The Source With Kaitlan Collins: Elie Honig On Donald Trump's Executive Strategy

"CNN's Kaitlan Collins discusses the Trump administration's response to judges blocking some of his executive orders and Trump's tactics toward federal employees with senior legal analyst Elie Honig and political analyst Astead Herndon." 

Source:CNN legal analyst Elie Honig talking about President Donald J. Trump (MAGA, Florida) 47th President of the United States & 1st wannabe dictator.

From CNN

A very important part of what Elie Honig told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins last night: 

"Yes, this is the only resistance that Donald Trump is facing. And thus far, he's 0 for all of these lawsuits. I mean, thus far, every judge to have considered one of these lawsuits has at least put Donald Trump's actions on hold.

And if I could sort of, to digest what we just heard in that very interesting interview. The position of the workers here is essentially, yes, of course, the President runs the Executive branch. However, that does not mean he gets to do everything and anything he wants within the Executive branch. And what we just heard Ms. Perryman say is there are limits put on that, by Congress, that have to ultimately prevail.

Now, the counterargument there is going to be something we call the unitary executive theory, which is this old, popular notion of the conservative-right that says, The President isn't just the head of the Executive branch, he is the Executive branch. Congress be darned, he can do whatever he wants. So, that's the clash we're headed towards. COLLINS: Which seems to be one that the White House is embracing. I mean, you see how they're responding to the judge pushing this deadline... 

And let me go even farther back in Donald Trump's history. He came up as a real estate baron in this city, by stiffing his contractors, right?

His theory was, Well, I owe this concrete supplier a $100,000 for this job. How about I just pay you nothing? And then you, concrete supplier, who has less resources than me, less time than me, you go hire a lawyer, you go sue me, and you know what's going to probably happen? Probably settle for a fraction of it.

So, it's really that same litigation tactic brought to the White House...

From CNN

From what my colleague Kire Schneider wrote about this earlier today: 

"Senator Kaine was on top of this last week the day that President Trump announced the Federal buyout plan. If you are a Federal worker and you take that plan, you just prove the stereotype that government workers just show to collect their paychecks, but don't actually work for them. And then you are proving another stereotype about government workers that you are so incompetent and lazy, as well as schmucks who makes deals with conmen at their own expense. 

As Senator Kaine said, this Federal buyout plan is not even legal and probably not constitutional either. Congress hasn't and probably wouldn't authorize it. And the Administration could cancel the buyout payments at anytime, with no one to stop them. So these Federal workers would juste be quitting, or retiring, without their buyouts and perhaps without their pensions as well, depending on how long they were in the Federal Civil Service." 

From The New Democrat

I guess my take here is that even though I would be 1 of the last people to ever say that Donald Trump is dumb, or stupid, or call him a pejorative like a moron, or idiot, etc, but only because he isn't those things... but he's very ignorant. Or, at the very least he doesn't care about our form of government, our Constitution, and how those things work. He's not a businessman, but 1 one-man businessman, who is not in business for his company and his workers. Donald is in business simply for himself. And when it comes to government, just like how he sees his company and his employees, the government are just tools that he can use to further enrich himself.

We've had plenty of wealthy people who became President of the United States and made a lot of money in the private sector. George H.W. Bush and his son George W. are the perfect examples of that. Ronald Reagan before the Bush's. The difference between Reagan and the Bush's is that they understood that their private business interests and government's interests, and the people's interests are different things. So they separated their own business interests from the government's. 

In case this isn't obvious enough: (Perhaps you are brand new to America, or just awakening from a coma) Donald Trump doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else. He does what he wants, whenever he wants to do it and then dares the opposition and the rule of law to stop and catch him. Elie Honig's point about Mr. Trump and his construction workers and how he treated them, which is exactly how he's treating Federal workers today... is an excellent example of that. 

So this is why President Trump is running into stiff opposition from the Federal Courts because his business is not government. When you are in government, you have to follow the same rules as everyone else, or you get obstructed and even stopped. And that's what's been happening to the President the last 2 weeks. 

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Michael Popok On Donald Trump VS The Courts & Constitution

"In breaking news, a Federal Judge in Boston has entered Temporary Injunction Number 6 against the Trump Administration, this time stopping Trump and Musk’s attempts to illegally buy out federal civil servants and make them resign or be fired.  Michael Popok explains what happened in Court, and how Trump’s DOJ has is on  0-7 losing streak in last 2 weeks against the Rule of Law." 

Source:Meidas Touch with a look at U.S. Federal Judge Leo Sorokin & and President Donald J. Trump.

From the Meidas Touch

From U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (Democrat, Virginia) 

“I’m relieved to see a federal judge temporarily block the Trump Administration’s sham buyout offer. The Administration has no clear authority to offer this deal. Recent reporting has indicated that the Trump Administration added clauses to the deal that allow the Administration to cancel it at any time, leaving federal employees without pay, as well as requiring federal employees who accept the so-called buyout to waive their rights to any legal recourse. This is proof that Trump has no problem stiffing the American people—just like he has done before as a businessman and President. I’m hearing from federal workers across Virginia who swore an oath to the Constitution to serve their country and the American people; it’s horrific that these Americans are now wondering how they’ll be able to pay their bills and provide for their families. Let me be clear: the fight is not over, and it will continue to play out in court. Virginians should know that they have an advocate in me, and I will continue to stand up for them in the U.S. Senate.”

From U.S. Senator Tim Kaine

"Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) blasts Trump's federal employee buyouts, warning workers not to trust the con artist's empty promises." 

Source:Now This Impact showing U.S. Senator Tim Kaine's (Democrat, Virginia) statement about President Trump's Federal buyout plan.

From Now This Impact

As my colleague Rik Schneider said on Wednesday: 

"I want to push back on 1 point that Steve Schmidt said first about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and then I'll get into my bigger point here. 

I agree that national Democrats, especially in Congress (House & Senate) have been slow in reacting to Donald Trump's unilateral, big government, dictatorial actions here, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. ("Unilateral, big government, dictatorial" are my words) But, you have to know that the Democratic Party just got it'e leader (if you want to call a party chairman a party leader) over the weekend... 

