Crunching Numbers

What will tariffs have wrought on the US economy? 

What are your thoughts on President Trump’s firing US Bureau of Labor Statistics chief Erika McEntarfer after a dismal jobs report (and downward revision of two previous months’ job growth) Friday?

Can we trust future BLS numbers, which include the monthly Consumer Price Index report, from a chief hand-picked by Trump? (The July CPI report will be released Tuesday, August 12.)

Last week we ran a debate centered on the US economy circa late July, under the headline, “Fed Resists Trump Economy’s Charms” in the center column. 

Contributing pundit Rich Corbett’s commentary, “America is Back, Baby!” is in the right column.  

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “Just Wait” is in the left column. (Macaulay returns to the right column this week with “The Numbers.”)

We invite you to comment on any or all of the above, including which pundit’s column is aging better, via email to editors@thehustings.news. Please indicate in the subject line whether you lean left or right (irrespective of your opinion on a single issue) so that we may post your comments in the proper column.  --Editors

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MONDAY 8/4/25

…meanwhile…

TUESDAY 8/5/25

House Arrest for Bolsonaro – Brazil’s supreme court has ordered house arrest for the country’s Trumpy ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for an alleged coup plot to remain in office after his 2022 re-election defeat, The Associated Press reports. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, said Bolsonaro had spread content through his three lawmaker sons, thus violating precautionary measures imposed on the former president.

Coffee talk … Thanks to the simpatico between President Trump and Bolsonaro, Trump has set the tariff on Brazil – which imports most of the coffee beans the US consumes – at 50%. The US already has a trade surplus with Brazil.

•••

Will Israel Annex Parts of Gaza? – As Canada, the UK and France prepare to recognize a Palestinian state in September amidst piling evidence that the Israeli Defense Force is starving citizens in Gaza in its fight against Hamas, the Israeli government has “floated” the possibility of extending its military offensive and annexing parts of the strip, The Guardian reports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene Israel’s security cabinet in the coming days to discuss options.

This follows collapse of indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff last Saturday.

•••

Harm Reduction Redacted – The Trump administration is quickly phasing out “harm reduction,” the key method for states, localities and communities to respond to the drug overdose epidemic, according to Roll Call. In the past week, the administration began removing educational materials from government websites, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration told states that harm reduction is used to “advocate for policies that are incompatible with federal laws and inconsistent with this administration’s policies.”

Trump in July issued an executive order targeting homeless people that criticizes “harm reduction” and “safe consumption” efforts. --TL

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MONDAY 8/4/25

Messing With Texas – President Trump called on the Texas legislature, which consists of 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats, to redraw US House districts in order to add five Republicans to the House of Representatives after the 2026 midterms. State House Republicans obeyed and were to begin voting on a new map Monday in a special session that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called in order to take up measures regarding the deadly Independence Day Hill Country floods, stiffer regulations for hemp and other GOP-leaning issues. 

On Sunday, at least 51 of those 62 state House Democrats fled Texas, mostly for Chicago (where Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been one of the more effective Democrats pushing back against Trump’s politics and policies), as well as New York, NPR and Houston Public Media reports on Morning Edition. 

The Texas House does not have a quorum and thus cannot conduct business if fewer than 100 of its members are present, according to The Texas Tribune. 

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” state Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus said in a statement. Wu, according to the Tribune, accused Abbott of “using an intentionally racist map to steal the voice of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal.”

Abbott issued an ominous statement of his own.

“The truancy ends now,” the Texas governor said. “The derelict Democratic House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”

Abbott would then appoint his own Republican replacements for the missing Democrats, HPM reports.

As of Monday, two weeks remain in Abbott’s special session.

•••

Drowning the Numbers – The Trump Camp including such supporters as our own right-column contributing pundit Rich Corbett were caught in celebration over a “booming” economy unhurt by White House tariff negotiations when, inconveniently, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest numbers showing just 73,000 jobs added to the economy in July. What’s worse, the BLS revised heavily downward by 258,000 jobs combined its earlier reports for May and June, to just 19,000 and 14,000 jobs added, respectively.

The unemployment rate remains low, at 4.2%.

It must be noted here that the BLS often makes such revisions upward as well as downward. The May and June revisions indicate a lag in counting the effects of the “Liberation Day” tariffs, April 2, which Trump delayed numerous times as he reportedly negotiated deals. These are ongoing. 

Trump took it out on BLS administrator Erika McEntarfer, a Biden appointee.

“I believe the numbers were phony, just like before the election. And there were other times” President Trump Truth Socialed Friday, according to RealClear Politics.

The BLS reported the US economy added just 114,000 jobs in July 2024 and a healthier 142,000 for that August. September 2024’s job report was stronger, with 254,000 added, but for October 2024, the US economy added just 12,000 jobs according to a report issued that November 4 – the day before election day.

“So you know what I did?” Trump continued on Truth Social. “I fired her. And you know what? I did the right thing.

“She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, and they can’t be manipulated for political purposes,” Trump said.

Ironically … These poor employment growth numbers would have given Trump appointees to the Federal Open Market Committee, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, a better argument for lowering interest rates at the Federal Reserve’s regular confab two days earlier. Both dissented against the 10 others on the FOMC by calling for a quarter-point cut in interest rates, in line with Trump’s criticism of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s reluctance to do so.

Waller, who has made clear his interest in replacing Powell as Fed chair when Powell’s term ends next May said on July 17, according to the New York Post, “the economy is still growing, but its momentum has slowed significantly, and the risks to the FOMC’s employment market have increased.”  --Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 8/4/25

‘The Groceries’

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Let’s take a look at what kind of a job that the Trump Administration is doing when it comes to helping out the American consumer at the grocery store.

As you will recall, he claimed that he was going to drive prices way down.

Or, in his inimitable words:

“I won on the border, and I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries. Like almost—you know, who uses the word? I started using the word—the groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time, and I won an election based on that. We’re going to bring those prices way down.”

(Who knew that he made the words “the groceries” popular?)

This review is a bit tricky because it uses figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and we know what President Trump thinks about numbers from the BLS. . .or, at least, some of the numbers.

To make a fair comparison, we’ll look at the prices in June 2021, when Biden was in office for a few months, and June 2025, when it was (and is) Trump’s economy.

Apples are not listed, so we’ll have to use bananas and navel oranges, per pound.

  • Bananas:     2021: $0.60           2025: $0.65
  • Oranges:      2021: $1.35           2025: $1.63

Bacon is not listed, but chicken and ground chuck beef are, with prices per pound.

  • Chicken:      2021: $1.47           2025: $2.09
  • Beef:           2021: $4.57           2025: $6.10

And then there’s milk, per gallon:

  • Milk:           2021: $3.56           2025: $4.03

Clearly, when American consumers go to the market to buy the groceries they are spending more across the board than they were before Trump was going to “bring those prices way down.”

An increasing number of grocery stores have gasoline stations on their lots.

As you will recall, during the campaign he repeatedly claimed that if elected he would get the price of gas under $2.00 per gallon. In May he said on “Meet the Press”: “I have it down to $1.98 in many states right now.” 

A slight problem with that is there wasn’t $1.98 gas in any states.

So let’s go back to the June 2021 and June 2025 comparisons and see how gas prices are doing per gallon. These numbers come from the Energy Information Agency. 

