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Joe Biden strode into Washington hoping to emulate his hero Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who rallied a dispirited country and lifted it from the depths of the Great Depression.
Taking the oath of office in the midst of a pandemic and the aftermath of four years of national dysfunction and a Donald Trump-inspired insurrection attempt, Biden unveiled New Deal II designed to put America back on track.
In hindsight, Biden’s $1.9B American Rescue Plan turned out to be a massive overreach.
It flooded federal dollars into an economy that was being squeezed by product shortages and supply chain, triggering one of the highest inflation rates in years.
Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger said it best in a comment about the 2021 election that resulted in key unexpected losses for Democrats. “Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos” following the Trump White House.
Biden though is turning out to be a half FDR, whose “arsenal of democracy” helped defeat Nazi Germany.
FDR signed the Lend-Lease Act in 1941 to send weapons to Britain to help it fight Hitler’s war machine. It was later extended to the Soviet Union.
Biden signed an updated version of the Lend-Lease Act called the “Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend Lease Act of 2022,” which also covers nations in Eastern Europe.
Fittingly, he signed the Act on May 9, the same day that tail-between-his-legs Vladimir Putin addressed the Victory Day parade in Red Square.
The Russian leader had expected to deliver a glorious speech, extolling his military’s great triumphs in Ukraine.
That wasn’t possible due to the stirring leadership of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, the country’s heroic military and Biden’s ability to unite the West against the Russian invasion.
Putin badly underestimated America’s president. He viewed him as weak following the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Biden now says the Russian invasion of Ukraine won’t stand and that our arsenal of democracy will provide Zelensky with whatever his country needs.
FDR is proud of Joe.
Move over, US Chamber of Commerce. There’s a new voice of Business (though it's not in town) and it’s gunning to take you down.
The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce has formed somewhere in Iowa because it believes American public discourse no longer has a major advocacy group championing the ideals of free, fair and open markets.
AmFree vows to “fight against outdated regulations, future-killing tax policies, and the corporate cronyism and backroom DC deal making that close down our economic future.” Take that CoC.
It will offer members the tools to maintain access to the marketplace in the face of “woke capital” and “cancel culture.”
Genty Collins, who was political director for the Republican Governors Assn. and Republican National Committee, helms AmFree.
Terry Branstad, two-time governor of Iowa and Trump’s ambassador to China, is chairman.
AmFree is committed to maintaining its HQ in the Midwest, far from the DC Swamp.
Currently it is stationed in Ankeny. That's a suburb of Des Moines.
Elon Musk, who was the world's richest man and still may be despite the massive Wall Street swoon, wants to buy Twitter so Donald Trump can resume mouthing off on the site.
"I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake," said Musk at an automotive conference on May 10. "I would reverse the perma-ban."
Despite Trump's pledge not to go crawling back to Twitter in the event Elon took over, you can bet your bottom dollar the former president can't ditch "Truth Social" soon enough.
In the words of Donald, "Truth Social" is a "disgrace."
Our hearts and prayers go out to former Congressman Devin Nunes, the windbag whom Trump picked to run his Trump Media and Technology nothing burger.
TM&T sends emails to me nearly every day, promoting Nunes' appearances on various Fox News programs, singing the praises of Truth Social.
Get ready to be tossed overboard, Devin. It might be wise to keep a life jacket handy.
The North American "united bid" for the World Cup doesn't look so united these days... State Dept muzzles political speech as it investigates deporting an influential opponent of Iranian war... Wall Street Journal "discovers" corporate communications.
Momentum is building for nuclear power but public support is not guaranteed, according to a survey conducted by Ruder Finn... America First PR founder admits to assaulting a woman in a London tube station... If they knew their presence would disrupt the lives of thousands of people, neither Barack Obama nor George W. Bush would have attended the NBA Finals. They were not narcissists-in-chief. 
Ukraine struck PR gold as its launches drone attack on St. Petersburg oil depot ahead of 'Putin's Davos' designed to put a positive spin on Russia's economy that is reeling under the 'special military operation' that has cost the lives of more than 500K soldiers... Defense Secretary Hegseth ups war against reporters... Extremist government ministers marching in NYC Israel Day Parade further hurts the country's image. 
Cuba will make or break Secretary of State Marco Rubio's bid for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination... Ballard Partners and BGR Group push for justice for the family of Robert Levinson, who was abducted and vanished in Iran 19 years ago... Robert Daley, the pistol-packing larger-than-life PR guy who was PA chief for the NYPD, dies at 96.
Pope Leo's encyclical on dangers of AI has JD Vance rethinking his justification for Trump's war with Iran... Software tools remove guardrails on Google, Meta AI models that aim to protect against biological war, child sex abuse, stealing credit card info, reports the Financial Times... US tech sector drops nearly 100K jobs during first four months of the year.
