say something crazy every now and then, so that they'll forget the last crazy thing you said, and won't pay attention to the harm you're doing to them." And it's usually worked for him.

Except he's never been this crazy before. And the harm is hurting more people than ever.

Karen Bass, running for re-election as Mayor of Los Angeles, appeared on State of Play, and told host Peter Alexander, "You don't say something like that in jest. "You are the President of the United States, and your number one job is to protect and defend the American people, not to invite a foreign power to attack a city."

Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego, said, "San Diego is not collateral damage. We are not expendable. And we are never a 'small price to pay.' Keep our city out of your reckless war talk."

Representative Sara Jacobs, whose district encompasses San Diego, said on X (formerly Twitter), "My constituents -- including many active duty service members, veterans, and their families -- are not acceptable collateral damage in Trump's stupid war." Bass, Gloria and Jacobs are all Democrats.

Two days later, on October 7, The Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, released an altered version of the famous 1964 "Daisy Spot" commercial to create an anti-Trump ad: "Daisy L.A.," showing what a nuclear attack on Los Angeles might look like, and then showing Trump's own words. It made it absolutely clear just how much of a madman Trump had become.

Think about this: What if Bill Clinton, Barack Obama or Joe Biden had said it? Republican-controlled House would have impeached him on the spot, and the Republican-controlled Senate would have intimidated enough Democrats into joining them to remove him.

But the Republican-controlled Congress won't start the impeachment process. And his Cabinet has been chosen with the apparent specific purpose in being completely loyal to him, and never, ever invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.

We shall see.

*

October 5, 2026 was a Monday. On ESPN Monday Night Football, the Atlanta Falcons beat their arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints, 45-24 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

There were 2 Major League Baseball Playoff games, both of them American League Division Series:

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees, 5-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Cam Boosler was the winning pitcher for the Rays, but what beat the Yankees' Cam Schlittler wasn't his own pitching, it was his own defense: Errors by Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisholm led to a run in the 1st inning. In the 5th, an error by George Lombard, and plays that probably should have been scored as errors on Lombard and Chisholm led to 4 runs. Ben Rice hit a home run for the Yankees.

* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians, 4-3 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Braden Montgomery hit a 2-run double in the 5th to make the difference.

The NBA season hadn't started yet. There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Dallas Stars beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-0 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

August 9, 2026: The Most Consecutive Errorless Games By a Shortstop

NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.

August 9, 2026: The Sacramento Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. The A's tied the game in the top of the 8th, and won it in the top of the 9th, when Max Muncy doubled Donovan Walton home.

Jacob Wilson went 1-for-4 for the A's. He also had 3 putouts and 3 assists, without making an error. That made this his 111th consecutive game at shortstop without an error, a new major league record. The old record was set by Mike Bordick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2022.

A native of Los Angeles, Jacob Wilson is the son of Jack Wilson, also a major league shortstop, who made the 2004 All-Star Game with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jacob debuted with the A's in 2024, their last season in Oakland. He made the All-Star Game in 2025, and began his streak on July 7 of that season.

He was placed on the Injured List with shoulder stiffness after the A's game of August 16, 2026, but Major League Baseball recognizes errorless streaks, and also hitting streaks, as still being in progress if a game is played without a player entering it, so his streak is stalled, but not ended, at 115 games. If he returns to action in 2027 -- given MLB's current labor situation, I could say, "If anyone returns to action in 2027" -- his next game would be recognized as his 116th, his next the 117th, and so on until he makes another error.

*

August 9, 2026 was a Sunday. These other Major League baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Atlanta Braves, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Cam Schlittler pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, including a home run by Matt Olson in the 7th, walking none and striking out 11. But Grant Holmes pitched 6 shutout innings. Trent Grisham tied the game with a home run in the 8th, but the "ghost runner" rule doomed the Yankees in the 10th, as Michael Harris II singled Ha-Seong Kim home.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Sean Manaea pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and no walks, striking out 11. Luis Robert Jr. and Francisco Alvarez hit home runs for the Mets. Jake Mangum homered for the Bucs' only run.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Jays scored a run in the top of the 12th inning, but the Phils scored 2 in the bottom of the 12th, with Derek Hill providing the winning run by singling J.T. Realmuto home. Kyle Schwarber hit 2 home runs for 4 RBIs.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-1 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Los Angeles Angels, 12-3 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians, 5-3 at Rate Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Jake Bauer singled Brice Turang home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies, 7-4 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 10-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 10-5 at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 7-2 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Oracle Park in San Francisco. In the top of the 10th inning, Hao-Yu Lee singled Riley Greene home. Lee was singled over to 2nd base by Spencer Torkelson, and scored on a force-play grounder by Max Clark.

* And the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-1 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

July 19, 2026: Spain Produces "A Win for Football"

NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.

