The Conversation -- April 9, 2025
Trumpity-Doo-Dah. Eshe Nelson, et al., of the New York Times: “Stocks surged on Wednesday afternoon, ripping higher after ... [Donald] Trump said he would back down on tariffs for most of the world for the next 90 days, citing new talks with foreign nations. The S&P 500 climbed over 7 percent in a matter of minutes after Mr. Trump posted the decision on Truth Social, sharply reversing days of losses. But Mr. Trump said that the pause did not extend to China and that he would instead raise tariffs on its exports to 125 percent after Beijing announced a new round of retaliation.... Earlier in the day, when stocks were still oscillating between small gains and losses, Mr. Trump posted ]BE COOL' on his Truth Social platform, before adding, 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: He really gets a kick out of jerking everybody around, doesn't he? This is the dominance game Bouie is writing about here: ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “There is no grand plan or strategic vision [to Donald Trump's obsession with tariffs] ... — only the impulsive actions of a mad king, untethered from any responsibility to the nation or its people.... Trump’s tariffs are not a policy as we traditionally understand it. What they are is an instantiation of his psyche: a concrete expression of his zero-sum worldview. The fundamental truth of Donald Trump is that he apparently cannot conceive of any relationship between individuals, peoples or states as anything other than a status game, a competition for dominance.... Trump’s ... obsession with territorial conquest ... is an obvious product of his predatory approach to human interaction. His authoritarian attempts to cow and coerce key institutions of civil society into compliance with his agenda and obedience to his will are, likewise, a kind of dominance game.... He even said as much during an event on Tuesday, when he bragged about the law firms 'signing up with Trump' and said that 'they give me a lot of money, considering they’ve done nothing wrong.'... If we view the president’s actions in light of his psychological need to dominate, it is almost certainly true that his flagrant abuse of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and foreign-born students in the United States ... is just the beginning.... There is no point at which he can be satisfied.”
Rachel Maddow does a number on ICE fashion model Kristi Noem: ~~~
Jacob Rosen & Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Federal judges in both New York and Texas have blocked the deportations of Venezuelan men likely to be deported under the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, again stopping the White House's attempts to remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their deportations this week. In one case filed in Manhattan, attorneys for two Venezuelan men who are currently being detained in Orange County, New York, successfully argued to block their clients' deportations and movement outside of the state and the United States. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton, granted the temporary relief. After their arrests, both men were first transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas before being moved to New York. One man, who is 21, came to the U.S. to escape Tren de Aragua violence, and the other, who is 32, actively protested the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, their attorneys wrote. The new case in Texas was brought on behalf of the same Venezuelans who challenged their potential deportation in Washington, D.C., where the initial block of the deportations was entered by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before it was lifted by the Supreme Court on Monday in a 5-4 decision. The Texas judge overseeing the petition, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump during his first term."
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Lily Kuo of the Washington Post: “Trump’s 'Liberation Day' tariffs on 86 countries came into effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, with successive increases taking the duty on all Chinese goods to 104 percent. Beijing, which on Friday announced it would impose a 34 percent tariff on all American goods in return, did not immediately announce any further retaliatory measures Wednesday. But China’s State Council, its equivalent of the cabinet, stressed the importance of the U.S.-China trade relationship and said that differences should be resolved 'through dialogue and consultation.'... At the same time, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said China would 'continue to take firm and forceful measures to safeguard its own interests.' Before the tariffs took effect, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt suggested Tuesday that Trump was open to talking — as long as Beijing made the first move.... The mixed signals and the introduction of the tariffs led to another day of significant volatility in Asia, after a day of wild gyrations in U.S. markets.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: What??? Trump creates an international crisis, then insists one of his victims call him first? Is this "High School Dating Game"? ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “After ... [Donald] Trump imposed a 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods, Beijing announced a levy on U.S. goods of 84 percent. Stocks and bonds slumped as Europe also prepared to retaliate against the United States.”
Joe Rennison, et al., of the New York Times: “Another chaotic day of trading on Wall Street ended with a late slide in stock prices, with little letup in the escalating trade tensions and economic anxiety caused by ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs. The S&P 500 had posted a big gain at the start of trading, rising as much as 4 percent, but the rally faded and stocks slumped in late trading, ending 1.6 percent lower for the day and adding to a string of losses since Mr. Trump announced sweeping tariffs ... last week. Those tariffs are scheduled to take effect at midnight Wednesday, the White House reaffirmed on Tuesday, including raising the tax on goods from China to at least 104 percent. Tuesday’s drop put the benchmark index on the verge of a bear market, defined as a drop of 20 percent or more from its last high. After Tuesday’s drop, the index sits 18.9 percent below its mid-February record, having tumbled more than 12 percent just in the days since Mr. Trump announced his new tariffs.” The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
It seems that even when a country's representatives do stroke Trump's insatiable ego by calling him first, it does no good: ~~~
~~~ Ari Hawkins, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump and his top trade officials say they are negotiating with trading partners to reduce the steep tariffs scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday. But many foreign governments who want to talk are still waiting by the phone.... On top of that, Trump officials have not spelled out exactly what concessions the administration is seeking that could pave the way for a negotiated solution. It’s a sign that even as the administration tries to reassure financial markets, business leaders and fellow Republicans that they have an end game for the market-shaking duties, the White House is still very far from reaching any substantive trade deals with major foreign partners. Rapid progress will be even harder because now the administration is trying to negotiate bilateral deals with nearly 100 countries simultaneously to achieve a murky set of goals.”
