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Apr 4, 2025 - World

CNN's Dana Bash was gobsmacked that President Donald Trump opted to play golf Friday while the U.S. economy was melting down due to the tariffs he imposed on dozens of countries earlier this week. On Friday, stocks continued their downward spiral, losing more than 3,000 points in two days. China announced it was retaliating with 34% tariffs on U.S. goods. And Fed chairman Jerome Powell said Trump's tariffs "raise risks of faster inflation and slower growth," according to The New York Times. Trump was already lambasted Thursday for deciding to attend a LIV Golf event at his Doral course in Miami instead of presiding over the dignified transfer of the four U.S. soldiers who died in Lithuania. "The president right now is playing golf," Bash began. "He went to Florida. he's going to go to a Saudi-backed golf tournament, but he's playing golf right now." ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs She continued, "Now, presidents play golf. Almost every president plays golf. He really trashed Joe Biden for playing golf. No one's questioning the need for presidents to let loose a little bit...But, now? Given what's happening right now in the world, on world economies, for only one reason — that is because he wanted to launch this trade war." She added, "This is a very volatile time because of his policies!" Correspondent Phil Mattingly interjected, "The certainty of his economic team, particularly on the kind of data research side that — the people that have been telling you this can't work, the markets that are reacting — are wrong. 'They're wrong. We know they're wrong. We believe the first-term stuff worked, we just didn't go big enough.' I cannot stress to people enough how much that is internalized in the people that work for him." Bash agreed, saying, "It's definitely a very, very deeply held credo that this is all going to work out." Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link here.

Apr 4, 2025 - World

Former GOP insider Steve Schmidt, who worked for prominent Republicans like former President George W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain, has written a damning assessment of Donald Trump and the "shame" he has brought to America.In a new Substack article, Schmidt claimed that the "crisis" facing America is based completely on Trump's character and psychology, which precludes him from ever being told "no" or that he is "wrong." Schmidt claimed it's the same mentality that drew Trump to billionaire Elon Musk, because like recognizes like."They are predators, takers and extremists, who inflict misery based on whim because they feel entitled for no reason other than their disordered personalities and inability to feel emotion or empathy," Schmidt wrote of Trump and Musk. "Their mental illness is not only America’s burden. It is now a profound threat."ALSO READ: The new guy in charge of USAID doesn't believe in foreign aidSchmidt wrote that because Trump can never be wrong, "The American people will be told increasingly what is happening to their savings, security and pensions is someone’s fault — not Trump’s. Then they will be told it is their fault. It will never be Donald Trump’s fault. Ever."Schmidt posited that, "The great sickness in America is that there were enough people in American politics, business, tech and media" who bought in to Trump's version of reality and enabled him to get away with virtually anything he wanted.Schmidt warned that the trade war brought on by Trump's massive tariffs was inescapable because everything he does is "pushed as winning" and funneled from his press secretary to Rupert Murdoch's Fox News."Donald Trump promised prosperity. He will deliver penury," Schmidt wrote. "Donald Trump promised peace. He will bring war. Donald Trump said that he would make America great again. He has brought shame to America. He is everything I have ever said that he was. Things will get bad, and then they will get worse."Read the Substack article here.

