Letters from an American - Threats Dismissed

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

July 12, 2026The US is in the grip of an outbreak of the Cyclospora parasite, which is no longer being tracked by the CDC, The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network had monitored 8 pathogens for 30 years, but it now monitors only two, The New World screwworm continues to spread in the US and Central America, with infestations spreading rapidly in numerous animals, The Trump administration held up funding for a facility crucial to slowing the spread as well as a research initiative to find ways to stop the pest, In Iran, the MOU signed by Trump in June formalized Iran’s power over the Strait of Hormuz, Soldiers who survived the Iranian attack on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait allege that the generals in command ignored intelligence that the site was a probable target, Wounded soldiers were not admitted to the hospital and soldiers and their families say the Army downplayed their injuries, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died over the weekend, A former critic of Trump, he became a staunch supporter.Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

July 12, 26. The United States is currently in the grip of an outbreak of the cyclospora parasite, which causes severe diarrhea and is sickened more than 3,000 people across the U.S. Last August, Aria Bendix of NBC News reported that on July 1st, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would no longer track infections caused by cyclospora and five other common causes of foodborne illnesses. The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA,

and 10 state health departments covering about 54 million people, have run a program called the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, or FoodNet, since 1995. Until last July 1st, it monitored eight pathogens. Now it monitors only salmonella and toxin producing E. coli. White House spokesperson, Cush DeSai, said then, The Health and Safety of the American People is the administration's utmost priority. USDA, HHS, FDA, and the CDC will continue to cooperate and maintain the highest vigilance to safeguard our food supply against

pathogens. But director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University, Barbara Kualech, called the decision to reduce FoodNet Surveillance very disappointing, saying, a lot of the work that I and many, many, many, many other people have put into improving food safety over the past 20 or 30 years is just going away. Meanwhile, the New World Screw Worm continues to spread in the U.S. and Central America, where Melody Schreiber of The Guardian reported today, conservation cameras are showing the infestations spreading rapidly in deer, jaguars, peccaries, and even porcupines. While Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has repeatedly blamed former President Joe Biden for the

arrival of the flesh-eating maggots, three former officials from the Agriculture Department, as well as another source, told Marsha Brown of Politico in June that Trump administration officials held up funding for the construction of a facility crucial to slowing the spread of the past, and also delayed funding for a $100 million research initiative to find new ways to stop the screw worm. Trump administration cuts to staffing at the USDA meant that in 2025, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service staffing dropped by 25%. More than half of the area veterinarians retired or resigned. Things aren't going terribly well internationally either.

Despite the repeated assertions of administration officials that the U.S. holds all the cards in its war with Iran, Edward Wong, Michael Crowley, and Eric Schmidt of the New York Times reported today that the Memorandum of Understanding, Trump signed on June 17, 2026, formalized Iran's power over the Strait of Hormuz. Former U.S. analysts and officials told the reporters that the agreement was dangerously vague and that Iran has interpreted its provisions saying that Iran would make arrangements for using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels through the strait

as giving Iran control of the waterway. As Iran has attacked ships trying to get through the strait near the Oman shoreline, Trump has ordered airstrikes on Iran. Over the weekend, Iran's Navy said it was closing the strait until the end of U.S. interference in the region. Today, Tara Kopp and Alex Horton of the Washington Post reported allegations from soldiers who survived the Iranian attack on Port Shweba in Kuwait that killed six U.S. military personnel and wounded dozens more,

that the generals in command ignored intelligence that Port Shweba was a probable target. The site was not adequately protected against drones, as scouts noted before the war when the Pentagon began to move troops off large bases onto smaller facilities to make them harder for Iran to target. Port Shwiba's emergency warning system wasn't working, and the facility had no coverings to conceal personnel or hamper drones.

Then, troops were deployed there without weapons. After the strikes, wounded soldiers sent to Germany's Landstool Regional Medical Center, discovered that they had neither been listed in the military's database as seriously injured, nor been recorded on the flight manifest as medical evacuees, so could not be admitted as patients. Doctors treated them as outpatients, and said, sent them to barracks where they waited a week to be sent back to the U.S. In June, Jonah Kaplan and Michael Kaplan of CBS News reported that wounded soldiers and their families say the Army downplayed their injuries. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegesith told reporters in March that almost 90% of the injuries 400 service members had sustained had been minor

and that the wounded soldiers had returned to duty. man, the Army classified as not seriously injured, sustained extensive shrapnel wounds, a concussion, hearing and vision loss, and lung damage. Another underwent multiple surgeries to remove shrapnel. Wounded soldiers told Kaplan and Kaplan that the duty for which they had been cleared was an active order to recuperate from injuries in a specialized recovery unit. An Army spokesperson explained that the classifications were military designations. The spokesperson explained that the Army classifies soldiers as seriously injured or very seriously injured, only if they are at risk of dying from their wounds within the next 72 hours. Tonight, the U.S. military launched new strikes against Iran. In a brief

interview with Reuters over the weekend, Trump said, we're beating them up. Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, died Saturday night at age 71, apparently from a rupture of his aorta due to cardiovascular disease. Graham had just returned from a trip to Kiev, Ukraine, where he met with Ukraine President Volodemir Zelenskyy. A former officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, the JAG Corps, in the U.S. Air Force, Graham was a staunch supporter of the North Atlantic. Treaty Organization, or NATO, and of Ukraine. In that, he stood apart from Trump. In his earlier years in Congress, Graham was an establishment Republican who pushed for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, but was willing to work with Democrats personally. He once said of then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, if you can't admire Joe Biden as a person, you've got a problem. He's the nicest person I've ever met in

politics, as good a man as God ever created. He objected to the takeover of the Republican Party by the MAGA Republicans. In December 2015, he called then-candidate Donald J. Trump a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot, and said, he doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for. I don't think he has a clue about anything. He's just trying to get his numbers up and get the biggest reaction he can. You know how you make America great again? He said. Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.

In 2016, Graham said he voted for independent Evan McMullen because voting for Hillary Clinton was always a non-starter, and I couldn't go where Donald Trump wanted to take the USA and the Republican Party. But after a meeting with Trump in March 2017, Graham became a loyalist. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he ushered through Trump's judicial nominees and his fierce defense of Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings for a position on the Supreme Court has been credited with enabling Kavanaugh's nomination to go through, despite accusations of sexual assault. Graham was a staunch enough Trump supporter that he urged, Trump not to concede the 2020 presidential election because if Republicans don't challenge and change the

U.S. election system, there will never be another Republican president elected again. He called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger over the votes in Georgia. Raffensberger believed Graham was suggesting he should throw out legal ballots. Graham briefly turned against Trump after the president tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but then he came around to Trump again, supporting his 2024 presidential run. Graham's sudden death came as a surprise, but Trump was able to find Graham useful one last time. Although Graham's top priority appears to have been working with Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat of Connecticut, to push more stringent economic sanctions on Russia, Trump told Kristen Welker of Meet the Press that he had spoken to Graham just before he died.

According to Trump, Graham said, We're all set for the Save America Act, the voter suppression act that Trump wants so badly. Trump continued, He was pushing the Save Act like crazy, and I said, Well, we're going to get it done, Lindsay. We're going to get it done. On May 3, 2016,

Senator Lindsay Graham posted on social media, if we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed, and we will deserve it. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.