David Pierson & Barry Wang of the New York Times: “For years, the world’s two biggest powers have flirted with the idea of an economic decoupling as tensions between them have risen. The acceleration this week, in both actions and words, of their trade relationship’s deterioration has made the prospect of such a divorce seem closer than ever.... With China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and Mr. Trump locked in a game of chicken — each unwilling to risk looking weak by making a concession — the trade fight could spiral out of control, inflaming tensions over other areas of competition like technology and the fate of Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by Beijing.”
Back to the Nineteenth Century ~~~
Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Behind ... [Donald] Trump’s decision to hit some of America’s largest trading partners with stiff tariffs is his fixation on the trade deficit that the United States runs with other nations. But many economists say that is a poor metric for judging the quality of a trade relationship. The steep tariffs, which went into effect on nearly 60 trading partners on Wednesday, were calculated based on bilateral trade deficits, or the gap between what the United States sells to each country and what [that country buys from the U.S]. Mr. Trump has long viewed that gap as evidence that America is being 'ripped off' by other countries....
“But ... bilateral trade deficits crop up for many reasons beyond unfair practices.... [For instance,] the United States ... has substantial trade surpluses with the Netherlands and Singapore.... But that’s ... because those countries are home to major ports that import American goods. The Netherlands unloads U.S. goods in its ports and sends them throughout Europe to other consumers, while Singapore does something similar for Asia. But a trade deficit is calculated based on the country the good reaches first, not its ultimate destination.... [Economists] say that, if Mr. Trump’s tariffs do reduce the overall trade deficit, it will more likely be because they tanked the U.S. economy or drove investors away from the United States by sapping the world’s confidence in the U.S. dollar and its markets.”
Chris Velazco, et al., of the Washington Post: “The iPhone is in many ways the ultimate symbol of the age of globalized supply chains.... Trump has declared an 'economic revolution' that seeks to wipe away that system. Instead, he wants those supply chains and parts suppliers to be inside the U.S., employing American workers. 'The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a TV appearance on CBS News on Sunday.... No matter where those devices are assembled, components such as processors, screens, cameras, memory chips and modems flow from around the world to form finished products. In the case of the iPhone 16 Pro, the total cost of those parts works out to about $507 — just over half of the device’s retail cost, according to data from Counterpoint Research.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Lutnick's statement was garbled -- after claiming "millions of Americans" soon (within "days or weeks") would have the good fortune to spend their days in sweatshops screwing tiny screws into iPhones, he seemed to imply that, no, no, the millions of Americans would be servicing the robots who did the turnings of the screws. Jon Stewart (segment embedded yesterday) made sport of Lutnick's confused predictions. Stewart was not alone, as RAS highlighted in yesterday's Comments. ~~~
~~~ Jason Koebler of 404 Media: “The idea of a Made-in-the-USA iPhone has been an obsession for politicians for years, a kind of shorthand goalpost that would signal 'American manufacturing is back' that is nonetheless nowhere close to being a reality and would require a nearly impossible-to-fathom restructuring of the global supply chains that make the iPhone possible in the first place. Over the years, economists and manufacturing experts have attempted to calculate how much an American-made iPhone would cost. In recent days a Quora answer from 2018 that suggests an American iPhone would cost $30,000 has gone repeatedly viral.... [Such] articles are good exercises but they are also total fantasy. There is no universe in which Apple snaps its fingers and begins making the iPhone in the United States overnight. It could theoretically begin assembling them here, but even that is a years-long process made infinitely harder by the fact that, in Trump’s ideal world, every company would be reshoring American manufacturing at the same time, leading to supply chain issues, factory building issues, and exacerbating the already lacking American talent pool for high-tech manufacturing.”
