Megyn Kelly among others certainly pounced

Most people: Epstein seems to had a relationship with Israel. But there's no real evidence he was an Israeli asset, and we should be careful about saying that

Bibi: hold my beer

I agree with @sharonk.bsky.social that the risk is real and will peak then as the Dem house (assuming it flips) goes to war vs the admin and starts a host of investigations, subpoenas all top officials, and more

I’m just not sure where the differential risk of the boss vs the underlings leaves us

Is it the horror of Tiananmen, and the stifling of any movement toward democracy in China? Yes.

It is also the Chinese economic miracle that lifted millions and millions out of poverty, modernized & opened up the country, and created pacifying trade links with other world powers? Yes

That sounds like a potentially interesting comp, yeah

Tl;dr MBS’s legacy IMO will be ruthless and deeply authoritarian but complex in what it wrought

If anyone wants more reading I do like Ben Hubbard’s deeply critical but balanced book

www.amazon.com/MBS-Rise-Pow...

Especially breaking the veto of conservative clerics and moving forward on women’s driving and employment, opening up society

He also has become less rash, more constructive on FP e.g. detentes with Qatar & Iran, useful on Palestine, etc.

Saudi has been stable too and that wasn’t assured post 2011

He basically broke the power of the old Saudi elite and moved from a consensus to a personalist autocracy

He wielded that power disastrously in some ways, especially early on (Yemen, Hariri, Qatar, Khashoggi, etc) but also used it in some ways that are hard to wholly criticize IMO

Only somewhat related to your post but this line, man. This is the most 1996 coded/West Wing style line that we never see in natl politics anymore — “we share the same goals, but just disagree on how to get there”

And to hear it coming out of Trump’s mouth about Mamdani, wow

Good for Josh Landis being clear and going to bat for his junior faculty

Underrated film
✅ fun
✅ great world-building
✅ beautiful tie-in to broader franchise
✅ solid performances throughout by talented cast (Whitaker, Luna, Riz Ahmed, Mendelsohn, Mikkelsen, Tudyk, etc)

I mean, it takes a special level of chutzpah to only accept your own demands with reservations

There was a moment there in the 2021-2023 range where I noticed R-leaning friends just be bored and tired of Trump's act -- almost seeing it as cringe -- before his comeback.

I think it happens when his power wanes, and IMO there's an opportunity to push that again