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Donald J. Trump White House 2nd Term Page 8
Story by Reanna Smith

Footage of Kamala Harris repeatedly warning that Donald Trump would impose a "sales tax" that would "devastate" Americans has resurfaced in the wake of the president's sweeping new tariffs announced on Wednesday.

Trump sent shockwaves around the world when he had a mental collapse in a 'Biden-esque senile moment' while following through with his tariff threats on his so-called "Liberation Day," imposing a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozens of nations - including a 34% tax on imports from China and 20% on the European Union. Stock markets have plummeted as global leaders say the tariffs are a “major blow to the world economy.”

Trump says the import taxes, ranging from 10% to 49%, would do to US trading partners what they have long done to the US as he maintained that they will draw factories and jobs back to America. But during her 2024 presidential campaign, Harris warned they would cost American families $4,000 a year.
Story by Ed Mazza

“Daily Show” correspondent Michael Kosta gave President Donald Trump a reminder of a key promise on tariffs made during the 2024 campaign.

Trump campaigned vigorously on tariffs, calling it “the most beautiful word” and insisting that Americans wouldn’t pay for them.

That changed after he became president.

In February, he admitted tariffs may cause “a little pain” for consumers. Last month, he said he “couldn’t care less” if tariffs raised the price of foreign cars. And his administration and allies have been saying for weeks that consumers should brace for higher prices.
By Mark John, Francesco Canepa and Leika Kihara

LONDON/TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - The latest round of U.S. trade tariffs unveiled on Wednesday will sap yet more vigour from a world economy barely recovered from the post-pandemic inflation surge, weighed down by record debt and unnerved by geopolitical strife.

Depending on how President Donald Trump and leaders of other nations proceed now, it may also go down as a turning point for a globalised system that until now had taken for granted the strength and reliability of America, its largest component.
Story by David Kurtz

Make America Gilded Again
President Trump’s determination to impersonate William McKinley and return America to the turn of the last century conveniently writes women and people of color out of public life and celebrates the extreme inequality of the robber baron era. But it also perversely papers over the dawn of an American imperialism that – as deeply flawed as it was – led ultimately to the creation of a global economic and security order that has been highly favorable to the United States.

The disastrous tariffs that Trump proudly unveiled in the Rose Garden take a sledgehammer to the tentpoles of a U.S.-centered trade and financial system that accrued often invisible benefits to American consumers, businesses, diplomats, and war fighters.

Make America Great Again somehow means in Trump’s mind returning to a time before America stood astride the world stage. His lack of awareness mirrors the country’s chronic obliviousness to how good we have had it in the post-WWII era. A key element of privilege is not recognizing it.

The damage will be so vast and foreseeable that it’s hard not to veer into wondering about Trump’s motives in unleashing this much destruction on his own country. But as with the simultaneous destruction of American science and medicine, research and development, and civic and governmental capacity, taking away things in order to extort more power, privilege, and baubles remains the best explanation for Trump’s rampage. There is no public good, only what is good for Trump.
by Don Wolfensberger, opinion contributor

Something about Washington loves a good scandal: big or small, true or false, verifiable or unreliable. Like rumors, scandals come in all shapes and sizes. Like rumors, most have some basis in fact, but then increasingly transmogrify by sprouting new appendages, all depending on who is telling the tale.

At the first scent of scandal, the media buzzards start circling and the political grackles start cackling. It’s an almost electric phenomenon that excites the city as rumors grow and take on new life.

This whole phenomenon surfaced again recently with, “Signalgate” after an internal executive branch national security conversation among principals over the commercial messaging app, Signal, came to light when a journalist was inadvertently included on the thread. The transcript included details on when airstrikes on Houthi militants in Yemen would occur, and what type of aircraft and munitions were being used.

The suffix “-gate” has often been appended to scandals ever since the Nixon-era Watergate scandal of the 1970s. (The Watergate was the name of the office complex housing Democratic headquarters where President Richard Nixon’s operatives, aka the “plumbers,” were planting listening devices.)

The foregoing light treatment of the term “scandal” is not meant to diminish the often serious nature of scandals that do occur. Rather it is intended to caution the curious to tread carefully in analyzing scandals.
Story by Kimberley Richards

Elon Musk is continuing to defend the work of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, recently claiming in an interview with Fox News that his initiative is “the most transparent organization in government ever.”

The billionaire SpaceX founder was slammed online after he made the stunning claim during a Tuesday appearance on “The Five” when host Jessica Tarlov pressed him about any conflicts of interest he may have in his role with DOGE and as a close adviser to President Donald Trump. Musk’s companies have received billions of dollars in federal government contracts over the years.

Both Trump and Musk have been strongly criticized by voters and elected officials for a lack of transparency in DOGE’s devastating methods for ostensibly reducing “waste, fraud and abuse” in government despite Musk — who was not elected to office by American voters — repeatedly insisting that DOGE has been transparent with its conduct.

DOGE has proposed major cuts in government, causing mass layoffs and the dismantling of federal agencies since Trump took office in January. And Trump and Musk have left many feeling uncertain about their futures with mixed messaging on the administration’s crusade against benefit programs like Social Security, which Musk has described as a “Ponzi scheme.” He’s also spewed several unfounded claims of widespread fraud within the agency.

Among the many uncertainties that have surrounded DOGE’s operations are questions about staffers and their qualifications, their access to sensitive data and even Musk’s official title within the initiative, to name a few.
Story by Travis Gettys

One of Elon Musk's DOGE team members gained access to highly sensitive data involving thousands of children, including their mental health and therapy records.

The Unaccompanied Alien Children portal (UAC) contains extremely detailed records about minors who enter the U.S. alone, and the database contains reports of trauma such as physical or sexual abuse, in addition to photos, immigration records and addresses of their family members, reported The Guardian.

