MAGA influencers are drawing repeated attention to violent attacks to elevate the issue of urban crime — and accuse mainstream media of under-covering shocking cases, Axios' Marc Caputo writes.

• Newly released video of the fatal Aug. 22 knife attack on 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a light-rail car in Charlotte, N.C., dominated weekend conversation on Trump-friendly social media.

🖼️ The big picture: The rising number of surveillance cameras in public spaces, including on Charlotte's light rail, has become a big accelerant in these cases.

• The video is easily shared or leaked, and can instantly pollinate across social media — a visual counterpoint to statistics showing crime decreases.

President Trump has seen the Charlotte video "and is going to be weighing in," a presidential adviser told Axios.

• The adviser said: "This is exactly what he's talking about, and it's going to be an issue he's going to highlight. This is not just about North Carolina. Other campaigns will deal with this."

Elon Musk repeatedly posted about the Charlotte case this weekend for his 225 million X followers.

• Also commenting on X: White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Trump confidant Charlie Kirk, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
• North Carolina Senate candidate Michael Whatley — a former chair of the national GOP — invoked the case to accuse his Democratic opponent, Gov. Roy Cooper, of being soft on crime.

Zarutska recently arrived in Charlotte from Ukraine to escape the war there, The Charlotte Observer reports.

• The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was charged with first-degree murder. His criminal record includes charges of armed robbery, felony larceny, breaking and entering, and shoplifting, according to jail records cited by WBTV.
• Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather, in an interview with Axios Charlotte last week, didn't comment directly on the case but acknowledged the limitations and complexities of holding defendants with mental health issues accountable.

🔎 Between the lines: Influential conservative social media accounts accused major national news outlets of not covering the racial dynamics of the Charlotte killing — a white victim and a Black suspect — with the same intensity as they did in the case of Daniel Penny.

• Penny, who is white, choked to death a homeless Black man who was threatening passengers on a subway car in Manhattan in 2023. A jury acquitted Penny.

Reality check: As Republicans have consistently highlighted crime, Democrats have accurately pointed out that violent crime rates have been decreasing since pre-pandemic highs.

🔮 What's next: Trump won't just discuss this case once, his team says. He's going to keep highlighting crime because it's important to him — and he believes it moves voters as the GOP tries to keep control of Congress in next year's midterms.

• "Crime is not a data thing — it's a feeling thing," the Trump adviser said. "It's not about whether you're a victim. It's about whether you feel you're a victim or not."

Share this story.

Axios is launching a video interview series this fall: Our top reporters and experts will talk to newsmakers shaping politics, media, business, tech and culture.

• Why it matters: Too many interviews are boring. We'll bring you blunt, illuminating, captivating conversations — your guide through the chaos.

Zoom in: Five episodes of "The Axios Show," with Uber as presenting sponsor, will run this fall.

• Full episodes will stream on Axios.com, YouTube and X.

Watch the trailer ... More from Variety.

A surge of recent licensing deals for Chinese drugs is sending new signals that the U.S. could be toppled as the world's biotech leader, Axios Vitals author Tina Reed writes.

• Why it matters: A decade-long national strategy to develop its biopharmaceutical industry has left China in a position to deliver medical products faster and cheaper.

It's part of a global power shift that's seen China emerge as a powerhouse in tech, including AI and chemistry, Andrei Iancu, undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property in the first Trump administration, told Axios.

• "Any way you cut it, any way you measure, they're basically pointing in the same direction: China taking the lead, already leading, or knocking on the door in these various areas," Iancu said.

Keep reading.

President Trump's visit to the U.S. Open men's finals yesterday sparked massive security lines outside Arthur Ashe Stadium that delayed the match and forced some fans to miss the start of play.

• Trump was met with boos and pockets of cheering when he was shown on the big screen inside the 24,000-seat stadium.

The official Trump War Room account posted footage of Trump warmly greeting the crowd in Queens, and noted he's the first sitting president to attend the U.S. Open since 2000.

• Trump, who attended the final as a guest of Rolex, brought at least 10 members of his administration and family, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

👀 The money quote: "It is an absolute s--t show," a source told the New York Post's Page Six. "Cars can't get into parking lots and people are walking miles. Even celebs are having to wait like normies."

• "Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and Ben Stiller were spotted 'waiting in line, like everyone else,' while Debra Messing 'sat in a car for an hour and they wouldn't let her out.'"

Carlos Alcaraz beat rival Jannik Sinner in four sets to claim his sixth Grand Slam title.

• More on the match.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff sent a new proposal last week to Hamas for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal through an Israeli peace activist, sources told Axios' Barak Ravid.

• Why it matters: The new U.S. proposal aims to find a diplomatic solution ahead of the massive offensive Israel is planning to launch to occupy Gaza City.

President Trump said yesterday the U.S. is "in deep negotiations with Hamas" on a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.

• He stressed the U.S. message to Hamas is: "If you immediately release the hostages, good things are going to happen, but if you don't — it is going to be tough and nasty for you."

🔭 Between the lines: Trump's comments came as the Israeli military began flattening high-rise buildings in Gaza City that it claims are used by Hamas for military purposes.

• It marked the first major phase in Israel's new offensive to occupy Gaza City, which the government says is aimed at rooting out Hamas. The operation — backed by Trump — is expected to escalate quickly.

Keep reading.

Jack Schlossberg, 32, a writer and grandson of President John F. Kennedy, said yesterday he is forming an exploratory committee to run for Congress in New York, Axios' Andrew Solender writes.

• Why it matters: Schlossberg is a high-profile figure in the Democratic Party who would likely bring additional attention to what is already expected to be a hotly contested race.

The seat, New York's 12th congressional district in Manhattan, opened this week after Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he will not run for an 18th term.

• More potential candidates.

Federal law enforcement agents took down a four-decade-old peace vigil — considered to be the longest continuous anti-war protest in U.S. history — outside the White House yesterday, The Washington Post reports (gift link).

• The peace vigil, "a call for nuclear disarmament and an end to global conflict," has stood in Lafayette Square, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, since 1981 — 44 years ago.

On Friday, Brian Glenn — a correspondent for the conservative network Real America's Voice — told President Trump the blue tent was an "eyesore."

• Trump responded: "Take it down. Take it down today. Right now."

A group of activists helped Philipos Melaku-Bello, the vigil's steward, rebuild the site.

• Keep reading.

Pope Leo XIV declared a 15-year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church's first millennial saint yesterday, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith and earn the nickname "God's influencer." (AP)

• Leo canonized Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006, during an open-air Mass in St. Peter's Square before an estimated 80,000 people, many of them millennials and couples with young children.

Go deeper.