Is the Economy Stupid?

Join the debate on the US economy under President Trump and his tariff policy by emailing your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news, and please, indicate your political leanings (which do not have to align with your opinion) in the subject line (e.g., “I lean left” or “I lean right”).

In Friday’s edition of The Hustings pro-Trump contributor Rich Corbett comments on never-Trumper Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s right-side columns on the Trump economy. Contributor Hugh Hansen comments in Friday’s left column.

Macaulay’s two recent commentaries are ‘It’s the Economy…” and “This is How to Make America Great Again?”

For more analysis and commentary, please visit our Substack page.

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THURSDAY 3/20/25

Harder Landing

Federal Reserve officials predict weaker growth, higher unemployment and higher inflation than they did last November. Scroll down for details.

THURSDAY 3/20/25

Dropping Out – President Trump is expected to order Education Secretary Linda McMahon, to shut down her new department Thursday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Trump is to announce closing of the federal department “and return educational authority to the States” in a White House ceremony Thursday with the Republican governors of Texas, Indiana, Florida and Ohio.

•••

Un-Softening the Landing? – Citing concerns over President Trump’s tariff policy, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee in its meeting Tuesday and Wednesday lowered gross domestic product projections for 2025 to a median of +1.7%, which is significantly lower than the 2.5% GDP growth the US enjoyed in 2024.

The range projected by the committee range from just +1% GDP to 2.4%.

“Federal projections see the economy dramatically reset by Trump’s election,” The Wall Street Journal reports, after Fed officials previously expected a “soft landing” when it carefully increased interest rates last year while trying to avoid triggering higher unemployment. Fed officials now project higher unemployment, higher inflation and weaker growth.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell (pictured) called the expected effect of tariffs on the inflation rate “transitory.”

“We now have inflation coming in the form of an exogenous source,” Powell said in his press conference Wednesday, “but the underlying inflationary picture before was basically 2½% inflation, 2% growth and 4% unemployment.”

Core inflation was 2.8% in 2024, and the Fed Open Market Committee projected a range of 2.5% to 3.5% in 2025, with a median expectation of +2.8%. The Fed did not cut interest rates this week but despite the tariff threat still plans two cuts later this year.

Trump said Wednesday that the Fed should cut interest rates “as the US tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy,” Reuters reports.

•••

Happy Happiness Day – Thursday is World Happiness Day, and the World Happiness Report, compiled with Gallup Analytics, again names Nordic countries among the happiest in the world.

Finland is number-one, according to the report, followed by 2.) Denmark, 3.) Iceland, 4.) Sweden, 5.) The Netherlands, 6.) Costa Rica, 7.) Norway, 8.) Israel, 9.) Luxembourg and 10.) Mexico.

Canada is number-18. The US is 24^th.

Number 66 is the Russian Federation and 68 is China.

Ukraine? It’s 111^th. Afghanistan is in last-place at number 147.

Semafor holds a World Happiness Day launch event on YouTube here.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 3/20/25

How to Become Great

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

No one who is an American, I think, doesn’t want America to be great. There may be some question about the “Again” part.

But the inspirational, exceptional, excellent — who could quibble? But getting there takes more than just adding the word, “again.”

One of the things that is being great — at a personal or a national level — is doing something extraordinary.

Let’s say that you become a great guitar player. It will be known that you are great because you are adding something to the history of guitar playing such that it is something that stands out in a way that is admirable.

From the point of view of a country, it is doing something that the populus can be proud of. This could be by creating systems that take care of the better part of the citizenry when it comes to health care and education.

Or it could be doing something that people are proud of, as in “We did that.”

Take the Hoover Dam, for example.

I don’t think you can see it and not feel impressed by the feat of engineering that went into it.

The dam was built during the Great Depression. The president at the time was Herbert Hoover.

He didn’t name it after himself like someone we are all familiar with probably would.

Rather, Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it to Hoover.

Roosevelt was a Democrat. Hoover was a Republican.

Roosevelt didn’t spend time belittling and denigrating Hoover.

Imagine that.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made a speech to Congress that started the efforts to land a man on the Moon.

On September 12, 1962, he made the speech at Rice University and said the words that still ring with greatness:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Becoming great isn’t easy. It takes effort, whether it is practicing that guitar or educating and taking care of people or building dams.

Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon July 20, 1969.

When he landed, Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, was president.

When speaking of the achievement Nixon didn’t denigrate Kennedy, a Democrat.

But to bring this to today:

What is the Trump Administration doing to Make America Great Again?

Greatness isn’t achieved by firing thousands of people.

Greatness isn’t achieved by setting the Department of Justice after people you feel slighted you.

Greatness isn’t achieved by creating economic conditions that will put less buying power in people’s pockets.

Greatness isn’t achieved by antagonizing allies and cozying up to enemies.

So where’s the plan?

Where’s the vision?

Where’s something that the American people can be proud of?

This is one of the manifold problems today.

There is no plan.

He doesn’t even talk about building the “big, beautiful Wall” anymore.

Breaking things doesn’t lead to greatness.

Building things does.

Funny thing: when Trump wants to get away from Washington he generally goes to Mar-a-Lago, an estate built by Marjorie Merriweather Post between 1924 and 1927.

You’d think if he was such a great builder he’d be at one of his facilities.

In 2016, when Trump was still running for president, an architect named Doug Staker wrote an opinion piece for the highly respected architecture and design magazine Dezeen.

