I Mean It — This Time‼️
Trump’s challenge in Beijing is directly opposed to his own short-term interests
Today‼️: FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned because apparently he doesn’t want kids addicted to nicotine by flavored vapes.
What happened👀: Dr. Makary “moved on” (?) in Trump’s words after disagreeing with a few Trump constituencies — the pro-lifers and nicotine lovers, aka Big Tobacco.
🚬He left over concerns about the administration’s approval of fruit-flavored vapes
What I’m thinking💭: Wouldn’t it be more of a problem if Makary did approve of the fruit-flavored vapes?
🤦Doesn’t that mean he was doing his job?
🤦Nothing about making America healthy again says it’s okay to use flavored vapes
Nearly 90% of current vapers use flavored vapes, with fruit flavors being the most popular
More than half of younger vape users use products with “Ice” or “Iced” in the name — usually meaning some kind of minty or fruit flavor.
Yikes😬: Keeping flavored vapes out of the hands of children gets you kicked out of the Trump administration.
How Does Trump Convince China He’s Serious?👀
✈️When Donald Trump arrives in Beijing, his biggest challenge is convincing President Xi he is serious.
❗Serious about Iran
❗Serious about defending Taiwan
❗Serious about holding China to account for stealing our industrial and military secrets at a level never before seen
❗Serious about kicking Chinese spies out — like the one who became mayor in a California town
❗Serious about holding China to account for its bullying and thievery.
❗Serious about forcing China to live up to all their deals, like supplying rare earth metals and buying American soybeans
⚠️All the talk about who holds the cards or the upper hand misses the much larger point — Trump’s refusal to punish Iran for playing him only emboldens Xi to use the same playbook.
But look👀: Trump comes from a position of strength, argues an excellent Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined, “Trump Heads to Beijing with a Strong Hand,” writing:
“Slanted media insist Xi holds all the cards, but the U.S. could get concessions if it presses its advantage.”
📺We said as much and more last night
Be fair⚖️: Xi has an enormous advantage because he doesn’t have midterm elections coming up. He is a dictator for life.
‼️Like the Iranians, the Chinese are professional victims and do a great job of rallying the “international” community.
Be real🚨: The Chinese are the combined evil of the Soviets and Nazis.
But🤷: Life isn’t fair — we told you at the start of the Iran war it would be a test of pain tolerance — the same is true in our showdown with China on a far grander scale.
Big Evil/Little Evil😈: If Iran is the little evil, China is the big evil — China doesn’t chant death to America, but they are doing everything possible to bring it about.
Like Iran, Xi doesn’t care about how much pain his people endure
Like Iran, Xi studies American politics and knows Trump’s pain points
Like Iran, Xi wants his country to destroy and replace America on the world stage
Leverage‼️: Trump’s blockade of Iranian oil gives him lots of leverage over Xi, but he must use it
Look back🔙: Trump said Xi promised he wouldn’t send weapons to Iran and then did
‼️Trump must convince Xi that he is willing to endure pain — otherwise China will take advantage of him just like Iran is.
Tonight📺: Jack Posobiec, a China hawk, former Navy intel officer and Trump supporter, on whether Trump can convince Xi that things will be different.
AOC Now Leading for POTUS 📈
👀Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is either the new Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis.
IMO🤷: I would argue closer to Trump.
🗣️If she’s Trump, she’s willing to say the uncomfortable things and garner the necessary support to win the election
Example: Trump said, “Build the wall”
AOC is saying universal health care
Political reality🤷: Transformational candidates find what the country needs — she is finding something
😂Fox and Republicans are having a field day with AOC
Fox: “She talks a lot. She delivers very little… Yeah, she’s done nothing… She frankly sounds like a fascist. She’s talking about how the presidency isn’t enough. 4 years isn’t enough. I want all of it. That sounds like a complete unhinged authoritarian person”
Watch out⚠️: Republicans should be careful of making fun of her and this movement she is tapping into — it’s an enormous mistake.
📈Polls show she’s in the lead for the 2028 Democratic ticket:
AOC: 26% (+10)
Pete Buttigieg: 22% (+7)
Gavin Newsom: 21% (-14)
Kamala Harris: 13% (+5)
Must watch📱: Our buddy Chris Cillizza says AOC “would be crazy not to run for president”
On the flip side 🔃: She can turn out to be DeSantis, who had this massive following because he played the warrior on these different fronts, and it was a disaster for him.
The crosstabs📊: 80% of 18- to-44-year-olds are for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate race
This shows exactly where the energy of the young progressive Democrats is — with the AOCs and El-Sayeds of the world.
Tonight📺: Pollster and political analyst Frank Luntz on the nerve AOC is striking.
Moral Clarity‼️
🤦The party that elected the man who said he ran because of Charlottesville is now the party of Charlottesville.
🚨A bunch of pro-Hamas types protested through a Jewish neighborhood in New York yesterday led by a man with Hezbollah flags
Look back🔙: This reminds me of 1938 in Berlin when Nazi youth marched through Jewish neighborhoods
⚠️We all say “never again” — never again is starting
🗣️They chanted “globalize the intifada” and “death to the IDF”
Note✏️: Hezbollah is the group that wants to eradicate all Jews
👀What if these were Trump supporters with white sheets over their heads?
Weird🤔: The party that was so disgusted by the Charlottesville rally in 2017 seems so okay with this.
📰This comes at the same time The New York Times published an op-ed that accuses Israel of using dogs to rape people
⛔It would have gotten an “F” at any journalism school
✏️Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times headlines, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” writing:
“Palestinian prisoners and human rights monitors have also cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners.”
‼️Some of the alleged sources in this article are a Hamas activist
Lost their way📱: Watch this video of Kristof — it’s even worse than the article.
He accuses Israel of doing the same thing Hamas did on October 7 — but every single day.
Timing⏱️: Kristof’s “report” came a day before the very delayed report on Hamas’ actual atrocities during the October 7 attacks.
What I’m thinking💭: I’m aghast at the made-up accusations against Israel — publishes deliberately false pictures on its front page and then ignores the people marching through New York neighborhoods with Hezbollah flags.
Sound the alarms🚨: The director of the Muslim American Society Youth Center in New York believes fighting the U.S. government is his “reason for existence”
“As a Muslim, my life’s mission is to fight the U.S. government, the U.S. Army, and ICE until my last breath—that is my reason for existence.”
Tonight📺: Mike Nellis and Yemisi Egbewole on what the Democrats are going to do about the terrorist branch of their party.
Maybe the answer is nothing because they are too powerful and no one can stand up to them.
Are the Midterms Flipping ?👀
🌊The promise of a blue wave and the massive majority for Democrats are far from assured anymore.
‼️Republicans are favored to keep the Senate and may be able to keep the House
CNN Harry Enten: “You would have thought that the Democrats lead would expand on the generic congressional ballot but it didn’t happen. Look in March Democrats were up by six points, look at this now. Democrats are up by three points... No clear leader. It is within the margin or error. So despite all of the talk about Donald Trump’s unpopularity, Republicans remain very much in the game
📊Polling in Michigan shows Mike Rogers beating every single possible Democrat
Rogers: 45%
El-Sayed 40%
Rogers: 43%
Mcmorrow 41%
Rogers: 44%
Stevens: 42%
Wow😮: This would be a huge blow to Democrats taking back the Senate
Dig deeper: Republican redistricting has really changed the map
In Florida, the max number of seats the GOP can gain is four
In Texas, it’s five
In Ohio, it’s two
Tonight📺: Semafor White House correspondent Shelby Talcott and pollster Lee Carter on how the midterms are shifting significantly.