The Punisher: Vigilante Justice Unleashed

                    <div class="gform_heading">
                        <p class="gform_description"><strong>The Reason Roundup Newsletter by Liz Wolfe</strong> Liz and <i>Reason</i> help readers interpret the day's events each morning.</p>
                    </div><form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" target="gform_ajax_frame_26" id="gform_26" class="incontent-email-signup" action="/2026/07/21/punisher/#gf_26" data-formid="26" novalidate>                 <div style="display: none !important;" class="akismet-fields-container gf_invisible" data-prefix="ak_">
                    <label>Δ<textarea name="ak_hp_textarea" cols="45" rows="8" maxlength="100"></textarea></label>
                    <input type="hidden" id="ak_js_1" name="ak_js" value="103">

                </div><div class="gf_invisible ginput_recaptchav3" data-sitekey="6LeMnkUaAAAAALL8T1-XAyB7vxpOeTExu6KwR48-" data-tabindex="0"><input id="input_77a7d106b5a3daabeb91ef4d5ea8543c" class="gfield_recaptcha_response" type="hidden" name="input_77a7d106b5a3daabeb91ef4d5ea8543c" value=""></div>
                    <div class="gform-body gform_body"><div id="gform_fields_26" class="gform_fields top_label form_sublabel_below description_below validation_below"><div id="field_26_2" class="gfield gfield--type-honeypot gform_validation_container field_sublabel_below gfield--has-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label gform-field-label" for="input_26_2">X/Twitter</label><div class="ginput_container"><input name="input_2" id="input_26_2" type="text" value="" autocomplete="new-password"></div><div class="gfield_description" id="gfield_description_26_2">This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.</div></div><div id="field_26_1" class="gfield gfield--type-email gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below hidden_label field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label gform-field-label" for="input_26_1">Email<span class="gfield_required"><span class="gfield_required gfield_required_text">(Required)</span></span></label><div class="ginput_container ginput_container_email">
                        <input name="input_1" id="input_26_1" type="email" value="" class="large" placeholder="Email Address" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false">
                    </div></div></div></div>
    <div class="gform-footer gform_footer top_label"> <button type="submit" id="gform_submit_button_26" class="gform_button button" onclick="gform.submission.handleButtonClick(this);" data-submission-type="submit">SUBSCRIBE</button> <input type="hidden" name="gform_ajax" value="form_id=26&amp;title=&amp;description=1&amp;tabindex=0&amp;theme=orbital&amp;styles=[]&amp;hash=76587b67f16e8e6a0475c0519ba6b987">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_submission_method" data-js="gform_submission_method_26" value="iframe">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_theme" data-js="gform_theme_26" id="gform_theme_26" value="orbital">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_style_settings" data-js="gform_style_settings_26" id="gform_style_settings_26" value="[]">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="is_submit_26" value="1">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_submit" value="26">

        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_currency" data-currency="USD" value="7xloCnivpWKcYCl9WkPGAm37k6Ql6EP0vx687WhQbB2RUUErT6HjoYjBpa9PWsn7kOAt2Yr8BNswWhtKZEY29w2G1YhmGhPA2qLzt7/THhHSi6I=">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_unique_id" value="">
        <input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="state_26" value="WyJbXSIsIjVmZDk0MDRiMTc0NTYwODJmYTIwNGZlZDYxN2ViYzJjIl0=">
        <input type="hidden" autocomplete="off" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_target_page_number_26" id="gform_target_page_number_26" value="0">
        <input type="hidden" autocomplete="off" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_source_page_number_26" id="gform_source_page_number_26" value="1">
        <input type="hidden" name="gform_field_values" value="">

    </div>
                    </form>
                    </div>
                    <iframe style="display:none;width:0px;height:0px;" src="https://reason.com/2026/07/21/punisher/about:blank" name="gform_ajax_frame_26" id="gform_ajax_frame_26" title="This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms."></iframe>

This seems like not only a poor justification but perhaps a sham. Smoke from wildfires has lately drifted across large portions of the Midwest and the Northeast, keeping people indoors during the hot season. My read is that Trump might be aiming to penalize Canada for its handling of wildfires, which has irked Americans for several summers running—and this narrative aligns with reports that Trump spoke with Canada’s prime minister at the FIFA World Cup and urged him to bring those blazes under control. (Senior administration officials who spoke to Semafor say the tariffs are not tied to the fires.)