“I certainly would be concerned about Doge access to the portal – why it was used, which child information was accessed and for what purpose? Were mental health records accessed?” said former heath and human services official Jen Smyers. “These are the most vulnerable children in their most vulnerable moments.”
Sarah K. Burris

President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay £626,000 in legal fees after a lawsuit he brought in England was thrown out of court, said The Guardian.

Trump sued Orbis Business Intelligence, a consulting firm founded by Christopher Steele, who penned an extensive memo that claimed Trump was conspiring with Russia to win the 2016 election. The dossier also alleged that as a result of those relationships in Russia, Trump was "compromised."

The dossier made waves after accusations — which Trump denies — that he participated in "perverted" sex acts.
Story by Victor Tangermann

Just before announcing a major escalation in his tariff war on Wednesday evening — followed by a major stock market wipeout the following morning — president Donald Trump freed up the sale of his Truth Social shares.

As the Financial Times reports, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) revealed that it was planning to sell more than 142 million shares in a late Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most notably, the shares listed in the document include Trump's 114-million-share stake, which is worth roughly $2.3 billion and held in a trust controlled by his son Donald Trump Jr. Other insiders, including a crypto exchange-traded fund, and 106,000 shares held by US attorney Pam Bondi were also included in the latest filing.

While the filing doesn't guarantee any future sale of shares, investors weren't exactly smitten with the optics. Shares plunged eight percent in light of the news, according to the FT, and are down over 45 percent this year amid Trump's escalating trade war.

The timing of the SEC filing is certainly suspect. Trump's "liberation day" tariff announcement on Wednesday triggered a major selloff, causing shares of multinational companies and stock futures to crater.

Trump also vowed in September that he wasn't planning to sell any of his TMTG shares, which caused their value to spike temporarily at the time.
Story by Matt Laslo

WASHINGTON — Fear, trepidation and loathing are now, seemingly, America’s top exports. Just ask Senate Republicans.

A day after President Donald Trump slapped a 10% tariff on most every U.S. import from the Rose Garden, some in the GOP are freaking out.

“I can't stand talking to more than one person,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) scolded a congressional reporter Thursday afternoon before answering Raw Story’s tariff question while waiting for a Capitol underground tram to arrive. “I would have expected more targeted tariffs to meet the needs of where countries are taking advantage of us, and perhaps a more modest approach in the amounts.”

The tariffs have some Senate Republicans publicly complaining. That’s new.

While a mere four Senate Republicans voted against Trump’s Canadian tariffs Wednesday eve, that measure was largely symbolic. On paper, at least.

In reality, there’s a crack in the facade. And some Senior Republicans — a number that will grow if the markets keep nose-diving and U.S. allies keep fuming — have had enough already and are vocally opposing Trump’s tariffs.
Story by Molly Olmstead

Amid the flurry of executive orders from the White House in early February, it was easy to miss one of the more seemingly random ones, titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa.” In the order, President Donald Trump chastised the South African government for its “hateful rhetoric” and “shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights” in “seiz[ing] ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.” The order declared an end to foreign aid to South Africa and a promise to “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”

Now, with reporting from the New York Times, we know that the government has made good on its promises. On Sunday, the Times reported that while virtually all other refugee resettlement programs have been shuttered, the administration has established a “Mission South Africa” program, with multiple teams working in Pretoria, South Africa, to help settle Afrikaners in the U.S.

For an administration that doesn’t typically express concern about refugees or matters of global human rights, this sounded like an odd fixation. But the Afrikaners—descendants of largely Dutch colonial settlers—have long been a white population with an odd amount of political relevance in the American far right. The perceived persecution of the Afrikaners, who controlled South Africa’s major institutions until the end of apartheid, circulated as a white supremacist meme for decades; in the Trump era, it has been rehabilitated as a legitimate political grievance.
Story by Adam Lynch

While Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Gen-Z-aged software programmers are firing federal employees (including veterans), a computer code appears to have been responsible for the laying off of 30 medical-related employees, including more than 10 laboratory leaders, at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). NINDS’ office of Human Resources scrambled to quickly re-hire the wrongly fired staff this week after a coding error mislabeled employees with incorrect position codes.

“NIH leadership has informed us that the individuals below should be contacted ASAP and told immediately return to work,” the HR email stated. Among reinstated employees are three senior scientists and staff in the Office of Research Training and Career Development, as well as people in the Office of the Scientific Director and facilities. One of the employees also included Richard Youle, who claimed a 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences after showing how clearing out damaged organelles discourages Parkinson’s disease.

“I am infuriated at the inefficiency of the time wasted by staff running around having to respond to these events, heartbroken for the emotional cost for hardworking, dedicated civil servants and scientific trainees just starting their careers,” an anonymous NINDS employee told The Transmitter.
Story by Morgan Music

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is defending President Donald Trump's tariff plan amid a stock market freefall, urging Americans to "trust Trump" to handle the economy despite his history of business bankruptcies.

"Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he's doing. He's been talking about it for 35 years," Lutnick said on CNN following the market's sharp decline. "Let him fix it. It's broken."

Lutnick's comments came as the S&P 500 plunged 4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 1,600 points, down 3.98%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.97% and the S&P 500 fell 4.84% in response to Trump's new tariff policies that investors fear will spark a global trade war.

Whether Trump's policies will "fix" the economy or further destabilize it remains to be seen—but critics aren't buying Lutnick's sales pitch. Social media users quickly mocked Lutnick's faith in Trump, pointing to the president's history of business failures.
Story by Alain Sherter

Stocks in the U.S. opened sharply lower on Friday, extending a slide from the previous trading session triggered by President Trump's announcement of sweeping new tariffs on U.S. imports earlier this week.

