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🌊 The Race to the Bottom

Plus, we respond: Are We Normalizing Trump?

President Trump

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Today, we’re doing something we’ve 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 weeks’ news seemingly happens at random. Others’ seems to follow a theme. This week certainly fits the latter, and that theme is: ā€œA 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 Trump’s 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. Pulte’s being the boss of that grants him access to millions of Americans’ mortgage information.

Pulte used this position to look up Cook’s mortgage history and then reveal on X that she had claimed two properties as her primary residences in mortgage agreements. He declared that Cook ā€œfalsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under criminal statute.ā€

Trump responded that she should ā€œresign now!!!ā€ to which Pulte replied, ā€œThe 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 president’s 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, you’ll 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:

I’m getting to the point where I’m hate-reading your dailies. I used to come here to escape bias. Sure I’m left of center but the liberal news is just as bad as Fox etc.  

But these days it’s becoming evident, as other writers have pointed out, that your version of ā€˜unbiased’ is becoming more about normalizing Trump. This article is a case in point. There’s no mention of the fact that the Chief of Staff’s job today is exponentially easier because (a) she’s a Trump loyalist which Priebus wasn’t, 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 charge…

I’ve been thinking about this: Are we ā€œnormalizing Trumpā€? We answer that – and other criticisms – below.

The rest of this report is for paid subscribers, who fund our journalism. If you start a two-week free trial today, you’ll be automatically entered to win a free year. Once you sign up, you can access all of our articles here!

Editor’s Note

Thanks for reading this loaded story, and let us know what you think. Are you worried about the ā€œrace to the bottomā€? Are we ā€œnormalizingā€ Trump? Send us your takes. There’s little we enjoy more than engaging with our audience. 

If you don’t have any feedback today, we’ll be back tomorrow with a story that is almost certain to leave you with some. Stay tuned for that.  

And if you’re on the hunt for more weekend reading, find our latest stories below:

See you tomorrow,
Max and Max