Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
Donald Trump’s investment portfolio raked in millions in oil and gas stocks while Americans all got gouged at the pump. Trump’s fiercely devoted blonde 35 year-old aide Natalie Harp’s deleted social media posts have come to light, revealing years of over-the-top devotion to the president. In Texas, conservatives are pledging to break with the Republican Party over their support for AI data centers. And a North Carolina bakery owner refused to let Trump’s former Border Patrol commander into his business, pointing to the very real fear immigrants have thanks to his actions.
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A new report from Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee reveals that Donald Trump’s oil and gas stocks may have gained as much as $15.5 million in value this year. Keep in mind, this is the direct result of Americans paying higher prices at the pump thanks to the war with Iran that Trump launched in February.
Trump reported owning somewhere between $12.5 million and $45.6 million in oil and gas stocks in his 2025 disclosure (financial disclosures only require a range, not an exact amount). The Joint Economic Committee found those stocks saw their value increase by roughly 39 percent on average through mid-August. That puts their estimated value as high as $61.1 million.
Trump’s biggest stakes in oil and gas companies are in ExxonMobil and Chevron. However, his shares of Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum have more than doubled in value since the beginning of 2026.
The White House insists that Trump has no say over his own investment portfolio. Spokesman Davis Ingle claims all of Trump’s stock trades are made by independent managers, with no input from the president or his family. Sure thing. Whatever you say.
While Trump’s spokespeople tell us that everything is on the level, the numbers suggest otherwise. CNBC has found Trump reported a staggering 21,000-plus securities transactions across eight accounts last year alone, which all hold at least $858 million in assets between them. Democrats also say the president bought up to $3.6 million in additional oil and gas stocks in the first three months of this year. That included shares in Chevron after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
According to the committee, major oil and gas producers pulled in a mind-blowing $125.2 billion in profits in just the first half of this year. Meanwhile, Americans spent an estimated $71.5 billion more on gas since Trump first attacked Iran.
We have a president who profits from a war he launched himself, everyday Americans footing the bill at the pump, and a do-nothing Republican Congress that seems to think all of this is fine and normal.
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CNN reporter Isabel Chapman recently discovered a deleted X account belonging to 35 year-old White House aide Natalie Harp, showing just how far back her fixation with Trump goes, and how intense it’s gotten. That apparently includes comparing Trump to figures from the Bible.
On January 6th, 2021, Harp posted more than 150 times, cheering on the violent mob that stormed the Capitol and attacked hundreds of police officers. She called the rioters patriots, and pushed the lie that the election had been stolen. Chapman called those posts a public display of loyalty, noting that she was working as an anchor at the MAGA propaganda outlet One America News at the time.
Harp had been publicly gushing over Trump since 2016. In one 2019 post, she even compared the man who has been found civilly liable for sexual abuse to the Good Samaritan from the Bible, claiming he personally saved her life through legislation he signed during his first term.
Experts have pushed back on that claim, pointing out that the law Harp is referencing wouldn’t have applied to her own medical situation, because the experimental treatment she received had already been approved by the FDA before the bill’s passage.
Harp’s cultish devotion continued over the years. In 2020, she wrote that America is only great because Donald Trump is in it. She then quoted scripture underneath a photo of him, and said she thanks “my God” whenever she thinks of Trump.
This report comes on the heels of a Daily Beast report from last week, in which Trump biographer Michael Wolff revealed the full text of fawning letters Harp wrote to the president in 2023. Wolff said he received the letters from Trump 2024 campaign staffers concerned about Harp and her proximity to Trump.
The New York Times has reported that Trump is keenly aware of how devoted Harp is to him, apparently telling members of his inner circle that Harp loves him as much as his own wife and kids. She was one of the few staffers who accompanied Trump while he was secretly smuggled via catering truck from Air Force One to a separate military jet in response to a threat from Iran. Trump left multiple Cabinet officials on board the decoy jet as it was leaving last month’s NATO summit in Turkey.
Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia put Harp in the spotlight during an August campaign rally, saying Trump had no desire to do the job as president and only wanted to “travel with Natalie” on board the “flying palace” he received as a gift from Qatar’s royal family.
Texas resident Twyla Lowry has voted for Republican Greg Abbott in every gubernatorial race for the past twelve years. But this November, she’s voting for his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa.
That’s not because she’s changed her political ideology. Lowry is still planning to vote for Republican Ken Paxton in Texas’ U.S. Senate race. But Hinojosa is calling for a moratorium on data center construction, and Abbott isn’t. For Lowry, that’s the single issue most important issue this year.
Texans like Lowry are making their feelings known. A recent Fox News poll shows Hinojosa is now within a single point of Abbott, in a state where Republicans usually dominate with a comfortable nine to twelve-point lead. Cook Political Report even updated its assessment of the Texas gubernatorial race from solid Republican to only likely Republican.
Conservatives are calling this strategy “Break Rank.” They’re committed to showing their distaste not by staying home on Election Day, but by actively casting their ballots for Democrats.
Republican Tom Weeks, a retired paper supply worker, has been fighting data centers and a noisy bitcoin mine for years. He says the GOP has done nothing to help him, and he’s now pledging to no longer support any incumbent Republican.
Former Republican state Senate candidate Rena Schroder, who now identifies as an independent, started a local Break Rank group that’s now grown to roughly 100 voters. She’s said the GOP’s corruption over data centers is to blame.
Gina Hinojosa is aiming to peel off enough disaffected conservatives, independents and rural voters to get the upset over Greg Abbott. She’s also calling national attention to the race by warning that an Abbott reelection means Texas Republicans will have free rein to gerrymander the state’s congressional map even more to where Lone Star State Democrats may no longer have any congressional representation at all.
Political scientists warn that Texas is still a tough territory for Democrats. Abbott’s is hoping to capitalize by attacking Democrats on crime. But lifelong Republicans organizing under a protest slogan shows that the Republican base has become truly disgusted with their party’s leadership.
Manolo Betancur, who is the owner of Manolo’s Bakery in Charlotte, North Carolina, says he refused entry to former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino this past Sunday.
Betancur wrote on his Instagram that the two had a tense confrontation over Bovino’s past actions during immigration crackdowns in Charlotte. Bovino reportedly asked why Betancur carries his U.S. passport with him regularly.
Betancur responded that he has no choice to do so, since people are being targeted because of the color of their skin rather than their nationality.
The bakery’s statement also addressed Operation Charlotte’s Web, which was the Department of Homeland Security’s designation for the Charlotte crackdown. Betancur said families are living in fear, workers are afraid to clock in to their jobs and small businesses are seeing their sales drop.
Betancur is known for his work in the community, previously being named a “Bread Hero” at the Tiptree World Bread Awards back in 2021 for his volunteer work. He told local outlet WCNC that he had to close temporarily during the immigration crackdown just to keep his customers and workers safe. He added that he’s now nearly $100,000 in debt, and that his business is suing DHS to be compensated for the losses.
Bovino became infamous during the so-called “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis, in which mother of three Renee Nicole Good was shot dead by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, and Alex Pretti was shot dead by two Customs and Border Protection officers. Bovino was eventually reassigned to El Centro, California, forced into retirement and replaced in Minneapolis by border czar Tom Homan.
After he announced his retirement, Bovino told the New York Times his only regret was that he couldn’t help deport more people, and that there was always a more creative way to get even more immigrants into federal custody.
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I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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