Are We Being Repressed?

Many liberals and never-Trumper conservatives say the US has gone down the rabbit-hole of authoritarianism, as the president defies court orders on his immigrant deportation actions and executive orders that undercut Congress’ spending authority. The only issue for politicians and pundits who argue we are in a constitutional crisis is how far in we are, and what it would take to get the US out of the authoritarian rabbit-hole.

Last week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, considered a frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, drew heavy criticism from her side when she appeared with President Trump at Macomb Community College for a campaign-style rally in which the president promoted his tariff policy to a friendly crowd. Whitmer explained she appeared with Trump at that rally in support of the president’s announcement of a new fighter jet mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, Michigan.

Then last Friday, Whitmer appeared on a left-leaning podcast to warn about the condition of the Constitution.

“We are indeed in a constitutional crisis,” Whitmer said on Pod Save America. “The thought that we’ve got an administration that is just blatantly violating court orders should, I think, scare everybody … This is very serious moment.”

Beginning this Friday we are hosting a weekend debate on the question of whether we are in a constitutional crisis, and whether it matters, in the left and right columns. Enter your COMMENTS in this column or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you lean left or right (irrespective of your opinion on the question) in the subject line.

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THURSDAY 5/8/25

Trump Deal With UK

Much Ado About UK Deal – President Trump announced a trade deal with the UK Thursday that eliminates tariffs on steel and aluminum and cuts the tariffs on British cars from 27.5% to 10%.

“Timing couldn’t be more apt,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said phoning in to the Oval Office for Trump’s announcement, where the US president was flanked by cabinet members and staffers. Trump said the two countries have been working in futility on a trade deal for 25 years.

“This is why Donald Trump produced Liberation Day,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. “People don’t understand he gets deals done.”

(The deal will not be finalized for another couple of weeks, NPR notes.)

“If we’re going to rehabilitate and rebuild international trade, we’re better off doing that together,” the UK’s ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, said from the Oval Office. The deal, he said, also provides a “springboard” for the two nations to create a “tech partnership.”

The deal includes opening of beef and chicken exports to the UK and trade involving commercial aircraft. Rolls-Royce aerospace engines (a company long ago split from Rolls-Royce motorcars, which is now part of BMW Group) will sell aircraft engines in the US tariff-free, while a British airline carrier Trump declined to name will buy $10 billion worth of Boeing airframes.

That’s an obvious kind of deal, because all Rolls-Royce aerospace engines are built in the UK and all Boeing airframes, powered by those engines, are built in the US.

As for the auto tariff deal, sale of US vehicles sold to the UK is negligible – chiefly US-built Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volvo SUVs – while the US with its 16-million auto market purchases about 125,000 BMW Minis, Jaguars, Land Rovers, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and Aston Martins per year.

Trump said he expects to make a deal with the European Union on tariffs, separately because of the UK’s Brexit, and with China. He said that the US’ 145% tariff on Chinese goods will have to be reduced because it already is at its maximum, but tariffs on China will not be cut like they were with the UK.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, along with US trade representative Jamieson Greer are to meet with China’s top economic official, Vice Premier He Lifeng, in Geneva Saturday and Sunday to discuss a trade deal.

•••

The Fed Stands – Interest rates hold steady at 4¼% to 4½% after the Federal Reserve Board of Governors this week met for the second time since President Trump took office. Chairman Jerome Powell cited swings in net exports, but stable low unemployment and “somewhat elevated” inflation.

•••

Libyan Prisons for Migrants? – President Trump wants to send migrants to a Libyan prison or prisons as early as this week, according to Morning Edition, which reports that US officials have been in negotiations with other countries to take in allegedly undocumented immigrants from the US.

•••

Accepting Afrikaner 'Refugees' – The Trump administration’s anti-DEI campaign is not just about ending anti-discrimination policy; It’s also about fixing so-called reverse discrimination. Case in point is a plan by the administration’s Department of Health and Human Services to use funds from its Office of Refugee Resettlement to resettle an estimated 20,000 white Afrikaner “refugees” in the US from post-apartheid South Africa, according to a report in The Lever, which cites an internal memo obtained from government sources.

The Trump administration cut off US aid to South Africa in February over Afrikaners’ claims of post-apartheid discrimination at the prompting of DOGE chief Elon Musk, a native of the country who has tweeted he is not of Dutch-Afrikaans heritage, but rather of British/English heritage, yet has championed the reverse-discrimination claims.

Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1994 when the Black majority were given the vote, leading to election of Nelson Mandela as president. White South Africans still hold about 72% of the nation’s farms and agricultural holdings despite making up just 7.3% of the population, according to Action for Southern Africa, a land reform advocacy organization.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 5/8/25

Health Check on the Constitution

Actions of the Trump White House after the first 100 days of the president’s second administration have many conservative never-Trumpers as well as liberals warning of a “constitutional crisis.” Pro-MAGA populists and conservatives would disagree, even argue that Trump is saving the Constitution from the “woke” constraints imposed by Presidents Biden and Obama.

“Claims of a constitutional crisis are overblown, if not completely imaginary,” conservative Berkeley Law Prof. John Yoo wrote for the Civitas Institute of the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a visiting scholar. “Critics would have a better claim to credibility if they were not so obviously partisan. These same authority figures did not warn of a constitutional crash when President Joseph Biden, without congressional authorization, forgave an estimated $400 billion in federal student debt – a constitutional ‘power grab’ if there ever was one, and a far cry from anything Elon Musk’s efficiency drive will find in cuts.”

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THURSDAY 5/8/25

Watch for Our Redesign

The Editorial We here at The Hustings are all too aware of the clunkiness and limitations of this website, especially when trying to access us on your smartphone (where the page opens on this, the left column – it’s not supposed to do that). Look for an all-new website/format designed to alleviate these issues, coming soon.

Go to about thehustings.news to see a preview of the new website.

But please do not wait for our redesign to engage with our echo chamber-free civil media.

To comment on our summary of Kristen Welker’s interview with President Trump on Meet the Press, on Israel’s latest plan to contain Hamas in Gaza, on Trump’s Pope The Donald post on Truth Social or any other relevant news/news aggregate you’ve read here (or even political news you haven’t read here), email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

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MONDAY 5/5/25

…meanwhile…

The Conclave begins Wednesday to choose a new pope has begun in Vatican City. Despite telling The Atlantic last week that “I run the country and I run the world” President Trump is not in the running … nor will he make Canada our 51^st state.

