Editor’s note: This is a preview of The 1600, Newsweek’s daily newsletter where politics and culture director Carlo Versano makes sense of Beltway politics for people outside the Beltway.
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The Insider’s Track
Good morning,
Jimmy Kimmel made his defiant return to the airwaves — or some of the airwaves — last night, delivering an emotional monologue that touched on a lot of the issues we’ve been discussing vis a vis speech protections. You can watch the whole thing here if you were in the “blackout” markets still boycotting the show. And while you’re on YouTube, do check out our first rough draft of a video/podcast version of this newsletter. We’re still experimenting with this, so go easy on me!
The big geopolitical news this morning is President Trump’s 180 on the Russia-Ukraine war. After meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN, the president published a 280-word Truth Social post going all in for Ukraine, even going so far as to suggest Kyiv could win back all of the territory taken by the Russians and “maybe even go further than that,” which hints at the possibility of Ukraine invading Russia, I guess? This comes on the heels of POTUS telling NATO nations to shoot down Russian aircraft that violate their airspace. So this is all a big shift in posture for Trump that I think you can probably read one of four ways: 1) This is Trump just being won over by the last person he spoke to, which in this case was Zelensky, and will do another 180 next time he gets flattered by Putin. 2) He has come to the conclusion everyone else has that Putin cannot be trusted and doesn’t want to end the war, and this signifies a material shift in US support for the Ukrainians on the ground to go on the offensive and attempt to make some territorial gains they can use to negotiate in the future. 3) This is some 4-D chess move or coded message to Putin that isn’t obvious to us. 4) This is Trump giving up and basically telling the Europeans, “this is your problem now, losers, I’m out.” He wished both countries well and signed his post “Good luck to all!” which is how I would do it if I were about to cut bait.
This came after the president made his own defiant return to the UN General Assembly, telling the assembled delegates their countries were “going to hell,” lecturing them on how to manage their own internal affairs, and questioning the value of the very organization he was addressing in what was otherwise a boilerplate stump speech. He’s now giving a version of the same speech everywhere he goes, if you’ve noticed: laundry list of accomplishments, blaming Joe Biden for anything not going his way, a little improv and free-association thrown in for good measure. Funeral service for his friend, United Nations, black-tie dinner… doesn’t matter. Maybe he’s getting tired, or his heart just isn’t in it anymore?
Trump also blamed the UN for contributing to a global “crisis of uncontrolled migration” — he’s right about that — and said climate change was a “con job,” and the concept of a carbon footprint was “nonsense.” He’s right about that last thing, too. Is everyone familiar with the origin story of the “carbon footprint” scam? It’s a great piece of political and corporate propaganda lore. Back in the early 2000s, BP was looking for a way to change the image of Big Oil as contributing to the destruction of the climate, as global warming was becoming an increasingly salient issue among the public. Some Don Draper over at Ogilvy came up with the concept of an “individual carbon footprint” that would give people a way to “calculate” how much they were contributing to climate change by, like, leaving the bathroom light on. You can watch the first commercial in this big $100M/year campaign here, from 2003. Imagine being told by British Petroleum that actually, you’re the reason the planet is on fire? Mind you, this was years before that same company accidentally dumped 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but still. Man, we were all so naive in the early aughts. Anyway, next time you hear someone earnestly refer to their “carbon footprint” remind them it’s a piece of corporate propaganda meant to deflect responsibility from the companies actually making this planet uninhabitable onto you and me. And it worked! People still talk about their carbon footprints as a real thing! Probably the best money BP ever spent.
Where were we? The UN. Look, I am probably one of the last non-MAGA Americans left willing to give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt on ending these wars in Ukraine and Gaza. I hope he doesn’t just walk away in frustration, and that he can pull a rabbit out of a hat on both of them sooner rather than later. But it ain’t looking good. On the Gaza front, the White House’s desires to try and wrap up the war are being stymied both by Netanyahu and this trend of our allies saying they will recognize Palestinian statehood, as the UK, France, Canada and Australia just did. I get the argument that doing so represents some kind of small step toward peace. But I am inclined to see it the other way: that such recognition, with zero concessions from Hamas in Gaza, just rewards and emboldens Hamas to continue the war and makes it harder for the US to broker a lasting ceasefire, while morally absolving those countries from the conflict. But as Charlie Kirk might say, prove me wrong on that. I’m open to other arguments.
The Rundown
Jimmy Kimmel Returns to Late-Night With Emotional Monologue
Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television Tuesday night after a six-day suspension that sparked national debate over free speech, media pressure, and political influence.
In an emotional monologue, Kimmel addressed the controversy surrounding his comments on the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, clarified his intent, and thanked both supporters and critics who defended his right to speak.
Speaking directly about Erika Kirk, Kimmel said that her ability to forgive the attacker is “an example we should follow.” But conservative voices argue that Kimmel did not offer a full apology. Read more.
Also happening:
Routh found guilty: The man convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a Florida golf course last year tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen moments after the guilty verdict was read Tuesday. Court officers quickly restrained Ryan Routh and pulled him from the courtroom. Read more.
New polling: Generation Z is emerging as the most likely age group in America to see political violence as justified, new polling shows. youGov polling from Sept. 11, the day after Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah, shows that 20 percent of Gen Z say violence can sometimes be justified in order to achieve political goals. Read more.