Staker wrote about what he called “Trumpitecture.”

In part the essay says:

“Trump has built his name on his special combination of blandness and opulence, with complete blindness toward anything that makes architecture with a capital A. Architecture is like a revered founding father. It can rise above its time and leave a lasting legacy. It marks a city for generations, and has the power to affect its environment in positive, memorable ways, to create an identity reflecting the values of those who interact with the environment it shapes.”

In other words, there’s no Greatness there.

If there is a legacy, it is likely to be ruin.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. Read more of his commentaries on our Substack page.

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THURSDAY 3/20/25

Civil Disagreements Welcome

Email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line. Please note: We do not expect you to follow right/left or red/blue party lines with your comments, which is why we ask you to indicate whether you are left or right in the subject line.

Contributors for our right column include Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, a never-Trumper conservative, and Rich Corbett, a pro-MAGA conservative.

Scroll down with the trackbar on the far right to read Macaulay’s “Trump Wants a Putin Victory” and “This is How to Make America Great Again?” commentaries. Contributor Sharon Lintner’s commentary, “About Those Tariffs” is in the left column, opposite a Macaulay column. Scroll further down for a variety of comments, including by Corbett, Macaulay and by Joe Lintner, on President Trump’s recent address to a joint session of Congress.

For more civil political news and discussion, please be sure to visit our Substack page.

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MONDAY 3/17/25

Another ‘Perfect Call’?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy contacts President Trump Wednesday to learn details of Trump’s two-and-a-half-hour phone call with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin (above, in a Voice of America file photo with Trump) Tuesday. “Today, I will contact President Trump,” Zelenskyy said in a joint press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb (per The Kyiv Independent). “We will discuss the details of the next step.”

WEDNESDAY 3/19/25

Can This Democracy be Saved? – Justice John Roberts rebuked President Trump’s call for impeachment of US District Judge James Boasberg Tuesday with a statement released by the Supreme Court’s public information office (via SCOTUSblog), that “(f)or more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Trump had reacted predictably to Boasberg’s order of a two-week hold on the White House’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove Venezuelan migrants, without due process (scroll down this column to see ‘Oopsie’ in Monday’s ‘…meanwhile…’), by calling for the justice’s impeachment and telling Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle host Laura it is “not for a local judge to be making that determination.”

Upshot … Roberts’ rebuke gives some hope to our democracy that SCOTUS will maintain its equal power and independence from the executive branch when myriad court cases springing from the Trump White House’s and DOGE chief Elon Musk’s dismantling of federal departments and agencies reach the nation’s top court on appeal. Smart money says SCOTUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump 45 appointee, could join Roberts in siding with Justices Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Kentanji Brown Jackson in upholding such lower court rulings.

However, this hope is countered by last year’s 6-3 decision in Trump v. United States in which the court’s conservative supermajority gave the president absolute immunity for anything he does while acting as president.

--TL

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TUESDAY 3/18/25

UPDATE: Maybe Not So ‘Perfect’ – Vladimir Putin has agreed to a 30-day pause of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, following a 90-some minute call with President Trump, The Kyiv Independent reports.

“During the conversation, Donald Trump proposed a mutual refusal to strike for 30 days on energy infrastructure,” the newspaper reports, citing a Kremlin readout of the call.

“Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the appropriate command to the Russian military,” the readout says. The Kremlin also demanded a complete cessation of foreign military aid and intelligence to Ukraine as a “key condition” for escalation.

Ukraine has had some recent success with counter-strikes on Russian infrastructure, the Independent notes, citing a recent drone strike on fossil fuel infrastructure in Moscow.

An artsy deal for Putin, at least.

•••

This Ceasefire is Over – At least 404 Gazans have been killed, including four Hamas government officials and hundreds injured after Israeli forces broke the increasingly shaky “30-day” ceasefire begun in mid-January, The Guardian reports. It appears unlikely, according to the news outlet, that a deal to end Israeli attacks on Gaza can be achieved soon. Plans for a second phase to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas were not negotiated.

Israel has threatened for weeks to launch an offensive, according to the report, with the country’s leadership saying it would force Hamas leadership to release more hostages. Many of Israel’s hostage families have disputed this.

•••

Constitutional Clash – In the latest example of the Trump White House flexing its constitutional authority over the judiciary, the Justice Department “stonewalled” federal Judge James E. Boasberg in court Monday as the judge tried to determine whether President Trump had violated his order, The New York Times reports, when it deported more than 260 immigrants to El Salvador over the weekend. The White House invoked the obscure wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport what it claims are gang members, including 23 members of the Salvatorian MS-13 and members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.

Justice Department attorney Abhishek Kambli argued that the Alien Enemies Act gives the president the broad authority to remove immigrants with little or no due process and he refused to answer detailed questions about the flights to El Salvador, according to the NYT. Kambli is due back in Boasberg’s court noon Tuesday to certify in writing that no immigrants were removed after the judge’s written order prohibiting said removal went into effect.

Meanwhile … Trump border czar Tom Homan took to Fox News Monday to defy judicial authority.

“We’re not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think,” Homan told Fox & Friends. “I don’t care what the left thinks. We’re coming.”

•••

GOP Sees Opportunities – Twenty-six of them. The National Republican Congressional Committee on Monday released its list of 26 House Democrats it plans to target in the 2026 mid-term elections, Roll Call reports, including the 13 Democrats who won districts President Trump carried in the 2024 elections. The GOP currently has a one-vote margin in the House.

