Trump at a Crossroads on Iran: ‘Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not?’

The president has a long track record of letting us know what he’s thinking. Barak Ravid: President Trump told Axios Thursday that he’s approaching a critical juncture in the Iran war over whether to restart massive attacks in an effort to bring the conflict to a close. “I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me.” Though Trump has made similar threats before, his comments come ahead of a planned meeting Tuesday with leaders from six Gulf countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The meeting could shape the next phase of the war, including whether to make another push for diplomacy or intensify military action. If Trump wants to resume major combat operations, he would need buy-in from his regional allies…. What he’s saying: Trump made clear in the interview that he wants to use the meeting at the UN to hear directly from regional allies about the war’s next steps. “I want to find out where they are and how they are doing. We have been very protective of them,” Trump said (Axios).

A Victory for Trump: In 352-72 Vote, House Moves to Codify National Fraud Enforcement Division

More than 140 Democrats felt compelled to go along with Wednesday’s vote. All of the opponents were Democrats (House). Democrats are feeling the squeeze: They don’t want to go on the record as being against fraud enforcement (GovTrack). Colin McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the Fraud Division at the DOJ: This is great news for taxpayers and really bad news for fraudsters trying to steal from America. On to the Senate! (McDonald). Trump announced the division in January: The Assistant Attorney General for this new division will be responsible for leading the Department’s efforts to investigate, prosecute, and remedy fraud (White House). If it can make it through the Senate, the President would most certainly sign it—and the division will be permanent. Fox News: President Donald Trump’s crackdown on government fraud is getting unexpected backup from a majority of House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y…. [The Fraud Enforcement Division] was notably used as a cudgel against Trump’s political enemies earlier this year, when Vice President JD Vance referred Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison to the fraud division for a potential criminal investigation (Fox News).

El-Sayed Buddy Hasan Piker: ‘Pound for Pound’ US Conducts More Terror Than al-Qaeda

The fact that Democrats generally and their nominee El-Sayed in particular find it hard to repudiate this “streamer from California” is disturbing. Ed Morrissey: Axios interviewed Piker for the third-season premiere of its television show, and Piker certainly delivered on publicity for the episode. Piker tells Alex Thompson that America is worse than al-Qaeda and that we conduct more terrorism “pound for pound” than any terror network. Abdul El-Sayed’s most prominent campaign surrogate went on to call the U.S. the “top dog in terrorism”: “Pound for pound as far as the number of deaths, yes, we have caused tremendous terror all around the world. I think that that is not only terror that we are waging on regular civilians in nations in the periphery, but it’s also having consequences on ourselves. It’s having dramatic consequences on the home front” (Hot Air).

Schumer PAC Doubles Down on Islamist El-Sayed With Another $10 Million

Sunk costs? Axios brings the report: The Democrats’ main Senate super PAC is pouring an additional $10 million into the Michigan Senate race to boost progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, Axios has learned. The Democratic establishment is coalescing around El-Sayed after a primary that was nasty, bruising — and late in the season. Republicans see Michigan as a top pickup opportunity and are flooding the airwaves to elect former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). “All pathways to a Senate majority run through Michigan,” El-Sayed said Wednesday after meeting with Democratic senators at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters. The fresh $10 million from Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), brings the group’s spending in Michigan to $30 million. The new TV ads will begin airing Tuesday…. Ahead of a private meeting with Schumer on Wednesday, El-Sayed declined to say if he would support him for Democratic leader next year (Axios).

Dem Nominee for Senate in Arkansas: ‘We’d trade five Americans for just one’ Illegal Immigrant

Hallie Shoffner is looking to unseat the formidable Tom Cotton for the U.S. Senate seat from Arkansas. The comment from Shoffner that caught attention: Every farmer will tell you, “Yeah, at one point we did or still do employ undocumented immigrants.” And it’s absolutely ridiculous that these folks are being round up because they’re hardworking people. They’re some of the best people we know. And honestly, we’d trade five Americans for just one of them because of how hard they work (Foldi). Laura Loomer: The facts are clear: Farmer Hallie loves putting illegal aliens first, which is why she is UNFIT to serve in the US Senate. Arkansas voters, BEWARE! (Loomer). Breitbart adds: Loomer also pointed to a portion of the interview in which host Andy McNeill questioned why ICE agents needed to dress like “SEAL Team Six.” Shoffner responded that the use of bulletproof vests “seems kind of performative to me” (Breitbart).

