WASHINGTON — In the wake of Karoline Leavitt’s departure, President Donald Trump has reportedly thrown the White House transition team into total chaos by suggesting an unlikely frontrunner to step behind the podium: CNN Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

According to sources within the administration speaking on condition of extreme anonymity, Trump spent the morning flipping between Fox & Friends and CNN on mute, repeatedly pointing at his television screen and telling aides, "Look at her. Great bone structure. Central casting. Terrible attitude, very nasty, but total rating powerhouse."

"He thinks hiring her would be the ultimate power move," said one White House insider who requested not to be named for fear of being appointed Secret Service Director on Truth Social. "He kept saying, 'She’s a 10, but she never smiles. We can fix her. We put her up there, give her the binder, tell her to yell at Jim Acosta. It’s dynamic, it’s beautiful.'"

When senior advisers reminded the President that Collins is a prominent journalist whom he has publicly disparaged as "stupid," "nasty," and "the worst reporter in history", Trump reportedly brushed off the concerns.

"That was just pre-game," Trump allegedly explained to a crowded room of terrified staffers. "She’s got that stern, mean look. Very attractive in a mean way. People love the conflict. Plus, she’s from Alabama. Alabama loves me. Roll Tide, right? We give her the job, she smiles once, boom—100 million views on Rumble."

The proposal has reportedly split West Wing factions:

• The Pragmatists: Pointing out that hiring CNN’s star prime-time host to be the official voice of the administration might present a slight conflict of interest.
• The Aesthetes: Agreeing that Collins has "the right TV energy" and suggesting she could host The Source directly from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
• Stephen Miller: Reportedly standing silently in a corner, muttering about replacing the press corps entirely with autonomous drone cameras.

Reached for comment, CNN executives were reportedly seen sprinting down the halls of their D.C. bureau trying to figure out if this counted as a contract violation or an immediate Emmy campaign.

Collins herself could not be reached for comment, though sources say she was last seen staring into a mirror practicing her neutral deadpan expression for an upcoming 9:00 PM broadcast.

Trump later posted a 3:00 AM update on Truth Social:

>"Kaitlan Collins is VERY NASTY to your Favorite President (ME!), but she has tremendous talent! Many people are saying she wants the job. WOULD LOOK GREAT AT THE PODIUM! Much better than Fake News CNN! We are looking at EVERYBODY, but only the BEST LOOKING!"

So, the youngest White House Press Secretary in history is officially pulling the classic "I’m stepping down to focus on my family" exit strategy. Look, nobody's saying running defense for the administration isn't exhausting. Dodging questions, redefining geographical bodies of water, and having to insist that "the media just misread the tweet" every time a policy gets reversed 48 hours later has got to take a toll on a person.

Though you really have to appreciate the irony of the classic "family values" pivot. It’s always fascinating how the "grind hard, no excuses, anti-woke" crowd suddenly discovers the absolute sanctity of work-life balance the second the heat in the briefing room turns up. For months, the vibe was: If you aren't sacrificing everything for the mission, you're a weak leftist. But the moment someone resigns? Suddenly, it’s all heart-emoji family posts and "stepping back to prioritize what truly matters." Pure poetry.

Of course, the real highlight of the exit strategy was the administration sending her off on the decoy plane while the real motorcade slipped away. You have to love the metaphor: spent two years taking bullets for the team at the podium, only to get stranded at an airport tarmac as a human distraction while everyone else flew home. Legend has it she’s still sitting in coach on Air Force Two-Point-Oh, aggressively drafting her resignation statement while asking an attendant if the Wi-Fi works yet.

Now, let's not pretend we don't all know where this trajectory leads. She’s following the exact pipeline to Fox News. It’s the circle of political life:

(1) Get a high-stakes press job in the West Wing.

(2) Yell at reporters for asking basic math questions about tariffs.

(3) Claim the mainstream media is corrupt, biased, and the "enemy of the people."

(4) Get dumped on a decoy aircraft.

(5) Sign a multi-million-dollar contract with a major cable news network to become... a member of the media.

You spend nearly two years declaring that "the media is completely fake news and full of hacks," only to immediately cash in by getting your own makeup chair in Midtown Manhattan. It’s the Kayleigh McEnany blueprint to a tee: produce enough viral clips dunking on journalists to satisfy the base, and wait for the executive producers to draft the contributor contract.

