How to Win the Peace‼️
How the war is ended is more important than when!
Busy man👀: Secretary Marco Rubio is a man of many jobs — is president next?
👍Another day, and another great headline for Rubio
✈️Today, he met with the pope to try and patch things up
➗American Catholics are split on their view of Trump and the pope — largely, Democrat Catholics like the pope more than Republicans
🗣️Earlier this week, Rubio filled in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and when asked about what his hope was for America, this was his response:
Rubio: “My hope for America is what it’s always been. I think it’s the hope I hope we all share. We want it to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, where you’re not limited by the circumstances of your birth, by the color of your skin, by your ethnicity, but frankly, it’s a place where you are able to overcome challenges and achieve your full potential.”
Yikes 😬: The ladies of “The View” have their own thoughts
Alyssa Farah Griffin: “I think that every time Marco Rubio speaks, JD Vance is kind of in the fetal position.”
📈Now, the Kalshi betting market has him beating out Vice President JD Vance
Watch tonight📺: One of our favorite guests, Monsignor Jim Lisante of Our Lady of Lourdes, joins us as the pope has now become a player in American politics, and the two leading Republicans are Catholics.
Peace Is Often Messier than War‼️
🚨The quixotic focus by America’s media and Democrats on “ending” the war with Iran risks bullying President Trump into a bad deal.
TEST📃: Today, U.S. forces struck Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz — the U.S. says that doesn’t mean the ceasefire is over
“Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) transited the international sea passage. No U.S. assets were struck.”
Zoom out🌎: This looks like “Project Freedom” — the Iranians fired at ships in the gulf — America stopped the threat.
Oops😬: The Iranians hit a Chinese ship — pro tip: firing on ships of your only friend doesn’t help.
‼️It shows how disorganized the Iranians are.
Double oops😬: While the Iranian foreign minister visited Beijing ahead of Trump’s visit next week
At home🏠: Trump is under a lot of pressure domestically to end this thing.
🤷It would be a lot easier to end the war if the Iranians saw everyone in America supporting the war
Small ball👀: As we showed you last night, Democrats and much of the media are focused solely on gas prices — an important but relatively small part of the story.
➗The Iranians and Chinese love nothing more than a divided America that they can play off each other.
Abroad✈️: China seeing that even temporary American pain can be exploited puts Trump at a HUGE disadvantage when he meets with Xi next week.
Tonight📺: Jennifer Gavito, former acting principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, and Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Sponsored message from Center for the Environment and Welfare
🫣Things you may not know about the ASPCA:
🐺The ASPCA promotes an anti-hunting agenda.
❌The group states that it is “opposed to hunting.”
🗳️The ASPCA has supported ballot initiatives that would restrict hunting.
💥The ASPCA also attacks farmers:
🧑🌾The ASPCA wants a national moratorium on the construction of large modern animal farms.
🍳The group supports laws banning the sale of regular eggs and pork
To find out more, visit EnvironmentAndWelfare.com
Midterm Meshugaas🫨
‼️Like anything else about Trump-era politics, even the sharpest political minds in Washington can’t seem to figure out how the midterms are gonna go.
Mark Halperin: “I had one Republican consultant say to me today that if the war drags on, they will lose the Senate. It wasn’t ‘we might lose’, it was ‘we will lose’”
Bill Maher: “I do think the midterms are gonna be a blowout.”
Karl Rove: “The idea that this is gonna be a Tsunami like we’ve seen in the past is not born out by the data yet.”
👀Is it the Democrats or Republicans fooling themselves here — because nobody can agree
❗On one hand, President Trump and the MAGA base think their wins in Indiana on Tuesday show that everything is smooth sailing in the party
🗳️Six Trump-backed challengers defeated incumbent senators who broke ties with Trump
❗The other side is saying the GOP is in serious trouble
📊Trump’s approval rating is at 40%
Look back🔙: At this point in President Obama’s second term, his approval was 44%
President George W. Bush was at 35%
President Clinton was at 53%
📊His approval on key issues is dismal
Democrats remain undefeated in special elections since Trump took office — not to mention outperforming in both Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races
BUT the Democratic-backed redistricting measure BARELY squeaked through
Good read: The Wall Street Journal Opinion headlines, “The GOP Defeats Itself in Indiana,” writing:
“The entire effort cost $13.5 million, which could have gone to beating Democrats”
Tonight📺: Mark McKinnon, Shelby Talcott and Mike Nellis on which side is being fooled.
Bonus➕: Frank Luntz posted about Americans losing friends left and right over politics, writing on X:
“37% of Americans say they’ve experienced a ‘political breakup’ (with a friend, family members, co-worker, or romantic partner) at some point in their lives.”
Party matters: “47% of Democrats reported having experienced a political breakup, compared to just 29% of Republicans.
“Independents fell in between, at 39%.”
“Among those who reported a political breakup, 66% of Democrats said they were the one who ended the relationship, compared to only 27% of Republicans.”
LA’s Next Batman🦸
🎬There was one clear winner in last night’s Los Angeles mayoral debate — the former reality TV star Spencer Pratt.
👀I would also say “reality” was a winner — Pratt is the only candidate remotely in touch with reality.
📺Pratt was already winning in the campaign ads — here are some:
“LA is worth saving. Vote Spencer Pratt” – (note: this ad was made to support Pratt)
👏Last night, he exceeded expectations in his debut
🗣️Calling out Mayor Karen Bass’ botched response to the Palisades Fire
Pratt: “Mayor Bass and I are definitely not going to be working together. I blame this person for burning my house and my parents house and my town and all my neighbors down.”
🗣️Plus called out her lies about the wildfire response:
Pratt: “She’s an incredible liar. Everyone on their phones. Google it. 40 weather stations in the Pacific Palisades it never went above 40 miles per hour. She’s referencing the Altadena Fire.”
📱He continued to highlight her lies today, watch
Hope🙏: Pratt is running a campaign similar to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, except with policies that might work.
👀He’s trying to take the knees out of the establishment, fix what’s broken in LA and address the people’s needs
🤷Shocking — maybe that is what people are looking for.
Tonight📺: Evan Barker, the author of “Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative”