Whitney Tilson

Investor, writer/author, Democratic party activist, philanthropist, school reformer, Ukraine & Israel supporter, and proud father of three daughters.

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Dear friends,

On an almost daily basis, I’m shocked/appalled/horrified/disgusted with what Trump and his cronies are doing to our country and the world. Just when I think they can’t go any lower and things can’t get any worse, they do.

The best way to rein them in is to help Democrats win back the House and (as is looking more possible every day) the Senate.

To that end, I’ve identified the ~2 dozen races that will decide the House and the half dozen for the Senate. I’ve been meeting candidates (there are so many great ones!), organizing Zoom and in-person events, and raising money.

If you’d like me to keep you up to date on my latest campaign, I’d be happy to add you to the new “Flip Congress” email list I’ve just created – just send a blank email to: [email protected].

Thank you!

Best,

Whitney

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

My friends at Defense Tech For Ukraine are hosting a Zoom call Saturday at noon, during which I’ll discuss my work helping Ukraine. To join it, click here: https://t.co/iejvGHznlR

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

My sister and her boyfriend (whose 5th date was the ambulance drive to Ukraine!) live in DC and went to the reflecting pool to check out the algae and took these hilarious pictures!

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Good to see. If I weren't out of town, I'd go to this tomorrow morning: https://t.co/BT2cKBDYFS

[Jayne Zirkle @JayneZirkle]

Let’s Protest the Hate Mamdani Inspires…Poetica Coffee Shop Discriminates Against Jews!

Meet us @ Poetica Coffee at 561 Lorimer St Brooklyn, NY 11211 at 9:00 AM on Wednesday June 24! @EndJewHatred

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

How much you want to bet that this is Trump?

I’m actually glad to hear this. I’m on retatrutide, as are more than a dozen of my friends and family, and I think it’ll be good for him.

I just hope the FDA approves it quickly and the government and health insurers pay for it so millions more people with obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, pulmonary hypertension, etc. can benefit from it.

Reta – like its predecessor, Zepbound (a double agonist, vs. reta, a triple agonist) – is a MIRACLE drug.

I think EVERYONE will be on these drugs in the not-too-distant future – higher dosages for those who need to lose weight and microdoses for those who don’t (I’m on 1 mg weekly, which costs me a mere $8) for the other health benefits: better bloodwork (lower cholesterol, A1C, etc.), lower chance of a cardiac event, diabetes, cancer and maybe even dementia, etc.
-------------------
Trump speculation swirls as one 79-year-old patient given unapproved powerful obesity drug

https://t.co/mUwLT2hGWy

Speculation swirled around a report that a single patient – a 79-year-old man – was given access to a powerful new obesity drug that's still awaiting federal approval.
STAT has learned that Eli Lilly and the Food and Drug Administration allowed one individual to gain access to retatrutide, which has demonstrated the ability to cut weight at comparable levels to bariatric surgery, through a “compassionate use” program typically reserved for patients with serious and immediately life-threatening medical issues.
"Sources told STAT that application drew interest from top health officials," said STAT reporter Lizzy Lawrence. "Given the demographics and the peculiar nature of the application, I asked the [White House] if this patient was President Trump, who turned 80 a week ago. I did not get a direct answer."

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

It’s primary day in New York today! If you haven’t voted yet, the polls are open until 9pm. If you’re not sure where you polling site is, if you live in NYC, click here (https://t.co/y2FeJp2g7W) and elsewhere in the state, click here (https://t.co/n4swKeDOE5).

There are four key House primary races in NYC:

1) Vote for Micah Lasher, who’s in a tight race to replace Jerry Nadler in NY-12, a district that covers the width of Manhattan from roughly 14th Street to 98th Street. I’ve known Micah for a long time (photo of us below). He’s outstanding and I’m delighted to support him. He will represent us well in Washington.

2) Vote for Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a five-term incumbent who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and is a close ally of Hakeem Jeffries, who is facing a challenge from extremist Democratic Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier.

3) Vote for Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who’s endorsed by retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, over the DSA’s Claire Valdez.

4) Vote for incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman vs. Brad Lander.

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Good to see. If I weren't out of town, I'd go to this:

[Jayne Zirkle @JayneZirkle]

Let’s Protest the Hate Mamdani Inspires…Poetica Coffee Shop Discriminates Against Jews!

Meet us @ Poetica Coffee at 561 Lorimer St Brooklyn, NY 11211 at 9:00 AM on Wednesday June 24! @EndJewHatred

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

I don’t know how I missed this earlier this month, but this essay by Sam Harris the smartest thing I’ve ever read on the difference between Israel and its enemies, why it’s not guilty of the blood libel charge of genocide, and the utter hypocrisy of those fixated on Israel – and ONLY Israel. Be sure to read the footnotes, in which Harris responds to critiques of his original essay.

Why I Won’t Debate Critics of Israel
https://t.co/5g7qssT1OG

Excerpts:

What do the Jews and Muslims in the region really yearn to accomplish? What are they willing to sacrifice for? What are they willing to die for? And what are they willing to let their children die for?
When we focus on the present this way, if we’re being honest, we must concede that there are two very different realities on either side of this conflict: culturally, psychologically, ethically, spiritually—in every way that matters. Yes, Israel has its religious fanatics too. But they aren’t the same sort of fanatics we find in Hamas or Hezbollah, and they’re far less representative of the surrounding culture. Notwithstanding everything that can be said against Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israeli far right, and the settlers in the West Bank—and there is much to condemn—I believe the following remains true:
If the Palestinians laid down their arms, there would be peace.6 There could be a two-state solution; there could even be a one-state solution; it wouldn’t matter. If the Palestinians simply stopped killing Jews and stopped building a culture that celebrates pointless murder and martyrdom as its highest values, there could be a diverse, tolerant, and prosperous society between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. There could have been one eighty years ago. But if the Israelis laid down their weapons, there would be a genocide. This was obviously true on October 7th, 2023. And for anyone who has been paying attention, it has been true on every other day since the founding of the state of Israel.

And:

If you want to understand my view of this conflict, simply ask the one question that clarifies everything in the present:
What would each side do if it had the power to do whatever it wanted?
Though many pretend otherwise, everyone knows the answer to this question to a moral certainty.
If Hamas had the power, it would perpetrate a real genocide in Israel...
Most Palestinians know this, and yet Hamas remains popular. For over a decade, Hamas diverted foreign aid that was meant to improve life in Gaza and used it to build the largest bomb shelter our species has ever constructed—hundreds of miles of tunnels—and yet no Palestinian civilians were allowed to shelter there during the war. Why not? Because Hamas was using these men, women, and children as human shields. And when Israel made phone calls and sent millions of text messages urging civilians to evacuate, the loudspeakers in the nearest mosques warned them to stay in place. And Hamas snipers murdered many who tried to move to safety. The Palestinians know all this, and yet Hamas remains popular. Even after all the devastation that Hamas has brought down on its own people, it remains the most popular Palestinian faction, well ahead of its rival, Fatah. This is why there is no peace in the Middle East.

And:

We haven’t seen all the dead children in Yemen, Syria, or Sudan, where the numbers are far worse than in Gaza, but everyone has witnessed the pornography of misery and death that has been steadily manufactured by supporters of Hamas. You might think that your special concern over Israel is due to the fact that we (Americans) supply many of the weapons the IDF uses to kill Palestinians. But we supplied arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for a war in Yemen that has killed an estimated 377,000 people. Where were those protests? Where was the celebrity sanctimony over Yemeni dead? Why didn’t Zohran Mamdani trumpet his opposition to this evil while campaigning to become Mayor of New York? Yemen was the world’s worst humanitarian crisis for years, with American weaponry and logistical support fully implicated, and yet it never became the organizing moral obsession of universities, media institutions, activist networks, or leftwing politics the way Gaza has.
To point this out isn’t to commit the rhetorical sin of “whataboutism.” Rather, it exposes a glaring moral disparity: The world simply does not care when Muslims kill other Muslims—amazingly, it doesn’t much care when they kill Christians either—but it does care, enormously, when Jews do it. The General Assembly of the UN and its Human Rights Council have passed more resolutions against Israel than against all other nations combined, including North Korea, Iran, Russia, China, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. A few of these countries have committed actual genocides. None of this makes sense. But this is the world we are living in.

