Marco Rubio

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump were all smiles at the White House on Wednesday as the two met to discuss efforts to transition to a new presidential administration. The duo appeared in front of reporters this afternoon as Biden emphatically shook Trump’s hand and congratulated him on his victory before promising a “smooth transition.“We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated with what you need,” Biden said. “We’re going to get to talk about some of that today.”  “Thank you very much. Politics is tough and is in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today,” Trump replied. “I very much appreciate it.

What on earth is Donald Trump thinking? That’s what many realists and restrainers inside and out of Washington are asking themselves after news broke late last night that Marco Rubio, the senior senator from Florida, is set to be tapped as secretary of state in the next administration.  The reactions haven’t been uniformly bad, mind you. Other candidates rumored to be under consideration, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, caused many in the US foreign policy elite to wretch in fear. Others, like former national security advisor Robert O’Brien and Senator Bill Hagerty, who served as US ambassador to Japan during Trump’s first term, would have been predictable choices with whom most could live.  Rubio, however, is one of the most hawkish options Trump could have picked.

Welcome to Thunderdome. The dynamics of the current moment for the presidency, the Democratic Party and the country as a whole are absolutely insane and are gaining speed towards a conclusion that is still unknown. Let’s break down the factors as they stand today, understanding that the current direction could alter dramatically based on what happens next — with President Biden’s press conference tonight and Monday interview, the RNC gathering in Milwaukee and former president Donald Trump’s choice for vice president all scheduled in the coming days. So here’s a snapshot of the moment right now, even as the ground shifts under our feet.

Support for President Joe Biden continuing his reelection campaign is polarizing his own party. The Hill reported yesterday that discontent was growing among Democrats, and the publication offered live updates all day from the Democratic National Committee headquarters, where Dem leadership gathered to discuss Biden’s future as their nominee. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer have both expressed their continued support for Biden. They were joined yesterday by Representatives Ami Bera, Jim Clyburn, Lou Correa, Veronica Escobar, Adriano Espaillat, Steny Hoyer, Stephen Lynch, Jerry Nadler, Jan Schakowsky and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Welcome to Thunderdome. Well, we finally have it! A list of contestants for Donald Trump’s long-anticipated veepstakes, designed to play out live and on camera in the coming month before the Republican convention — you just know he’s going to make us all wait for the reveal. There are a few surprises in omissions and additions, but not many. Now, this being Trump, he could always swerve at the last minute and have a surprise entry... so Tulsi Gabbard fans, all hope is not lost. But here are the candidates we know for now: Governor Doug Burgum (ND) Ben Carson, former HUD secretary Senator Tom Cotton (Ark.) Representative Byron Donalds (Fla.) Senator Marco Rubio (Fla.) Senator Tim Scott (S.C.) Representative Elise Stefanik (N.Y.

Well, well, well. That is to say, I told you so. Finally, at last, it was about time, scary-looking special counsel John Durham has delivered his report on the stinking, corrupt, lying, no-good partisan machine that is the FBI and the Department of Justice. Just as I and the rest of the non-Hillary commentariat told you, what he showed was that the Deep State’s investigation into possible collusion (remember that once-ubiquitous word?) between Donald Trump and the Russkies was a partisan witch hunt fabricated by Team Hillary.  The report is full of the antiseptic bureaucratese that specialists recommend to their insomniac patients. The FBI “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law,” yada, yada, yada.

“Whoever controls big data technologies will control the resources for development and have the upper hand,” Xi Jinping declared shortly after assuming control of China. In the years since, the Chinese surveillance state has exploded at home and abroad, thanks to espionage-adjacent apps such as WeChat, but none has raised as much ire as TikTok. Following reams of data showing that your teenager’s favorite app is poisoning their mind and spying on them, the calls to ban TikTok are now coming from inside the House… and Senate. But how would such a ban actually work? What does it mean to ban an app that is supported by the technological infrastructure of the CCP?

Senator Marco Rubio today sent a strongly worded letter to Harvard president Lawrence Bacow expressing concerns prompted by a Spectator magazine investigation by this reporter that Harvard may be “actively supporting [America’s] principal adversary,” the Chinese Communist Party. “Throughout the pandemic, we were told to trust the experts," Rubio told The Spectator exclusively. "But what we increasingly see is so-called trusted experts and institutions engaged in highly questionable behavior. This looks really bad, and if it turns out to be true, any last shred of faith that the American people had in these ‘experts’ will be deservedly stamped out.

Count Cockburn among the many skeptics of daylight savings time. One minute he's setting his alarm for his usual wakeup call of 1 p.m., the next he's being jolted out of a deep REM cycle at what should be the ungodly hour of noon. Thankfully Cockburn and the many other DST detesters out there have found a champion in Marco Rubio. The Florida senator recently introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Savings Time permanent nationwide (right now only Arizona and Hawaii don't observe). That would mean no more setting back the clocks in November only to jump them ahead in March, no more of those sudden and surprising and sunny springtime evenings.