🌊 GOP Channels AOC?

Today is the one year anniversary of We The 66.

A year ago, we launched a new Roca brand called We The 66. The “66,” as you may now know, stands for the 66% of Americans who don’t trust the news. The premise was to build an anti-echo chamber — a place to feature opposing perspectives, cut through the noise of a chaotic media landscape, and relentlessly seek the truth. One year later, our We The 66 original reporting newsletter is the fastest-growing Roca product with thousands of paid subscribers, and our YouTube channel has 33k subscribers. Thank you to all of you who’ve supported either one.

The need for nuance and nonpartisanship is greater than ever. Here’s to an even stronger second year! 🍾

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

A New Millionaire Tax?

President Trump is reportedly open to a plan to raise taxes on those earning $1M+ to pay for part of their budget and tax plan

• Most Republicans are seeking to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which lowered the top tax rate to 37%, but some worry it could add to the deficit or cut into Social Security or Medicare

• On Tuesday, Semafor reported that Trump privately told a group of Republican senators that he is open to a tax increase on millionaires to pay for his “no tax on tips” proposal

• While his comments were not viewed as full backing, Trump’s openness to the proposal could generate support in the GOP for the plan, though opposition is likely

Dig Deeper 

• Raising taxes is likely to generate pushback from many traditional Republicans

• House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said that the GOP wants to “keep rates where they are,” while Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Semafor, “I believe the White House wants it… now, could you get Republicans in Congress to pass that? I don’t know”

KEY STORY

Hezbollah Disarming?

Hezbollah officials are ready to discuss disarming, per Reuters

• On Tuesday, Reuters reported that senior Hezbollah officials are prepared to discuss disarming if Israel withdraws its forces from Lebanon and ceases its strikes

• Hezbollah has previously resisted calls to disarm, arguing its weapons are critical to defending Lebanon from Israel

• However, Lebanon’s new US-backed president promised to force Hezbollah’s disarmament and consolidate the government’s monopoly on arms

Dig Deeper

• Hezbollah’s proposed disarmament follows another Reuters report that Iran-backed militias in Iraq are preparing to dissolve to avoid US airstrikes, which have hit the Houthis, another Iranian proxy, for weeks

• With Hamas decimated in Gaza, the Houthis under attack in Yemen, and paramilitary groups in Iraq reportedly disarming, Iran’s regional network of proxy forces, the “Axis of Resistance,” risks disintegrating

• The report comes as Iranian and US officials are set to begin talks on Saturday centered around Iran’s nuclear program. Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if it does not do so

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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KEY STORY

Meta Whistleblower

A Meta whistleblower testified before the Senate that the tech company lied about its ties with the Chinese government

• The whistleblower worked as Facebook’s director of Global Public Policy from 2011 to 2019

• On Wednesday, she testified that Meta provided China “custom built censorship tools” and allowed the CCP to access user data, including potentially Americans’

• She added, “I saw Meta executives repeatedly undermine US national security and betray American values… in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18B business in China”

Dig Deeper

• In a statement before the hearing, Meta called the testimony “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims”

• Meta added, “While Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: We do not operate our services in China today”

KEY STORY

Tariff Pause

President Trump paused additional tariffs on all imports for 90 days except those from China, which he raised to 125%

• The reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2, including an additional 50% on China after the country retaliated, went into effect at 12:01am. Hours later, he announced they were paused

• Trump said he ordered the paused because “more than 75 Countries have called …to negotiate” and “these Countries have not…retaliated”

• He added, “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China…to 125%, effective immediately”

Dig Deeper

• The stock market surged after Trump’s tariff pause, with the S&P 500 closing up 9.5%, the Nasdaq up 12%, and the Dow up nearly 8%

• It was the S&P 500’s strongest day since 2008 and the Nasdaq’s best since 2001

• Accounting for Wednesday’s rally, the S&P 500 is now down 3.8% since Trump’s tariff announcement last week, a marked improvement after falling over 12% the previous four trading days

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🔫 A month after the San Francisco Police Department ruled an OpenAI whistleblower’s death a suicide, his parents claimed he was shot a second time by a bullet left out of the first autopsy

🏫 The Trump Administration froze nearly $2B in federal funding to Northwestern University and Cornell, expanding its crackdown on elite universities with left-leaning biases

💰 Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is looking to raise $20B for an AI-focused fund – the largest in its history – to invest in early-stage AI start-ups

⚕️ President Trump pledged to impose “a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,” an industry that has typically faced low or no tariffs

🇺🇸 A research institute that tracks online extremism found that 55% of respondents who identified as “left of center” believe murdering President Trump would be “at least somewhat justified”

What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Should young people “follow their passion” for work or is that bad advice?