“House Republicans are in the majority,” said NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC). “Meanwhile, vulnerable House Democrats have been hard at work demonstrating they are painfully out of touch with hard-working Americans. Republicans are taking the fight straight to these House Democrats in their districts, and we will unseat them next fall.”

Meanwhile, in America … The Wall Street Journal Tuesday catalogued “The Collateral Damage of Trump’s Firing Spree,” reporting that staff cuts in Veterans Affairs facilities in Detroit and Denver have cancelled health programs because homeless vets are without dedicated housing coordinators, that Education Department job cuts have slowed the ability to get disabled children to classrooms in Alabama and that “staffing uncertainty” in California’s Yosemite National Park have paused new reservations for more than 500 campsites in the coming peak summer season.

No mention … of President Trump’s scapegoat-in-waiting, Elon Musk, in any of this.

--TL

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...meanwhile...

MONDAY 3/17/25

Another Victory for Authoritarianism – The Trump White House has placed most of the Voice of America’s staff on “indefinite leave,” locking them out of their offices. An English-language daily newspaper in China calls the shutdown “excellent news,” Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, told NPR’s Morning Edition. The VoA along with Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia reaches about 350 million people broadcasting in nearly 50 languages to people in countries that repress independent press, such as Russia, Belarus and Cuba, according to the report.

Funding for the VoA and affiliates comes from the US Agency for Global Media, run since the beginning of the Trump administration by the president’s acolyte, failed Arizona gubernatorial and Senate candidate Kari Lake. The White House in a statement said VoA, RFE, RFA and Radio Liberty were shut down for “radical propaganda” and “left-wing bias.”

“I think that demonstrates this is not a cost-saving measure,” CPJ’s Ginsberg told NPR’s Leila Fadel. “It’s politically motivated.”

•••

‘Oopsie’ – It’s no mistake; The Trump White House has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to “swiftly” deport 238 Venezuelan immigrants accused of being members of criminal gang TdA. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday that President Trump had accused TdA members of being a “terrorist organization,” and that it is “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela,” according to the Miami Herald.

The Alien Enemies Act was previously used for the War of 1812, World War I and most recently, World War II, where it was used for detentions, expulsions and restrictions of Japanese, German and Italian immigrants, based on their ancestry, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

But the Venezuelan immigrants, who were not processed legally, were not deported back to Venezuela and to the hostile government of President Nicholás Maduro but instead to El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele reportedly has an agreed to imprisoning the migrants for low cost, at his Terrorist Confinement Center, a mega-prison built to crack down on organized crime.

This, despite a restraining order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to block the deportation for at least two weeks while the case continues, issued hours before Rubio and Bukele announced them. Rubio repeated a social media post by Bukele after the order, which the judge issued orally, with the words, “Oopsie … too late,” accompanied by a laughing emoji.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 3/17/25

It’s the Economy. . .

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Remember the bad old days of Sleepy Joe Biden, the man who with his woke, communist, fascist, radical bunch created the worst economy in American history, the worst conditions in WORLD HISTORY — though we don’t care about the World outside our borders, which are now very, very strong borders--?! Horrible economy. Terrible.

Unthinkable. That’s what everyone says.

Well it seems as though people — regular people who buy things like groceries and cars that aren’t Teslas (“I’m president. I want to pay full price.”) — are beginning to think maybe things weren’t so bad.

That is evident in numbers from the Survey of Consumers conducted by the University of Michigan.

The surveyed are asked about three categories:

Index of Consumer Sentiment
Current Economic Conditions
Index of Consumer Expectations

So it is basically how they are feeling, how they are spending and how they anticipate things will be working out, economically speaking.

According to the preliminary numbers for March 2025, here’s how things look:

Index of Consumer Sentiment: 57.9%
Current Economic Conditions: 63.5%
Index of Consumer Expectations: 54.2%

Now looking at those numbers you might be thinking: “Looks pretty good. All of them are above 50%.”

But then we go back in time to the numbers in March 2024, back in the days of the Biden debacle:

Index of Consumer Sentiment: 79.4%
Current Economic Conditions: 82.5%
Index of Consumer Expectations: 77.4%

That’s right, declines of 27.1%, 23% and 30% from then until now — and we haven’t even started feeling the brunt of the tariffs. Is Trump ushering in an economic miracle or an economic debacle?

Joanne Hsu, Survey of Consumers Director, pointed out:

“Consumer sentiment slid another 11% this month, with declines seen consistently across all groups by age, education, income, wealth, political affiliations, and geographic regions.”

Yes, pretty much sounds like everyone.

Now some people might think that this is a distorted bad, very bad, twisted liberal agenda at play, Hsu pointed out:

“Despite their greater confidence following the election, Republicans posted a sizable 10% decline in their expectations index in March. For Independents and Democrats, the expectations index declined an even steeper 12 and 24%, respectively.”

One factor that is concerning all participants: Inflation.

The most recent number has an expected rate of inflation of 4.9%, “the highest reading since November 2022 and marking three consecutive months of unusually large increases of 0.5 percentage points or more.”

What’s more, looking at inflation expectations in the long run, it was 3.5% in February and is 3.9% in March, “the largest month-over-month increase seen since 1993.”

That’s during the days of Clinton.

The so-called “Golden Age” is apparently, so far as consumers are concerned, a Lead Balloon.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. Read more of his commentaries on our Substack page.