So, how long is this "quality time with the family" actually going to last before she shows up on our screens? My guess: three to six months of guest spots on The Five, followed by an official announcement that she's hosting a weekend slot titled Unfiltered with Karoline Leavitt.

What’s your over/under on the official press release?

So, the youngest White House Press Secretary in history is officially pulling the classic "I’m leaving to focus on my family" exit strategy. Look, nobody's saying running defense for the administration isn't exhausting. Dodging questions, redefining geographical bodies of water, and having to insist that "the media just misread The Art of the Deal" every time the boss reverses a policy 48 hours later has got to take a toll on a person.

But let’s be real about what’s actually happening here.

First, the classic GOP "family values" pivot. It’s always fascinating how the "grind hard, no excuses, anti-woke" crowd suddenly discovers the sanctity of work-life balance the second the heat in the briefing room gets turned up to a crisp. For months, the message was: If you aren't sacrificing everything for the mission, you're a weak leftist. But the moment someone resigns? Suddenly, it’s all heart-emoji family posts and "stepping back to prioritize what truly matters." The hypocrisy is poetry. Second, and let's not pretend this isn't the primary pipeline - she is 100% heading straight to Fox News.

It’s the circle of political life:

(1) Graduate college, intern at Fox.

(2) Get a press job in the West Wing.

(3) Yell at reporters for asking basic math questions about tariffs.

(4) Claim the mainstream media is corrupt, biased, and the "enemy of the people."

(5) Sign a multi-million-dollar contract with a major cable news network.

It is the ultimate conservative irony. You spend nearly two years declaring that "the media is completely fake news and full of hacks," only to immediately cash in by becoming... a member of the media. She followed the Kayleigh McEnany blueprint to a tee. Get behind the podium, produce enough viral clips calling journalists "leftwing hacks" to satisfy the base, and wait for the executive producers in New York to draft the contributor contract.

So, how long is this "quality time with the family" actually going to last? My guess: 3 to 6 months of guest spots on The Five, followed by an official announcement that she's hosting a 9 PM weekend slot titled Unfiltered with Karoline Leavitt.

What’s your over/under on the press release?

So, the youngest White House Press Secretary in history is officially pulling the classic "I’m leaving to focus on my family" exit strategy. Look, nobody's saying running defense for the administration isn't exhausting. Dodging questions, redefining geographical bodies of water, and having to insist that "the media just misread The Art of the Deal" every time the boss reverses a policy 48 hours later has got to take a toll on a person.

But let’s be real about what’s actually happening here.

First, the classic GOP "family values" pivot. It’s always fascinating how the "grind hard, no excuses, anti-woke" crowd suddenly discovers the sanctity of work-life balance the second the heat in the briefing room gets turned up to a crisp. For months, the message was: If you aren't sacrificing everything for the mission, you're a weak leftist. But the moment someone resigns? Suddenly, it’s all heart-emoji family posts and "stepping back to prioritize what truly matters." The hypocrisy is poetry. Second, and let's not pretend this isn't the primary pipeline - she is 100% heading straight to Fox News.

It’s the circle of political life:

(1) Graduate college, intern at Fox.

(2) Get a press job in the West Wing.

(3) Yell at reporters for asking basic math questions about tariffs.

(4) Claim the mainstream media is corrupt, biased, and the "enemy of the people."

(5) Sign a multi-million-dollar contract with a major cable news network.

It is the ultimate conservative irony. You spend nearly two years declaring that "the media is completely fake news and full of hacks," only to immediately cash in by becoming... a member of the media. She followed the Kayleigh McEnany blueprint to a tee. Get behind the podium, produce enough viral clips calling journalists "leftwing hacks" to satisfy the base, and wait for the executive producers in New York to draft the contributor contract.

So, how long is this "quality time with the family" actually going to last? My guess: 3 to 6 months of guest spots on The Five, followed by an official announcement that she's hosting a 9 PM weekend slot titled Unfiltered with Karoline Leavitt.

What’s your over/under on the press release?

So, the youngest White House Press Secretary in history is officially pulling the classic "I’m leaving to focus on my family" exit strategy. Look, nobody's saying running defense for the administration isn't exhausting. Dodging questions, redefining geographical bodies of water, and having to insist that "the media just misread The Art of the Deal" every time the boss reverses a policy 48 hours later has got to take a toll on a person.

