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Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Trump Slump? Trumpsession

Let's start with this from MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

How was your day? Probably better than Wall Street's day. AP reports, "Wall Street’s sell-off is worsening Monday as worries about the economy and President Donald Trump’s tariffs send U.S. stocks further from their record set just last month. The S&P 500 was down 1.9% in morning trading, coming off its worst week since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 369 points, or 0.9%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 3% lower." Chump, the bet that never pays off.

Donald Trump was handed the best economy on the planet. Now I’m watching my retirement account plummet… and I know I’m not alone.
— 💙❤️💙Mia💙❤️💙 (@mommamia.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM

Eggs are $8, the economy is in the tank, and Donald Trump is golfing.
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 11:01 AM

Donald Trump once again acknowledged that his foolish trade wars will disrupt the economy, potentially causing a recession.

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— rollingstone.com (@rollingstone.com) March 9, 2025 at 11:10 AM

While costs skyrocket, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are robbing families to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. We need to stay laser focused on the administration’s reckless mismanagement of the economy.
— Sen. Adam Schiff (@schiff.senate.gov) March 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM

Donald Trump, who ran on the economy, refuses to rule out a recession in 2025. The senseless trade wars and tariffs of Donald Trump represent presidential self-sabotage of the US economy.

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— Ritchie Torres (@ritchietorres.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 8:06 PM

One further thought after today’s Substack post: on tariffs, Trump has been *more* extreme than his campaign, despite urgent warnings from business. Any reason to believe he won’t go all-in on mass deportations? paulkrugman.substack.com/p/america-is...

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— Paul Krugman (@pkrugman.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 7:36 AM

Over the weekend, Trump refused to rule out a recession this year, telling Fox News there will be a “period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big." It seems even he knows his policies are cratering the economy.

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— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM

Here's C.I.'s "The snapshot:"

Monday, March 10, 2025. Marco Rubio is the talk of social media, Donald Chump's math doesn't add up, a non-US citizen is being deported, and much more.

Let's start with news on a crackdown on foreigners in the US. AP reports:

Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University's protests against Israel, a significant escalation in the Trump administration's pledge to detain and deport student activists.

Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.

That would make me cry -- were it not for the fact that this is a group who worked overtime to defeat Kamala Harris and put Donald Chump back in the White House.

Did you not here him about immigrants?

Did you not pay attention?

Well now you're suffering the costs and you always planned to go home. Meanwhile, Latino immigrants and those suspected of being a Latino immigrant, are being rounded up -- because of you. That is on you. You made those choices.

The second thing I'd say is, I want the university to justify housing him.

His attendance ended with the winter semester. Why the hell was the university, in March, providing him with an apartment?

I don't see any qualifiers or exceptions in this posting from the university and if he was here on a student visa, frankly, he should be home if he's not taking classes. Oh, wait! He's a permanent resident with a green card! I'd love to know who the hell approved that. Regardless, he certainly shouldn't be allowed to take up university housing when actual students could be staying there.

He came over here and he stirred up trouble and unrest as a student. Some idiot gave him a green card. Now he's being deported. Maybe next time, don't come into a host country and try to attack it verbally. Go somewhere else. You don't have to go home but you've got to get the hell up out of here.

Again, I have real sympathy for the immigrants being deported -- even those with family members stupid enough to vote for Donald Chump.

Some foreign activist? Don't care. Your work and actions and speech put Chump in the White House. You should consider your deportation to be your reward for screwing over this country.

We have to fight right now to save our democracy. That's on you. I didn't ask you to come here, I didn't welcome you here. You worked to defeat Kamala and you were successful. Defeating Kamala meant electing Chump. So you worked for his campaign and now you're being kicked out of the country.

No tears are welling up in my eyes over you.

[ADDED 1:25 PM EST, the man being deported may not be Palestinian. He was apparently born in Syria. That doesn't mean that he doesn't have a Palestinian parent or parents but it may mean that "Palestinian activist" does not mean from Palestine -- i.e. "The Syrian who was an activist for the Palestinian cause.]

