Fight purse: Behind the spectacle of Trump’s star-spangled mixed martial arts fight on the White House’s South Lawn, there are concerns that the president might be personally profiting, writes Laura Barrón-López. Trump purchased tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in UFC’s parent company before announcing the event last year, he’s holding a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for his top super PAC the night before the cage match, and a line of “officially designed” Trump-UFC medallions are selling for $250 to $12,000. Read more.
|
A lot of zeroes: SpaceX’s initial public offering on Friday made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. But even as investors hailed him as a visionary or just grabbed their piece, he continued showing the kind of repugnant behavior that is “the heart of who he is and the world he is seeking to create,” Paul Waldman argues. Ahead of the IPO, Musk encouraged what became an anti-immigrant pogrom in Belfast, amplifying calls on X for anti-immigrant protests and far-right rhetoric about destroying evil. Musk denies he is promoting violence, but he has turned the social media network formerly known as Twitter into an amplifier of hatred. Read more.
|
The Flamingo Revolution: Tens of thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets repeatedly to protest a controversial luxury resort project linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, writes Ines de la Cuetara. The demonstrations began over attempts to protect one of the Mediterranean’s largest flamingo habitats but have since evolved into a broader public outcry against corruption in the European country’s government, leading to them being dubbed “the Flamingo Revolution.” Protesters say the project is an attempt by Prime Minister Edi Rama to strengthen ties with the Trump administration. Read more.
|
Streaming propaganda: A far-right influencer with extensive ties to extremist figures and a history of demonizing immigrants and Muslims has been given exclusive access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in order to film propaganda about deportations, writes Christopher Mathias, author of “To Catch a Fascist.” Ben Bergquam, host of “Law and Border” on Real America’s Voice News, frequently embeds with ICE and takes part in ride-alongs with agents during immigration raids, broadcasting the videos to more than 1.5 million viewers on social media. Read more.
|
America’s Cup: American soccer fans have suffered many indignities over the years, from waking up early to watch games to enduring the men’s national team’s repeated failures. This year’s FIFA World Cup was supposed to make up for that, but the Trump administration made a number of bad decisions that undermined it, Roey Hadar argues. The list includes travel restrictions on multiple countries, longer lines at airport security, threats to send immigration agents to games or pull customs officers from airports, and visa problems for some participants. The games will go on, but America has lost a chance to show off during the world’s biggest sporting event. Read more.
|
|
|
|
Legendary singer-songwriter Dolly Parton has long run a literacy initiative that offers one free book per month for children from birth until age 5, donating over 300 million books in partnership with more than 20 states. But the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently announced it would freeze enrollment in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library as the Republican-dominated legislature cut the program’s funding from $6 million to $2 million. The consequences of the cuts are all too clear, argues Christina Wyman, a teacher and children’s author. She recounts growing up in a working-class household without many of her classmates’ vacation homes and new cars, “but while my family did not have much, we did have books.” By contrast, she notes how she once saw students whose families could not afford a copy of the book being taught get distracted by a teacher’s in-class reading “because they simply could not see the words on the page.” “To read books, children need access to them — the same type of access that Missouri is poised to take away from its own communities,” she writes. Read the column here.
|
|
|
|
Watch Jen Psaki, Alicia Menendez, Ari Melber, Jonathan Capehart, Catherine Rampell and others in conversation at The Center for American Progress IDEAS conference, where the country’s top progressive leaders preview policy ideas expected to shape national debate. Plus, catch Symone Sanders Townsend’s conversation with Sen. Raphael Warnock on voting rights and Chris Hayes’ discussion with Ezra Klein on artificial intelligence. Watch “We The People: America’s Future” Friday at 9 p.m. ET on MS NOW.
|
This week on “The Best People,” Nicolle Wallace is joined by Chris Hayes to discuss how Democrats can rebuild faith in government in a low trust democracy and what we can learn from our political past. Plus, a dive into his new podcast series, “Why Is This Happening: The AI End Game,” and what deeper questions we should be asking about artificial intelligence. Listen now, and subscribe to MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad-free listening and bonus content.
|
|
|
|
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
|
|
|
|
|