But let’s be real about what’s actually happening here.

First, the classic GOP "family values" pivot. It’s always fascinating how the "grind hard, no excuses, anti-woke" crowd suddenly discovers the sanctity of work-life balance the second the heat in the briefing room gets turned up to a crisp. For months, the message was: If you aren't sacrificing everything for the mission, you're a weak leftist. But the moment someone resigns? Suddenly, it’s all heart-emoji family posts and "stepping back to prioritize what truly matters." The hypocrisy is poetry. Second, and let's not pretend this isn't the primary pipeline - she is 100% heading straight to Fox News.

It’s the circle of political life:

(1) Graduate college, intern at Fox.

(2) Get a press job in the West Wing.

(3) Yell at reporters for asking basic math questions about tariffs.

(4) Claim the mainstream media is corrupt, biased, and the "enemy of the people."

(4) Sign a multi-million-dollar contract with a major cable news network.

It is the ultimate conservative irony. You spend nearly two years declaring that "the media is completely fake news and full of hacks," only to immediately cash in by becoming... a member of the media. She followed the Kayleigh McEnany blueprint to a tee. Get behind the podium, produce enough viral clips calling journalists "leftwing hacks" to satisfy the base, and wait for the executive producers in New York to draft the contributor contract.

So, how long is this "quality time with the family" actually going to last? My guess: 3 to 6 months of guest spots on The Five, followed by an official announcement that she's hosting a 9 PM weekend slot titled Unfiltered with Karoline Leavitt.

What’s your over/under on the press release?

Remember when Fishbowl was actually useful and fun?

It used to be the *one* place where you could jump into a bowl, drop honest salary numbers, talk trash about toxic leadership, and figure out if a PIP was coming down the pipe - all while feeling reasonably safe that HR wasn’t watching.

Fast forward to now, and the app has turned into a total disaster zone for two main reasons:

(1) You literally can't post anything spicy anymore without a mod slapping you with a violation or deleting your thread.

* Vent about bad partner management or 80-hour workweeks? "Unprofessional behavior." * ~~Name a specific client or well-known director who is universally hated? "Harassment."~~ * Post a genuine question about layoffs or severance packages? Removed for violating "community standards."

It feels like the moderation team is either full of HR plants or corporate brown-nosers who burst into tears the moment someone speaks the truth without corporate jargon. Every single thread now reads like a sanitized, fake-polite LinkedIn post. If I wanted to see people kissing corporate ass, I’d just open LinkedIn.

(2) Ever since Glassdoor / Recruit Holdings took over, the whole background architecture has gone shady.

They’ve been quietly trying to sync accounts, push identity verification, and harvest user data under the guise of "improving network trust."

* We know Glassdoor has been tying real names to user accounts on the back end. * You think that data isn't sitting on a corporate server waiting to be subpoenaed or leaked in a breach? * Your work email is verified, your phone number is verified, and now a massive HR-tech parent company owns the keys to the kingdom.

If you post something critical about your company on Fishbowl today, you’re basically trusting a giant corporate overlord - whose entire business model is selling employer branding and recruiting data to the very companies you're complaining about - not to hand over your identity. Conflict of interest much?

TL;DR:

Fishbowl died the moment it got bought out. The moderators are censoring anything remotely interesting, and the corporate parent company makes "anonymous posting" feel like playing Russian roulette with your career.

Delete your account or stop posting actual sensitive stuff on there. It’s over.

Remember when Fishbowl was actually useful and fun?

It used to be the one place where you could jump into a bowl, drop honest salary numbers, talk trash about toxic leadership, and figure out if a PIP was coming down the pipe - all while feeling reasonably safe that HR wasn’t watching.

Fast forward to now, and the app has turned into a total disaster zone for two main reasons:

(1) You literally can't post anything spicy anymore without a mod slapping you with a violation or deleting your thread.

• Vent about bad partner management or 80-hour workweeks? "Unprofessional behavior."
• Name a specific client or well-known director who is universally hated? "Harassment."
• Post a genuine question about layoffs or severance packages? Removed for violating "community standards."

It feels like the moderation team is either full of HR plants or corporate brown-nosers who burst into tears the moment someone speaks the truth without corporate jargon. Every single thread now reads like a sanitized, fake-polite LinkedIn post. If I wanted to see people kissing corporate ass, I’d just open LinkedIn.

