GOP Primary, Milei Speech, Border Invasion, Elon Visits Auschwitz
The People's News for the People's Coin 1/17-1/23
Hey everyone,
This news digest covers the following stories from the past week:
1. GOP Primary: New Hampshire
2. Javier Milei’s speech at the World Economic Forum
3. Invasion at the Border
4. Elon’s visit to Auschwitz
Don’t miss videos, memes, and news bites at the end!
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GOP Primary
Last night, Trump won the New Hampshire GOP primary, defeating Nikki Haley 54-43.
Trump received the most votes ever for a candidate in the New Hampshire primary. He eclipsed the previous record set by Bernie Sanders in 2016 by 23,000 votes.
His back-to-back victories in Iowa and New Hampshire are the first time a candidate has carried both states in a contested primary since 1976.
New Hampshire was closer than last week’s Iowa caucus, but exit polls showed that 70% of Haley’s voters were not registered Republicans.
Because of a disagreement between the DNC and state of New Hampshire, Joe Biden did not campaign in the state, nor was he on the ballot. The Democratic primary was widely seen a non-event, causing many liberal voters to participate in the GOP primary to vote against Trump.
After Trump’s victory, the Biden Administration put out a statement about the primary: "Tonight's results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination, and the election-denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party."
Former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also concluded the primary was essentially over, and called on Haley to drop out.
Speaking to her supporters, Haley congratulated Trump but said she would stay in the race: "This race is far from over, there are dozens of states left to go."
Later in the evening, Ramaswamy argued that Haley’s only path to victory is based on the hope that “Trump [would] be eliminated by illegitimate means.”
The showdown between Trump and Haley represents a larger clash between two opposing camps within the GOP.
Trump stands for his signature America First agenda, based on closed borders, economic protectionism, avoidance of new wars, and limited government.
Haley is an avatar of neoconservatism from George W. Bush and Dicky Cheney era, which casts America as the world’s policeman and calls for active intervention in foreign affairs.
Neoconservatism occasionally makes gestures toward reducing the size of government, but in reality neocons have overseen a radical expansion of the surveillance state. Haley is clearly the preferred candidate of the military-industrial complex, and frequently argues for more aggressive military action by the US.
The difference between the two philosophies is best exemplified by a moment in the 2016 primary, when Trump pilloried the Bush family for lying America into the Iraq war. The clip popped up on 𝕏 last Wednesday, shortly after Trump’s Iowa victory.
The same day, another clip of Trump criticizing American warmongering circulated on 𝕏.
The Trump-Haley showdown was the dominant political narrative of the week, but a number of other interesting subplots emerged. Here’s the play-by-play:
Thursday (1/18)
A clip went viral of Trump promising he would never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. He attributed the decision to a discussion with Vivek.
Biden told an interviewer that the Iowa caucus results don’t mean anything because it had low voter turnout
Evidence circulated about Trump’s upcoming trial with his accuser E. Jean Carroll, whose legal effort is being funded by Haley/Democratic mega-donor Reid Hoffman; Trump complained that the judge presiding over the trial had ruled out Carroll’s old social media posts from being entered as evidence
Friday (1/19)
Trump told a rally that Nikki Haley would not be his Vice President. At another point he said,"All you need to know about Nikki Haley is that every corrupt and sinister group we've been fighting for the past seven years is on her side."
The Daily Mail published sworn affidavits showing that Nikki Haley lied about two affairs. Afterwards, Haley banned the Daily Mail from her campaign.
The Daily Mail incident opened up Haley to being meme’d:
Saturday (1/20)
Trump said Haley was in charge of DC security on January 6th, causing the media to correct him that it was Nancy Pelosi who was responsible
The DeSantis campaign cleared all events from its calendar, leading to speculation that he would drop out of the race
Trump addressed the media’s depiction of him as a dictator
Sunday (1/21)
Ron DeSantis dropped out of the primary and endorsed Trump, makng the announcement on 𝕏; Trump said the nickname “Ron DeSanctimonious” is “officially retired”, while several DeSantis donors threw their support behind Haley
In an segment on NBC, Haley portrayed herself as a victim of racism, telling her interviewer “how hard it was to grow up in the deep south as a brown girl” and claiming she was disqualified from a beauty pagent because she wasn’t white or black
Monday (1/22)
Nikki Haley wrote, “I’m not going to step aside just because the D.C. establishment thinks someone else should be coronated”, bucking the perception that she is the favored candidate of the DC establishment
Vivek stumped for Trump in New Hampshire; Trump again credited Vivek for convincing him to block a CBDC and said, "I love Vivek. I love him too now. I didn't love him when he was running, but I like him now. It’s amazing the way you can like someone when you win"
Trump described missile systems in the US in a viral clip, and said he expected Biden to drop out of the 2024 race
What do you think: should Haley drop out? Is there something nefarious afoot by her staying in the race?
Javier Milei’s Memetic Speech
Last week, Argentina’s new President Javier Milei went mega-viral for his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The talk warned that a class of global elites is using socialism to drive the nations of the world into poverty.
