Last weekend, the billionaire Trump defector announced, after apparently polling users on X, that he would create a new “America Party.” What unique attributes the party would actually bring to the table are not entirely clear (there is nary a filing with the Federal Election Commission yet). But Chris Lehmann thinks we should welcome its creation, “if only for serving as a high-octane proof of concept for the futility and stupidity of billionaire-driven politics.” As Ross Perot exemplified, Lehmann argues, a third party is perhaps the least damaging place for a billionaire to burn his wealth.

Meanwhile, in Trumpland, writer Jacob Silverman dug into the president’s “biggest crypto backer,” and Annelle Sheline reported on the latest negotiations between the United States, Israel, and Hamas. Silverman didn’t find much behind the lucrative Aqua 1 Foundation other than an ambiguously identified founder named Dave Lee. “Cryptocurrency allows for a degree of discretion and pseudonymity, if not total privacy, in financial transactions,” he reminds us. So maybe that’s the point.

As Sheline reports, there’s still no ceasefire. However, Netanyahu has nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. (Yes you are reading this correctly. No, this is not from The Onion.)

-Alana Pockros

Engagement Editor, The Nation

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