(2) Ever since Glassdoor / Recruit Holdings took over, the whole background architecture has gone shady.

They’ve been quietly trying to sync accounts, push identity verification, and harvest user data under the guise of "improving network trust."

• We know Glassdoor has been tying real names to user accounts on the back end.
• You think that data isn't sitting on a corporate server waiting to be subpoenaed or leaked in a breach?
• Your work email is verified, your phone number is verified, and now a massive HR-tech parent company owns the keys to the kingdom.

If you post something critical about your company on Fishbowl today, you’re basically trusting a giant corporate overlord - whose entire business model is selling employer branding and recruiting data to the very companies you're complaining about - not to hand over your identity. Conflict of interest much?

TL;DR:

Fishbowl died the moment it got bought out. The moderators are censoring anything remotely interesting, and the corporate parent company makes "anonymous posting" feel like playing Russian roulette with your career.

Delete your account or stop posting actual sensitive stuff on there. It’s over.

വില്ലിംഗ്ടൺ ഐലൻഡിൽ ഒരു ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് പതിവുപോലെ താൻ വെയിൽ കായുന്ന പാറയിലേക്ക് ചെന്നു.

അവിടെ എത്തിയപ്പോൾ, അതിലും വലിയൊരു ഉടുമ്പ് അതേ പാറയിൽ കിടന്ന് വെയിൽ കായുന്നത് കണ്ടു.

ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് വിനയത്തോടെ ചോദിച്ചു: "ചേട്ടാ, ആ പാറ ഒന്ന് എനിക്ക് വിട്ടുതരുമോ?"

വലിയ ഉടുമ്പ് ഒന്ന് ചിരിച്ച് പറഞ്ഞു: "ഒരു കാര്യം ചെയ്യ്... അങ്ങോട്ട് പോയി ആ ഭീമൻ ആമയെ ഒന്ന് പണിഞ്ഞിട്ട് വാ. അപ്പോൾ ഈ പാറ നിനക്കു തിരിച്ചു തരാം."

ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് ആ വലിയ ആമയെ നോക്കി. "ശരി... ഒന്ന് ശ്രമിച്ചുനോക്കാം," എന്ന് വിചാരിച്ച് അതിന്റെ അടുത്തേക്ക് നടന്നു.

വലിയ ഉടുമ്പ് കൗതുകത്തോടെ നോക്കി നിന്നു. ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് ആമയോട് കുറച്ച് സംസാരിച്ചു. പിന്നെ പിന്നിൽ നിന്ന് പരിപാടി തുടങ്ങി.

അത്ഭുതമെന്നോണം... ഒരു മണിക്കൂർ... രണ്ട് മണിക്കൂർ... ഒടുവിൽ ഒമ്പത് മണിക്കൂർ കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടും പരിപാടി തുടരുകയാണ്!

വലിയ ഉടുമ്പ് വിശ്വസിക്കാനാവാതെ നോക്കി നിന്നു. അവസാനം ക്ഷീണിച്ച് ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് തിരികെ വന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു: "ചേട്ടാ... ചെയ്തു."

വലിയ ഉടുമ്പ് പറഞ്ഞു: "എടാ, നീ ശരിക്കും ഞെട്ടിച്ചു! നീ അതു ചെയ്യുമെന്ന് ഞാൻ വിചാരിച്ചില്ല. പക്ഷേ ഒമ്പത് മണിക്കൂർ തുടർച്ചയായി എങ്ങനെ?"

ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് പറഞ്ഞു: "അല്ല ചേട്ടാ... പരിപാടി നടന്നത് അവസാനം അഞ്ച് മിനിറ്റ് മാത്രമാണ്."

വലിയ ഉടുമ്പ് അമ്പരന്ന് ചോദിച്ചു: "പിന്നെ ബാക്കി സമയം എന്ത് ചെയ്തു?"

ചെറിയ ഉടുമ്പ് മറുപടി പറഞ്ഞു:

"ആമയുടെ തോട് ഉളി വെച്ച് കൊത്തിത്തുറക്കുകയായിരുന്നു!"

I've studied the evidence for nearly six minutes and reached an inescapable conclusion:

Marla Maples would've insisted this photo be taken in front of the Golden Gate Bridge instead.

Would it have changed the course of American history? Probably not.

Would the lighting have been better? Absolutely.