Blink, Blink? Ana Swanson & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: “The Trump administration signaled on Tuesday that it was ready to negotiate deals with countries targeted by sweeping tariffs, saying that 70 governments had approached the United States to try to roll the levies back and that officials would begin talks with Japan, South Korea and other nations. But ... [Donald] Trump and his advisers have been clear that these entreaties will not stop the next round of tariffs from going into effect just after midnight Wednesday, including another 50 percent duty on China. As a result, tariffs on Chinese goods will be at least 104 percent. In a social media post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he had 'a great call' with South Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, about trade and tariffs, and that South Korean officials were heading to the United States for talks. He also expressed optimism that a trade war with China could be averted. 'China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'We are waiting for their call. It will happen!'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “Elon Musk slammed ... [Donald] Trump’s top trade adviser [Peter Navarro] as 'dumber than a sack of bricks' on Tuesday, exposing a remarkable rift in the president’s inner circle over the wide-ranging tariffs that have upended the global economy.... The squabble escalated on Monday when Mr. Navarro said on CNBC that Mr. Musk was not a 'car manufacturer' but a 'car assembler' because Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric vehicle company, relied on parts from around the world. Mr. Musk fired back on Tuesday, calling Mr. Navarro a 'moron' and 'dumber than a sack of bricks' in a post on X.... Later in the day, Mr. Musk doubled down, posting that he wanted to 'apologize to bricks.'... He also used a slur to refer to Mr. Navarro, calling him 'Peter Retarrdo.' The feud between Mr. Musk and [Mr.] Navarro, who has been the architect of many of Mr. Trump’s trade plans, has been simmering for days as the administration’s new tariffs have caused huge losses across global financial markets.... Mr. Musk’s words — though aimed at Mr. Navarro — were a rare criticism of Mr. Trump’s policies from one of his most influential advisers. Mr. Musk ... is estimated to have lost roughly $31 billion since Mr. Trump announced sweeping tariffs on foreign countries on April 2....” An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: If Navarro is a moron & dumber than a sack of bricks because of the tariff policies he has recommended to Trump, it follows that Trump -- who took the dumb advice -- must be a moron, too. Dunnit?
Rob Copeland, et al., of the New York Times: “Wall Street billionaires are not used to being on the outside looking in. But that is where they find themselves after ... [Donald] Trump ignored their appeals to call off his tariff plans which they fear could endanger the economy. With the backdrop of rapidly mounting stock market losses, corporate titans have worked every angle — phone calls, social media and even a typically staid shareholder letter — to try to change Mr. Trump’s mind. The day after the president announced his most sweeping round of tariffs last week, chief executives from major banks, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, had a private meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick organized by a lobbying group in Washington. But Mr. Lutnick was not persuaded to reverse course, three people briefed on the sit-down said. Over the weekend, megadonors to Mr. Trump’s re-election effort tried a different tack, pleading their case in calls to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, people familiar with the calls said. Those efforts also came up empty. By Monday, hedge fund billionaires — many of whom had been loud and proud boosters of Mr. Trump’s second term — were going public with their cries.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Aris Folley & Sylvan Lane of the Hill: “Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) expressed deep frustration with ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs during a Tuesday hearing featuring the top White House trade negotiator. 'Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?' Tillis asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee. Tillis, a critic of tariffs and protectionist policies, questioned whether the Trump administration had a coherent strategy to rebalance trade after announcing roughly $600 billion in new import taxes last week.... Tillis is one of seven Republican senators who signed on to a bill from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that would cut back the president’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Donald Trump has launched a global economic war without any allies. That is why — unlike previous economic crises in this century — there is no one coming to save the global economy if the situation starts to unravel. -- John Lipsky of the Atlantic Council ~~~
~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: “As the breadth of the Trump revolution has spread across Washington in recent weeks, its most defining feature is a burn-it-down-first, figure-out-the-consequences-later recklessness. The costs of that approach are now becoming clear. Administration officials knew the markets would dive and other nations would retaliate when ... [Donald] Trump announced his long-promised 'reciprocal' tariffs. But when pressed, several senior officials conceded that they had spent only a few days considering how the economic earthquake might have second-order effects. And officials have yet to describe the strategy for managing a global system of astounding complexity after the initial shock wears off, other than endless threats and negotiations between the leader of the world’s largest economy and everyone else.... The global trading system is only one example of the Trump administration tearing something apart, only to reveal it has no plan for how to replace it.” Sanger gives a number of examples.
Adam Cancryn & Maya Ward of Politico: “During the first two turbulent months of ... Donald Trump’s term, the White House has shrugged off scrutiny of its most controversial policies with a simple assertion: The American people voted for this. Now, Trump allies and GOP voters spooked by the tariff-induced market crash are beginning to respond en masse: No, we didn’t. Trump won in November because many voters saw him as an antidote to their economic malaise; as a candidate, he frequently promised to lower Americans’ everyday prices. But as president, he has chosen instead to plunge the country into fresh financial chaos, while insisting the market losses as a result of his tariffs are 'medicine' Americans need to take. 'Trump was elected in part to lower inflation and juice the economy,' said GOP pollster Whit Ayres. 'Higher prices and slower growth are exactly the opposite of what Americans voted for.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Happy Birthday to ??? Jenny Gathright of the Washington Post: “Plans are in motion for a massive event on the National Mall in June to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary with live music, fireworks, parachuters landing on the Ellipse — and perhaps the military parade ... Donald Trump has been dreaming about for years.... The news of a potential military parade in D.C. — initially reported by Washington City Paper over the weekend — comes after Trump intended to host one during his first term but backed off amid pushback from the Army and D.C. officials over exorbitant costs and the damage tanks might cause to city roads. Tanks or no tanks, the city can prepare for some kind of massive birthday bash for the Army on June 14, the anniversary of the Continental Congress’s vote to officially create the force.... (That date also happens to be Trump’s birthday.)” Emphasis added. ~~~
Marie: So is this costly bash going to be more about celebrating what George Washington & the Continental Army made possible or commemorating Donald Trump's destruction of all that? See Akhilleus's commentary below.
