Battle Him of the Republic

God is Back. So is Jimmy Kimmel.

Those who consider themselves the Lord's people work in mysterious ways. But the thing to remember is that they work. For decades, there's been a religious war in America. Not so much a war between religions, but one between those pushing a right-leaning, politically-infused Christianity and secularists who pray at the altar of the Constitution. I say it's a religious war, but for a long time, it's seemed like only one side is actually fighting. Many on Team Secular assumed issues like abortion, gay rights, keeping religion out of schools, and the broad tenets of the separation of church and state we're essentially settled. It's not that the secular side brought a knife to a gun fight. They didn't even know there was a fight. But, as you may have noticed from the rise of the Christian nationalism, the consistent decisions by the Supreme Court majority, the proselytising from administration officials, the attacks on women's health and gay rights, the book bans, the push to get the ten commandments into schools, etc, etc, in politics, nothing is settled. And now, just as secular America is waking up to the idea that, Hey, you got your church chocolate in my state peanut butter, religious America pushing Theodicies Peanut Butter Cups through government, schools, media, and even the Oval Office. It might sound laughable to imagine Donald Trump as the tip of a religious movement's spear—Little Lord Fauntleroy spreading the Lord's word—but the merging of this particular brand of church and what's left of our fragile state is no laughing matter. NYT (Gift Article): Behind Charlie Kirk’s Spiritual Journey That Fused Christianity and Politics. "Cabinet members and activists onstage Sunday repeatedly shared the Christian gospel message of salvation. Mr. Vance called him a 'martyr for the Christian faith.' Mr. Trump said 'he’s a martyr now for American freedom.” Those two, it appeared, were one and the same.'" Most Americans believe in the separation of church and state. But the only way to impact the fight is to get into the ring. Can I get an Amen? Or at least an OMFG?

+ "The evil murderer who took Charlie from us expected us to have a funeral today, and instead, my friends, we have had a revival in celebration of Charlie Kirk and of his lord Jesus Christ." Which televangelist said that? JD Vance. Trump lionizes Charlie Kirk, warns of dangers to America. And Stephen Miller: "The storm whispers to the warrior that you cannot withstand my strength and the warrior whispers back: ‘I am the storm.’ Erika is the storm. We are the storm, and our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion." Onlookers horrified as Stephen Miller parrots Nazi speech.

+ WaPo (Gift Article): Kirk’s memorial was an emblem of the Trump era — and a sign of what’s ahead. "The five-hour memorial service for conservative activist/influencer/organizer Charlie Kirk that packed tens of thousands Sunday into a Phoenix-area stadium was a melding of religion and politics unlike any seen before. Or perhaps it was proof, if any more were needed, that the line that used to separate them may no longer exist, particularly on the right."

+ And here's a segue that's so perfect, it's got to be divine intervention. NextDraft will be off tomorrow in observance of Rosh Hashanah. As I've mentioned before, when people ask me if I'm a practicing Jew, I usually respond, "No, I just show up on game days."

+ I'm also taking tomorrow off in observance of Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air day! The fight over free speech, and even over the Jimmy Kimmel show, is far from over. But a lot of people, and now Disney itself, passed the Jimmy Kimmel Test over the past few days. We'll need a lot more. It's not easy to stand up the pressure from the Trump admin, and Disney is certain to endure the wrath of fraud. So kudos to them for the spine stiffening. (It's sort of perfect that Kimmel is returning to the airwaves to ring in the Jewish new year. Jimmy's not Jewish, but he's definitely funny enough to be.)

2

Poll Taxing

"President Donald Trump is worried that Attorney General Pam Bondi is moving too slowly to prosecute his political adversaries on fake charges. Trump has good reason to be concerned. He is carrying out his project to consolidate authoritarian power against the trend of declining public support for his administration and himself." David Frum in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time. "The MAGA project in many ways resembles one of former businessman Donald Trump’s dangerously leveraged real-estate deals. A comparatively small number of fanatics are heart-and-soul committed. Through them, Trump controls the Republican apparatus and the right-wing media world, which allows him to do things like gerrymander states where he is in trouble (50 percent of Texans now disapprove of Trump, while only 43 percent approve) or wield the enforcement powers of the Federal Communications Commission to silence on-air critics. But overleveraged structures are susceptible to external shocks and internal mistakes." (This is somewhat hopeful. But Trump's race is not only against time. It's against the Americans who see things a different way. And that movement needs a clear, strong, unifying leader to harness its power, or time won't be on our side.)