The S&P 500 fell 144 points, or 2.5%, to 5,252 as of 9:34 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1,006 points, or 2.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 3.1%.

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The indexes' free-fall Thursday was their biggest one-day drop since 2020, with more than $2 trillion in investor wealth erased from the S&P 500. The S&P 500 and Dow each sank more than 4% yesterday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged nearly 6%.

Drops of this magnitude aren't unheard of on Wall Street, but they're rare. Over the last 25 years, the S&P 500 has fallen 4% in a single day 38 times, according to Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for brokerage firm LPL Financial.
Story by Carl Gibson

Nearly all Republicans are lining up in support of President Donald Trump's newly announced tariffs on essentially all imported goods, despite the sharp downturn in financial markets. But journalists at the Washington Post have discovered that some of those same Republicans cheerleading the president's new import taxes were huge critics of the approach just a few years ago.

On Thursday, JM Rieger, who is a video journalist for the Post, tweeted a supercut of several high-profile Republicans in Congress that showed them criticizing tariffs as economic policy in years past, followed immediately by them heaping praise on Trump in the wake of Wednesday's sweeping new trade duties. Post journalists included quotes from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and James Lankford (R-Ark.) along with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas).

Expand article logo Continue reading

"For years, Republicans in Congress warned against tariffs," Rieger tweeted. "Now, those same Republicans are downplaying massive tariff increases from President Donald Trump."
Beijing imposes punitive 34% extra tariffs on all goods imported from US, exacerbating stock market sell-off
Heather Stewart and Amy Hawkins

China hits back hard at ‘bullying’ Trump tariffs as global recession fears grow

Beijing imposes punitive 34% extra tariffs on all goods imported from US, exacerbating stock market sell-off

China has hit back hard against Donald Trump’s “bullying” tariffs, raising fears that the escalating trade war could trigger a global recession and prompting fresh turmoil in financial markets.

Beijing retaliated on Friday with punitive 34% additional tariffs on all goods imported from the US – mirroring the US decision and exacerbating a sell-off on global stock markets.

Almost $5tn (£4tn) has been wiped off the value of global stock markets since Trump’s Rose Garden address on Wednesday evening, analysts calculated.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed more than 7% lower than Monday – its worst week’s trading since late February 2020, when anxiety about the Covid-19 pandemic was gripping the markets.

The dramatic escalation in trade hostilities between the world’s two largest economies magnified concerns among investors about the risks to global growth.
Story by Jennifer Bowers Bahney

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”?
Story by S.V. Date

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump skipped the return of the remains of four soldiers who died in a training exercise to Dover Air Force Base on Friday and instead spent millions of taxpayer dollars to attend a dinner for one of his business interests and to play golf.

The bodies of the four members of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division — Sgt. Jose Duenez Jr., 25, of Joliet, Illinois; Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, 25, of Glendale, California; Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan; and Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, of Dededo, Guam ― were returned to Delaware for their “dignified transfer” ceremony Friday morning. They died when their 70-ton armored M88 towing vehicle sank in a bog in Lithuania last week.

While the ceremony took place on the Air Force base tarmac, Trump was 900 miles south at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, across the Intracoastal Waterway from his Palm Beach country club.

A Trump administration official, on condition of anonymity, said that “the families requested no media at the transfer” and that the “White House is respecting their request for privacy today and has been working on correspondence to the families.”

However, presidents in the past have attended dignified transfers while their accompanying press pools have been held in a location away from the ceremony. The White House did not respond to a query about why that did not happen in this case.
Story by Debadrita Sur

President Donald Trump will skip the dignified transfer of the bodies of four American troops who tragically died during a military training exercise in Lithuania - with Pete Hegseth set to attend.

In a statement on Friday, ahead of the soldiers' return, Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek: "The Secretary of Defense will represent the Administration at the dignified transfer for the four brave U.S. service members who tragically died during a training exercise in Lithuania."

Instead, he is at his private club in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. He is scheduled to attend a candlelit dinner for MAGA Inc., an allied political organization, on Friday evening. He spent Thursday in Miami at a different one of his golf courses, where he attended a Saudi-funded tournament.
Story by Adam Lynch

A federal judge ruled today that the Trump administration, including U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, violated his court order to unfreeze Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief to at least 19 states. The judge says the administration appears to be making a “covert” effort to punish states who oppose Trump’s oppressive immigration practices.

The New Republic reports U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued an injunction in March on behalf of 23 states suing the White House after the administration moved to pause FEMA aid to states. The Obama era judge ruled the hold-up “fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government.”

The federal reluctance applies only to states with Democratic attorneys general, and McConnell found the Trump administration ignored his March court order, with at least 19 states submitting “undisputed evidence” they were not receiving FEMA funds appropriated by Congress. Hawaii reported that FEMA had yet to respond to its $6 million request and subsequent $500k reimbursement for climate-related wildfires. The state of Oregon, meanwhile, reported that FEMA had yet to respond to a request for $129.4 million in federal funds for wildfires, severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides.
Jenny Kleeman

Graphic artist Rebecca Burke was on the trip of a lifetime. But as she tried to leave the US she was stopped, interrogated and branded an illegal alien by ICE. Now back home, she tells others thinking of going to Trump’s America: don’t do it

Just before the graphic artist Rebecca Burke left Seattle to travel to Vancouver, Canada, on 26 February, she posted an image of a rough comic to Instagram. “One part of travelling that I love is seeing glimpses of other lives,” read the bubble in the first panel, above sketches of cosy homes: crossword puzzle books, house plants, a lit candle, a steaming kettle on a gas stove. Burke had seen plenty of glimpses of other lives over the six weeks she had been backpacking in the US. She had been travelling on her own, staying on homestays free of charge in exchange for doing household chores, drawing as she went. For Burke, 28, it was absolute freedom.