Democrats won a stay against the President's executive order on birthright citizenship last week, as well as his unilateral Federal freeze plan." 

From The New Democrat

I mention the stuff from Wednesday because there's been this sentiment on the Democratic Left, (especially) as well as Never-Trumpers on the Right (like Steve Schmidt) that Democrats aren't doing anything in opposition to what President Trump and his administration are doing. Which is just not the case. 

As Rik Schneider pointed out, the Democrats just got their party chairman last Saturday. And if you are old enough to remember this week, as well as last week, and were sober enough to remember both weeks, (congratulations on the ladder) you know that Democratic lawmakers have won 3 major court decisions against this President as it relates to his Federal spending freeze, birthright citizenship order, and now his unilateral Federal buyout plan. They won court stays in all 3 cases.

And no offense to Michael Popok (whose legal analysis I do respect) Senator Tim Kaine has the better and I believe the best statement that I've seen from anyone who opposes the President unilateral Federal buyout plan: 

"The Administration has no clear authority to offer this deal. Recent reporting has indicated that the Trump Administration added clauses to the deal that allow the Administration to cancel it at any time, leaving federal employees without pay, as well as requiring federal employees who accept the so-called buyout to waive their rights to any legal recourse...

Senator Kaine was on top of this last week the day that President Trump announced the Federal buyout plan. If you are a Federal worker and you take that plan, you just prove the stereotype that government workers just show to collect their paychecks, but don't actually work for them. And then you are proving another stereotype about government workers that you are so incompetent and lazy, as well as schmucks who makes deals with conmen at their own expense. 

As Senator Kaine said, this Federal buyout plan is not even legal and probably not constitutional either. Congress hasn't and probably wouldn't authorize it. And the Administration could cancel the buyout payments at anytime, with no one to stop them. So these Federal workers would juste be quitting, or retiring, without their buyouts and perhaps without their pensions as well, depending on how long they were in the Federal Civil Service. 

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Libertarians VS Donald Trump & MAGA

This week alone I've been seeing posts from people who at least at 1 point were definitely Libertarians, (like Tom Mullen) as well as people who still are definitely Libertarians, about how they should react and think about what's called, National Conservatism in America (also known as Donald Trump's MAGA movement) that back in the 1930s 1940s in Germany would've been called National Socialism: 

"Is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany.[1][2][3] During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitler Fascism (German: Hitlerfaschismus) and Hitlerism (German: Hitlerismus). The later related term "neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the Second World War and therefore after the Third Reich collapsed.

Nazism is a form of fascism,[4][5][6][7] with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. Its beliefs include support for dictatorship,[3] fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, anti-Slavism,[8] anti-Romani sentiment, scientific racism, white supremacy, Nordicism, social Darwinism, homophobia, ableism, and the use of eugenics. The extreme nationalism of the Nazis originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist Völkisch movement which had been a prominent aspect of German ultranationalism since the late 19th century. 

Nazism was strongly influenced by the Freikorps paramilitary groups that emerged after Germany's defeat in World War I, from which came the party's underlying "cult of violence".[9] It subscribed to pseudo-scientific theories of a racial hierarchy,[10] identifying ethnic Germans as part of what the Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race.[11] Nazism sought to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous German society based on racial purity which represented a people's community (Volksgemeinschaft). 

The Nazis aimed to unite all Germans living in historically German territory, as well as gain additional lands for German expansion under the doctrine of Lebensraum and exclude those whom they deemed either Community Aliens or "inferior" races (Untermenschen)...

From Wikipedia

To give you a quicker, more modern, and simpler definition of what's called National Conservatism today: 

The modern version of what Germany was doing in the 1930s and 40s, is this big government, social culture war, where they want the national government to enforce their way of life onto everyone else in the country, through government force and where the rule of law and Constitution doesn't apply to them. 

And on economic policy, a mixture of national socialism when it comes to tariffs and raising taxes on individuals, private news organizations, and business's, whose politics they don't like. And they combine that with an oligarchic economic policy that's dominated by millionaires and billionaires and leaves the middle class out of the picture. 

This might sound like class warfare to some people. But that's what they impose on anyone who tries to speak out against them. They don't believe in the "free market". I'm not sure they even believe in a private market. They want a national market that's ideologically in bed with the national government. 

So if you are a Libertarian today and you are seeing MAGA people trying to get you on board to what they're doing and they'll pitch that by basically saying: 

"It's the Left and the real Conservatives and Liberals who oppose you and want to interfere with your way of life and obstruct you. The real enemy is the Left, as well as Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Not us. We need to eliminate the Left (at all costs) even if that means using illiberal, anti-conservative, anti-libertarian, policies and practices, to accomplish our goal of eliminating the Left and creating a real free society." 

If you actually are a Libertarian, you might say: 

"No way. Your brand of fascism completely goes against my libertarian ideals. I'm not a Libertarian to take out people I simply disagree with, through government force, or using violence." 

But that's not always the case when it comes to Libertarians and how they view MAGA. From Reason Magazine: 

"His (meaning Donald Trump) appeal to some who use the libertarian label is perplexing, then—except in that he's not Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris is also someone no libertarian could affirmatively wish to be president—except that she's not Trump.

Libertarians should have the courage of their claimed convictions to radically oppose the U.S. government status quo (which in the past eight years has been managed or represented by both Trump and Harris) and feel no obligation to positively affirm that either unlibertarian choice should reign. Not voting or promoting either is an appropriate option. Voting for or promoting Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver is an option as well. 

Even on specific issues that seem to animate the more right-leaning corners of the libertarian world, Trump is either terrible or not clearly exceptional: He ruled as an inflationist and intends to continue to; he has no real concrete ideas for shrinking spending or government's size and reach, and certainly didn't do so in his first term, while vaguely and improbably promising Elon Musk will take care of it in a second; Trump can be expected to expand government spending and control in the name of allegedly pro-worker industrial policy that will likely have no better effect on America's fortunes than past industrial policy efforts... 

From Reason Magazine

And from Libertarian author Yaron Brook: 

"I'm not willing to give up in the name of fighting the Left my liberty over here in order to fight... I have 2 parties over here that are trying to take away my liberty. I get to choose? Maybe you guys over here want to take away less of my liberty than the Left. But I'm not willing to give up any of my liberty. And I'm willing to fight to preserve it. So we should have this discussion and debate and I should be in a position to at least try to convince you to leave me alone. 