Green cards are not citizenship. They can be granted and they can be revoked. More than likely, if forced to justify the deportation, the government can find something fraudulent on the application -- that's all it really takes to revoke a green card. And it's never the difficult to find fraud on a green card application. In fact, really all the government has to with a green card is allege fraud -- the courts have tended to side with government allegations and the burden of proof fell on the applicant.

There are many people I cry for.

I'm not crying for him. This is the America that you, as a foreigner on our soil, helped create. Deal with it. Own your actions. Grow the hell up and go the hell home.

You can be sure that all the ones who attacked Kamala on YOUTUBE will be whining over the next few days over this non-event. When what they should be doing is feeling sorry for whomever attended the university this semester and didn't have housing because Columbia was letting a non-student take up a university apartment.

AP also notes, "In a message shared on X Sunday evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration 'will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported'." Two things on that.

First, idiots. DSAer Phyllis Bennis has acted for decades like Hamas was wonderful. It's not. Ava and I have called her out repeatedly at THIRD for her glorification of a terrorist organization.

That's why we didn't fall into that trap that a lot of others did. We defended Palestinian civilians. We did not glorify or applaud Hamas. Some of you did. You might want to consider pulling some of your videos down off YOUTUBE. The US didn't start defining Hamas as a terrorist organization on January 20th. That's a long term designation.

From October 2023 through July 2024, we covered the genocide daily. We did so without ever glorifying Hamas or pretending that they were a peace organization. Some of you can't say the same. And the wide berth that we (Democrats) give to free speech isn't going to be granted by the Republican Party. I'd think very seriously about examining the videos you posted and disappearing some of them because some of you were not doing commentary or news, you were advocating on behalf of a terrorist organization.

I noted that in real time over and over. I explained I did get questioned about the MEK. I noted that the government already had the only communication: The MEK wrote me attempting to influence my coverage. I did not reply in private, I replied at this site noting we would have no private conversations. My argument on behalf of the MEK was a legal argument about how the US government got them to get rid of their arms and that it was now the US government's obligation to attempt to get the MEK out of Iraq.

And when the MEK didn't like this option or that option? I pointed out that the government all they promised and if the MEK didn't want to go to another country (not Iran, their home country) then that was on the MEK. The US fulfilled their legal obligation. The MEK that then remained in Iraq were owed nothing from the US government.

Some of you would benefit from studying the law.

The second thing on that -- social media? Marco Rubio?

Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck (CNN) report:

A top acting State Department official deleted at least half a dozen tweets that ridiculed his now boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, including ones calling him “low IQ” and repeating a false rumor about Rubio’s sexuality.

The deleted tweets from Darren Beattie, the acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy, were uncovered as part of a CNN review of his social media and include a mixture of insults and harsh attacks against Rubio.

Beattie, who was fired from his role as a speechwriter during the first Trump administration after CNN’s KFile revealed he attended a conference featuring White nationalists, made a series of attacks over the years against other Republicans, including a number of offensive, homophobic and racist comments.

Though Beattie left up several of his most inflammatory posts, he does appear to have purged criticism of Rubio from his feed. Beattie deleted tweets suggesting a deep hostility toward Rubio — particularly after the then-senator voted to certify the 2020 election results and condemned the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. One deleted tweet also attacked Rubio for criticizing possible Russian actions in Ukraine.

After being ousted from the Trump White House in 2018, Beattie launched Revolver News, a far-right media outlet that has spread conspiracies regarding the January 6 attack. The website has boosted false claims that federal agencies orchestrated aspects of the attack and that extremist groups involved were under government control.

In a tweet that was removed for violating Twitter’s terms of service, on the day Roe v. Wade was overturned, Revolver News posted about shooting women who get abortions.

“BREAKING: It’s now legal to shoot women having abortions in New York City with your Supreme Court-issued concealed handgun,” read the post.

Beattie’s appointment fueled outrage, with Democrats calling for his removal over his history of racist and misogynistic tweets and posts that denied the Uyghur genocide in China — most of which are still on his public X account.