Would there immediately be 4,000 Reddit comments debating whether the marine layer symbolizes democracy, capitalism, or late-stage gentrification?

Without question.

Frankly, the biggest tragedy isn't the alternate timeline - it's that nobody consulted San Francisco's unofficial committee of amateur photographers and armchair historians before taking the picture.

https://preview.redd.it/m6l2bt6x2lhh1.png?width=590&format=png&auto=webp&s=ffc5e594ae3f47045e0c3a8aace395d444f8c718

Been a Senior Manager on the partner track for close to 8 years now, and the goalposts just keep moving. Timelines are stretching, the bar is rising, and leadership gives the usual hand-waving explanations. Looking back, if I knew in Year 2 what I know now, I probably would’ve taken an exit opp a long time ago.

It got me thinking about whether grinding out an increasingly uncertain partner track actually makes sense when you look at how the eventual payout logic works - especially if a firm ever attempts something like EY’s Project Everest again.

(Quick note: everything below past the Everest recap is purely my own conceptual framework for thinking about promotion trends, not insider intel that any firm is actively planning a split right now.)

What happened with Everest

When EY tried to split into "NewCo" (consulting/IPO) and "AssureCo" (audit/private partnership) back in '22, the financial setup was pretty telling:

• NewCo aimed to raise ~$30B (~$10B IPO + ~$17B debt).
• Existing partners kept ~70% equity; ~15% went to staff stock awards.
• Most of the cash/borrowed funds were earmarked to buy out audit partners staying behind in the slower-growth business.

It obviously cratered in 2023 over pension/debt overhangs (audit partners realizing they'd inherit massive legacy debt) and a US partner compensation revolt. EY burned ~$600M on the attempt and took on another $700M+ fixing the mess.

Why this dynamic matters for any Big 4 track

Even if your firm never touches a transaction like this, the core mechanic is worth paying attention to: payouts get split among whoever is in the partnership at the exact moment a deal closes - not everyone who put in the sweat equity to build it.

The incentive structure gets messy depending on which side of the house you’re on:

On the Audit side (Cash payout focus): Senior partners near the top get the lion's share of the cash pool. Junior partners get a vastly smaller cut and less time banking PPD-level comp before the event. But if you’re a SM or Director not yet admitted when the deal closes? You get zero transaction payout and end up as an employee in a debt-saddled, slower-growth audit firm. Easily the worst spot on the board.

On the Consulting side (Equity focus): Senior guys take the largest slice of the ~70% retained equity. High upside if NewCo performs, real downside if it flops. Non-admitted SMs miss the initial partner cap table entirely. You might get some employee RSUs post-IPO, but that's a radically worse wealth-generation event than starting on the partner cap table.

The real takeaway

Existing partners on both sides have a massive financial incentive to slow down new partner admissions before any major transaction or structural shift. Every new partner you admit dilutes the fixed cash pool (audit) or equity pool (consulting).

Firms will attribute tighter promotion volumes and longer SM stints to "margin pressure," "macro environment," or "AI leverage." And maybe that's true today. But structurally, dragging out the path to partner also happens to perfectly protect the pool for the people currently sitting at the table.

For those of you who have been stuck in the SM pipeline for 5+ years: are you seeing similar goalpost shifts at your firms, or does leadership still have a clear, believable path laid out for you?

View Poll

Alright, listen up you uncultured swines who think a "Michelin Star" is just something you get at a Discount Tire on I-10.

Yesterday, July 19th, 2026. A day that will live in infamy. We lost Istanbul Grill (the only place keeping Rice Village from turning into a 100% gentrified outdoor mall for Lululemon moms) and Killen’s Heights (the only place keeping the Heights from floating away on a cloud of self-righteousness).

They want you to believe the "official story."

• "Oh, Istanbul had lease issues because of Rice University’s new walking path."
• "Oh, Ronnie Killen just wanted to cash out for $3.5 million so they can build a gas station."

OPEN YOUR EYES.

Since when does a Michelin-recognized chef trade smoked pork belly for a Pitstop Express roller-grill taquito?! You really think Ronnie closed his doors because some lady spray-painted his wall over a stuffed monkey? That’s just standard Tuesday behavior on Heights Blvd.