July 19, 2026: The World Cup Final is held, in my home State, just 36 miles from me, in our country, just outside the greatest city in the world. It should have been a great moment.

It wasn't. It wasn't a very good game, either.

Defending Champions Argentina, with Lionel Messi, were looking to make more history. They had cruised through the Group Stage against Algeria, Austria and Jordan. They survived threats from countries they should have beaten easily, with Cape Verde taking them to extra time before falling, 3-2; Egypt holding them to a 3-2 win; and Switzerland taking them to extra time before falling, 3-1 in the Quarterfinal. Their rivalry with England rekindled, Argentina beat them in the Semifinal, 2-1.

Spain had dominated international soccer for a while, winning 3 straight tournaments: Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, and Euro 2012. But, like Argentina, they had won dirty, with constant dives and horror tackles. Then they had fallen apart, not coming close in 2 World Cups and 2 Euros.

But the same Cape Verde that nearly beat Argentina also held Spain to a 0-0 opening game, before Spain beat Saudi Arabia. 4-0; and Uruguay, 1-0. Then, they got serious, beating Austria, Portugal, Belgium, and pre-tournament favorites France, to reach the Final against Argentina, their former colony.

After the 2026 World Cup, ESPN's Bill Connelly and James Tyler ranked every World Cup. The 2026 edition came in 6th:

For a while there, it looked as if we were witnessing the greatest World Cup of them all. The stars were shining like almost never before... Plus, with countries like Cape Verde and Congo DR, we saw underdogs pulling off massive results... The first-ever round of 32 featured a number of instant classics -- Argentina over Cape Verde in extra time, England coming back against Congo DR, Portugal outlasting Croatia, Morocco beating Netherlands in penalties, Paraguay upsetting Germany in penalties, Belgium coming back against Senegal -- and the round of 16 was epic, too. All we needed was a fabulous ending, and this tournament was going to just about break the 50-point scale.

Only that ending didn't happen... The final itself saw a reckless display of cynicism from Argentina and almost drama-free dominance from Spain, even if the 1-0 scoreline made it seem both dramatic and tight.

They were right. Wearing their usual sky blue and white "Albiceleste" stripes, Argentina kicked off the match at 3:06 PM Eastern Time, with a temperature of 80 degrees, in front of a crowd of 80,663. Spain wore red shirts with navy blue trim.

Five minutes into the game, Lamine Yamal, Spain's rising-star 19-year-old right wing from Barcelona FC had a shot saved by Argentina's goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez of West London team Chelsea F.C. In the 12th, midfielder Fabián Ruiz of Paris Saint-Germain had a shot saved by Martínez.

After that, Argentina began fouling with impunity. They ended up getting 6 yellow cards from Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić, and deserved more.

In the 67th minute, forward Ferran Torres of PSG had a header saved by Martínez. Just 7 minutes later, Martínez saved a shot by Barcelona midfielder Pedri. Spain, at the least, were trying to win the game, unlike Argentina, who were cynically fouling away, trying to play nothing but defense, "parking the bus," and just stall until they could win on penalties.

And, as regular time reached its conclusion, 0-0, social media deepened the idea that was already in place before the game: The world had decided that everybody but Argentines, and people who bought into the Messi myth, were rooting for Spain.

It was on to extra time. In the 96th minute, Athletic Bilbao forward Nico Williams scored, but the goal was correctly disallowed for a Spanish foul. Finally, in the 106th minute, Williams fired a header that was redirected by the left foot of Torres, and Martínez couldn't stop it.

Finally, Argentina realized they had to attack, but got caught on a counterattack in the 113th minute. Torres appeared to have scored again, but it was correctly ruled out for being offside. In the 115th, Messi shot over the crossbar. In the 117th, Messi hit Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino in the face with a shot. In stoppage time of extra time, Argentina got 2 corner kicks, but Spain kept the ball away, and had won their 2nd World Cup. Their defense, led by Athletic Bilbao goalie Unai Simón, had a clean sheet, their 7th of the tournament's 8 games, playing 480 minutes plus stoppage time, and allowing just 1 goal.

In his 6th World Cup, a record he shared with Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, had reached his 4th Final, but had lost for the 3rd time.

As head of state for the host nation, Donald Trump, the most hated man in America, and especially in both the New York Tri-State Area and in the State of New Jersey, got booed as he presented the trophy to Spain's Captain, Barcelona midfielder Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, a.k.a. Rodri.

The matchup wasn't especially satisfying, but at least the team that "tried to play football" won. It was, as many on social media said, "a win for football."