The economy's tanking. While We The People are bothered by that, Convicted Felon Donald Chump doesn't care. Jonathan Allen (NBC NEWS) notes, "In a recent CBS poll, 80% of respondents said addressing inflation should be a top priority -- while just 29% said they believed Trump was prioritizing the issue 'a lot'."

If we're going to cut out waste and fraud in the US government, let's start with Donald Chump and the way he wastes our money. He wasted money during his first term as well. In fact, on the deficit, let's note this breakdown that Michael Tomasky provides at THE NEW REPUBLIC:

Jimmy Carter added $25 billion to the deficit.
• Ronald Reagan added $74 billion. That seemed bad at the time; just you wait.
• George H.W. Bush added $102 billion.
• Bill Clinton reduced the deficit by $383 billion, leaving the budget in surplus when he left office.
• George W. Bush added $1.54 trillion to the deficit.
• Barack Obama got the deficit down to $585 billion; that is, he reduced it by $825 billion.
• Donald Trump added $2.1 trillion to the deficit.
• Joe Biden reduced the deficit by about $942 billion.

$2.1 trillion. Pretty sure that Chump's going to leave us much higher in debt by the end of this term.

In an analysis at The Center for American Progress, Madeline Shepherd and Jerry Parshall explain:

The Trump administration appears to be sending the U.S. economy into a period of slower growth and higher inflation. In the past few weeks, the administration enacted steep tariffs on a wide range of imports from America’s top trading partners and threatened more; has laid off tens of thousands of federal government workers; and has frozen payments already appropriated by Congress for farms, Head Start facilities, economic development programs, and more.

The administration’s sudden moves have raised uncertainty about what will happen next. What programs will they cut—and by how much? What regulations will the administration enforce or roll back? Will critical government services that help everyday Americans cease to function? The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index—maintained by researchers at Stanford, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University—was 161.9 percent higher in February 2025 than a year earlier. Massive uncertainty makes it harder for households and businesses to plan, invest, and spend. Put differently, even President Donald Trump’s threats to further undermine Americans’ economic security can hurt both economic growth and the stock market.

Over Trump’s first two months in office, some aspects of the economic outlook for typical Americans have become clearer, even as policy uncertainty escalates. At the urging of President Trump, Congress approved plans to make deep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs to fund tax giveaways for wealthy households. And, over the past few weeks—amid the chaos of federal funding freezes and layoffs—the stock market has become more volatile, directly impacting the savings of millions of American households.

While some of the Trump administration’s policies have yet to go into effect or fully take hold, below are four areas to watch carefully over the coming months.

Tariffs are pushing prices up

Consumers’ inflation expectations are trending up, as revealed by February data from the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers. Trump’s calls for higher tariffs and mass deportation of immigrants created early inflationary pressures. In anticipation of the Trump administration’s actions, firms built up inventory of imported items and consumers accelerated discretionary purchases, such as home renovations and new or used cars.

The Trump administration’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada are expected to put upward pressure on prices and sticky inflation. The 25 percent taxes on goods coming from the United States’ biggest trade partners will raise costs for American businesses and households. Production costs will rise as firms pay more for energy, agricultural products, and intermediate goods such as car parts.

American consumers pay for higher tariffs—not foreign countries, as Trump has claimed. Indeed, the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee—which makes interest rate decisions—observed in January that “firms would attempt to pass on to consumers higher input costs arising from potential tariffs.” Some major retail chains have already said they are poised to hike prices, passing on all or some of these higher costs to American consumers.

When he should be at the White House doing actual work, he's instead on yet another golfing vacation. Oliver O'Connell (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Less than two months after returning to the White House, Donald Trump has reportedly played golf on 13 of the 48 days he has been back in office — and the cost of those trips to Florida has been mounting.

On the same day his prized Scottish golf resort, Turnberry, was vandalized by pro-Palestinian activists in response to his “genocidal rhetoric” regarding the future of Gaza, the president was back on the course near Mar-a-Lago.

The White House pool report on Saturday (March 8) had him arrive at the Trump International West Palm Beach just after 8:15 a.m. after a short drive from his “Winter White House” just across the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach proper.

