American rage🤬: For the first time in history, the worse Main Street does, the better Wall Street does — that reality breaks the bond of fairness that makes America great.
It’s why populist grievance is working now on both sides
Look back🔙: The populist movement in America died many times
The anger makes the midterms far, far more complicated
Democrats could win in South Carolina, and Republicans could win in Minnesota
Will that fix things — no
Watch tonight📺: The 2Way trio Mark Halperin, Larry O’Connor and Kevin Walling on whether either side even CARES about fixing the problem — rather than riding the anger bus.
Women are angry😡: I didn’t write that headline — one of my (female) producers did, so spare me in the comments.
Young women now believe men are at the root of their problems.
Women outnumber men in the workforce.
Women are more likely to go to college.
What do they have to be angry about?
📰Fortune headlines: “For the third time in history, women outnumber men in the workforce as the stay-at-home boyfriend becomes an economic trend”
ICYMI📱: I went live with former White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri today — watch here — she joined us to promote her series “Long Play” about Democrats trying to win back the South.
📺I’ve watched it — it’s good but painfully superficial. We tried to drill down deeper.
“Why Democrats are winning the South”
Palmieri says, “Democrats from red states, particularly Democrats from the South, make for good presidential candidates because you know Jon Ossoff and Senator Warnock in Georgia have had to make an argument. You know, they may end up at the same place as a lot of Democratic senators do on policy in the United States Senate. But they have had a well-thought-out argument that can appeal to independents and Republicans.”
We also talk about how Democrats lost their way fighting Trump for the past 10 years.
Saved from Super Intelligence🖥️: Late this afternoon, President Trump announced we don’t have to worry about AI anymore — it’s now SI, super intelligence, and all the companies agreed to “police themselves.”
Forgive me🤷: I don’t trust Dario Amodei or Sam Altman to do anything — they must be economically incentivized to do it.
Watch tonight📺: Will Trump actually hold the AI bros to their agreements?
Plus why Dario Amodei of Anthropic can’t stop grinning — what he knows that we don’t.
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Schmitt for the Dunk🏀: Eric Schmitt of Missouri started the morning as a rising star and JD Vance’s possible vice president pick — and ended as the butt of many jokes.
📱If you looked at right-wing Twitter today, people like Benny Johnson told you they caught Trump prosecutor and special counsel Jack Smith.
The Right celebrated!!!
Benny has since deleted the tweet after getting shellacked
🤦Turns out they didn’t — and instead, Senator Eric Schmitt from Missouri beclowned himself.
Senator Schmitt claims Smith was at an Atlanta Hawks basketball game the day after Fani Willis announced her affair —
Hinting the trip to the game was a chance to meet with Willis.
Schmitt said Smith had already perjured himself.
What the right-wing media isn’t showing you is that it turns out Senator Schmitt had his facts wrong.
Smith wasn’t at an Atlanta Hawks basketball game — some Senate staffer misread the texts.
Smith was actually at a game in Maryland — where he was watching Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes play … not the Atlanta Hawks.
Be fair⚖️: In a town of arrogant people like D.C is, Jack Smith stands above all in arrogance and righteousness
His unbridled attempt to put an American president in jail for the first time ever deserves real scrutiny —
We told you when it happened Smith brought back memories of Lavrentiy Beria — “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.”
🤦What did Sen. Schmitt do? He made a mockery of the whole thing and then defended it.
We look at the world as right vs. wrong — wouldn’t it be nice if Schmitt took just a semblance of responsibility and apologized?
He did to Smith what so many have done to Trump
Iran on edge🚨: Iran is getting really nervous about what we told you they were going to get nervous about — a collapse of the IRGC because of economic strangulation.
📉Iran’s currency hit a new low today —
If we are able to bring down Iran from the inside, that will be an enormous success for President Trump.
Iranian security forces are now patrolling the streets in Tehran and other major cities as they prepare for more unrest.
Tonight📺: Mick Mulvaney and Vice Admiral Robert Harward on whether we can push them over the edge.








Not to worry---no one---LITERALLY no one ---wants JD Vance to be the nominee. He's Tucker adjacent. And he's beclowned himself. His inability to end his friendship with Tucker and his unending willingness to stick up for the guy has completely disqualified him from ever being a nom.