WEDNESDAY 5/7/25

India and Pakistan Fight Over Kashmir – India attacked Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, killing at least 26 – including children – and injuring at least 46 people Wednesday in what The Guardian calls “the worst fighting between the two for decades.” Pakistan claims it shot down five Indian planes, not confirmed by Indian defense military officials.

In the wake of the late-April attack on the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu, India claims it has nine targets defined as “terrorist infrastructure.” Two Indian military spokespersons told a New Delhi briefing that Islamist militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were the targets. Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Miski said “pre-emptive, precautionary” strikes were necessary when intelligence warned of further terrorist attacks.

•••

No Canada, Mr. President, Sir – Here’s the Art of the Deal: Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, became the latest Western leader to own President Trump in the Oval Office this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleas not to trust Russia’s Vladimir Putin notwithstanding. Carney buttered up Trump, calling him a “transformational president” after Trump opened the Oval Office presser by suggesting Carney’s win last month was “one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics, maybe even greater than mine.”

Trump did not credit that great comeback to the fact that Carney overturned a 27-point poll deficit largely because his Conservative Party opponent, Pierre Poilievre was cast as a sort of Great White North Trump.

Trump did say this when asked about making Canada 51^st state of the US: “I think that there are tremendous benefits to the Canadian citizens. Tremendously lower taxes, free military, which honestly we give you anyway, because we’re protecting Canada, if you ever had a problem. But I think you know it would really be a wonderful marriage because it’s two places that get along very well. They like each other a lot.”

Carney responded: “Well, if I may. As you know in real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.”

“It’s true,” Trump agreed.

“We’re sitting in one right now,” Carney continued. “Buckingham Palace that you visited as well, and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it’s not for sale, won’t be for sale, ever, but the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together.”

Carney went on about how Canada along with NATO is stepping up security (though unsaid; As the US under Trump steps back), which Trump acknowledged.

As for certain real estate never being for sale, Trump concluded, “but never say never.”

--TL

_____________________________________________

TUESDAY 5/6/25

Canada Day at the White House – Rather, it’s 51^st State Day as far as President Trump is concerned when he meets with Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney. The Toronto Star warns that it will be a “perilous first few hours” for Carney, former central banker for Canada and the UK, as he faces a potential Volodymyr Zelenskyy-like cold reception, though likely without comments about owning a suit.

President Trump appears to be treating Carney’s visit like other world leaders he imagines want to visit the White House on bended knee to negotiate a trade deal in the wake of his Liberation Day tariffs. Carney, according to NPR’s Morning Edition had dispensed with the new Canadian PM tradition of visiting Washington first, and instead travelled to Europe after his parliamentary election victory last month.

Apparently unaware of this tradition Trump said; “I’m not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does.”

•••

German Parliament in Crisis – Christian Democratic party leader Fredrich Merz failed to win enough votes to become Germany’s next chancellor Tuesday morning, The New York Times reports, setting up another vote to be held Tuesday afternoon. Merz has been the leader-in-waiting since his party won national elections in February.

Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, co-leaders of the far-right populist AfD (Alternative for Germany) party immediately after Tuesday morning’s vote demanded that Merz resign and call for fresh elections.

Context … After Germany’s domestic intelligence agency listed the AfD as a “right-wing extremist” party, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President Vance last week blasted the intel agency.

“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition,” Rubio wrote on X-Twitter. “That’s not democracy – it’s tyranny in disguise.”

•••

2025 Pulitzer Prizes Include – ProPublica earned a public service Pulitzer for its reporting about pregnant women who died after doctors delayed urgently needed care over worries of vague “life of the mother” exceptions in states that ban abortions. The staff of The Washington Post won a breaking news Pulitzer for its coverage of the July 13 assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The staff of Reuters won an investigative reporting Pulitzer for coverage of lax laws on fentanyl distribution in the US and Europe. The New York Times won Pulitzers for explanatory reporting, local reporting, and for photographer Doug Mills’ photos of the July 13 Trump assassination attempt. The staff of The Wall Street Journal won a national reporting Pulitzer for a series on Elon Musk. Esquire contributor Mark Warren won a feature writing Pulitzer, and Bloomberg CityLab contributor Alexandra Lange won a Pulitzer for criticism. The Houston Chronicle won a Pulitzer for editorial writing, and The New Yorker won Pulitzers for commentary, feature photography and for audio reporting for its podcast, In the Dark.

--TL

_____________________________________________

MONDAY 5/5/25

The President v. the Constitution – President Trump will say he was joking when he posted this photoshop of himself on his Truth Social as the potential successor to Pope Francis I, though days earlier in a surprise interview published in The Atlantic he did indeed say, “I run the country and the world.” Apparently that includes Vatican City?

Trump extended this sudden magnanimity to the left-of-Fox News media by appearing on Sunday’s NBC News Meet the Press.

Highlights? We have got your highlights right here …

Host Kristen Walker asks Trump whether he has to “uphold the Constitution.” Trump replies; “I don’t know.”

Hint ... It's in his oath of office.

Context … Pressing on the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, Welker says; “Your secretary of state says everyone who’s here, citizens and non-citizens deserves due process. Do you agree?”

Trump: “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”

Welker: “Well, the Fifth Amendment says as much.”

Trump: “It seems … it seems, it might say that, but if you’re talking about that then you have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people who are, some murderers, and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth. Some of the worst, dangerous people on Earth. And I was elected to get them the hell out of here. Courts are holding me from doing it.”

Welker: “Even given the numbers you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States, Mr. President?”

Trump: “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying again, I have brilliant lawyers that are working for me. And they are obviously going to follow what the Supreme Court said. That is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. I have a different interpretation.”

Whose economy? The “good parts” of the economy are Trump’s, the president said; “the bad parts are the Biden economy.”

When will he reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine? “Maybe it’s not possible.”

Do people have the right to criticize him without fear of retribution? “Absolutely.” Thanks, Mr. President.

On his call to Jeff Bezos over Amazon’s threat to post tariffs next to the price of imported goods: “I’ll always call people if I disagree with them.”

Expect more gold: Trump says he’ll build and self-fund a “world class” ballroom in the White House.

Sucession: Finally putting to rest the notion he would run for a third term in 2028, Trump instead names potential successors; Secretary of State (and now also national security advisor) Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.

•••

Send Them to Alcatraz? – President Trump said on his Truth Social over the weekend he is ordering the Federal Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz. Now a tourist trap, literally, on an island in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz opened as a prison in 1934 to hold such notorious criminals as Al Capone, a favorite foil of Trump at campaign rallies last year, and it closed in 1963 because it was too expensive to operate, according to USA Today.

But as Trump posted on Truth Social; “The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order and JUSTICE.”