Within hours of posting that drawing, Burke got to see a much darker side of life in America, and far more than a glimpse. When she tried to cross into Canada, Canadian border officials told her that her living arrangements meant she should be travelling on a work visa, not a tourist one. They sent her back to the US, where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. She was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention centre, where she was locked up for 19 days – even though she had money to pay for a flight home, and was desperate to leave the US.
Story by Jon Shelton

West Texas has been gripped by a measles outbreak for the past several weeks and as a result of misinformation passed on by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., it now faces a second, related health problem: Vitamin A toxicity — or hypervitaminosis A — in infants and children.

The situation appears to be the direct result of bogus medical information pedaled by the vaccine-skeptic secretary himself.

Kennedy recently said that although the measles vaccine is the best defense against the highly contagious and potentially fatal infection, he emphasized that getting inoculated was a "personal choice."

Kennedy, whom President Donald Trump appointed to be the nation's top health advisor, suggested, "vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality," or even prevent measles infections.

Kennedy recently directed the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to update measles guidance to promote vitamin A use in fighting the infection.
By DAVE COLLINS

Opponents of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk rallied across the U.S. on Saturday to protest the administration’s actions on government downsizing, the economy, human rights and other issues.

More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” demonstrations were planned by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The protest sites included the National Mall in Washington, D.C., state capitols and other locations in all 50 states.

Protesters assailed the Trump administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut federal funding for health programs.

Musk, a Trump adviser who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in government downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

Speaking at the Washington protest, Paul Osadebe, a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a labor union steward, criticized Trump, Musk and others in the administration for not valuing the work federal employees do in creating “a baseline of economic security and power for working people.”
Story by Liam Archacki

President Donald Trump was blindsided by news that Elon Musk would be briefed on secret plans for a potential war with China at the Pentagon in March, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The paper reported on Friday that Trump was “unhappy” when he found out that Musk was set to get the briefing and “frustrated” that he hadn’t received advance notice, especially given Musk’s business interests in the region.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the Journal‘s report.

News of the planned briefing broke ahead of Musk’s meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, sparking outcry from the president’s critics, who pointed to Musk’s business in China as a major conflict of interest.

The reports altered what the two men wound up actually discussing. Despite still touching on China, the conversation didn’t include any classified information.

Although Trump publicly dismissed the report as “fake news” and claimed there was never any plan for Musk to be briefed on a China war plan, behind closed doors, he was upset that he had been caught off guard.
Story by Tom Boggioni

In a column published on Saturday, Washington Post political analyst Aaron Blake noted a description of Donald Trump by an anonymous White House official that he feels should have received more attention.

Describing it as scary, Blake noted it not only may have a bearing on Trump's attitude about the sweeping tariffs he is putting in place but also for what it says about how his second term could play out.

Specifically, he cited a report from the post that included the Trump, administration insider bluntly stating, "[Trump's]... at the peak of just not giving a f--k anymore. Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f--k. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”
CBS News

Opponents of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk rallied across the U.S. on Saturday to protest the administration's actions on government downsizing, the economy, human rights and other issues.

More than 1,200 "Hands Off!" demonstrations were planned by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The protests were taking place at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., state capitols and other locations in all 50 states.

What is the "Hands Off" movement?
Protesters are assailing the Trump administration's moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut federal funding for health programs.

Musk, a Trump adviser who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in government downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

Speaking at the Washington protest, Paul Osadebe, a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a labor union steward, criticized Trump, Musk and others in the administration for not valuing the work federal employees do in creating "a baseline of economic security and power for working people."
Story by Matthew Chapman
Raw Story

A federal judge in Rhode Island accused the Trump administration of "covertly" withholding funds for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief programs from states that didn't vote for him, Courthouse News reported on Friday.

"In March, U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued a preliminary injunction in favor of 23 states that sued the government over its plan to implement a broad pause to state aid," noted the report.

McConnell, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, "ruled that the plan 'fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,' and ordered the Trump administration to 'immediately end any funding pause' until further notice."

However, per the report, 19 states, all with Democratic attorneys general, provided "undisputed evidence" that the Trump administration has since then continued to withhold FEMA aid.

"Oregon claimed that more than $120 million in disaster relief assistance for winter storms, flooding, landslides, wildfires and flood mitigation remains frozen by FEMA. Hawaii said that the agency still hasn’t answered a roughly $6 million request for aid to rebuild after the 2023 wildfires in Maui," noted the report.
Story by Anders Anglesey

The mystery of how The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a top secret Trump administration group chat has been solved at last.

Donald Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz invited the journalist into the Signal group chat discussing strikes in Yemen after he mistakenly saved his number under the contact of another person he meant to include, it has been reported. The misstep, according to three sources, emerged following an internal investigation by the White House. Mr Trump is said to have considered firing Mr Waltz over the blunder, although he was more angry over the fact he had Mr Goldberg's number rather than revealing details about the strikes.

The Guardian reports Mr Waltz earned a reprieve after taking responsibility for the blunder. Mr Trump was said to not want to give The Atlantic the satisfaction of forcing out a member of his cabinet.
Story by Corbin Bolies

The Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) intrusion into the Social Security Administration (SSA) has sent staffers panicking.

“Until they get rid of DOGE and the person in office right now, and the Republicans actually get a backbone and stand up for something for once in their lives, things are just going to be complete chaos,” one worker told The Guardian. “That’s really the best word to describe SSA right now, just complete, utter chaos."

The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers benefits to nearly 69 million Americans a month, amounting to $1.6 trillion in benefits. DOGE architect Musk has claimed the entire agency amounted to a “Ponzi scheme.”

Staffers told The Guardian that DOGE’s plans to cut 7,000 jobs, close offices, and alter the SSA’s computer code could risk millions of beneficiaries not getting their benefits in time if it collapses.