According to an analysis by HuffPost, this is his 10th trip to the club, adjacent to Palm Beach International Airport, since his inauguration on January 20th. He has also golfed three times at Trump Doral, just east of Miami International Airport.

The outlet claims, citing costs from a 2019 Government Accountability Office report, that the president’s apparent insistence on spending his weekends (six out of seven so far) in Florida has now cost American taxpayers in excess of $18 million.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Warren: “Congressional Republicans want to use ‘magic math’ to pass giant tax cuts, and then try to tell the American people those tax cuts cost nothing.”

Video of Exchange (YouTube)

Washington, D.C. – At a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dr. Michael Faulkender, President Trump’s nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, on Republicans’ “magic math” for their plans to cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy. Republican leaders are increasingly supportive of using a “current policy baseline” for their tax package to hide the true cost of their proposed $4.6 trillion tax package.

Congress’ independent scorekeepers have historically scored legislation using a “current law baseline,” which assumes that temporary tax cuts will expire and that extending those tax cuts will cost money. A current policy baseline, on the other hand, assumes that temporary tax cuts will not expire and that extending those tax cuts will cost $0. When pressed by Senator Warren on whether this gimmick actually produces additional revenue, Dr. Faulkender admitted, "I can't imagine that it would.”

Last month, Senator Warren sent a letter to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), which provides Members of Congress with revenue estimates for tax legislation. She pressed for answers on whether JCT has ever used a “current policy baseline” for official scoring purposes on the Senate floor, among other questions, to set the record straight on Republicans’ “magic math."

Ahead of his nomination hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren also sent a 32-page letter to Dr. Faulkender, pressing him to explain his views on his potential Treasury responsibilities.

Transcript: Hearing to examine the nomination of Michael Faulkender, of Maryland, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
Senate Finance Committee
March 6, 2025

Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. So, President Trump had exactly one big legislative accomplishment in his first term: a giant tax cut for millionaires, billionaires, and massive corporations. In fact, it was so giant that a big hunk of it lasted only eight years and still cost $2 trillion. Now, the eight years are up, so Republicans want to do another tax cut for the ultra-wealthy, which Congress’ non-partisan budget scorers say is going to cost $4.6 trillion this time. Now, Congressional Republicans say they care about the deficit, so they have a plan to fix things up: repeal math. Here's their story: because they already had eight years of tax cuts that ran up the debt, Congressional Republicans claim that 10 more years of tax cuts will be free. They named this gimmick the ‘current policy baseline.’ They should have named it “magic math.” It is so nuts that when we need to figure out the cost of tax cuts, the Senate has never, never switched to it over using real math.

Now, Dr. Faulkender, if confirmed, you will play a role in whatever tax deal the Republicans put together. So let's talk about math,“magic math” and real math. Dr. Faulkender, does renaming tax cuts produce any additional revenue?

Michael Faulkender, Deputy Secretary-Designate, U.S. Department of the Treasury: Does renaming them–

Senator Warren: Yes, calling them something different. Does that produce any additional revenue?

Dr. Faulkender: I don't think renaming something changes—if it changes behavior, it has the potential to change revenues.

Senator Warren: Wait, so, are you saying renaming tax cuts produces additional revenue? Just renaming it?

Dr. Faulkender: I can't imagine that it would, unless it causes people to behave differently.

Senator Warren: Okay, I'll take that as no. Fair enough? Claiming that somehow losing $4.6 trillion in tax revenues is free is just plain nuts. Congressional Republicans are hoping they can fool people long enough to deliver giveaways to their wealthy donors before anyone figures it out. But at the end of the day, Republicans cannot repeal math. A bunch of tax cuts for billionaires will cost $4.6 trillion.

But congressional Republicans don't like that answer. So, I'm wondering, if they love magic math so much, I want to ask the same question in reverse. If the Republicans’ idea of magically not counting the cost of tax cuts for billionaires makes sense, what about not counting the cost of tax cuts for ordinary people? That is, for extending the Child Tax Credit?

Dr. Faulkender, according to Republicans’ magic math, if extending the tax cuts is free, shouldn't extending a temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit also be free?