  • 6/7/21:       $3.128
  • 6/14/21:     $3.161
  • 6/21/21:     $3.153
  • 6/28/21:     $3.185

That was Biden.

Here’s Trump:

  • 6/2/25:       $3.256
  • 6/9/25:       $3.235
  • 6/16/25:     $3.365
  • 6/23/25:     $3.338
  • 6/30/25:     $3.288

So not only was gas less expensive under Biden, but Trump’s prices are 46% higher than that $2.00 per gallon he was talking about.

He can bloviate all he wants. He can fire the heads of agencies. He can create diversions of all types.

Sooner or later these prices are going to catch up with him.

And remember this: In May he was responding to criticism of tariffs by saying: “Maybe children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe those two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more.”

Come the holiday season, when the tariffs really kick in and prices across the board rise for everything from cars to coffee, “a couple bucks more” is going to be a whole lot of money for regular working Americans—you know, the kind of people who voted Trump.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 8/4/25

Just Wait

Commentary By Stephen Macaulay

One thing that seems not to have happened, at least not in any major way, is the economy hasn’t gone on tilt since Liberation Day.

Of course, there are a few things to consider.

First of all, given the on-again/off-again nature of the tariffs for various countries, it has been difficult for businesses to figure out their pricing strategy going forward.

But this not to say that the tariffs aren’t having a negative effect on consumers’ pocketbooks.

You may have noticed stories about people who are rushing to buy their Christmas gifts. This is a whole other sort of “Christmas in July” — one predicated on people realizing going forward those toys and clothing are going to be considerably more expensive.

This buy-ahead phenomenon is making it seem that things are more robust than they are, or will be.

Those going into a Ford dealership to buy a Bronco Sport, Maverick or Mustang Mach-E today will find themselves paying several hundred dollars more — up to $2,000 — for one of those vehicles today than pre-Liberation Day.

Why? Because they are built in Mexico, which was just fine because of the USMCA that the Trump administration signed the first time to level the playing field. Somehow that no longer holds.

Its cross-town rival, General Motors, announced that in Q2 — meaning the inclusion of Liberation Day — it lost $1.1 billion because of tariffs. And it anticipates before the year is out there will be several billion added in red ink.

Why does that matter? Well, when the company loses billions of dollars, it has to find that money somewhere, and it will find at least some of it by raising prices.

And let’s add the other company that used to be in the “Big Three,” Stellantis, which has in its North American portfolio Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. The international company announced its first half net revenues, €74.3 billion, which is down 13% compared to the first half of 2024.

Notably, the company estimates the “2025 net tariff impact to approximately €1.5 billion, of which €0.3 billion was incurred in H1 2025.”

In other words, a fraction was in the first half. The second is going to be seriously not good.

That is reflected in a statement from The Conference Board which says “the bulk of the economic weakness would likely affect Q4 and early 2026, later than we previously anticipated.”

It isn’t here entirely quite yet. But get ready.

Going back to autos, according to a statement by Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, on July 28, things in the auto industry aren’t’ going particularly well: “And there’s no reason to believe trends are improving from here. We are seeing more tariffed products replacing existing inventory, and costs are trending higher. As those higher costs trickle through to retail, sales will likely soften in the coming months unless the economic direction improves.”

If a company is selling fewer cars, then it needs to make fewer cars. If it is making fewer cars, then it needs fewer people to build them.

While the unemployment rate is at a good level now, 4.1%, it is worth noting that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the number was a much better 3.5% in July 2023. It will be interesting to watch that figure in the second half when the tariffs really hit.

And while the University of Michigan survey on consumer confidence has the number rising to 61.8 points in July, up from 60.7 points in June, a year ago in July the number was at 66.4 points. If we take October 2024 as being the last month that can be ascribed to the Biden Administration, the number was 70.5 points. So again, while consumers are getting more confident than they were in April and May 2025 (both 52.2 points), they are a lot less confident now than they were a year ago.

According to a recent CBS News YouGov poll (and it is surprising that CBS let these numbers out, given the $16 million it paid to a lawsuit filed by the president):

  • 60% of US adults disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the economy
  • 64% disapprove of the way he is handling inflation
  • 59% think the national economy is fairly bad (33%) or very bad (26%)
  • 55% think the economy is getting worse

And realize this is before the tariffs really kick in.

Somehow I am mystified about the “Golden Age” ahead.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily – though clearly not always – as a conservative for the right column.

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THURSDAY 7/31/25

Fed Resists Trump Economy’s Charms

By Todd Lassa

After he announced interest rates would remain unchanged at 4.25% to 4.5% Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in the traditional post-meeting press conference called the policy “moderately restrictive.” The Fed will be surveying the effects of President Trump’s tariffs on inflation and unemployment closely for the next two months on the way to the Federal Open Market Committee’s next review of interest rates in September.

“We’re seeing now substantial amounts of tariff revenue” coming into the federal government, of $30 billion per month, Powell said. While that would mitigate a small amount of the deficit hike from the One Big Beautiful tax and spending bill for the coming fiscal year, consumers and business are paying for it. 

Powell offered the Trump administration no appeasement here. Pushed by reporters whether the FOMC was planning, expecting the cut in rates that the president has been demanding pretty much since his first administration, the Fed chair replied that the committee does not make decisions in advance.

After all, Powell, whom Trump calls “Too Late,” the president’s kindest epithet for the Fed chair, leads a committee of 12 who set rates. This dozen determined to keep inflation low and employment high consists of seven governors on the central bank’s board and five of 12 regional bank presidents who vote on a rotating business.

On Wednesday, 10 committee members voted to keep interest rates unchanged while two on the board of governors voted for a quarter-point reduction (to 4%-4.5%). This was the first time since 1993 that two members of the board of governors dissented. They are Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, The Wall Street Journal reports, both appointed by Trump 45 and both now the lead candidates to replace Powell when his term ends next May.

Waller has been open publicly about his desire to become Trump’s choice for the next Fed chair, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

Powell told the press conference economic fundamentals look good, with moderate growth, low unemployment but with wage growth moderation, and eased inflation. But there has been a slowdown in consumer spending, the housing market remains weak and that inflation rate remains “somewhat elevated.”

The Fed had been raising interest rates through much of the Biden administration to bring down inflation elevated from the COVID pandemic. The Fed had managed a “soft landing” by reducing inflation while maintaining good hiring levels.

Now it’s Trump’s economy again and he wants to credibly claim the best in the nation’s history. 

But the inflation rate had remained stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target by about 0.4 points before ticking up to 2.7% last month, largely attributable to the tariffs. Real Gross Domestic Product rose 3% year-over-year in the second quarter after an 0.5% drop in the first quarter, but that was largely because of a shift from a trade deficit to a trade surplus. 

If President Trump wants the Fed to consider a rate cut when the FOMC meets again in September, he may want to settle final tariff rates for all the trade partners. We are still far from knowing where the tariffs will settle down, Powell said, with “many uncertainties left to resolve.”

NOTE on this debate: We have but three columns. Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay writes most often from a conservative perspective for the right column. This time, his column is on the left, in response to contributing pundit Rich Corbett’s column in support for President Trump’s economy.

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THURSDAY 7/31/25

America is Back, Baby!

Commentary by Rich Corbett

Over the past six months, President Trump and his administration have delivered an economic resurgence that defies the gloomy predictions of economists, mainstream media and the so-called experts. With a robust economy and a thriving capital market, the administration’s policies are turning skeptics into believers. 