*

July 19, 2026 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* In a game that might have felt like a World Cup of baseball, the New York Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-2 at Yankee Stadium. Yoshinobu Yamamoto went the distance for the win, while Yankee ace Cam Schlittler had his worst start of the season, allowing 3 runs in 4 1/3rd innings, while Jake Bird allowed 5 in the 8th.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Nolan McLean outpitched Alan Rangel. Francisco Lindor hit a home run for the Mets. Alec Bohm hit a home run for the only Phils run.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Texas Rangers, 8-5 at Truist Park in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Sean Burke allowed 2 hits over 6 2/3rds innings, and 2 relievers finished a 4-hit shutout.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cleveland Guardians, 7-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Pittsburgh vs. Cleveland still isn't the rivalry in baseball that it is in the NFL.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Miami Marlins, 3-1 at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the San Diego Padres, 19-2 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at Daikin Park in Houston.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-6 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Max Kepler doubled Jorge Barrosa home in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Sacramento Athletics, 5-2 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

July 4, 2026: Trump Makes America 250 All About Himself

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

July 4, 2026: It is the 250th Anniversary of the Continental Congress' approval of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. It should have been a day to celebrate the things that make America great -- and also to reflect on subjects on which it falls short, and how to make up for those things.

The celebration's official logo

Instead, the man chosen by the people -- or, perhaps, by Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk -- to be the country's head of state, and its head of government, chose to make it a day to celebrate himself, and his views, which are diametrically opposed to the visions of America's greatness.

Three major Northeastern cities would be the focal point of the celebrations: New York, the nation's largest city, and its capital of news, finance and popular culture; Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were both written and approved, making it the nation's "birthplace"; and Washington, the nation's political capital.

But, unlike for the Centennial in 1876, and the Bicentennial in 1976, the weather forecast was troublesome: Rain, and possibly even thunderstorms, were predicted. And the 4th was the 4th and last day of a heat wave that would end up claiming 44 lives. It's almost as if God were mad at America for electing a man they knew was a traitor, a rapist, and a fraud on multiple levels: Election fraud, tax fraud, business fraud.

Heather Delaney Reese is a digital content creator and a political commentator. She and her husband run It's A Lovely Life, a luxury family travel and lifestyle platform. Of that day, she wrote:

Trump's America was on full display in a different and more dangerous way. While so many of us were celebrating its 250th birthday, with days at the beach, family cookouts, parades, and coming together for parties all over the country, roughly 400 masked men marched through the streets of the nation's capital carrying Confederate flags and chanting "Reclaim America."

They wore matching uniforms of navy blue shirts, khaki pants, and white face coverings to hide their identities. They carried shields and drums and marched in military formation through Capitol Hill neighborhoods, past Union Station, and toward the U.S. Capitol. They called for the removal of immigrants...

They are a white nationalist, white supremacist organization founded after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, where a white nationalist drove his car into a crowd of people and killed a woman named Heather Heyer. They call themselves Patriot Front.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, and George Washington University’s Program on Extremism all classify them as a hate group. Their logo is modeled after the fasces, the bundled sticks and axe that served as the symbol of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party in Italy. Their manifesto says "democracy has failed this once great nation," and calls for a "hard reset" to return to the traditions of their forefathers, whom they identify exclusively as European settlers...

A former counterterrorism official from the Department of Homeland Security even went so far as to say: "The fact that they feel empowered to engage in public demonstrations during Independence Day provides a stark illustration of the issues this country is dealing with at this time as it relates to white supremacy."

One photograph from Reuters has been circulating all day. It shows a Black woman sitting alone on the D.C. Metro, surrounded by masked Patriot Front members filling the train car around her. It is a photograph that captures two competing visions of America: one rooted in intimidation and racial supremacy, the other in the simple courage of existing without surrendering to fear. It is difficult to imagine a more haunting image to emerge from America's 250th birthday. This is Donald Trump's America.

The fact that they covered their faces shows the cowardice in their movement. They hide their faces because they know what they are doing is wrong. They know it goes against everything this country was built on. They know that if their neighbors, employers, and their families saw them marching through the streets carrying Confederate flags and demanding a white ethnostate, there would be consequences. So they cover their faces.

The founders of this country signed the Declaration of Independence with their real names, knowing it could cost them their lives. That is what courage in service of a belief looks like. Fascist movements have always hidden behind anonymity to do their ugliest work. The Klan wore hoods for the same reason. The cowardice is not incidental to the ideology. It stands in direct contrast to every single one of us who is out here every day, using our real names, showing our real faces, and saying what we believe regardless of the cost.

That is the America Donald Trump is building. Not the one he described in his speech.

It did not escape my notice that she was sitting

at roughly the same point on this subway car

as Rosa Parks' seat in the photo

on the Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955.

Trump had already done so much damage to America and its Presidency that he figured he could damage the White House itself. He literally had the East Wing of the building torn down, to build the "big, beautiful ballroom" that only he seems to think the White House needs. And he tore up Jacqueline Kennedy's Rose Garden to build an Ultimate Fighting Championship ring and seating for it, to use one time. Trump's taste isn't as bad as his behavior, but it's disgustingly bad.

