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š The Race to the Bottom
Plus, we respond: Are We Normalizing Trump?

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Today, weāre doing something weāve never done before: Running an extra-large, two-article double edition. Please be sure to let us know what you think about the format and its content.
By Max Frost
Article 1: The Race to the Bottom
Some weeksā news seemingly happens at random. Othersā seems to follow a theme. This week certainly fits the latter, and that theme is: āA race to the bottom.ā
On Wednesday, William Pulte accused Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee who has voted against rate cuts, of mortgage fraud. Pulte is both a social media personality, who leverages his 3M followers to roast Trumpās opponents, and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which guarantee residential mortgages in the US. Pulteās being the boss of that grants him access to millions of Americansā mortgage information.
Pulte used this position to look up Cookās mortgage history and then reveal on X that she had claimed two properties as her primary residences in mortgage agreements. He declared that Cook āfalsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under criminal statute.ā
Trump responded that she should āresign now!!!ā to which Pulte replied, āThe President has great cause to fire Lisa Cook.ā On Thursday, the Justice Department announced an investigation.
To many, this looks like the outright politicization of the FHFA to punish the presidentās opponents. And it may be. But bear with me for two hours.
The rest of this report is for paid subscribers, who fund our journalism. If you start a two-week free trial today, youāll be automatically entered to win a free year. Once you sign up, you can access all of our articles here!
Article 2: Are We Normalizing Trump?
We get a lot of criticism in a given week. We want to feature some here and respond to it fully. Today, we reply to Ray, who wrote in on Tuesday with the following:
Iām getting to the point where Iām hate-reading your dailies. I used to come here to escape bias. Sure Iām left of center but the liberal news is just as bad as Fox etc.
But these days itās becoming evident, as other writers have pointed out, that your version of āunbiasedā is becoming more about normalizing Trump. This article is a case in point. Thereās no mention of the fact that the Chief of Staffās job today is exponentially easier because (a) sheās a Trump loyalist which Priebus wasnāt, and (b) the Trump 1.0 administration had adults in the room who protected Trump and America from his worst instincts, whereas Trump 2.0 is stacked with loyalists who cheerlead him An unbiased news source would point out that this is problematic no matter what party is chargeā¦
Iāve been thinking about this: Are we ānormalizing Trumpā? We answer that ā and other criticisms ā below.
The rest of this report is for paid subscribers, who fund our journalism. If you start a two-week free trial today, youāll be automatically entered to win a free year. Once you sign up, you can access all of our articles here!

Editorās Note
Thanks for reading this loaded story, and let us know what you think. Are you worried about the ārace to the bottomā? Are we ānormalizingā Trump? Send us your takes. Thereās little we enjoy more than engaging with our audience.
If you donāt have any feedback today, weāll be back tomorrow with a story that is almost certain to leave you with some. Stay tuned for that.
And if youāre on the hunt for more weekend reading, find our latest stories below:
See you tomorrow,
Max and Max