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5️⃣ Trump hits 32% and enters the Nixon zone
Trump fell to 32% in the Reuters/Ipsos poll published Monday, his career low. Republican strategists told the Guardian they fear a “bloodbath” in 41 days. The Senate is in play, with Iowa a toss-up and James Talarico ahead in Texas. Trump is entering the Nixon zone. Nixon’s senators told him at about 24% he had no votes; he resigned. “I’m not running. Other people are running,” he said at the UN, a week after asking voters to pretend he was. Republicans can’t get far enough away from this president. Democrats with the Senate get real investigations and a real impeachment, and they need an Orbán-sized landslide because Trump will look for a way out of the count.
4️⃣ Trump’s lawyers call the press a security risk; Melania lets CNN in
Judge Timothy Kelly heard CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s First Amendment case at 3:30 in Washington, after the Justice Department called White House access “a privilege, not a right.” Melania Trump’s office had already credentialed CNN and Politico for her own UN event Tuesday, so Kaitlan Collins stood in front of the president who banned her. He can’t handle even the slightest criticism. He is squishy. He falls apart. Melania told Fox & Friends Wednesday morning “we have a direct channel with Russia and with Ukraine.” She keeps company with people close to the Kremlin, Paolo Zampolli among them. A Republican senator now wants Don Jr. under oath about the Russian money behind his wedding.
3️⃣ Trump meets Xi at the plane, as he did Putin
Trump greeted Xi Jinping at the foot of the stairs at Joint Base Andrews this afternoon, an honour American presidents almost never extend. The last leader he met planeside was Putin, in Alaska. Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican who chairs Armed Services, said Trump should not have invited him at all. Trump played the local governor of the recently acquired United States of America, out on the tarmac to welcome the emperor.
2️⃣ Prosecutors open the books on Epstein’s executors
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have opened a criminal investigation into Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, the lawyer and the accountant who ran Jeffrey Epstein’s money and run his estate, the Wall Street Journal reported. Prosecutors have charged no one, and both men deny wrongdoing. Narativ called for exactly this in “Crown and Consequence” on 20 July 2020. Six years on, both came out of the estate multi-millionaires while victims collected little.
1️⃣ Trump threatens to annihilate Iran; Iran holds up the children
Trump asked the General Assembly on Tuesday whether he should “annihilate the Islamic Republic” and “drive them into hell.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian answered Wednesday with photographs. “These children perished under bombs,” he said, and the lone American diplomat walked out. Two US Tomahawks hit a girls’ school in Minab on 28 February and killed at least 123 children; UN investigators found reasonable grounds to call it a war crime. Walking out is walking away from the truth. Steve Witkoff spent Tuesday in indirect talks with Iran’s delegation, and Trump says a deal could come “right after the midterm elections.” There might be a deal right after the election. Probably not with him.
