Welcome to the RedState Weekly Briefing  — where we take a quick look at the week’s most viewed stories in case you missed any of them. Grab a cup of coffee and sit down with this 21st Century Weekend Edition of your favorite (online) publication!

#1 – LEAKED: Emails Show Biden State Department Sought to Protect China During Spy-Balloon Fiasco — by Bonchie

In other words, instead of punishing China for its insanely provocative violation of US airspace and sovereignty, Blinken had his lackeys pause major human rights and trade measures. That included already planned actions to sanction Chinese tech companies like Huawei and to combat China’s genocide of the Uyghurs.

It gets worse. Though the buck stops with Blinken, he apparently farmed out US policy toward China to Wendy Sherman, his second-in-command.

Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, they said Blinken had largely delegated China policy duties to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the United States’ second ranked diplomat.

Who is Wendy Sherman? She’s the China-loving official who led the lobbying effort against the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021. So not only is Blinken derelict in his duties by passing off the biggest US foreign policy issue in existence to an underling, but he gave those duties to someone with a long history of being suspiciously soft on the Chinese.

#2 – BREAKING: Tucker Carlson Drops Twitter Video Announcing His Show Will Return Soon — by Jennifer Van Laar 

Carlson has been locked in negotiations with Fox News for more than two weeks, since the network abruptly took him off the air claiming that the two had agreed to part ways. As reported Monday, Carlson is still under contract with Fox until January 2025, and his legal team sent Fox a demand letter on Tuesday claiming they’d breached the contract.

The nearly three-minute video is full of nuggets that seem to shed light on Carlson’s experience at Fox News, and the venue for the show suggests there might be something to that Axios report that claimed Carlson and Musk were in talks about a new media platform.

3 – ‘Lying With a Specific Purpose’: Tucker Carlson Comes out Swinging in First Speech Since Fox Departure — by Mike Miller 

Here’s Tucker, suggesting the “truth will prevail.”

Seek truth in your human relationships—always with humility—mindful that it’s pretty hard to get to the core truth of anything in this life. And while we may never get to what is the deepest level of truth, we can move in that direction.

We can begin by telling the truth ourselves. What we can control is what we do. And they can impose lies on us—it doesn’t mean we have to live them. Because it robs you of the only thing that matters, which is your humanity, your God-given humanity, and it makes you something less than human.

Again, easier said than done.

The paramount problem is a majority of people want to be told what they want to hear vs. engaging in intelligent discussions or debates with those with different views.

We’ve now reached a point where the coin of the realm lies somewhere between “I’m not arguing with you, I’m telling you why I’m right!” and some of us reducing ourselves to sophomoric name-calling and other ad hominem attacks against anyone and everyone who dares to disagree with us.

#4 – Geraldo Claims Appearances on ‘The Five’ Were Canceled, Raising Questions About His Future — by Nick Arama 

“My appearances today and tomorrow on The Five have been canceled,” Geraldo claimed. “I’m sure there’s a good reason. Never fear, I’ll be back week after next. Stay safe and happy. Thanks 🙏”

Saying “I’m sure there’s a good reason” would suggest that if this is true, then they haven’t told him the reason. It doesn’t sound like it’s good for Rivera. Geraldo is one of the rotating “liberals” that they put on the show including Jessica Tarlov and former Democrat congressman Harold Ford Jr. I think they rotate them because you can only take any of them in small doses, without pulling your hair out at how ridiculous they can be. Rivera does say, however, that he will be back “week after next.” Rivera hasn’t been on the show since April 21.

The three liberals replaced Juan Williams, who had his own “parting of the ways” from Fox. Some speculated that Rivera’s absence was related to Greg Gutfeld, whom Williams regularly battled.

#5 – Kevin McCarthy Makes a Boss Move Against Noted Anti-Semite Rashida Tlaib — by Bonchie

One of the more astonishing things I’ve seen in regard to Congress over the last half decade is the fact that Tlaib is the most openly anti-Semitic member, yet she receives almost no pushback. In fact, I wrote a piece prior to McCarthy’s rise to power urging him to target Tlaib just as vigorously as Rep. Ilhan Omar.

For some reason, that hasn’t really happened. It’s as if Tlaib’s identity as a Palestinian makes even Republicans walk on eggshells around her. It shouldn’t be that way. Way back in 2019, RedState reported that Tlaib hosted a literal terrorist supporter in Joe Catron, who is affiliated with the PFLP, a US-designated terror group.