Trump Receives Fallen Troops, Hegseth Grilled On The Hill, Arizona Primary Results
July 22, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readPresident Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base to receive the remains of 18 U.S. service members killed by Iranian strikes, a solemn duty that has taken on new political weight as the war with Iran stretches into its eleventh day of continuous strikes. The president grew testy with reporters when pressed on the state of negotiations, insisting that Iran “wants to meet desperately to try and end it because they're getting decimated,” while simultaneously saying Iran is not ready to meet in a “meaningful way.” The disconnect reflects what the Cato Institute's Justin Logan described as a dangerous dynamic: Americans may not understand abstract concepts like munitions shortfalls, but “what's not abstract at all is Americans coming back in flag-draped caskets.” The rising casualty count, including a 19-year-old woman from Texas, is forcing uncomfortable questions about a war that has already lasted months longer than Trump predicted.
Hegseth grilled on the Hill for war funding
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:02) **Trump to Receive Fallen Troops at Dover** - President Trump travels to Dover Air Force Base for the dignified transfer of service members killed by Iranian strikes.
- 2 (05:33) **Hegseth Grilled on the Hill Over War Funding** - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Congress for $37.5 billion in additional funding for the war with Iran.
- 3 (09:14) **Arizona Primary: Trump-Backed Candidates Sweep** - Far-right candidates who deny the 2020 election results won key GOP primaries for governor and secretary of state.
- 4 Standout Quotes
- 5 (03:20) "The public doesn't like this conflict, but they're not that exercised about it as yet. He knows that the one way to get them exercised about it is to have large amounts of Americans coming home in flag draped coffins." — Justin Logan, Cato Institute, on the political risk of rising casualties.
- 6 (08:03) "If there's a lack of a winning strategy, they're in harm's way, their leaders have failed them... You don't have a strategy. You don't have a long term plan to actually win this war." — Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), confronting Defense Secretary Hegseth.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth got a grilling from both parties on Capitol Hill as he asked for billions more to fund a war Congress never voted to authorize, with 18 troops now dead and nearly 500 wounded.
And Arizona has picked its candidates for the fall, with Trump ally Andy Biggs, who tried to overturn the 2020 election, winning the Republican nomination for governor and setting up what could be one of the closest races in the country against Democrat Katie Hobbs.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Jason Breslow, Miguel Macias, Mohamad ElBardicy and Adriana Gallardo.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas
Our director is Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
And our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.
(0:00) Introduction
(01:59) Trump Receives Fallen Troops
(05:35) Hegseth Grilled On The Hill
(09:15) Arizona Primary Results
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