“The economy is facing considerable turbulence,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said Friday,
when the bank reported strong earnings while warning of pitfalls ahead.
Both JPMorgan — which sees 50-50 odds of a recession this year — and
Morgan Stanley saw revenues jump from stock trading activity as investors raced to adjust their holdings in the face of growing uncertainty.
The
major U.S. stock indexes ended on a high Friday after a volatile week
of massive losses and gains. The eleventh-hour rebound came after White
House press secretary Karoline Leavitt signaled that President Donald
Trump is “optimistic” for a trade deal with China.
I hope you are watching THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE on MSNBC I have been waiting and waiting to post hoping MSNBC would have a clip -- even one -- of Ms. Ruhle's show from tonight. But no. They do not even have any clips up from Rachel Maddow's show tonight.
Mike just called. We were on the phone an hour ago. He was wanting to post something from Ms. Maddow's show and called to ask if he was missing it? I looked on MSNBC and saw that they had not and told him that they had not posted Ms. Ruhle either. So he just called to let me know that they just posted something from THE 11TH HOUR.
Mr. Chump spent the week destroying the economy and it has not recovered nor has the money people lost been replaced. His actions are erratic and uncertain and they are alarming the markets. He is not trust worthy and that is hurting us financially.
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle
said she thinks the markets have been topsy-turvy all week because, in
the past, the underlying economy was "a disaster." What's happening now,
however, is "completely self-made."
[. . .]
Ruhle said that's why there's a "crisis of confidence."
"Who
do you believe? Right? His own treasury secretary — when Donald Trump
announced the pause — his own treasury secretary said this was always
the plan. Really? Was it the plan?" Ruhle asked. "Because Trump just
said I was looking at the bond market. I listened to Jamie Dimon.
They're telling you different things, and we're watching Wall Street
that wants to be optimistic, tie themselves in knots over this idea that
Scott Bessent is going to be our savior."
I marvel over the people with their heads in the sand as Mr. Chump destroys out economy, our country, our democracy.
The
mainstream news media’s failures in understanding and explaining Donald
Trump’s union of media, entertainment, and politics in the era of
social media are numerous.
These
failures begin with an obsolete set of assumptions and a crisis in
imagination about the strength of American democracy and its political
and societal institutions, the permanence of the rule of law and respect
for the Constitution, and the character of the American people and how
tens of millions of them are authoritarians or otherwise sufficiently
compelled towards such antidemocratic values, beliefs, and behavior to
put an open authoritarian and autocrat back in the White House.
The
mainstream news media’s slavish adherence to obsolete norms about
“fairness,” “balance, “objectivity,” “bothsidesism,” obsessions with the
polls and the horserace, and a dunderheaded insistence on treating
Donald Trump the then candidate and now president like a traditional
politician instead of an extreme danger to American democracy were
easily exploited if not crushed by Trump and his MAGA authoritarian
populist movement and its operatives and forces. The Russian propaganda
technique of “flooding the zone” mostly (and continues to) drowned the
mainstream American news media. In response, the American news media as
an institution is choosing to surrender and submit to Donald Trump and
the authoritarian populist MAGA movement. As has been seen in other
countries whose democracies have collapsed to authoritarianism and
fascism, such anticipatory obedience and other acts of surrender and
supplication will, at best, offer only temporary and illusory safety.
How
can you have lived through that week, or any of the last nine, and have
doubts about the intent here? Why do you think hypothetical discussions
about assaults on the Constitution will better serve fighting back than
concrete discussion and organizing about specific assaults on it?
Do
not gape at spectacular language. Do not let it distract you from more
concrete reality that can be directly addressed. That is the goal of it.
Rather, neutralize it, point to it as such, rob its power.
This
seems to be yet another instance where journalists and liberals, both
of whom institutionally presume that language is transparent,
misunderstand how authoritarians use language instrumentally and
therefore forgo the most effective response to instrumental language.
Friday, April 22, 2025. Democrats angling for the 2028 presidential nomination need to stop undoing the work that the rest of the party has put so much time into, Chump's destruction of the economy leads to questions regarding his sanity and much more.
Before we get to anything else let's start with these two videos.
That's from last night's THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW on MSNBC. As noted before many times, especially during the Obama years, I know Eric Holder -- going back to the 90s -- and I like Eric Holder. He is not a snap decision person. He is calm and deliberate. Which makes what he says in the above videos all the more important about who we are as a country and what we need to do to protect and fight for the democracy that we have. So if you haven't already streamed Rachel and Eric's discussion, please make a point to. Grasp that Eric comes at these issues not just as a former Attorney General of the United States or as an attorney, he's also been a judge. His knowledge base is vast and, again, he's not a snap-judgment person. When he speaks, he's given it a lot of thought beforehand.
Rachel and he are discussing very important topics. And I was going to pull something in regarding Dan Abrams later in the snapshot but let's move that around. Zachary Leeman (MEDIAITE) reports:
Mediaite founder Dan Abrams marveled at the “left-wing” media’s fumbling of numerous scandals involving President Donald Trump while arguing that “right-wing media” milks controversies for all they’re worth.
“Have you noticed how quickly Signalgate
has faded from the news? It was a really big story for about a week.
And then it just seemingly disappeared,” Abrams said on his SiriusXM
show, which airs on the POTUS Channel. Had the same scandal occurred
under [a] President Kamala Harris, Abrams argued, it would be an endless story on conservative media networks like Fox News and Newsmax.
“This would still be all over
right-wing media, potentially for months, with investigations and
demands, and it just makes you realize that they are so much better than
the left at milking a scandal,” he said.