Since taking office, Trump’s focus on deregulation, tax cuts, and America-first policies has fueled unprecedented growth. Unemployment is at historic lows, small businesses are booming and consumer confidence is soaring. The capital markets have responded with record-breaking rallies, shrugging off the doomsday forecasts that dominated headlines. This isn’t just data — it’s a testament to leadership that makes the American people the priority over political narratives.

The Wall Street Journal’s recent poll on economic sentiment tells the story loud and clear. In July 2025, a notable percentage of Americans — higher than any point since November 2021 — said they think the economy is positive. Compared to previous polls during the Biden administration back in 2022, 2023 and 2024, the upward trend is undeniable. This marks a significant shift from the pessimism under Biden or Trump’s tariffs announcement, reflects a growing trust in the direction of the economy. The naysayers’ propaganda is losing its grip as public perception shifts when it comes to President Trump and his polices on the economy.

The stock market has been an even brighter spot, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 hitting new highs, driven by investor confidence in Trump’s pro-business agenda. This surge contradicts the mainstream media’s relentless negativity, which predicted economic collapse. Instead, we’re witnessing a market that thrives on stability and optimism. This is proof that the American spirit, led by strong leadership, prevails. Who knows, there might even be a few extra dollars from the tariffs to start paying down our national debt and/or a rebate check for Americans who need it most?

Six months in, the Trump administration has laid a foundation for sustained prosperity. As the WSJ poll shows, more Americans are recognizing this reality every day. The era of fake news and economic doom-saying is fading, replaced by a renewed faith in a stronger, wealthier America.

Corbett covers myriad issues at My Desultory Blog.

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THURSDAY 7/31/25

Are Trump’s Endless Lies Catching Up to Him?

Commentary by Jerry Lanson

Donald Trump often can twist, shred and shed the truth as readily as Harry Houdini twisted and shed padlocked chains.

Throughout his life he’s used lies and deflection to wriggle out from under political pressure and legal charges, large and small, just as Houdini mesmerized audiences with his skill at wriggling out of shackles.

In his act, Trump has profited from disengaged and alienated voters alike, often distracting them by accusing those investigating him with precisely the same kinds of misconduct he’s alleged to have committed.

And for most of his life, through two impeachments, through a lost election he still insists he won, and through investigations and indictments surrounding the January 6, 2020 riots at the US capitol, these maneuvers have worked.

But now, as he passes the six-month mark of a second presidency that has turned this country and its values upside down, Trump’s lies seem to be growing so extreme and his behavior so erratic that even some ardent MAGA supporters are beginning to question him.

For two weeks, Trump has tried relentlessly, even desperately, to turn the page on Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and former friend who hung himself in jail awaiting trial on charges of trafficking teen-age girls for sex. The president’s about-face has shocked Trump supporters who for years have drunk at the trough of rightwing conspiracy theorists who have told them the “Deep State” suppressed evidence of Epstein’s ties to rich and famous Democrats.

The Trump Administration just weeks ago was promising to reveal Epstein’s secrets once and for all. Then, abruptly on July 10, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Epstein case was closed, that there was nothing more to be said about it. The investigation, she said, had turned up nothing worth releasing, a line Trump repeated multiple times in the days that followed, as he’s strained to change the subject. He’s tried many things.

•Over the weekend, for example, he sent out a scree of social media posts that The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel called “alarming, even by his [Trump’s] standards.” Among his 33 Sunday posts was an AI generated video of former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and video snippets of wild scenes such as a woman catching a charging cobra with her bare hands.

•On Tuesday, two weeks after signing legislation that will slash 10 million people from Medicaid roles in the next decade, he vowed he would reduce drug prices to a tenth or less of their current costs, Mediate reported in an article reposted on Politicalwire.com. This would be lower than the cost of manufacturing them.

•And at a Tuesday reception with Congressmen, Trump reportedly claimed that the Epstein scandal, which he called a “made up hoax,” had led to a remarkable boost in his polling numbers, giving him “the best numbers I’ve ever had,” Mediate reported.

For all his bravado, however, the master at mendacity seems to be struggling in his effort to shed the story. Trump’s real poll numbers appear to be declining at a steady and possibly an accelerating pace. And, as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson raced to get out of town for summer recess to quell growing Congressional dissent about Epstein, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight Wednesday cast an 8-2 bipartisan vote to subpoena the Department of Justice for its files on Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation, the AP reported.

Trump’s biggest gambit to change the narrative could well come following the Thursday-Friday meeting between Justice Department officials and convicted Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in Tallahassee, Florida, ostensibly to hear “new evidence,” the New York Post reports. It most assuredly won’t be about the president.

But just what this all means remains really murky. Epstein died six years ago, his death in jail ruled a suicide. Though The Wall Street Journal Wednesday reported that Bondi’s Justice Department had informed Trump that his name appeared “multiple times” in the Epstein investigation file, that news does not explain why Trump has labored so persistently and awkwardly to shut the story down. He’s long been known to be Epstein’s former friend and associate.

What is clear is that Trump’s polling numbers are falling.

Most remarkable have been two polls released this week reporting a seismic shift in young voters’ perceptions. Prior to the election, Trump was making significant inroads with this group.

Now a recent YouGov poll shows Trump’s net approval among Gen Z voters has dropped from roughly even to -40 percentage points, according to a tweet reposted on Politicalwire.

A CBS News poll that appeared on the site Tuesday showed an even bigger drop in support among voters between 18 and 29. It said that while Trump had a 10% favorable rating among these voters in February, the same age group now disapproves of him 72% to 28% – well over two to one.

Polls of all voters show increasing disenchantment with Trump’s performance on all issues, including those that fueled his campaign, such as immigration and inflation. His aggregate poll numbers are now lower than at any point in his second term.

Still, it is too early to know whether Trump will once again wriggle out of his problems.

In fact, it’s not entirely possible to rule out that the media and political frenzy over Epstein wasn’t hatched as one more diversion from the real pain Trump and his henchmen have inflicted with cuts in Medicaid, education, and science and health research, and with his administration’s vicious crackdown on immigrants.

Groups actively resisting the administration, such as Indivisible, are urging supporters to be ever-vigilant of Trump’s growing disregard of the Constitution and the rule of law. They’re encouraging members to reach out to neighbors and acquaintances to expand their ranks and grow their peaceful protests. 

Their concern is well-founded. A cornered Donald Trump often gets wilder. In the past week alone, he’s called for criminal investigations of Obama and his administration; of Schiff, who led the first impeachment hearing; of former FBI Director Jim Comey and of others.

Trump’s rapidly growing ICE army continues to spread chaos through workplaces, farms and immigrant communities, typically hauling in those with no criminal record. A headline in the Boston Globe Magazine this week reads, “’I want daddy.’ As ICE detains parents, children are left behind.”

Ultimately, however, the fate of Trump’s presidency may not lie with the resistance but with Trump’s success or failure in either deflecting attention from the Jeffrey Epstein files or making those files stick to someone else.

Though six years have passed since Epstein died in prison, something about the case, for whatever reason, clearly makes Trump uncomfortable. And that’s led the news media, Democrats and growing numbers of Republicans to talk about little else.

This column first appeared on Lanson’s Substack, From the Grassroots.

