The Daily 202: Macron wants to be Trump’s buddy. Can it last? Five flashpoints to watch.

The Daily 202: Macron wants to be Trump’s buddy. Can it last? Five flashpoints to watch

-- Fox News host Sean Hannity owns a massive real estate empire, according to newly reviewed records, which link him to a group of shell companies that spent some $90 million on more than 870 homes in the United States. The Guardian’s Jon Swaine reports: “Dozens of the properties were bought at a discount in 2013, after banks foreclosed on their previous owners for defaulting on mortgages. … [Hannity] also amassed part of his property collection with support from [HUD], a fact he did not disclose when praising [Ben Carson] on his television show last year. The real estate holdings linked to Hannity are spread across more than 20 shell companies formed in Georgia. … Among the most valuable are two large apartment complexes in Georgia that Hannity bought in 2014 for $22.7m. … The Georgia purchases were funded with mortgages for $17.9m that Hannity obtained with help from [HUD], which insured the loans under a program created as part of the National Housing Act. The [Obama-era loans] were recently increased by $5m with renewed support from Carson’s department. … A [HUD] source said Hannity was identified in non-public filings as the 100% owner of the apartment complexes.”


-- A nonprofit formerly chaired by national security adviser John Bolton peddled misleading and false anti-Muslim news picked up by a Russian troll factory, according to NBC News’s Heidi Przybyla. “The group’s authors also appeared on Russian media, including Sputnik and RT News, criticizing mainstream European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron. From 2013 until last month, Bolton was chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a New York-based advocacy group that warns of a looming ‘jihadist takeover’ of Europe leading to a ‘Great White Death.’”


-- The Trump administration has touted Wisconsin as a model for “welfare reform,” but hopeful statistics belie the desperation of many low-income families in the state. Robert Samuels goes deep in Milwaukee: “Since [Republican Gov. Scott Walker] put work requirements into place, the Health Services Department said it has cut spending on food stamps by 28 percent, from $1.2 billion in 2013 to around $867 million in 2017. Officials said 25,000 food stamp recipients — out of a statewide total of 700,000 — have found work. State officials also said that more than 86,000 people have lost their ability to get food stamps and did not report getting new jobs. There’s been no government study examining what happened to them … but advocates say they see swelling numbers at churches and food pantries, where more and more people go looking for help.”

A new exhibition in the Netherlands seeks to examine the visual art of propaganda by studying the little-known films made by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. The exhibit uses clips from all nine of Bannon’s documentaries to highlight his “apocalyptic worldview,” which both foreshadowed and shaped the core tenets of Trumpis,m. (The Guardian)

Honda says there are still more than 60,000 cars on the road with defective air bags that have previously killed drivers. Experts have called the exploding air bags, which were initially recalled 10 years ago, a “ticking time bomb.” (Ashley Halsey III)

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