Abrams noted that scandalsinvolving Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden are still hot topics in right-wing media circles, while Signalgate and its central figures like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz get a fraction of the attention.
Abrams noted that scandalsinvolving Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden are still hot topics in right-wing media circles, while Signalgate and its central figures like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz get a fraction of the attention.
He said:
They did it with President Biden for months, years,
trying in any way possible to link him to his family’s shady business
dealings. Last week on Fox News, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth got
mentioned 30 times. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz got mentioned
24 times. Those were the two principal figures in the Signal Chat
scandal. And when they were mentioned, it was usually in the context of
other national security stories. And yet, Hunter Biden, in that same
time period on Fox News, mentioned 60 times, about nine mentions a day.
One mention every couple of hours, more than Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz
combined.
Abrams then ran through a list of issues that would likely be bigger issues if a Democrat were president, including Peter Navarro,
Trump’s trade advisor, being a convicted felon. Navarro was convicted
in 2023 of contempt of Congress. He spent four months behind bars.
And Dan (another I've known for years) is right. It's appalling how so many either ignore real stories or give them a quick nod and then rush off to more garbage.
What were they thinking when they served up this slop?
It's
a question you can also ask of Zac and Gavin, the hosts of THE VANGUARD
who give Socialists a bad name with their fact-free commentary and
contradictory assertions that, on a good week, sometimes manage not to
completely reveal the depth of their hypocrisy.
It's good that they have such deep hypocrisy since everything else about them is shallow.
November 5th, Convicted Felon Donald Chump was re-elected president. And how have you used your time since then?
If you're Zac and Cody of THE VANGUARD, you've pulled on your cock in public and that's about it.
THE VANGUARD is sort of like two Taylor Lorenzes instead of one. Two vapid and uneducated gossip queens instead of just one.
There
have been 129 posted segments of THE VANGUARD since November 8th (three
days after the election). And surely the two Socialists have been all over
Donald Chump, right?
Wrong.
53 segments found the boyz sucking up to Kyle Kulinski, Krystal Ball,
Glenn Greenwald and others in their circle jerk instead of addressing
anything remotely resembling a real issue or need.
You know what's worse than that?
76.
That's the number of segments Silly & Billy have done attacking THE YOUNG TURKS.
Now
hosts Cenk and Ana were Socialists once upon a time -- back when Silly
and Billy praised TYT. Back then, the DSA Bible JACOBIN even let Ana
host their
podcast. And, of course, back then Cenk and Kyle Kulinski decided the
best way to get Socialists elected into Congress was to form Justice
Democrats as a cover for Justice Socialists. And of course, they were
backed by the notorious Trumper Peter Thiel. This really does matter
and it goes to The Politics of Destruction and how political extremists
can easily
flip from left to right. But VANGUARD boyz never impart any important
lessons like that. No, they just provide gossip.
So the 76 segments THE VANGUARD did gas bagging over TYT served no real purpose other than gossip.
Most
of the recent segments about TYT was gossip revolving around or deriving from Francesca Fiorentini.
For months, she's been THE VANGUARD top topic due to making statements such as stating she was
afraid of Cenk. And other gossip.
Gossip.
Not news.
Nothing political either -- not even if you cite the old adage: The personal is political. Just gossip.
During
this 76 segment period, Francesca finally got fired by TYT. That
wasn't surprising, but being kind, we posted her video
talking about that at THE COMMON ILLS.
One video.
One video was sufficient.
Why are Zac and Cody obsessed with TYT? More to the point, as alleged adults, why aren't they concerned with anything else?
[. . .]
And
Zac and Cody, how pathetic are they?
People are being deported from
this country, Chump is purging our education systems and museums of
Black history and women's history and LGBTQ+ history. He is talking
like a madman of seizing the land of foreign countries. He is refusing
to follow court orders. He's carrying out a ton of crazy and illegal
activities.
And where is THE VANGUARD?
Serving up another year's worth of segments telling viewers Cenk and Ana are bad bosses!'
At
this late date, how is that even news?
We need to build a better media! We need our own Joe Rogan! We need! We need! We need!
We need to do our damn jobs.
As Stan noted last night, "And
those two stunted White boys of THE VANGUARD -- Zac and Gavin. Yuck.
They just reek White privilege and entitlement, don't they? They're so
deeply stupid about everything whether it's politics or their pretense
to know pop culture. I don't think -- left, right whatever -- there are
two bigger idiots on YOUTUBE than those two. "
Doing your job is not Kyle talking about how his balls feel in certain underwear and calling that a YOUTUBE segment for the left or Silly and Billy doing the one milliionth take down of THE YOUNG TURKS.
I'm not a YOUNG TURKS fan. I've never praised Cenk and Ana, I've never confused them with anything but fraud's and tricksters because I've always known the deal with the devil they made to get that money. I have nothing but contempt for them. But at this late date, after they've embraced transphobia and racism and people have left TYT for that and told their stories, there's really no need for 76 segments since the election telling us how awful Cenk and Ana are to work for.
There are many other things that are not being covered. SignalGate being only one.
They fan boy over nonsense and that's true of so many YOUTUBERS.
In this country a big issues has become the fact that Republicans in the House are refusing to go home and hold townhalls in their districts and talk with their constituents.
They don't want the feedback.
And the feedback comes with the job.
Some elected officials in Congress have underscored this by going to nearby districts or even to out of state for them districts to hold a townhall. And that's good and that underscores that the GOP is not listening and they are not doing their jobs.
Some hacks like Zac and Cody tear away at what's being accomplished with their fluff pieces on Tim Walz.
and it addresses the reality that Zac and Gavin and all the other dim bulbs won't: Tim is not helping anyone with his nonsense tour.