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FRIDAY 7/25/25

Q2 Real GDP Grows 3%

Real Gross Domestic Product grew at an annual rate of 3% in the first quarter of the year, which appears to be really good news for President Trump and his Independence Day last April 2. This follows a drop in Real GDP of 0.5% for the first quarter. The big jump in Q2 reflects a decrease in imports coming into the US, which the Bureau of Economic Analysis counts as a subtraction in its GDP calculation formula. In other words, this drop in imports added to GDP growth. Consumer spending also jumped up in Q2 (perhaps a rush to purchase goods imported in Q1?), contributing to the growth, the BEA says. Last quarter’s growth was also partially offset by a decrease in investment and exports.

•••

UK to Recognize Palestinian State – As images of starving children in Gaza stun world leaders including President Trump, UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced Tuesday his country will join France in recognizing a Palestinian state by September if there is no Israeli-Hamas ceasefire or starvation relief by then (per The New York Times). France made its announcement it would recognize a Palestinian state, at the United Nations General Assembly last week. 

Starmer made his remarks after concluding his meeting in Scotland with Trump, who said he is not taking a position in the matter.

“I don’t mind him taking a position. I’m looking to getting people fed right now. That’s the number one position, because you have a lot of starving people,” Trump said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not budge, saying Starmer is rewarding “Hamas’ monstrous terrorism,” reports the UK’s Independent.

However, Netanyahu’s hardline position on Palestine has reignited opposition in his own country. 

“This government led us from the most justified war in the world to a diplomatic disaster,” opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote in a Hebrew-language tweet, reports The Times of Israel. “One failure after another. A prime minister who has vanished from the diplomatic arena, a useless foreign minister and ministers who endanger [Israeli Defense Force] soldiers every time they open their mouths.”

•••

Step to SCOTUS? – The Senate has confirmed by 50-49 vote former personal attorney to Donald J. Trump and Justice Department official since January, Emil Bove (pictured), to a lifetime appointment as US Circuit Court judge for the Third Circuit, serving Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands, Roll Call reports. This despite a whistleblower allegation he defied court orders that would stop planned deportations of undocumented aliens.

Bove also dropped a corruption case against Eric Adams of New York City over the Democratic mayor’s support of Trump’s immigration policies.

The vote came after Democratic senators gave floor speeches arguing Bove was not fit for a lifetime appointment to the court. 

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Democrats voting against Bove’s confirmation, according to the Roll Call report. 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), called Bove’s nomination “an alarming departure” from Trump 45’s nominees. 

“Mr. Bove’s primary qualification appears to be his blind loyalty to this president,” Durbin said.

But Bove’s appointment to the Third Circuit may not last his lifetime. There is much speculation that Bove (who is either 43 or 44, according to Wikipedia) is Trump’s next nominee to the US Supreme Court. 

On Tuesday, Time magazine reported that White House officials and a “close circle” of conservative attorneys are preparing for Trump’s next SCOTUS appointee. Trump has three-and-a-half years left in his term. Makeup of the Senate after next year’s midterms could potentially alter that timeline.

SCOTUS’ three Democratic president appointees will not step down voluntarily before 2029, so that leaves Chief Justice John Roberts, 70, and Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, 77, and Samuel Alito, 75. --TL

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Trump in Scotland

TUESDAY 7/29/25

Genocide? – Death toll in Gaza has topped 60,000, the Hamas-run health ministry reports, according to Haaretz. The Times of London reports Tuesday that Palestinian activist Odeh Hadalin, who appeared in last year’s Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land was killed in his West Bank village, “apparently after being shot by an Israeli settler.”

This comes as outrage continues to build against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government as it disputes myriad reports that its military is causing starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Appearing with UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, Monday, President Trump said that he has seen “real starvation” in Gaza on television and that the US will set up “food centers” there.

There is “no starvation in Gaza,” Netanyahu maintains.

But Sen. Angus King (I-ME) says he will oppose “any” support for Israel so long as there is a hunger crisis in Gaza, The Hill reports.

“I cannot defend the indefensible,” King said on his website. “Israel’s actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency. What appears to be a deliberately-induced famine among a civilian population — including tens of thousands of starving children — can never be an acceptable military strategy.

“While clearly justified in responding to the horrific attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli citizens, that tragic event cannot in turn justify the enormous toll on Palestinian civilians caused by Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and its indifference to the current plight of those trapped in what’s left of Gaza.”

•••

Trump and Epstein and Maxwell – Three days after meeting with Deputy Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche in Florida, Ghislaine Maxwell has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court to overturn her 2020 conviction for engaging in sex trafficking minors for Jeffrey Epstein, per Axios. A longtime companion of Epstein, Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in a federal prison says she was unlawfully prosecuted in the case. 

At an earlier press conference in Scotland Trump said he is "allowed" as president to pardon Maxwell for her sex trafficking conviction.

No island for auld friend … Fresh off his press conference with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President Trump faced Scottish reporters in Turnberry who dogged him about the Epstein case. Trump explained his break-up with Epstein way back in 2004 and how he avoided any trips to Epstein’s private islands thusly – from The New York Times and video of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Monday:

“That’s such old history. Very easy to explain. But I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it.

“For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. He did something that was inappropriate. He hired help. And I said, ‘don’t do that again.’ He stole people that worked for me. And I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. 

“By the way, I never went to the island. And Bill Clinton went there, supposedly, uh, 28 times. I never had the privilege of going to his island. And, uh, I did turn it down.”

Epstein owned Little St. James and Great St. James islands in the Caribbean, according to the NYT, which reported a response from an aide to Bill Clinton, Monday, who said it has been 20 years since the former president had contact with Epstein – about the same cut-off date between Epstein and Trump.

•••

‘Cage Match’ – Key architect of Project 2025 Paul Dans says he plans to launch a campaign to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Republican primary in South Carolina next year, The Washington Post reports. 

“This is ultimately a steel-cage match for the future of MAGA,” Dans says. --TL

_____________________________________________

It Could Have Been Worse

MONDAY 7/28/25

Deal With the EU – President Trump and European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached a deal in Turnberry, Scotland, over the weekend for a 15% baseline tariff on goods coming to the US, with 0% on US goods heading eastbound. Von der Leyen said the tariffs will apply chiefly to cars and other items, according to The Wall Street Journal, which helpfully lays out details as we know them about the deal, which will not be finalized before the Trump White House’s August 1 – Friday – deadline:

•Exemptions with zero tariffs would apply to some “strategic” equipment such as aircraft and semiconductor equipment.

•The EU will buy $750 billion worth of US energy products (instead of Russian gas and oil) with “significant purchases of US LNG (liquid natural gas), oil and nuclear fuels, over a three-year span (the WSJ buried this at the end of its synopsis, so take that for what you think it means).

•EU officials say tariffs would be cut for some US imports, including some farms and industrial goods, though not immediately.

•EU officials believe tariffs for drugs and computer chips will be capped at 15%, while Trump’s decision on global pharmaceuticals (largely made in Europe) “are on a different sheet of paper,” according to van der Leyen.

•Trump indicated his 50% tariff on global steel and aluminum “will be cut,” with a new quota system. 

•The EU agreed to invest $600 billion in the US, according to Trump, though EU officials say that’s an assessment of European companies’ investment plans and not public initiatives – so as with much of foreign investment in the US previously announced by Trump, this is private investment already planned.

