Take a minute to [un]wind with our Sunday morning newsletter. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on what you may have missed from [un]Divided this week.

Squandering the Senate:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seemed glum this week as he weighed the prospects of Republicans retaking the U.S. Senate.

“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate, McConnell said. “Senate races are just different, they’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”

I tend to share McConnell’s concerns about candidate quality (hear my thoughts from Friday’s episode at the 1:20 mark).

Donald Trump, on the other hand, laid the blame squarely on McConnell – in a way only the former president would.

"Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken-down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate," Trump wrote in a social media post. "This is such an affront to honor and to leadership. He should spend more time (and money!) helping them get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!"

Yikes.

Understandable that Trump would take issue with McConnell’s slight considering he’s personally endorsed many of the GOP senate candidates competing in November, but his attack on McConnell underscores the seriousness of the rift in the party.

If Republican factions can’t put their differences aside come November, they can kiss any remaining chance of a red wave goodbye.

Housing without help?:

Local governments have been on a buying spree, scooping up vacant hotels to use as housing for the homeless. In theory, it’s a good idea – I’ve always wondered why we didn’t make better use of existing spaces (like empty malls or defunct big box stores) to get people off the streets.

But what happens once they’re there is just as important as getting them there in the first place.

In Snohomish County, Washington, the county council voted this week to purchase a vacant hotel – but held off on deciding whether to require its future occupants to undergo drug treatment as a condition of occupancy (only if, of course, they have a drug dependency problem).

The commonsense proposal was put forth by County Councilman Nate Nehring, who joined Wednesday’s subscriber only episode to talk about it (Watch it at the 16:40 mark).

“The more that we as a society can push them in the right direction to make the decision to get treatment, to get healthy, and to get them back on their feet – the better,” he said.

As it stands, the council intends to make wraparound services (like drug and mental health counseling) an optional part of the hotel program, but some fear that making it mandatory would only keep people on the streets.

A look at Seattle’s drug crisis:

On Monday, former KOMO-TV reporter Jonathan Choe joined [un]Divided to talk about his latest project (Choe now covers homelessness for Discovery Institute). You can watch our interview at the 10:15 mark.

Choe and I discussed his new series, “Seattle’s Unending Drug Crisis,” which takes an up-close look at how crime, drug abuse, and homelessness intersect to create a true wasteland in the heart of the city.

Like the now infamous “Seattle is Dying” report, Choe’s work gives an unflinching view of the true state of a once great city – but does so without all the cheesy storytelling. Give it a watch, I think you’ll find it eye opening: https://fixhomelessness.org/2022/seattles-unending-drug-crisis/

Housekeeping!

Correction: On Friday's episode, I referred to Mitch McConnell as the Senate Majority Leader. He is the Senate Minority Leader. Wishful thinking?

Locals supporters: Our next LIVE subscriber Q&A will be Sunday, August 28, at 8pm. Look out for a link with more information and get your best questions ready. If you haven’t joined one of our Q&A’s already – stop on by and hang out (virtually, of course)!

Have a great week – thank you all for supporting our mission to bring common sense back to news and politics.