“They couldn’t understand the coding, so everything they said SSA was doing illegally, they weren’t,” the source said. “They don’t know what they’re doing.”
By DAVE COLLINS

Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican’s first weeks in office.

So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.

Thousands of protesters in cities dotting the nation from Midtown Manhattan to Anchorage, Alaska, including at multiple state capitols, assailed Trump and billionaire Elon Musk ‘s actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights. On the West Coast, in the shadow of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, protesters held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.” Protesters chanted as they took to the streets in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, where they marched from Pershing Square to City Hall.

Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.
Story by Jason Lemon

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's remarks about Americans monitoring their retirement accounts sparked backlash on social media on Sunday after he suggested that people aren't monitoring "day-to-day fluctuations."

Newsweek reached out to the Treasury Department for comment on Sunday.

Why It Matters
President Donald Trump announced new tariffs last week on what he dubbed "Liberation Day, with the plan including a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports from countries and higher tariffs, up to more than 40 percent, on dozens of others. The stock market reacted negatively to the news, which directly impacts Americans' pensions and 401(k)s.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding more than 1,500 points on back-to-back days for the first time ever. The average plunged more than 2,200 points on Friday after dropping over 1,600 on Thursday.

What to Know
Bessent appeared for a Sunday morning interview with NBC News' Meet the Press hosted by Kristen Welker. In the interview, Welker pressed the Trump administration official over the economic fallout from tariffs and how that's impacting ordinary Americans hoping to retire.
Story by Jon Queally

Congressman Ro Khanna is raising the alarm over mass layoffs in the U.S. economy resulting from the failed economic policies of President Donald Trump, including over 4,000 factory workers who lost their jobs this week due to firings or plant closures.

On Thursday, automaker Stellantis, citing conditions created by Trump's tariffs, announced temporary layoffs for 900 workers, represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW). "The affected U.S. employees," reportedCNN, "work at five different Midwest plants: the Warren Stamping and Sterling Stamping plants in Michigan, as well as the Indiana Transmission Plant, Kokomo Transmission Plant and Kokomo Casting Plant, all in Kokomo, Indiana."

In a social media thread on Saturday night, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—a lawmaker who has advocating loudly, including in books and in Congress, for an industrialization policy that would bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States—posted a litany of other layoffs announced recently as part of the economic devastation and chaos unleashed by Trump as well as conditions that reveal how vulnerable U.S. workers remain.

"This week," Khann wrote, "19 factories had mass layoffs, 15 closed, and 4,134 factory workers across America lost their jobs. Cleveland-Cliffs laid off 1,200 workers in Michigan and Minnesota as they deal with the impact of Trump's tariffs on steel and auto imports."

"We need jobs and currently at this time, the majority of the companies that we work with and represent our members at are not hiring." —Mark DePaoli, UAW

For union leaders representing those workers at Cleveland-Cliffs, they said "chaos" was the operative word. "Chaos. You, know? A lot of questions. You've got a lot of people who worked there a long time that are potentially losing their job," Bill Wilhelm, a servicing representative and editor with UAW Local 600, told local ABC News affiliate WXYZ-Channel 7.
Story by Tom Boggioni

Retirees and other beneficiaries of funds distributed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) are having major problems accessing their online accounts since staffers from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have assumed control of the agency

According to a report from the Washington Post, access to accounts has been unavailable for hours extending into days after new software was installed, with a message popping up reading "Online Service Not Available" and ending there.

As the Post's Lisa Rein, Hannah Natanson and Elizabeth Dwoskin are reporting, "Even when the site is back online, many customers have not been able to sign in to their accounts — or have logged in only to find information missing. For others, access to the system has been slow, requiring repeated tries to get in."
Story by Joe DePaolo

Even as some of his most loyal defenders jump ship, there is at least one constituency President Donald Trump can count on for support — Russian state media.

According to a translation from Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis — who monitors Russian State media — the analysts on the show The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov went wild for the Trump tariffs.

Among those to praise him was political scientist Dmitry Kulikov, who lauded Trump for wanting “to break everything” and mused that “It looks like the end of the global system is coming, the global system that is about fifty years old.”

“The price of goods will certainly go up in the United States,” Kulikov predicted. “The old political and economic global system is practically dead.”

Host Vladimir Solovyov added, “Trump destroyed the trust” — and called for a statue to be built in his honor.
Opinion by Rex Huppke, USA TODAY

While Americans reeled from watching the economy tank and their retirement accounts get slap-chopped, President Donald Trump – lover of tariffs, destroyer of economies, liar above all – spent the weekend golfing in Florida and hobnobbing with wealthy pals.

He was gracious enough to take a break from the links Saturday to tell Americans, via social media, to “HANG TOUGH.”

Thanks, buddy. As we await whatever fresh hell Monday’s stock market brings and brace for the global response to the ludicrous tariffs you slapped on pretty much everyone, including some random penguins, we’ll do our best to hang tough, comforted by the fact that you and your assorted weirdo billionaires had a lovely weekend.

I hope the sound of the market crashing didn't hurt Trump's golf game
Look, the let-them-eat-cake vibe of Trump golfing while our economy burns – he even posted a video of himself playing on one of his own stupid golf courses – is enough to put satirists out of work.

And I’d almost be able to swallow the maddening absurdity of it all if Trump and his Republican barnacles would just straight up admit their galactic-level hypocrisy.
Story by Lindsey Toomer, Colorado Newsline

A sweeping executive order from President Donald Trump would overhaul the administration of U.S. elections and upend how they’re run in Colorado, but election experts in the state say the measure is unconstitutional, and it already faces several legal challenges.

The order, issued late last month, requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and vote, requires all ballots be counted on Election Day, and threatens federal funding for states that don’t comply, among other changes. On Thursday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit alongside other Democratic states challenging the order, saying it will cause imminent and irreparable harm to states and voters.

