Wednesday Afternoon News Updates: Trump Goes to China as Xi Holds the Cards – 5/13/26

Hi all, Ben here. It’s Wednesday. Here are the latest updates.

Top stories we’re tracking today:

• Trump lands in Beijing to a deliberately underwhelming welcome — no Xi, no Foreign Minister, just lower-ranking officials and a group of schoolchildren waving Chinese flags

• Trump’s inflation numbers hit historic lows in approval — the five worst polling results on inflation for any president ever all belong to Trump, all in the last month

• PPI inflation surges to 6% in April, crushing every single Bloomberg forecaster’s expectation, with rate hikes (yes, hikes) now increasingly on the table

• Iran has quietly rebuilt nearly all of its missile sites and underground facilities while Trump was busy taking his road show to Beijing

• Interior Secretary Burgum stonewalls Congress on whether Americans are struggling, defends Trump’s no-bid contracts, and goes silent on Trump’s wind turbine cancer claim

• Nearly 50,000 Lake Tahoe residents are losing electricity so AI data centers in Nevada can stay powered

• Trump Tower Australia is officially dead — the developer calls the Trump brand too “toxic” to survive

Before I go any further, I want to encourage all those who are able to join as paid subscribers to do so today by clicking here if you are able. This is how we grow. If you’re already a Meidas+ paid Substack subscriber, thank you for your support of pro-democracy media!

Now let’s dive in.