•••

Israel Approves Gaza Plan – Israeli cabinet ministers approved a plan early Monday that involves “occupation of territory and sustain Israel’s presence,” Haaretz reports. The plan is to capture the entire Gaza strip and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, the AP reports, adding that if implemented in the face of likely international opposition, would vastly expand Israel’s operations on Gaza.

The question of Israel’s endgame in Gaza has been an issue since shortly after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack.

•••

Hooray for Hollywood – Latest Trump Tariff ™ is a 100% tax on movies produced overseas, The Wall Street Journal reports, as the president has called use of incentives by countries to draw filmmakers away from the US a “national security threat.” According to NPR, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand have been particularly aggressive in using such incentives to bring productions to their neighborhoods.

No mention of how Georgia and other states east of the West Coast also has been aggressive in drawing movie and television production over from California, but Deadline notes that one of Trump’s special envoys to Hollywood, right-leaning actor Jon Voight, was said to be “devising a plan to save the entire industry.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 5/5/25

Donald’s Dickensian Future

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

“Coketown, with its vast, smoke-belching mills and ceaseless clatter, stood as a monument to a system that traded fancy and feeling for raw, relentless production. Its factories loomed like giant, unfeeling engines—a world of brick, iron, and mechanical routine.”—Charles Dickens, Hard Times

One of the things that has been characteristic of Americans since the start of the republic is parents’ hope and belief that their children can do better than they did. It is always a forward striving.

But that’s not what the Trump Administration thinks should be the case.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says that after all of those factories come rolling back into the US there will be jobs galore for blue-collar workers.

Those jobs will be there for, well, generation upon generation. And they won’t necessarily change.

As he told CNBC:

“This is the new model, where you work in these plants for the rest of your life and your kids work here, and your grandkids work here.”

That’s right: Get a job in a factory and don’t leave.

Maybe if you’re lucky there will be barracks that you and your offspring can live in.

Perhaps you will buy all of your products at the factory store. You’ll get married at the factory chapel. Your children will be born in the factory hospital. You’ll be buried in the factory cemetery.

MAGA!

To be sure, many factory jobs of today are far superior than they were in the time of Dark Satanic Mills.

But one of the reasons why these factory jobs are better is because of the work done by government agencies including OSHA and the EPA. They established regulations that help assure the health and safety of not only the people working in the factories, but the people who live in the vicinity of factories.

OSHA. . .EPA. . .regulations. . . Bah! Who needs them?

There is another reason why factories of today are different from those of yesterday: Automation. Things like robots. Not Elon’s Optimus, the humanoid robot that he claims will revolutionize everything. . .even though in his public demonstrations the robots were operated by humans behind the scenes, sort of like those little robots rolling around in amusement parks.

No, we are talking about industrial robots that have a robust design and are built to deal with the rigors of factory work.

These robots have what is known as a “mean time between failures” measured in tens of thousands of hours. If a factory is running a three-shift/five-days-a-week schedule, this would mean 6,240 hours per year. Industrial robots are likely not going to fail in that period of time.

Sure, there is a need for preventative maintenance. And there is a need for programming.

But there will be a need for robotics technicians.

According to RoboticsCareer.org, someone who wants to be a robotics technician will “benefit from some training in mechanics. You’ll want to spend time particularly focused on hydraulics, pneumatics, and electronics, as all of these will have a role in the continuing operation of the machines.”

What’s more: “Part of this material maintenance of robots is an understanding of basic engineering principles like physics and fluid mechanics. You’ll also benefit from more electronics-focused areas like working with microprocessors, circuit boards, networking technology, and other computer technology.”

Yes, there is a non-trivial amount of training required.

Funny: You hear Team Trump talk about bringing manufacturing jobs back but not about preparing the workforce to take those jobs. Have you heard a single word about what is going to be done to get people prepared to take these jobs?

According to The National Association of Manufacturers’ Q2 2024 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, 67.7% of those surveyed say their biggest business challenge is “Attracting and retaining a quality workforce.” And this is right now, when it seems as though the US has little if any manufacturing.

Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers have it that there are 482,000 job openings in manufacturing occupations right now. Seems that people aren’t in a big hurry to take them.

And let’s face it: the amount of automation that will need to be deployed in all of the factories that are allegedly going to come back will be tremendous because these factories will need to be as cost effective as possible. The number of jobs created will be a fraction of what they were in an earlier age that Trump certainly thinks about.

Once upon a time, Republicans, particularly those who consider themselves “conservatives,” cited Adam Smith’s economic approaches as being those that should be followed.

Smith wrote this about mercantilism, which is what Trump is pursuing with the tariffs:

“It is thus that every system which [tries], either by extraordinary encouragements to draw towards a particular industry a greater share of the capital of the society than what would naturally go to it, or, by extraordinary restraints, force from a particular industry some share of the capital which would otherwise be employed in it, is in reality [harmful to] the great purpose which it means to promote. It retards, instead of accelerating, the progress of the society towards real wealth and greatness; and diminishes, instead of increasing, the real value of the annual produce of its land and labor.”

Trump and Lutnick certainly wouldn’t like that last sentence.

Odds are Wealth of Nations won’t be available in the company library.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. His columns also appear in Substack in the Hustings.

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MONDAY 5/5/25

Still Biden’s Economy?

When the Commerce Department reported an 0.3% drop in Real Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter of the year, the so-called gold standard of measuring the economy, President Trump blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden. GDP under Biden was up 2.8% for all of 2024. That’s a particularly healthy number, and in fact the last time the US economy shrunk was the first quarter of 2022, the beginning of Biden’s first full year in the White House.

As any pundit and most voters will tell you, we have been in Trump’s economy since at least January 20. President Trump has even claimed the bull market on Wall Street over the last year as his stock market because of stock traders’ anticipation of his laissez-faireattitude toward government regulation (though certainly not toward free trade).

What do you think?

We are happy to take your remarks on which parts of the current economy belong to Trump and which still belong to Biden. If, for example, you can make the argument that the Biden administration is indeed responsible for the drop in GDP, we would be happy to run your comments in the right, probably, or left column, so long as your argument is civil and adheres to the facts.

Email your civil COMMENTS on center column news & analysis, and/or any of the commentaries and opinions expressed in the right and left columns, to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings (regardless of your opinion on the given issue) in the subject line.