The storm held off long enough for New York and Philadelphia to have their celebrations carried out in full, and both cities had impressive fireworks displays. In particular, New York's included fireworks launched from the Brooklyn Bridge. If Paris can do it from the Eiffel Tower, which was built in 1889, New York could do it from the Brooklyn Bridge, which was built in 1883. Of course, a small fire ended up being started on the Bridge, but it was quickly put out, with no injuries.

But in D.C., the weather was still threatening. Trump told Fox News' Bret Baier that he would deliver his intended speech, no matter what. Baier said there might not be anyone left in the audience. Trump, typically, said, "I don't care. It’s America 250. If they can storm the beaches on D-Day, I can deliver a speech, and we can keep this program going." It wasn't the first time Trump, the draft-dodging coward, compared himself to actual fighting men with actual courage, and it won't be the last.

At 11:15 PM, after hours of delays, Trump finally started talking. He kept going for 38 minutes -- not a long speech by Presidential standards, let alone his -- but he talked more about himself than about the country, which a President should never do.

He placed July 4, 2026, alongside July 4, 1776: "Big dates. That's big dates. Two big ones." He said, "This is bigger... I think, in its own way, it's more beautiful." On the anniversary of a document written in rejection of monarchy and concentrated power, he once again teased the possibility of an unconstitutional 3rd term: "Actually, I should say third term, but I won't do that, because I don't want any controversy." (The hell he doesn't.)

He said, "We are one people. We are one family. With one flag." Tell that to the guys with Confederate Flags, and Gadsden Flags with their snake and their "Don't tread on me" slogan. As Mrs. Reese said, "He never condemned these anti-American thugs. He never acknowledged that one of the country'’s most prominent white supremacist organizations chose the 250th birthday of the United States as the culmination of a years-long recruitment campaign. His silence was his approval."

Then he accused his opponents of being Communists, as if it was early 1954 and Edward R. Murrow and Joseph N. Welch hadn't yet put Senator Joseph McCarthy in his place.

Indeed, McCarthyism was one of the things that America has survived. We have survived our Revolution and the war to which it was a response. We survived the War of 1812, when, given a 2nd chance, Britain almost took us back. We survived slavery and the Civil War it caused. We survived labor strife and the Great Depression and the threat of the Nazis and, yes, the threat of Communism that was very real, but external rather than internal like the McCarthyists wanted us to believe.

We survived the pandemics of the 1918 Spanish Flu, the 1980s AIDS crisis, and the 2020-21 COVID crisis. We survived natural disasters like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s; the Blizzards of 1888, 1947 and 1996; the floods in Pennsylvania in 1889, the Mississippi Valley in 1927 and 1993, and the Ohio Valley in 1937; the earthquakes that hit California in 1906, 1989 and 1994, and Alaska in 1964; and the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast in 1900, 2005 and 2017, Florida in 1935 and 1992, and the Northeast in 1955, 1972 and 2012.

We survived the struggles to establish rights for women, for nonwhite Americans, for non-Protestant Americans, for LGBT Americans. We survived the divisions caused by the Vietnam War and Watergate. We survived 9/11 and the stupidities that followed both abroad and at home.

As Mrs. Reese put it: "Every one of those chapters left a wound on this country that has never fully healed. But in every one of those chapters, the American spirit was not found in the powerful. It was found in the people who were treated the worst... Those are the people who carried this country for 250 years. Not the man behind the bulletproof glass. Not the men hiding behind masks." Masks they wouldn't wear to protect themselves, let alone others, during COVID.

Since he began his 1st campaign for President in 2015, Trump has used the theme "Make America Great Again," or "MAGA." Saying that it needs to be made great "again" implies that it no longer is, but used to be. He has never come out and said when that was. Hillary Clinton challenged him to say so during one of their 2016 debates, but, like the coward that he is, he didn't answer.

In his 1941 book The Kingdom of God and the American Dream, Sherwood Eddy, a Protestant missionary and teacher, wrote, "America is great because America is good, and if she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." (The line has been incorrectly attributed to French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville, in his 1833 book Democracy in America.)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: It's bad enough that Trump did the opposite of what he promised: He made America no longer great, because he rendered America no longer good. But now, he wants to remake America in his image.

America must not let him. We need to make America good again. And then we can get back to work on what John F. Kennedy said in one of his 1960 debates with Richard Nixon: "This is a great country. But I believe it can be an even greater country."

It is highly unlikely that I will still be alive on the 300th Anniversary of American independence, on July 4, 2076. I hope that America herself will still be alive. If she is, it will be because we, as a people, survived yet again -- in no small part because we survived Donald Trump.