Yes, It Is "The Dating Game." Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “The Trump administration formally barred federal workers from listing their preferred pronouns in email signatures, calling it a symptom of a misguided 'gender ideology.' Some White House officials are taking a similar approach with the journalists who cover them. On at least three recent occasions, senior Trump press aides have refused to engage with reporters’ questions because the journalists listed identifying pronouns in their email signatures. 'As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios,' Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote to a New York Times reporter who had inquired about the potential closing of a famed climate research observatory.” MB: I don't know how these people can get more stupid or petty or childish or unserious, but I have every confidence they will find multiple ways to do so.
Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to help homeland security officials find immigrants they are trying to deport, according to court records, committing to sharing information in what would be a fundamental change in how the tax collector uses its tightly regulated records. In a court filing, the Trump administration said that the I.R.S. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reached the agreement on Monday and that the two agencies had not yet shared any information. Under the terms of the deal, a partially redacted version of which was submitted in the case, ICE officials can ask the I.R.S. for information about people who have been ordered to leave the United States or whom they are otherwise investigating. Federal law tightly controls taxpayer information, protecting home addresses, earnings and other data from disclosure even to other agencies within the government. I.R.S. officials have for weeks warned that the Trump administration’s plan to use the I.R.S. to help with deportations could be illegal. The top I.R.S. lawyer was demoted as the agreement came together, and was replaced by a former Trump nominee.” The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story has been updated. New Lede: “Several top Internal Revenue Service officials, including the acting commissioner, are preparing to quit after the Trump administration pushed the agency to use its protected tax records to help homeland security officials deport immigrants, according to people familiar with the matter.... The deal has fueled further turmoil at the top of the agency, which had already been rocked by mass layoffs and several leadership changes during its busiest period of the year.... Among those leaving is Melanie Krause, the acting leader of the I.R.S., who is expected to take the administration’s latest deferred resignation offer....” ~~~
~~~ Josh Marshall's column is firewalled, but Scott Lemieux has a good chunk of it on LG&$ here: “We know that DOGE is in the process of gutting the IRS. According to internal IRS estimates reviewed by The Washington Post, this internal sabotage is already estimated to have cost the U.S. Treasury more than $500 billion in revenues that otherwise would have been raised by April 15th. But it doesn’t stop at the IRS. DOGE is also in the process of essentially closing down the Tax Division at the Department of Justice. Since the Tax Division is a statutory creation, it can’t literally be shuttered.... What they plan to do is essentially 'reform' and 'reorganize' the Tax Division out of existence.... When you combine this with the gutting of the IRS itself, it basically means a radical diminution of tax enforcement in the United States. If you make more than, say, a million dollars a year, paying taxes is probably going to be voluntary going forward. It’s a new feature of billionairedom.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm not sure how much that will matter for the 2025 tax year. If Trump keeps his tariff program going, we will have fewer billionaires & multi-millionaires, and nearly all of the has-beens probably will be taking whopping legal deductions for the huge Trump Income Losses. One ingenious way to eliminate tax cheats is to strip away everybody's income.
Michael Bender & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern amid civil rights investigations into both schools, two U.S. officials said. The funding pause involves mostly grants from and contracts with the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced decision. The moves are the latest and largest in a rapidly escalating campaign against elite American universities that has resulted in billions in federal funds being suspended or put under review in just over a month. Other schools that have had funds threatened include Brown, Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. Cornell and Northwestern are both facing investigations into allegations of antisemitism and into accusations of racial discrimination stemming from their efforts to promote diversity.”
Erwin Chemerinsky & Lawrence Tribe in a New York Times op-ed: “Of all the lawless acts by the Trump administration in its first two and a half months, none are more frightening than its dumping of human beings who have not had their day in court into an infamous maximum-security prison in El Salvador — and then contending that no federal court has the authority to right these brazen wrongs. In an astounding brief filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, the solicitor general of the United States argued that even when the government concedes that it has mistakenly deported someone to El Salvador and had him imprisoned there, the federal courts are powerless to do anything about it. The Supreme Court must immediately and emphatically reject this unwarranted claim of unlimited power to deprive people of their liberty without due process.... Why hasn’t the Trump administration acted to secure [Kilmar] Abrego Garcia’s release?... The answer can only be that it is using this case to establish a truly chilling proposition: that no one can stop the Trump administration from imprisoning anyone it wants anywhere else in the world.”
Gaya Gupta & Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: “When Amir Makled, a civil rights lawyer representing a pro-Palestinian activist, handed over his passport for review at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday, he was immediately flagged and led to an interview room for further questioning. The federal border officers told Makled, a U.S. citizen, that they knew he was a lawyer with prominent cases, the Dearborn-based attorney recounted in an interview with The Washington Post. The officers told him he could either hand over his phone and passcode, or they would confiscate it and return the device back to him later. Makled refused, and after nearly two hours, he said, he was allowed to leave with his phone. But Makled and other legal experts said they believe that his questioning is part of an alarming pattern of American lawyers facing retribution for representing clients whose interests conflict with ... Donald Trump’s agenda.”