Footnote 1:

One common objection here, which is just a point of confusion, holds that I am giving Israel a blank check to commit war crimes. Obviously, whether a war is defensive (and just) and whether it is being fought within moral limits are different questions. When insisting that the ethical difference between Israel and its enemies remains vast, I’m making a claim about their respective aims, not issuing a blanket approval of everything Israel might do in its defense. Any focus on Israel’s conduct in this war tends to be misleading, because activists and critics routinely lie about it, inflating the ordinary horrors of urban combat into a false charge of “genocide.” This specific claim is nothing short of a blood libel, and it is often intended as such. The fact that organizations like the U.N., Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch endorse it doesn’t make it true. One can condemn everything that Israel has done wrong without denying that Hamas is a death cult bent on genocide—but, crucially, Israel’s critics can’t seem to manage this. This is why I see no point in debating the specifics of what the IDF has done in Gaza on any given day. War crimes are war crimes, and they should be prosecuted. And Israel is precisely the sort of society that we expect to prosecute such crimes—unlike its enemies, which revel in them.

Footnote 2, response to the charge of genocide:

As for the allegation that Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza, I also see nothing to debate, apart from semantics. Whatever one thinks about Israeli politics and the war—again, there is much to criticize here—the claim reflects serious confusion, or just frank dishonesty, about what the word “genocide” means. “Genocide” is not a synonym for a war you don’t happen to support, or even for one that produces an unacceptable level of civilian casualties. “Genocide” entails intent: the intent to destroy a people as such. That is what distinguishes the Holocaust, and what happened in Rwanda over the course of 100 days in 1994, from the long list of wars in which enormous numbers of innocent people were killed.
The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 100,000 people instantly, and another 100,000 gradually—by fire, infection, and radiation poisoning. Most of those people were civilians who were just minding their own business at the time. Whatever you think about that as means of bringing World War 2 to an end—and the ethics here are certainly debatable—no serious person calls it “a genocide.” Why not? Because despite the vast numbers of innocent men, women, and children that we killed, we were obviously not trying to annihilate the Japanese people—as witnessed by the fact that once they surrendered, we helped rebuild their society, and by the time our occupation ended in 1952, Japan had moved from being a defeated enemy to being an ally.
So groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch do not consider the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be acts of genocide, and yet they pretend to believe that this term applies to Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
I’ll just point out a few things that are obvious to everyone, whatever they pretend: If the Israelis wanted to eradicate the Palestinians as a people, the way the Nazis wanted to eradicate the Jews and the Hutus wanted to eradicate the Tutsis, they wouldn’t send millions of text messages warning civilians to evacuate before their neighborhoods were bombed; they wouldn’t pause their military operations to create humanitarian corridors; and they wouldn’t send their own sons and daughters to clear booby-trapped buildings when they could just obliterate everything from the air. For decades, Israel has had the power to kill all the Palestinians. And yet, in the meantime, the Palestinian population has grown at a rate that is nearly twice the global average. That is a very strange genocide. As I said above, whatever your criticism of Israel, calling what they’ve done in response to October 7th a “genocide” is nothing less than a modern a blood libel.
Of course, Islamists and many of their apologists on the Left know that they are lying about all this. However, some of the people they are lying to appear sincerely confused. Many seem to think that collapsing the distinction between genocide and the sheer awfulness of war increases our sensitivity to the latter—and therefore constitutes some form of moral progress. But it doesn’t. It is just a way forfeiting our capacity to make crucial moral distinctions. If we redefine “genocide” to mean that too many innocent people have been killed in an otherwise just war, or that war itself is intolerable, we’ll need to invent a new name for the furthest reaches of human evil.

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

My Harvard ‘89 classmate George Kent is at it again! After a distinguished career in the foreign service, in which he was deputy chief of mission in Kyiv from 2015 to 2018 and U.S. ambassador to Estonia from 2023-2025, in his retirement he and his wife Velida (a Crimean Tatar American, born in exile in Uzbekistan after her family was deported from Crimea) are doing long bike rides to raise money for vehicles for the Ukrainian frontline unit, Combat Armored Group KRAKEN (the need is acute – vehicles of all types are the #1 request I’m getting these days).

