Winners and Losers of the Week in the News
Donald Trump, Joe Biden, George Santos, Tucker Carlson, Novak Djokovic, Dr. Marty Makary, 18-year-old gun buyers
I am trying something new in this newsletter which is to rank the winners and losers of the week in the news. This was a big project, so let me know in the comments if you like it and want to read this again or not. Also, I’d love to hear from you if you agree with these winners and losers and who you nominate to be put on this list next time.
Winners:
Novak Djokovic
The international vaccine mandate ended on May 11 so the No. 1 tennis player in the world will be able to play in the U.S. Open this year. Djokovic sacrificed his career by refusing to get the COVID vaccine to enter in the U.S. He was refused an exemption from the mandate to play in multiple tournaments over the past two years — long after we knew that the shots didn’t stop infection and transmission of COVID.
Asked by CNN a month ago if he had any regrets about missing tournaments over the vaccine status, he said no:
The dignity and integrity and staying true to myself and my beliefs and my rights — are above everything.
Tucker Carlson
The former Fox News anchor tweeted that he will soon start producing his show on Twitter. He said it is “the only” platform left in the world for free speech. Tucker’s three-minute video has gotten an astounding 26 million views. (I can’t embed Tucker’s tweet here because Elon Musk still is at war with Substack.)
Plus, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted criticism of Dominion Voting Systems for allegedly demanding that Carlson be fired as part of its settlement with Fox. (Both companies deny it was part of the deal.) Abbott said Dominion was wrong for “silencing a prominent conservative journalist.”
Tucker is in a legal battle with Fox over his contract, but he is reportedly willing to give up $25 million to get out and do independent reporting. (Read more insider details here. It is like an episode of “Succession.”) Everyone thinks he’ll make more money on his own and will be happier free of corporate control.
Donald Trump
The former president went on CNN for the first time since 2016 and took control of the town hall stage. I did a live chat with subscribers on what Trump said here.
Trump brushed off anchor Kaitlan Collins when she asked him repeatedly about his role in instigating Jan. 6, his allegations of election fraud in 2020 and his conviction for sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll. (Transcript here.)
The Republican New Hampshire audience cheered for him. Supposedly, CNN cut him off 20 minutes early because he was doing so well.
Even though the show got huge ratings for CNN— 3.4 million, which is four times normal in that time slot— the network’s employees were furious.
Anderson Cooper called the town hall “disturbing” and said on his own show that viewers “have every right to be angry and never watch this network again.” The network’s own media reporter, Oliver Darcy, wrote:
It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening.
Trump lives rent free in the liberal media’s head.
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The brave Johns Hopkins doctor, who spoke out early in the COVID vaccine hysteria that natural immunity worked at least as well, testified on Capitol Hill in a hearing that proved he was right all along.
Watch Makary’s opening statement (cued up below) as he told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that “thousands of Americans died” because government officials were fixated on vaccinating people who already had COVID when the supply was limited.
Makary said public health officials at the CDC and NIH deliberately hid the truth about natural immunity because they were afraid people would get COVID on purpose and die. He calls out “medical paternalism” in the government and universities like his own for not telling the truth about the use of vaccines.
*Click his name above to go to Dr. Makary’s Subtack and subscribe.
LOSERS
George Santos
The Republican congressman compulsive liar and con artist was charged by the Justice Department with 13 counts for the various ways he personally profited while running for election in New York and gave Congress false information. You can read the specific charges from DoJ here.
The most serious ones are using campaign contributions for his lifestyle and receiving unemployment during COVID while having a full-time job. Santos pled not guilty, held an insane press conference and called it all just a “witch hunt.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he won’t support Santos running for reelection.
Santos has already admitted to lying about appalling things — like losing family in the Holocaust (he’s not even Jewish!) and his mother dying in the 9/11 attacks and having an animal charity.
If you want to read all of Santos’s despicable lies and cons in one list, this story is comprehensive. I loved this episode of “The Behavioral Panel” that explained how to recognize when Santos is lying from his body language.
Pres. Joe Biden
The president’s poll ratings are at an all-time low – 37% according to recent surveys. The polls show the decline is due to the terrible economy and losing ground with independents. This is Gallup’s illustration of his problem:
The Washington Post/ABC poll here says 54% say Trump did a better job handling the economy than Biden has done so far. Also, 68% of Americans say Biden, 80, is too old for another term. In contrast, the 76-year-old Trump is viewed as too old by only 44%.
If the election was today, the polls show Trump would beat Biden. Even lesser-known Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would beat Biden. Forty-two percent said they'd definitely or probably vote for DeSantis compared to 37% for Biden.
Biden is avoiding the press so blatantly (he hasn’t had a single press conference this year) that even the liberal The Washington Post editorialized: “Pick up the microphone, Mr. President. The media is not your enemy.”
Biden is a loser on every front with the southern border policy now unresolved and unsecured, inflation sky-high, his public silence and his record amount of days on vacation.
18-year-old Gun Buyers
Virginia and Texas came down on opposite sides of the debate over age-based gun bans. A judge…