Leave the individual to be free to pursue his own life. And don't impose your values on him. And as long as you do that, I don't care what values you pursue, I don't care what traditions you follow, you can follow any traditions you want. As long as you don't force me to follow the traditions that you think are appropriate." 

More from Yaron Brook on this subject: "When National Conservatives Echo Socialists... 

Source:Yaron Brook talking about what's called National Conservatism.

From Yaron Brook

I think Libertarian blogger Tom Mullen had a great line about how Libertarians should try to deal with Donald Trump and MAGA: 

"He's (meaning Donald Trump) like a machine gun on a swivel with no one at the controls, spraying bullets in all directions. Sometimes he hits something you want hit, sometimes he hits something you don't want hit. The key is to applaud the good things, criticize the bad things, and above all know when to duck."

A meme with a related sentiment has been going around that still makes me chuckle when I see it...

Source:Tom Mullen is a Libertarian blogger.

From Tom Mullen

The Libertarian argument against Donald Trump and MAGA, against the American Nationalists, or the Anglo-Saxon-American Nationalists... I think is very simple: he's not 1 of you. And that should explain the other reasons why you shouldn't support him. Sure, he wants lower (if not zero taxation on corporations) and would like to eliminate certain Federal departments and agencies. But, if you are a Libertarian, you also believe in the U.S. Constitution. And you don't want an American dictator in this country being able to do whatever he wants, simply because you like some of the things that he's done. 

And once America has a dictator, he could literally do everything that he wants. Including taking people out (not just the Left) simply for opposing what he's doing. Which could include Libertarians as well. 

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Donald Trump's Campaign VS Governing

"Donald Trump press secretary has DISASTER moment at briefing" 

Source:Brian Tyler Cohen with a look at President Donald J. Trump's current press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

From Brian Tyler Cohen

As my colleague Fred Schneider wrote about this in December: 

"This takes me back to Donald Trump's last Meet The Press interview with Kristen Welker, where he admitted that he might not be able to bring down the cost of living, because it's too high. 

Now imagine if you were on some month long meth high, (and somehow managed to survive that) or were drunk for a month straight, (and somehow managed to to survive that) perhaps you were vacationing on Planet Zoron (or some other made up Star Trek planet) and you saw Donald Trump there and he was completely honest about everything. Perhaps not intentional, but he simply couldn't lie about anything, perhaps by force. Perhaps someone spiked his Diet Coke with truth serum.

So now this made up character (lets call him Honest Don) is being interviewed by Kristen Welker, or some other NBC News anchor, or some other news journalist was asking him questions about what his 2nd presidential agenda will be, what he would do as President again, etc, and she asked him the same questions. And remember, Donald Trump can't lie anymore in this hypothetical. His answers to these questions might sound something like this: 

"Well, running for President of the United States and being President are two different things. You have to say and do things just to get the job. But once you have it, saying what you are going to do and actually doing what you are going to do, are two different things. 

My MAGA base, as well as a solid majority of Independent voters, believe everything that I tell them. So I can just make up things and say I'm going to do things, promise to do things that are simply impossible to accomplish. And they eat everything that I feed them. 

Which gives me a great advantage over every Democratic, as well as Republican opponent that I've ever faced, because my opponents are always expected to be honest and truthful about everything. Or the media and voters slam them anytime they're wrong or dishonest about anything, anywhere, at anytime. 

Just because I ran on tariffs, and mass deportations doesn't mean I'm actually going to do them as President of the United States. I can't afford to have a weak economy and low job approval going into 2026, because then I won't be able to get anything done. And that could risk Democrats winning back Congress, which would make my life very difficult."

From The New Democrat

Think about this: Donald J. Trump is a lame duck President, (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't rewrite the 22nd Amendment and carve out a special exception just for him) and the Supreme Court basically just gave him presidential immunity to essentially do whatever the hell he wants to in The White House, while he's President. At least when it comes to any potential criminal activities that he might be involved in.

And because the Lyin Don character that Donald J. Trump has been playing... really his entire professional career (now that I think about it) could really be put to bed now since he's a lame duck President. Which gives him so much freedom to be honest for the first time, at least in his adult life. 

President Trump now has the political freedom to essentially say what Fred Schneider got into 2 months ago: 

"Well running for President is not the same thing as being President. You say things to get elected. But once you are in office, you do things differently because if I ran on what really wanted to do, I wouldn't have won. 

Yeah, I ran on lowering the cost of living in America. But I'm a billionaire, who represents a lot of other billionaires and people worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They wouldn't have supported me if I thought I was going to lower prices for hard-working, middle class Americans. Because that would've hurt their personal, financial, bottom lines." 

Fred Schneider touched on this in December as well: imagine if Mr. Trump just axed his Lyin Don character and replaced him with Honest Don, (which I know sounds as made up as Santa Clause on Mars) what political price could he possibly pay for that? He's out of The White House in less than 4 years. (Unless the Supreme Court unconstitutionally bails him out) And if the Supreme Court does let him run again and he loses again, he could just declare himself the winner anyway by executive order. And if he has the U.S. Government locked in by that point, who would stop him from just staying in office for life? 

I mean all White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did today by admitting that President Trump doesn't have a timeline to lower the cost of living in America, is just acknowledge what intelligent people who follow and cover Trump MAGA already know. They're not about the so-called average man in America. They're about themselves. They play to average Americans in order to gain and hold onto power. But they don't actually do anything positive for them.

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Steve Schmidt: Donald Trump Picks America's Newest Target

"Donald Trump made yet another claim to sovereign territory when he pledged the US will take over the Gaza Strip. Steve Schmidt breaks down the ridiculous plan and explains why Trump's expansionism will end in destruction." 

Source:The Warning With Steve Schmidt talking about President Donald J. Trump (MAGA, Florida) 47th President of the United States & 1st wannabe dictator.