*

July 4, 2026 was a Saturday. The World Cup was underway, and 2 games of the Round of 16 were played. France beat Paraguay, 1-0 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. And Morocco beat Canada, 3-0 at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

The NFL, the NBA and the NHL were out of season. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 11-4 at Yankee Stadium. Yankee manager Aaron Boone went with a "bullpen game," and it spectacularly failed. Brendan Beck didn't get out of the 4th inning. The Twins hit 6 home runs, including 2 by Josh Bell, who went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs; and 1 by Kody Clemens, Roger's son.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 14-3 at Truist Park in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia. Chris Sale outpitched Sean Manaea. The Braves got home runs from Eli White, Mauricio Dubón, Mike Yastrzemski (Carl's grandson), Austin Riley and Michael Harris II. The Mets got them from Tyrone Taylor and Mark Vientos. Juan Soto went 1-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals, 7-1 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians, 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-5 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Kyle Leahy pitched 5 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and 4 relievers completed a 5-hit shutout.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The Phils got home runs from J.T. Realmuto, Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Alec Bohm. Kyle Schwarber did not hit a home run, but did go 3-for-4 with a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 3-0 at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Jack Flaherty allowed 3 hits over 5 2/3rds innings. Tyler Holton got the last out of the 6th. And Kelder Montero went the last 3 innings to finish the 3-hit shutout.

* The Houston Astros beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-8 at Daikin Park in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-4 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-1 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, striking out 10. Three relievers completed a 4-hit shutout.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Sacramento Athletics, 7-2 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-0 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. The only baserunner that Seattle pitching allowed was a single by Yohendrick Pinango in the 5th. Logan Gilbert went 7 1/3rd innings, and Cole Wilcox went the rest of the way to preserve the 1-hit shutout. Randy Arozarena went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs, and Cal Raleigh went 1-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

June 13, 2026: The Knicks Bring New York a Championship

NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.

June 13, 2026: The New York Knicks win the Championship of the National Basketball Association.

It had taken 53 years -- 1 year less than the drought of the team with whom they share Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers from 1940 to 1994.

The Knicks had won the NBA Championship in 1970 and 1973. Then they got old. Then they went through a serious of "false saviors." Remember this Sports Illustrated cover?

Between "The Dreaded SI Cover Jinx"

and bad Knick management,

the answer was always going to be "No."

The false ones included Marvin Webster, Micheal Ray Richardson, Bernard King (who might have been the true one had he not gotten hurt), Patrick Ewing (the most notorious of them all), Mark Jackson, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, Stephon Marbury, Amar'e Stoudamire, Carmelo Anthony, Jeremy Lin and Kristaps Porziņģis.

Not to mention such distinguished head coaches and/or general managers as Hubie Brown, Rick Pitino, John MacLeod, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Jeff Van Gundy, Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas, Mike D'Antoni and Phil Jackson. Run-and-gun, defense-first, style, thuggery. Nothing seemed to work.

In the 1990s, under Riley and Ewing, they kept smacking into the Chicago Bulls, on whom Jackson, a member of those 1970s Knick titlists under Red Holzman, built his coaching reputation. Michael Jordan and company kept stopping them. When it wasn't them, it was Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers. After Riley quit on the Knicks, he moved to the Miami Heat, and they got in the Knicks' way.

The Knicks reached the NBA Finals in 1994, losing to the Houston Rockets; and 1999, losing to the San Antonio Spurs. They got to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1993, losing to the Bulls; and in 2000, losing to the Pacers. They made the Playoffs again in 2001, then missed twice, made it in 2004, then missed 6 straight seasons, then made it 3 straight, but couldn't get far. Then came 7 straight misses; a Playoff berth in 2021, and a miss in 2022.

But under head coach Tom Thibodeau, general manager Gersson Rosas, and team president Leon Rose, things began to turn around. The Knicks had acquired guard Jalen Brunson in 2022, forwards OG Anunoby and Josh Hart in 2023, center Karl-Anthony Towns and guard Mikal Bridges in 2024, and forward Mohamed Diawara in 2025.

They won a Playoff round in 2023, and again in 2024. With LeBron James still with the Los Angeles Lakers, Steph Curry still with the Golden State Warriors, and no dominant team in the Eastern Conference, it looked like there was room for the Knicks to make a statement. In 2025, they beat the defending NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics, and got to the Conference Finals, losing to the Indiana Pacers.

Thibodeau was replaced as head coach, by Mike Brown. They went 53-29 in 2025-26, gaining the 3rd seed in the East. They beat the Atlanta Hawks, 4 games to 2. They swept the Philadelphia 76ers in 4 straight. In the Conference Finals, they needed a big 4th-quarter comeback to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1, but went on to sweep them.

They were in their 1st NBA Finals in 26 years, facing the team that beat them in those 1999 Finals, the San Antonio Spurs, led by 7-foot-4 star Victor Wembanyama. Without a Knick title in 53 years, without a title for any of the "big four" sports teams since the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI 14 years earlier, New York was behind the Knicks like they hadn't been behind a team in a long, long time.