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FRIDAY 5/2/25

…meanwhile…

Unemployment Steady -- Employers added just 177,000 jobs in April, 51,000 jobs lower than the March report, but better than forecasts had predicted. The unemployment rate of 4.2% was unchanged from March, the Labor Department reports. On APM’s Marketplace Thursday host Kai Ryssdal noted that effects of the tariffs on unemployment won’t show up until the May report next month. In Friday’s report the Labor Department singled out a decline in federal government employment against gains in health care, transportation and warehousing and social assistance. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

•••

FRIDAY 5/2/25

Trump Wants Big Cuts – Presidents’ budget blueprints are considered to be symbolic ‘wish lists,’ but it may take a stronger Democratic opposition to hold back more of President Trump’s priorities than of any his predecessors. The Trump budget blueprint for fiscal year 2026 calls for slashing non-defense discretionary spending by more than $160 billion, a 22.6% cut from projected fiscal year 2025, The Wall Street Journal reports. His “political priorities” would feature serious cuts to federal environmental, renewable energy, education and foreign aid programs.

And then there’s this … Trump on his Truth Social Friday morning, according to the WSJ: “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!”

Not to mention public radio, TV … Trump issued an executive order overnight Thursday-Friday that would remove federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds approximately 1% of NPR (though local radio stations, especially in small, rural markets depend on the federal funding) and 15% of PBS. This has been an issue for hard-right Republicans for many decades.

“Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,” the EO reads.

The Trump White House also seeks to claw back about $1.1 billion in funding already approved for the CPB for two years.

Perhaps savings could pay for this … During his first term, President Trump was dazzled by a military parade he attended on the Champs-Elysees with French President Emmanual Macron on Bastille Day, July 14, 2017. Trump has yearned to duplicate the military pomp & circumstance ever since. Well, it turns out that Trump’s birthday coincides with the US Army’s 250^thanniversary.

The Associated Press reports it has obtained detailed US Army plans for a “potential” military parade for June 14, 2025, when Trump turns 79. It calls for “more than 6,000 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple thousand civilians” along the National Mall in Washington, according to planning documents dated April 29 and 30 obtained by The AP.

These plans, it must be noted, have not been approved. But we will hear more over the next couple of months.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 5/2/25

Did He Skip High School Civics?

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Remember civility?

That was the social behavior that is respectful of others. Patient. Open and engaged. Disagreeing without being disagreeable.

You know, everything Donald Trump isn’t, especially when dealing with people who aren’t likely to kiss his ring and then shave his back.

Trump sat down with ABC News’s Terry Moran, anchor and senior national correspondent.

One of the things that is always good is the truth.

Something that Trump seems to have a difficult time with.

Take, for example, his statement: “I’ve taken the trade deficit down to a number that’s very, very — starting to get really good.”

In January 2025, still considered “Biden’s economy,” the U.S. trade deficit was $131.4 billion, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Credit to him, because in February 2025 the deficit decreased to $122.7 billion.

But then there is the difficult part because the trade deficit in March 2025 — solidly in the Trump zone — was $162 billion.

It doesn’t take a degree from the Wharton School to know that 162 is a whole lot larger than 131.

And in the context of deficits, it’s not “really good.”

Or there’s the claim that sounds good to, presumably, the base that China “were making from us a trillion dollars a year. They were ripping us off like nobody’s every ripped us off.” And according to Trump, essentially every country that the United States has trade with is “ripping us off.”

Were that claim about “trillions of dollars a year” anywhere close to the truth would get him a pass for rhetorical effect, but here’s the thing:

Assuming that “ripping us off” means that they have sold us goods that we imported, US imports from China were:

2018: $538.51 billion
2019: $449.11 billion
2020: $432.55 billion
2021: $506.29 billion
2022: $427.23 billion
2023: $438.95 billion
2024: $462.62 billion

No evidence of a trillion.

And while not denying that there is an imbalance in the amounts of trade between the two countries, during this period here is the value of the US exports to China, or presumably the amounts that US businesses were “ripping off” China:

2018: $120.28 billion
2019: $106.48 billion
2020: $124.58 billion
2021: $151.43 billion
2022: $154.12 billion
2023: $147.77 billion
2024: $143.54 billion

Trump tends to imply that trade is all one way: That the Chinese, and essentially every other country on Earth, are forcing their stuff on the US with the US being a naif among thieves.

(A digression: Here’s a way to think about trade. Let’s say you go to Starbucks and order a grande iced caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle and two pumps of vanilla syrup. This could set you back about $6.75. Odds are you could buy the ingredients — the espresso beans, milk, caramel syrup, vanilla syrup — and the equipment to make your own grande iced caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle and two pumps of vanilla syrup. But the thing is, there would be not only the cost of the equipment — an espresso maker can easily set you back $250 — and the ingredients, but there is the time necessary to make the beverage and then do all of the subsequent cleanup. It is likely that you find it more cost-effective to buy the drink from Starbucks. Is it expensive? That depends on your point of view of crafted coffee beverages. Is Starbucks “ripping you off” when you deliberately go in and buy one? In Trump’s World that is evidently the case.)

Well into the interview, Moran asked about the handling of the immigrants — illegal or otherwise — by the Administration.

Which led, among other things, for Trump to say, “Well, lemme ask you. Do they get hearings when — when Biden allowed 21 million — ‘cause I think the number’s 21, 20 million — people to flow into our country? He had 21 million people that came into our country through a stupid open border.”

That darn Biden.

But here’s something of interest:

In October 2024 the House Committee on Homeland Security put out a press release titled “Startling Stats Factsheet: Fiscal Year 2024 Ends With Nearly 3 Million Inadmissible Encounters, 10.8 Million Total Encounters since FY2021.”

The Committee chastised the Biden Administration. The Committee Chair Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), issued a statement saying, in part, “There are countless examples of those aliens going on to commit crimes against innocent Americans, and many of them create financial burdens for state and local governments who are already struggling to provide resources to their citizens. We simply cannot go on like this as a country. These open-borders policies have devastated our safety, security, and sovereignty. It’s time to return to policies that secured our border and our nation.”

In other words, Biden is to blame.

But here’s the curious part: It found 10.8 million. Where does Trump’s 20 million come from?

Again, the truth seems to be optional.

To return to the subject of civility.

In a spirited exchange as to whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia has “MS 13” tattoos on his fingers — Trump insists he does; Moran said it was Photoshopped — an exchange deep into the interview,

Trump said:

“I’m giving you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you’re doing the interview, I picked you because — frankly I never heard of you, but that’s okay.”

And there you have it.

Because Trump is finding someone who is not agreeing with him, he has to push back in a way that tries to diminish his interlocutor, tries to throw him off his game.

“You, Mr. Nobody, are getting a big chance because of Me. And don’t you dare forget it.”

