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Haunted by Hoover, Trump Presses for an Iran Endgame as Hormuz Talks Drag On

The president has twice invoked Herbert Hoover while describing his push to end the Iran war, even as a June cease-fire deal has only partly held and negotiators haggle over terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump speaks at a lectern during a press conference at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 17, 2026
Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok

At a closing press conference of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 17, President Trump twice raised the name of Herbert Hoover while describing his push to end the war with Iran, according to a transcript of the remarks. "I've studied presidents, some good, some bad, some great. Not too many are great and some really bad. The one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover," Trump said. Later in the same appearance, discussing the economic stakes of the war, he added: "the one I always thought of, Herbert Hoover, and he caused it. He raised taxes too fast and he raised interest rates."

Hoover, a Republican who left office in 1933, is widely associated with the onset of the Great Depression. Trump told reporters that market reaction had reinforced his thinking on the war: "every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship," he said, according to the same transcript.

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Bar chart showing 750 total bookbags distributed, including 100 donated personally by Deron Rippey Jr. and 650 from other 5K Foundation donors and partners

Durham Nonprofit Delivers 750 Bookbags to Students Door-to-Door

The 5K Foundation, a Durham nonprofit, distributed roughly 750 backpacks filled with school supplies door-to-door across several Durham neighborhoods on Saturday, Aug. 8, according to ABC11/WTVD. The Durham Police Department provided an escort for the volunteers making the deliveries.

NASA map of the August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse showing the path of totality crossing the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland and Spain, with surrounding lines marking partial-eclipse percentages

Total Solar Eclipse Will Cross the Arctic, Iceland and Spain on Aug. 12

A total solar eclipse will cross the Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday, Aug. 12, with the Moon's shadow sweeping from far northern Siberia near the North Pole south through the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans before crossing Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, NASA said.

A man wearing a Triangle Native American Film Festival T-shirt stands outside the Rialto Theatre in Raleigh as attendees gather on the sidewalk behind him

Triangle Native American Film Festival Draws Crowd to Raleigh's Rialto Theatre

The Triangle Native American Society held its second annual Triangle Native American Film Festival on Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Rialto Theatre in Raleigh, screening Indigenous-made short films, documentaries and features to attendees who gathered outside the historic theater on Glenwood Avenue.

Bar chart of net nonfarm payroll change for May, June, and July 2026, showing revised gains of 63,000 and 20,000 and a July decline of 23,000

U.S. Employers Cut 23,000 Jobs in July as Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.1%

U.S. employers cut a net 23,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday in its Employment Situation summary for July 2026 (release USDL-26-1291). Both figures "changed little" over the month, the agency said, but the payroll count marked a second straight monthly decline in a labor market that had averaged monthly gains of 34,000 jobs over the prior 12 months.