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a ruling from a federal judge in California that had ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired federal workers who had been on probationary status. The court’s brief order said the nonprofit groups that had sued to challenge the dismissals had not suffered the sort of injury that gave them standing to sue. The practical consequences of the ruling may be limited, as another trial judge’s ruling requiring the reinstatement of many of the same workers remains in place. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, but she gave no reasons. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court should not have ruled on such an important issue in the context of an emergency application. The order was the latest administration victory in the Supreme Court in a case arising from ... [Donald] Trump’s recent blitz of executive orders. Like others, though, it was technical and tentative. The justices said their order would remain in place while the case moved forward.” The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Chicken Supreme Tops the Menu at Johnny's Cafe. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. over the last two decades has not been known for its modesty or caution. Its signature move has been bold assertions of power backed by sweeping claims about the meaning of the Constitution.... But as the first wave of challenges to ... [Donald] Trump’s blitz of executive orders has reached the justices, a very different portrait of the court is emerging. It has issued a series of narrow and legalistic rulings that seem calculated to avoid the larger issues presented by a president rapidly working to expand power and reshape government.... The justices’ new approach appears to have multiple goals: to stay out of the political fray, to maintain their legitimacy and, perhaps most important, to avoid a showdown with a president who has relentlessly challenged the legitimacy of the courts.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington rejected the White House’s effort to keep The Associated Press from routinely covering ... [Donald] Trump, siding with the wire service and finding that it had faced political retaliation over its editorial decisions.... [The White House had] cited the wire service’s refusal to adopt the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.... The order dealt a blow to Mr. Trump, who, in a departure from decades of tradition, has moved to leverage access to White House events as a way of asserting more direct control over coverage of his administration. The dispute has raised profound questions about the independent news media’s role in shaping public opinion and the lasting implications of the president’s effort to determine how he is portrayed. Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Washington wrote in his opinion that the Trump administration must 'immediately rescind their viewpoint-based denial' of The Associated Press from the White House press corps.” The CBS News report is here. MB: Trump appointed McFadden. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Once again, raspberries to all of the White House press corps for failing to support the AP by boycotting the briefing room. Special shout-out to the reporter who asked, as the first question of Trump the Tariff Terrorist on AF1 Sunday, "How was your golf tournament today?" (See Jon Stewart video, embedded Tuesday.)
Rachel Weiner & Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: “Three air traffic control managers with responsibility for Reagan National Airport have been pushed out of their roles in the wake of a violent altercation in the tower, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Tuesday. The changes come a week after a supervisor in the tower was arrested and accused of punching another controller in the face over a minor dispute about work, and they follow efforts by the FAA to reduce stress among staff still grappling with January’s catastrophic midair collision of a passenger plane and a military helicopter. The district manager and two assistant managers were offered reassignment elsewhere.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: “Under the stained glass and towering arch ceilings of Washington National Cathedral, hundreds of Secret Service members paid their respects Tuesday to an agent who came to symbolize the elite agency’s commitment to bravery and sacrifice in the face of danger. Secret Service agent Clint Hill had hurled himself atop President John F. Kennedy’s uncovered limousine when Lee Harvey Oswald opened fire on the presidential motorcade in Dallas in November 1963. His attempts to shield Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy from the shots that killed the president inspired thousands of Secret Service agents who came after him, while the experience left Hill, who died Feb. 21 at his home in Belvedere, California, at age 93, with a deep guilt that haunted him late into his life.”
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Montana. Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning: "On Tuesday, Montana’s House considered Senate Bill 164, legislation that would classify gender-affirming care for transgender youth as felony child endangerment. The bill would not only target doctors and nurses, but also parents — including those merely passing through the state. Though the vote was expected to be close, a powerful floor speech from Representative SJ Howell prompted a wave of Republican defections. The bill was defeated 40–58, becoming one of several anti-trans proposals to fail this year following strong speeches by Montana’s transgender and nonbinary lawmakers.... The victories in Montana stand in stark contrast to the handful of Democrats and pundits suggesting that transgender people are a political liability.... Montana’s trans and nonbinary legislators only underscore the point—defending transgender people is not just morally right, it is politically possible." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe somebody should tell that to White House press secretary & self-righteous pouty girl Miss Karoline Leavitt, who "as a matter of policy" will not even respond to reporters' inquiries when the reporters specify a pronoun. A pronoun. Or, I beg your pardon; I should not have specified a pronoun.
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Test test test test
Happy Birthday to me!
As millions lose their retirement funds because of Fat Hitler’s temper tantrum tariffs, world economies are in free fall, Ketamine Elmo and his Hitler Youth are plotting the demise of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, and the country teeters on the brink of a national recession, the Orange Monster is getting set to show us all how he can throw a massive Red China, Soviet, Kim Jong Il style military birthday bash for himself for a mere $100 million.
How’s that for guv’mint efficiency and no fraud at all?
Yup. And ‘member when he tried this bullshit back in the first Fatty regime and he was told tanks and missile launchers and giant testosterone-y war type machinery would destroy Washington streets so No, you can’t glorify yourself that way? Well this time around he’s done a ‘fficiency check hisself and determined after a long hard thinking-type thingie (2.6 seconds) that tearing up DC streets to be fixed later with a few measly million taxpayer dollars was worth it so’s the nation can see the awesomeness of his not fat ass at all so stop saying that.
