Normalizing Relations

Plus: Qatar-a-Lago, Ocasio-Cortez sure looks interested in running, how Mississippi public schools improved, and more...

Trump says we might normalize relations with Syria: Last year, Bashar al-Assad's regime collapsed. Now, President Donald Trump is in the Middle East, exploring normalizing relations with the new government of Syria and promising to lift sanctions.

Trump met with Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa (a historic moment, because the heads of the U.S. and Syria have not sat down together since 2000). "With the support of leaders in this room, and the great leaders you are, we are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria's new government," said Trump. "It gives them a chance for greatness," he added. "The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful."

Normalizing relations with Syria would align with Saudi Arabia's goal of ensuring the new Syrian government doesn't establish too close a relationship with Iran, one of Assad's closest backers. It would also possibly complicate the U.S.-Israel relationship, as Israel has been conducting airstrikes on southwestern Syria since the toppling of the Assad regime. (Syria's Foreign Ministry said that Israel's strikes in April were responsible for the "near-total destruction of the Hama military airport and the injury of dozens of civilians and military personnel"; multiple cities and air bases have been targeted over the last few months.) But the possibility of ending sanctions on Syria and the new government being able to rebuild the country is a welcome one; a slightly more stable Middle East might be in sight.

This one Resistance trick will surely work: "As President Trump visits Qatar amid the controversy over its proposed gift of a $400 million luxury plane," reports The New York Times, "the Democratic National Committee announced plans to fly a sky banner over his Mar-a-Lago club today that reads 'Qatar-a-Lago.'" Wow, they really got him, didn't they?

Look, a Qatari plane being used as the new Air Force One certainly presents issues. "Aside from any legal and ethical qualms about Trump accepting the plane—an 89-seater with a sumptuous French-designed interior—there are technical and security concerns too," reports Bloomberg. "Experts say any such gift on a foreign government's behalf presents opportunities for surveilling, tracking or compromising communications of the president and anyone traveling with him." Trump should probably be a touch less flattered and a bit more worried by this possibility. But if this is the Democratic Party's best shot at countering the many legal, ethical, and constitutional violations by the Trump administration, we're in for a very long four years.

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Scenes from New York: Excellent points made by Curtis Sliwa, who will definitely not become mayor but is nevertheless running. (Classic Sliwa, whose iconic beret always reminds me of this Norm Macdonald quote.)

The MTA is wasting billions trying to stop fare evasion with these useless turnstile additions. Meanwhile, trains are late, fares are too high, and more transit officers are still desperately needed. Fix the basics first. As Mayor, I'll make subways safe and finally lower the… pic.twitter.com/6DuANt8q8X

— Curtis Sliwa (@CurtisSliwa) May 9, 2025

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QUICK HITS

• Sure looks like she's running:

• "Qatar spent three times more in the U.S. than Israel did on lobbyists, public-relations advisers, and other foreign agents in 2021—and nearly two-thirds as much as China did, according to the government's latest reports," reports The Free Press in a thorough investigation on Qatari influence.
• Never forget Joe Biden's vigorous young aides:

https://t.co/DpZgRQngBk pic.twitter.com/zPpLubAbrH

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) May 13, 2025

• From Noah Smith (this week's Just Asking Questions guest): "I do think there's some evidence that many forms of U.S. pop culture—music, movies, video games, books—are stagnating, at least as far as mass consumption is concerned….An increasing percent of what Americans consume comes from franchises, sequels, remakes, and established creators," he writes. And Katherine Dee writes that books and music and movies have become less important (excerpted within Smith's piece): "[T]here's a new culture all around us…We just don't register it as 'culture.'…We're witnessing the rise of new forms of cultural expression. If these new forms aren't dismissed by critics, it's because most of them don't even register as relevant….The social media personality is one example of a new form….not quite performance art, but something like it….The same is true of TikTok….There is a lot of innovation on TikTok—particularly with comedy….Creating mood boards on Pinterest or curating aesthetics on TikTok are evolving art forms, too. Constructing an atmosphere, or 'vibe,' through images and sounds, is itself a form of storytelling, one that's been woefully misunderstood….They're a type of immersive art that we don't yet have the language to fully describe." Writer David Marx "differentiates 'art' and 'entertainment' based not on their quality, but on the intent of their creators," notes Smith. "'Art' is when creators try to push the boundaries of creative expression with new forms and new ideas; 'Entertainment' is when creators just want to please the masses. When creators stop trying to make art and just make entertainment, you get a decrease in novelty, because people aren't trying as hard to push the boundaries—there is no avant-garde."
• How did Mississippi fix its public schools? It retrained teachers and focused on phonics instruction:

Instead, Mississippi did something very boring and very smart: they changed the curriculum. They retrained teachers. That's it: https://t.co/36z4Ei0tmX

— Jeremy Horpedahl ???????? (@jmhorp) May 13, 2025