•The EU will buy an unspecified amount of artificial intelligence chips from the US, and according to Trump “a vast amount of military equipment.” This is not part of the tariff deal, but part of NATO’s previously announced spending pledge, according to the WSJ.

Hold your applause … Or, at least, muffle it with a golf tournament applause. A separate WSJ headline says, “Companies Welcome EU-US Trade Deal as Least-Bad Outcome.”

The gist of the analysis piece is that it’s better than the 30% base tariff Trump was set to impose on the EU beginning Friday, and the global trade war it would certainly trigger. 

So, aside from that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln? … “For the EU, today’s agreement is probably almost as good as it could get,” ING Bank economist Carsten Brzeski told the WSJ.

•••

Stop That, Sooner – On July 14, President Trump gave Russian dictator/President Vladimir Putin 50 days to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine upon penalty of economic sanctions. That gave Putin 50 days to increase his attacks on Ukraine so he could claim that much more territory to keep from such a ceasefire agreement. 

In a press conference with UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer Monday Trump said he plans to shorten that 50-day timeline for Russian compliance, The Hill reports.

“I’m going to reduce that 50 days I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer to what’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters.

•••

In Memoriam: Tom Lehrer – The erstwhile musical satirist famous for such songs as The Vatican Rag, A Song for World War III (performed in 1965 by Steve Allen on NBC-TV’s That Was the Week That Was), The Elements, The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be and Poisoning Pigeons in the Park died Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 97.

Lehrer performed his songs live in the 1950s, then again from 1965-67 before leaving the music biz altogether to teach at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, as well as serving a stint on the Atomic Energy Commission. 

His song, Wernher von Braun “celebrated” the Nazi-turned-NASA scientist thusly: “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?/’That’s not my department,’ says Wernher von Braun.”

Lehrer relinquished rights to all his songs, except for melodies that used his words against others’ music, according to his New York Times obituary. Lehrer also announced he would shut down his website, but as of Monday, it was still up and included his eulogy. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

-30- 

FRIDAY 7/25/25

Blame Canada? – The Federal Communications Commission has approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, days after Paramount announced a $1.5 billion streaming deal with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Chair Brendan Carr said the FCC approved the deal “after reaching assurances from Skydance that the new company would be committed to unbiased journalism and would not establish programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion,” according to The New York Times. South Park celebrated with the opener for Season 27 with President Trump begging the devil for sex. But why did the show depict Trump as a Canadian? Is the US aboot to become the 11th province?*

•••

Maxwell Grilled – Deputy Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell Thursday in Tallahassee, Florida, where he had planned further questioning of Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Friday. An attorney representing Maxwell, David Oscar Markus, told reporters Thursday’s meeting was a “productive” session, in which Maxwell answered all questions “truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” The Wall Street Journal reports. 

Connecting the dots … Legal analysts find it curious that the Justice Department would send its second-highest ranking attorney to Florida for the interview, rather than a much lower-level staffer. The Hill has reported that Blanche and Markus are old friends. Blanche last year represented Donald J. Trump in his New York criminal trial for falsifying business records in connection with pre-2016 presidential election hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts.

•••

Meanwhile, in Scotland – President Trump was off to Scotland Friday morning, where he will meet with British Prime Minister Kier Starmer and Scottish First Minister John Swinney, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Trump will “further refine” his trade deal with the UK on a “working visit” where he also will play a lot of golf. 

The Trump Organization owns two courses in Scotland, with plans to open a third. 

It won’t be all haggis and Diet Coke, though, as extensive protests are expected, just as they were delivered during Trump’s last visit as president to his mother’s homeland, in 2018. 

•••

*Shatner’s Counterproposal – New York magazine’s July 14-27 cover story, “You Have No Idea How Furious the Canadians Are,” says Star Trek’s original Captain Kirk, Canadian-born William Shatner, has been publicly workshopping a counter proposal to President Trump’s “51st state” campaign for our neighbors to the north.

“Canada should say to President Trump, ‘You are the head of a rambunctious country, very difficult to govern at this point,” Shatner tells author Simon van Zuylen-Wood. “We can ease your pain. Canada is calm, settled, successful. Clean air, clean water, pleasant people. Why don’t you become the 11th province?” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
FRIDAY 7/25/25

Wait Until You Pay for that Coffee

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

One of the things that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves is what even the Trump Administration knows tariffs do: Raise the cost of goods in the country importing them.

So, simply, the price of goods being imported into the US are more expensive for those who are buying them.

Most things that we buy have some intermediary. It’s not like its farm-to-table (you picked it; you cooked it).

You may buy something from General Motors. You may buy something through Amazon.

In both cases, if they are sourcing something from another country (e.g., GM builds trucks in Canada and Mexico, both of which have 25% tariffs; Kindles aren’t made in Seattle, but in places including China, which has a 30% tariff), then their invoice is increased. 

What’s more (actually less) is that the value of the US dollar has been declining consistently since “Liberation Day” in April. There is a measure known as the “US Dollar Index,” which compares the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies. A higher number is better.

So here’s how it is going:

--March: 104.21

--April: 99.47

--May: 99.33

--June: 96.88

--July (so far): 97.48

Down, down, down.

This means that when paying for those imported goods, it costs more dollars today than it did in March.

There is an argument that a weaker dollar is more advantageous for exporters from the US. 

But here’s the thing: US exports haven’t exactly been struggling.

That is, in 2014 the value of US exports was $1.62 trillion. Ten years later, 2024, the number was up to $2.064 trillion.

That’s a 27% increase.

The Administration has consistently argued that the countries of origin are the ones who pay the tariffs.

Which is patently untrue.

To use a hackneyed example: It is just like Mexico was going to pay for the Wall.

It was easy for Trump supporters to believe that fabrication because unless they lived in the neighborhood of the Wall, they really didn’t have a sense of what was or wasn’t being built. (As things turned out, not much of the Wall was new construction. And

Mexico didn’t pay for it.)

More importantly, the Wall claim didn’t have a visible impact on the supporters’ buying power.

Tariffs are different.

There is a 50% tariff on coffee beans from Brazil. The US imports as much as 50% of its coffee from Brazil — because the US isn’t conducive to growing coffee, not because the Brazilian people are “ripping us off!”

Just wait until people start seeing that putting Folgers in their cup is going to get a lot more expensive. And the wait won’t be long.

The Administration — from President Trump to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — have been saying that there is an expectation that US corporations will absorb tariff-associated costs.

Which means that there is an expectation that US corporations will essentially underwrite the tax that tariffs are on the consuming public.

Let’s go back to the coffee example. Walmart, which sells a whole lot of groceries to a whole lot of Americans, has a profit margin on groceries of less than 3%.

What the Administration is saying is that Walmart needs to reduce that margin even further in order to absorb the tariff costs.

Back in May during the Walmart earnings call, CEO Doug McMillon, who quite evidently understands how businesses operate, said, "We will strive to keep our prices as low as possible. However, due to the significant scale of the tariffs . . . we cannot absorb all the pressure given the reality of slim retail margins . . . the elevated tariffs will lead to increased prices.”

It can’t be put any simpler than that.

How much is that jar of coffee going to cost?

What is the alternative to importing coffee? The US mainland isn’t conducive to the crop. This is just how the world works, despite what the Administration would like us to believe.

And while on the subject of buying things at places at Walmart, as kids across the country right now know — and are not particularly happy to know it — this is “Back to School” season.

