Today: Trump Arrives in China

It will be Trump’s second meeting with President Xi in the US president’s second term. The first was on October 30 last year at the APEC summit in South Korea. This is the first state visit to China by a U.S. president since Trump’s 2017 meeting (White House). Financial Times: He will arrive at a time when the US and China are competing for dominance in trade and technology as well as global influence. Last October, Xi and Trump met in South Korea and agreed to a truce in their trade war, with the US unwinding tariffs that had hit 145 per cent after Beijing squeezed the supply to the US of critical minerals needed to manufacture high-tech products.… Some US officials say both sides are now pursuing “strategic stability” to buy time to work on their weak spots — including rare earths for the US and semiconductors for China. But others have disparagingly dubbed it “strategic deference” on the part of the US, and worry that Washington is abrogating its role in securing the world order against growing authoritarianism led by Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. American allies in Asia are especially anxious that Trump — who at that encounter with Xi in October described the Chinese president as “a friend of mine, really for a long time now” — might concede ground on regional security, especially on Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its territory. Trump has at times seemed ambivalent about Taiwan despite its importance to the US and its allies as a strategic bulwark in the western Pacific and its dominance of the advanced semiconductor industry (Financial Times).

China’s Political Prisoners and Trump’s China Trip

Does Xi want to improve his image on the world stage? Does he want to look somewhat more reasonable and respectable? Then he ought to release imprisoned media magnate Jimmy Lai. Hugh Hewitt: If Xi cares at all about reducing the enduring global awareness of his ruthlessness, he could release prisoners of significance in the world’s opinion like Jimmy Lai, once a powerful media tycoon in a free Hong Kong. Lai’s imprisonment has served to underscore Xi’s crushing of dissent, his cruelty and his thoroughness in communicating that message to his own population even at the cost of anchoring the deeply negative perception of him in all of the free world and in history. Xi’s indifference to that perception is obvious as his treatment of the Uyghurs demonstrated. But perhaps there is a small chance that the Leninist, who is almost certainly an atheist, may not care about eternity and its judgments, but if there is even a small bit of concern on his part about history’s or a deity’s assessment of him, that would be an incentive to use this biggest of stages to lay down a marker on being other than absolutely evil. Jimmy Lai is far from the only high-profile political prisoner in Xi’s countrywide cell. Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri is another and there are scores more. The release of the publisher or the pastor and any of the scores known by name would oblige historians to account for even a small flicker of humanity in the dictator. Does Xi care about that? Or has he reached a Putin-level of indifference to basic human norms? (Fox News).

Former So Cal Mayor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Acting as a Chinese Agent

Not only are the Chinese agents here, we are electing them to office. From the Justice department: “By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division. “Let this serve as a clear warning: individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice. Protecting the rule of law and the transparency of our democratic process remains at the core of the FBI’s mission, and we will continue working alongside our partners to safeguard the integrity of our elections and keep hostile actors from undermining the voices of the American people.” According to her plea agreement, from late 2020 through 2022, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, California, worked at the direction and control of PRC government officials and coordinated with U.S.-based individuals to promote the PRC’s interests by, among other things, promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States. Sun is serving a four-year federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government (Justice).

All Tennessee Democrats Removed From State Committee Assignments After Redistricting Disruptions

It’s difficult to call it a protest. Sean Davis at the Federalist: Notice has just been given to Democrats in the Tennessee House that all members of the Democrat Caucus are being removed from all standing committees and subcommittees as a result of their behavior in the statehouse during the redistricting debates last week, which included setting fires inside the Capitol and attacking law enforcement. In the state of Tennessee, political terrorism will not be tolerated. National Republicans take note that this is how you exercise power (Davis). Cameron Sexton, Tennessee Speaker of the House summarizes their effort to sow chaos in the democratic process:  Interlocking arms in the well of the House; • Blocking aisles on the House Floor; • Instigating and encouraging disruptions of the legislative process in coordination with paid protesters and attendees in the gallery, including the distribution of earplugs to a member of your caucus; • The use of prohibited props and noisemakers on the House Floor; • Demonstrating a lack of respect toward fellow members seeking recognition to speak on legislation; and • Flagrant disregard for the Permanent Rules of Order of the House; Members of the Democratic Caucus will receive individual letters removing them from all standing committees and subcommittees of the House, except where membership is required pursuant to Rule 65 of the House Rules (Davis).

Illinois Electoral Maps Under Scrutiny After Louisiana v. Callais

When the current maps were shaped and signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), he boasted of the racial shape/racial outcome he saw them achieving. He said: [the] “redistricting plans are crafted in a way that preserves clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to exert collective electoral power.” The Public Interest Legal Foundation: We’ve filed the first lawsuit following the Louisiana Callais SCOTUS case. Our client alleges the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011’s redistricting mandates violate the 15th Amendment and Section 2a of the national Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Public Interest). Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt: J.B. Pritzker called Callais an “abomination.” No wonder. Illinois built one of the clearest race-based redistricting regimes in the country (Schmitt). Illinois Democrats are, you can understand why, not particularly interested in moving quickly: In the aftermath of the decision, Illinois State Senate President Don Harmon said a potential constitutional amendment on redistricting in the state will not advance during the current session, giving the state’s legal team time to review the court’s ruling (NBC).