“This elections executive order is an overreach by the White House and it threatens to undermine Colorado’s well-established gold standard for free and fair elections,” Weiser said in a statement. “That’s why we are challenging this illegal action and protecting our freedom to vote.”

Voting rights advocates and the Democratic National Committee have filed separate lawsuits challenging the legality of Trump’s order too. Doug Spencer, a professor at the University of Colorado who specializes in election law, said legal challenges to the order “will prevail.” He said the executive order is similar to others Trump has issued in that it attempts to take actions that are beyond the president’s authority.

“Some of the executive orders I think raise some interesting questions or novel questions, and some of them are just blatantly wrong, like if you’re born here, you’re not a citizen. That’s just blatantly wrong,” Spencer said, referring to Trump’s attempt to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship. “That the president can dictate how states run their elections, even for federal offices, is just wrong. The Constitution has clear language: Congress has authority to do this, and Donald Trump is not Congress, so those lawsuits will be successful.”
Ben Berkowitz

President Trump on Sunday denied engineering a stock market sell-off, and likened the pain of re-ordering the global economy to taking medicine for an illness.

Why it matters: After plunging Thursday and Friday, global markets sank even further Sunday night, threatening one of the worst three-day routs in history.
Investors who spent all weekend hoping for some kind of policy reversal on tariffs realized that none was coming, and sold off across asset classes in earnest.

What they're saying: "I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, heading back to Washington, D.C.
He denied crashing markets on purpose, saying "no, that's not so," after he shared a video on his social media accounts that suggested he was intentionally bringing markets down.
Story by Brandi Buchman

The Pentagon’s inspector general, Steven Stebbins, said late last week that he will open an investigation into “Signalgate,” the portmanteau for the scandal created last month when a team of high-ranking Trump officials used the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss real-time war plans, in what amounted to a massive breach of security.

The investigation will focus on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s use of the app, rather than secure government channels, to discuss detailed information about a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen and whether doing so was in line with Department of Defense policy.

“Additionally, we will review compliance with classification and records retention requirements,” the announcement reads.

It’s the first indication of any kind of potential administration repercussions for the dozen or so Cabinet officials and surrogates who were involved in the chat. In fact, the messaging so far has been largely the opposite: The White House has attempted to paper over the severity of the bombshell revelation, even though President Donald Trump and his administration have long claimed to have no tolerance for anything that could jeopardize national security.

The scandal was revealed when Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published a March 24 article in which he said he had been added to a chat on the messaging app Signal that involved 18 high-ranking administration officials, including Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz. The group chat included details about an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen that has since been carried out, including times, types of aircraft, and targets. The Atlantic reported that the National Security Council authenticated the text chain.

Some of the messages were set to automatically delete one to four weeks after they were sent, a function that must be manually turned on by the creator of the chat, even though the Federal Records Act requires officials to preserve their communications.

It was an objectively stunning leak. But the White House raced to downplay the report.
Opinion by William C. Wertz, The Oklahoman

A dear friend called me in a frenzy.

My friend, we'll call her Sarah, is 99 years old and lives with her 75-year-old special needs son, John. She has no other family to help her but, thankfully, she has a network of neighbors, friends and former students who pitch in as best they can.

Sarah was in tears when she called, and I could barely understand her. I thought at first that she had hurt herself or that something had happened to her son. Instead, it was what she had heard on TV – that Social Security was going to be eliminated.

"What are we going to do?" she sobbed. "What will John and I do?"

I tried to reassure her that Social Security isn't going to be eliminated, that the government is only talking about making some changes – to make it more efficient.

"No one is going to eliminate Social Security. Too many people depend on it, like you," I said. Sarah and her son are among an estimated 800,000 Oklahomans who rely on Social Security. The AARP estimates that for 22% of Oklahomans, Social Security is their primary retirement income.
BuzzFeed

Well, Donald Trump recently placed tariffs on dozens of nations and US trading partners, putting a baseline of 10% tax on imported goods. Many nations, including Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and the EU will face higher tariffs, ranging from 20–49%. Notably, Russia is not on Trump's tariff list.

Though Trump believes imposing tariffs will "make America wealthy again," economists are warning that this tariff plan will accelerate inflation and hurt the United States economy. That said, discourse on social media indicates that people are bracing for a recession, comparing the potential downward trend of the economy to that of the 1929 Great Depression and the 2008 Great Recession.
By Jeremy Herb, Fredreka Schouten, Annie Grayer and Steve Contorno, CNN

CNN — President Donald Trump is using the power of the federal government to intimidate or neuter potential sources of opposition to him: The legal establishment, academia and prominent cultural institutions, the media, the judiciary, the Democratic Party, Congress and independent government oversight.

The unprecedented breadth of the actions Trump and his allies inside the government have taken against his perceived political and ideological opponents in his first two months back in office is stunning – both in the president’s willingness to test the limits of his powers and the extent to which his foes have struggled to respond or even bent to his will.

Through executive orders, his bully pulpit and lieutenants in charge of the Justice Department and other Cabinet agencies, Trump’s actions are paralyzing institutions that stand as pillars of America’s independent civic society.

Inside his administration, Trump has fired the inspectors general at more than a dozen federal agencies, as well as the head of the Office of Government Ethics.

The one source of sustained pushback to Trump’s actions is the federal judiciary, where judges have repeatedly halted or reversed Trump’s actions that they have ruled go beyond the legal limit. The judges who have stopped Trump have faced attacks from the president and his allies – with threats of impeachment or the elimination of courts that oppose him – and many of the injunctions being levied at the district court level may ultimately not survive a Supreme Court where Trump appointed one third of the justices in his first term.