When I was young my mom took me to a department store and bought me some new shoes and clothes to wear for the forthcoming school year. And all of my classmates, to a greater or lesser degree, evidently had the same experience. 

Here’s this from the latest (July 23) research from The Yale Budget Lab:

“The 2025 tariffs disproportionately affect clothing and textiles, with consumers facing 40% higher shoe prices and 36% higher apparel prices in the short-run. Shoes and apparel prices stay 19% and 17% higher in the long-run respectively.”

Moms across the country are going to have more than a slight surprise when they go “Back to School” shopping.

There is no way that everyday Americans are going to escape the higher prices that the tariffs are putting on the goods that they buy every day.

While bringing back manufacturing to the US is a laudable goal, have you heard any articulation from anyone in the administration how they are going to facilitate this?

If they were serious about bringing back manufacturing there would be a Moon Shot-like series of programs that would help fund the development of industries that will be viable in the years ahead. Instead, all they seem to be doing is trashing green energy technology (does anyone really think that coal is the future of energy?) and eliminating tax incentives and regulations that make it more likely that car companies will not build electric vehicles — which will mean that the US will pretty much be an island of old automotive technology compared to the rest of the world — with the exception of Cuba.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

_____
FRIDAY 7/25/25

Your Comments Here, or On The Right

What are your thoughts on whether the House Oversight Committee subpoena of Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime companion and sex trafficking accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell? Should the Justice Department turn over files from the grand jury that convicted Epstein?

As reported in our center column news aggregate, House Speaker Mike Johnson has blocked any such subpoenas from happening earlier than September, if at all. 

Meanwhile, The Hustings continues to welcome civil comments on all current political issues, including our debate earlier this week between left-column contributing pundit Jerry Lanson on “Our Emerging Police State” and right-column contributing pundit Rich Corbett on “Lessons from Kent State.” 

Scroll down with the trackbar on the far right to read those commentaries surrounding analysis on the subject in our center column.

Then email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line, irrespective of your position on a specific issue, so that we may post your comments in the proper column.  –Editors

_____
TUESDAY 7/22/25

Epstein, Epstein, Epstein

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announces release of documents Wednesday she said shows that ex-President Obama and his national security team created a intelligence community assessment of Russian meddling into the 2016 election "that they knew was false."

Trump Named – As President Trump diverts to his retribution case against former President Obama over the “Russia, Russia, Russia” probe of 2017, The Wall Street Journal reports that Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi told Trump last May in a White House meeting that his name appears several times in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

DISCLAIMER: Trump’s name appearing in the files of the convicted sex offender is no sign of any wrongdoing by Trump – nor by any of the other “high profile” figures referenced.

Officials told the WSJ that Bondi’s White House meeting was part of a briefing that covered a number of subjects and that Trump’s appearance in the files was not the meeting’s focus. Justice Department officials said they did not plan to release any more Epstein documents because the material contained child pornography and victims’ personal information. 

Responding to a reporter’s question, Trump said last week that Bondi had not told him his name appeared in the Epstein files.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to the WSJ scoop thusly: “This is another fake news story, just like the previous story in The Wall Street Journal.” (Scroll down for details on that story in the July 17-18 “…meanwhile…” regarding Trump’s “lewd” 50th birthday message to Epstein, with the trackbar on the far right.)

--TL

_____________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 7/23/25

No, Look at Russia, Russia, Russia Instead – As Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent the House home a day early for the summer break to avoid a showdown on the so-called Epstein files, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) has introduced a motion to compel Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime companion/associate Ghislaine Maxwell to testify before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee (per The Guardian). 

“We got to send a message to these dirt bags,” Burchett wrote on X-Twitter, apparently referring to Maxwell and the late Epstein, who may or may not have left behind a “client list” of the influential and elite who were clients of his child sex trafficking. 

This comes as Trump personal lawyer-turned-Deputy Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche announced he will initiate talks with Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus to meet with his imprisoned client. Markus is a personal friend of Blanche’s, according to The Hill. 

It is unclear what might compel Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in a federal prison in Florida (no, not Alligator Alcatraz) to speak before the committee. She did not testify in her own trial held about a year after Epstein committed suicide while in a federal prison, and it’s too late for a plea deal.

Maxwell’s only way out would be a commutation or presidential pardon, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

The diversion … Anyway, there are more important cases to consider, Trump told a press conference Tuesday. 

As The New York Times reports:

“The witch hunt you should be talking about is they caught President Obama,” Trump said, referring to a report last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard regarding the president’s longtime nemesis.

“Obama was trying to lead a coup. And it was with Hilary Clinton,” Trump said during a White House visit with Philippines President Fernando Marcos Jr.

Trump said he let Hilary Clinton “off the hook, and I’m very glad I did, but it’s time to start after what they did to me.

“Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people. Obama’s been caught directly.

“It would be President Obama. He started it, and Biden was there with him, and [former FBI director James] Comey was there, and [former Director of National Intelligence James R.] Clapper [Jr.], the whole group was there. He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of.”

Obama reacts … Former President Barack Obama issued a rare comment in response to Gabbard’s report, via spokesperson Patricia Rodenbush (again, per the NYT): “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate votes.”

The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact rates Trump’s statement that Obama was “trying to lead a coup” Pants on Fire false.

•••

Mind the Caps – President Trump announced a trade deal with Japan in which we’ll trade goods with a 15% reciprocal tariff, a big break from the 25% the White House had threatened in its tariff letter to the country, Axios reports. The deal is good news for Japan’s auto industry, with shares of industry leaders Toyota and Honda up significantly Wednesday.

Trump announced the deal thusly on Truth Social (upper case the author’s): “Japan with open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and Certain other Agricultural Products and other things.”

The deal includes a whopping $550-billion Japanese investment in the US, “which will receive 90% of the profits” somehow, Trump claimed, offering no further details.

Meanwhile … General Motors said on Tuesday that tariffs cost the automaker $1.1 billion in the second quarter.

--TL

_____________________________________________

House Takes Summer Vacay

TUESDAY 7/22/25

Speaker Blocks Epstein Probe – After the Justice Department diverted attention from Jeffrey Epstein toward the release of all federal records related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and President Trump demanded the privately owned Washington Commanders NFL team change its name back to “Redskins,” and just as the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena longtime Epstein companion Ghislaine Maxwell, Speaker/Trump acolyte Mike Johnson shut down the House for the summer to scuttle a vote in the full chamber, Newsweek reports. Democrats also led an effort in the committee to subpoena Epstein’s grand jury files. Johnson said he shut down the House early to prevent “political” games over the Epstein investigation. 

The House was scheduled to begin its summer break on Friday, July 24th, but will skip its Thursday vote adjourning until after Labor Day, Tuesday, September 2. (The Senate is scheduled to be in session until Friday, August 1.)

Maxwell was convicted in 2021, two years after Epstein’s suicide in a federal prison, of child sex trafficking charges. The Justice Department also had signaled interest in interviewing Maxwell, according to Newsweek. --Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
TUESDAY 7/22/25

The Spin Hits the Fan

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

First, some background from the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s website, which will probably be taken down once someone sees the presentation of facts.