+ G. Elliott Morris: A lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is. "The president’s entire domestic policy agenda is underwater, too — especially on the economy and inflation, the two issues that won him the 2024 election."

3

Enemy Minefield

"In demanding that the attorney general go after his enemies, Donald Trump is upending fundamental norms of fairness and neutrality in the American legal system." Paul Rosenzweig in The Atlantic (Gift Article): A Most Profound Transgression. "The gravest sin here is not so much that Trump has an enemies list and that he is issuing kingly orders of retribution. It is that not a single elected Republican seems likely to stand up and condemn this total perversion of the American legal system. Government action should not be arbitrarily coercive and subject to the personal whims of our leaders. Sadly, it now is." (At this point, using the word Sadly to prepend a conclusion seems redundant.)

4

The Silence of the Scams

"Then he added, 'Here at Chase, we’ll never ask for your personal information or passwords.' On the contrary, he gave me more information — two 'cancellation codes' and a long case number with four letters and 10 digits. That’s when he offered to transfer me to his supervisor. That simple phrase, familiar from countless customer-service calls, draped a cloak of corporate competence over this unfolding drama. His supervisor. I mean, would a scammer have a supervisor?" NYT (Gift Article): I’ve Written About Loads of Scams. This One Almost Got Me.

5

Extra, Extra

Law Fighting: "A White House announcement about autism is expected Monday afternoon after President Donald Trump’s weekend comment that 'I think we found an answer' to the developmental disorder. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised earlier this year to determine the cause of autism by September. That baffled brain experts who say there is no single cause and that the rhetoric appears to ignore decades of science into the genetic and environmental factors that can play a role." And from NPR: The Trump administration is expected to link autism to Tylenol use during pregnancy.

+ Wanna Screw? "Taiwan has long been the top provider of screws to the United States. But its factories are struggling to survive under tariffs on steel and aluminum." Trump’s Tariffs Are Damaging America’s Biggest Foreign Source of Screws. (This article is interesting re tariffs but even more so re screws.)

+ It Computes: Nvidia to invest $100 billion in OpenAI, linking two artificial intelligence titans. The future is all about computing power. Might be time to update my Macbook Air.

+ In a State: France joined a host of countries recognizing a Palestinian state. These recognitions are in large part a reaction to Bibi's increasingly aggressive war in Gaza. Will it make him less aggressive or more? How Israel could retaliate against the growing push for recognition of a Palestinian state.

+ H-1B Sting: Trump's new $100K fee on H-1B visas will hurt the tech companies trying to woo him. "President Trump's latest executive order on immigration will sharply curtail a visa program used by hundreds of thousands of people currently living in the United States. It also threatens some operations of the big tech companies that have tried hard to curry favor with Trump this year, raising the question of how much return those companies are getting on that ongoing investment." (Well, those companies will be invited to kiss the ring in order to get price breaks on these visas. That's the way it works now.)

+ Algorithm Method: "The exact mix of investors has been in flux. Mr. Trump hinted this weekend that the media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan were considering an investment, which could come through the media giant Fox Corporation, a person familiar with the talks said." The new TikTok will deploy an algorithm out of the control of the Chinese government. That's good. The people who will be controlling it? Not as good. U.S.-Run TikTok to License Algorithm.

6

Bottom of the News

We Are the World: I attended the Laver Cup (Europe vs The World) with my wife over the weekend. We didn't get to see either of Taylor Fritz's major wins (ones that could change his career) over Zverev and Alcaraz, but it was a lot of fun and a great event for SF and tennis. It also allows me the type the most non-2025 phrase: The world won. (The Laver Cup is basically the last place where the USA is still part of the World team.)

+ The highlight of the whole event was watching World coach Andre Agassi's celebrations and exhortations. And his spreading of libations.