Dr. Faulkender: Thank you, Senator. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increased the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000, and so if we allow that tax cut to expire, it would mean that the child tax credit would go back to the $1,000.

Senator Warren: Right. So, the question I'm asking is, using Republican “magic math,” if it is free to extend tax cuts for billionaires, isn't it also free to extend tax cuts for poor kids?

Dr. Faulkender: Senator, I'm not familiar with magic math, but what I do know is that the American people look at the current tax code, what they paid last year and what they paid this year as the current environment. So, the question is, when we talk about extending it, I would argue that extending the TCJA is making sure that the American people don't incur a $4.5 trillion tax increase.

Senator Warren: So, you do think that renaming the tax cuts will produce $4.5 trillion in revenue?

Dr. Faulkender: No, Senator, I didn't say that it had any impact on the bottom line deficit. I'm just saying when you ask me what a baseline is, to me, the baseline is what I'm currently doing.

Senator Warren: I’m not asking you that. I'm asking you what it costs to put in $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. Look, if Republican “magic math” works, then why not extend it to everything we spend money on? How about the money we spent last year on roads and bridges or child care subsidies and the workers who process Social Security checks? Of course not. No one is going to do that.

Congressional Republicans want to use “magic math” to pass giant tax cuts, and then try to tell the American people those tax cuts cost nothing. Hard-working Americans understand that $4.6 trillion for a billionaire tax cut is not free. Congressional Republicans are trying to sell magic math so they can help billionaires, and fortunately, the American people are just not buying that.

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The following sites updated:

Sunday, March 09, 2025

Idiot of the Week

First up, MEDIATOUCH NEWS.

In other news, Aliss Highman (NEWSWEEK) reports:

Florida Senator Rick Scott has said Republicans are going to cut Social Security and other government programs.

[. . .]

Social Security benefits are paid to more than 70 million Americans on a monthly basis, and help form the bedrock of income for retirees, survivors of deceased claimants and disabled people.

[. . .]

Sometimes referred to as the "third rail"—an untouchable element public policy—Social Security payments are relied on by tens of millions of Americans. No previous president or presidential candidate has made or promised cuts to benefits.

What's more, a January AP-NORC poll found that two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. government is actually spending "too little" on Social Security.

No, they do not HAVE to cut Social Security. They want to and they've wanted to for decades. But as stupid as Rick Scott and his space alien neck and head are, he's not Idiot of the Week and that's because Americans are about to give Rick a lesson he will not soon forget. He's stupid now but wait till the people get ahold of him.

And that's good because I don't want Susan Benjamin to be overlooked.

POST-LEFT WATCH noted this:

For fucks sake Trump wants to go to war with Mexico and make Canada the 51st state.

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— Post-Left Watch (@postleftwatch.bsky.social) March 5, 2025 at 1:02 AM

Susan goes by Medea for her stage name. It's really time for those of us on the left to make clear to nutty Susan that she's not needed, she's not wanted. She's already cozied up to Neo Nazis an the Proud Boys so her latest garbage? We should explain to her that her stupidity hurts us all and encourage to scurry on over to the Republican Party where she belongs.

Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Friday, March 7, 2025. Chump gets push back from the markets, JD Vance insults our ally, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivers in a hearing, DSA continues to attack the Democratic Party, and much more.

When this site started, we covered Iraq every day. We have moved on but we will cover Iraq as needed. When we covered Iraq, we covered the stories that needed to be amplified. Which meant we called out the NYT reporting on Falluja that was shoddy and incorrect. And we called it out in real time and raised questions about it. It would go on to win a Pulitzer but for those who know about Iraq -- and the use of White phosphorus -- it remains one of the most controversial bits of 'reporting' that THE TIMES ever published from Iraq. The Pulitzer should have been returned and that 'reporting' remains a nightmare though many try to avoid criticizing it because the writer is 'on our side.' I'm sorry, when you are 'reporting' on the killing of teenage males and you're letting the US military vet your copy, you're not on my side. We also covered the deaths especially when families were lied to and/or insulted. 'Brave' Australians like Luke and Caitlin are always a laugh to me because the words "Jake Kovco" were never typed by them. He's an Australian who died in Iraq. There was an inquiry into his death. The government failed him and failed his family. But, hey, Luke and Caitlin and you other cowards, keep calling out the US government and pretend that makes you brave while you stay silent about your own government.

