Trumpdate (4.8.24):
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Trump claims he raised $50M in one night without evidence. New England Journal study finds diabetes drug lixisenatide may slow Parkinson's progression. Over 300 aid trucks entered Gaza after Biden's pressure on Israel. Rep. Mike Turner admits Russian propaganda infected GOP base. NYT article on Gaza protesters "challenging" Democratic leaders receives criticism. Data shows need for immigration to sustain US working-age population. Trump promised billionaires low taxes at fundraiser. Montana GOP Senate candidate’s tale about gunshot wound origin. Total solar eclipse visible across North America. House to deliver impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary. Trump’s pro-Putin plan to end the war in Ukraine.
1.) Trump claims he raised $50M in one night:
[TS] Why anyone would take him seriously without evidence is beyond me.
[UPDATE] WSJ posts he raised $50M but uses “The Trump campaign has claimed” as the evidence. [TS] Why boost a known liar without evidence? They’re just carrying water.
[UDPATE 2] Some photos of the “$50.5M” fundraising event (per Getty)
[TS] Where are all the people? Could have been hundreds in the backyard, I suppose.
2.) New England Journal of Medicine: GLP-1 receptor agonist lixisenatide slows the progression of Parkinson disease.
Paper abstract: Lixisenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist used for the treatment of diabetes, has shown neuroprotective properties in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease.
[TS] This is encouraging. You’ve seen me cover GLP-1 drugs in the past. I’ve made some proclamations around technology being the Lynch pin in curbing obesity. You can read that in #4 in my Trumpdate (3.22.24) HERE.
3.) The highest number of aid trucks (322) entered Gaza Sunday.
According to COGAT data, 322 aid trucks entered Gaza today (70% of those carried food). The most since the war began. By opening the Erez Crossing and linking it to the Ashdod port, it is easy to increase the aid.
The decision to do so was reached after Biden specifically demanded these steps in his phone call with Netanyahu.
[TS] If the two had done so sooner, perhaps the starvation, WCK tragedy, and several other aid-related tragedies could have been prevented.
4.) CNN: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chair of house intel committee, agreeing that Russian propaganda has infected parts of the GOP base, and saying that some colleagues have even repeated this propaganda on the House floor:
[TS] Kind of wild that Republicans are admitting they’ve been spreading Russian propaganda.
5.) NYT: How Gaza Protesters Are Challenging Democratic Leaders. [TS] Poor headline.
[TS] This is a story about how anti-Israel activists are threatening — and even physically attacking — elected lawmakers, Holocaust survivors and Israel supporters. And yet NYTs chooses to label this behavior as “Challenging?”
Some excerpts from the article:
In Detroit, a congressman’s holiday party devolved into chaos and a broken nose after demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza appeared with bullhorns.
In Fort Collins, Colo., the mayor abruptly ended a meeting during which protesters demanding a cease-fire in Gaza glued their handsto a wall.
Some of the most contentious clashes have taken place on deeply Democratic terrain. A recent City Council meeting in Berkeley, Calif., turned ugly, with protesters interrupting a Holocaust survivor at a meeting where members discussed a bill marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.
[TS] This just seems odd to me categorize this stuff as “challenging.”
What I consider challenging:
Not hitting the snooze button
What NYTs considers challenging:
Not hitting people at a protest
Not yelling at holocaust survivors
6.) [UPDATE] Some additional data around native workers vs immigrants.
PEW Research in ’17 : Immigration projected to drive growth in U.S. working-age population through at least 2035:
[TS] The US native-born, working age population has been shrinking since 2015 and will continue.
Cont. from Ernie Tedeschi “Even just over the last 4 years, the US labor force would have shrunk without immigration, entirely because native-born workers are aging.” from ARTICLE
Associate Prof Jeremy Horpedahl: “Americans of working age are shrinking in number, but still doing fine”:
[TS] For the folks that want ever increasing GDP (and ways to sustain SS/Medicare etc.) - you’re going to need workers. If you can’t find a way to increase the native population (which has proven stubborn - See my #9 on Trumpdate (3.31.24): Why family-friendly policies don’t boost birth rates) the only other way to get it is through immigration. The easy lever to pull is: continue to be a bug-light for the educated from other countries. Ala, increase the number of H1-B visas.