Also, he wants the suckers and losers in the military to all goose step by and salute him for having bone spurs and not giving a shit about the return of dead soldiers because he had to play golf with Saudi murderers, oh, but no veterans who lost limbs or are otherwise permanently disabled because they weren’t smart enough to fake bone spurs, cuz that would reflect badly on his manliness.
Bombs and bimbos for the Dear Leader’s fabulous birthday bash!
Oh, and don’t forget, he got this idea while visiting France and seeing the Bastille Day parade. You guys remember Bastille Day, right? That’s when French citizens had had enough of a tyrannical king who had been disappearing people he didn’t like on the basis of…well, he just didn’t like what they were saying, so off to the dungeon they went.
We’re lucky nasty shit like that doesn’t happen here!
Anyway, $100 mill for Fatty to honor himself? Sounds wicked efficient! Elmo and Big Balls will be pleased.
Memo to Elon: That phrase is 'dumber than a bag of rocks'
not bricks.
I've done a lot of brick work in my life and believe me, it's nearly
impossible to fit bricks into a bag and why would you want to?
How about dumber than a bag of little DOGEs?
So the regime has just cost the US treasury something on the order of $56 Billion, in my estimation. That's how much money undocumented workers paid in federal taxes in 2023 according to the American Immigration Council:
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/topics/tax-contributions
If ICE is now able to access IRS records, how much do you want to bet undocumented people will remove themselves from the tax system? My wager is $56 Billion.
Forrest,
C’mon now, you know with all that ketamine, Elmo could easily hoist a big bag of bricks. At least he’d think so, although he’d likely prefer to be hoisting a bag with ol’ Pete’s head in it. Can’t say I blame him for that.
But your mention of what else might go in the bag reminded me that long ago, in a galaxy not very far away, Roy Rogers came up with the perfect way to handle the little Dogies: rope ‘em, brand ‘em, and hustle ‘em off to a Wyoming slaughterhouse.
Yippee-tie-i-oh, git along, little Dogies.
Gee, thanks, Roy!
John Oliver on transgender athletes
Only Party Puppets Wanted
"The Montana Republican Party announced Friday it is censuring nine state senators after “repeated alignment with Senate Democrats” this legislative session. A press release claims the senators “undermined the Republican majority leadership and disregarded the will of Montana Republican voters.”
The party’s action means MTGOP will no longer support or fund the senators’ campaigns. The party also urges people to stop referring to the senators as Republicans."
Sometimes FH gets close to the truth, but then forgets who's who.
"MAGA hats are about to get 104% more expensive"
Seth Meyers at the WH press briefing
It is frustrating to see how little effort the Trump administration has to put into pretending to follow the letter of the laws they are implementing. Who cares if we are not at war with Venezuela. Who cares if there is no invasion. Who cares if there is no emergency before putting tariffs in place. Who cares if thousands of workers were fired with blatant lies of poor performance or the shuttering of agencies mandated by Congress. When a Democrat implements statutorily lawful orders, like student debt relief, the Supreme Court invents extra steps or new laws. Or they dismiss Democrats on technical details like wrong jurisdiction and make them start all over. When a known liar, who happens to be Republican, doesn't even bother to attempt put on a facade for imposing tariffs on the world over drugs or lies about performance reviews the Traitor's Court bends over backwards to help the Republican continue breaking the law and undermining the Constitution. The Supreme Court is no longer a court of law. For years they have undermined their own authority, even without the blatant corruption, by implementing two sets of laws and justice. Whether a defendant has a R or D next to their name determines how their arguments will be heard. Trump may be destroying the country, but the right-wing Supremes and the Federalist Society has destroyed the rule of law in the US even before his help put the final nails in the coffin. I wish our pathetic media put a little attention on what the SC is doing now, just like FH's first term, to the constitutional protections we all have taken for granted.
Annie Lowrey, in The Atlantic provides some insight into recent market activity. Disorderly Liquidation
"Normally when the equity market tanks, the bond market surges, as investors flee for the relative safety of Treasury bonds and other fixed-income instruments. This time is different. Last week, the price of American government bonds started rising and plunging. This morning, yields were surging—a sign that traders see an increasing risk that the U.S. will default on its debt and will charge the United States more to borrow. As the market analyst Jim Bianco noted, the last time yields rose so far, so fast, was in 1982, amid a severe global recession. 'Something has broken' in the bond market, he wrote. 'We are seeing a disorderly liquidation.'
Nobody knows exactly what is causing this disorderly liquidation. The best guess from financial analysts is that hedge funds making heavily leveraged bets on small price changes in safe assets are facing margin calls—being asked to put up more collateral, in cash, to cover their paper losses. The scale of activity seems to be straining the capacity of sellers to meet buyers and buyers to meet sellers, explaining the huge price swings in a normally calm, liquid market."