“The new 50% tariffs would carve out energy products, potash, fish, and essential minerals, but they would cover goods that were previously shielded from tariffs under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA,” NPR reports. “That 2020 trade pact was not renewed by the U.S., triggering fresh negotiations that could last until 2036. The White House stated in a fact sheet that the duties would take effect in 30 days, leaving room for negotiation as Trump has not always followed through on his promised import taxes.”

The tariffs would affect cement, dairy, furniture, paper, apparel, swimming pools, wine, and plywood. The president is invoking “Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which lets a president impose punitive tariffs up to 50% on trading partners deemed to discriminate against U.S. goods,” Reuters notes. This would mark the law’s first documented use in nearly a century of existence.

The tariffs are almost certain to be challenged in court—like many of Trump’s prior tariff moves.

---

We’re becoming more like China: “The phone is always within reach, anywhere and anytime, offering a flawless stream of mindless entertainment when your focus is pulled in a hundred directions,” writes Xochitl Gonzalez for The Atlantic.Enter: the micro-drama. These glossy, soap-like episodes last only a minute and are designed to be viewed vertically on a handset. They move swiftly, designed to ensnare viewers almost instantly. Relying heavily on familiar tropes, they lean more toward a soap opera than cinema. Recently, a show titled Screen Time, produced by Issa Rae’s company, drew 75 million views in a single week—across TikTok and TikTok’s own micro-drama platform PineDrama. The series, which comprises 57 installments, follows two couples on a double date that devolves into chaos after a mysterious figure hacks their devices and compels them to spill their secrets. An estimated 28 million people are watching series on PineDrama, and it’s just one of several micro-drama sites. Who are these audiences? Many are women, many are members of Gen Z, and many are people of color.”

As Gonzalez reminds us, the phenomenon has already taken root in China, where creators have been explicit about making these mini-telenovelas to grab the attention of people with limited means. And they’re largely low quality: “The rise of micro-dramas coincides with the rise of AI, and in China, more than 95 percent of the micro-dramas released early this year were AI-generated,” writes Gonzalez. “Screen Time is a human-driven project—live actors filmed by crews. But PineDrama also offers AI-driven shows, and those could become the norm here as well.”

True enough, we’ve always had low-caliber TV products. Yet we’re increasingly carrying pocket-sized televisions—and casinos, porn kiosks, and shopping centers—everywhere we go, with scant opportunity to regulate our consumption. Perhaps I’m a bit influenced by Jonathan Haidt’s perspectives, but I worry about what the future holds when we fail to protect kids’ attention spans and they step into adulthood surrounded by junk.

---

Scenes from New York: Checking in on my most pampered neighbors…

Unintentionally heartbreaking. Doing it *to this degree* is reserved for the ultra-wealthy, but *plenty* of upper-middle-class families in big cities like New York do a version of this. When so much of parenting & household-management is professionalized:
-the standards ratchet… pic.twitter.com/KtPfAlnAQf

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) July 20, 2026

---

QUICK TAKES

• Someone stop the kids, they’re Nixonmaxxing! reports The Wall Street Journal: “Watergate has long been considered one of the biggest political scandals in American history. After five men were arrested breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972, investigators uncovered links to Nixon’s re-election campaign and an extensive effort by the White House to cover it up. The scandal led to Nixon’s resignation, landed some of his closest advisers in jail and ushered in a far-reaching legislative crackdown on executive overreach. Now, Nixon is being recast as a forerunner of ‘America First’ by a new generation of conservatives: a combative president loathed by the press and besieged by investigators who was brought down by the same establishment they believe targeted President Trump.”
• “Frank Bisignano, the head of the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration, sits atop two government organizations that store vast reams of sensitive financial data about every taxpayer,” reports The Wall Street Journal. More than a decade ago, he was co-chief operating officer at JPMorgan Chase, another perch that gave him visibility and authority over every part of a massive financial institution. At the bank, people familiar with the matter said, he spied on fellow executives—using his authority over the security department and position to access sensitive information and internal communications without an apparent business justification.”
• “President Trump quietly denied nearly 6,000 clemency applications this month from people who mostly lacked political connections and had waited patiently in a queue while he awarded pardons and commutations to allies who had skipped the line,” reports The New York Times.

                    </div><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>