I bring this up because someone will whine -- and they probably still will -- that I'm pulling in the next story for no real reason. You can say that but, again, we covered Iraq here daily and did so for almost 20 years. This next topic is something we would have covered then and we'll cover it now. Simon Thake (BBC NEWS) reports:

A Sheffield man whose son was killed in Iraq has condemned "glib" and "offensive" comments about overseas troops by US vice-president JD Vance.

Vance said an American stake in Ukraine's economy was a "better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years".

The comments were criticised by UK opposition politicians, who accused Vance of disrespecting British forces.

Bill Stewardson, whose son Kingsman Alex Green, 21, died in Basra in 2007, said Vance's comments "lacked common decency" and called on him to resign.

Mr Stewardson said Vance "epitomises everything that a statesman and a leader should not be".

He's created an international incident.

Grasp that.

Vice presidents do not normally do that.

And he's got no character. I get it, Miss Sassy was the Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger in Iraq. He didn't fight. He tries to act tough but he was just typing away in Iraq. While others were required to show courage.

And now he makes statements that insult our ally. If he had any decency or self-respect, he would say, "My goodness, I am so sorry that my words sounded that way. It was not my intent an, as a fellow Iraq War veteran, I certainly appreciate everyone who served there so I would like to say to Alex Green's family that I am sorry and wish I had used better and more precise wording."

He can't do that. He can spark an international incident but he's not mature enough and lacks the character required to say what is now needed.

As the US grows more hated and isolated thanks to Chump and Miss Sassy, Diane Brady (FORTUNE) reports:

Automakers got a one-month exemption yesterday from the 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico—a glimmer of hope that sparked a Wall Street rally. But Target CEO Brian Cornell and other U.S. retailers say they could raise prices on fresh-food imports within days. Canada and China have already announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, with Mexico promising to announce its plan by Sunday. Stock markets may reverse course and rally if investors cling to the hope that the global trade war will be no more than a “little disturbance,” as President Trump promised in his speech to Congress. Or not.

For CEOs, what’s next is the stuff of existential debate. Who knows what will happen in the coming days? But here are some takeaways from the trade war so far:

The damage is real – If current tariffs remain in place for three months, RBC estimates that the U.S. economy will see zero growth this year. Goodbye Trump bump. Hello, planning for a potential recession. For months, CEOs have talked about tariffs as a tactic and negotiating ploy to squeeze concessions from trading partners on other issues. Now, the threat is urgent and real, with an impact that could ripple across different industries. Cash-strapped consumers tend to cancel vacations, delay renovations, and skimp on expenses like healthcare. Consumer spending accounts for almost 70% of U.S. GDP—and Americans are nervous about the future right now.

And they're right to be nervous. Also at FORTUNE, Eleanor Pringle reminds:

When President Trump announced tariff hikes on China, Canada, and Mexico, his team reassured consumers that they wouldn't be facing the sharp end of the deal.

In fact, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went so far as to say he wasn't concerned about the 20% increase the White House had placed on imports from China, saying the nation "will pay for the tariffs because their business model is exporting their way out of this inflation. They will eat any tariffs that go on."

Likewise, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hinted that retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico wouldn't come to fruition, as "they have so much more that they sell to us than we sell to them."

He added: "It’s not even close, this is not a battle that we’re ever going to lose. The president knows it, he does have the cards, and he’s going to protect Americans."

If Lutnick was betting there would be little or no retaliation, it hasn't paid off. Canada has since responded with a 25% hike of its own on American exports, with Mexico adding it will announce tariff and non-tariff rebuttals later this week.

China also whacked 15% onto imports of key U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soy, and beef, as well as expanding controls on doing business with U.S. companies.