AOC Feeling the Swagger Over Bid for White House Bid

The New York socialist could very well could be the presidential nominee for Democrats. Polymarket is giving her a 17 percent chance of being the nominee, topped only by Jon Ossoff at 20 percent (Polymarket). This week: Ocasio-Cortez pretty well showed her hand: She’s running. In a fundraising appeal, she said: “I get asked about it in nearly every interview and at every event. In some ways, I understand the interest.” The Hill: Confidence is growing among some influential Democrats about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) prospects in the 2028 presidential race. The New York Democrat has quickly become one of the party’s most prominent voices, tapping into a surge of populist energy on the left while growing her following as Democrats search for a leader nearly two years after their crushing 2024 losses. Some Democrats are even drawing comparisons to former President Obama’s insurgent 2008 campaign — and the grassroots campaign that helped catapult him to the presidency. “If she raises her hand … the number of volunteers will be nothing like we’ve seen since 2007,” Robert Wolf, the longtime Democratic donor who hosted Obama’s first fundraiser in New York in 2007, said during a conversation on The Hill Insider’s Fight for 2028. “The young people are going to come out in droves, and I think it would literally change the field overnight,” he said. “And if she doesn’t run, then it’s going to be a totally different race” (The Hill).

US Poverty Hits All-Time Low

Why is it that we’re hearing so little about it? The report comes from the Census Bureau —and the White House touted the numbers: Highest household income in U.S. history • Lowest poverty rate on record • $196T household wealth — an all-time high • Since Trump returned, household net worth jumped $27T, grew just $33T during Biden’s entire presidency (Census, White House). Breitbart: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent celebrated the report as he testified before a House committee, calling the data “several inconvenient facts” for the administration’s political opponents. “Real wages are outpacing inflation,” Bessent said, according to his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. “The bottom 25 percent of wage earners are seeing larger wage increases than those at the top.” The official poverty rate for children fell to a historic low of 13.4%, the bureau said, and the rate for Hispanic Americans dropped to a record low of 13.9%. Median income rose 4.8% for black households and 3.0% for white households between 2024 and 2025, while income for Asian and Hispanic households showed no significant change (Breitbart).

Israel, Morocco Agree to Open Embassies, Exchange Ambassadors

Morrocco was one of the early signatories to the Abraham Accords—following Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, coming on board in December 2020 (New York Times). On Wednesday, in negotiations that included our very talented Mike Waltz, the two nations took the relationship several steps further. Fox News: Israel and Morocco agreed Wednesday to upgrade their diplomatic missions to full embassies and exchange ambassadors nearly six years after Morocco joined the U.S.-brokered normalization drive that reshaped Israel’s relations with parts of the Arab world (Fox News). From the Joint Statement: Israel and Morocco have agreed to finalize, by the end of 2026, agreements on the protection of investments and the avoidance of double taxation, which will facilitate reciprocal investments and help promote economic and business ties between the peoples and countries (US Embassy).

Getting Past the Panic on AI

Every day we are greeted with a fresh reason to be in panic mode. Perhaps the most high-profile executive to push that panic button was Dario Amodei of Anthropic. Billionaire David Sacks hit back hard. Hugh Hewitt: In addition to rejecting “AI doomerism,” Sacks unsubtly proposed that Amodei could be motivated by self-interest (which is pretty much Adam Smith 101): “I don’t see what you see in the lab. If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible.”  Then Sacks landed the roundhouse punch: “But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission. Stop pretending antitrust law has to be suspended so you can form a cartel. Stop pretending you need a regulatory approval process that supersedes product liability.” Sacks may or may not have President Donald Trump’s ear on this topic, but Sacks is the co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, so there is a good chance he does. So what should President Trump do? A good answer is… nothing. If ever a possible problem had “Congress” as its final address, it is this one (Fox News). Hugh goes on to point out that China’s Xi is not looking for a silver medal in the AI race—and neither should we.

George Gilder on the AI Apocalypticism: ‘It’s really a Joke’

George Gilder—when considered alongside the other futurists—has a very unique distinction: He’s actually been right … over and over again. Just brief reminder of two of his volumes: “Wealth and Poverty,” originally released in 1981 and—relevant to the AI moment: “Gaming AI: Why AI Can’t Think but Can Transform Jobs” (Amazon, Amazon). Gilder was a guest of Jerry Bowyer who—as they closed out their conversation—pushed Gilder on this apocalypticism we’re seeing. Gilder responds: I think it’s really a joke. I mean, I think people should be laughing at these guys. Imagine you’re in a company and you produce some product that you don’t understand and you can’t control. You don’t have a product, fella. You don’t go to the government to take over your company in order to preserve this destructive and product that you don’t really understand. This is a really bizarre kind of moment. It’s software and we’re in a revolution of software that greatly improves the IO of all computers, makes search engines much more efficient, and presuming that at some point they can overcome the need to use a random number generator to simulate human creativity. They might actually produce software that performs a lot of functions that are tedious and really below human capabilities. And it’s like writing software, figuring out all dependencies and other actions of software programs (Salem Podcast Network).