This is a bit long, but stick with it for the sake of context to what we’ll get to:

“Canada has consistently been one of the top two trading partners for the United States. The two countries share a long history of supply chain integration, including especially in the automotive and textile industries and the energy sector. Most recently, in 2024, Canada was the top destination for US exports and the third-largest source of US imports. Canada exported over three-quarters of its goods to the United States and imported almost half of its goods from the United States.

“The United States’ leading exports to Canada are vehicles, machinery, and energy products, together with over $30 billion in agricultural products, including bakery goods, cereals and pasta, fresh vegetables and fruit, and ethanol. Canada’s leading exports to the United States are energy products and vehicles, together with over $40 billion in agricultural products, including baked goods, cereals and pasta, vegetable oils, beef and beef products, processed fruit and vegetables, and fresh vegetables.”

Canada Trade Summary

“US total goods trade with Canada was an estimated $762.1 billion in 2024. US goods exports to Canada in 2024 were $349.4 billion, down 1.4 percent ($5.0 billion) from 2023. US goods imports from Canada in 2024 totaled $412.7 billion, down 1.4 percent ($5.9 billion) from 2023. The US goods trade deficit with Canada was $63.3 billion in 2024, a 1.4 percent decrease ($926.9 million) over 2023.”

Let’s highlight a few of those observations:

  • “a long history of supply chain integration”
  • “top destination for US exports”
  • “imported almost half its goods from the United States”
  • “US goods trade deficit with Canada . . . in 2024, a 1.4 percent decrease ($926.9 million) over 2023”

And this is a country that the Trump Administration has essentially gone to economic war with.

What did Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick say about Canada on CBS News’ Face the Nation on July 20 to host Margaret Brennan?

“Canada is not open to us.”

Huh? Seems to be quite a disconnect between the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Lutnick.

Prior to making that clearly absurd remark Lutnick said:

“The President said look, unless you stop this fentanyl and close the border, we're just going to keep tariffs on the other 25% and that's what he has on.”

The 25% in question are the goods not covered under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Donald Trump negotiated during his first term. It was full MAGA when the previous agreement, NAFTA, was eliminated. 

And perhaps as an indication of the economic inconsistency being exhibited by the Trump Administration:

Lutnick: “Oh, I think the President is absolutely going to renegotiate USMCA, but that’s a year from today.”

In other words, the agreement — which Trump described as “historic, groundbreaking” when he signed it — exists only until he decides it doesn’t. 

Now the whole fentanyl thing is a dodge. From 2022 to 2024 US Customs and Border Protection seized 59 pounds on the Canadian border.

What doesn’t get any attention is the fact that in 2023 to 2024, Canadian border authorities seized 43 pounds of fentanyl being smuggled out of the US.

Statistically that means that if in 2023 and 2024 each year had 21.5 pounds being smuggled out of the US into Canada and we add a year to make it even with the number of years the 59 pounds were seized going south, then there would be 64.5 pounds coming out of the US.

And Canada is the problem?

The whole illegal immigrant issue with Canada is absurd given how small the numbers are. If we take into account that the border between the two countries (5,525 miles) is the longest border in the world and the fact that, yes, illegal immigrants actually come out of the US to Canada, the administration should be ashamed of even talking about Canada in that context.

Let’s wind back to the opening of the interview on Face the Nation:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you heard in our polling some of the perceptions of the economy; 61% of Americans believe the administration is putting too much focus on tariffs, 70% say the administration is not doing enough to lower prices, and 60% oppose new tariffs on imported goods. This is a centerpiece to your policy plan. How do you reverse public opposition?

SEC. LUTNICK: They're going to love the deals that President Trump and I are doing. I mean, they're just going to love them. You know, the president figured out the right answer, and sent letters to these countries, said this is going to fix the trade deficit. This will go a long way to fixing the trade deficit, and that's gotten these countries to the table and they're going to open their markets or they're going to pay the tariff. And if they open their markets, the opportunity for Americans to export, to grow the business, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, this is going to be -- the next two weeks, are going to be weeks for the record books. President Trump is going to deliver for the American people.

Well, let’s turn to another source, this the Department of Commerce (yes, the department Lutnick heads), to learn about tariffs.

In a GovFacts explainer titled “What Are Tariffs and How Do They Work?” it says:

“The process in the United States is straightforward. When a ship full of foreign goods arrives at an American port, US Customs and Border Protection collects the tariff. The company importing the goods pays the tax, typically within 10 days of the goods clearing customs.”

OK. That’s pretty straightforward (if we ignore the bit about “The company importing the goods pays the tax” because the Trump Administration wants us to think the country exporting the goods pays the tax).

But then there’s the next paragraph:

“The most immediate effect of a tariff is simple: it makes imported products more expensive for Americans to buy. This basic function drives all the complex economic and political consequences that follow.”

That bears repeating in Trump-style font:

“IT MAKES IMPORTED PRODUCTS MORE EXPENSIVE FOR AMERICANS TO BUY.”

What exactly is it that President Trump is going to deliver to the American people?

Somehow they’re probably not going to “love” those higher prices on everything from coffee to cars, from computers to pharmaceuticals.

Secretary Lutnick was followed on Face the Nation by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT).

Himes said: “So what you just saw was a master class by a huckster and a con man.

Given the facts, he’s probably not wrong.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

_____
TUESDAY 7/22/25

Our Emerging Police State

Commentary by Jerry Lanson

From health care to higher education, scientific research to social policy, the Trump Administration in six short months has propelled this country sharply backwards.

Looking forward, however, the heart of the fight to preserve our democracy will rest on all our ability to expose and reject the increasingly lawless reach of the administration in enforcing its ever-harsher immigration “policies.” That fight will demand determined, unrelenting and united action. After June’s successful No Kings protests, the fight continued Thursday with nationwide rallies named after the “Good Trouble” stirred throughout his lifetime by former Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.

Donald Trump’s Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) already has proven itself to be ruthless, both in the sweep of its arrests and its tactics. And it is gearing up to be much worse.

Already, ICE agents across the country are arresting far more completely law-abiding individuals than criminals. ICE agents are plucking them from streets, rounding them up at their workplaces, pulling them from immigration courthouses and even from their cars. They do so without warrants and without identifying themselves. With the blessing of an ideologically hard-right Supreme Court super-majority, the agency already has begun deporting some immigrants to distant countries known for torture. ICE also has arrested citizens, sometimes by mistake, sometimes because they allegedly get in the way. And it regularly separates parents from their children, many of whom were born in the United States.

The scale of these actions is about to explode. 

•A New York Times article titled, “ICE Set to Vastly Expand its Reach ...” noted that the budget of ICE will more than triple to $28 billion a year under the new GOP-driven budget law, making it “the highest funded law enforcement agency in the federal government.”

•The agency is set to hire as many as 10,000 new agents across the country. “You’re going to see immigration enforcement on a level you’ve never seen before,” Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told the NYT.

•The acting director of ICE, in an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post, wrote that ICE may deport thousands of undocumented immigrants to countries other than their country of origin, doing so in as little as six hours after taking them into detention.

•In a separate article, the WaPo on Monday reported that ICE, according to its own internal memo, intends to deny all immigrants who arrived undocumented in the United States the right to a bond hearing. This means that some could remain behind bars for months or years as they fight deportation. The new Republican budget law provides funds for to more than double the number of prison beds for immigrants. 

•Nearly three-quarters of immigrants being detained – 72 percent – have not been convicted of any crime whatsoever Fortune reports. This figure, based on ICE’s own internal documents, continues to grow. 

