“On the left, we are now seeing the culmination of a number of movements and events that happened over the last decade: Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Sanders’s 2016 campaign, Donald Trump’s election, Trump’s presidency, the emergence of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ‘The Squad,’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s and Sanders’s 2020 campaigns, and the protests after George Floyd’s death during a police arrest. These events and movements built on one another. For example, it is likely the protests over Floyd’s death were so large, in part, because many of the people attending them had become more passionate about fighting racism in America because of Trump’s presidency. … The result has been a big shift in public opinion on the left — many of the views I noted above were held by few people and even fewer major public figures like politicians as recently as five years ago.”
It’s one thing to, at Christmas, give your kid an Atari.
It’s another thing, at midlife, to gift yourself a Ferrari.
But when you’re the U.S. President,
You’ve got to be wary of those emoluments,
And don’t go accepting $400 million jets from the Qataris.
“Democrats are coming around to a new mantra: winning the argument is less important than winning elections. If the path to victory means embracing economic populism, they’ll do it. If they have to make room for new faces, then sayonara, old friends. If they need to tack to the center on some social issues, so be it. If winning requires doing more podcasts, or embracing Instagram influencers, or campaigning on permitting reform, they’ll give it a try. Because now that Democrats have seen what a second Trump presidency looks like, they’re relearning the lesson they should have known all along: only winning is winning.”
“Well, tariffs are taxes, and when you put a tax on a business, it’s always passed through as a cost. So, there will be higher prices. The only trade that means anything is the individual who buys something. That’s the only real trade. And that by very definition, if it’s voluntary, is mutually beneficial, or the trade doesn’t occur.”
“It appears that Trump does care about the internal character of regimes he deals with. Rather than following a foreign policy that ignores values altogether, Trump has a clear preference for values that are, in the American context, historically anomalous or—to put it in less neutral terms—bad. And he wishes to spread those values around the world. … Whatever you say about this policy, it is not amoral. The primary difference between the Trump doctrine and traditional American values promotion is that the former, rather than seeking to impose a moral world order, aspires to create an immoral one.”
“This isn’t ‘The Hunger Games’ for immigrants. This is not, ‘Hey, if you lose, we are shipping you out on a boat out of the country.’”
— Television producer Rob Worsoff, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, confirming that he’s working with the Department of Homeland Security on a reality television show.
“While many have speculated that the Qataris have offered Trump the luxurious plane to curry favor with the famously transactional president, there may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore. … The royals have failed to sell the plane, which was put on the market in 2020, according to an archived listing. Giving it away could save Qatar’s rulers a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs… Making Trump happy would be an added bonus.”
According to new Axios Harris Poll 100 survey results, Elon Musk’s polarizing political activism appears to have come at the expense of his largest companies, as Republicans expressed more favorable opinions than did Democrats. Tesla was in 8th place in the 2021 reputation ranking of America’s 100 most visible companies, but last year tumbled to 63rd and now is near the very bottom at 95th. It placed dead last in “character,” while placing near the bottom in areas like “ethics” and “citizenship. Six other automakers place higher, with the highest being Toyota at No. 4 and the lowest being Ford at No. 60.
“Pope Leo XIV spurned J.D. Vance on Sunday, offering him a quick greeting after his inaugural mass while holding extensive private meetings with other world leaders,” the Daily Beast reports. “The first American pope shook Vance’s hand during a brief, 17-second exchange during the procession line after the mass.”
“The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya,” NBC News reports. “In exchange for the resettling of Palestinians, the administration would potentially release to Libya billions of dollars of funds that the U.S. froze more than a decade ago.”
A new J.L. Partners survey found 46% of Republican voters are ready to back Vice President J.D. Vance as President Donald Trump’s successor, while no other named prospect got more than double-digit support. Just 8% would back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, while 7% supported Vivek Ramaswamy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) each received 6% support.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has requested a $50 million in the Coast Guard budget for a new Gulfstream 5 for her personal travel, The Hill reports.