I'd often said that a Knicks title would mean more to New York than a title for any other team. Not just because New York loves its basketball so much, but because the Knicks have a greater share of the local fandom over the Nets than the Yankees over the Mets, the Giants over the Jets, and the Rangers over the Islanders and the Devils.

Games 1 and 2 were at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs led Game 1 by 14 points, but the Knicks, having had so many comebacks already, won, 105-95. Brunson scored 30 points, Wembanyama 26. Game 2 should have gone the Spurs' way, but Wembanyama, at 22 already one of the top players in the game, had a crucial turnover, a crucial foul, and a crucial missed shot, all in the last minute of the game, and the Knicks won, 105-104. They had now won 13 straight Playoff games.

Game 3 at The Garden was going to be a massive party. Except Donald Trump, New York's least favorite New Yorker, showed up. And, of course, "Everything Trump touches dies." The Knicks lost, 115-111. Brunson and Wembanyama each scored 32 points.

Some Knick fans got scared: What if Trump really had "killed" the Knicks? But most shrugged it off, following the lead of film director and Knicks superfan Spike Lee: "Knicks in five!" It didn't look like it: The Spurs took a 29-point lead, 81-52. The Knicks wiped it out, the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. With 5.7 seconds remaining, Anunoby inbounded the ball to Brunson, who attempted a three-point field goal over Wembanyama, but it bounced off the rim. Anunoby ran to the rim from the three-point line, and completed the right-handed tip-in to give the Knicks a one-point lead with 1.2 seconds left. The Spurs couldn't answer in that little time left, and the Knicks had won, 107-106. Brunson scored 36. It was the greatest game in the Knicks' 80-year history.

The Tip-In. Wembanayana can do nothing but watch.

There were 2 days off, while Knick fans waited for the one more win they needed for the title. Game 5 was played back in San Antonio. The Spurs got off to another big lead, 16 points. Yet again, the Knicks decided such a lead was no problem. Brunson ended up scoring 45, and the final score was Knicks 94, Spurs 90.

Mike Breen, the longtime Knicks announcer who was calling play-by-play for ABC, noted that the date, 6/13, matched the 613 wins as Knick coach for Holzman. Commissioner Adam Silver gave the Larry O'Brien Trophy to the team. It had been so long since the Knicks had won that it had been a different trophy for the 1st 2 titles. Previously, it was the Walter A. Brown Trophy.

The ticker-tape parade up Lower Broadway didn't have as many attendees as the 1996 Yankees' parade, but it had more than those for the 1969 and 1986 Mets, the 2008 and 2012 Giants, and the 1994 Rangers. It was the first feel-good sports story for New York since 2008, when the Giants ended the New England Patriots' undefeated season..

This was the 1st time that a New York professional basketball team won its league championship in the same year that Arsenal F.C. won its league -- unless you want to go all the way back to the Brooklyn Visitations, Champions of the American Basketball League in 1931 and 1935.

No player named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players was on the roster of the 2026 Knicks. It's unlikely they'll do an 80 Greatest for the 80th Anniversary in 2026. But if they do a 100 Greatest in 2046, chances are, Brunson will be on it.

*

June 13, 2026 was a Saturday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Cam Schlittler and Kevin Gausman put on a fine pitcher's duel. A Paul Goldschmidt home run in the top of the 9th inning made a winning pitcher out of reliever Fernando Cruz.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Citi Field. Martín Pérez outpitched Sean Manaea. Eli White and Michael Harris II hit home runs. Juan Soto and Bo Bichette each went 2-for-4, but the rest of the Mets only had 2 hits combined.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-3 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Miami Marlins, 3-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-1 at Rate Field in Chicago.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-8 at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-6 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-7 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-0 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. José Soriano pitched 5 innings, allowing 3 hits, and 3 relievers completed the 5-hit shutout.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-1 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

* And the Sacramento Athletics beat the Colorado Rockies, 7-5 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup was won the next night, by the Carolina Hurricanes, beating the Vegas Golden Knights, in Game 6 of the Finals.

But neither the NBA nor the Stanley Cup Finals were the biggest event going on in North America at the time. The World Cup was underway, and these games were played on that day:

* Just outside New York City, at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey, Brazil and Morocco played to a 1-1 tie.

* Scotland beat Haiti, 1-0 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. It was Scotland's 1st game in World Cup play in 28 years, and its 1st win in World Cup play in 36 years. The Scottish fans, "The Tartan Army," became the darlings of the tournament, going to baseball games at Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, and famously doing what even the Boston Irish had never been known to do: Drink a Boston bar dry.

* Switzerland and Qatar played to a tie, 1-1 at Levi's Stadium outside San Francisco in Santa Clara, California.

* And Australia beat Turkey, 2-0 at BC Place in Vancouver.