And, of course, after Moran politely said, “Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I'm not an expert on them. I want to turn to Ukraine, sir,” this occurred:

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, no. Terry --

TERRY MORAN: I -- I want to get to Ukraine --

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Terry, no, no. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be. Not "interpreted." This is why people --

TERRY MORAN: Alright.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: -- no longer believe --

TERRY MORAN: Well.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: -- the news, because it's fake news –

And it goes on and on to the point where Trump says:

“Why don’t you just say, ‘Yes, he does,’ and, you know, go on to something else.”

Of course. Because there is disagreement with what Trump thinks, it can’t be real.

And Moran should just wither under Trump’s claims and admit something that Moran politely described by saying “It’s contested.”

The interview moves on to Ukraine (“And this is Biden’s war”).

Moran asks Trump whether he trusts Putin.

And then there’s this response:

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't trust you. I don't trust -- I don't trust a lot of people. I don't trust you. Look at you. You come in all shootin' for bear. You're so happy to do the interview.

TERRY MORAN: I am happy --

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And then you start hitting me with fake questions. You start tellin' me that a guy -- whose hand is covered with a tattoo --

TERRY MORAN: Alright. We're back to that.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: -- doesn't have the tattoo, you know.

TERRY MORAN: Alright.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, you're being dishonest.

This is not the behavior of a serious man.

And as the interview nears its close:

TERRY MORAN: I'm gonna ask -- if I may, do you think the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I -- no, I think it's gone way up, and I think we're a respected country again. We were laughed at all over the world. We had -- a president that couldn't walk up a flight of stairs, couldn't walk down a flight of stairs, couldn't walk across a stage without falling. We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it. But you guys didn't want to write it because you're fake news.

TERRY MORAN: Alright. Thank you --

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And, by the way, ABC is one of the worst. I have to be honest with you …

So much for civility.

_____
FRIDAY 5/2/25

The Widening Fissures Along This Country’s Fault Lines

Commentary by Jerry Lanson

Here is how Donald Trump’s administration is “Making America Great Again.”

•By deporting a 4-year-old citizen undergoing treatment for cancer.

•By eviscerating, if not outright killing, “Meals on Wheels,” a vital program that feeds the sick and elderly.

•By unveiling plans to end the federal program that distributes life-saving Narcan, a cheap and highly effective way of preventing drug overdose deaths.

•By crippling supply chains.

•By arresting and filing felony charges against a judge for the unspeakable crime of allowing an immigrant in her court out through a side door.

•By investigating the main fundraising arm of the opposition Democratic Party.

And that’s all in just the last several days.

Perhaps you find some of these actions cruel, even inhumane. But Donald Trump’s True Believers still adore him. On Monday, Pew Research released a poll that found 72 percent of white evangelicals approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job and 69 percent consider the ethics of his top officials to be excellent or good.

This in the same week in which a series of polls showed Trump’s overall support sagging to between 39% and 42% nationally, the lowest favorable rating after three months in office of any president in eight decades, even lower than Trump in his own first term.

The Pew Poll carries a stark warning to those who think they can sit back and wait for Trump to implode. Be forewarned. He almost certainly will plow straight ahead, disregarding the growing anger of an increasing majority of the country. Don’t be caught by surprise.

This is a cruel, callous and unlawful regime. It does not care whether it is popular. It’s more interested in keeping you – and American institutions – intimidated. That’s how dictators operate.

In a headline Monday, The Economist asked, “Who Will Stop Donald Trump’s Drive for Unchecked Power? Congress is Inert, but a Deft Supreme Court Might Contain Him.”

I, for one, am not counting on that, though judges at lower levels of the court system thus far have at times been heroic.

If the high court justices do stand up, they will need all of us – we, the people -- behind them.

Retaining at least a semblance of free speech and democracy will take unrelenting and widespread peaceful resistance in the days and months ahead. It will take all of us and test all of us.

By all means, take time to enjoy the Spring flowers. Just keep in mind that we ignore the fissures rippling across this country at our own peril.

Lanson’s Substack page, where his columns originally appear, is @fromthegrassroots.

_____
TUESDAY 4/29/25

…meanwhile…

[US Bureau of Economic Analysts]

MAY DAY 2025

UPDATE: Sec. of State Marco Rubio replaces Mike Waltz as White House national security advisor as Waltz has been named President Trump’s choice for United Nations ambassador, BBC radio reports.

Trump to Waltz: You’re Fired – Michael Waltz, the national security advisor who had invited The Atlantic’s editor Jeffrey Goldberg to join a Signal group chat to discuss a US military operation in Yemen in March – and not Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth -- has been fired by President Trump, The New York Times reports. Waltz’s sacking has not been confirmed by the White House.

Though Trump defended Waltz as Signalgate developed, Goldberg’s colleague at The Atlantic, David Graham, writes that the national security advisor was “one of the more expert and respected hands” at the administration, as well as an apparent target of 9/11 conspiracist Laura Loomer for insufficient blind loyalty to Trump, and so was not long for the administration anyway.

•••

Trump Signs Minerals Deal with Ukraine – Some two months after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disastrous meeting with Trump & Co. in the Oval Office, the US has signed its minerals deal with Ukraine, its first deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, announced Thursday.

Though the deal still falls short of security assurances for Ukraine, the announcement comes two days after the Trump White House notified Congress that it is preparing to sell “$50 million or more” in “defense articles” to Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent reports. Though the peace proposal the White House has presented to Russia and Ukraine would let Russia hold on to Crimea while prohibit Ukraine from joining NATO, these moves are seen as a sort of pivot to support for Kyiv over the Kremlin.

“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine on the long term,” Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent said in a press release.

•••

Wall Street Rebound – After dropping nearly 600 points when the Commerce Department reported a shrinking economy in the first quarter, Wall Street rebounded a bit, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 141.74 points, or +0.35% to 40,669.36 by Wednesday’s close. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was off 0.09%.

•••

Pro-Palestinian Protestor Released – A Vermont federal judge has released Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi from a two-week detention, saying that holding the lawful permanent resident detained for pro-Palestinian protests without due process demonstrates “great harm,” NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

“I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his cabinet,” Mahdawi told reporters upon his release. “I am not afraid of you.”

--TL

_____________________________________________

Uh Oh

WEDNESDAY 4/30/25

GDP Falls 0.3% in Q1 – Despite a good deal of consumer spending in the first quarter as a last chance to buy big ticket items ahead of President Trump’s tax on imports, Real Gross Domestic Product fell by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, the Commerce Department reports Wednesday morning. This follows a 2.4% gain in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Imports did surge in the quarter as the Trump tariffs kicked in, but the GDP decline was far worse than the 0.4% growth (something in the +2%-range is considered “normal”) that The Wall Street Journal’s survey of economists had predicted.