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MONDAY 3/17/25

About Those Tariffs

Trump instigates

What does the United States stand to gain by picking a fight with our neighbors? It seems like I've lived my entire life barely aware that Canada even exists. They're quiet, well-mannered neighbors who don't cause any trouble.

It seems the United States has everything to gain by keeping it that way.

Then enter Trump who instigates, starts poking a sleeping bear. From berating the Prime Minister to starting a tariff war, Trump has quickly managed to make an enemy.

We are at the mercy of a madman and

unfortunately, the American people will pay for Trump's political stunts.

--Sharon Lintner

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Pi Day 2025

Senate Passes Budget Bill, 62-38

FRIDAY, Π Day 2025

UPDATE: Budget is a Go – Democratic senators helped Republicans pass cloture, 62-38, to advance the GOP budget to fund the federal government through September 30 early Friday evening, per The Hill. Senate Republicans needed a total of 60 votes to prevent a filibuster that would sink the budget bill. It's headed to President Trump's Resolute Desk for his signature.

Sen. Angus King (I-ME) joined nine Democrats in supporting the GOP-led Senate, consisting of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) – who changed his mind about trying to shut down the government Thursday – Democratic Whip Dick Durban (IL), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), John Fetterman (PA), Kristen Gillibrand (NY), Maggie Hassan (NH), Gary Peters (MI), Brian Schatz (HI) and Jeanne Shaheen (NH). Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican who voted no.

Question of whether it was smart or weak for Democrats to cede its remaining smidgen of power to the GOP, and thus to Trump, had kept Democratic leadership awake at-night for at least the past week.

Between Schumer’s 180-turn and the cloture vote, The Onion ran this (satirical, if you’re not familiar) headline: “Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back from the Brink of Courage.” (Scroll down for details on Schumer's change of heart.)

•••

Awaiting a Ceasefire – Russia sent “additional signals” Friday to President Trump regarding a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine after special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to finalize the agreement already reached with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to The Kyiv Independent, which cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. In today’s Right Column Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay outlines latest evidence of Trump’s total devotion to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. In the Left Column contributing pundit Sharon Lintner decries Trump’s diminishing relationship with traditional allies via his tariff policy.

•••

No 'Schumer Shutdown' – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did a “180” overnight and said he will vote in favor of the House bill to fund the government for six more months, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Until late Thursday, Schumer was unified with progressive Democrats to down the House bill in the Senate. Republicans need eight Democratic supporters to avoid a filibuster, as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) will not vote with the GOP.

“I will vote to keep the government open, and not shut it down,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday.

Bad as the bill is, Schumer said, a government shutdown would be worse, giving President Trump the chance to ravage the federal government even more than he has since January 20.

What happened to the Senate Democrat plan to push a 30-day continuing resolution to force Republicans to give them seats at the table to renegotiate a funding bill the Democrats hate (it passed the House 217-213, with only one representative per side defecting)?

What happened to Congressional Democrats taking a stand against President Trump’s thorough deconstruction of the federal government?

“I think there’s a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The prog-Democrat called a 30-day clean CR proposal a “meaningless gesture,” and called on Senate Democratic negotiators to “fight.”

For better or worse, the spending bill reflects the inherent difference between MAGA-unified Republicans and perpetually disorganized Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are calling for a vote against the spending bill, The Hill reports. Centrists Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) are caught between Schumer and the hard-left who wanted them to vote against the bill Friday.

If Schumer can’t find three more Senate Democrats along with the three centrists, himself and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has said previously he will vote for the bill, we will quickly find out the difference between a government shutdown and Trump’s second term.

•••

To the Court – Trump administration Acting Solicitor Gen. Sarah Harris has petitioned the US Supreme Court to allow the administration to enforce the president’s executive order ending birthright citizenship (per SCOTUSblog). Three federal courts have issued orders to put a stop on Trump’s EO ending birthright citizenship, on constitutional grounds.

Harris in her brief argued the orders “transgress constitutional limits on courts’ powers” and “compromise the Executive Branch’s ability to carry out its functions.”

•••

Back to Work – Calling mass firings of probationary federal employees by the Office of Personnel Management a “sham,” US District Judge William Alsop ordered the departments of Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs to “immediately” offer them their jobs back, per Politico. (Many of the probationary employees were not new hires, but longtime employees who had just received promotions, according to NPR’s Morning Edition). Alsop is San Francisco district federal judge appointed by President Clinton.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Pi Day 2025

Trump Wants a Putin Victory

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

The following was written before the Ukrainian government agreed to a cease-fire and the US allowed the Ukrainian military resumed access to intelligence assets. But for all that, the following still stands. What did the Russian government do in response to the proposed cease fire? Well, for one thing, Putin got dressed up in military fatigues and visited some of the troops. For another, the attacks on Ukraine amped up.

So how will the thesis in the headline be realized?

Putin will remain recalcitrant. There will be no going back. Trump will claim that Putin has “all the cards” and consequently what he wants — including the ceding of the territory the Russians have taken, the prohibition of Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, no peace keeping troops in Ukraine, etc. — is what will be agreed to.

There should be little doubt that at the end of the day, Donald Trump wants Russia, the country that invaded a democracy — the sort of place Americans used to defend -- to win the conflict in Ukraine.

Why? Probably because he likes the style of the Russian leader.

Never mind that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is charged by the International Criminal Court as being “Allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute).”

