◼ President Trump told the reporters on Air Force One that his high-stakes meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea was a “great success.” Trump said that he had reached a “consensus” with his Chinese counterpart on the issues that sparked a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Xi would work “very hard” to prevent the production of fentanyl and its precursors, Trump promised. In exchange, the U.S. would reduce fentanyl-related tariffs from 20 to 10 percent and lower the overall tariff burden on Chinese exports from 57 to 47 percent. Xi, in turn, pledged to buy an additional 12 million metric tons of American soybeans this year, as well as 25 million tons annually for the next three years. Following the meeting, China suspended some of its export controls on vital rare earth minerals. Xi has more to boast about from this meeting than Trump. China secured not only reduced tariffs on its exports but the suspension of port fees for Chinese ships and a U.S. promise to delay export controls on sophisticated American technology with civilian and military applications. In other words, in exchange for a likely temporary truce in the trade war, the U.S. will allow China access to some of its most sensitive technology in exchange for—quite literally—beans.

◼ With the economy showing some signs of weakness, and an inflation rate that is nowhere near the Fed’s stated target of 2 percent, the charitable might argue that the central bank split the difference this week. In cutting rates by 25 basis points (0.25 percent) as expected, the Fed acknowledged labor market tremors. But by signaling that, contrary to general expectations, a second cut before the year’s end was not a foregone conclusion, it also acknowledged that all was not proceeding on the inflation front as it would like. As far as the latter is concerned, how could Fed Chairman Jerome Powell do otherwise? The PCE inflation index, the measure that the Fed typically favors, is still probably around 2.3 to 2.4 percent. And that’s with adjustment for the effect of the Trump tariffs, which may pass through the system without any “permanent” impact on the inflation rate. Ominously, service-price inflation is running quite some way above that. Given the dire state of the nation’s finances and the all too public pressure from the president to cut rates, the Fed needed to err on the side of caution. It did not. That may prove expensive.

◼ On Tuesday morning, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee released a report on former President Joe Biden’s use of autopen signatures on the many pardons and commutations he handed out during his term, and particularly near its end. Many of these were scandalous enough taken on their own terms, but what made them particularly outrageous was the suspicion that the bulk of these acts were the work of Biden’s staff, not the senescent president himself. One might reasonably understand how Biden found the time to preemptively pardon his family members, breaking frequent promises never to do so, but it was harder to believe that he was setting aside personal time to commute the sentences of people like Maryland’s thrice-murdering “Black Widow” killer. The House report confirms what voters long suspected: Biden’s inner circle hid the extent of his mental decline from the American people and, after he dropped out of the race, used his autopen as part of their campaign to set a new record for presidential clemency.

◼ The GOP argument that Biden abused his pardon power in an unacceptable way is undermined, however, by Trump’s nonchalant, even gleeful pardoning of absolute sleazeballs who have ties to his own family business. There aren’t a lot of large financial institutions that are willing to simultaneously do work with al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, ransomware hackers, and kiddie-porn enthusiasts, but the crypto firm Binance did so. Back in November 2023, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program. In a court filing, U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said Zhao caused “significant harm to U.S national security” through his criminal acts and “violated U.S. law on an unprecedented scale.” But not only did Trump pardon him earlier this month, he claimed Zhao was in fact persecuted by the Biden administration. It gets worse. The Wall Street Journal reported in August: “The Trump family’s crypto venture has generated more wealth since the election—some $4.5 billion—than any other part of the president’s business empire.” Trump’s crypto fortune is of course facilitated by a partnership with “an under-the-radar trading platform quietly administered by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.” It’s an egregious decision that is unlikely to generate more than a peep of objection from congressional Republicans.

◼ Tucker Carlson, knee-deep already, has taken another step into the muck with a friendly interview with Nick Fuentes. The issue isn’t merely that Carlson “platformed” a white-nationalist influencer. The deeper problem is that Carlson didn’t challenge any of Fuentes’s noxious views. Over the years, Fuentes has engaged in Holocaust denial, called Adolf Hitler “really f***ing cool,” and said if his movement gained power, it would execute “perfidious Jews.” In his two-hour-long sit-down on Carlson’s video podcast, Fuentes stated that the “big challenge” to unifying the country against tribal interests was “organized Jewry in America” and expressed admiration for Soviet butcher Joseph Stalin. He received no pushback. Carlson’s welcoming treatment of Fuentes stood in stark contrast to his combative June interview with Senator Ted Cruz, in which he argued with Cruz over his support for Israel. Carlson is one of the nation’s most prominent and influential commentators, with close ties to Vice President JD Vance. His push to mainstream antisemitism as part of a broader effort to remake the GOP is alarming.