7.) ROLLING STONE: Donald Trump promised to keep billionaires’ taxes low at a fundraising dinner Saturday night in Palm Beach, Fla., held at the home of billionaire John Paulson.
[UPDATE] At the same fundraiser, Trump says he wants immigrants from ‘nice’ countries:
Former President Donald Trump, speaking at a multimillion-dollar fundraiser Saturday night, lamented that people were not immigrating to the United States from “nice” countries “like Denmark” and suggested that his well-heeled dinner companions were temporarily safe from nearby immigrants in the country illegally, according to an attendee.
About midway through his remarks, the attendee said, Trump began an extensive rant about migrants entering the United States, at a time when President Joe Biden has been struggling with an intensified crisis at the southern border.
“These are people coming in from prisons and jails. They’re coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster,” Trump told his guests, according to the attendee. The former president has made a similar claim the heart of his campaign speeches.
“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries,’ I’m trying to be nice,” Trump said at the dinner, to chuckles from the crowd. “Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?”
Trump went on to say that there were people coming from Yemen, “where they’re blowing each other up all over the place.”
At the dinner, Trump also lamented the surge of migrants, particularly from Latin America, saying that gang members “make the Hells Angels look like extremely nice people.”
“They’ve been shipped in, brought in, deposited in our country, and they’re with us tonight,” Trump said.
“In fact, I don’t think they’re on this island, but I know they’re on that island right there. That’s West Palm,” Trump said, gesturing across the water, according to the attendee. “Congratulations over there. But they’ll be here. Eventually, they’ll be here.”
8.) WaPo: Montana GOP Senate candidate says he lied to ranger about gunshot wound in 2015.
Tim Sheehy was cited for illegally discharging a weapon in a national park but says he made up the gunshot to cover up a bullet wound he received as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan that he never reported to superiors.
Tim Sheehy, a charismatic former Navy SEAL who is the Republican candidate in a U.S. Senate race in Montana that could determine control of the chamber, has cited a gunshot wound he received in combat that he said left a bullet in his right arm as evidence of his toughness.
It was one of several inconsistent accounts Sheehy has shared about being shot while deployed. And in October 2015, more than a year after he left active duty, he told a different story.
After a family visit to Montana’s Glacier National Park, he told a National Park Service ranger that he accidentally shot himself in the right arm that day when his Colt .45 revolver fell and discharged while he was loading his vehicle in the park, according to a record of the episode filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.
The self-inflicted gunshot left a bullet lodged in Sheehy’s right forearm, according to the written description accompanying the federal citation that the ranger, a federal law enforcement officer, gave Sheehy for illegally discharging his weapon in a national park. The citation said the description was based on Sheehy’s telling of events.
Sheehy said he did not shoot himself in the park in 2015, but rather fell and hurt himself on a hike, necessitating a trip to an emergency room, where he said he told hospital staff he had a bullet in his arm, triggering his interview with the ranger.
“I guess the only thing I’m guilty of is admitting to doing something I never did,” Sheehy said of paying a $525 fine for illegally discharging his weapon in the national park; he now says the gun never went off in the park. He added of his platoonmates: “It was a small price to pay to make sure that a whole team of really great Americans didn’t get dragged through the mud over this.”
[TS] Jesus, this is embarrassing. “No it was in Afghanistan.”
9.) A total eclipse crosses over North America today.
10.) The House of Representatives is expected to deliver impeachment articles against the homeland security secretary on Wednesday. The Senate could quickly dismiss them.
11.) Trump says he will deliver a statement on abortion this morning.
[TS] He clearly sees this issue as harmful to his election odds. A few things:
He will say anything to better his chances. Literally anything.
How does this statement square with who he nominates in his administration? He could be pro choice and it wouldn’t matter if he keeps nominating the most ardent anti-abortion advocates (also see: his SCOTUS picks Amy Coney Barrett / Brett Kavanaugh).
Authoritarians take way your rights and then expect praise when they give you back a small part of them.
12.) WaPo: Inside Donald Trump’s secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine.
[TS] Surprise surprise, it would be a gift for Putin:
Trump's proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia, according to people who discussed it with Trump or his advisers and spoke on the condition of anonymity because those conversations were confidential.
13.) Southwest Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Boeing Engine Cover Falls Off.
The plane returned safely to Denver on Sunday after the crew reported that the cover came apart during takeoff and struck a wing flap. No injuries were reported.