Milei concluded his speech by addressing the global populace: “the state is not the solution, the state is the problem itself. You are the true protagonists of this story.”
Broadly, the Davos summit is a gathering of elites to discuss ways to solve the world’s problems through state intervention into the private lives of citizens.
Milei’s speech was a brash repudiation of the elites’ agenda, delivered directly to their faces.
It’s surprising Milei was invited to speak at the event at all, given his background.
He has described himself as “the first free market libertarian president in the history of humanity,” a philosophy which runs counter to the WEF’s stated aims.
Milei’s speech went viral for the same reasons that Elon’s GFY moment caused such an uproar at the end of 2023.
Anti-establishment sentiment is on the rise, and people of the world have had enough of powerful institutions and petty tyrants encroaching on personal freedoms.
In 2024, it looks like the best way to win the masses is to show open disrespect to the disrespecters, who may have bit off more than they can chew.
The speech set off a wildfire of Milei memes, which dominated 𝕏 on Wednesday and Thursday.
Elon tapped into the zeitgeist by posting both the speech itself and a spicy Milei meme, leading one television commentator to declare, “Elon Musk es un papa frita.” Milei thanked Elon for his support.
After the speech, Trump also praised Milei as “MAGA (MAKE ARGENTINA GREAT AGAIN)”. In the past, Milei has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Trump.
Outside of the Milei speech, the energy around the WEF was notably muted, with some commentators observing that the event had jumped the shark.
Here are a few other highlights from the weeklong event:
A trio of Damon Imani video memes circulated on 𝕏 parodying the summit (1, 2 , 3)
A clip of Alex Soros speaking against Trump at Davos went viral
A clip of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon circulated widely in which he criticized Democrats for demonizing Trump supporters. Last year, Dimon flirted with the idea of running for President as a Democrat
WEF listed its top threat to the world in 2024 as misinformation
Joe Rogan questioned the intentions of the Davos class: "They have conversations about clean energy. What they really want to do is control all the f--king food. They want you to be completely dependent on them."
Do Milei’s ideas make sense to you? Why do you think his speech went viral?
Border Invasion
The story of the US Southern border took several interesting turns this week.
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Biden Administration could authorize the removal of razor wire installed by the state of Texas to prevent migrants from crossing into the Eagle Pass area.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and AG Ken Paxton both insisted the issue wasn’t settled, taking to 𝕏 to voice their disagreement with the court’s ruling.
Paxton wrote, "This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty," while Abbot said, “This is not over."
On Tuesday, the Texas National Guard appeared to defy the court and Department of Homeland Security by continuing to install barbed wire barrier, which has DHS has claimed makes it harder to apprehend border crossers.
Elon weighed in on the issue by encouraging Texas to defend its border.
In another post, he accused the Biden Administration of “actively aiding illegal immigration.”
In September 2023, border patrol agents estimated that 100 people per hour were crossing into Eagle Pass. A record-setting 276,000 asylum seekers entered the United States from Mexico in December, leading both Democrats and Republicans to call for stricter enforcement from the federal government.
While there is intermittent consensus on closing the border, the discussion remains hotly politicized.
Conservatives have accused the Biden Administration of ignoring border security as a long-term electoral strategy.
Left-leaning news outlets have countered by accusing conservatives of promoting the “Great Replacement Theory.”
Here are other highlights from the border debate:
Democratic Senator John Fetterman urged action to secure the border, telling CNN, “I don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border. We want to provide the American dream for any migrant, but it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up at our border to do that.”
Tucker ran a short segment on the border called “The Invasion”
A new documentary by Muckraker called United States Invasion Route Exposed looked at the experience of migrants traveling through Mexico
Joe Rogan and Yannis Pappas discussed the impact of the migrant crisis on New York City
In New Hampshire on Tuesday, Trump called US border security “an American tragedy” and said the border is the biggest issue in the election
Do you think Texas should be allowed to close the border?
Elon’s Visit to Auschwitz
On Monday, Elon visited Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland with political commentator Ben Shapiro.
The visit fulfilled a request made by a rabbi of Elon during a Spaces event in September 2023 with Shapiro about anti-Semitism.
Afterwards, Elon was interviewed by Shapiro at a conference by the European Jewish Association
Elon took the opportunity to advocate for free speech and citizen control of the news.
He also encouraged Israel to practice conspicuous acts of kindness inside Gaza after the war is finished.
What do you think: is a free speech platform like 𝕏 likely to increase or decrease anti-Semitism?
Top Videos
1. The little guys are winning the meme war
2. Jerry Seinfeld argues that wokeness is anti-comedy
3. Charlie Kirk argues that Vivek’s lasting contribution to the 2024 presidential race was his elite ability to redpill young and intellectual voters: “He moved the Overton window more than any other candidate.”
4. Tucker discusses the lies used to justify censorship with Candace Owens: “Censorship is a tool of power used to preserve power. It always has been and always will be. If someone’s telling you that you can’t say something, they’re telling you that on behalf of someone above you, not below you, above you.”