The charge continues:

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).”

Oh, but the International Criminal Court is an international organization and we want nothing to do with the rest of the world unless it is in the financial interest of America.

Deporting children? Who cares?

What’s more, Jack Smith, that “deranged” “Trump hater” “crooked individual” (but just a few of the things Trump has called him), worked at the International Criminal Court, so that place must be rife with bad, bad hombres. Everyone says so.

The Russians have amped up their attacks on Ukraine.

What has the reaction of the Trump Administration been?

It stopped military aid and stopped intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Why?

Because Trump wants Volodymyr Zelenskyy to lose face and his idol Vladimir Putin to gain land.

Just consider this, from the official White House transcript of a press gaggle on Air Force One, March 9, 2025:

Q Sir, on Russia. Have you made a final decision about what sanctions or tariffs you might impose on Russia and when that might be?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at a lot of things. We have big meetings coming up, as you know, in Saudi Arabia. That’s going to include Russia. It’ll be Ukraine. We’ll see if we can get something done. I’d like to get something done.

A lot of people died this week, as you know, in Ukraine. Not only Ukrainians, but Russians. So, I think everybody wants to see it get done. We’re going to make a lot of progress, I believe, this week.

Q Mr. President, is Putin disrespecting you by attacking Ukraine when you’re trying to make peace there?

THE PRESIDENT: Who? Who?

Q Is President Putin disrespecting you by attacking Ukraine when you’re trying to make peace there?

THE PRESIDENT: What did he do?

Q Well, he’s attacked Ukraine.

THE PRESIDENT: Is he disrespecting me?

Q Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT: Who are you with?

Q I’m Michael Birnbaum, with The Washington Post.

THE PRESIDENT: You’ve lost a lot of credibility. Go ahead. What else?

Notice how Trump deflects any potential criticism of Putin and then minimizes, in his own mind, the reporter. How has the reporter, or the Post, lost credibility by asking a simple question that deserves an answer?

Later, questions from others:

Q Are you going to resume aid to Ukraine if they sign the minerals deal with you?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think they will sign the minerals deal. But we want them to —

I want them to want peace. Right now.

Q How do they show that? How do they show that?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, right now, they haven’t shown it to the extent that they should. I think, right now, they haven’t, but I think they will be, and I think it’s going to become evident over the next two or three days. I think eventually, look, we have to have peace.

And I’m doing this — money is one thing. We’re going to lose — we spent $350 billion on this. But the big thing: human life. Thousands of people — this week — thousands of young soldiers died this week. Hundreds of people died in cities in Ukraine. And we got to get it stopped.

It would have never happened if I was president. And it didn’t happen. This was not going to happen.

Trump wants Ukraine to give up rights to its minerals to pay the US back for the military and other assistance provided to the country still under attack.

Why doesn’t he stipulate that Putin should have to pay for rebuilding the cities he’s wrecked in Ukraine?

The Ukrainians haven’t shown their interest in peace “to the extent that they should”?

Might the missiles raining down on their land from Russian have something to do with this?

“It would have never happened if I was president.”

What would have never happened? That the Ukrainians wouldn’t have defended themselves? That they would have been invaded and then thanked Putin for the invasion?

“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump said during the exchange with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on March 3. He was referring to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Zelenskyy and the citizens of Ukraine are going through literal hell.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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Pi Day 2025

Civil Disagreements Welcome

Don't miss our Substack page where Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay's latest right-column commentary is "Trump Wants a Putin Victory." While there, be sure to check out "How About an AmeriCon?"

Contributors for our right column include Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, a never-Trumper conservative, and Rich Corbett, a pro-MAGA conservative. Macaulay’s comments may align much more often with left-column contributors like Sharon Lintner and Hugh Hansen, but that’s what The Hustings is all about and it is why we ask you to list your political leanings in the subject line for comments via email. We want to post your comments in the column with which you regularly identify; not necessarily the column that aligns with your comments on a single, particular subject. Help us grow into a news & commentary site that exposes readers to a variety of political thought and ideas.

For more civil political news and discussion, please be sure to visit our Substack page.

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WEDNESDAY 3/12/25

…meanwhile…

Month-over-month inflation came in at 0.2% (better than forecasts of +0.3%) in February, for an annual Consumer Price Index of 2.8%, according to the Labor Department. That compares with January’s +0.5% increase and 3% annual CPI, an indication that Trump Tariffs had not taken hold yet last month. Scroll down for details. [CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics]

THURSDAY 3/13/25

In Moscow – White House special envoy Steve Witkoff is in Moscow to negotiate the 30-day ceasefire reached earlier this week with Ukraine, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Details of the Kremlin’s initial rejection below. …

In Washington – Ontario Premier Doug Ford meets with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday after Ford agreed to back down on tariffs and potential cutoffs of his province’s sales of hydro-electric power to Minnesota, Michigan and New York State. Read our trade-war counterproposal here.

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‘Nyet’ to 30 Day Ceasefire – Senior Putin aid and Russian negotiator Yuri Ushkov has rejected the peace deal negotiated in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between the US and Ukraine ahead of special envoy Steve Witkoff’s Kremlin visit, saying it would give Ukraine time to reboot, according to The Wall Street Journal. Russian forces are on the verge of taking back its own Kursk Oblast invaded by Ukrainian forces last summer.

“This is nothing other than a temporary time-out for Ukrainian soldiers, nothing more,” Ushkov said. “Our goal is about peaceful resolution. Steps that imitate peaceful actions are not needed.