🧐 Today’s Question: What jobs can AI never take? Or at least not in the next 30 years.

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

✈️ Airplane Mode: Apple flew five cargo planes of products from India and China to the US in late March, building a months-long inventory buffer before President Trump's baseline tariffs took effect on April 5

🙈 Monkey Business: A Missouri foster mom faces three felonies after allegedly sending a child to Texas in exchange for a pet monkey for her exotic animal collection

🇻🇬 Welcome to Texas: Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was bitten by an ostrich while visiting a Texas wildlife park, exclaiming "Oh, Christ!" before quickly driving away

💎 Blue Bling: A rare 10-karat blue diamond from South Africa, expected to sell for $20M+ in May, was displayed as part of Sotheby's exhibition of the world's rarest diamonds

🦭 Sea Lion Attack: California surfers have reported being attacked by sea lions that are suffering from a neurological condition caused by a harmful algal bloom

ROCA WRAP
Coup Boys

Amid a minerals-for-military aid deal, three Americans were returned to the US after being sentenced to death for staging a coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

The DRC is Africa’s second-largest country by land mass and one of the continent’s poorest and resource-rich, with vast deposits of critical minerals essential for a range of technologies. Despite its mineral wealth, it has struggled with decades of poverty, political tumoil, and violence. 

That political turmoil reached a boiling point last May when a large group of armed men attempted to overthrow the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s government and its president, Felix Tshisekedi. 

Tshisekedi became president in 2018 after the DRC’s first peaceful transfer of power, but his election was marred by allegations of fraud. He struggled to consolidate power amid fractures in his party and a growing rebel insurgency in the country’s east, but in 2023, he won reelection with 78% of the vote, leading to allegations of vote-rigging and unrest. 

Public furor grew over his failure to address poverty, violence, and corruption fueled by mineral wealth, and in May 2024, a coup led by Christian Malanga, a Congolese political exile and longtime US resident, unsuccessfully attempted to oust Tshisekedi and his allies from power.

The coup attempt, however, was poorly planned. Christian Malanga, who live-streamed the coup on social media, was killed by police shortly after, while roughly 50 others were arrested.

Among those were three Americans – 21-year-old Marcel Malanga, the son of coup leader Christian Malanga, 21-year-old Tyler Johnson, Marcel’s friend, and 36-year-old Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, who reportedly knew Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.

Tyler flew from Utah to Africa for what his family thought was a free vacation with Marcel, but at their trial, Marcel testified that his father threatened to kill them if they did not obey his orders.

In a military tribunal last September, after three months of hearings, the three young Americans, along with 34 others, received the same sentence for their role in the coup. The tribunal’s president stated, “The court pronounces the strongest sentence: The death penalty.” 

Jailed thousands of miles from the US in a country marred by rebel violence, civil war, and corruption, all hope seemed lost. Until last week. 

Last Thursday, the US envoy for Africa visited the DRC, where he met with Tshisekedi to discuss a deal that would grant the US access to the country’s critical mineral reserves in exchange for security support in helping the government defeat the fierce years-long insurgency led by the M23 militia.

But that was not the only deal negotiated: Ahead of the trip, the US’ hostage envoy called Tshisekedi to release the Americans. Shortly after, the DRC commuted their sentences, agreeing to let them serve their time in the US.

On Tuesday, Marcel Malanga, Tyler Johnson, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun were released and repatriated to the US, months after they were sentenced to die in the Congo and less than a year after they sought to overthrow its government.

Whether they were saved by the US’ interest in the DRC’s minerals, the DRC’s interest in the US’ weapons, or good old fashioned humanitarian diplomacy is an open question, but as Tshisekedi’s spokesperson said, “This shows that the collaboration and cooperation between the two states is growing stronger and stronger.”

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

We checked the calendar and would like to wish all of you a happy Siblings Day! We hope all of you with siblings — and even you only children, too — have a wonderful day. We are grateful our siblings: Max F for Zander and Max T for Jamie, Joe, John, and Marie (hoping he didn’t forget any).

Thank you for reading Roca. One more day until Friday — finish strong!

–Max and Max