THE SHOW NOTES: Trump's Grand Jury, Dems Go Full Commie on TikTok, & The US Priority Shift
Welcome! A growing number of Americans are hooked on Chinese apps.
BREAKING: There was a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville just now.
DATA: Half of parents with adult children pay their bills to the tune of $800 per month.
WEATHER: An EF-4 tornado left 26 people dead in Mississippi and Alabama.
NEW: COVID's education crisis: A lost generation? - CBS
MUST READ: The Potential Trump Indictment Is Unwise - David French at The New York Times (paywall)
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Clip of the day:
Trump vs DeSantis
Ron DeSantis leads or ties Donald Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire while trailing him nationally according to two new polls released exclusively to Axios. The polling suggested DeSantis has a significantly higher favorability rating than Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, or Mike Pence in the two early primary states.
Why this matters: Undeclared candidates like Ron DeSantis historically receive a bump in the polling after they make a formal announcement. This underscores the impressiveness of DeSantis’ early numbers in these states.
But: As Patrick pointed out on Twitter, polls released at this point of the 2008 race had Rudy Giuliani with a significant lead over the rest of the field before losing handily to John McCain.
Trump: The Manhattan grand jury appointed in the investigation of Donald Trump is set to meet this week as speculation mounts over a possible indictment. I wrote extensively about Trump and his weekend rally in Waco here.
What Americans Care About
A dwindling number of American deem patriotism, religion, having kids, and community involvement as “very important” according to jarring new data from The Wall Street Journal. The polling tracked the national sentiment over the past 25 years on the various topics. Below is the percentage of Americans that deemed the following categories as “very important” in 1998 vs today.
Patriotism: 70% in 1998 vs 38% today.
Religion: 62% in 1998 vs 39% today.
Having kids: 59% in 1998 vs 30% today.
Community involvement: 47% in 1998 vs 27% today.
The one silver lining from the data is the following quote from The Wall Street Journal:
“Half of people in the survey said they didn’t like the practice of being asked to use gender-neutral pronouns when addressing another person, compared with 18% who viewed it favorably. Some 30% under age 35 viewed the practice favorably, compared with 9% of seniors.”
AOC: Ambassador of China?
Democrats are lining up in support of TikTok after Republicans grilled Shou Zi Chew, the company’s CEO, in a congressional hearing over the company’s connection to the Chinese government. AOC went on TikTok to defend the company but was unable to appease the bipartisan national security concerns surrounding the app. Here’s more on the hearing.
Are you committing digital blackface?
Have you shared a video, gif, or meme of a black person? CNN claims you are committing digital blackface. According to CNN, digital blackface is a form of racism that entails a white person sharing the reaction of a black person across a digital platform.
CNN: “If you’re Black and you’ve shared such images online, you get a pass. But if you’re White, you may have inadvertently perpetuated one of the most insidious forms of contemporary racism.”
Full story here.
International News
Tons of significant international headlines have crossed my desk over the past 48 hours. Here are the ones that caught my eye:
Breaking: Netanyahu agrees to pause judicial overhaul following widespread unrest in Israel - NBC
Russia plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Putin says - CNN
Amid strained US ties, China finds unlikely friend in Utah - AP News
In Blow to Taiwan, Honduras Switches Relations to China - NYT (paywall)
Al Qaeda Closes In on a Stalwart U.S. Ally in Africa - WSJ (paywall)
The rest of the news:
Who funds Antifa protests? We all do - NY Post
Agatha Christie novels reworked to remove potentially offensive language - The Guardian
Most New York Democrats reject Biden’s likely re-election bid - NY Post
Half of US Employees Earn Extra Cash on the Side, Survey Finds - Bloomberg (paywall)
NFL’s Billionaire Owners Want to Let Private Equity Buy Stakes in Teams - Bloomberg (paywall)
Tweets that caught my eye:
Market snapshot:
Who cares about TikTok spying on us. That's not where we are are most vulnerable.
It appears many people (including Peggy Noonan) DO NOT really understand the attack China is capable of doing against the US with TikTok. China can stoke racism by pushing viral videos of black assaulting whites to the white community, and KKK racists videos to black community. That's just one example. They are capable of dividing this country without shooting a single missile. A level of PSYOP against the USA never seen before.
You can see the decline in patriotism by observing Americans who claim to be conservative or on the right and call for things as insane as breaking up our nation. That meets no conceivable definition of patriotism.