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EPA -the-P – The Environmental Protection Agency plans to target more than two-dozen rules and practices in the “most consequential day of deregulation in US history,” NPR’s All Things Considered reported Wednesday. Most rules the EPA is reconsidering involves climate pollution from motor vehicles and power plants, wastewater from coal plants and air pollution from the energy and manufacturing industries.

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DOGEed – After Elon Musk’s Department Of Government Efficiency posted error-filled data of its early successes in weeding out federal government inefficiency and corruption, DOGE is claiming newfound transparency in its reports. DOGE’s website on March 2 claims it cut 3,489 grants worth $10 billion. But a new investigation by The New York Times finds these latest DOGE claims do not have previously disclosed identifying details for cuts for which it takes credit.

Meanwhile … As a trade war rages, Canada is investigating potential privacy violations by Musk’s largely pro-Trump social media platform, X/Twitter following a complaint lodged in February, the Financial Post reports. Canadian privacy minister Phillippe Dufresne has announced an investigation into “whether X is meeting its obligations” to meet the nation’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

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CPI Details -- The Labor Department reported a 4% month-over-month drop in air fares and a 1% drop in gas prices, offsetting +0.3% for shelter, +0.2% for energy and +0.4% for food away from home. Despite notorious egg price hikes, food at home was unchanged.

--TL

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Inflation Continues to Cool

WEDNESDAY 3/12/25

UPDATE: We Take That Back – The continuing resolution passed by the House Tuesday that would fund the government through September 30 will not get a vote in the Senate this week, as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will not let seven of his fellow Democrats get the bill to the floor without filibuster, The New York Times reports. Schumer clearly sees reluctance by Republicans to let the government shut down this weekend: He and his fellow Democrats instead back a 30-day stopgap bill forcing the two sides of the aisle to reach a bipartisan solution in the coming month.

Come back, House GOP … House Republicans purposely left Washington after their 217-213 passage of the CR Tuesday.

Not a Shutdown in Sight – Democratic senators are coming around to the idea it would be “too risky” to block the continuing resolution passed by the House, 217-213, Tuesday and force a government shutdown at the end of the week, The Hill reports, even though the bill increases defense spending by $6 billion while cutting non-defense by $13 billion.

“For me, if the Democrats think that they want to burn the village down to save it, that’s terrible optics and that’s going to have serious impacts for millions and millions of people,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told The Hill. “I’m never going to vote for that kind of chaos.”

While Fetterman has vowed to vote for the CR, he is offset by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a spending hawk/defense libertarian who has vowed to vote against it. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) still needs cooperation from seven more Democrats (and all of his party) to pass the bill without a filibuster.

Tuesday’s House vote had one defector from each side of the aisle. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) voted for the CR, while Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against.

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This Means Trade War! – The European Union imposed 50% tariffs on Kentucky bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles Wednesday as Trump Tariffs™ of 25% on steel and aluminum took hold overnight, The Wall Street Journal reports. The EU tariffs were designed to maximize the political and economic costs for the US of the tariffs, while minimizing harm to European businesses and consumers, according to officials.

Also, maybe good for Scotch whiskey and Beemers.*

The counter-measures are expected to cover about $24.5 billion of US goods.

[*BMW motorcycles, as distinguished from the German brand's autos, known among cognoscenti as “Bimmers.”]

Meanwhile … As Europe braces for President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs April 2, the EU is planning a second tranche of tariffs on US goods by mid-April, including chewing gum, poultry, white chocolate, soybeans, carpets and watermelon, according to the WSJ.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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WEDNESDAY 3/12/25

This Is How to Make America Great Again?

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Brooke Rollins, US Secretary of Agriculture, when asked about egg shortages during a Fox & Friends Weekend segment, suggested that people might think, “Wow, maybe I could get a chicken in my backyard!”

That’s right, people can dodge the high price of eggs at the supermarket by raising chickens.

Isn’t it a sign of an advanced economy that people don’t need to raise their own poultry, livestock, grains, and vegetables?

Is this what Trump means about our going to a new Golden Age, one that is more analogous to 2^nd century Rome than 21^st century Shanghai?

During the first Trump administration Rollins served as the head of the White House Office of American Innovation.

And there you have it: the innovative approach to dealing with the consequences of Bird Flu as well as an overall economic decline is to raise chickens.

Yes, this is how Team Trump is going to make America great.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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WEDNESDAY 3/12/25

Open for Discussion

About Trump’s Address to Congress

Contrary to what President Trump claimed in his address to Congress, America is not back. In fact, it's farther from itself than it's ever been because of him: alliances with adversaries, attacks on allies, broken promises, and endless lies and distortions. Instead of presenting a sober speech on issues concerning the nation, Trump ran in full campaign mode, spewing false claims about his predecessor and even calling a member of Congress a derogatory nickname.

The message of Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico summed things up accurately when she held a sign reading, “This is not normal.”
--Joe Lintner
Via Email

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For more civil political news and discussion, please be sure to visit our Substack page.

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MONDAY 3/10/25

Ukraine Agrees to Ceasefire

Moosehead Brewery's Presidential Pack offers 1,461 cans of beer for every remaining day of the Trump presidency, "because every day we deal with the uncertainty of this presidential term deserves a beer," but only in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario, for $2,467 Canadian, or US$1,708.87.