Missouri Supreme Court Upholds New Congressional Map

It should finalize things for November’s election in the Show-Me state. Susie Moore at RedState: in not one, but two redistricting-related cases — in both instances issuing a decision that effectively locks in place the current 7R-1D map (HB 1, passed by the state legislature in September 2025) for the 2026 midterm elections…. The court heard oral argument in both cases on Tuesday morning and issued unanimous decisions in both cases on Tuesday afternoon, making it clear that courts are not political map-drawing commissions — and that referendum activists don’t get to suspend laws merely by dropping boxes of signatures at the secretary of state’s office (RedState).

UAE Has Been Carrying Out Attacks on Iran

The quantity of attacks is not the issue. The simple fact that UAE is willing to move militarily against the radical Shi’ite state is geostrategically very significant. Wall Street Journal: The strikes, which the U.A.E. hasn’t publicly acknowledged, have included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, the people familiar with the matter said…. “It’s significant to have a Gulf Arab country as a warring party that struck Iran directly,” said Dina Esfandiary, Middle East analyst and author of a book on the rise of the U.A.E. “Tehran will now aim to further drive a wedge between the U.A.E. and other Gulf Arabs who are trying to mediate an end to the war.” … “The Emiratis made it clear early on that they didn’t want this war. But it’s also clear that since the first Iranian strikes on the U.A.E. took place, Abu Dhabi’s been quite transparent that they see the regional picture as having changed dramatically,” said H.A. Hellyer, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London (Wall Street Journal). Eyal Yakoby: The U.S., Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE carried out strikes against Iran. There is a new Middle East on the horizon (Yakoby).

Iran Effort to Attack Kuwait Thwarted; Four IRGC Captured

So much for a ceasefire. New York Times: Kuwait on Tuesday accused Iran of sending several members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to infiltrate a strategically important Kuwaiti island. On May 1, a group of armed members of the Revolutionary Guards arrived at Bubiyan Island in the Persian Gulf aboard a rented fishing boat and exchanged fire with Kuwaiti soldiers, injuring one of them, Kuwait’s interior ministry said in a statement. It said four members of the Revolutionary Guards were arrested while two others fled… Kuwait’s foreign ministry identified all six of the attackers and said they included officers in the Iranian navy and army. Kuwaiti authorities, much like their counterparts in neighboring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, have cracked down on individuals and groups they say have links with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (New York Times).

Civil Commission Releases Definitive Report on Atrocities of October 7th

Why it matters: This report is the first to systematically assemble, verify, and analyze the evidence on sexual and gender-based violence during the attacks and in captivity, drawing on a uniquely constructed and independently secured war crimes archive. What emerges is not a collection of isolated incidents, but a coherent and repeated pattern of violence, carried out across multiple locations and phases, from the initial attacks, through abduction and transfer, to prolonged captivity and the deliberate digital circulation of abuse. For the first time, these crimes can be understood in their full scope, structure, and operational logic and documented in a way that establishes a clear foundation for accountability (Civil). The crimes committed at the hands of Hamas are a level evil and calculated depravity that defies adequate description. May this report serve to set the moral and historical record straight—at least for the Hamas enablers who still have a conscience. Ed Morrissey: The French channel i24 reported on the release of the report earlier today, which discusses the commission itself as well as an overview of the atrocities Hamas committed. “This is by far the most all-encompassing investigation,” their reporter observes, far more extensive and well-documented than the diffident effort from the United Nations. The evidence makes clear the repugnant and deliberate strategy to use sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) as a genocidal weapon of terror, including something particularly disgusting that the commission calls “kinocide” … What is “kinocide”? Hamas terrorists forced family members to watch the murders and sexual assaults take place, and also forced family members to participate in those assaults (Hot Air; the full report: Civil).

America Has Become ‘Sin Nation’

It used to be Vegas was where a certain subset of the nation would go to engage in vice. Now: The entire nation has sanctioned vice after vice—and we are, collectively, paying the price. Axios: America is quickly becoming Sin Nation. Or, as President Trump put it while discussing prediction markets in the Oval Office last month: “The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino.” Why it matters: Once-forbidden vices — weed, gambling and porn — are no longer confined to back alleys or the desert. They’re ubiquitous, digital and spreading at a pace that has outstripped the country’s social and regulatory guardrails. Governments didn’t turn a blind eye to most of this behavior. They encouraged it. We’re scaling sin in real time. This shift in American governance, both at the national and local levels, didn’t play out all at once — or get kick-started by a singular moment. It happened in a thousand small ones, one app launch and regulatory retreat at a time. New York Times columnist Ross Douthat made sense of our “more immoral society” this way: “As our laws have become less moralistic and more libertarian, addictive behaviors have increased.” … The bottom line: Reining in Sin Nation could be one of the rare issues that unites left and right. Don’t bet on it — though, of course, legally you could (Axios).