From The Warning With Steve Schmidt

If you are looking for some new Republican opposition to President Trump's plan for Gaza: Noah Rothman (who just happens to be Jewish) has  a column over at The National Review (of all places) about President Trump's personal business plan for Gaza: 

President Donald J. Trump: 

"We should have never gotten in there a long time ago,” he mourned. “We spent trillions of dollars and created so much death.” It was odd, then, that this thought followed a fulsome endorsement of his plan to “take over the Gaza Strip,” “own it,” “level the site and get rid of all the destroyed buildings,” thereby creating “an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” which would be an international polyglot once the local Palestinian population has been relocated.

This is all, to use a technical term, bananas. As Phil Klein observed, it’s “not going to happen.” But even though Trump’s fans often convince themselves that the president’s ponderous public musings invite zero practical consequences, the thought bubbles he emitted on Tuesday landed with a thud in the region... 

From The National Review 

As my colleague Erik Schneider wrote earlier today about this: 

"On a more lighter note first: if you are an Arab-American right now (especially Palestinian) who voted against Kamala Harris in 2024 because you thought she was the "war monger" or too close to the Jewish State of Israel,.. are you feeling pretty stupid right now? Especially the Arabs who possibly cost Vice President Harris Michigan all by themselves, along with urban African-Americans who perhaps voted for Donald Trump. 

I mean, along with his unconstitutional executive orders, where the President is trying both to amend the U.S. Constitution, as well legislate and terminate government agencies and departments, by himself, from The White House, the only thing that Donald Trump has been doing in his 1st month in office, has been threatening to take over sovereign countries and territories. Oh right... and appointing people who are clearly unqualified for the positions that they're being appointed too...

So Donald Trump goes from an American Nationalist "who always puts America first", to just another American oligarch, who puts his own business and financial interests, over everything else that he's involved with. The difference here is that he just doesn't have governmental power, but he's the President of the United States... 

From The New Democrat

I want to push back on 1 point that Steve Schmidt said first about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and then I'll get into my bigger point here. 

I agree that national Democrats, especially in Congress (House & Senate) have been slow in reacting to Donald Trump's unilateral, big government, dictatorial actions here, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. ("Unilateral, big government, dictatorial" are my words) But, you have to know that the Democratic Party just got it'e leader (if you want to call a party chairman a party leader) over the weekend. 

When you are both the opposition, as well as minority party in the Federal Government, your party chairman essentially becomes the leader of the party. They become responsible for putting together a national message and strategy to take on The White House and the majority party in Congress. 

You could blame Chuck Schumer for not having a unified, Senate Democratic response to what President Trump is doing. And you could blame House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for not having a unified, House Democratic response to what President Trump is doing. This political stunt by Representative Al Green (Democrat, Texas) to propose articles of impeachment against the President over Gaza, would be a great example of that. 

But until someone brings the House Democrats, the Senate Democrats, including the leadership there, as well as the Democratic governors, together, they're like prison inmates at a brutal prison, who hate the living conditions there, but don't know what to do about that, and they just act out on their own in response, to the prison administration. 

Looks like a Federal judge is about to rule against Elon Musk's DOGE: 

"A federal judge on Wednesday issued an ultimatum after hearing arguments over the Department of Government Efficiency's access to sensitive Treasury Department records: Either the DOJ and the federal unions who brought suit agree to a temporary injunction blocking DOGE's access, or the judge will bring them back to court on Friday to decide whether to issue a temporary restraining order.

The temporary injunction would allow two "special government employees" inside the Treasury Department -- but associated with the Elon Musk's DOGE agency -- to continue accessing the records as part of DOGE's effort to trim the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump... 

From ABC News

Democrats won a stay against the President's executive order on birthright citizenship last week, as well as his unilateral Federal freeze plan. 

What the Senate Minority Leader and company can do: 

is put holds on all nominees and legislation that's relevant to what Musk's DOGE is doing with these Federal agencies and departments, until they get the hell out of there, since they're not a government agency, and don't have any governmental power. As well as continue to file and win lawsuits over that. Senator Brian Schatz (Democrat, Hawaii) is already doing that. 

I realize Steve Schmidt is a bit of a hothead and not afraid to lose his temper. But Democrats are fighting back now and are not going to let Donald John Trump become the 1st American dictator. 

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The Hill: Donald Trump's Gaza TAKEOVER Plan Sparks GOP Reaction

"Drew Petrimoulx chats with The Hill’s White House columnist Niall Stanage about President Trump floating the idea of the U.S. taking over the Gaza Strip, saying America should be responsible for clearing the territory of rubble and unexploded bombs and proposing an “economic development.” 

Source:The Hill with a look at President Donald J. Trump's (MAGA, Florida) potential business opportunity for Gaza.

From The Hill 

Here are some of Donald Trump's past statements promoting his own brand of American imperialism. 

From the Detroit Free Press: 

"President-elect Donald Trump made his case Tuesday for Canada, a country of some 41 million people, becoming part of the U.S., saying he would use "economic force" to try to join the two nations and get rid of what he called an "artificially drawn line" between them.

"Canada and the United States, that would really be something," Trump said at a news conference at his Florida resort.

Trump added that the U.S. doesn't need "anything they have," including vehicles manufactured in Canada. "I'd rather make them in Detroit," Trump said. But he argued that it makes sense for Canada to become part of the U.S. if it is going to rely on the U.S. economy and military to the extent he said it does." 

From the Detroit Free Press

From Newsweek: 

"President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that Mexico and Canada should become a U.S. state if they want to continue receiving subsidies from their neighboring country.

Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico unless the countries reduce the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S. He defended his tariffs plan telling NBC News' Meet the Press on Sunday that the U.S. subsidizes Mexico for almost $300 billion a year, as well as Canada for around $100 billion annually.

"We're subsidizing Canada to the tune of over $100 billion a year. We're subsidizing Mexico for almost $300 billion. We shouldn't be—why are we subsidizing these countries? If we're going to subsidize them, let them become a state," Trump said. "We're subsidizing Mexico and we're subsidizing Canada, and we're subsidizing many countries all over the world. All I want to do is have a level, fast, but fair playing field."

He appears to be referencing the U.S. trade deficit between the two countries while exaggerating the numbers. The trade deficit in goods and services was nearly $41 billion with Canada, and more than $162 billion with Mexico in 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures... 