He is the governor of Minnesota. He does not need to be holding town halls in Houston, Texas or various cities in Iowa or Ohio or California or . . .
He is an elected governor who is now spending weeks on the road to criticize the GOP for ignoring their own constituents, the people who elected them.
Tim is on the road doing this, on the road out of his state doing this.
The hypocrisy is appallling.
Now he's doing it not to help anyone, he's trying to lay groundwork for the party's presidential nomination in 2028. It's not happening, Tim. You lied non-stop and you can't come back from that in the mainstream press. You also delivered the worst, the absolute worst, debate performance in the lifetime of televised vice presidential debates. The absolute worst.
DSA may or may not have delivered the vice presidential nomination to you last August -- Democratic Socialists of America claimed they did back in August in a series of Tweets that we've highlighted many times before.
They won't be able to help you in 2028. Their rat f**kery of the election, their work to defeat Kamala, did not escape the attention of the party. It's why their one time asset James Zogby now has his face pressed against the glass and when he tries to call friends in the party who once took his calls, he's told that they're unavailable or that they'll call him back (and then they don't).
Elections do have consequences. The DSA will find that out the hard way.
But Tim's too busy trying to promote himself and angle for his future.
In doing so, he's defeating all the work that people have put in underscoring how the GOP is not serving the people who voted them into office.
And all Tim's really accomplishing is sporting his sexism and racism.
Slamming Kamala?
Walter Mondale never slammed Jimmy Carter. John Edwards didn't slam John Kerry. Lloyd Bensen didn't slam Michael Dukakis. Not even Joe Lieberman slammed Al Gore.
TI
But White Tim thinks it's okay to go around slamming Kamala?
He needs to own the fact that his record of non-stop lies and his lousy debate performance negatively impacted the campaign.
But he doesn't want to talk about what he did wrong, does he?
He needs to get his ass back to his home state and stop giving the GOP an opening to shoot back, "Well Tim Walz is a governor and he's all over the country doing town halls -- everywhere except his own state."
He and the hideous Gretch The Wretch Whitmer have done real damage to the party this week and a functioning left media would have been addressing this.
We don't need a Joe Rogan. We just need YOUTUBERS who will do actual work. MEIDAS TOUCH does, TABITHA SPEAKS POLITICS does, Coach D and some others do.
But the DSAers on YOUTUBE -- all of whom are too scared to tell their streaming audience that they're Socialists -- waste our time day after day and week after week.
Now let's get to what we were going to start with. SignalGate, tariffs, wrongful deportations, it's not been a good time for the Convicted Felon. Alex Henderson notes:
President
Donald Trump claims that U.S. manufacturing slowed down during former
President Joe Biden's four years in the White House, and he insists that
his tariff-driven trade policy will lead to a renaissance in
manufacturing jobs.
But according to Cleanview
Energy founder Michael Thomas, Biden — not Trump — is the one with the
stronger record on manufacturing jobs.
In a
Thursday, April 10 post on X, formerly Twitter, Thomas posts, "The
manufacturing boom that started under the Biden administration is
grinding to a halt under Trump." And Thomas backs it up with a chart.
The
chart, using U.S. Census Bureau figures, shows data on manufacturing
jobs between 2016 (when Barack Obama was still president) and 2025 (when
Trump returned to the White House). Altogether, the chart offers data
spanning four presidential administrations.
U.S.
manufacturing jobs, according to the chart, declined slightly during
Trump's first presidency — before surging during Biden's four years as
president. The chart shows the number of manufacturing jobs continuing
to climb under Biden, peaking in 2024 before starting to decrease under
Trump.
Right
about now nearly the entire country's joining hands and swaying back
and forth as Tiffany sings "Could've Been." And we all know what could
have been.
Instead, we got the disaster that is Chump. Chump's semi-paused tariff scheme. Jamie Ross and Hannah Jewell (WASHINGTON POST) ponder the sudden semi-pause, "Why did he change his mind? Allies and world leaders told Trump he risked sparking a global crisis. His advisers say the pause is strategic -- a claim undercut by Trump himself." Andrew Feinberg (INDEPENDENT) quotes
Chump declaring, "We're working with a lot of different countries, and
it's all going to work out very well. I think it's going to work out
really, very well. But we're in good shape." Sounds like someone trying
to convince themselves -- someone really, really trying to convince
themselves.
He might succeed in fooling himself; however, the non-delusional will not be so easy to trick. Gustaf Kilander (INDEPENDENT) delivers the harsh reality:
“In
the last few days, we have had many conversations with macro fund
managers,” Tom Lee, the head of research at the financial analysis firm FSInsights, wrote on Wednesday morning, before Trump backed down from most of his tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
“And
their concern is that the White House is not acting rationally, but
rather on ideology. And some even fear that this may not even be
ideology,” he added. “A few have quietly wondered if the President might be insane.”
Brian Karem (SALON) shares, that a Republican told him, "I'm
not saying he’s insane. But his administration is the most sloppy,
unprofessional, arrogant and stupid group of people ever assembled in
government." And Karem also shares, "Others, however, are saying he’s
insane." Samantha Nungesser (DECIDER) quotes
THE VIEW's Ana Navarro stating, "If they're saying that this was all
strategic, then he is a sadist,” she fumed. “Because what kind of
government leader puts his people through this kind of distress and
sadness and anxiety for a week just for giggles? His supporters always
say that he plays fourth-dimensional chess. I think he should be in a
padded room playing with his own drool because the things he does are
just simply lunacy. And we're not out of this. We're not out of this by
any means. [. . .] Let's not underestimate the result on consumer
confidence of the havoc he has wreaked for the last 11 weeks. We have
antagonized our allies yet again."