•The brazenness of ICE operations also continues to escalate. In my hometown of Falmouth, Massachusetts, agents, some masked, took a man away in handcuffs at around 9 a.m. on Friday, July 11, in front of a highly popular and busy coffee shop. They were filmed disregarding requests that they identify themselves. When they took the man away, they left his car running on the street, according to witnesses. Falmouth police said they were not notified in advance.

In San Diego, a 71-year-old U.S. citizen was detained for 8 hours by ICE after she was handcuffed by agents at a federal immigration courthouse she had visited to observe ICE operations, ABC Local 7 News reported. ICE said Barbara Stone pushed an agent, but no charges were filed against her. Her phone was confiscated.

Such horrifying incidents continue to grow in number. The good news is that Americans are noticing. Their views on immigration and on Trump’s policies are now changing rapidly as some activists take specific action to document and slow ICE’s assault on American communities.

A study last week by the venerable Gallup polling organization found that a record-high 79% of Americans now say that immigration “is a good thing” for the country. Furthermore, the poll, taken June 2-26 and based on interviews with more than 1,400 people nationwide, found that only 35% approved of Trump’s immigration policies while 62% disapproved. That’s a remarkable shift from both the weeks before the election and the start of Trump’s term, when slight majorities favored his crackdown on immigrant “criminals.” The Gallup poll showed by far the biggest gap between approval and disapproval since Trump’s term began.

People are speaking out, too – on local government boards, in letters to newspapers, in protests around the country, in telephone calls to their election representatives and at gatherings.

On Tuesday, for example, The Boston Globe ran three letters critical of the ICE’s immigration actions.One ranunder the headline, “We will not be bystanders to ICE’s thuggery.” It started, “A counterforce has begun in communities of faith.”

That counterforce also has led to the formation of community organizations to support and inform immigrants. The newly formed Falmouth Immigrant Resource Coalition hands out cards and brochures in multiple languages to inform immigrants of their rights, prepare families should a loved one be detained, and connect them with longstanding immigrant organizations that can help with legal advice, counseling and more.

Still other organizations are springing up to bear witness to ICE arrests and record them on video. This may become particularly vital as the agency tries to deport immigrants rapidly to countries serving as offshore concentration camps.

Countering an increasingly aggressive, shadowy and well-financed federal agency is taxing and can seem scary. But it also is urgent. Speaking out for the rights of all matters. It takes a bit of courage. But with that courage comes renewed energy and hope.

Stay peaceful. But stand up and be counted by attending rallies like Good Trouble and No Kings.

Lanson’s column first appeared in his Substack, From the Grassroots.

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MONDAY 7/21/25

Police State or Just Keeping Order?

By Todd Lassa

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent about 700 Marines from Camp Pendleton in June after protests broke out in downtown Los Angeles over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids of undocumented immigrants. The Marines were there to accompany California National Guard troops that the Trump White House deployed over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as the protests crescendoed with the burning of empty Waymo driverless Jaguar EV taxis (with added potential harm to first responders and demonstrators alike, Time magazine notes, because of the toxic gases released by an electric vehicle’s lithium-ion batteries).

Last week Tuesday, Hegseth ordered the release of about 2,000 troops, approximately half of the California National Guard deployed. Roughly 700 Marines also remain, but according to the Los Angeles Times they are bored.

“There’s not much to do,” one Marine told the newspaper as he guarded the Wiltshire Federal Building in Westwood.

Across the nation, the Trump administration has cracked down on alleged undocumented aliens and foreign college students suspected of anti-American speech and activities often by masked federal agents arriving in unmarked cars. The most high-profile of the latter was the arrest in Somerville, Massachusetts last March of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University for alleged “activities in support of Hamas.

She has since been released. 

The Trump administration insists its ICE raids and crackdown on protesters, especially those who are foreign students attending US colleges and universities is necessary to keep law and order. 

Shortly after Ozturk’s abduction/arrest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US has revoked “at least” 300 foreign students’ visas, according to the BBC.

“If you apply for a student visa to come to the United States and you say you’re coming not just to study, but to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings, and cause chaos, we’re not giving you that visa,” Rubio said.

Apparently, that applies to foreign students who come to US schools to study democracy and the US Constitution. 

In this debate, pro-MAGA contributing pundit Rich Corbett argues for order over protest that can quickly spiral into chaos.

Corbett’s column undoubtedly will be controversial. It expresses the mindset of the administration with the power to react to national protests, peaceful or otherwise.

[“We’ll call out the elephant in the room right here: No, Corbett does not connect the lessons of Brian VanDeMark’s book with the January 6th attack on the US Capitol in his column.]

In the left column, contributing pundit Jerry Lanson writes a defense of demonstrations against the Trump’s policies toward undocumented immigrants, college students and others who protest the administration’s slide toward authoritarianism.

We welcome your civil COMMENTS on these columns. Please email editors@thehustings.news and indicate your political leanings, irrespective of the positions taken in the column, in the subject line.

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MONDAY 7/21/25

Lessons from Kent State – A Warning to Today’s Political Left

Commentary by Rich Corbett

In his compelling 2024 work Kent State: An American Tragedy, historian Brian VanDeMark revisits one of the darkest chapters of modern American history — the deadly clash between student protesters and National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970. What began as demonstrations against the Vietnam War spiraled into chaos, culminating in the deaths of four students. VanDeMark’s narrative captures both the recklessness of those in the crowd and the grave cost of state force when the line between protest and violence becomes dangerously blurred.

More than half a century later, we’re watching similarly combustible forces simmer in today’s streets. But this time, the hostility is increasingly directed not at a war overseas — but at the very institutions tasked with enforcing the law at home.

Under the Trump administration, federal immigration officers with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) were repeatedly vilified — not for misconduct, but for doing their jobs. Protesters have blocked courthouses, swarmed detention centers, and, in increasingly frequent cases, hurled rocks, bottles, and threats at agents. These are not peaceful protests; they are violent confrontations dressed in the language of social justice.

And yet, as tensions escalate, where is the national outcry? Where is the media scrutiny or the principled calls for de-escalation from elected officials?

Instead, we hear words from Democratic leaders — some in Congress, others behind microphones at rallies—openly invoking “blood in the streets” as a necessary means of resisting perceived injustice. Whether metaphor or malice, such rhetoric is beyond irresponsible. It is the spark that ignites tragedy.

The tragedy at Kent State was not inevitable — but it was predictable, given the rising intensity of demonstrations and the breakdown of order. VanDeMark’s book reminds us that when law enforcement is put into impossible situations — surrounded, demonized, and physically attacked — disaster becomes more likely than not.

President Trump, for all his polarizing traits, took a firm stance in defending law enforcement and securing the border. His administration backed ICE agents with resources, political support, and moral clarity. In a time when mobs chant to abolish ICE, when officers are ambushed, and when cities offer sanctuary to lawbreakers, that stance is not merely defensible — it is essential.

Let Kent State serve as a warning, not a blueprint. America cannot afford to see blood spilled again because we allowed protests to morph into riots, or because political leaders saw chaos as a means to an end.

Words matter. So do the rules of law and order. If we are to preserve this republic, we must reject the violent fringe and support those sworn to protect us — even when their job is unpopular.

Corbett writes about myriad subjects at My Desultory Blog.

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MONDAY 7/21/25