Last year, they and their son biked 4,400 miles across the U.S. from Oregon to Washington DC, raising more than $100,000!

Today they’re in Austria, four days into a 15-day, 900-mile ride from Munich to Lviv.

Below are pictures George just sent me and his Substack post about this ride is here: https://t.co/zP4qULYEvi

To support them, I just donated $10,000 (thanks, as always, to my friends and readers). If you’d like to join me in supporting them, you can do so here: https://t.co/u55bML6gOp

Everyone who donates over €100 will receive a limited Ukraine-made patch.

Thank you!!!

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Be sure to never patronize Poetica Coffee, which has 7 locations in Brooklyn and the East Village. It posted this OUTRAGEOUS screed this about Rep. Dan Goldman.

Here’s the LinkedIn page of the founder: https://t.co/eFlKsWdFdN

And here’s the NY Post article, underscoring the hypocrisy: NYC coffee shop bans pro-Israel politician in nasty post despite promise to treat all customers with ‘unconditional dignity’

https://t.co/7w2iTc7k6h

Hospitality for everyone – except supporters of Israel.
A crunchy coffee shop flamed pro-Israel Rep. Dan Goldman for buying a cup of java at its Brooklyn location and issued him a refund, declaring they don’t serve “genocide enablers.”
Poetica Coffee revealed the unasked-for $9.82 refund in a bitter Facebook post Sunday, with a pic of a hapless Goldman in the Williamsburg shop.
“Hey Congressman Dan Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference?” the post stated, seemingly referring to Goldman’s support of Israel and accusations the nation has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
“See, here at Poetica, we don’t serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers, or anyone in between. Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away. We issued you a refund—we don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways). Enjoy your loss on Tuesday. Don’t ever come to Poetica.”
Goldman faces a tough Democratic primary challenge Tuesday from former city Comptroller Brad Lander.
The post quickly drew condemnation from many Jewish New Yorkers and others who noted it brazenly contradicted the chain’s avowed ethos of treating people with “unconditional dignity” – as outlined in a mission statement on its website under the name of the owner Parviz Mukhamadkulov.
“The guest is sacred because the act of welcoming is how a community keeps itself intact,” the welcoming statement reads.
The shop also claims on its site that “whoever walks through the door is treated with unconditional dignity.”
“Not as a customer. Not as a transaction. As someone who arrived and deserves to be welcomed,” the site claims.

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

1) Every week or so, I hear from another friend a life-changing story about being on a GLP-1 drug. A month ago, I hung out with an old friend in Boston I hadn’t seen in years and he said he’s lost 30 pounds and feels great. Last week, TWO friends said their wives have lost 30 pounds. And a super athletic friend, out of the blue, sent me this:

Since I started microdosing Zepbound (2.5mg) earlier this year, I’ve dropped nearly 20 pounds and am at my high school weight, with no side effects after the first day. My body fat has dropped by nearly 10 percentage points, and a body scan showed that I lost nearly all fat and only a halfpound of muscle. That’s no doubt because I regularly do cardio and strength workouts, which everyone going on this drug should do.

It’s been a game-changer. This is the first time in over a decade I have felt good about how I look. I no longer avoid mirrors.

I was a super healthy eater and worked out regularly, but despite closely tracking and minimizing my calories, I couldn’t lose even one pound. But on Zepbound, I lost all craving for alcohol and food noise DISAPPEARED. The odd part is that I’m eating more or less the way I was eating before (though I do get full faster) – but my metabolism was broken after menopause. Now I have to force myself to have a drink when I’m socializing, which has been a huge benefit as I used to drink a lot more.

