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At this point, it's not exactly dropping a dime to say that the Trump family's effort to make a quick buck by turning the presidency into a crypto cash cow is going to cost America's reputation a pretty penny—enriching a family that shouldn't have two nickels to rub together while much of America struggles to afford the dollar store. At this point, the financial shenanigans are a dime a dozen, but perhaps none have been as brazen as the selling of access to the president of the United States to a leaderboard of purchasers of his coinage. "The memecoin dinner ... was unlike anything in recent American history — not a campaign fund-raiser but a gathering arranged by the president’s business partners to directly enrich the first family. As guests were flowing into the club, protesters held signs with slogans like 'Stop Crypto Corruption,' 'Release the guest list' and 'No Kings.'" Knowing the Trumps, those signs will probably be made into NFTs that will be sold off the highest bidder. NYT (Gift Article): Hundreds Join Trump at ‘Exclusive’ Dinner, With Dreams of Crypto Fortunes in Mind. Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon described the dinner as the Mount Everest of corruption. (Imagine an event standing out for its bribery and corruption during a week when Trump took ownership of a gifted 747.) Can America retain the trust and status required to be the world's economic leader with a self-dealing, access-selling president in the Oval Office? Honestly, it's probably a coin toss.
+ "The black-tie dinner was a special reward for the top 220 holders of the president’s personal $TRUMP meme coin, with those in the room having contributed millions in investment in his crypto token. The 25 biggest investors got an even more exclusive privilege — access to a small VIP reception with the president. Media reports estimate the purchases and associated fees of the coin have generated an estimated hundreds of millions in fees for its issuer." Inside the room at Trump’s meme coin dinner.
+ Don't worry. The Trumps aren't keeping all the crypto gains to themselves. WSJ (Gift Article): The Father Pursues Trump’s Diplomatic Deals. The Son Chases Crypto Deals. "A month before President Trump’s inauguration, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff flew to the United Arab Emirates with two goals: discussing regional issues with the Abu Dhabi royal known as the 'spy sheikh,' and attending a cryptocurrency conference. Less than five months later, Witkoff’s son, co-founder of the crypto venture World Liberty Financial, took the stage at a conference in Dubai to announce the company had struck a deal for the sheikh’s company to buy $2 billion of their new cryptocurrency."
+ "The racism and the corruption are coming together ... as the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP coin join the president at a private dinner. A Bloomberg analysis of the top 25 wallets shows that 19 are owned by individuals from outside the United States, and many of the winners are companies looking for access to the president. Many of them dumped their $TRUMP coins as soon as they made the cut for the dinner. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported today that 50 of the people attending Trump's dinner tonight hold crypto assets with names from the alt-right, including Pepe the Frog and swastikas, or that have names that are racist or antisemitic, including the n-word and 'F*CK THE JEWS.'" Heather Cox Richardson connects all the dots, from the House budget bill to the immigrant fear-mongering to the meme coins. Corruption is the bow that ties it all together.
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The Court of Lower Opinion
NYT (Gift Article): Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Bar International Students at Harvard. "The administration action, and Harvard’s response, signified a dramatic escalation of the battle between the administration and Harvard. And the university’s forceful and almost immediate response served as evidence that stopping the flow of international students to Harvard, which draws some of the world’s top scholars, would destabilize Harvard’s very existence." This isn't just harming students. One of America's key global advantages has been the ability to attract and often keep the world's brightest minds. However this battle plays out, why would future students want to risk coming here?
+ And keep in mind that these attacks on Harvard aren't about antisemitism or any of the other excuses being offered by the administration. Steven Pinker in the NYT (Gift Article): Harvard Derangement Syndrome. If you read nothing else today, read this excerpt: "Mr. Trump’s strangling of this support will harm Jews more than any president in my lifetime. Many practicing and aspiring scientists are Jewish, and his funding embargo has them watching in horror as they are laid off, their labs are shut down or their dreams of a career in science go up in smoke. This is immensely more harmful than walking past a 'Globalize the Intifada' sign. Worse still is the effect on the far larger number of gentiles in science, who are being told that their labs and careers are being snuffed out to advance Jewish interests. Likewise for the current patients whose experimental treatments will be halted, and the future patients who may be deprived of cures. None of this is good for the Jews. The concern for Jews is patently disingenuous, given Mr. Trump’s sympathy for Holocaust deniers and Hitler fans. The obvious motivation is to cripple civil society institutions that serve as loci of influence outside the executive branch. As JD Vance put it in the title of a 2021 speech: 'The Universities Are the Enemy.'"