It seems the back-and-forth will raise prices for consumers, a further burden on purse strings which have already been stretched over the past few years by inflation and tight interest rates.

The bad news for Chump is that FORTUNE, et al don't care whether you get a honeymoon or not. They're not going to be intimidated. They're not Barbara Walters or Liz Smith where you can screech and scream and get your way. They're not the soft and weak 'news' reporters for THE NEW YORK TIMES who had decades to cover Chump and never alerted the people to the reality of him or of his family. Most readers of THE TIMES couldn't even tell you of the proximity to greatness the Trump family had before Chump was born but all that really happened is Trump betrayed. That is the story of that family.

The bad news for the average American is that they're not the focus of the financial press. (Though when they are, you can win a Pulitzer -- the human costs of the leverage buyout of Safeway, for example.) Their concern is Money. And Money's never respected Chump to begin with and they're not going to lie for him. And whenever Chump does something nutty -- several times a day -- with regards to our economy, I'm reminded of what Chuck Schumer said in January 2017 about Chump and the CIA, "Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this." The CIA are actually much kinder than the financial press.

Here's Lawrence O'Donnell from last night explaining the bosses that Chump has to listen to.

Lawrence has done outstanding work for years. Everyone can't say the same. I'm thinking of DSAer posing as a Democrat and I'm wondering what the hell he thinks he's doing? Like a good DSAer, he's just attacked the Democratic Party in a video and insisted that the party was not going to save us from fascism. And then, 13 hours later, he did a video slamming Dems for voting with fascists.

Well if they're not going to save us, as you already argued, why the surprise?

Oh, that's right.

You're not about truth and you're not about consistency.

You are about pimping lies and attacking the party.

Hate to break it to you -- and you're old enough that I shouldn't have to -- no one is riding to the rescue. We have to roll our sleeves and do it ourselves.

That's not me attacking the Democratic Party which is not fascist, by the way.

That's me acknowledging the system we live in. It's a system DSA loves to criticize but can't seem to effectively work with, work against or work around.

The Democrats in Congress are of many minds on how to push back on Chump. They test things and they try to see what works. I wasn't a fan of the 'bingo cards' -- I wasn't fan of them before this year either -- but it was a tactic and they tried it.

If DSA had a brain -- even one -- among it's almost 80,000 national members, they might grasp that we -- the people -- are the ones who push and push and push.

That means we push in our commentary. Against Chump.

Clutch The Pearls was the automatic stance of corporate media long before Cokie Roberts further pioneered it with "as a mother . . ."

The media can be a vengeful pack, but it is a pack that runs together.

Those of us online can say much more -- and should -- about Chump than those in elected office. We -- that even includes DSA -- need to be pushing the dialogue to the left. You know, like DSA forever claims that they want to push the Democratic Party to the left. That's what they said back in 1982 with the plan that they'd build their own party and their membership would soar.

Four decades later and they've gone from 25,000 members to almost 80,000 -- that's not soaring.

The media has a honeymoon period where they are reluctant to critique and assess the new president. It's the first hundred days. Chump has already seen that honeymoon begin to fade.

Dems in office are fighting back. They need to do more. They are testing other avenues and responses.

But we're the ones who have to do the hard work right now.

And, sorry to break it to you simple-minded DSAer, your attacks on the Democratic Party do nothing to help anyone. Like Uncommitted, it's a recipe for disaster.

Criticize the party. I do. But I don't call my political party a fascist.

It's not one, that language is not helpful, this is a time when supposedly we should pull together -- all of us.

Isn't that what Rashida Tlaib's groupies keep saying?

The time to pull together was before election day so there calls for all of us to pull together are laughable now.

But they keep making them . . . just like they keep attacking the Democratic Party.

I'm tired of it. The mid-terms are important and so is the next presidential election and we don't have time for DSA's desire to turn us into a Socialist country to excuse their nonsensical and repeated attacks on the Democratic Party.

We need to be focused. And don't come at me with we all need to pull together when you're on YOUTUBE calling my part a fascist.

Last night, Rachel Maddow spoke with Hampton Dellinger who demonstrated how one person could make a huge difference.