From Newsweek

From CNN: 

"President Donald Trump reiterated his vow to “take back” the Panama Canal on Sunday, warning of “powerful” US action in an escalating diplomatic dispute with the Central American country over China’s presence around the vital waterway.

“China is running the Panama Canal that was not given to China, that was given to Panama foolishly, but they violated the agreement, and we’re going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen,” Trump told reporters.

Hours earlier, the diplomatic stir caused by Trump’s repeated and publicly stated desire for the US to retake control of the canal had appeared to ease after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, making his first overseas trip as the top US diplomat, met with Panama’s President Raúl Mulino... 

From CNN

From BBC News: 

"President Donald Trump has said he believes the US will gain control of Greenland, after showing renewed interest in acquiring the autonomous Danish territory in recent weeks.

"I think we're going to have it," he told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday, adding that the island's 57,000 residents "want to be with us".

His comments come after reports that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen insisted Greenland was not for sale in a fiery phone call with the president last week.

Trump floated the prospect of buying the vast Arctic territory during his first term in 2019, and has said US control of Greenland is an "absolute necessity" for international security... 

From BBC News

If you wonder why both Donald Trump and Elon Musk are considered allies of Vladimir Putin's Russian Government... 1 of Russia's propaganda agencies, Tass, quotes Mr. Musk's negative comments about Democrats like from then Vice President Kamala Harris: 

"Elon Musk claims war mongers back Kamala Harris’ 'puppet regime'

According to Elon Musk, those within the US administration who support Vice President Harris "profit off of wars," a situation he described as "insane... 

"Warmongers want the Kamala puppet regime [is] because they want more war," Musk told US TV host Joe Rogan in an interview.

According to Musk, those within the US administration who support Vice President Harris "profit off of wars," a situation he described as "insane." He also claimed that the so-called "war profiteers" despise Republican candidate Donald Trump... 

From TASS

Agains from CNN: 

"I Will Stop Wars, Make America The Greatest': Trump Claims US Election Win In Rousing Speech

CNN-News18 reports from Washington DC" 

From CNN

From NBC News talking about a bipartisan group of members of Congress on President Trump's plan to take over Gaza:

"Deranged' and 'problematic': Bipartisan group of lawmakers bashes Trump's Gaza proposal

Trump said Tuesday night the U.S. "will take over Gaza" and send in troops "if necessary."

Criticism and concern spread across both sides of the aisle Tuesday night after President Donald Trump announced that the United States “will take over the Gaza Strip.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called the proposal “problematic,” adding that he does not think his constituents would be excited about sending U.S. soldiers to take control of Gaza.

“We’ll see what the Arab world says, but you know, that’d be problematic at many, many levels,” Graham said...

From NBC News

On a more lighter note first: if you are an Arab-American right now (especially Palestinian) who voted against Kamala Harris in 2024 because you thought she was the "war monger" or too close to the Jewish State of Israel,.. are you feeling pretty stupid right now? Especially the Arabs who possibly cost Vice President Harris Michigan all by themselves, along with urban African-Americans who perhaps voted for Donald Trump. 

I mean, along with his unconstitutional executive orders, where the President is trying both to amend the U.S. Constitution, as well legislate and terminate government agencies and departments, by himself, from The White House, the only thing that Donald Trump has been doing in his 1st month in office, has been threatening to take over sovereign countries and territories. Oh right... and appointing people who are clearly unqualified for the positions that they're being appointed too.

This is literally from the America Fist Institute: 

"An America First approach to foreign policy acknowledges the reality of the world for what it is and other nations for what they are, rather than how the foreign policy establishment would like them to be. This premise offers the surest path to working productively with other nations in a manner that advances Americans’ interests and security while avoiding economic overreach and unnecessary military conflicts. This approach entails a focused and judicious use of military power not only to deter adversaries, but, if deterrence fails, to fight and win our Nation’s wars. Utilizing the U.S. military for its intended purpose ensures America does not become entangled in prolonged efforts such as nation- building exercises abroad... 

From the America First Institute

And to get back to Gaza.: this is also from BBC News: 

"Trump's real-estate instincts clash with his America First worldview

When a real-estate developer becomes the US president, don't be surprised if American foreign policy includes a heavy helping of real-estate development.

That's probably the biggest conclusion to draw from Donald Trump's stunning proposal for the US to take over Gaza and turn it into a resort for all the people of the world to enjoy – a "Riviera of the Middle East", in his words.

It also presents the latest iteration of a question that has persisted as long as Trump has been involved at the highest level of American politics.

Should Trump's Gaza development plan, which includes the resettlement of more than two million Palestinians and US "ownership" of the contested lands be taken literally or seriously? Both, or neither?

Trump's proposal flies in the face of the deeply held wishes of the Palestinian people and has been summarily rejected by the Arab nations that would have to play an integral part in resettling those displaced from war-torn Gaza."

From BBC News

So Donald Trump goes from an American Nationalist "who always puts America first", to just another American oligarch, who puts his own business and financial interests, over everything else that he's involved with. The difference here is that he just doesn't have governmental power, but he's the President of the United States. 

I realize that American voters have always held Donald J. Trump to a much lower standard when it comes to old fashion, American values, like honesty, decency, and morality. And when he does something really bad, they just put it aside and saying something like: 

"That's just Trump being Trump". 

Or they blame it on the Democrats and say:

"The Democrats should've stopped him before he did that..." 

I along with more than half of the American electorate whose never wanted Donald J. Trump to ever be able to even visit The White House, (even if he did pay for a White House tour, with his own money) have been suffering and trying to live with the fact that American voters (primarily Independents) hold Mr. Trump to a much lower standard than every other American politician, at least since we've been able to get our news on TV. 

But there comes a time when someone can go so far that it actually has real world affects on this country, where a lot of Americans would actually suffer the consequences of having a madman, an oligarch, wannabe dictator, as their President. And I'm just wondering what it would take for about half of the American electorate to see that Donald J. Trump is not only not worth it, but we need to abandon him for the sake of the country. 

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Phil Mattingly: Catherine Rampell VS Scott Jennings On Donald Trump VS Canada & Mexico

"CNN's Catherine Rampell and Scott Jennings debate what President Donald Trump won by placing, and then pausing, tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico." 