+ The latest ruling is par of the course for the administration. But at this point, it's unclear to what extent the courts can limit the damage being done to institutions and individuals. "Even assuming all those rulings were to be upheld on appeal, some of Mr. Trump’s actions would be easier to undo than others. And the slow pace of litigation means the judiciary is often many steps behind and in some cases, unable to catch up." NYT (Gift Article): Judges Keep Calling Trump’s Actions Illegal, but Undoing Them Is Hard.
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Two Way Road
We hear a lot about the flow of dangerous drugs from Mexico to the United States. We hear a lot less about the flow of something even more dangerous going in the opposite direction. And the numbers are staggering. The Conversation: Mexican drug cartels use hundreds of thousands of guns bought from licensed US gun shops – fueling violence in Mexico, drugs in the US and migration at the border. "To estimate weapons flow, we gathered trafficking estimates and combined them with previous research, firearm manufacturing totals and the ATF trace data. We generated a model that arrived at a conservative middle estimate: About 135,000 firearms were trafficked across the border in 2022. By way of comparison, consider that Ukraine, engaged in a war with Russia, received 40,000 small arms from the United States between January 2020 and April 2024 – an average of 9,000 per year. That is just under 7% of the trafficked firearms flow that our model showed from the U.S. to Mexico."
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Weekend Whats
What to Watch: Sarah Silverman's latest comedy special is less of her traditional standup and more of a reflection on her parents who recently died a few days apart. Postmortem.
+ What to Binge: Overcompensating on Prime "is a college-set ensemble comedy about the chaotic journey of Benny, a closeted former football player and homecoming king, as he becomes fast friends with Carmen, an outsider on a mission to fit in at all costs." It's pretty raunchy and fun. And it's definitely getting a lot of buzz. See if you recognize the head frat bro from season 2 of White Lotus. The roles are remarkably different.
+ What to Movie: If you're having Andor withdrawals, the show flows right into the movie Rogue One. If you haven't watched Andor yet, then your three day weekend is set.
+ What to Hear: Bruce Springsteen spoke some truth about America during the second Trump term. Trump warned Springsteen to stop. Springsteen repeated the warnings, and then released them as part of a live EP.
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Extra, Extra
A Tax of the Killer Tomato: "President Trump on Friday said he had run out of patience with trade negotiators from the European Union and has decided to set the tariff on imports at 50% starting on June 1 ... The president warned in a separate post that he would put a tariff of at least 25% on imported iPhones, and said he had warned Apple CEO Tim Cook to move his manufacturing to the United States." Even with a 25 percent tariff, Apple has little incentive to bring manufacturing back home. (The phones made here would still be more expensive. Never mind the nonsense required to tell Apple to start the manufacturing process in the US in a few weeks.)
+ Dome-estic Squabble: "President Donald Trump left out a key detail this week when he outlined his plans for a massive missile and air defense shield over the continent: He can’t build it without Canada. And it’s not clear America’s northern neighbor wants in." (Gee, I wonder why Canada would be less than enthusiastic about helping out its old friend?)
+ Bibi King: Israel’s Netanyahu Accuses France, Britain, and Canada Leaders of ‘Emboldening’ Hamas: ‘You’re On the Wrong Side of History.’ (Attacking one's allies is all the rage these days.)
+ Fed Zeppelin: Supreme Court insulates Fed as it backs Trump firing of agency leaders. (The Court basically said anything goes in terms of canning people, except please don't tank the global economy.)
+ Beak Performance: "According to a recently published study in Global Change Biology, the use of human-made hummingbird feeders has changed the beak sizes and shapes of Anna’s hummingbirds." California hummingbird beaks transformed by feeders.
+ Hey Latte, Latte, Latte: "Walk into any Starbucks in South Korea right now, and there are some names you definitely won't be hearing. Six to be exact - and they happen to be the names of the candidates running in the upcoming presidential race. That's because Starbucks has temporarily blocked customers who are ordering drinks from using these names, which would be called out by baristas. The company said it needed to 'maintain political neutrality during election season.'"
+ Cargoes There: Man wakes up to find a giant cargo ship in his yard. (Every day, there seems to be a new metaphor for what it feels like to be a news curator in the Trump era.)