One Week to Define a Lifetime⏱️
This week could easily define Trump’s legacy
Out on a limb⚠️: Doctors keep saying not to worry about hantavirus.
🗣️Among things we’ve heard:
The risk to the general public remains very low
It does not spread easily like COVID or the flu
People catch it only through prolonged close contact with someone
Logic🤔: Thus, there’s nothing to worry about — so why does it keep spreading?
Simple question❓: What if they are wrong — and the virus mutated?
‼️If you want to be scared — follow this guy on X:
The pandemic enthusiasts who wanted to stay on lockdown forever are now at it again
🚨Hantavirus kills 4 in 10 people it infects — they better get this one right
‼️So far, there are three deaths, nine confirmed and/or suspected cases and 18 in quarantine.
Note🤔: Remember when people said not to worry about COVID?
Look back🔙: I remember seeing these same images during the start of COVID – hazmat suits meeting arriving planes with “bio containment” transport pods
👀I don’t think the medical world realizes how traumatized the rest of America is from 2020 — and now we’re being told not to worry about it.
Tonight📺: Dr. Leigh Vinocur on if we are ready for another pandemic
‼️No, I am not talking about hoarding toilet paper — this seems a far deeper question
Last thought💭: How on earth does the head of the World Health Organization still have a job — he is the same guy who said COVID wasn’t airborne.
One Week From Today ⏱️
‼️Many would like you to believe Donald Trump enters the most important week of his presidency in a morass of political quicksand.
❗By his own admission, the Iran ceasefire is on “life support”
⛽High gas prices will continue through the summer, further eroding his political support
💣The U.S. military faces tough choices because of weapons shortages
❗President Xi is licking his chops after the Iran adventure
📈The high stock market is doing nothing for America’s middle class.
😷Hantavirus renews focus on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s unusual views.
💭That is conventional wisdom — the hottest thing in Washington right now is Robert Kagan’s piece in The Atlantic, “Checkmate in Iran,” which says:
“Washington can’t reverse or control the consequences of losing this war.”
✏️He ends by writing: “The global adjustment to a post-American world is accelerating. America’s once-dominant position in the Gulf is just the first of many casualties.”
What I am thinking💭: When everybody is saying it, it might be wrong.
For example📃: The whole ‘Iran is winning thing’ — let’s consider the facts.
📰The Wall Street Journal reports the United Arab Emirates quietly attacked Iran multiple times last month.
❗On top of that, the UAE just left OPEC to align with the U.S. and Israel.
🤝Syria condemned Iran. Lebanon and Israel are holding peace talks at the request of the American president.
🤷If that isn’t a dominant position for America — what is?
✈️Then, there is Trump’s visit to China — it’s all doom and gloom
From Politico: “Current and former U.S. defense officials worry headwinds from the conflict with Tehran leave Beijing with the upper hand.”
‼️Here are a lot of reasons America has the upper hand:
📱The U.S. owns AI
📉China’s economy sucks right now — so says The Wall Street Journal
💣The U.S. embarrassed the Chinese air defense systems in both Iran and Venezuela.
🚢China’s superscary anti-ship missiles have not hit a single American warship
Same playbook📘: The Iranians and Chinese run a similar playbook of playing to Trump’s ego while never making good on basic promises.
‼️Trump must start demanding good actions rather than selling good words and delivering severe consequences when they don’t happen.
🌎The world will look VERY different one week from today than it does now.
Does he finally punish Iran for playing him a fool?
Who walks away the winner in his trip to visit President Xi of China?
Can Trump parlay the Ukraine-Russia ceasefire into something longer?
Does he suspend the federal gas tax to buy a little time on gas prices?
Can a stock market that keeps hitting record highs finally deliver for middle-class Americans?
Do Republicans come out on top in the redistricting food fight so they might actually keep the House in the midterms?
👀Some of these are in Trump’s control — some are not — you likely aren’t getting the full picture on any of them.
Tonight📺: Bill O’Reilly on what Trump has to do to secure a win
Plus➕: Congressman Seth Moulton, D-Mass., served as a Marine officer in Iraq. Iranian IEDs killed many of his fellow Marines — if taking on Iran isn’t the right thing, what is his solution?
Then▶️: Paul Miller on Trump’s options in Iran.
A Real Shot? ❓
🗣️This weekend, the only thing people talked about was Spencer Pratt — the former reality TV star now emerging as a top candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral race.
📰Pratt continues to make headlines in California but also nationwide
👀He is being compared to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Obama — but not because of his policies
CBS: “Many have compared you to Zohran Mamdani in the sense, I mean your politics are obviously very, very different, but in the sense that you’ve really harnessed the power of social media to get your message out. What do you think of that comparison?”
Pratt: “He promised voters the subway will be free… I’m promise my voters the Metro buses, the Metro trains, they will be free from URINE, FECES, stabbing attacks!”
‼️Pratt is running his campaign on common sense — and trying to knock down the Democratic establishment
What I’m thinking💭: Is the establishment going to allow this to happen?
👀Doesn’t it threaten their very existence?
Tonight📺: Peter Savodnik from the Free Press headlining, “Spencer Pratt Is Running for LA Mayor. Could He Win?”
Plus➕: Nikki Laurenzo, the Nexstar host of “Inside California Politics,” who recently hosted the California gubernatorial debate.