Bertrand Benoit and Kim Mackrael (WALL STREET JOURNAL) point out, "Economists
stressed that a high degree of uncertainty remained despite the 90-day
pause, which would negatively affect investment, growth and inflation
expectations going forward" while Carlos Segovia (EL MUNDO) explains, "From
the 3.95% demanded by investors days before, it jumped to 4.6%, a huge
increase in an asset usually calm with few surprises. Several factors
had come together for such an increase: the need for liquidity by
traders due to the stock market crash and the growing sense that the
safest US financial asset is no longer so due to the absolute legal
uncertainty sown by the White House." Economist Paul Krugman (SUBSTACK) walks us through the land of reality:
Will
crazy be an excuse if some were gaming the system? What if crazy isn't
the only c-word involved in this administration effort? What if the
other c-word is corruption? Simon Walter (INDEPENDENT) explores that notion:
The
Democrats, led by California senator Adam Schiff, are calling for an
investigation into insider trading. Even Trump himself seemed muddled
over when he decided to make this change, telling reporters in the same
sentence that it was “over the last few days” and “fairly early this
morning”.
The turmoil caused by
his chaotic tariff antics may not lead to his resignation, as Watergate
did for Nixon, but the stain on Trump’s personal and political
reputation and credibility could be as permanent.
After
Watergate, Nixon could never escape the brutal truth that he was a
crook and a liar. After Tariffgate, Trump will never escape the brutal
truth that he has been exposed as unfit to run America’s economy – and
that when he was found out, he claimed (preposterously) that it was all
part of his “strategy”.
However, if claims that
some used the wild fluctuation in stock market prices to make a killing
turn out to be true, and crucially, that this was directly or indirectly
aided and abetted by those in Trump’s White House, it will take more
than his usual bluster to shrug it off.
Nixon
tried to shift the blame for Watergate, claiming it was all the fault of
others. It didn’t work. Time will tell whether Trump tries to blame
others for Tariffgate. However, as with Watergate, there can be no
denying that only one person was responsible: the US president.
Trump’s humiliating climbdown on tariffs has striking similarities with Liz Truss’s downfall as prime minister.
As
in her case, it was the bond market response by hard-headed financiers –
who, unlike Truss and Trump, understand economics as opposed to
political fantasies – that forced him to confront reality.
After
a disastrous week in the stock market, Trump tried to calm fears
Wednesday morning by posting a message telling investors to relax and
“BE COOL” — hours before he announced a 90-day “pause” on most of the
tariffs that caused the market to tank.
While
Trump aides and supporters chalked the episode up to a masterful
negotiating strategy, Trump told reporters he made the move because “I
thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were
getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little
bit afraid.”
But along with his earlier plea
for investors to “BE COOL,” Trump also sent a message that looked very
suspicious to some people in hindsight. At 9:37 AM on Truth Social,
Trump wrote ““THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”.
Rep.
Steve Horsford (D-NV) and other Democrats have accused Trump of market
manipulation and suggested his message was meant to tip off his
supporters. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made a similar
accusation Wednesday.
“If people are pissed
about insider trading here at the House, look at what’s happening at the
White House right now and with the Republican Party,” AOC said to
Spectrum News.
Trump was confronted about the
accusations at the end of a 73-minute cabinet meeting Thursday afternoon
as reporters were being ushered out. Trump did not answer, but appeared
to have a delayed reaction with raised eyebrows and a shake of the
head[.]
The doubts,
the erratic nature of Chump, the corruption and stupidity? It's all
impacting the way Americans seen The Orange Menace. Martha McHardy (NEWSWEEK) reports:
President
Donald Trump is facing a sharp decline in approval ratings following
the announcement of new tariffs that rattled markets and sparked
backlash from consumers.
Trump's
sliding approval over tariffs highlights growing voter dissatisfaction
with his economic policies, particularly as inflation-weary Americans
feel the pinch of higher prices.
The tariffs'
popularity and impact on the economy will be crucial to the outcome of
the 2026 midterm elections. The economy is always close to the forefront
of voters' minds, and Democrats believe higher prices caused by the
duties could spark a backlash against Trump.
Let's wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:
A
montage was aired on Wednesday on Fox News of President Donald Trump
and his top officials flatly, emphatically, categorically, and staunchly
denying that there will be any pause to his controversial tariffs.
The twist?
Trump had just paused them.
“We’re
not looking at that,” Trump said in the supercut that broadcast on the
conservative network’s “Special Report with Bret Baier” as part of a
lengthier look at Trump’s reversing course on his signature economic
policy that upended markets worldwide and sparked fears of a global
recession.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
confidently added in the clip, “There is no postponing. They are
definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks. That is sort of
obvious.”
Everyone is
laughing at the idiot who does not know anything about the economy.
Sadly, it has been a very expensive laugh as so many lost a ton in their
401Ks due to the stupidity of Mr. Chump. Stuart Dyos (FORTUNE) reports:
Sen.
Ron Wyden (D.-Oregon) criticized President Trump’s tariffs saying the
president has put retirement funds, investors, and the economy in
“purgatory” without a clear motive, after a multi-day sell off ended in
trillions vanishing from the stock market.
“The
U.S. economy has gone from the envy of the world to a laughingstock, in
less time than it took to finish March Madness,” Wyden said during a
Senate committee finance hearing Tuesday.
The
past week cost US stocks $6 trillion in value as market participants
prepared for a wildly uncertain future, all while knowing the president
is prone to pulling the rug out from under their feet.