Expect panic on Wall Street.

Concern, if not panic … After an initial drop of nearly 700 points after markets opened Wednesday morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average then recovered a bit to -374 points, or an 0.9% drop by 11 am ET. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was off 1.65%.

Believe THE CAPS … “Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. Be PATIENT!!!”

Not your eyes … GDP was up 2.8% for the year in 2024, and most economists believed the US had avoided a post-pandemic recession.

•••

On Day 101 – The White House has summoned automakers, including Toyota and Hyundai, to Washington for US investment talks, Automotive News reports. The idea, apparently, is to convince automakers (which already have too much capacity in North America overall) to maybe build more plants here.

This follows President Trump’s Day-100 rally with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at Macomb Community College in Michigan. A majority of United Auto Workers members there voted for Trump last November, and support his tariff policy, even if their employers do not.

No guidance … The Amsterdam-based owner of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram, Stellantis, announced it was suspending guidance for sales and revenue expectations in 2025 due to tariff uncertainty, APM’s Marketplace reports.

After General Motors Tuesday reported a 6.6% drop in profits for the first quarter, it delayed its traditional call-in with Wall Street analysts by a couple of days, to Thursday, in order to give it time to assess the effect of Trump’s latest tariff policy on its outlook for the year. The White House has removed tariffs on imported parts and materials that would compound on the 25% tariff imposed on the fully assembled imports.

Amazon grace? … Meanwhile, Amazon has backed off a plan to post the added cost of tariffs on products to consumers after White House Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt called breaking out import charges “a hostile and political act.” According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon had considered displaying the cost of tariffs on its “ultracheap” shopping website, Haul, but the idea “was never approved and is not going to happen.”

--TL

_____________________________________________

100 Days of Trump 47

TUESDAY 4/29/25

Worst First 100 – President Trump has scored the worst first 100-day job approval ratings in 80 years, with a 39% approval rating to 55% disapproval, ABC News’ FiveThirtyEight reports.

Meanwhile, an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows 45% “F” grade to a 23% “A” grade, NPR’s Morning Edition reports Tuesday. The Marist poll shows 17% giving Trump a “B,” 8% a “C” and 7% a “D.”

Celebrating in Macomb … Meanwhile, President Trump was set to celebrate the first 100 days of his second term at Macomb Community College, where members of the United Auto Workers approve of his tariff policy, including the 25% tariff on cars and trucks from Mexico and Canada. On Monday, the Trump administration signaled it would ease up on its auto tariffs, The Wall Street Journal reports. The tariffs will not “double up” on imports by also taxing the imported parts and materials, such as Canadian steel and aluminum, that go into the assembled vehicle no matter where it comes from.

Upon this news, General Motors delayed by two days its first-quarter earnings report with Wall Street analysts because it cannot offer earnings guidance for the rest of the year due to the ever-changing tariff policy.

•••

No Canada for Trump – President Trump’s marks north of the border are not so good, where former central banker Mark Carney led his Liberals to a minority-government victory Monday over Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, The Globe and Mail reports. Largely seen as a Canadian rebuke of President Trump’s tariff policies and comments about annexation, Carney and the Liberals were able to erase a 27-point poll lead, and more, of Poilievre and the Conservatives and their “make Canada great again” vibe.

It’s the Liberals’ fourth mandate since 2015, though Carney must form a coalition government.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
TUESDAY 4/29/25

Hold the Champagne & Streamers (They’re Tariffed, Anyway)

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Before the Democrats start breaking out the “We’re Back!” signs and streamers because of the just-released Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll that shows Donald Trump’s performance solidly underwhelming, there is something they need to look in the mirror about.

There are questions 13a and 13b that they need to come to grips with:

Do you think the Democratic Party is in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today, or out of touch?
Do you think the Republican Party is in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today, or out of touch?

Turns out 69% of those surveyed think the Democrats are out of touch. While there is a notable 64% who think the Republicans are out of touch, that still fewer than those who are not impressed with the performance of the Democrats.

In fact, when it comes to

Do you think Trump is in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today, or out of touch?

he does better than the Democratic Party, as “only” 60% think he is out of touch.

That in itself is damning.

The President is supposed to represent the people, and if well over half don’t think he’s in touch with their needs, that’s simply not good for the country.

Sixty-one percent disapprove of his handling of the economy. Perhaps his playing a businessman on TV is beginning to wear thin.

Sixty-four percent disapprove of the way he is handling tariffs.

Sixty-seven percent, undoubtedly realizing how much of their retirement money or funds to send the kids to college are wrapped up in the stock market, disapprove of how Trump is roiling Wall Street.

And 64% are of the opinion that all those Executive Orders he’s executing, which are expanding the power of the executive (well, quite a number of them are the subjects of lawsuits, so perhaps that expansion is not going to happen), think he is “going too far.”

That is underscored by the 60% who say that he has “gone beyond his authority as president.”

The Washington Post claims “Trump’s 100-day approval ratings in both terms are lower than any president’s since polls began.”

Trump’s approval rating in his first term was at 42%, which is five points lower than George W. Bush at or near his 100 days in office.

Trump’s current approval rating is now 39%.

Still, there are polls and there are elections. He won the 2024 election and did so handily.

Or an argument could be made — and it wouldn’t be too difficult to make it — that the Democrats lost the 2024 election.

And given what the polls say about the Democratic Party today, they still don’t have their act together.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

_____
TUESDAY 4/29/25

Congressional Dems Must Take Dramatic Action

Commentary by Jerry Lanson

I’ve spent a lot of time calling Congressional offices lately.

Late last week I made six calls – to Sens. Chuck Schumer, Chris Van Hollen, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and Rep. Jamie Raskin. Soon, I think I’ll devote a marathon day to calling every Democratic member of the Senate and House.

My message yesterday to each of the six was the same: It’s time for Democrats to get serious about bringing home Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the 29-year-old Maryland father of three disabled children, a long-time U.S. resident wrongly arrested on March 15 and flown to a notorious El Salvadoran prison.

In two polls, a majority or plurality of the American public, respectively, say they believe he should be returned. That makes this the perfect time to shine a blazing spotlight on the issue. And the way to do so is for a sizable contingent of Democrats in Congress to fly to El Salvador – and stay there until Abrego Garcia is released.