Source:CNN with Catherine Rampell vs Scott Jennings. Perhaps you can tell for yourself who is who.

From CNN

As my colleague Kire Schneider wrote about this earlier today:

"As Ederik mentioned yesterday and what Jesse Dollemore talked about today, is that Donald Trump creates all these man-made disasters (generally unintentionally, I believe, because he doesn't know what he's doing) and gets leaders of other countries to make some announcement announcing that they're doing what they already agreed to do years ago, or at least weeks ago." 

From The New Democrat

I give Catherine Rampell credit for willing to be on the same CNN panel with Scott Jennings to discuss anything with him and not just being able to beautifully (in more ways than 1) deliver her key points about an issue, but then just sit there and be able to take his garbage (to put it mildly) and just laugh it off as if she's thinking: "He can't be serious". Which is how Scott Jennings has really sounded for about a year now every time he's on CNN talking about anything related to Donald Trump. 

This point that she made here is the key to the whole discussion: 

“I mean, I don’t know what Trump wanted in this situation,” she began. “Again, he didn’t actually get anything. But if he were to put these tariffs in place, they would be very painful- " 

And then after Scott Jennings accused said that Catherine Rampell's comment was a "total lie": 

"For American consumers. Okay, Scott, I mean this is, this is public information!” continued Rampell. 

If you don’t know that these countries have-, are committing to do exactly what they have already been doing, either you haven’t done your homework, or you think the American people are idiots because again, they’re doing exactly what they were already were doing,” said Rampell." 

Donald Trump as President of the United States, (which is a big enough American nightmare right there) is like a stocker at a grocery store, who is a bit of a klutz, who just made another mess, cleans up all the apple sauce, or tomato sauce, the milk, that he just knocked over on the floor, who then cleans up that mess and expects extra credit for cleaning up his own mess, that he should've never created in the first place. 

As Kire Schneider also said earlier today on The New Democrat: 

"My point here is President Trump when he announced his tariffs on Canada and Mexico over the weekend, got burned by that. The Stock Market took a tumble and what mostly likely happened is that his oligarch backers got on him about that and told him that he needs to retreat (or something to that affect) and end, or at least pause these tariffs. 

So what the President did on Monday was try to save his face by announcing that he he reached new border agreements with Mexico and Canada, that were already in place. And tried to take a victory lap on that. But as much as President Trump might hate this, we still have free speech and a free press in America. And Catherine Rampell and a lot of others, including The New Democrat, called him out on that." 

And the Scott Jennings of the world can act like Donald Trump just saved America from World War III or something, but anyone who actually knows this story, who follows the news, who does their own research... knows better. Especially better than someone who admittedly gets their information from Donald Trump's White House. Which is what Scott Jennings does.

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Catherine Rampell: Donald Trump Got Rolled By Canada & Mexico

"Jesse discusses several moments from yesterday's news cycle that prove Catherine Rampell's assertion on CNN that "Trump is trying to repackage the status quo as a victory. That's what the leaders of these foreign countries are learning. You don't actually have to give Trump anything. You have to let him announce victory on TV."

Source:Jesse Dollemore talking about how Scott Jennigs also got "rolled" by Catherine Rampell.

From Jesse Dollemore

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell on CNN last night debating Donald Trump propagandist Scott Jennings: 

“I mean, I don’t know what Trump wanted in this situation,” she began. “Again, he didn’t actually get anything. But if he were to put these tariffs in place, they would be very painful- 

For American consumers. Okay, Scott, I mean this is, this is public information!” continued Rampell. 

If you don’t know that these countries have-, are committing to do exactly what they have already been doing, either you haven’t done your homework, or you think the American people are idiots because again, they’re doing exactly what they were already were doing,” said Rampell.

The pair continued to snipe at each other until anchor Phil Mattingly finally stepped in and broke it up... 

From Mediate

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins last night on President Trump's trade wars with Mexico and Canada: 

"President Trump is declaring victory for now, in his trade standoffs with Mexico and Canada, with the President pausing, for at least the next month, on actions that could have dramatically increased prices for Americans on everything, from cars to avocados.

But Trump, the same person who, of course, on the cover of “The Art of the Deal,” said this today about his goal, ultimately with Canada. 

That was after his first phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, today, but before his second one. I was there in the East Room, shortly after that second call had ended.

Trump here, overall, seems to have won an agreement, where Canada is really going to do what it was already going to do. The Prime Minister saying this $1.3 billion border plan that he announced, back in December, is going to go into place.

And as for Mexico, this is how President Trump explained that result.

According to Mexico’s Defense Ministry, there are already 15,000 troops, nearly, they're on the border. It’s a deployment that started in 2019... 

From Mediate

As my colleague Ederik Schneider wrote about this yesterday: 

"Sorry, but I don't give credit to people for: 

Not jumping off the bridge. 

Not breaking into my house. 

Not hitting my car when they're parking. 

I don't give cabbies a bigger tip from dropping me off at the right location. 

When you almost create a trade war and you are just pausing that trade war, you don't deserve credit for almost blowing up your house, but putting pause on that. Perhaps you really want to look at the consequences of that. Will the insurance company be fooled. That sort of thing.

The CTV News piece is correct:America gets  0.2% of its fentanyl from Canada. So where is the victory here? How is Canada putting more of their own troops on their border with us, a victory for America? If anything, Canada with its unpopular and outgoing Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, caved. And Donald Trump takes a victory lap for not blowing up his own house." 

From The New Democrat

As Ederik mentioned yesterday and what Jesse Dollemore talked about today, is that Donald Trump creates all these man-made disasters (generally unintentionally, I believe, because he doesn't know what he's doing) and gets leaders of other countries to make some announcement announcing that they're doing what they already agreed to do years ago, or at least weeks ago.

Countries like Canada and Mexico, Britain, the European Union, already have a pretty good dossier  of President Trump. They know how easy it is to play him, to manipulate, to make him feel good. And they do that because if they make him feel good, he'l probably leave their countries alone. 

In the 1950s and 60s there was a term for someone like Donald Trump: he's what you would call back then a "damn fool". Another term from that era would be patsy. "Damn fool" would probably be a good term for most of Donald Trump's blue-collar supporters who see them as their lord and savior, who will take America back to it's "glory days' and they'll be in-charged again. But that's a different discussion. 