Trump has boasted about his effectiveness so far. At the White House on Wednesday, he gleefully said that he’s been able to pressure law firms and colleges because the Biden administration’s failures after he lost in 2020 allowed him to return to power and “do things that we could have never done if it were traditional.”

“You see what we’re doing with the colleges, and they’re all bending and saying, ‘Sir thank you very much we appreciate it,’” Trump said.

“And nobody can believe it – including law firms that have been so horrible, law firms that nobody would believe and they’re just saying, “Where do I sign where do I sign?” he continued. “Nobody can believe it. And there’s more coming.”
Story by Krystina Alarcon Carroll

Democrats are investigating if Elon Musk' SpaceX is benefiting from his position at DOGE.

Axios exclusively reported Monday that Reps Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA) wrote to NASA's Chief Legal Officer, Iris Lan, about how NASA is ensuring Musk isn't exploiting the agency to enrich himself.

Democrats are investigating if Elon Musk' SpaceX is benefiting from his position at DOGE.
Sarah K. Burris

Former Justice Department prosecutor Liz Oyer appeared before a House and Senate "spotlight hearing" on Monday and spoke about the ways in which the department has operated under President Donald Trump's presidency.

The hearing isn't an official one, as the Republicans are in power in the House and Senate, and only they can call an official congressional hearing.

The lawmakers announced that they intended to focus on the attacks by President Trump and his allies against lawyers, law firms and the court, which includes bringing in some of the fired DOJ staffers.

In her opening statement, Oyer told the Democrats, "Perhaps the most personally upsetting part of the story is the lengths to which the leadership of the department has gone to prevent me from testifying here today."
Story by Alex Galbraith

President Donald Trump once again suggested that the United States should control Gaza after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Gaza is home to over 2.1 million people. The United Nations estimates nearly 7 in 10 of its buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Speaking to reporters, the president called the area "a great location that nobody wants to live in."

Trump floated removing all of the Palestinians from the area to create a "freedom zone," further suggesting that "plenty of countries" are willing to take in Palestinian refugees.

“If you take the people, the Palestinians, and move them around to different countries — and you have plenty of countries that will do that — and you really have a freedom zone," he said. "You call it the freedom zone, a free zone, a zone where people aren’t going to be killed every day,”
The court said nonprofits, labor unions challenging the move lacked standing.
By Devin Dwyer

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Trump administration can move forward with the termination of 16,000 probationary federal workers across six agencies and departments, rescinding a lower court order that they be reinstated as litigation challenging the layoffs continues.

In a brief, unsigned order, the court said the nine labor unions and nonprofit groups that had challenged the firings lacked standing in the matter. The groups' "allegations [of harm] are presently insufficient to support the organizations' standing," the order read.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated that they would have denied Trump's request.
Beijing accuses US of blackmail and adding a ‘mistake on top of a mistake’ as Wednesday deadline for latest levies looms
Helen Davidson in Taipei and agencies

China’s government says it will “fight to the end” if the US continues to escalate the trade war, after Donald Trump threatened huge additional tariffs in response to China’s retaliatory measures.

On Tuesday, China’s commerce ministry accused the US of “blackmail” and said the US president’s threats of additional 50% tariffs if Beijing did not reverse its own 34% reciprocal tariff were a “mistake on top of a mistake”.

It vowed to “resolutely take countermeasures”, adding: “China will fight to the end if the US side is bent on going down the wrong path.”

On Tuesday Asian markets appeared to improve slightly in early trading, a day after torrid day on the global markets that prompted the billionaire investor Bill Ackman, one of the US president’s backers in the 2024 race for the White House, to call for a moratorium.
Story by Mike Lillis

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday accused President Trump of intentionally crashing the economy to benefit the GOP’s wealthy donors and other well-heeled interests.

The Democratic leader said Trump’s tariffs, which prompted a stock market sell-off and fears of a global recession, have been applied so haphazardly — and done such immediate harm — that no other plausible explanation fits.

“The Trump tariffs, which are a tax on the American people, are so reckless, so un-strategic, so lacking in any sophistication that the only conclusion that one can draw is that Donald Trump and the Republicans are intentionally tanking the economy,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol.

“Is it because, as Donald Trump has indicated, that during tough economic times the rich get richer, and it’s a buying opportunity?” he added. “Those are Trump’s words.”

Trump has long accused America’s trading partners of cheating U.S. businesses with lopsided trading arrangements, and he has long viewed tariffs as the most powerful tool for leveling those imbalances.

Tariffs run counter to decades of Republican support for free trade, and many in the party have tried to dissuade the president from applying them aggressively in his second term — to no avail.
By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

CNN — President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.

China was already set to see tariffs increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on US goods by noon Tuesday, adding an additional 84% in duties.

Earlier Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it “firmly opposes” the additional 50% tariffs on Chinese imports, calling it “a mistake upon a mistake.” The ministry vowed to escalate its retaliation on US exports.

US stocks, which soared Tuesday morning, began moving lower off Leavitt’s comments. By 3 p.m. ET the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all in negative territory.
Story by Sara Boboltz

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that President Donald Trump is exploring legal pathways to “deport” U.S. citizens to El Salvador, where the administration has already arranged to house deported immigrants in a prison known for its human rights abuses.

Leavitt suggested the effort would be limited to people who have committed major crimes, but Trump has also mentioned the possibility of sending people who commit lesser offenses abroad.

Any such move on the part of the Trump administration is certain to be challenged in court. It is also not clear what legal authority could be used to justify expelling U.S. citizens from their homeland.

“These would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly. These are violent, repeat offenders on American streets,” Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing.

“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that. He’s not sure, [and] we are not sure if there is,” Leavitt continued. “It’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly in the effort of transparency.”

