Morning! As usual, we’ll get started after the ads below. ⬇️

ADVERTISEMENTS FOLLOW

END OF ADVERTISEMENTS

Today’s front page story should be that the Golden State Warriors crashed out of the NBA playoffs last night and that I ate queso dip and too many chips to try to get over the pain, on top of a dozen chicken wings with hot sauce (thanks for the 🍗, Joe!). This morning I feel like I took heroin yesterday. Or at least that’s how I imagine that would feel. Because: I have never taken heroin!

There’s no justice!

But in fact, the real front page story is about how there is indeed no justice. At least, how justice is malleable depending on how much money you’re prepared to give Donald Trump in the form of business deals, jet airplanes, and, you know, the rest of it. Some guy called Matt Davies has a critical cartoon in the Washington Post this morning (which in itself is a development, if you’ve been following the whole WaPo and its critical cartoonists saga:

Although it’s hardly too much of a risk for the paper to run that, because if you google related images it turns out cartoonists are having a field day with this one, today:

That’s right. Even Hillary “wit and humor are not often my middle names” Clinton had something moderately witty to say on the subject.

Although if only she’d “been serious” about campaigning harder in swing states back in 2016, eh? It’s the lack of insight that gets me, there.

Speaking of lack of insight, Donald Trump:

Since then, Qatar has “continued to try and transform its reputation in the global community, in part by spending millions of dollars on lobbyists in Washington and other capitals,” the article reports.

Key among those lobbyists was Pam Bondi, now Mr. Trump’s attorney general.

To repeat myself there, among those lobbyists was Pam Bondi, now Mr. Trump’s attorney general.

They obviously bribed their way to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. And year later, “when Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israel and set off months of brutal war in Gaza,” (the New York Times loves to phrase anything about the Palestinian conflict in particularly stark terms…) “Qatar became a crucial line of communication between the militant group and Israel.”

And now, we’re back to the $400 million jet again. For Mr. Trump, Mr Hendeson said, the plane is important “because he likes big aircraft and also because he wants an identifiable business win — something which honors him.”

The issue has also created a rare rift between Mr. Trump and the people at the heart of his political machine. In other words this level of bribery is actually capable of surprising even his allies.

Say, that’s interesting. Laura Loomer saying she’d “take a bullet for” Donald Trump but then calling him out over this? Say, you don’t by any chance have 2028 ambitions, do you, Laura?!

Here’s one of Ms. Loomer’s “jihadists in suits” (“do you even own a suit?”)…

Qatar has long said that its funding for Gaza was approved by Israel, and that the money went to humanitarian projects and salaries for civil servants in Gaza. Critics like Ms. Loomer reject that explanation.

A Qatari official “said no decision had been made about donating the plane, and that such a decision could be weeks or months away,” so they can quietly walk it back in a few months. But they might need to walk it back faster than that.

The issue has arisen against the backdrop of potential business connections. On Wednesday, Qatar Airways announced that it planned to buy as many as 210 Boeing $BA ( 0.0% ) jets. Mr. Trump boasted that the deal was worth $200 billion, but a fact sheet from the White House said the “true number was $96 billion,” the Times reports.

More importantly: “Critics point out that Qatar’s role as a go-between for the Gaza conflict is the result of its willingness to let many of Hamas’s top political officials live there. Qatari officials often note that the United States had asked them to host Hamas leaders so there could be an open line of communication.”

That’s awkward. Then again what about the Gaza conflict isn’t awkward?

The rest of the story goes down the rabbit hole of Qatari competition with its rival gulf states, all of whom want to be seen to be fawning most at Mr. Trump’s feet. It also mentions the allegations of bribery over the world cup. I mean, sure.

This, however, is a surprisingly good concluding quote from Daniel Benaim, who was deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Peninsula affairs under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

He called the relationship with Qatar “a worthwhile one for the United States, overall,” despite the various criticisms of the country.

And, yes. Gosh, it’s really nice to have somebody smart say something smart, isn’t it? I realize I don’t often do that on your behalf so at least it’s nice to read the newspaper so that you don’t have to, and quote them.

Say, is there a story that might cheer me up a bit?

Oh, sure. Read this obituary for the man who built the world’s first hydrogen bomb. He was a “genius.” And yet. He built the device that did this. The obituary is sensitively written and dwells on the man’s broader achievements (he worked for IBM and helped contribute to touchscreen technology, for example). But reading it, one was struck most by how a person can be smart and good and still, ultimately, create something nasty. Even with the best of intentions. I say that without judging him in the slightest. In fact, may he rest in peace.

Matt Davis lives in Manhattan with his wife and kid.

Standard disclaimer: I read the top story in the New York Times every morning so that you don’t have to. If you were forwarded this, you can subscribe here. I’m also doing a five-minute video version of this, each weekday morning at around 9 a.m. (depending on how long it takes me to read the newspaper). If you’d like to follow me on LinkedIn (you can always watch the recording later). If you subscribe to my Youtube channel it’ll also send you a notification when I’m “going live.”