TUESDAY 3/11/25

UPDATE: Kyiv is ready to accept the Trump White House proposal of an immediate 30-day ceasefire contingent on the Kremlin’s acceptance of the terms, according to Ukraine’s Presidential Office, The Kyiv Independent reports. Under the terms negotiated in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between the US and Ukraine, the ceasefire could be extended by mutual agreement, according to the report. But Kyiv is ready to take such steps only if Russia adheres to the ceasefire in the same manner.

Andriy Yermak, who as head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office participated in the talks in Jeddah stressed the need for security guarantees.

“Ukrainian proposal for this meeting with the Americans was three things: Ceasefire in the sky – missiles, bombs, long-range drones – and ceasefire at sea, as well as measures to establish trust to this process, first of all – the release of prisoners,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the meeting. “The American side understands our arguments, accepts our proposals, I want to thank President Trump for the constructiveness of our teams’ conversation.”

•••

READ: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Łech Wałęsa’s letter warning President Trump about Vladimir Putin in reaction to the infamous White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in The Gray Area.

As Ukrainian, US Officials Meet – Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces hit a Moscow oil refinery and a Druzhba oil pipeline facility in Oryol Oblast overnight Tuesday, The Kyiv Independent reports, citing the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces. It was Ukraines’ biggest offensive strike since the war began more than three years ago, according to the BBC.

Russia claims to have downed more than 330 Ukrainian drones in Moscow, Oryol and eight other oblasts.

Meanwhile … Ukrainian officials held their first high-level meeting with US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to discuss a ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine (per The New York Times). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was in Jeddah but did not attend the meetings has proposed a partial ceasefire and would give up some territory already lost to Russia but wants security support by the US.

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CR Today? – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) plans a House vote Tuesday on the one, big, beautiful bill that would fund the federal government through September 30. He will need all 217 of Republican House members on board to pass it.

“It is not something we could support,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. “House Democrats will not be compliant in something that could hurt the American people.”

But Senate Democrats are wary of how the politics of a potential government shutdown have changed, what with the budget shoe being put on his party’s foot. Democrats fear President Trump and Elon Musk could run roughshod while federal offices are officially closed due to a shutdown, according to The Hill. Some might say we’re already there.

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Is the Economy Stupid? – President Trump took a rare day off from the media spotlight as Wall Street reacted to his tariff roller-coaster Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average has erased over the last couple of weeks all its post-election enthusiasm for his victory. The Dow fell 890.01 points, or -2.08%, to 41,911.71 points. Elon Musk may have lost his status as World’s Richest Lifeform, with Tesla stock falling 15.43%, or 40.52 points, to $222.15 per share, about half of where it was at the beginning of 2025.

Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), the shell company set up to make Truth Social Trump’s way to pay off the roughly half-billion dollars in civil penalties he faces from last year’s fraud case (remember?) is off more than 40%, or 14.10 points per share since January 1, to $19.92 per share.

•••

Crackdown, or Cracks in Free Speech? – Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil became the first to be arrested by Homeland Security agents last weekend for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Legally in the US with a green card, Khalil was transferred by ICE from New York to detention in Louisiana following his arrest, without immediate notification of his attorneys, The Wall Street Journal reports.

When Khalil’s attorneys tried to schedule a meeting to speak with their client, authorities in Louisiana offered a date 10 days away, a far-longer time period than they would get in Manhattan, according to the WSJ.

Meanwhile … The Education Department proved it is still alive and kicking, announcing Monday it sent letters to 60 schools, including Ivys, state universities and small liberal arts colleges, to warn of potential enforcement actions if they don’t “fulfill obligations to protect Jewish students.”

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” the president said on social media, “and the Trump administration will not tolerate it.”

--TL

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Don't Call Carney 'Governor'

MONDAY 3/10/25

Canada Gets New PM – Canada’s leading Liberal Party Sunday elected Mark Carney its leader, expected to take over as the nation’s prime minister from Justin Trudeau in the next few days. Carney is now required by Canadian parliament rules to call for elections to take place by October 20, but the Toronto Star reports that “questions loom” whether he’ll call an early election, and how he will handle President Trump’s tariff threats.

Carney, 59, who had served as central banker for both Canada and, during Brexit, the UK, captured 86% of Canada’s Liberal vote, according to the BBC. He has not held public office before.

Early elections would seem to be in the Liberal Party’s interests in that it was far behind Canada’s Conservative Party in the polls last year as Trudeau’s popularity, after 10 years at PM, fell to record lows. But the Liberals have caught the Conservatives largely by connecting its likely PM candidate, Pierre Poilievre, 45, with Trump. This, even though Trump and Poilievre have indicated they do not like each other.

“A person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him,” Carney said at a victory speech Sunday night.

What’s more… “America is not Canada, and Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form,” Carney continued. “Look, we didn’t ask for this fight. We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves” (hockey slang for starting a fight). “In trade as in hockey, Canada will win.”

Meanwhile … Canadian-born actor Mike Meyers, who is perfecting his impression of Elon Musk on his former show Saturday Night Live put his “elbows up,” another hockey reference last Saturday, during his second consecutive appearance on the show.

•••

CR Soon? – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) needs to get all 217 House Republicans on-board, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) needs six Democrats to join Republicans in passing a continuing resolution to fund the federal government to September 30 – or face shutdown by the end of the week. So far, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) appears to be the only member of his party on board. President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One; “I think the CR is going to get passed. We’ll see. But it could happen,” CQ Roll Call reports.

