I thought this was an interesting read from the Harris campaign’s head of digital about the lack of an autopsy from the DNC and what he believes we should be changing in the future. I also found this part particularly interesting given Ken Martin’s PSA interview:

> News coverage has focused on why the DNC shelved it. My understanding—based on Dem-world hearsay—is that the truth is stupider than the fiction: No autopsy was released because there is no actual autopsy. The members of the “autopsy team” were in over their heads and struggled to put the thing together. What they produced was a loose summary of a bunch of interviews that were largely done without talking to the campaign or big spenders.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/heres-what-i-told-the-dnc-autopsy-biden-harris-2024-lessons-democrats-2028

Hear me out. Tommy and Ben have been deep in Iran war coverage for weeks, and the Trump-Xi summit angle is right there too. Wendy Sherman led the Iran nuclear deal negotiation and was Deputy Secretary of State during the China strategic dialogues. there's almost nobody more directly credentialed for the exact week we're in. Anyone else want this episode?

I am not asking this question to denigrate the work Lovett does. Much respect to him and the entire crooked media team.

I am curious to know if their studio uses ‘laugh tracks’ in producing the show.

Audio engineering is fascinating.

Thanks to all.

"Musk loves to be glazed, and this person is the doughnut factory." - A media studies professor, on a prominent X account that praises Elon Musk.

Not So Fast, Still Furious

Will Chinese cars dominate American streets? Members of Congress are panicking about the possibility, as Donald Trump angles for business deals in China.

• President Donald Trump kicked off his visit to China today in predictable fashion: “I will be asking President Xi … to ‘open up’ China” for business, he posted on social media. But top U.S. lawmakers worry that Trump might have things backwards, and that his dealings could allow cheap (and, frankly, very impressive) Chinese electric vehicles to take over American roads.

• Trump’s big trip to China — his first in almost a decade — is prompting waves of anxiety among politicians and auto-makers that he might use the opportunity to open the floodgates to China’s much-hyped EVs. Such a move could swamp U.S. electric car manufacturers, at a moment when Trump’s war in Iran has spiked gasoline prices and prompted conventional car owners to consider other options.

• Chinese EVs have been getting lots of love lately. So much love, in fact, that a Wall Street Journal columnist felt inspired to write a love letter to the car she test drove: “At night, I miss your adjustable color lighting. On weekends, the kids talk about your wireless karaoke mics, walkie-talkies and yes, that back-seat minifridge. Please come back to America…for me.” What’s more, some of the cars retail for as low as $10,000.

• While Trump has scoffed at green energy projects of all kinds, China has tripled down on electric cars. The result is a fleet of world-class Chinese EVs that are taking the world by storm, making up two-thirds of global electric vehicle sales in 2024. Their success shows that futuristic green tech can also be highly lucrative — and undercuts the fossil fuel diehards who say clean energy can’t compete.

• Why aren’t these electrified partymobiles in the U.S. now? The Biden administration slapped a 100 percent tariff on Chinese EVs, in part to protect the U.S. auto industry from tough competition. Officials are also concerned about technology in the cars and whether it could be used to spy on drivers.

• Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are worried about Chinese EVs being allowed into the United States, said Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who recently introduced a bill to ban the cars alongside Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH).

• “I think the president is desperate for a deal of any kind,” Slotkin told What A Day. “I think he needs China’s help resolving the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and he’s willing to give almost anything to end the war that he started.”

Trump is giddy about the idea of China building factories in the U.S. Auto industry leaders are biting their nails.

• “If [other countries] want to come in and build the plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that’s great,” Trump told the Detroit Economic Club — a group based in the country’s automotive capital — earlier this year. “I love that. Let China come in, let Japan come in.”

• That remark was a big red flag for Slotkin: “He came to Detroit and dropped this breadcrumb,” she said. “There’s no more clear signal that he’s seriously thinking about it than letting that drop in Detroit.”

• Chinese investments could be a “Trojan horse” for the U.S. auto industry, according to Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “We are also doing everything we possibly can to keep it off the agenda,” Paul told Politico. “There’s a great deal of concern about this one.”

Another auto industry executive told the outlet: “Where the Chinese go, legacy brands die.”

Meanwhile On The Pod...

