What to Expect When You're Electing

Being Right Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be

It can be overwhelming to keep constant track of all the badness in the news (trust me, I know), so let’s just consider the past 24 hours or so. America’s European allies are sending troops to Greenland to defend against the administration’s relentless threats to take it over. Trump again blamed Zelensky, not Putin, for delays in getting a peace deal done. Trump, who led an insurrection and then pardoned its participants, is now threatening to invoke the insurrection act in response to Minneapolis protests, which erupted in response to the murder of an innocent person whom the administration has relentlessly blamed for her own death. After invading Venezuela without Congressional approval (or even advance knowledge), the administration has begun selling Venezuelan oil, with some of the proceeds being held in a bank located in Qatar. The FBI raided the home of a Washington Post journalist, an act that has drawn only silence from the newspaper’s owner. Four more Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday that they were being investigated for their participation in a video urging military service members to resist illegal orders. And in an interview with Reuters, Trump again tossed out a familiar refrain about the midterms: “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even ‌have an election.” This list, while exhausting, is hardly exhaustive. It’s also not surprising. Antagonizing allies abroad and using the corrupted levers of government to punish perceived enemies at home is the Trump Doctrine. And beyond that, it’s just about exactly what we expected when Trump was elected. “Both ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis and Trump’s threatened seizure of Greenland are part of the same story: An increasingly unpopular regime is rapidly radicalizing and testing how far it can go down the road toward autocracy.” NYT (Gift Article): The Resistance Libs Were Right. I’d say these predictions came from a lot more people than the resistance liberals. I know this because I’ve been linking to stories predicting just these outcomes for years. Of course, being right about Trump (which amounted to little more than merely repeating what he and his wrecking crew said they planned to do) offers little solace. The big question now is how decent Americans, and their leaders, will respond. My take is that anyone who wants to be the next president should grab a bullhorn and head to Minneapolis. Pro democracy Americans are desperate for strong leadership. I’m not ready to predict they’ll get it.

2

Playing with Fire and Ice

Many of Trump’s moves are wildly unpopular. That includes the threat to take over Greenland. “The president’s obsession with Greenland is especially dangerous because it has no real constituency: Trump is determined to get the island, it seems, only because Denmark and the rest of the world are telling him that he can’t have it. As is so often the case, telling Trump not to do something makes him more determined to do it.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Is Risking a Global Catastrophe. “Most Americans probably couldn’t care less about Greenland, but they will be forced to care—tragically, too late—if Trump’s gambit engulfs the world in flames.”

3

Elder Skelter

“While caring for an aging person can be financially and emotionally draining for adult children, the undertaking raises a separate set of challenges for spouses ... The ranks of older adults caring for fellow older adults are only expected to increase as lifespans lengthen and family sizes shrink: Adults 65 and older are projected to account for about 1 in 4 Americans by 2050, up more than 30 percent from 2024. That compares with 1 in 10 in the 1980s.” WaPo (Gift Article): Why more seniors are being asked to care for their partners — alone.

4

Net Gain

“Federal guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, along with two days of muscle-strengthening activities. But the payoff starts much earlier: Even four to five minutes of vigorous physical activity every day has been linked to longevity benefits.” (Whether or not opening 75 news tabs meets this requirement remains an open question among kinesiologists.) But which activities in particular are linked to longevity? Well, consider yourself lucky if tennis is your racket. “One study from Denmark found that tennis players lived almost 10 years longer than their sedentary peers — and longer than soccer players, swimmers and the other recreational athletes included in the analysis. Other research from Britain and the United States followed people for about a decade and found that playing racket sports was linked to a lower risk of death during the follow-up period than any other sport or form of exercise studied. These findings don’t prove that tennis causes people to live longer ... Still, experts believe that tennis’s unique blend of physical, cognitive and social challenges contribute to healthy aging.” NYT (Gift Article): The Best Sports for Longevity. (For some reason, I think this is all a backhanded way of implying that pickleball will kill you.)

5

Extra, Extra

Ice Price: Immigration was considered one of Trump’s winning issues just a few months ago. The past few months, especially the past few days, have changed that. Trump has made ICE a 70-30 issue — for Democrats. And from Dan Pfeiffer: “Trump’s ability to bend reality to his will is the foundation of his political success. It’s how he has survived so many moments that would have ended other politicians’ careers. But it is not working this time. In what may be the most high-profile failure of the Trump media machine, the American people are not falling for Trump’s lies. This is an important moment, with serious implications for Trump’s near-term political standing and for the longer-term politics of immigration in America.” How Trump is Losing the Fight on the ICE Shooting. The lack of popular support appears to be making the administration double down. NYT: Under Trump, a Shift Toward ‘Absolute Immunity’ for ICE.

+ Xi Loves Me, Xi Loves Me Not: “Donald Trump’s tariff war occupied US allies for much of last year. Now, President Xi Jinping is welcoming a procession of leaders looking to mend fences with the world’s other major economy.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): Xi Welcomes Stream of Leaders Shaken by Trump’s New World Order. And from WSJ (Gift Article): Canadian Leader Spurned by Trump Finds a Warm Embrace in China.

+ Strike That, Reverse It: “After a tense day of confusion and backroom negotiations, the Trump administration moved Wednesday night to restore roughly $2 billion in federal grant money for mental health and addiction programs nationwide.”

+ Owning the Lib: “Manufacturing employment has declined every month since what Trump dubbed ‘Liberation Day’ in April, saying his widespread tariffs would begin to rebalance global trade in favor of American workers. U.S. factories employ 12.7 million people today, 72,000 fewer than when Trump made his Rose Garden announcement.”

+ Prix Fix: “A college basketball point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams resulted in dozens of games in the previous two seasons being fixed by a gambling ring that included a former NBA player, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”

6

Bottom of the News

“Former NFL player Matt Kalil is suing his former wife, Haley Kalil, claiming that she violated his right to privacy during a livestreamed interview by describing his genitals as being too big. Haley Kalil ... referenced Matt’s genitalia, claiming that his penis was like ‘two Coke cans, maybe even a third,’ and described the daunting dick as the primary reason for the couple’s divorce.” An NFL Player Sued His Ex-Wife Over a Privates Revelation. The Case Could Be Huge. (Luckily for my wife, I’m not litigious.)