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he “love[s]” the idea of removing U.S. citizens, adding that it would be an “honor” to send them to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — an eager partner in Trump’s schemes.
Story by HUIZHONG WU

BANGKOK (AP) — China again vowed to “fight to the end" Wednesday in an escalating trade war with the U.S. as it announced it would raise tariffs on American goods to 84% from Thursday.

Beijing also added an array of countermeasures after U.S. President Donald Trump raised the total tariff on imports from China to 104%. Beijing said it was launching an additional suit against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization and placed further restrictions on American companies' trade with Chinese companies.

“If the U.S. insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end,” the Ministry of Commerce wrote in a statement introducing its white paper on trade with the U.S.

The government declined to say whether it would negotiate with the White House, as many other countries have started doing.

On Friday, China announced a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the U.S, export controls on rare earths minerals, and a slew of other measures in response to Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs. Trump then added an additional 50% tariff on goods from China, saying negotiations with them were terminated.
Brussels is now set to strike back against U.S. president’s steel and aluminum measures.
By Koen Verhelst and Camille Gijs

BRUSSELS — The EU can apply retaliatory tariffs on around €22 billion of U.S. products like soybeans, motorcycles and orange juice after the bloc’s 27 countries assented to the measures on Wednesday, the European Commission announced.

"The EU considers U.S. tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy. The EU has stated its clear preference to find negotiated outcomes with the U.S., which would be balanced and mutually beneficial," the EU executive said in a statement.

Hitting back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, the European Union’s countermeasures will apply in three rounds. After some go into force next week, others will apply from mid-May and the final round follows in December.
Story by Holly Patrick

Donald Trump mocked world leaders claiming that they are begging him to negotiate on his wide-ranging global tariffs.

During a speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner in Washington, DC, the president claimed countries are “calling us up, kissing my a**” to negotiate.
Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerard Baker writes that President Trump is trashing the country's reputation.
President Donald Trump repeated the names of members of Congress several times during a coal event at the White House yesterday before saying 'whoops' and quickly moving on.
President boasts at National Republican Congressional Committee dinner: ‘I know what I’m doing’
David Smith in Washington

Donald Trump has insisted “I know what the hell I’m doing” by imposing sweeping tariffs and bragged that world leaders are “kissing my ass” as they try to negotiate trade deals.

The US president was speaking to political donors at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner in Washington on Tuesday night.

His rambling 90-minute address came just hours before his latest tariffs – including a 104% levy on China – went into effect. But he gave no hint of backing down from a policy that has sent markets into meltdown and triggered a global trade war.

“I know what the hell I’m doing,” the president said. “I know what I’m doing. And you know what I’m doing too. That’s why you vote for me.”

The administration has given conflicting signals over whether the tariffs are open to negotiation. Trump claimed: “I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass. They are. They are dying to make a deal.”

Mocking the pleas of foreign leaders, he parodied: “Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir!”
Richard Partington
Senior economics correspondent

US president may have used some hypothetical maths but chances are slim that such sums are being raised.

Donald Trump has defended his tariffs by arguing that they are already raking in almost $2bn (£1.6bn) a day for the US.

Speaking after more than $5tn of losses on the US stock market since his “liberation day” announcement last week, he made the claim on Tuesday, adding: “America is going to be very rich again, very soon.”

Trump did not give any evidence for his $2bn claim, which is tough to substantiate and raises big questions about how his tariff plans are supposed to fit with his broader economic and fiscal policy.

As seismic as his tariff plans are, it is highly unlikely that $2bn a day is being raised, or ever could be.

First, there is a timing point. Trump’s 10% baseline tariff came into effect on 5 April, while additional rates for some countries – including a 104% charge on Chinese imports – came in from 00.01 EST on Wednesday. Some extra revenues are therefore likely.
Why Is Russia Excluded From Tariffs?

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Story by Alana Loftus

Trump signed an executive order this afternoon, directing the Department Of Justice to investigate two former White House employees, one of whom admitted to being part of the "resistance" inside Trump's first administration.

Miles Taylor, an intelligence expert, was an appointee who served in the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019, under the Trump administration. Taylor also served as chief of staff of the DHS. In 2018, he penned an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times, titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration." It comes after Trump suffered a mental collapse after a 'senile' moment on stage in the middle of a speech

Today, Trump revoked security clearance for Taylor, as well as ordering the DOJ to investigate him, saying: “It's time to find out whether or not somebody can do that. I think he's guilty of treason."
Story by Hafiz Rashid

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency fired car safety experts in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that directly regulated Tesla.

The Financial Times reports that DOGE fired 30 employees from the agency back in February, including several from the office of vehicle automation safety, which is in charge of regulating self-driving vehicles, a key part of Musk’s car company.

The layoffs made up 4 percent of the agency’s 800-person staff, including employees who were due for promotions and workers that had just been hired. The automation safety staff were disproportionately affected because the office had only been formed in 2023 and was predominately made up of probationary hires.
His directive to the Justice Department to investigate Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, whose only crimes were telling the truth, is a frontal assault on the rule of law.
Thom Hartmann

The highest form of freedom in a democracy isn’t just the right to vote or protest—it’s the right to speak truth to power. To call out corruption. To challenge lies. To stand firm when the powerful demand silence. This is the freedom that sustains all others.

And it’s the one Donald Trump tried to crush Wednesday with the stroke of a pen.

When he signed an Executive Order (EO) directing the Justice Department to investigate Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor—two public servants whose only crime was telling the truth—Trump didn’t just abuse his office. He weaponized the government against honesty itself.

This wasn’t law enforcement: It was political vengeance. This wasn’t democracy: It was a warning shot from the edge of autocracy. And if we let this slide—if we treat it as just another Trump headline—we are inviting the next strongman to do the same, only worse.

The freedom to speak truth to power is either sacred, or it’s gone.
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