My point here is President Trump when he announced his tariffs on Canada and Mexico over the weekend, got burned by that. The Stock Market took a tumble and what mostly likely happened is that his oligarch backers got on him about that and told him that he needs to retreat (or something to that affect) and end, or at least pause these tariffs. 

So what the President did on Monday was try to save his face by announcing that he he reached new border agreements with Mexico and Canada, that were already in place. And tried to take a victory lap on that. But as much as President Trump might hate this, we still have free speech and a free press in America. And Catherine Rampell and a lot of others, including The New Democrat, called him out on that. 

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NBC News: President Trump Pauses Tariffs On Canada & Mexico

"Days after announcing a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, President Donald Trump agreed to delay them for one month after the two countries' leaders announced moves to ramp up security at their borders. NBC News' Yamiche Alcindor reports on the terms of the deal while Christine Romans details where things stand with the tariffs on China." 

Source:NBC News with a look at President Donald J. Trump (MAGA, Florida) 47th President of the United States & 1st wannabe dictator.

From NBC News

From CTV News: 

"U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have made a variety of complaints about Canada to justify his plan to impose 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada (with 10% tariffs on energy imports) beginning on Tuesday.

Most frequently, Trump has cited the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, the trafficking of fentanyl from Canada to the U.S., illegal migration over the Canada-U.S. border, and Canada’s low level of defence spending.

Trump, however, has wildly exaggerated the size of that trade deficit. He hasn’t mentioned that Canada is responsible for a minuscule percentage of illegal fentanyl imports into the U.S. and a small percentage of U.S. encounters with migrants. And while Canada’s persistent failure to meet NATO defence spending guidelines has long been a bipartisan U.S. concern, Trump has sometimes overstated the extent of the problem.

Here is a fact check.

Just 0.2% of U.S. border fentanyl seizures are at the Canadian border

Trump has lumped together the Canadian border and the Mexican border when talking about illegal fentanyl imports. The day after his inauguration in January, for example, he said, “The fentanyl coming through Canada is massive. The fentanyl coming through Mexico is massive.”

But there is a massive difference between the extent of the problem at the two borders.

Federal statistics show U.S. border authorities seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl in the 2024 fiscal year. Of that amount, 43 pounds were seized at the Canadian border — about 0.2% — compared with 21,148 pounds at the Mexican border, about 96.6%.

There’s no indication of any substantial change in the first three months of the 2025 fiscal year (October 2024 through December 2024). Of the 4,537 pounds of fentanyl seized by U.S. border authorities during that period, 10 pounds, about 0.2%, were seized at the Canadian border, while 4,409 pounds, about 97.2%, were seized at the Mexican border.

It is true that the quantity of fentanyl seized at the Canadian border increased in fiscal year 2024. Just 2 pounds were seized there in fiscal year 2023, and 14 pounds were seized in fiscal year 2022. And, of course, even tiny quantities of fentanyl can be fatal.

Still, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment report did not even use the word “Canada.” It mentioned Mexico 86 times... 

From CTV News

I just want to correct something that NBC News anchor Ryan Nobles said, first and then I'll get into the bigger story here. 

Ryan Nobles said: "Donald Trump likes to fashion himself as a great dealmaker. He even wrote a book about dealmaking called "The Art of The Deal". 

It's actually Tony Schwartz who ghostwrote that book. You know when Donald Trump wrote something by looking at his personal social media accounts. That's the only time he ever writes anything on his own. 

As my colleague Rik Schneider wrote about President Trump's tariffs on Friday: 

"When you raise the costs of goods and doing business in America, the costs of those goods and business goes up. It doesn't get paid for by corporations or government's (domestic or foreign) but by the consumers themselves, because businesses just pass those new costs onto their consumers. We already saw the stock market take a big hit today even with the President's announcement of his tariffs that he's planning this weekend. Tariffs and tax hikes on goods and business simply makes those things more expensive in this country. Other terms for tariff are national sales tax, or national consumption tax. 

And Charles Payne can talk all he wants about the "facts" that Americans will be paying less in taxation under President Trump, which would offset the tariffs. But according to Econo Fact, 60% of Americans only got 500 bucks back in tax relief under President Trump's 2017 tax cuts. So 10 bucks a week is supposed to pay for a 25% increase in food and milk? I don't think so. The wealthy won't be hurt by this, they may even like it. But the overwhelmingly majority of American voters are middle class Americans, who can't afford tax hikes right now. And putting tariffs on their goods and services, is giving them a 25% tax increase." 

From The New Democrat

As my colleague Derik Schneider wrote about this today: 

"President Trump's cave on the tariffs, is just like his his cave on the attempt to unilaterally freeze government spending last week. His got negative feedback from his own people and then he tried to spin it like it was some type of victory for him. 

Imagine being the coach of a football team and you just lost a game 35-7, after you spent a week talking about how your team is going to beat the other team and the press is talking about how bad your team was beat and your answer is something like: "We didn't get shut out. We scored in that game. You thought we would get shut out". 

This is what Donald Trump is like as President of the United States, he swings for the fences every time he tries to do anything. And when he misses badly, he tries claim victory by saying he did something that he had nothing to do with. He's like the amateur card player who goes to Las Vegas with his 10,000$ in savings on a Friday night, leaves on Sunday with 100 bucks left, claiming he just made a 100 bucks." 

From The New Democrat

Sorry, but I don't give credit to people for: 

Not jumping off the bridge. 

Not breaking into my house. 

Not hitting my car when they're parking. 

I don't give cabbies a bigger tip from dropping me off at the right location. 

When you almost create a trade war and you are just pausing that trade war, you don't deserve credit for almost blowing up your house, but putting pause on that. Perhaps you really want to look at the consequences of that. Will the insurance company be fooled. That sort of thing.

The CTV News piece is correct:America gets  0.2% of its fentanyl from Canada. So where is the victory here? How is Canada putting more of their own troops on their border with us, a victory for America? If anything, Canada with its unpopular and outgoing Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, caved. And Donald Trump takes a victory lap for not blowing up his own house. 

