'Biden's hit a pothole'

'Biden can't read the room — it could cost him'

Boston Herald editorial board

President Joe Biden is drumming up attention for Infrastructure Week, says the Boston Herald editorial board. He is trying to convince voters the "hundreds of billions of dollars he's pumped into roads" and broadband is "making their lives better." But this "infrastructure cheerleading can't drown out the fact that homeownership is out of reach for far too many Americans, and rising rents are adding to the pain of trying to get by in this country."

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'What impact is Trump's trial having on polls? Unclear or disgusting, depending on your politics.'

Jack Ohman in the San Francisco Chronicle

It's unclear how Donald Trump's criminal trial will affect his campaign, says Jack Ohman. Trump's "dystopian courtroom drama" looks different depending on where you sit in a "bitterly divided political audience." Half find the case "compelling and convincing." But "the other half is either checked out, disbelieving or both." Of course, a person "on trial for paying hush money to a porn star" shouldn't be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the first place.

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'The abdication of two beauty queens hints at ugly truth about Miss USA'

Arwa Mahdawi in The Guardian

There's "something rotten going on at Miss USA," says Arwa Mahdawi. Noelia Voigt stepped down as Miss USA, citing her "mental health." Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, "followed suit," returning her crown less than 48 hours later, saying her "personal values no longer fully align" with the pageant organization's direction. A resigning staffer said the pageant organization was "toxic." Its leaders called the allegations false, but you can't "escape misogyny when it's very much the core of your brand."

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'China has gotten the trade war it deserves'

Michael Schuman in The Atlantic

China's trading partners are fed up, says Michael Schuman in The Atlantic. Beijing's economic model promotes "Chinese industry at the expense of the rest of the world." The Biden administration's decision to "quadruple the existing tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles, to 100 percent," and hike tariffs on other goods is the "most obvious and dramatic evidence" of the coming "wave of protectionism." China deserves this trade war. But it will raise costs for everyone.

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