Apr 4, 2025 - World

President Donald Trump left Washington on Thursday to fly back to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. By Friday morning, the stock market was in freefall for a second day in a row. From his Truth Social page, Trump posted a video from a person going by the handle @AmericanPapaBear, claiming Trump is purposely tanking the stock market so he can get the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. MAGA followers were quick to call the strategy "genius" and compare it to playing chess while others are playing checkers. Another even claimed Trump was playing 3D chess. BBC News economics reporter Faisal Islam wrote on X, "President just shared a video on Truth Social saying 'Trump Is purposely CRASHING the market' in order to lower US Treasury yields and the dollar. The Mar A Lago theory I wrote about two months ago, written by his chief adviser that said tariff chaos would lead to $ deal."ALSO READ: Crashing the economy: Inside Trump's blueprint for more griftingAfter sharing the video he noted, The "Dow down another 1000 points… Obviously, RT are not endorsements but why is the President choosing to share this stuff? And if you are another country seeing this, how do you negotiate with this?"Trinh Nguyen, an expert economist in emerging markets in Asia, posted on X that if true, Trump's actions would be akin to "Burning the house to cook steak.""The amazing thing is that he thinks it is a win & so is his base," she continued. "Golfing now to enjoy his win of crashing equities to boost bonds or to lower bond yields. Of course, they buy this narrative. They don’t own anything. So you can’t lose if you don’t own anything or have anything of meaning to protect. Better to burn it all down so everyone is equally disillusioned. Wait a minute. Stalin did it. Make Russia Great Again.""A LOT OF REACHING HERE" said software developer Mayowa A. Balogun, a self-described economics enthusiast.Attorney Jeremy I. Senderowicz, who focuses on financial services, remarked, "Darkly amused by the emerging rationalization among some on this app that the tariffs are a move designed to push interest rates lower to aid the refinancing of our debt this year. That’s an argument that Trump is deliberately crashing the economy to lower interest rates.""It reminds me of Alan Greenspan in the late 90s responding to Qs why he didn’t raise rates to choke off the stock market “bubble.” Paraphrasing his response: “if you’re asking if we can accomplish that, we most certainly can - but you really wouldn’t like the other effects.”A commodities trader who didn't identify himself specifically posted on X, "Forcing farmers to sell here....! Those 70% of farmers who voted for him must be realllllly loving Trumps genius ideas!"Another self-described, avid investor and analyst and Ph.D. historian quipped: "Well it’s confirmed… he’s purposefully liberating you from your 401(k) your IRA and soon your job."

Apr 4, 2025 - World

President Donald Trump has been working at breakneck speed to eliminate federal programs, prompting an opinion columnist with The Washington Post to ponder, "Is there anything Trump won't destroy?"Columnist Dana Milbank used the metaphor of Trump wielding an ax to chop down not only a 200-year-old magnolia tree at the White House, but the very Constitution on which the United States was founded.Trump announced this week that he was getting rid of the tree planted by Andrew Jackson because, he wrote, it had become “a very dangerous safety hazard.” Milbank conceded that the explanation was "plausible," but what was Trump's justification for paving the storied Rose Garden into a “stone surface”?ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs"The same day Trump announced the execution of the Jackson magnolia, he swung another ax at the 237-year-old U.S. Constitution, this time maintaining that he’s 'not joking' about illegally seeking a third term," Milbank wrote. He continued, "In a sense, it may be better that Trump thinks he can run for another term — because that might stop him from his breathtaking sabotage of the American economy." Trump managed to plunge U.S. trade and the stock markets into chaos this week by announcing sweeping tariffs on as many countries as possible, including one with only penguins as inhabitants.On Friday, CNN's Harry Enten claimed that Donald Trump's economic policies have damaged the U.S. economy in "historically unprecedented" ways. Indeed, even Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proved unable to answer the most standard questions about Trump's economic end game, and was reportedly "looking for an exit door" after just two months on the job."At the rate things are unraveling," Milbank wrote, "there may be nothing left for Trump to preside over during his third term."Read The Washington Post opinion piece here.

Apr 4, 2025 - World

Whoever becomes president later this year has unenviable task of healing divisions and rebuilding trust in democratic institutionsIt had been a long and at times intolerable wait. But the South Korean constitutional court’s decision on Friday to oust Yoon Suk Yeol from office may have restored the public’s faith in their democracy.For 22 minutes, millions of South Koreans held their breath as the chief justice of the constitutional court, Moon Hyung-bae, began delivering the court’s verdict on Yoon’s impeachment over his chaotic declaration of martial law in December. Continue reading...