May 19, 2026: Arsenal Win the Premier League After 22 Years

Captain Martin Ødegaard lifts the Premier League trophy

NOTE: Although this entry is from after 2022, I have backdated all entries from after that year to the corresponding date in 2022.

May 19, 2026: Manchester City Football Club get a goal in stoppage time to forge a 1-1 draw with AFC Bournemouth, at Dean Court in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. But they can't quite find a goal in what little time remains to win the game. And so, they get one point for the draw, instead of the three points they would have gotten for a win.

As a result, even if they win their last game of the season, home to Birmingham team Aston Villa 5 days later, they will have a maximum of 81 points on the season. And Arsenal Football Club, of North London, had already accumulated 82 points, including 3 in a 1-0 home win over Lancashire team Burnley the day before.

Therefore, at 11:25 AM -- 4:25 PM, U.S. Eastern Time -- Arsenal became Champions of the Premier League, for the 1st time in 22 years, since the "Invincibles" season of 2003-04.

As it turned out, Man City lost their finale to Villa, anyway, 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester; while Arsenal went to Selhurst Park in South London, beat Crystal Palace, 2-1, and were presented with the Premier League trophy.

Arsène Wenger had managed Arsenal to the Premier League title in 1998, 2002 and 2004. He had led them to the FA Cup in 1998 (making for a "Double"), 2002 (another Double), 2003 and 2005. He got them to the UEFA Champions League Final in 2006.

But the Arsenal Stadium, known as Highbury for its North London neighborhood, seated just 38,000. A new stadium was needed, and the 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium opened a few blocks away in 2006. Although it provided much more matchday revenue, it was needed not just to pay off the stadium debt over a period of years, but also to buy the contracts of players needed just to keep pace with big-spending teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool F.C., and West London team Chelsea F.C.

Arsenal won the FA Cup under Wenger in 2014, 2015 and 2017. They reached the Final of the Champions League in 2006; the Semifinals in 2009; and the Quarterfinals in 2008 and '11. They reached the Final of the League Cup in 2007 and 2011.

But while their places in the Premier League kept them qualifying for the Champions League, they couldn't win the League title. They finished 2nd in 2016; 3rd in 2008, '10, '12, '15; 4th in 2006, '07, '09, '11, '13, '14; 5th in 2017, and 6th in 2018. And some of the big-salaried players that Wenger had brought in decided to hand in transfer requests, demanding to be sold to teams with better chances of winning trophies, abandoning the man who had given them the chances to become the great players they became.

A small but loud minority of fans demanded that Wenger be fired, and replaced by a manager who would outspend the biggest spenders, instead of paying off the stadium debt -- which the team was legally obligated to do. Finally, in 2018, team owner Stan Kroenke, an American who also owned the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, MLS' Colorado Rapids, and has since bought MLB's Los Angeles Angels, fired Wenger, ending his tenure after 22 years, though allowing him a dignified pregame ceremony before his last home game.

Unai Emery, who had won trophies in his native Spain and France, was hired. He got Arsenal 5th in 2019, and to the Final of UEFA's secondary tournament, the Europa League, which he'd won 3 times before, and has since won twice more. But it was an awful performance in the Final, and the final piece of his alienation of several of Arsenal's good players.

He was fired midway through the 2019-20 season, and replaced by Mikel Arteta, assistant to Josep "Pep" Guardiola at Manchester City, and a former midfielder at Arsenal under Wenger. Whereas Emery had taken the team that Wenger built and flopped, Arteta took the team that Emery built and won the 2020 FA Cup. But the damage was done: That season, and in 2021, Arsenal finished 8th.

Arteta had 3 major advantages: The fans knew him, they knew he wasn't Emery, and the stadium debt was mostly paid off. So big signings could be made. In 2022, Arsenal finished 5th. In 2023, '24 and '25, they finished 2nd each time, finishing, respectively, 5 points behind City, 2 points behind City, and 10 points behind Liverpool. And he got them to the Quarterfinal of the Champions League in 2024, and the Semifinal in 2025.

Mikel Arteta with the 2020 FA Cup

In 2025-26, Arsenal were ready. The usual starting line up was Spanish goalkeeper David Raya, English right back Ben White, French centreback William Saliba, Brazilian centreback Gabriel Magalhães (in Brazilian football tradition, usually known by just his first name), Italian left back Riccardo Calafiori, Norwegian central midfielder and team Captain Martin Ødegaard, English central midfielder Declan Rice, English right wing Bukayo Saka, Brazilian left wing Gabriel Martinelli, and German centre forward Kai Havertz.

Notable other contributors included Dutch right back Jurriën Timber, Spanish defender Cristhian Mosquera, English left back Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ecuadorian left back Piero Hincapié, Spanish central midfielders Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, English right wing Noni Madueke, Brazilian left wing Leandro Trossard, English forward Eberechi Eze, Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus, and Swedish forward Viktor Gyökeres.

