This is the July 31, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.

How do I start this day,

I who am unsure

of how my life has happened

or how to proceed

amid this warm and steady sweetness?

— Albert Garcia, “August Morning” 

August begins tomorrow, and baseball season starts in earnest. The Red Sox head to Dodger Stadium this weekend to square off against the best team money can buy. Because the Dodgers’ bloated payroll led to consecutive World Series championships, Major League Baseball is headed for a long strike next season centered around salary caps that would bring more parity to the game. 

As Jonathan Lemire lamented on “Morning Joe” this week, another strike-scarred season would destroy the momentum the game has gained over the last few years. 

Here’s hoping against hope that calmer minds will prevail. 

Now on to what we know is actually happening this weekend:

Tomorrow in Arlington, Virginia, it’s Dark Star Park Day — the one morning a year when the shadows of Nancy Holt’sconcrete spheres align perfectly with patterns embedded in the ground. It’s at 9:32 a.m. sharp. Blink and you’ll miss it.

In Boston’s North End, the St. Agrippina di Mineo Feast is already underway. Four days of free concerts, processions, and the kind of Italian street food (arancini, fried calamari, cannoli) that makes you forget you had other plans. Through Sunday. Buon appetito.

In New York, the 52nd annual Harlem Week begins tomorrow. Sixteen days of free concerts, street festivals, film screenings, and cultural programming celebrating the neighborhood’s legacy.

In Chicago, Lollapalooza kicked off yesterday and runs through Sunday. This year’s headliners — Charli XCX, Lorde, JENNIE, Tate McRae, The xx, the Smashing Pumpkins, Olivia Dean, John Summit — include the festival’s first-ever all-female main stage slate, and more than 170 acts fill eight stages. Can’t be there? Catch the livestream.

In Austin, the Pan African Film Festival returns for its fourth annual Texas series, presenting the most acclaimed films from PAFF’s February run in Los Angeles. Narratives, documentaries, and shorts, with 10 Texas premieres. 

For the romantics: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami brings back Moonlight Garden tonight — lantern-lined paths, telescopes for stargazing, and guided meditation under the night sky. 

And tonight in San Francisco, the Giants Slumber Party takes over Oracle Park. Watch the Giants-Padres game on the scoreboard, follow it with a screening of “Zootopia 2,” then sleep on the field until morning. 

Now, on to your letters.

MAILBAG

Why in the world is the Supreme Court even considering reviewing Trump’s “emergency” to ban mail-in voting? Mail-in vote primaries have been held and are being held throughout the country. Will they be invalidated? Is that how they will steal the vote?

— Keith M., Connecticut

Though one can never be surprised by how this 6-3 conservative majority will rule in Supreme Court cases, an adverse ruling would go against a pile of court cases that held elections should be constitutionally carried out by states. 

Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1 says:

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.”

Congress could alter laws regarding mail-in balloting, but given statements from Senate Republicans, that is highly unlikely. Republican Majority Leader John Thune, and many of his fellow senators, believe elections are regulated at the state level, not from the White House. 

That is bad news for Donald Trump and good news for American democracy. 

If Dems take one or both chambers of Congress in November, given that Trump is still in office, what’s one thing they could actually accomplish to help Americans and shore up prospects for 2028?

— Julie B.

Democrats would do well to focus on making healthcare more affordable, passing legislation that eases the housing crunch, and push back against tariffs from the Trump White House that cause the price of groceries, cars, and consumer goods to go way up. 

Their oversight committees should work around the clock investigating the multiple layers of corruption that have infected Washington politics, distorted free markets, twisted foreign policy, and defined the past two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. 

Joe, with all the great young pitching talent fueling this great Red Sox resurgence, are you concerned that returning veterans [Garrett] Crochet and [Ranger] Suárez will disrupt their mojo?

— Greg F.

When it comes to having them back on the mound, I have no concerns at all! Crochet and Suárez will add to one of the best young pitching staffs in all of baseball. The fact that we have missed the services of our best pitcher over the past several months is easy to forget, because the Red Sox have had the best team in baseball since June. Getting both of them healthy and back on the mound as we move toward the pennant race should only make Boston more competitive. 

Do you have a turntable and a record collection?

— Jon M.

Mika got me a really good record player and sound system a few years ago on my birthday. Her audiophile guide was none other than music enthusiast and “Morning Joe” family member John Heilemann. 

It was an exciting day and it gave me a chance to dust off a decades-old record collection that still brings back beautiful memories! There’s nothing quite like pulling an album out and listening to music while staring at liner notes and lyrics printed on the album covers. That awesomely analog experience remains irreplaceable by streaming on Spotify and digging through old digitally mastered CD collections.

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