Zach Moller

Last year, Donald Trump Jr. invested in a rare earths startup at a $200 million valuation. Then three months later, the US government announced a huge loan backstop for the company and now it's worth around $2 billion. bloomberg.com/news/features/…

NEW in The Abundant Future: The Senate just passed a housing bill that was originally focused on building more rather than a rehashing of the usual subsidy playbook. But at the last minute, it included a provision that could kill new construction – prioritizing a popular talking point over good policy. Our own @BailleeBrown on how the abundance movement should view this win, our frustration, and what comes next:

Exclusive: The Pentagon asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran, according to an administration official, a new ask that will likely run into resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. wapo.st/4bt8UQk

I want to tell some of the backstory of this NBC deal that isn’t captured in all of today’s headlines and stories. So here goes, my first long post! In some ways, this is the anti-AI business story. It's about a professional relationship between two humans that's spanned more than a decade. In 2013, Rebecca Blumenstein (@RBlumenstein) hired me at The Wall Street Journal. Not everyone was convinced I was the right person to replace Walt Mossberg. Rebecca interviewed me, believed in me and became one of my biggest advocates. She left the Journal two years later, but by then we'd already built something—we’d talk about stories, the changing media landscape, interview techniques, etc. She remained my mentor. We'd have dinner or drinks. We both stayed committed to keeping in each other's lives. At some of those dinners over the last few years, we started talking about what I wanted to do next. How I’d outgrown The Wall Street Journal and wanted to build something of my own, but how much I still loved working in a big newsroom and still believed in the power of a mainstream news outlet to reach the everyday people who are confused, curious or just a little scared of new technology. After months of working on it together, we came up with something new. A model that bridges what I want to do as an independent journalist at my new company, New Things, with the ambitious journalism, power and reach of NBC News. AI is changing business in enormous ways. It's letting me build one right now at record speed. But we all have Claudes, ChatGPTs and Geminis now. What every young journalist and professional really needs is a Rebecca.

Virginia Democrats ran on affordability -- then passed a new payroll tax - go.shr.lc/4uzzhwD - @washtimes

The Senate is a millionaires club 💰 73% of senators have a median net worth of more than $1 million, compared to just 7% of the U.S. population! That's one of the many findings from Capitol Gains, a @NOTUSreports project all about wealth in Congress notus.org/capitol-gains/…

@StefFeldman @mattyglesias I realize 2028 is still a ways away, but do you expect Dem candidates to run on undoing most/all of the Trump tariffs?