For the first time since the early Wenger years, Arsenal seemed to have at least two world-class players at every position. (Though that couldn't really be said about Raya's backup and fellow Spaniard, Kepa Arrizabalaga.) So that, when the annual injury crisis came -- and injuries did keep Ødegaard, Saka, Saliba, Timber, White, Jesus and Havertz out for long stretches -- Arsenal were able to weather it this time, and stay at or near the top of the PL table. 

In their 1st 14 League games, Arsenal won 10, drew 3, and lost only a 1-0 decision away to Liverpool. This included a 1-1 draw at home to Man City, where Martinelli scored in stoppage time to save them; goals by Merino in the 84th minute and Gabriel in the 96th to come from behind away to Newcastle United; and a 4-1 demolition of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at home, in which Eze became only the 3rd Arsenal player, after Ted Drake in 1934 and Alan Sunderland in 1978, to score 3 goals in a game against "Spurs."

Defending Champions Liverpool were never a factor, and ended up 5th, behind Arsenal, Man City, Man United and Aston Villa. On March 14, Arsenal led City by 9 points with 7 games to play, though City had a game in hand. Indeed, on the morning of March 22, Arsenal were still eligible for all 4 trophies they were playing for: The Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Champions League.

But that day, they lost the League Cup Final to City, 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in West London. Then, on April 4, they were knocked out of the FA Cup in the Quarterfinal by Southampton, 2-1 away. Then came back-to-back defeats, 2-1 at home to Bournemouth on April 11, and, in what was being viewed all over the world as the title decider, 2-1 away to City on April 19. Now, Arsenal led by 3 points, with 5 to play, and City could match them with their game in hand. Arsenal no longer controlled their own destiny.

But City faltered. Though they did beat Chelsea to win the FA Cup, and followed their PL win over Arsenal with a 1-0 win away to Burnley on April 22, their trip to Liverpool to play Everton on May 4 ended in a 3-3 draw. Now, once again, it was Arsenal who, if they won all their remaining games, would win the title. City beat Brentford on May 9 and Crystal Palace on May 13, both 3-0 at home. But without wins away to Bournemouth on May 19 and home to Villa on May 24, Arsenal would win. And City could only draw 1-1 with Bournemouth, and lost 2-1 to Villa.

And Arsenal rebounded from the seemingly demoralizing loss to City to win their last 5. They won 1-0 at home to Newcastle on April 25. They won 3-0 at home to Fulham on May 2. Trossard's 83rd-minute strike on May 10 gave them a 1-0 lead away to West Ham United of East London, and a stoppage-time equalizer was checked on VAR, and Raya was shown to have been fouled, negating the goal and giving Arsenal the win.

Am I upset that Arsenal "won the League because of VAR"? No, I'm upset at the titles they didn't win all those years, because there was no means to get the calls right, instead of giving them to Manchester United and Chelsea and Manchester City for years.

Havertz scored in the 37th on May 18 to beat Burnley at home, 1-0. Then, with the title won the next day without taking the pitch, they won 2-1 away to Palace on May 24.

The celebrations began in North London right after the final whistle in Bournemouth on May 19, and kept going until May 30, when Arsenal played the Champions League Final in Budapest, Hungary. They took an early lead, but lost to the defending Champions, Paris Saint-Germain, on penalty kicks. It was a bitter season finale.

But by the next morning, any considerations that going 1-for-4, losing the CL Final, or winning only the PL title were a "failure" were tossed aside. The celebratory parade through Islington that day was the biggest parade in the history of London club sports. Not since the England team won the 1966 World Cup had there been a bigger one.

Arsenal truly are London's team. Liverpool and Manchester United may have 20 League titles (old league and new league combined), while Arsenal have 14; but, as built by Wenger and now by Arteta, Arsenal are a team for a multicultural city, a team for the whole world. From Mayfair, Mumbai and Melbourne to Manhattan, Montreal and Mombassa, The Arsenal are a team for the whole world.

*

May 19, 2026 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Will Warren outpitched Dylan Cease. Ryan McMahon and Ben Rice hit home runs. Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals, 9-6 at Nationals Park in Washington. Foster Griffin outpitched Nolan McLean. James Wood went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Bo Bichette went 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 8-4 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

* The Cleveland Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Comerica Park (now Fifth Third Park) in Detroit.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Iván Herrera hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Colorado Rockies, 10-0 at Coors Field in Denver. Tyler Alexander pitched just 1 inning for the Rangers, then Kumar Rocker pitched the next 7, and got the win.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Sacramento Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels, 14-6 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in progress, but no games were played. One game was played in the NBA Playoffs: The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-104 at Madison Square Garden, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers led by 22 points in the 4th quarter, but the Knicks went 30-8 to force overtime, and outscored the Cavs 14-3 in that overtime period. Jalen Brunson scored 38 points.