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President Donald Trump Caves On Tariffs With Mexico

"BREAKING: Donald Trump Suffers BRUISING LOSS in Trade War Update" 

Source:Brian Tyler Cohen with a look at President Donald J. Trump (MAGA, Florida) 47th President of the United States and its 1st wannabe dictator.

From Brian Tyler Cohen

From Reuters: 

"Mexico has doubled its detentions of migrants with a deployment of 10,000 troops to its southern border, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday, as Washington leans on regional governments to help slow arrivals at the U.S. border.

Reuters reported in March that Mexico had launched enforcement operations for rounding up immigrants transiting illegally toward the U.S. border, and stepped up its efforts along its border with Guatemala.

The operations include members of the National Guard, a militarized police force, along with soldiers and members of the navy and immigration officials. Mexico said on March 22 that it had close to 9,000 troops from the defense ministry, Navy and National Guard on its northern and southern borders.

A Mexican National Guard member deployed to the area said the force's daily arrest rate had doubled in recent weeks... 

From Reuters

So in case there's a MAGA person who reads this and they think that Brian Tyler Cohen is just some radical, left-wing, hippie revolutionary, trying to take down "The Man", Reuters, as well as the Associated Press confirmed what BTC said about this story as well. 

President Trump's cave on the tariffs, is just like his cave on the attempt to unilaterally freeze government spending last week. His got negative feedback from his own people and then he tried to spin it like it was some type of victory for him. 

Imagine being the coach of a football team and you just lost a game 35-7, after you spent a week talking about how your team is going to beat the other team and the press is talking about how bad your team was beat and your answer is something like: "We didn't get shut out. We scored in that game. You thought we would get shut out". 

This is what Donald Trump is like as President of the United States, he swings for the fences every time he tries to do anything. And when he misses badly, he tries claim victory by saying he did something that he had nothing to do with. He's like the amateur card player who goes to Las Vegas with his 10,000$ in savings on a Friday night, leaves on Sunday with 100 bucks left, claiming he just made a 100 bucks. 

As far as President Trump's tariffs, this is what me colleague Rik Schneider said about them on Friday: 

"When you raise the costs of goods and doing business in America, the costs of those goods and business goes up. It doesn't get paid for by corporations or government's (domestic or foreign) but by the consumers themselves, because businesses just pass those new costs onto their consumers. We already saw the stock market take a big hit today even with the President's announcement of his tariffs that he's planning this weekend. Tariffs and tax hikes on goods and business simply makes those things more expensive in this country. Other terms for tariff are national sales tax, or national consumption tax. 

And Charles Payne can talk all he wants about the "facts" that Americans will be paying less in taxation under President Trump, which would offset the tariffs. But according to Econo Fact, 60% of Americans only got 500 bucks back in tax relief under President Trump's 2017 tax cuts. So 10 bucks a week is supposed to pay for a 25% increase in food and milk? I don't think so. The wealthy won't be hurt by this, they may even like it. But the overwhelmingly majority of American voters are middle class Americans, who can't afford tax hikes right now. And putting tariffs on their goods and services, is giving them a 25% tax increase."

From The New Democrat

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Charles Payne: 'THE FACTS': A Brief History of Tariffs in The US

"Making Money' host Charles Payne discusses the truth and history of tariffs." 

Source:FOX Business anchor Charles Payne.

From FOX Business

I'm going to start this off by paraphrasing something that Charles Payne said. He said something like: 

"Of course American corporations don't like tariffs because they think it will hurt their bottomline. We shouldn't measure the strength of the American economy based on how American corporations are doing." 

And my response to that would be: I didn't know that Charles Payne was a graduate of the Robert Reich School of Economics. Which of course would be located at Harvard, or Berkeley, if such school even existed. I say that half-jokingly, because that's what tariff supporters or people who feel the need to kiss Donald Trump's feet (to put it mildly) every time that he does anything controversial, sound like. Regardless of what their real-life politics might be because they feel that they have to do that to stay in business and to keep their careers going. They're forced to make asses (to be frank) out of themselves on national TV and say things that they simply don't believe, in order to appease their dear leader.

I'm in my late 40s now, so I remember Ronald Reagan being President in the 1980s. He was a Conservative Republican in almost every real sense of the term. This is what he said about the "free market economy" back in 1981 during his first year as President: 

"We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and, ultimately, human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down.  Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success – only then can societies remain alive, dynamic, prosperous, progressive and free.

Trust the people.  This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire post-war period, contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.  The societies that have achieved the most spectacular, broad-based progress are neither the most tightly controlled, nor the biggest in size, nor the wealthiest in natural resources.  No, what unites them all is their willingness to believe in the magic of the marketplace." 

From AEI

Yes, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans were Conservatives (by-en-large) and not seen as old school political dinosaurs, that Conservative Republicans are seen as today. You will almost never hear any MAGA member (who are the real RINOS) ever quote Ronald Reagan when it comes to the "free market", law and order, the U.S. Constitution, limited government, etc, because they know their dear leader Donald Trump simply doesn't believe in conservative values. 

So as a JFK Democrat, (the people who are called the New Democrats, that became popular in the 1990s, people who I call the real Liberals) I'm going to give you my own position on tariffs. 

When you raise the costs of goods and doing business in America, the costs of those goods and business goes up. It doesn't get paid for by corporations or government's (domestic or foreign) but by the consumers themselves, because businesses just pass those new costs onto their consumers. We already saw the stock market take a big hit today even with the President's announcement of his tariffs that he's planning this weekend. Tariffs and tax hikes on goods and business simply makes those things more expensive in this country. Other terms for tariff are national sales tax, or national consumption tax. 

And Charles Payne can talk all he wants about the "facts" that Americans will be paying less in taxation under President Trump, which would offset the tariffs. But according to Econo Fact, 60% of Americans only got 500 bucks back in tax relief under President Trump's 2017 tax cuts. So 10 bucks a week is supposed to pay for a 25% increase in food and milk? I don't think so. The wealthy won't be hurt by this, they may even like it. But the overwhelmingly majority of American voters are middle class Americans, who can't afford tax hikes right now. And putting tariffs on their goods and services, is giving them a 25% tax increase.

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