Trump
is clearly loving the sea of green on the TV stock ticker. But it’s
going to take a lot more than one day of stock gains to undo the damage —
to the economy and to America’s reputation — that his policies have
done.
“My sense here
is that the (US) economy is still likely to fall into recession, given
the level of simultaneous shocks that it’s absorbed,” Joe Brusuelas, the
chief economist of consulting firm RSM, told CNN’s Alicia Wallace. “All
this does is postpone temporarily what will likely be a series of
punitive import taxes put on US trade allies.”
Trump’s
new plan is hardly a full retreat. It leaves in place some of his
historic and most aggressive tariffs in place, including 10% tariffs on
all virtually all imports coming into the United States and ratchets up
tariffs on Chinese imports to 125%. Still in place are 25% tariffs on
some goods from Mexico and Canada and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum
imports.
He needs to be in
assisted living. I say that as someone older than Mr. Chump. But my
remarks are coherent. Also, I am not president of the United States.
Episodes like the one William Vaillancourt (THE DAILY BEAST) describes just are not normal:
Donald
Trump last month mistakenly called H.R. McMaster, and upon learning
that he was speaking to his former national security adviser rather than
his intended recipient, insulted him.
According
to CBS News, the March 3 call, which Trump began by saying “Henry,” was
intended for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. The “H.R.” in
McMaster’s name is short for Herbert Raymond.
Once McMaster informed Trump that he was speaking to the man Trump fired in March 2018, the president grew angry.
“Why the f--k would I talk” to McMaster, Trump asked.
Can you see him staggering around the White House late into the night muttering to himself and which ever dead person he thinks is in the room with him?
Thursday, April 10, 2025. Chump wants to waste millions on a military
parade for his birthday, this after refusing to greet the fallen at
Dover last week, in the face of massive opposition he semi-pauses his
tarrifs, one of his supporters turns out to be a liar and a fake
(shocking!) which leads to her arrest, and much more.
And he is right, Chump should have been there.
Last
week, Convicted
Felon Donald Chump was fled to Florida on Thursday to start his
'vacation' and to avoid Dover Air Base where four Americans who died on
an overseas mission were returning. He had no time for the fallen,
please understand, because the most important thing when you're
commander-in-chief is . . . golfing. As Ruth noted Friday:
There was a time in Donald
Chump's first term as president that I gave him the benefit of the doubt
regarding his alleged hatred of U.S. troops. He quickly made clear
that the rumors were indeed true. We saw that further in his 2024
campaign and, of course, we have seen it since he was sworn in.
SignalGate, for example, put our military pilots at risk as they set out
on a mission he ordered and then Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, DNI
Director Tulsi Gabbard, and the rest do a non-secure discussion of the
mission before it starts and as it is being carried out. To this day,
he has refused to fire any of these people despite the fact that their
actions could have resulted in the deaths of the military pilots. That,
by the way, is a point Senator Tammy Duckworth has made strongly and
repeatedly.
Because
he is never done s**ting on our troops, Mr. Chump's actions are not
surprising but they are shocking, outrageous, and offensive. Jeremiah Hassel (THE MIRROR) reports:
Donald
Trump was slammed for missing the dignified transfer for four U.S.
soldiers who were killed in Lithuania during a training accident as he
was seen playing golf at his Trump National Doral Miami golf course for a
LIV Golf event.
Lithuania's president held a
ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers who drowned in a peat bog after
their tactical vehicle went missing about a week ago. Lithuanian, Polish
and U.S. soldiers and rescue teams searched through forests and swamps
at the Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, which is
about 6 miles west of the country's border with Belarus.
[. . .]
President
Gitanas Nausėda and other dignitaries were among those who stood in
respect as the hearses carrying the bodies to Vilnius airport in the
nation's capital paraded past. They were flown to Dover Air Force Base
in Delaware and will be buried this week.
Several
of the onlookers were reportedly in tears during the procession.
Nausėda said the reaction of the population and the military to the
disappearance of the soldiers was rooted in the country's own difficult
history.
Lithuania's
president showed them respect; however, Convicted Felon Donald Chump
did not. The Convicted Felon could not stop his golf game to honor
Americans Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, Staff Sgt.
Jose Duenez Jr., and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins. Dante was the
youngest at 21, Troy was the oldest at 28, and Jose and Edvin were both
only 25. They are passed and they passed while doing a mission that
they were tasked with but the nation's commander-in-chief was too busy
-- yet again -- to honor them.
The disrespect Chump has
shown the four fallen soldiers is appalling and it's one more reason
that he is a joke. And that's before the rumblings about his plan to
use the military as a prop for his birthday celebration.
On THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON, Jimmy addressed the nonsense of a parade for Chump.
My favorite joke from Jimmy above? "Yeah, the
parade will be four miles long. The organizers asked Trump if he wanted
to walk in it and then everyone laughed and laughed."
WJLA reports on the potential cost for Chump's vanity trip.
The costs were also addressed on ABC's THE VIEW.
"Who
do you think is paying for this?" asks Joy and she's right. Over $90
million for that parade for himself? It's outrageous.
Some
veterans I've spoken to raise the issue that Chump's trying to stage a
military parade to celebrate himself when there has been no DC parade
for the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.
Let's note this from IAVA:
Today, following news of President
Trump’s proposal for a military parade, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America (IAVA), the leading non-partisan veterans empowerment
organization representing the Post-9/11 generation of veterans, released
a poll of its members. The poll, conducted from February 7th to 8th
over a 24 hour period, shared how veterans view the proposal:
“It
is clear that our community has strong opinions on this issue. Their
voices are critical and must be heard. We hope leaders in the Pentagon
and White House will listen to our members—especially in these decisive
and overly-politicized times,” said Paul Rieckhoff, Founder and CEO of IAVA. “We,
as much as anyone, are committed to honoring and empowering our
military and veterans—and that starts by listening. Most of all, our
members believe America should honor and support our military and
veterans everyday, and in the ways and times we need it most. Guided by
our dynamic and diverse membership, IAVA has plenty of important
recommendations for how to do it in our annual Policy Agenda. We
encourage all lawmakers, members of the media, and our fellow citizens
to spend some time reading this playbook for how we believe our country
can support us most effectively, on the issues we care about the most.”
Here's the thing about the above, they issued that in Chump's first term. On February 8, 2018.
Chump
didn't throw them a parade, still hasn't, but is again having a public
tantrum because he wants a military parade at his birthday party. Now
he didn't like the military enough to serve. He lied to get out of
serving during Vietnam -- those nasty bone spurs remember -- that
apparently healed through magic and now he can golf every weekend with
no problem. And he doesn't care enough about veterans to protect them
from his DOGE program. But he wants to use them fo rhis birthday
because that's how selfish and stupid he truly is.
Next topic.
Another
one bites the Chump? Apparently another one's gone and another one's
gone, another one bites the Chump. Despite vowing full speed ahead on
his insane tariffs on Tuesday, yesterday saw Chump back off.
The
Trump Administration’s tariff policy, which was announced a week ago
today, has started to hit the presidency somewhere that he cares about:
His approval rating.
Enough, in fact, that Trump on Wednesday announced a drop to 10 percent on most of the non-China tariffs.
That’s according to a new The Economist/YouGov Poll, taken between April 5 and 8 — entirely after the tariffs were announced — and released on Wednesday Up
at the top, the poll finds that Trump has an approval rating of 43
percent, compared to 54 percent unfavorable, although if it’s any
consolation for the president, Vice President J.D. Vance’s approval
rating is just 38 percent, while Elon Musk comes in at 40 percent.
[. . .]
The
poll also finds that 54 percent of respondents see things in America as
“off on the wrong track,” while 35 percent say the nation is “Generally
headed in the right direction,” while 12 percent answered “not sure.”
That's
not a surprise. And even an idiot should have seen it coming. One
idiot didn't. As Ann points out Michigan Governor Gretch The Wretch
Whitmer spent yesterday making nice with Chump about tariffs:
Corrupt as can be and she makes my grifter beat for that and for this nonsense:
Michigan
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered a speech emphasizing points of
agreement with President Donald Trump on economic policy, just hours
before their scheduled meeting — a reflection of the high-profile
Democrat’s more diplomatic approach toward the president as her party
ramps up its attacks on him.
Framed by Whitmer
as a “blueprint for success,” her lengthy “Build, America, Build”
address called for bipartisan cooperation to boost American
manufacturing. While she offered soft criticism of the president, she
also underscored shared priorities.
Does
the wretch not know how to work with her own party? She's a Democrat.
Does she not get how hard Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Elizabeth
Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Mark Warner and others are fighting against
these tariffs to help the American people?
And
the wretch wants to throw a wrench into all of that? She's not a
Democrat, she's Gretch-ite -- out for Gretch and only Gretch. She
really is hideous.
What
an idiot, what a backstabber. There are times -- and people don't
always get this -- when a politician may take a stand you disagree
with. If it's consistent with who they are, you should be able to
respect it.
Former
Senator Russ Feingold should have gone on to become a president of the
United States. He was a great politician and a number of us tried to
talk him into running for the 2016 nomination. Had he been in the Senate
this year, he would have made a lot of Democrats angry because he
would've voted for Chump's nominees. He felt, at least when he was in
the Senate (and when the nominees might be problematic but weren't as
ridiculous as Chump's nominees) that you voted to confirm the Cabinet
appointees to give the president the staff he wanted.
I disagreed with that but I understood where he was coming from and never held it against him.
But
Gretch The Wretch? She has no ethics and she has no party loyalty.
Ann's right, how dare she undermine the party with her nonsense kiss
assery.
President
Donald Trump's budget plan likely won't pass its House vote Wednesday
afternoon. That's because several GOP lawmakers will not be backing it,
including Congressman Eric Burlison (R-MO).
“I
can’t live with myself if I go back home and I added more debt and
deficits without any kind of correction whatsoever,” Burlison told the
New York Times. “I couldn’t live with myself.”
The
former state lawmaker successfully advocated for the Show-me State's
Legislature to seek an amendment to require a balanced budget.
Burlison
is not the only republican who has yet to come around and agree with
President Trump's budget plan within the halls of Congress.
Yes,
the mutiny was coming. And would expose just how weak Chump truly is.
(Some would argue by yet again waffling on his plan, Chump exposed
himself as a weakingly.) But while the hard work of We The People was
paying off, there's Gretch backstabbing our party, tossing him a life
line, embarrassing the country. That wretch does not belong on a
national ticket. She demonstrated that this week. When she feels the
need to make nice with the GOP, she can take that sentiment into the
bedroom with her Republican second husband.
Here's Rachel Maddow addressing the topic last night on MSNBC.
Here for Paul Krugman's take
on Chump's semi-reversal. On THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE, there
was a very strong discussion but MSNBC hasn't posted the video online.
At
any rate, Americans take to the street, US senators stand up -- even
some Republicans -- and Gretch The Wretch goes with appeasement? Not
only was that a betrayal it was damn stupid. If she'd waited a few
hours even she would have grasped what an idiot she was about to make of
herself with her cowardly acquiescence.
In
the latest twist of political theater, 'Forrest Trump' reminded the
world that "stupid is, as stupid does," as he paused his economically
reckless tariff crusade for 90 days.
In the
movies Tom Hank's famous character was shown to have far more business
acumen than the US leader. But Donald Trump has once again proven that
his self-proclaimed genius is little more than a hollow myth built on
bluster and bankruptcy.
And
now, in a humiliating climbdown, he has announced a 90-day pause on his
disastrous trade war - a desperate face-saving exercise cloaked as
strategy.
Americans
have taken to social media to share stories about their MAGA-supporting
neighbors removing their merchandise in recent weeks, with some even
flying an upside-down Trump flag, a symbol typically associated with
distress.
Reddit user GimmeSumCredit shared a
photo in r/pics of a red, upside-down Trump flag captured on the way to
work. Thousands of Redditors chimed in with similar instances of family,
friends and neighbors who have seemingly turned their back on President
Donald Trump by removing MAGA merchandise.
Again, everyone could read the writing on the wall, everyone but Gretch The Wretch. At BUSINESS INSIDER, Katherine Li charts the downfall market effects on some of Chump's biggest donors:
Since
Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of a 10% blanket tariff
on all countries, on top of additional tariffs on certain countries, the
stock market has experienced heavy losses in a matter of days.
Here
is how much eight companies lost in share value since Trump's
inauguration day as of market close on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, according
to Yahoo Finance.
APPLE
Percentage of share decline since January 21: -23%
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, personally donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee and attended the ceremony.
Trump took credit for Apple's plans to spend and invest more than $500 billion in the US over the next four years.
AMAZON
Percentage of share decline since January 21: -26%
Jeff
Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon and founder of Blue
Origin, praised Trump for an "extraordinary political comeback and
decisive victory" after Trump won the election.
Amazon donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration committee, and Bezos also attended the inauguration.
GOOGLE
Percentage of share decline since January 21: -27%
Google donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund.
In
addition to attending Trump's inauguration, Sundar Pichai, Google's
CEO, also congratulated Trump on his election win and said, "We are in a
golden age of American innovation."
Let's
move over to the topic of crime. Eva Royer. The devoted Donald Chump
supporter is in the news -- for all the wrong reasons. MD Mack (LATIN TIMES) explains:
A Republican political committee member in Texas was arrested for election fraud while wearing a shirt that read "Ban Democrat Chairs," following allegations she falsified residency documents.
Eva
Royer, a member of the Hood County Republican Party, filed to run for
Granbury City Council on August 19, 2024, according to an official Facebook post. However, Texas election law requires candidates to live within city limits for at least six months before filing.
Royer claimed nearly three years of residency, but evidence later
surfaced showing she had only recently changed her address in July—and
that the property she listed was being operated as an Airbnb.
Authorities
say Royer's listed address wasn't her primary residence, but rather a
short-term rental owned by her real estate brokerage, for which she had
paid hotel occupancy taxes.
Here's a longer report from FACEBOOK:
Hood County Breaking News!
Daniel Knight · ntsoodSerp 122t5t28ciuAua uta0g1f32a596uc,u5s8mag7u1l0lu524u ·
Copied & Shared
WTH is going on in this county??
Eva
Royer withdraws her City Of Granbury City Council application due to
falsification of offical government documents and voter fraud
allegations.
### **List of Facts**
1.
**Residency Requirement Violation**: Eva Royer filed to run for city
council on August 19, 2024. State law and local charter regulations
mandate that candidates must have been residents for at least six months
prior to the filing date, meaning she would need to have been a
resident since February 19, 2024.
2.
**Falsification of Application**: On her official application, Eva Royer
claimed she had been a resident for 2 years and 9 months, which is
alleged to be falsification of a government document and potentially
election fraud—a felony offense. According to election offical
Stephanine Cooper via an open records request Eva Royer changed her
address July 12. In May of 2024 Councilman Vale announced he would not
seek reelection due to moving after his term was up in Novemeber.
3.
**Airbnb Property**: The address she listed is allegedly owned by her
brokerage as an Airbnb property, which has been actively rented out
based on customer reviews and listings. Additionally, she has been
paying hotel occupancy tax (HOT) to the city of Granbury for this
property.
4. **Previous Voting Behavior**: In
the March primary, she voted using an address where she presumably
lived with her significant other, Tim Bolton, on Ravenswood in Pecan
Plantation, which is outside the city limits. This action further
suggests potential voter fraud.
5.
**Withdrawal of Candidacy**: After a special city council meeting was
called to address the situation, Eva Royer withdrew her candidacy,
indicating awareness of the fraudulent nature of her actions.
6.
**Role in Hood County Republican Party**: Eva Royer is a member of the
Hood County Republican Party committee for events and fundraisers. Given
the seriousness of her alleged actions, you express concerns about her
trustworthiness in handling party funds.
7. **City Council Approval**: On July 23, 2024, Eva Royer received approval from the city council for her Airbnb property.
8.
**Concerns with Party Leadership**: You raise broader concerns about
the Hood County Republican Party's leadership, mentioning previous
endorsements of individuals with serious allegations, and now a
potential fraud.
### **Suggested Remedies**
1.
**Contact the Hood County Sheriff’s Office**: Report the alleged voter
fraud and election fraud for legal investigation and possible
prosecution. Correction might be GPD. Reporting to both not a bad
idea! I have sample.letters for all
2.
**Report to the Texas Real Estate Commission**: File a complaint against
Eva Royer for violating professional standards as a realtor.
3.