•••

Whose Recession? – President Trump would not rule out an economic recession as a short-term necessity in an interview with Fox News Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo. Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay discusses Trump’s remarks in the right-column commentary, “Lies, Damn Lies, Trump.”

Likely MAGA spin … At least two days before the interview, Bartiromo had begun calling this increasingly likely economic downturn under Trump “Joe Biden’s recession,” according to The Daily Beast.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 3/10/25

Lies, Damn Lies, Trump

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

“American families and businesses are struggling with high costs. It’s one of the top issues that they want policymakers to address.”

That’s Neil Bradley, Chief Policy Officer at the US Chamber of Commerce.

The US Chamber of Commerce has never been accused of being anything but pro-business since it was established in April 1912. It has quite a track record of being, well, non-liberal.

Bradley was reacting to the 25% tariffs that were and possibly will go on to most goods from Canada and Mexico.

Evidently it seems that the Chamber is not seeing a whole lot of addressing of the high-cost issue going on in Washington.

Rather, what’s being seen is a mean sideshow of people getting thrown out of their jobs, in some cases simply because they were doing what they were told to do.

Some guy who runs a car company is suddenly not only a human resources genius, but he knows all about everything from social aid programs to criminal investigations.

“Look at what DOGE is doing! Ignore everything else, like our throwing Ukraine under the treads of a T-90A to the fact that eggs are still expensive. Isn’t Elon swell!”

The Chamber points out the trade with Canada and Mexico supports 13 million American jobs.

If jobs are a concern of the Trump Administration, then what about these jobs?

Trump said in his address to Congress last week:

“We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Which is simply untrue.

The trade deficit, for example, with Canada, according to the US Census Bureau (hope those people have cardboard boxes handy to clear out their desks), is $64.26 billion.

What does that mean?

Simply: Americans buy stuff that Canadians have for sale in greater quantities than Canadians buy American stuff. That is not a subsidy. When you go to McDonalds and buy a burger, are you subsidizing the company? Apparently you are in Trump World.

The trade deficit with Mexico is higher: $179 billion.

But again, this is not a subsidy, this is something based on what we buy from Mexico.

And this is not all vegetables. The US buys things from electrical machinery to surgical instruments from Mexico. The next time you need a medical procedure you might be happy there’s equipment in that OR from Mexico.

Again: no one is making us buy stuff from Canada or Mexico. But because of something once revered by Republicans known as the “free market” we had the opportunity to make those purchases.

But the Trump Administration doesn’t even abide by a free-trade agreement that Donald Trump negotiated during his first term (USMCA).

Getting back to the Chamber’s Bradley:

“We also want to work together to keep costs down, but tariffs will only raise prices and increase the economic pain being felt by everyday Americans across the country. We urge reconsideration of this policy and a swift end to these tariffs.”

Raise prices.

Increase the economic pain.

Now the Chamber is in favor of things that make liberal’s blood run cold:

“The Chamber supports the administration’s efforts to advance pro-growth policies like fewer regulations and less taxation that will grow our economy and expand opportunity.”

But it knows that tariffs do little to help the economy.

And because the President rolls out people to make his point, when the Chamber made its announcement, it did so, as well.

Like Traci Tapani, co-president of Wyoming Machine, a sheet metal fabricator in Minnesota that processes aluminum (another Trump Tariff Target).

Tapani:

“My company will feel an immediate, detrimental impact as a result of these tariffs.”

That’s a nice way of saying they’re going to be gut-punched and will probably have to make adjustments to every aspect of their business.

Trump has been making it sound like we are now in the Golden Age. . .but now he shifts.

In an interview on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo, when asked about the possibility of a recession this year, he responded:

“I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing. And there are always periods of, it takes a little time. It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.”

There is “a period of transition, because what we are doing is very big.”

What they are doing is big: Destroying supply chains that have been reinforced since the COVID debacle that he is not inculpable for. (“You know, a lot of people think that it goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.” —President Trump, February 10, 2020)

“We’re bringing wealth back to America.”

No, what tariffs will do is take money out of people’s pockets in America. Prices will go up for essentially everything for people whether they are running a fab shop or trying to buy fabric to sew a Communion dress.

“And there are always periods of” — why didn’t he come out and say it: Periods when people are going to suffer economically — and largely without reason.

Now-retired Professor Michael Porter developed a theory of the Competitive Advantage of Nations. There are four elements involved (which you don’t need to know). Suffice it to say that some places do thing better than other places. (e.g., Silicon Valley is what it is because of the conditions on the ground there, something that other parts of the US haven’t been able to replicate. And if it was easy, there would be Silicon Valleys across the globe. But some places have the right factors and others don’t.)

That’s pretty much how the world works.

In addition to making it more expensive for people in the US, tariffs also have the consequence of “protecting” the market from competitors — competitors that may have more advanced or clever products to sell. But by making those products prohibitively expensive, they are kept out of the market and domestic products that are less advanced continue because there is little incentive for companies to improve those products.

On the homepage of the White House website it says:

America Is Back

“Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest

until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America.”

If the Trump Administration continues what it is doing — attacking our allies, throwing scientists and researchers at federal labs out of their jobs, putting unnecessary taxes on American consumers, the headline will read:

America Is Behind

And we will be less strong, less safe, less prosperous, and our children will be inheriting a less robust America.

But he can’t admit that.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 3/10/25