26 MAY 26 SITREP

• Attorney General Ken Paxton is running against Senator John Cornyn in the Texas Senate runoff election on today, with Cornyn seeking a fifth term spanning 42 years in office, a feat no Texas senator has achieved, surpassing the tenures of Sam Houston, LBJ, John Tower, and Phil Graham.
• President Trump gave Paxton his complete and total endorsement, specifically citing Paxton’s support for the Save America Act, while Cornyn drew criticism for going on vacation for two weeks after claiming to support the bill, never delivering on it, and for previously calling Trump “an albatross around our neck” in 2016 and suggesting in 2024 that Trump’s “day had passed” and that Republicans should seek a different nominee.
• Cornyn’s campaign spent over $100 million, potentially close to $150 million, to portray him as a Trump ally, but his record includes being thanked by Joe Biden for restricting 2nd Amendment rights and for helping bring unvetted Afghan refugees to Texas, as well as pushing an open-border amnesty policy and fighting Trump on the border wall.
• Voter turnout remained a major concern, with fewer than 10 percent having voted in the runoff, Democrats outnumbering Republicans by approximately 130,000 votes in the March primaries, and Cornyn making a direct social media appeal for Democrats to cross over and vote in the open Republican primary, raising alarm among grassroots organizations that low conservative turnout could hand the race to the establishment candidate and demoralize Republicans ahead of November.

• The Trump administration entered a 60-day negotiating period with Iran following an initial memorandum of understanding, with the deal structured as conditions-based, requiring Iranian denuclearization and cessation of terror funding in exchange for phased sanctions relief and the potential release of frozen assets, summarized by the administration’s position of “no dust, no dollars,” meaning no enriched uranium turnover results in no sanctions relief.
• The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz proved to be the key leverage point that brought Iran to the negotiating table, applying economic pressure through control of one of the world’s top three sea lines of communication, while two Marine expeditionary units and a brigade combat team from the 82nd Airborne remained deployed in the region as a continued deterrent.
• The entire upper echelon of Iran’s military and government leadership had been eliminated in the early stages of the conflict, with all officials at the equivalent of two-star rank and above taken out within the first few days, leaving the new Supreme Leader communicating by what officials described as “carrier pigeon” because he was too afraid of digital communications being traced to reveal his location.
• U.S. Navy forces conducted limited strikes in the Bandar Abbas region after detecting evidence of mine-loading activity onto small boats, likely carried out by rogue IRGC Navy elements operating without authorization from Tehran due to the destruction or compromise of Iran’s entire command-and-control network, with the total number of deployed mines estimated at fewer than 50 across a 540-square-mile area of water.

• Sean Hudson, Director of Community Relations for the Washington Nationals MLB team, appeared in a video released by James O’Keefe and O’Keefe Media Group in which he revealed that pitcher Trevor Williams had been excluded from the team’s social media content and promotional activities because of his Catholic faith, specifically because Williams had publicly criticized the LA Dodgers for hosting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of drag performers who dressed as nuns, at their stadium.
• Hudson stated on camera that Williams was considered too Catholic for the team’s social media presence, citing his Catholic tattoos and his public defense of his religion as reasons the organization would not feature him in promotional content such as lighthearted player segments.
• The incident was connected to the broader 2023 LA Dodgers controversy in which approximately 3,000 Catholics and Christians from various denominations gathered outside Dodger Stadium in a march against the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence event, with Bishop Strickland among those participating in the demonstration against what they viewed as mockery of their faith.
• The video was presented as evidence of a double standard within professional sports organizations, where Pride Month events and LGBT-themed nights receive institutional promotion and support, while Christian expression is actively suppressed, with players who publicly profess their faith being sidelined from team media and community engagement efforts as a matter of internal organizational policy.