I honestly wish some of my friends weren’t so judgmental or I’d be shouting from the rooftops. I really think more people should know about it, but I don’t need snide judgment from friends, so I’ll keep it to myself. I’m glad you can share it because it’s a lot easier for guys. Women just think you’re cheating…

2) Another friend posted this on Facebook:

Many of you know that during COVID, right after my operation in 2020, I was diagnosed with diabetes that was not able to be controlled by changes in diet and exercise like the first time I had it. So I started on Metformin, which made me ill for six months. I finally gave in and started taking Ozempic in 2021. Because of all the people taking it for weight loss and not what it is actually for, ironically enough I was at the back of the line and often couldn’t get it steadily. Plus, it wasn’t actually working well. Two years ago my doctor switched me to Mounjaro/Zepbound. It has transformed my life. As you can see by this number, which was 8.9 at one point, my active diabetes is gone. I feel better than I have in years. Thank you to everyone who walked this journey with me 🥰

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

This video clip perfectly encapsulates my nickname for him: the Malignant Toddler!

https://t.co/H3cs6UnNED

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Two more bootlickers discover the Malignant Toddler’s true cowardly, back-stabbing nature:

1) WATCH: Conservative commentator Mark Levin blasts Trump: "Stop bullying and smearing Israel"

https://t.co/JWjHz0QiWk

2) An open letter from Miriam Adelson:

Two weeks ago, one of your inner circle made a move that brought to the public's attention your controversial conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. And I emphasize the full title intentionally. He is not 'Bibi.' He is the elected Prime Minister of the independent and sovereign State of Israel, just like any other person who holds that position.

And I struggle in vain to understand what caused this hollow, content-free change of direction, which contradicts everything you've said and done up to now. The midterm elections are an utterly baseless excuse. You are in your second term, and a surrender agreement will cause more damage than benefit to the Republicans." "We feel betrayed, no less, because despite all your mistakes, it seemed your heart was in the right place. You acted contrary to that. You lost your patience, your moral compass, and your sense of leadership. Only if you retract your decision and avoid a final agreement with Iran will there be any possibility of repair.

And from my place near Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the people of Israel since the days of the kingdoms of David and Solomon, I say to you: You made a grave mistake. You failed when you signed a surrender agreement with a murderous and merciless terrorist regime. You dealt a severe blow to America's interests and to the democratic and humanitarian values of the enlightened world, and you started the hourglass toward the next war, which your successors will have to confront in the coming years.

Thank you, Miriam

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

I love how foreigners here for the World Cup are discovering America. This is genius:

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

"Good lord this edit. Insane."

[B.W. Carlin @BaileyCarlin]

Good lord this edit. Insane.

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

OMG, Sasha Baron Cohen's speech in his 2012 movie, The Dictator, perfectly describes the US today! 

https://t.co/NgdoAqt8UI

General Aladeen: Why are you guys so anti-dictators? Imagine if America was a dictatorship. You could let 1% of the people have all the nation's wealth. You could help your rich friends get richer by cutting their taxes. And bailing them out when they gamble and lose. You could ignore the needs of the poor for health care and education. Your media would appear free, but would secretly be controlled by one person and his family. You could wiretap phones. You could torture foreign prisoners. You could have rigged elections. You could lie about why you go to war. You could fill your prisons with one particular racial group, and no one would complain. You could use the media to scare the people into supporting policies that are against their interests.

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

George Conway's brilliant ad trolling the Malignant Toddler for his obvious dementia:

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

Hey, @realDonaldTrump—wake up, pay attention—that's not an IQ test they keep making you take. Dude, try to stay awake!

It's a test for dementia! You still there??

Our latest ad 👉
https://t.co/lGXueWjuBz

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Bill Maher is exactly right. We Dems need to celebrate this great country, our flag and our 250th birthday.

https://t.co/2rZfdEfG1X

I was inspired to buy this shirt, which I'm going to wear all around London (and hopefully at Wimbledon) on July 4! https://t.co/5ACwIAZ5Gc

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

Sad but true!

[Not Jerome Powell @alifarhat79]

IRAN: What can you offer us in exchange of nothing?

USA:

[Whitney Tilson @WhitneyTilson]

I’m running the Cape Town Marathon next year on May 23 as part of the team for Ukraine Focus, the wonderful organization that organized the ambulance drive from Frankfurt to Kyiv my parents, sister and I just did.

For the first time, this marathon is one of the world majors, so it’s going to be a HUGE event and hard to get an entry. And it’s a good excuse to visit Cape Town, which may well be my second-favorite city in the world – after NYC of course! There are nonstop flights from NYC.

If you want to join me, fill out the form here: https://t.co/ZUnM9F5HSO