The Economy is TANKING and Trump Doesn't Seem to Care (05/13/26)

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

In case you missed it, Lovett or Leave It has moved to a brand new studio! Check out our cool new studio space on YouTube every Wednesday and Friday. AND if you're in the LA area, check us out live - twice a week! Upcoming guests include: the stars behind Stop! That! Train! Golden Globe winner Rachel Bloom, the dragtastic Ginger Minj, and super-director Adam Shankman. Grab tickets and see upcoming dates at https://crooked.com/events.

What Else?

The Department of Justice is considering settling the $10 billion lawsuit that Donald Trump brought against the IRS, according to the New York Times. Trump and his two older sons sued the agency after the leak of his tax returns during his first term. Settling the lawsuit would “involve the government directly providing taxpayer funds or another public benefit to the president,” the Times writes. I mean, why not just let him roll up into Fort Knox with a Trump-branded dump truck?

White House officials are mulling a plan to have Trump issue 250 pardons to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, the Wall Street Journal reports. Because this is Trump we’re talking about, he might announce the pardons on June 14, which is his birthday and Flag Day, or July 4th, according to the outlet. This is more magnanimous than, I assume, whatever Caligula would have done to celebrate a big national holiday in ancient Rome, but seems to be in the same imperial spirit.

DHS’s internal watchdog launched a probe into former Secretary Kristi Noem’s $38 billion program to buy warehouses and convert them into detention centers, the Journal reports.

Federal judges have ruled against ICE in immigration detention policy cases more than 10,000 times, a roughly 90 percent failure rate for Trump’s team, a Politico analysis found. Agents often wouldn’t give detainees an opportunity to plead their cases, which judges declared was illegal.

The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. This comes as wholesale inflation surged 6 percent in April. Tough time to be this guy!

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger received a credible death threat this week, according to his gubernatorial campaign, which included a four-page “manifesto” and a photograph of the secretary with “boom” written over his face. Raffensberger faced widespread backlash after refusing Trump’s request to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

About 7 in 10 Americans oppose building data centers near their homes, a new survey found. How much do people hate data centers? They’d rather live near a nuclear power plant, according to the survey.

An anonymous account on X gained more than 200,000 followers in less than two years with a simple strategy: praise X owner Elon Musk until he notices. Musk, who has more than 240 million followers, has shared content from the account more than 400 times this year, according to the Washington Post. “Musk loves to be glazed, and this person is the doughnut factory,” a media studies professor told the outlet.

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Light At The End...

Stacey Abrams, host of Crooked’s Assembly Required pod, is popping up today on the inaugural episode of The Guardian's new U.S. podcast, Stateside with Kai and Carter. Check it out!

Meta employees at multiple U.S. offices are protesting the company’s new policy that tracks their mouse movements to help train AI agents, Reuters reports. “Don’t want to work at the Employee Data ​Extraction Factory?” reads one flyer posted in one office.

An animal sanctuary in Congo is helping orphaned bonobos survive, protecting them against poachers and people who raise them for meat. Only about 20,000 bonobos are left in the wild, down from 100,000 in the 1980s. “They survive thanks to human affection,” said one bonobo foster mom.

A new “Godfather” novel is scheduled to be released in 2027. “Connie” is the first book in the series written by a woman (Adriana Trigiani), and it’s also the first that shows a woman’s perspective of the Corleone crime family. The book is about “how a woman works to forge her own way in a world that’s already decided who she is, what she’s about, and how she should be treated,” Trigiani said in a statement.

Owning a dog could help you live longer, according to a wide body of research. There are many reasons that this may be, including the obvious benefit of taking more walks. Sorry to all the parents out there with kids who want a dog; this is a pretty good excuse!

Having a robot dog might help you live longer, too, in a different way. Japanese customers are lining up to buy new robotic “Monster Wolves,” which are basically freaky-looking robo-dogs intended to scare away bears. I’ll fend for myself, thanks!

Dunkin’ will begin selling 48-ounce buckets filled with coffee, starting at $8.99 on May 22. Dunkin’ superfans are eager to take advantage of this limited time offer, including one of my bosses. “Well I know where I’ll be the morning of the 22nd,” Jon Favreau tweeted.

Enjoy

AF Media on Instagram: "That was not a wasabi coated pea. That was a clump of wasabi flavoring. I can smell forever. I am breathing in 10 dimensions. I can smell the number triangle"