Jamelle Bouie's explanation for WHY? seems plausible. T**** is playing his favorite game - The Dominance Game
The fundamental truth of Donald Trump is that he apparently cannot conceive of any relationship between individuals, peoples or states as anything other than a status game, a competition for dominance. His long history of scams and hostile litigation — not to mention his frequent refusal to pay contractors, lawyers, brokers and other people who were working for him — is evidence enough of the reality that a deal with Trump is less an agreement between equals than an opportunity for Trump to abuse and exploit the other party for his own benefit. For Trump, there is no such thing as a mutually beneficial relationship or a positive-sum outcome. In every interaction, no matter how trivial or insignificant, someone has to win, and someone has to lose. And Trump, as we all know, is a winner.
....
Trump’s desire to dominate others is the driving psychological force of his administration. His obsession with territorial conquest — seen in his effort to coerce the Canadian government into relinquishing its sovereignty as well as his calls for the acquisition of Greenland and the Panama Canal — is an obvious product of his predatory approach to human interaction. His authoritarian attempts to cow and coerce key institutions of civil society into compliance with his agenda and obedience to his will are, likewise, a kind of dominance game. They are meant to demonstrate his mastery over his perceived enemies more than they are to achieve any policy aim. "
RAS,
Case in point, re: the flagrant disregard for rules and laws. Tariffs are the purview of Congress. Constitutionally, the president has no right impose tariffs, but Congress at one point said okay, the president has limited authority to slap on a tariff, but only in the case of a national emergency. AND in order for that LIMITED ability to kick in, the president has to file the proper paperwork with Congress laying out the reasons for declaring that emergency.
No such filing was ever done. No paperwork, no reason, just “EMERGENCY!” and that was that. The only emergency is in the Orange Monster’s head. It’s like with the declassification of top secret documents. He believes he can just think it and Poof! it’s all legal-like.
Of course the Congress could have said “Hold your horses there, Bucko. There’s a process.” but they’re too petrified to insist on their role in whether or not the economy is tanked by a narcissistic child, not to mention the rule of law. He knew they wouldn’t.
Same thing with this bullshit war powers act. We are not at war. It’s up to Congress to make a declaration of war, not to mention, where is this fucking war? What nation’s army attacked us? A few guys with tattoos? Seriously? We’re declaring war on a biker gang? That sort of thing is a police-FBI problem, but oh, I forgot. We have no FBI anymore. But are we really that much of a weenie nation that we have to go to war with a few thugs with tattoos??
Nonetheless, there was still no declaration of war. But Little Johnnie and the Dwarfs said “Oh, wow. War powers! Run away!”
Again, Fat Hitler knows he can bully his way through. No one is going to stop him.
Then there’s the TikTok fiasco. Congress passed a law—a LAW!!! Saying TikTok had to be sold by such and such a date or it gets shut down. It’s up to Congress if they want to revise that law and extend the deadline.
Nope. Fatty charges in, says I’m the king, what I say goes, TikTok gets 75 more days. No!!! No!!!! He has zero legal or constitutional right to countermand congressional laws. Not only that, there’s the Take Care clause in the Constitution that specifically says that it’s the executive’s sworn duty to take care that all laws of the United States are faithfully executed. So.. one more constitutional crisis.
The tools for controlling this monster are right there in the Constitution, but Congress has to at least pretend it is a co-equal branch of government, otherwise we get to that point that James Madison warned us about.
Congress is full of cowards and traitors. The Supreme Court is just out and out run by traitors.
And the head traitor does whatever the fuck he wants.
Akhilleus,
You would think that there would be a hundred countries lining up to file motions in our court system to at least delay these nonsense tariffs. As you say they never bothered to fill out the paperwork. That should be an easy out for the courts. It is one of the things that the wingers on the court love to do to Democrats. Republicans don't usually have to worry about jurisdiction or facts or sometimes what their lawsuit is about in the case of Dobbs abortion decision. Sometimes the cowards on the court are willing to push back a little as long as they don't have to actually have to confront FH head on.
Probably be gone soon, but Paul Krugman spoke to Chris Hayes last night about the mess of these tariffs. The dumbass has spent his start in office destructing the administrative state that is needed to implement the random tariffs he is arbitrarily putting on different countries. A container ship coming from Europe doesn't have just European goods. They might not be able to import things into the US because the bureaucracy doesn't exist to deal with the various problems, many of them forseeable, but are too complex for big brain to understand. Like so much of FH's regime they decide to do something without bothering to spend the time and expertise to understand the fallout and the logistics of actually doing it.
DiJiT talked to the GOP NRCC congressional dinner last night. Part of his stream of logorrhea included this: (Digby pasting Aaron Rupar clip of DiJiT)
"... the states are just an agent of the federal government."
He was telling GOP congresspersons that they should demand that their states pass state bills limiting elections to same-day in-person paper ballot voting, voter ID strictures, etc. etc.
The heads of RWNJ Tenthers had to either explode or re-MAP* -- the states as fed agents was treasonous heresy until last night. Or, they just pretended they didn't hear that.