We have power and we have strength. The Black community is effectively responding with specific boycotts, for example. But then we usually do respond as opposed to the male and female Karens of DSA. Marcia notes three strong people standing out in last night's "3 patriots demonstrating real courage: Kayde Martin, Dr. Mary Brinkmeyer, Pete Buttigieg."

We The People can't sit back and wait to be rescued because that never happens. We have to be out here fighting for our country and for our future. (If the vile racism and sexism aimed at Kamala by our 'friends' on the left and aimed at Black women specifically means you are taking time for yourself, you continue to do that. You rejoin when and if it's good for you. I am appalled that all this time later Tlaib's groupies cannot apologize for their online attacks of Black women.) We need to model the courage we want to see from our representatives. We need to make demands of them as well.

But we really don't have time for Socialists in political closets attacking our party with one extreme judgment after another -- extreme and uninformed.

Here's Chris Hayes from last night calling for more from our party.

He's not kissing ass or pretending everything is turning up roses and rainbows. He's also not calling Dems fascists.

Let's get back to financials, Andy Kalmowitz (JALOPNIK) reports:

With the exception of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk has alienated himself from pretty much everyone else on Earth. Looking at recent Wall Street trends, it would seem his investors are giving up on him too. Shares of Tesla jumped 84 percent following November's Presidential Election — peaking just days before Christmas — as investors assumed Musk's car company would benefit greatly from his involvement in the government.

Welp, that isn't exactly going to plan. In Musk's incredibly high-profile role as the head of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, he has tried to impose massive cuts to spending that had already been approved by Congress, and he's laid off thousands of federal employees. This has not gone over well with the general public, and now Teslas shares are down 40 percent from their peak after the markets closed on March 5, according to CNN. Shares have lost over a third of their value since Trump took office on January 20, meaning it has lost nearly 90 percent of its post-election bump.

Welfare Queen Alien Musk continues to flounder. Ana Altchek (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:

Elon Musk told investors to expect Tesla sales to grow this year — but plummeting sales in several countries are complicating that goal.

While Tesla's Model Y continues to be a top seller and UK sales were up in February, some of Tesla's sales figures in other markets looked grim — the kind of year-over-year drops that should worry the CEO.

Germany: -76%

Tesla's sales in Germany last month were down by 76% year over year, with 1,429 vehicles sold. Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority said overall EV sales in the country grew by about 31%.

Tesla's sales in the country also fell in January, when Musk endorsed the far-right AfD party ahead of a February 23 election.

Norway, Denmark, and Sweden: -42% to -48%

Tesla sales declined in several other European countries last month.

In February, Tesla sales in Norway and Denmark were down by 48% year over year.

Sales in Sweden declined by 42% year over year.

France: -26%

Tesla sales in France last month declined by 26% year over year: It sold 2,395 vehicles, though that was an increase from 1,141 Teslas sold in January. The country also experienced an overall decline in car sales of 0.7%, Plateforme Automobile said.

Teslas manufactured in China: -49%

Sales of Teslas manufactured in China also took a hit in February. The EV giant sold 30,688 China-made vehicles, its lowest number since August 2022. That represented a 49% drop year over year in China. Tesla's Chinese rival BYD recorded a 90.4% increase in vehicle sales that month.

The business community is tired of Alien Musk. Irina Ivanova (FORTUNE) notes:

Steve Wozniak is no fan of Elon Musk, he revealed—and that goes for the Tesla CEO’s cars as well as his current stint as President Donald Trump’s chief cost-cutter.

The Apple cofounder excoriated Musk during a recent interview, criticizing his management style at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I don’t know what got into his head,” Wozniak told CNBC.

“Sometimes you get so rich at these big companies, when you’re on top, it goes to your head, and you’re the most credible person in the world, you’re the brightest, and you're gonna dictate what others will do.

“Bullying is the best way to think of it,” Wozniak said.

For more on Musk, see Elaine's "Get in bed with Chump and become a chump."

While the DSA YOUTUBE set was whining and carping and ignoring reality, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered a moment that we should all be amplifying.