Here is what is actually happening. Connect the dots:

1. The Underground Doner-Brisket Pipeline

Have you ever seen Ronnie Killen and the head chef of Istanbul Grill in the same room? No. Because they are the same person. Think about it. Have you ever noticed the structural similarities between a vertical Turkish Doner spit and a beautifully smoked brisket? They were cross-breeding the meats in a secret bunker beneath the Astrodome. The subterranean smoke-vault got flooded during the last random-Tuesday-monsoon, and the Feds shut the whole operation down.

2. The Great Gas Station Takeover

The "gas station" replacing Killen’s isn't selling Exxon Regular. It’s a front. Lina Hidalgo and Sylvester Turner (yes, he's back in the shadows) are constructing a hyper-loop transit system fueled entirely by rendered brisket fat and Turkish coffee. It will run directly from the Heights to Rice Village in 4.2 seconds. Why? So Tilman Fertitta can personally deliver Landry's seafood to your door before it even defrosts.

3. The Rice University Walkway is a Trench

Rice University claims they are building a "pedestrian green space" where Istanbul Grill was. Wrong. They are digging a moat to isolate the Rice undergraduates from the rest of the Houston population, protecting them from the smell of actual seasoned food. The moat will be filled entirely with Torchy's Queso (the watered-down version from the concessions at TDECU Stadium).

If we don't act now, by next month, Turkey Leg Hut will be a Buc-ee's, and the Galleria will be turned into one giant, monolithic Mattress Firm.

I’m heading to the Pitstop Express site tonight with a tin foil hat shaped like a Becks Prime burger to investigate. Who is with me?

So, we are all ready for the big Spain vs. Argentina final at MetLife Stadium this Sunday. Trump is poised to preside over what should be the biggest, most beautiful, most flawless sporting spectacle in human history.

And then, right on cue, the jet stream magically fills the New York tri-state sky with an apocalyptic orange haze of Canadian wildfire smoke. Totally random, right?

But let’s actually look at the economics here. Remember a while back when the administration clamped down on Canadian softwood lumber imports with those aggressive tariffs? The media cried that it would ruin the housing market. Instead, it did something much more hilarious: it broke the Canadian timber industry.

With their primary export market penalized, Canadian logging conglomerates had to "adapt." And how does a polite, government-subsidized Canadian logging operation adapt to losing US revenue? Simple: you stop spending money to manage the forests. You stop clearing the brush, you stop thinning the dense timber, and you stop creating firebreaks. You just leave millions of acres of wilderness to turn into a massive, tariff-induced tinderbox.

Now fast forward to this weekend. That massive pile of unharvested, completely unmanaged fuel suddenly goes up in flames, and the wind blows it directly into New Jersey just in time to ruin the most pristine global broadcast ever.

It’s almost poetic. They tried to stick it to our trade policies, and instead, they’ve managed to turn the World Cup final into a dystopian sci-fi movie. You almost have to admire the dedication to the bit.

Environmental mismanagement, or a highly coordinated, multi-year passive-aggressive trade retaliation via atmospheric sabotage? I'm just asking questions.

So, we are all ready for the big Spain vs. Argentina final at MetLife Stadium this Sunday. Trump is poised to preside over what should be the biggest, most beautiful, most flawless sporting spectacle in human history.

And then, right on cue, the jet stream magically fills the New York tri-state sky with an apocalyptic orange haze of Canadian wildfire smoke. Totally random, right?

But let’s actually look at the economics here. Remember a while back when the administration clamped down on Canadian softwood lumber imports with those aggressive tariffs? The media cried that it would ruin the housing market. Instead, it did something much more hilarious: it broke the Canadian timber industry.

With their primary export market penalized, Canadian logging conglomerates had to "adapt." And how does a polite, government-subsidized Canadian logging operation adapt to losing US revenue? Simple: you stop spending money to manage the forests. You stop clearing the brush, you stop thinning the dense timber, and you stop creating firebreaks. You just leave millions of acres of wilderness to turn into a massive, tariff-induced tinderbox.

Now fast forward to this weekend. That massive pile of unharvested, completely unmanaged fuel suddenly goes up in flames, and the wind blows it directly into New Jersey just in time to ruin the most pristine global broadcast ever.

It’s almost poetic. They tried to stick it to our trade policies, and instead, they’ve managed to turn the World Cup final into a dystopian sci-fi movie. You almost have to admire the dedication to the bit.

Environmental mismanagement, or a highly coordinated, multi-year passive-aggressive trade retaliation via atmospheric sabotage? I'm just asking questions.