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◼ Steve Bannon has been murmuring recently that a third Donald Trump term is not merely possible but inevitable. “Well, he’s going to get a third term,” Bannon said. “Trump is going to be president in ’28 and people just ought to get accommodated with that.” This of course isn’t the first time that Bannon has ventured such ideas. In April, he said his goal was “exploding liberals’ heads, exploding progressive’s heads that Trump’s going to be with them forever.” He will not. But Trump is happy to play an inside-outside game alongside him of media footsie. It fell to Speaker Mike Johnson to say the obvious: The Constitution prohibits a third term, and it’s not going to be changed before 2028.

◼ Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia has tested a nuclear-propulsion cruise missile. The Burevestnik missile is said to have flown 8,700 miles over 15 hours in the test, but the Kremlin claims it can stay aloft almost indefinitely. Is this a game changer? Not really. The new missile flew at speeds well below the speed of sound and would be relatively easy for modern air defenses to shoot down, compared with advanced hypersonic missiles. But it’s also been described as a “flying Chernobyl”—so sleep tight.

◼ The embrace of immense gambling revenue by professional sports, formerly fierce in policing against the vice that most threatens the integrity of the games, has predictably brought on betting scandals. Unable to resist temptation, the National Basketball Association blazed the trail of leagues joining their products at the hip with the corruptive online betting apps. Now, NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and star player Terry Rozier are among two dozen defendants charged in federal indictments. In one case, several men including Rozier—who allegedly pulled himself out of a game to benefit bettors wagering that he would underperform—were charged with fraudulent manipulation of inside information. In the other case, Billups and another high-profile former player allegedly drew players to card games rigged by mafia families using modern card-reading technology. Last year, a middling forward, Jontay Porter, was banned for life in a gambling scandal. Referee Tim Donaghy served time for fraud after betting on games that he called. The golden egg is the public perception that the competition is real; the leagues are killing the goose.

◼ It’s happening. Amazon announced Tuesday that it will lay off 14,000 corporate employees, citing artificial intelligence as the reason for the mass purge. Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people, experience, and technology, called AI “the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet” in the company’s announcement. Amazon had already signaled its AI pivot earlier this summer when CEO Andy Jassy released a memo titled “Some thoughts on Generative AI.” According to Jassy, generative AI will “automate a lot of tasks that consume our time.” Both Jassy and Galetti emphasized Amazon’s commitment to running a “lean” operation—though what was once a hint from Jassy has now become a hard reality. Amazon isn’t alone in the AI-driven shake-up. UPS slashed 48,000 jobs last year, and Salesforce laid off 4,000 customer service employees—both blaming artificial intelligence for the cuts.

◼ Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy recently went public with criticism of SpaceX—generally regarded as the most innovative space company in the world—for falling behind schedule on its lunar lander. Duffy then declared he was opening competition to other U.S. companies, specifically referencing Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. In return, Elon Musk went on X to call Duffy “Sean Dummy” and later opined that “having a NASA Administrator who knows literally ZERO about rockets & spacecraft undermines the American space program and endangers our astronauts.” Invective aside, both have a point. More competition by U.S. commercial firms would be good, and NASA needs an experienced full-time administrator. Our proficiency in space will soon be crucial to our national security. China has been successfully executing a comprehensive strategy to dominate emerging space industries—industries with robust military applications. As the White House reportedly vets potential NASA administrators, we must not find ourselves lost in space.

◼ During the Golden Age of American television, June Lockhart embodied the essence of motherhood in her roles as Ruth Martin on Lassie, Janet Craig on Petticoat Junction, and most notably, Maureen Robinson on Lost in Space. The daughter of actors Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, she began her career as a child actress when she appeared alongside her parents in Edwin L. Marin’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol (1938). Her decades of work in film and television netted her two separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Away from the cameras, Lockhart was as fascinated by outer space as the fictional Dr. Robinson. She became a frequent speaker at NASA events, including launches and landings, and appeared with Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong when NASA Television received a Primetime Emmy Award to mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. In reality, as in fiction, she was always looking toward the stars. Dead at 100. R.I.P.