Abrego Garcia, of course, is one of many immigrants, often documented, who have been seized without warrant, without charges or without due process and carted away, either to El Salvador or ICE detention centers in Louisiana or Texas. The list includes Ph.D. candidates, a high-end medical researcher and others in the midst of legally seeking naturalization or permanent resident status.

But Abrego Garcia in particular has become a symbol of Donald Trump’s utter contempt of the law and the Constitutional division of powers enshrined in the Constitution. In 2019, Abrego Garcia received a court order barring his deportation to his native El Salvador because his life is endangered there. The Trump Administration initially acknowledged he had been wrongly arrested this March but then dismissed the attorney who made that acknowledgement.

Now the U.S. insists the construction worker is a gang member though he has spent half his life in this country and has no criminal record. On April 4, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis at a Maryland hearing ordered the government to “facilitate and effectuate” his return by midnight April 7. Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts issued a temporary stay of that order but then, on April 10, the entire Supreme Court voted 9 to 0 that the Trump Administration has to “facilitate” his release.

Remarkably, Donald Trump and his attorney general have thumbed their noses at the high court, saying it really is up to the dictator-president of El Salvador, who the United States is paying millions of dollars to house prisoners, to decide if he could come back.

A week ago, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador and managed to meet with the detained man. A few days later, the senator, made the explicit point that “I am defending the rights of this man to due process.”

Due process in the courts is absolutely basic to living in a democratic country of laws. Yet many elected Democrats have done their share of shuffling about Abrego Garcia, too. Trump’s position on tariffs is far less popular with the public than his views on immigration. The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, went to far as to call Abrego Garcia’s case, “the distraction of the day,” a comment that absolutely made me cringe.

Either we live in a country of laws or we do not. Interestingly, the American public seems increasingly to understand that. As has been the case over much of the last three months, many every-day Americans are well in front of their representatives. A recent Economist poll found 50 percent of Americans believe Abrego Garcia should be returned to the United States. Only 28 percent believed the Trump Administration has a right to keep Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.

A second poll, released by The Washington Post Friday, found that 42 percent of Americans believe he should be returned to the United States and just 26 percent believe he should remain in prison in El Salvador. The remainder said they “don’t know enough to say.”

That is where Democratic elected officials can help. A sizable contingent – perhaps 8 or 10 from the House and Senate should go to El Salvador -- attempt to see Abrego Garcia, hold daily press conferences, and publicize and shed light on his case. This contingent should stay there until Abrego Garcia returns.

The reason why they should stay is absolutely straight forward. If documented Americans can be deported without charge or due process to terror prisons and kept there indefinitely, it is only a matter of time before any of us, including citizens, might face the same fate.

Donald Trump does not hide this. On Friday, Politicopublished a story titled, “Trump says he would ‘love’ to send violent American citizens to foreign prisons.”

“We’re looking into that,” he said.

The time to stop him must be now.

Contributing Pundit Lanson’s columns originally appear in Substack @fromthegrassroots.

_____
MONDAY 4/28/25

Canada’s Trump Poll

MONDAY 4/28/25

Canadians to Polls Monday – Conservative Pierre Poilievre (above, right) had a lead of as much as 27 points for Monday’s election until President Trump returned to the White House and began calling then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau “governor” and rattling his saber about taking over the sovereign nation as the US’ 51^st state. Now Prime Minister Mark Carney, who replaced Trudeau in March (above, left), has a slight lead over Poilievre going into Monday's elections, and other candidates from Carney’s Liberal Party are likely beneficiaries, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

As we await results from Canada’s elections, our left and right columns feature criticisms, including a call for action ahead of President Trump’s 100^th day in office.

<<<On the left, Contributing Pundit Jerry Lanson argues that it is well past time for congressional Democrats to do everything they can to stop Trump in his tracks.

>>>On the right, Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay calls out Trump’s false statements and evasions regarding tariff talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Bessent’s Take – “I don’t know if President Trump has spoken to President Xi,” Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent told Martha Raddatz on ABC News This Week Sunday.

Xi himself last week disputed that any tariff negotiations had taken place between China and the US.

Raddatz asked Bessent about Trump’s claim in his Time magazine interview that he has made deals with some 200 other countries.

“I believe that he is referring to subdeals within the negotiations we’re doing.”

•••

Peace, Russian-Style – Vladimir Putin has declared an eight-day “humanitarian” truce with Ukraine to commemorate the 80^thanniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, The Kyiv Independent reports. The truce is to run from midnight May 8 to midnight May 11, according to a Kremlin statement.

But Kyiv has seen this before, and even President Trump has called on Putin to stop shelling residential neighborhoods in the capital city.

Meanwhile … Russian news agency TASS on Monday published a video showing North Korean troops who fought alongside Russian forces in Kursk Oblast. This is the Kremlin’s first acknowledgement that North Korea has provided soldiers for Russia’s campaign against Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces had held Russia’s Kursk Oblast for several months since last year, but Russia has since largely retaken the region.

Here’s ‘The Deal’ … It’s pretty clear after a brief meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday that any successful ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine will require Ukraine to permanently give up Crimea and stay out of NATO. Russia’s concession, as it hikes bombarding Ukraine, is that it won’t get the entire country the Kremlin had set out to conquer from its February 2022 invasion.

But wait, there’s more … for the Kremlin: In an analysis Sunday in The New York Times, Peter Baker notes that Putin will get more from the Trump administration than Ukrainian territory he already holds, an end to US sanctions against Russia and “absolution” from his invasion of Ukraine. Other benefits for Putin include the US walking away from its traditional allies, along with the shutdowns of Voice of America and the National Endowment for Democracy.

•••

Wis Circuit Judge Charged – Once again it’s a dispute between a president bent on absolute executive power and an “activist” judge. The Justice Department has charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with two felonies over allegations she tried to assist undocumented Mexican immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz to avoid arrest by local officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Removal Operations Task Force (per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

The officers’ plan to arrest Flores-Ruiz in a public area outside Dugan’s courtroom allegedly was foiled when the judge ushered the undocumented immigrant out through a private hallway used by deputies, juries, court staff and in-custody defendants being escorted by deputies. Flores-Ruiz also has since also been arrested.

The US attorney for Wisconsin’s Eastern District will present evidence to a grand jury whether there is “probable cause” that a crime has been committed. The Wisconsin legislature can remove Dugan, who also faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $35,000 fine, via an impeachment process beginning in the state assembly.

Dugan’s defenders say arrests by ICE have prompted undocumented aliens to avoid appearing in court cases.