* "Wiki -- An engine MAP is essentially a set of instructions for the Engine Control Unit [computer], telling it how to manage the engine's performance under different operating conditions. "
Tariff - ied. The legacy media, print and broadcast are wedded and welded to to the words :Trumps Tariffs". Add a good chunk of online media as well.
Most people you'd stop on the street couldn't tell ou what a tariff is. It's something that people just don't think about when they make a purchase of something that wasn't "Made in USA".
People may not understand tariffs but everyone knows what a tax is. So why not just come out and call Trumps latest brain fart an "Import Tax?"
My comment to the Times on Bouie:
Very astute and accurate. I see only one glaring exception to the analysis.
Trump's desire to dominate is limited to those where he knows/feels he has the upper hand. He needs to seem tough, to himself if not always to others.
But with some, he hesitates, bows and scrapes, even seeks toemulate. Putin comes to mind. Where's the tough Trump there? A little rhetoric for domestic consumption, but that's it.
He's afraid of his mentor.
@Bobby Lee
Like "teriff-ied." a lot.
So much for the tough guy who never backs down.
What was that he said about being weak?
All these assholes like that total prick Bessent saying “Oh, he’s a genius! There’s a plan!”
There’s no fucking plan. It’s whatever that fat shit feels like doing. Stocks crashing, he couldn’t take the heat. I thought it was a National emergency! I thought it was a realignment of the universe according to the great deakmaker. I thought everyone was out to screw us.
So now it’s “A great time to buy?”
Right.
You can bet that all his idiot spawn and buddies got a couple hours notice before his announcement so they could buy stocks before they rose - or buy stock options and REALLY make a killing. Some stock is at $80/share. You buy a call option that allows you to buy it at $90/share in a few days. The option costs a dollar at most - nobody thinks it’s gonna be worth anything; a few days from now, the shares might be at $60! So maybe you buy 50,000 of these last night for $50,000. After the “pause”, the stock goes up to $95/share. Now that option is worth a minimum of $5 and some are betting the stock will go higher. The option is worth $6 and you sell it for $300,000.
I have no doubt that deals like these or just plain giant stock purchases went down before the news came out.
It’s all a fucking grift. Just schemes and narcissistic dick waggling. We are being run by a demented crook who threw the entire world into a panic just so he could enjoy the feeling of power. Once that wore off, it was time to back down, save face, and make money off the panic he caused. This isn’t leadership, it’s a gigantic clusterfuck perpetrated by a weaselly bully.
And the traitors let him get away with it. Just appalling. Now they’ll all fall in line and say “See? Dear Leader saved us all! He’s a genius!”
Yeah. Until the next time he feels like pulling everyone’s chain.
The Onion - parody
"Revised National Parks Webpage Describes Harriet Tubman As Human Trafficker"
The Onion
"Judge Gives Trump Administration 3 Days To Return Her From El Salvador Prison"
El Salvador Tourist Board
Come see our lovely prisons. Kristi Noem gave it 4 stars, must see.
"El Salvador Is Now Viewed as Safer to Visit Than France by the US
President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday elevated El Salvador’s travel safety designation to the best possible, putting it above countries in Western Europe, before President Nayib Bukele’s visit to the White House next week.
The upgrade to Level 1 puts El Salvador ahead of some more traditional travel destinations for Americans like France, the UK and Italy. They’re all at Level 2, a recommendation to “Exercise Increased Caution,” because of threats from terrorists. Some other nations in Central America, including Panama and Costa Rica, are Level 2, with neighboring Guatemala Level 3, which carries a recommendation to “Reconsider Travel.”"
“I am the great I Am! King of World! Everyone was screwing us FOR YEARS! Only I can fix it.
Now everyone must crawl on their bellies and kiss my feet and pay me a huge ransom! I Will NOT BACK DOWN! It’s a NATIONAL EMERGENCY!!”
“Psst..your highness…while you were out golfing, we lost $6 trillion. Wall Street is pissed!”
“Oh, Okay. Never mind. Just kidding.”
Tariff Talks
Voting While Republican
As Tulsi Gabbard completed her transformation from a Hawaii Democratic politician to a MAGA surrogate last year, she put down stakes in a far redder state. Gabbard and her husband bought a home outside of Austin and declared under oath last June that they were “resident(s) of the State of Texas.”
But a few months later, Gabbard voted in the 2024 general election back in Hawaii.
Election law experts said Gabbard’s vote, coupled with her claiming a homestead tax break on her Texas home, raises questions about whether she properly cast her ballot and illustrates the complexity of state voting laws.
Under Hawaii voting regulations, when voters have a homeowner’s tax exemption, that home is presumed to be their residence for election purposes.
Gabbard’s attorneys said she applied for a homestead tax exemption, which Texas law only allows on a principal residence, because she “took the advice of local officials” who told her it was required to shield her address from public view. Her office said she was facing a significant security threat.
Gabbard’s representatives did not respond to questions about why she separately swore under oath that she was a Texas resident if she considered herself to still live in Hawaii, and did not provide a comment from her after repeated requests."
No surprise, RAS
Really, you're asking a lot.
Tulsi doesn't know if she's a Democrat or a Republican, an ally or an enemy of Russia. Why should she know where she lives?