
Before we get started: Eric Edelman, Franklin Miller, and John Herbst have an important piece imploring the Biden administration to let Ukraine take the gloves off and target Russiaās munitions industry:
SINCE THE EARLY DAYS of Russiaās full-scale invasion of Ukraine, American senior leaders made clear their disapproval of Ukraineās attacks on Russian territory. Yet such attacks have increased in recent weeks as the Ukrainians have waged a campaign against both Russian oil refineries and, more recently, air bases. . . .
American reservations about Ukrainian attacks on targets (energy or military) became public in early April, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in response to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, āIt has been our view and policy from day one when it comes to Ukraine to do everything we possibly can to help Ukraine defend itself against this Russian aggression. At the same time, we have neither supported nor enabled strikes by Ukraine outside of its territory.ā . . .
The policy of prohibiting Ukraine from doing what it needs to win for fear of Russian escalation is tactically unsound, strategically bankrupt, legally dubious, and morally squalid.
What the Biden administration seems to misunderstand is that war is dangerous and ugly. There are two ways to force Putin to cease his invasion and withdraw his occupying forces. One is to force the Russians back across the border with bullets and bombs, as Ukraine has every right to do. The second, which is mutually supporting, is to destroy key elements of Putinās war industry, both to starve Russian forces of materiel and fuel and to contribute to the Russian anti-war movement by causing the Russian people to feel the type of pain their military is inflicting on Ukraine.
The Newsletters:
Kristol & Egger: The House GOP is a mess.
Arizona
This morning Marc Caputo got us started with a look at the Arizona Republican partyās abortion mess.
Short version: Kari Lake and Donald Trump understand that the 1864 abortion law is death for their elections. Local members of the Arizona legislature have to choose between helping Trump and pissing off their pro-life base. Bonus: The speaker of the Arizona House is running for Congressāand Trump already endorsed his opponent. So . . . no favors coming from that guy.
Read the long version here and stick around for the juicy quote from the GOP strategist warning state pols to get onboard or risk winding up in the trunk of a car.
Meanwhile: The Arizona legislature went into, and then out of, session today and declined to do anything about the abortion law.
The Tim and Ross Show
On the flagship pod, Tim sat down with the New York Timesās Ross Douthat to talk about abortion, Donald Trump, and the Republican party. Itās a banger.
šØOVERTIMEšØ
None of what follows is investment advice.
I am a proud shareholder of DJT1 and since the stock debuted on the Big Board some beautiful, historical, very special things have happened to it.
How could your favorite presidentās stock be down so terribly? Iāll tell you why. Itās the socialist elites. Just like the Russia Russia Russia hoax, theyāre trying to crush Trump, but it wonāt work. The other day I was talking with a famous stockbroker. Very rich. Very smart. One of the biggest names in stocks. And he said to me, with tears in his eyes, āTrump stock is bigger than either the Google or the Facebook. The people need to buy it.ā
Itās true, itās true.
Helpfully, the Washington Post has spoken to other DJT shareholders about their experiences.
Jerry Dean McLain first bet on former president Donald Trumpās Truth Social two years ago, buying into the Trump companyās planned merger partner, Digital World Acquisition, at $90 a share. Over time, as the price changed, he kept buying, amassing hundreds of shares for $25,000 ā pretty much his āwhole nest egg,ā he said.
That nest egg has lost more than half its value in the past two weeks as Trump Media & Technology Groupās share price dropped from $66 after its public debut last month to $22 on Tuesday. But McLain, 71, who owns a tree-removal service outside Oklahoma City, said heās not worried. If anything, he wants to buy more.
āI know good and well itās in Trumpās hands, and heās got plans,ā he said. āI have no doubt itās going to explode sometime.ā
Jerry is a big guy. Uses a chainsaw. Very big chainsaw. Maybe the biggest chainsaw ever made. And made in America. Not one of those Chinese chainsaws. Maid in Manhattan was a great film. Jennifer Lopez. J-Lo. In the movie she falls in love with Voldemort. Not a nice guy. But he has money. Perhaps he was an early investor in Truth Social. Maybe he used a time turner.
Anyway, back to the Post piece:
In an interview last month with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, the former Republican congressman [Devin Nunes] recounted a recent discussion with Trump in which the men celebrated having āopened up the internet and kept it open for the American people.ā
āIāll never forget the conversation we had,ā Nunes said. āHe said, āYou know, once weāre all dead and gone, this will last forever.āā
Thatās true. Truth Social will live forever. Not like the MySpaces or the Meercats or the Clubhouse. Those were very weak socials. Some would say woke socials. No power. Truth Social has so much strength. Only the strongest people buy it. Strong people like my good friend Todd.
Many of Truth Socialās investors say theyāre in it for the long haul. Todd Schlanger, an interior designer at a furniture store in West Palm Beach who said Trump had been one of his customers, said heās invested about $20,000 in total and is buying new shares every week.
Schlanger said he now watches his stock performance every day hoping for positive signs. In a Truth Social post last week, he encouraged āeveryone who supports Donald Trump and Truth [Social to] buy a share everydayā and asked, āDo you think we have hit bottom?ā (The stock has slid about 35 percent since that post.)
He suspects the recent drops in share price have been the result of āstock manipulationā from an āorganized effortā to make the company look bad. Thereās no proof of such a campaign, but Schlanger is convinced. āItās got to be political,ā he said, from all the āliberals that are trying to knock it down.ā
We love Tom. Heās a great Patriot. Not many Patriots doing interior design, but Tom is one of them.
I wish all of my fellow shareholders could be like Tom. But sadly, some of them are scared.
One user who had posted āTired of WINNING yet?ā earlier this year when the stock spiked posted that the recent losses were āpainful to stomach.ā
āCome on DJT, every time I buy more, the price drops more,ā the user @bill7718 wrote. āWhen will it be the BOTTOM!!ā (He posted a chart Thursday showing the stock rising slightly alongside the caption, āmoving!!ā The price has since gone back down.)
The user @manofpeace123, who said they bought shares at $65 and that 71 percent of their portfolio was DJT stock, said on Wednesday that investing was a way of telling Trump, āI believe in you and I stand with you through good times and bad.ā But a day later, the user added: ācanāt help but feel sad. ⦠feel like Iām trying to catch a falling knife.ā
Knives are very hard to catch. Especially those Ginsu knives. Something about the edges. Serrated, I think. Japanese. I prefer the German knives. Youāre not supposed to say that. The cancels get very mad at you for saying you like the German knives. Theyāll say you like Nazis. Not true. Not true. Youāre really just saying that you like the knives from countries that protected their borders from vermin.
McLain, the tree service owner in Oklahoma, said he believes the stock could āgo to $1,000 a share, easy,ā once the media stops writing so negatively about it and the company works through its growing pains. The companyās leaders, he said, are being ātoo silent right nowā amid questions about the falling share price, but he suspects itās because theyāre working on something amazing and new.
McLain is an amateur trader ā he invested only once before and ālost [his] buttā ā and said he hasnāt talked to his family about his investment, saying, āYou know how that is.ā But he believes the Trump Media deal is a sign he is āsupposed to invest,ā he said.
In sum: Trump Social. Chainsaws. J-Lo. Meerkat. Diamond hands.
Iāve been long two (2) shares since DWAC first announced its intent to purchase Trumpās Truth Social platform and I am riding this rocket to zero.