5. What is techno-optimism?
6. T Mobil released a video about its partnership with Starlink for direct-to-cell service anywhere on the planet
7. Tucker examined why the January 6th pipe bomber has never been caught. Vivek spoke with Donald Trump Jr about the purpose behind the pipe bombing and shutting down the FBI.
8. Why global elites are the cause of, not the solution to, the world’s biggest problems:
9. RFK Jr on the difference between climate change and environmentalism: “Everybody wants to protect the environment. Now, if you want to start a fistfight, talk about climate change—and only climate change. But if you want people to come together, talk about… pollution, quality of life, toxicity in our kids, the destruction of sacred places, our wetlands, our rivers, our shorelines, our waterways.”
10. Charlamagne Tha God on why immigration is the biggest issue for regular people
11. Dr. David Martin on Disease X, the global elite’s plan for the next pandemic that, he argues, will be used to justify eliminating cash-based transactions
12. Trump’s evolving history with crypto, and regular Americans explaining why they support him:
Dogey Treats: News Bites
Elon’s Businesses
Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief said the legacy media is no longer the gatekeeper of the news. Elon responded, “thank goodness!” Later, argued that news should be “an organic thing where the people decide what’s important and what to focus on, not just a handful of editors.”
The Boring Company acquired land to expand its Vegas Loop.
The Biden Administration rescinded the US government’s deal with Starlink to provide Internet to rural areas for $1.3k/household, and is now spending $5k/household to provide terrestrial Internet infrastructure.
Grok 1.5 is expected to come out next month with “substantial improvements.”
Elon responded to the popular conspiracy account Dom Lucre about advertisers pulling ads from his page.
US Politics
A forensics team working for the House of Representatives said that the J6 Committee deleted 117 encrypted files on January 1, 2023, immediately before the GOP took over the House.
A leaked audio recording appeared to show the head of the AZ GOP trying to bribe America First candidate Kari Lake from running for the Senate.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Wednesday, announced that it had obtained documents revealing that federal agencies have flagged financial transactions for financial institutions for people using politically sensitive words such as "MAGA" and Trump."
Rand Paul spoke with Tucker Carlson about his #NeverNikki campaign.
Biden said airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis would continue even though they were not working. A report claimed the Houthis were preparing to disrupt two more maritime chokepoints. The European Union reached an agreement with the United States to launch a military operation in the Red Sea against the Houthis.
Rapper Meek Mill appeared to endorse Trump by posting a video clip of Trump and Vivek. Trump said he would “use Title 42 to end the child trafficking crisis by returning all trafficked children to their families in their home countries immediately”.
Vivek repeatedly downplayed controversy around a 7-11 meme about him by the Babylon Bee.
Elon questioned why the Red Cross was facilitating illegal immigration using funds from the federal government.
After members of the group “Patriot Front” were arrested in New York, Elon questioned why none had their masks removed, playing into the belief that Patriot Front is a fed-run psyop.
RFK Jr said he would pardon Julian Assange and Edward Snowden on his first day in office, and called for government transparency on UFOs.
Elon said, “I cannot see myself voting for Biden this time.” He also highlighted new documents showing the Department of Homeland Security knew about the risks of mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 election and prioritized censoring narratives that the election might not be secure. A video went viral showing five swing states simultaneously stopping ballot counting in 2020. Biden appeared to deny the results of the Virginia gubernatorial election, calling Terry McAuliffe and not Glenn Youngin “the real governor.”
Democratic Presidential candidate Dean Phillips went viral on Tuesday for his comments on Trump supporters.
DEI
Elon and Mark Cuban continued their debate over corporate DEI initiatives.
Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital is seeking to retract dozens of papers following a probe into allegations of data falsification.
Geopolitics
French farmers staged a protest similar to the recent German protest. Scottish farmers also appeared to start a protest.
Canada’s Federal Court ruled that Justin Trudeau’s use of the emergency act to shut down the Trucker’s Protest of 2022 was unconstitutional.
David Sacks posted testimony from Ukraine about the true state of the Ukrainian army.
How did El Salvador go from being the murder capital of the world to safer than the United States?
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said, "In the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea." Are boycotts against Israel becoming illegal in the US?
Hungary PM Viktor Orban wrote, “#Hungary cannot be blackmailed! There is not enough money in the world to force us to accept mass #migration and to put our children in the hands of LGBTQ activists. This is impossible!”
Global Financial System
A Hong Kong-based spot Bitcoin ETF is expected to launch in Q1. Anthony Scaramucci accused the SEC of playing politics with crypto regulation
Elon highlighted two posts about Bitcoin’s growth. Jim Cramer continued to predict tough times for Bitcoin.
Health
An email obtained by the Epoch Times showed that the CDC drafted an email warning of myocarditis risk related to Covid vaccines, but never issued it.
Cancer diagnoses are expected to reach a new high in 2024.
The CDC issued a new vaccine schedule, which calls for 90 doses for children, 130 for adults, and 4 for pregnant women.
Dr. Jim Abramson explains how peer review allowed pharmaceutical companies to corrupt the scientific process.
Memes of the Week
Elon’s Memes and Posts
Thank You!
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