what you are seeing is the power of an engaged republican base. that allowed this to get on the ballot, in the first place. and that is, obviously, traditionally, the biggest risk to the president s party during the midterm elections is that the party out of the white house is more engaged. and that was, you know, the wake-up call in july when that one poll came out showing that the recall was virtually tied among the most likely voters. but the interesting final turn in this is that newsom has discovered that standing up for the mandates, and warning that republicans would implement the policies of states like florida and texas, has awoken the democrats. what what one analyst here called the blue giant. so, i i think this the resonance of this will not only be about, kind of, the impact of of the mandates on the middle. but it does seem to be a motivating issue for the base democrats, and a possible response to what is traditionally the biggest threat to the president s party
in our world lead right now, contrasting views about a 90-minute phone call between president biden and chinese leader xi jinping. this is the second time the two have spoken since president biden entered the white house. the call was described as candid in tone but not lecturing or condescending, and that human rights and the origin of the coronavirus were among the topics. beijing says president xi told biden that u.s. policy towards china has, quote, caused serious difficulties and relations and runs counter to the best interests of both countries and to the world. the tough talk fits right in with steps president xi has taken recently to assert chinese nationalism at home and abroad. and as cnn s david culver reports for us now, this harkens back to past crackdowns on western influence. reporter: china s ruling
china s rising nationalism, by promoting patriotism, morality, and more than anything else, a communist party ideology. starting with children as young as 6 years old with the recent introduction of a new mandatory academic subject, xi jinping thought. the chinese president already eliminated term limits in 2018, opening the door for him to rule for life. as for the companies that are feeling growing squeeze from beijing, they re suddenly paying it forward in a very public way, pledging to donate billions of dollars to further xi s social causes, whether voluntary or compelled, it seems they have gotten the party s message. in china, there is only one boss who really counts. jake, the crackdowns we re seeing playing into an obvious restructuring of both social and home life. a purification of the party with the goal for both its ideology and leadership to sustain. a century after its founding right here in shanghai.