**Contact Greg Harrell, Hood County Republican Party Chairman**: Urge
the removal of Eva Royer from her position within the party due to her
involvement in the alleged fraud.
4.
**Remember at the Voting Booth**: When you vote this November, remember
that Tim Bolton, her significant other and a candidate for school board,
was undoubtedly aware of Eva Royer’s fraudulent actions.
### **Closing Statement**
This
is not about "cancel culture" but about maintaining integrity within
our democracy, which Eva Royer has allegedly disregarded. Election fraud
is a serious crime and should be treated as such.
If
you need the specific contact information for the Sheriff’s Office,
Real Estate Commission, or Greg Harrell, please let me know.
The
GOP keeps insisting they're trying to protect the vote and their
actions keep demonstrating that they're just trying to cheat.
Will
she be going to jail? Let's hope so. And if she does, it can be a
learning experience for her. Why, just a few weeks ago, she Tweeted:
EVA ROYER
@TheEvaRoyer
·
Mar 3
Prison can offer true change and second chances! @TDCJ
programs at the O’Daniel Unit with @GatewayPeople
Prison Ministries and @KCBI
are real trailblazers…by launching the Ladies of “The Tank” Radio Station inside.
BIG THANK YOU for joining us @DrindaRandall
our @TexasGOP
Image
Image
Image
Prison can offer true change, Eva, and let's hope you get a chance to find out.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
ICYMI:
Senator Murray Statement on Trump Plans to Freeze Tens of Millions in
Title X Family Planning Funds for Planned Parenthood, Other
Organizations
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Tina Smith (D-MN), and
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reintroduced the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act,
a bill that would safeguard funding for Title X – the country’s only
federal program dedicated to providing family planning and preventive
health services, including birth control, cancer screenings, testing for
sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and reproductive health care –
following attacks on the program by the Trump Administration last week.
Title X clinics serve 4 million people annually,
and in 2023 alone, more than 1.5 million visits to Planned Parenthood
health centers were made possible by the program. The bill is co-led in
the House of Representatives by Representative Sharice Davids (D,
KS-03), Judy Chu (D, CA-28) and Dina Titus (D, NV-01).
“For more than 50 years, Title X funding has helped women
across the U.S. get cancer screenings, contraception, pregnancy tests,
STI treatment, and so many other services that are critical to helping
women—especially women with the tightest budgets—stay healthy and plan
their futures,” said Senator Murray. “I’m proud to co-lead the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act—this
legislation would give Title X reliable annual funding to provide
reproductive health care to more people, meeting a growing need for
these vital services. As the Trump administration does everything they
can to attack Title X and rip away women’s ability to receive basic
health care, Democrats will keep fighting back to protect a woman’s
right to make her own decisions about her body and her future.”
“We are at a time when Americans’ reproductive freedoms are
under attack from extremist Republicans – which makes the Title X Family
Planning Program more important than ever,” said Senator Smith. “Title
X funding provides American women with access to critical reproductive
health services. I invite my Republican colleagues who claim to champion
family planning services to join us in supporting this commonsense
legislation that will protect women’s access to life-saving services and
birth control, pregnancy counseling, infertility services, and more.”
“The Title X program saves lives by making sure people have
access to affordable cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control, and
pregnancy tests,” said Senator Warren. “While the Trump administration
puts women’s health at risk, Democrats are fighting back.”
The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act is even more crucial as the Trump Administration recently froze millions
of dollars in already-appropriated Title X funding, impacting 16
organizations across several states. Planned Parenthood affiliates have
lost access to as much as $3 million annually — resources they rely on
to serve tens of thousands of patients each year. According to the
Guttmacher Institute, the freeze could impact access
to care for up to 1.25 million people, many of whom are low-income,
people of color, or live in medically underserved communities.
“In Kansas and across the country, people are being turned
away from the only places they can afford to get basic, lifesaving
reproductive care — all because the Trump Administration is playing
politics with their health,” said Representative Davids. “This
bill protects trusted providers and ensures access to cancer
screenings, birth control, and STI testing, no matter your income, where
you live, or how you vote.”
“The Trump Administration is denying women across Nevada and
the U.S. the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and their
families’ futures,” said Representative Titus. “By
fully funding family planning services, we can protect their rights to
access lifesaving preventive care, birth control, and other reproductive
health services at a time when these freedoms are under constant
attack.”
Specifically, The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act would:
Guarantee stable, annual funding for Title X
$512 million annually for 10 years, addressing the current funding shortfall and ensuring access to essential services.
$50 million in mandatory funding for clinic construction, renovations, and infrastructure improvements.
Protect providers like Planned Parenthoodfrom being excluded, as seen under the Trump Administration’s so-called “domestic gag rule.”
Reinstate regulations prohibiting discrimination against providers
who offer Title X services, ensuring continuity of care for patients.
Provide information related to prenatal care, delivery,
infant care, foster care, adoption, and pregnancy termination — unless a
patient opts out of receiving information on certain options.
Senator Murray has consistently fought to strengthen and preserve the Title X program, and was a vocal critic of
the first Trump Administration’s Title X gag rule and countless other
efforts to undermine reproductive health care. Early in 2019, Senator
Murray released a memo highlighting
some of the negative impacts of the rule and comments from patients,
providers, city and county officials, and religious organizations
submitted in opposition. Senator Murray is also a longtime leader in
the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and
abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight back
after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Murray has introducedmorethan a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; Murray has led efforts to push for passage of these bills on the floor multiple times. Murray also led her colleagues in
raising the alarm about the threat a second Trump administration poses
to reproductive rights and abortion access in every state, as outlined in Project 2025.
The full text of the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act is HERE.
