Trump and Xi Both Hold Cards. Big ICE Shake-up. Genius Award: Bill Gates No Longer Climate Alarmist. MSNBC Host May Need Cognitive Test. And More

President Trump signed a rare earth deal with the Prime Minister of Japan, welcomed the PM’s plans for a military buildup—and apparently heard words that were music to his ears:

[Prime minister Sanae] Takaichi, a protegee of Trump’s late friend and golfing buddy Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, applauded Trump’s push to resolve global conflicts, vowing to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt.

President Trump will meet President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea and move on to the important meeting with Xi Jinping, the leader of China. The Wall Street Journal’s Walter Russell Mead dubs the presidential trip “the greatest show on earth” and writes that both Trump and Xi hold high cards:

Both in the Middle East and in the Americas, Trump-era foreign policy aims to strengthen American dominance over fossil-fuel markets. One can debate the means, but the objective is sound. America’s ability to control Russia’s oil income and to deter China by blocking Chinese maritime energy imports in a crisis is an ace the president brings to his meeting with Mr. Xi, and it is one whose value China’s leader fully understands.

Mr. Trump’s many establishment critics—wringing their hands over his unorthodox trade politics and his cavalier disregard for the liberal pieties and diplomatic niceties of alliance politics—can see no method in his madness. But when the Chinese and American leaders meet, Mr. Trump will have some solid accomplishments to bolster his position. Both Europe and Japan have turned a corner on defense spending, an accomplishment that has eluded every previous American president since the end of the Cold War.

The Wall Street Journal’s Bill McGurn writes that President Trump is the only person who could win the freedom of Jimmy Lai, the heroic Hong Kong newspaper publisher whom China imprisoned. McGurn cites “reason for optimism.”

Meanwhile, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal says that Xi will give Trump a “Taiwan test”:

The U.S. doesn’t need to clarify its policy on whether it would defend Taiwan in a crisis. But a concession to Mr. Xi on independence would be self-defeating for Mr. Trump’s goals. Mr. Trump wants the island to spend more on its defense, but endorsing Mr. Xi’s view would undermine morale and tell the Taiwanese that attempting to defend itself is futile. That’s what Beijing wants Taipei to conclude.

The House Oversight Committee is out with its much-anticipated report on former President Biden’s mental decline, who was making decisions during the Biden administration. Lefty Politico says that the probe into Biden’s “alleged” mental decline landed with “a thud.”

The New York Post calls the same report a “bombshell” and refers to former President Biden’s “last daze in office.” The Post focuses, among others, on Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, whom the D.C. Medical Board is urged to investigate. Fox Digital calls the report “scathing,” noting that the Committee demands a Department of Justice probe. Whaddaya bet it gets one?

The partial government shutdown grows increasingly unpopular. The New York Times—which calls it the “Trump shutdown” rather than the widely accepted “Schumer shutdown”—addresses the effects of the shutdown on anti-poverty programs (so-called):

For 42 million people who rely on SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, it means the loss of grocery assistance when food banks are already stretched thin. For the 6.7 million women and children who participate in the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, or WIC, there is uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will find stopgap funds to keep the program going after this week.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley weighs in with “No American Should Go to Bed Hungry.” Today is the first day that air traffic controllers will work without a paycheck. In a possible turning point, the American Federation of Government Employees breaks with Democrats and calls on Congress to reopen the government. (But you said it was the “Trump shutdown,” NYT,) Politico calls this “the first major fraying” of the Democratic coalition. Politico:

There was no immediate surrender from party leaders, but the union’s plea forced many Democratic lawmakers into a defensive crouch. 

(But I thought ….)

The New York Post reacts to the Mamdani threat. The cover headline on the feisty tab this morning is: “One Week to Save New York.” USA TODAY reports that socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani’s lead over former Governor Andrew Cuomo has been cut in half. “Why Many New Yorkers Will Never Vote for Mamdani” lets “Never Mamdani” New Yorkers speak:

“If you know anything about Black history since the great migration, it was only by purchasing private property that we were able to gain economic empowerment in New York City … So, anybody against private property, in my view, is against most of black wealth,” Pastor Conrad Tillard of the Congregational Church of South Hempstead told The Post.

“You embrace New York for what it is. You don’t try to make New York into Cambridge, Massachusetts. That’s what these gentrifiers are doing,” he said of Mamdani.

“The bike lanes, the pedestrian plazas, congestion pricing. They’re trying to make this great metropolis into a college town.”

Many New York Jews are worried about how a Mayor Mamdani would affect them. But Mamdani does have a Jewish rabbi to mollify with “Jews for Mamdani” events. The rabbi is Rabbi Abby Stein, “a transgender rabbi who was once booted from a Biden White House pride party.” He was “chanting to end U.S. support for Israel” at the White House affair.

But it is possible that none of this will matter. In “Why Curtis Sliwa Is the Most Important Man in New York,” John Ketcham notes in City Journal that the Guardian Angels founder, who polls a paltry third, may hand the keys of the city to Mamdani. In the same publication, Nicole Gelinas writes that a Mamdani mayorship “won’t faze the rich,” but “everybody else will have to bear the brunt.” Isn’t that generally the case?

There is a major shake-up in the leadership of ICE, possibly the most controversial federal agency right now. Fox Digital reports:

A mass shakeup of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership is underway amid growing friction inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over deportation tactics and priorities, according to four senior DHS officials.

The overhaul affects ICE field offices in at least eight cities and will replace many senior leaders with Border Patrol officials, marking an unprecedented power shift inside DHS and exposing sharp divisions over how far to go in ramping up deportations, the officials told Fox News.

The changes are being driven by competing camps inside DHS.

On one side are Border Czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Todd Lyons, who have advocated focusing on criminal aliens and those with final deportation orders.

On the other side are DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, senior adviser Corey Lewandowski and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who have pushed for a broader and more aggressive approach, targeting anyone in the U.S. illegally to boost deportation numbers.

Hey, Genius. “Bill Gates Says Climate Change ‘Will Not Lead to Humanity’s Demise’” blares a New York Times headline. This represents an apparent shift for the Microsoft founder, who spent millions spreading climate alarmism. But I guess even Doomsday can go out of style.

Does Somebody Need a Cognitive Test? MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace says she can’t remember Democrats ever comparing President Trump to Hitler. New CBS boss Bari Weiss is looking to shake up “60 Minutes.” Find out who’s on the chopping block and who’s saved. There is one surprise.