Sexy Spy Scandal Engulfs Nvidia. Why Susie? Miller Time. It Was the Economy, Stupid. Dana White: Press Briefer? Dems Will Have Lead on Social Security, Medicare. More

Move over, Fang Fang.

Make room for “Huang. Huang. Bang. Bang.“

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is under investigation by the Nvidia Board over his “suspected relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.” The alleged spy-mistress is—confusingly—named Alice Huang. The Washington Post (linked above) reports:

Jensen Huang is one of the most powerful business executives in the world. Nvidia makes the computer chips necessary to develop high-end AI technology, making it a kingmaker in the global AI race. Huang has a close relationship with Trump, regularly visiting the White House and lobbying to win exemptions to tariffs.

Huang has been a key voice arguing against export controls on computer chips to China, a policy that China hawks in both the Biden and Trump administrations have said is vital to maintaining the United States’ lead in AI. …

Trump has maintained export controls on the highest-end Nvidia computer chips but has allowed the company to sell less powerful chips to Chinese customers. National security analysts have argued that the U.S. could do more to make sure that Nvidia’s best chips aren’t being smuggled to Chinese producers through buyers in countries such as Malaysia.

Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese spy, is a Chinese citizen and former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. She and Jensen Huang were photographed together in 2024 in Taiwan. Nvidia has sold billions of dollars of chips to the company, the Times reported.

The London Spectator implies that Jensen Huang might have benefited from a bit more natural intelligence by calling Alice Huang “the Chinese ‘honeytrap’ agent.” According to the Spectator, China will be the biggest loser from the scandal.  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw a secret memo warning about Alice Huang months ago. Alice is coming across as a gold-digger who only loved Huang “for his chips.”

Meanwhile, Axios reports that as of last night President Trump was huanging with Huang, but the scandal is “getting more intense by the hour, with multiple members of Congress calling for probes and investors saying the news could put a cloud over the entire AI trade.” Nvidia shares are sliding this morning.

In a “60 Minutes” interview with Ross Douthat that aired last night, President Trump reflected that he might have been “too tough” in his deportation policy. The president also claimed that Republicans’ epic midterm defeats were because he wasn’t on the ballot and maintained that he will never forgive James Comey or Nancy Pelosi, even if it means being turned away at the Pearly Gates.

“Susie Wiles Takes the Election Fall.” And an editorial in the Wall Street Journal finds the president’s firing of Wiles, who is replaced by domestic adviser Stephen Miller, comparable to a famous SNL skit:

Ms. Wiles is one of the few people in the White House orbit who isn’t a source of problems. She is a grown-up who imposed some order and kept the schemers in line. She brought in outsiders to let Mr. Trump hear other points of view. But the schemers got her in the end. Various yes-men were competing to succeed her, such as housing regulator Bill Pulte.

The editorial describes Miller as “a good communicator, though the problem is what he wants to communicate,” “a commander in Mr. Trump’s trade wars against allies,” and “an ally of JD Vance, which suggests the Vice President’s influence will grow.” Vance, it seems, is at the top of New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin’s bad list:

Instead of removing the capable and loyal Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and replacing her with the combative Stephen Miller, President Trump should have fired Vice President JD Vance.

Goodwin acknowledges that under the Constitution, Vance can’t be fired. Vance, “shamefully” in Goodwin’s view, attempted to “separate himself” from the administration on Iran policy. Vance claimed that the midterms were lost solely because of Iran. “It Was the Economy, Not the War,” Mark Penn and Andrew Stein counter:

Voters have been unhappy about the economy since the Covid pandemic in 2020, and each party has faced a grumpy electorate as it has come into office since. American consumers haven’t gotten over the shock of 22% cumulative inflation under Joe Biden. Since voters under 50 had no experience with inflation, they have unrealistic expectations that prices will reset downward. Instead, wages need to catch up—and that takes time.

According to the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, 58% of voters were unhappy with the economy when they showed Democrats the door in 2024, compared with 64% late last month. They were happier with the economy when Donald Trump was elected, but that faded month after month, showing the biggest decline when tariffs were issued and then when Democratic campaign ads were in full swing. 

USA TODAY columnist Nicole Russell argues that voters rejected President Trump but not conservative ideas. Similarly, City Journal’s Sean Speer proposes that “Conservative Ideas [Will] Outlast Trump’s Unpopularity,” as reflected in statewide ballot initiatives that resonated with voters. Byron York takes a look at the GOP’s 2028 field, which is completely rearranged after the midterm wipeout:

But at the same time, there was the beginning of a realization: If the blue wave was a broad-based voter repudiation of the Trump administration, should the next Republican presidential nominee be a member of the Trump administration? In other words, is the question that has animated the Republican race so far — JD Vance or Marco Rubio? — no longer the key question of 2028? …

Given all that, it was no accident that the most serious non-Vance and non-Rubio potential candidate, outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), suddenly became highly visible in the 48 hours after the voting. DeSantis was sharp in a post-election news conference in which he touted Florida Republicans’ performance. Unlike Texas, where Republican candidates for federal and statewide office suffered huge losses, Florida GOP candidates did relatively well.

But what about just keeping the White House staffed for right now? Matthew Hennessey writes:

There’s a “Help Wanted” flag flying from the circus big top. Unlike in the past, however, there’s no line forming outside the ringmaster’s tent.

Dana White, the mixed-martial arts kingpin, has reportedly turned down President Donald Trump’s offer to be White House press secretary. It was a strange choice for many reasons—not least of which is Mr. White’s complete lack of political experience. He’s a carny barker, albeit a good one. His demurral points directly at the difficulty Mr. Trump will have enticing energetic and effective people to come work for him now that he’s in the homestretch of his second term.

Glad someone still has a sense of humor. President Trump says he was just joshing about asking Mr. White to serve as White House Press Secretary.

Is there good news for Republicans? Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle suggests that, while Democrats won the midterms, Republicans may have won something bigger. What could that be? The party in power will have to face “painful choices” about Social Security and Medicare:

In the last quarter of 2032, the Social Security trust fund dedicated to retirees is scheduled to run out of money. (There is another trust fund for disability insurance, which is better funded but comparatively small.) At that point, by law, benefits are supposed to be cut to match outflows to inflows, which would mean an across-the-board cut of over 20 percent. Six months later, the Medicare hospital insurance program will deplete its trust fund and is scheduled for an 11 percent cut in reimbursements.

You’ve been hearing about it for decades, but the day when the trust funds are exhausted is almost upon us. If Democrats are in charge when it happens, that will be on them, not you.

Because we’ve waited so long, all of the options are now bad.

Just asking: might the credo that government is the solution to every problem hinder wise choices in reforming these two programs?

In “The Childlike Innocence of the American Protester,” Ronald W. Dworkin begins:

The more extreme American protesters seem to have very little humor and very little respect. In their anger toward ICE, Trump, or Israel, and their calls for the destruction of capitalism and the American Constitution, they sometimes scream and spit; strike out; roll on the ground; and carry on like sinners in hell. Yet these same protesters are typically careful and conservative in one regard: they demand that anyone who disagrees with them respect their personal space.