•••

Whither Due Process? – Meanwhile, three children, ages 2, 4 and 7 who are US citizens were deported with their apparently undocumented mothers to Honduras Friday morning (per The Washington Post). Attorneys for both families say the two mothers and three children were taken into custody during routine check-ins for the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, in New Orleans last week.

They were prevented from communicating with other family members or legal representatives when they were taken to Alexandria, Louisiana, three hours away, then were put on an airplane to Honduras. The 4-year-old has Stage 4 cancer and was deported without medication or contact with doctors, according to the report.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
MONDAY 4/28/25

The Art of the Interview

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

A few of my friends work in corporate public relations. One of the things they perform is called “media training.”

This means that they work with executives on developing the skills to deal with the press. A primary focus is on interviews and press conferences.

Even if things are going swimmingly well corporate-wise there is always the likelihood that there will be a question or two that the executive really ought not answer in a forthright way.

Two methods to handle that are to deflect and ignore.

Sometimes the two are combined into one.

Let’s say the executive is at an automobile company. It so happens that there are reports people are having trouble getting their cars started.

A journalist asks what the company is doing to help these people who that problem.

The executive, having been trained, answers:

“That’s a good question.” He doesn’t believe it is a good question, but by saying that, the journalist feel fairly chuffed with her- or him-self for asking a good question. It is just human nature.

The exec continues:

“But you know, one of the things that we really think people ought to focus on is the quality of the interior that we’ve crafted for the Pompeii XL. I like to think of it as an interior that people can spend all day sitting in. And did I mention the 16-inch screen for streaming your favorite shows. . . ?”

Note how the answer is focused on what the exec wants to talk about (the interior) not what the journalist asked about (the ignition issue).

Politicians who have a comms person on staff do the same thing. Watch Meet the Press and listen to the question and how it is answered. There is generally a disconnect between the two. (The sad thing is that Kristen Welker rarely pushes back on the guest so there is nothing near the answer being sought while the journalist asking about the starting problem probably doesn’t let it go.)

The point is, in the answer there is always a message that the interviewee wants to get across.

Which brings us to Donald Trump and his recent interview with Time magazine.

Team Trump, including the captain, have been out in public since the ill-named “Liberation Day” touting all of the “deals” being made with countries who were on the list of those who would be having tariffs applied to their goods — goods, let us not forget, that Americans want to buy — tariffs, let us not forget, that Americans will be paying.

In effect, they’ve been claiming that the phone in the White House has, to use a Joe Biden, old-timey phrase, “ringing off the hook.” Leaders, it is claimed, that are desperate to “cut a deal” with Trump. And we know who “holds all the cards.”

Last week, for example, Trump claimed that they were getting very close to a deal with China.

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun, China and the US had “not conducted consultations or negotiations on tariffs, let alone reached an agreement.”

While Guo Jiakun might be spinning things for the China side, it is worth noting that also last week the Chinese canceled an order for 12,000 metric tons of US pork—the largest cancellation since 2020.

Presumably if things were going well, that wouldn’t have happened.

The Time interviewers asked Trump about the “deals.” Why no “deals” have been announced.

He replied, “No, there’s many deals.”

The Time interviewers followed up: “When are they going to be announced?”

Trump: “You have to understand, I’m dealing with all the companies, very friendly countries. We’re meeting with China. We’re doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I’ve made all the deals.”

Companies. Countries. China. Take your pick.

And he, naturally, takes credit for having made the deals.

Huge credit to Time Senior Political Correspondent Eric Cortellessa and Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs for following that answer by asking, again, when they’d be announced.

Trump: “I’ve made 200 deals.”

Time: “You’ve made 200 deals?”

Trump: “100%.”

Time: “Can you share with whom?”

And here is the answer, an answer that makes one wonder whether Trump’s media team consists of geniuses or the polar opposite. Or perhaps Trump, and let’s not forget he is getting up there in years, is manifesting the polar opposite of Biden’s debate performance on June 27, 2024, when Biden seemed incapable of stringing together a few words.

Now remember, this is a simple question. Trump said he has made 200 deals on tariffs. The question is to name one (although some might parse “Can you share with whom?” as being a question about whether he is able to name names, which could have resulted in a binary answer: Yes or No.).

Trump: “Because the deal is a deal that I choose. View it differently: We are a department store, and we set the price. I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it, or they don’t have to pay it. They don’t have to do business with the United States, but I set a tariff on countries. Some have been horrible to us. Some have been okay. Nobody’s been great. Nobody’s been great. Everybody took advantage of us. What I’m doing is I will, at a certain point in the not-too-distant future, I will set a fair price of tariffs for different countries. These are countries — some of them have made hundreds of billions of dollars, and some of them have made just a lot of money. Very few of them have made nothing because the States was being ripped off by every, almost every country in the world, in the entire world. So I will set a price, and when I set the price, and I will set it fairly according to the statistics, and according to everything else. For instance, do they have the VAT system in play?

“Do they charge us tariffs? How much are they charging us? How much have they been charging us? Many, many different factors, right. How are we being treated by that country? And then I will set a tariff. Are we paying for their military? You know, as an example, we have Korea. We pay billions of dollars for the military. Japan, billions for those and others. But that, I’m going to keep us a separate item, the paying of the military. Germany, we have 50,000 soldiers —"

I’m sorry, but this is the President of the United States answering a simple question.

What does this mean: “So I will set a price, and when I set the price, and I will set it fairly according to the statistics, and according to everything else.”

What statistics? And what’s “everything else”? After all, it has been shown that the “Liberation Day” tariff numbers were essentially based on how much a country exports to the US and what the trade deficit is with that country: numerator, denominator, voila! Not exactly the sort of economic assessment that you’d figure would be made by the most powerful nation in the world.

Yes, part of the “everything else” includes tariffs that other countries charge US goods — but notice he uses that three times in his answer.

“How are we being treated by that country?” Yes, one can make an argument against China, but Canada?

Is Trump’s an example of “the weave”?

Or is this the answer of a man who doesn’t know what he is talking about — while the US pork farmers are trying to figure out what they’ll do with the canceled order from China, while the US automakers are trying to figure out how they’ll handle the tariffs (not only on vehicles, but on the steel and aluminum used to make vehicles), while Boeing, which has been not doing at all well during the past several months, assesses how it will deal with the 50 planes it was planning to export to China (41 of which have been built) that the Chinese are no longer accepting — a financial hit to Boeing of more than $1-billion. . . .

At some point there is going to have to be an acknowledgement that while the US farmers and manufacturers are experiencing serious issues, in some cases actually existential issues, Donald Trump is not a serious man.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily for the right column.

_____
MONDAY 4/28/25