All the President’s Men
Trump’s doubling down on unpopular parts show a White House not serving him well
Grade deflation📝: Harvard University voted to cap the number of “A’s” awarded to students — under the new policy, A’s can make up no more than 20% of the letter grades given in a course.
Why a vote❓: Faculty now get cover from angry parents and students attacking them for not giving them an “A.”
🤷Want to talk about entitled kids — there’s a lot of entitled parents out there too.
🤦Over 60% of undergraduate grades at Harvard were A’s — you had to work NOT to get an A.
Look back🔙: In 2012-13, A’s made up only 35% of letter grades at Harvard
Good read📰: The New York Times headlines, “60 Percent of Grades at Harvard Were A’s. Enough Is Enough.”
Tonight📺: My sister, Liberty Vittert Capito, who is a professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Liberty headlined, “Why top colleges’ professors are giving up and just giving everybody an A” in 2023.
America’s (next) 51st state👀: The USS Nimitz and its strike group arrived in the Caribbean this week.
Deja vu🤔: The indictment of Castro, Rubio beating war drums, and the military moves feel a lot like December — shortly thereafter, Delta Forces grabbed Maduro and changed Venezuela.
Watch tonight📺: Amb. John Bolton on whether Trump can make Cuba America’s next 51st state.
Bonus➕: As we showed you last night, Trump’s continual embarrassment of Russian and Chinese client states helps America.
Blind them🤷: Both Russia and Chinese intelligence operate massive electronic spy facilities on Cuba — wouldn’t hurt for those to close
Political Malpractice‼️
🤦The Trump White House keeps shooting itself in the foot — it wasn’t always this way
👀This is in stark contrast to the campaign where Trump capitalized over and over on Democrats’ mistakes
🤦Democrats couldn’t respond — just read their 2024 autopsy that shows they still don’t get it.
Yet👎: From the ballroom to revenge primary picks to the new “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” Trump keeps focusing on the most unpopular parts of his presidency.
🤦Today, Trump’s acting attorney general couldn’t sell the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to Republican senators — that’s like not being able to sell popsicles at the Iowa State Fair.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., slammed Todd Blanche over a “slush fund to pay people who assault cops”
‼️This is despite things Trump can and should champion
The continued deportation of criminal illegals let in during the Biden administration
The closed border
The successes in Venezuela
The success of San Francisco based on a deal he made with the local mayor
The stock market
Investment in U.S. manufacturing
📃The list goes on of things broadly popular Trump could take on the road
Rule❗: When smart people do stupid things, there is something you don’t understand
Missing🔎: Many of those who kept the MAGA coalition together and Trump focused through the campaign and into the start of the administration are missing or distracted
Chief of staff Susie Wiles has breast cancer
Deputy chief of staff James Blair is off running the midterms
Sen. Markwayne Mullin is now at the Department of Homeland Security
Zoom out🌍: It’s very unclear whether the president’s men (and women) are telling him the truth.
Other option👀: As often happens with second-term presidents, they are surrounded by “yes” men while the talent starts thinking about what’s next.
Watch tonight📺: Shelby Talcott and Mark McKinnon on why Trump refuses to champion the things that win.
Everybody Hates Everybody‼️
📄The Democrats’ long-awaited, “top secret” autopsy on why they lost in 2024 was finally released, and the people most angry are Democrats
David Hogg: “If our party can not come together and rise up and show people that we are the people fighting for the little guy, that we are the people fighting against the special interests that are making your life so much harder. We don’t have much of a future as a party… We didn’t need an autopsy to tell us the Democratic party doesn’t know what the f**k they are doing right now ”
AOC: “I don’t think it’s plausible at all… The fact that it’s not included at all is—I mean, that’s nuts.”
Rep. Debbie Dingell: “I don’t know who was interviewed for this report. I don’t know where it was coming from.”
👀Their view— President Joe Biden sucks. Kamala Harris is awesome, and the Democrats had a messaging problem.
🤦The reason they didn’t want to let it out is that they aren’t being honest about what went wrong
🤷 Amber Duker, editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller, perfectly points out everything the autopsy DIDN’T mention:
“Inflation or Bidenflation
Podcasts
Women’s sports, bathrooms
Pronouns
Catholics, Christians, or evangelicals
‘Religion’ or ‘Religious’
White men
Anything related to MAHA
Gas prices”
📰Our buddy Chris Cillizza points out everything you need to see in the 192-page report.
Click HERE to read.
Reality‼️: We’re five months out from midterms, and Democrats have almost everything going for them.
👎War in Iran is a disaster
⛽Gas prices are at all-time highs
📉Trump’s disapproval rating is at Nixon levels — 71% disapprove
BUT🤦: Democrats keep getting more unpopular and can’t expect to win if they can’t face the truth.
📉Polling show 53% are dissatisfied with the party
Truth☑️: Politics is downstream of culture — team blue still believes culturally they are in the right place.
Tonight📺: Our friend Mike Nellis on the Democratic Party’s continued self-inflicted wounds (much like Trump)
Fair question❓: Can it get worse?
What I don’t get🤦: Democrats would rather embrace a guy with a Nazi tattoo – Graham Platner than Andy Beshear or Spencer Pratt
📰See Time magazine’s cover that conveniently leaves out his Nazi tattoo of 20 years.
Ebola Outbreak Coming⚠️
🚨In three weeks, over a million visitors from all over the world will come to the United States for the World Cup — and a rare strain of Ebola is emerging.
Fair question❓: What could go wrong?
⚠️The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency after an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
❗ There have been over 600 suspected cases
❗160 plus suspected deaths.
❗There’s no medication or vaccine to treat the rare strain.
The strain’s average mortality rate is 50%
Question❓: This Ebola seems to perhaps spread more easily?
What could go wrong: 10 African teams are playing in the World Cup — including DR Congo’s national team.
✈️The team still plans to travel to Europe and the US.
Tonight: Dr. Ashish K. Jha, whether it’s time for aggressive measures.