Tariffs On? Or Tariffs Off? Or What?

Are the walls there. Or not?

So as I write this (on May 12) Trump has announced a temporary suspension of tariffs against China, and he’s trumpeting the suspension as a great victory and a feat of deal-making.

But, also as I write this, experts are not convinced that the suspension isn’t just a short-term measure, and that America has gained anything for all the effort (other than a titanic embarrassment internationally), and that the deal won’t collapse in the end. (See The U.S. and China make a deal on trade. Here's what analysts are saying: Stocks are rallying, but this victory looks hollow, analysts and economists say — and it might not last, By Catherine Baab, Quartz)

So, by the time you read this (I’m scheduling it for May 23), pretty much everything may have changed. Probably for the worst.

But maybe that’s the point. Maybe the theory is that if he just keeps talking, just keeps blithering, people won’t notice what a disaster he really is.

Not even when we all end hungry, selling blood to survive, and offering kidneys for the transplant market. 

GOP Mega-Doner: Trump’s Not Such A Good Idea After All

Politico is reporting that Ken Griffin, a major GOP donor and star of the libertarian-free-enterprise world, has startled everyone by rejecting Trump’s tariffs. Not only are they bad for business, he says, they also open the door to Crony Capitalism, with the government deciding who wins and who loses.

It is interesting to see Griffin taking this position. He was, until recently, a serious Trump supporter. Now, quite the reverse. 

It’s good that he is taking on Trump, of course. Though, really, it would have been nice if he'd seen what Trump was a bit sooner. Which should have been easy. After all, Trump made no secret of his intentions. 

Which brings up a question. Why is it that "visionary" business professionals so often fail to see what is right in front of their face? And which all the rest of us…we non-visionaries…have perceived all along? 

The Jewish “Civil War”

 

Conflict

Interesting article in the New Republic, The Coming Jewish Civil War Over Donald Trump, by Eric Alterman. In it, Mr. Alterman says that Trump is dividing American Jews into two hostile camps: on the one hand, those who accept Trump’s leadership and interpret any criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and on the other, those who pursue progressive ends.

It is a thoughtful and disturbing piece. And you have to suspect that there’s more than a little truth in it. Already, it seems, American Jews who support Israel, and who are in no way anti-Zionist, but who disapprove of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are being demonized by what Atlerman calls “legacy” Jewish groups, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee ( AIPAC).

In the long term, Alterman concludes, the partnership of the Legacy groups with Trump will be particularly destructive. Such organizations will never be able to escape the taint of corruption which comes along with their support for this benighted administration.

Not Really Hers, But Brilliant Just The Same

Not Liz, But Pru

So, like a lot of people, a few days ago I saw what was said to be a posting from Liz Cheney taking the Democrats to task for inactivity in the face of a serious threat of Fascism. I accepted that it was from the former congresswoman. However, I soon learned that the letter had been misattributed. It had actually been written (and signed) by a Facebook user who goes by the name of PruPru. (It is still not clear who reproduced the letter and claimed it was from Liz Cheney.)

That said, when you read the posting, you have to think it is right on the money. PruPru begs Democrats to stop fund-raising and start fighting. She is dang tired (and aren’t we all?) of getting endless emails and messages begging for $20 here and $15 there, while it seems that the Party Elite is inert, and not confronting Trump in really meaningful ways.

She also has some excellent ideas about what the Democrats could do now, and how they could make the GOP actually squirm.

The letter is well worth reading, and you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/DrPruLee/posts/pfbid038BY7yThGnhmksswQDbuEauChgPKA8wj5rnBVjZeGeh2kzEEGtFNoxDiQ29YrLfbnl

So, not really from Liz Cheney…

But damn! It makes good reading.

Three cheers to PruPru.

Factory Jobs Aren’t Coming

No Humans Need Apply

So I saw in an article in Fortune that “U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says factory gigs are the ‘great jobs of the future.’” This is part of the Right’s drive to return manufacturing to America.

That’s fine. It’s even laudable. We need more manufacturing to be done here in the United States. We need to claw back the factories that our business elites happily offshored so that they could get “low-cost labor” … and to crush unions in the process. 

But the idea that Americans are going to get jobs in those new factories is another matter entirely. Let’s face it, in the future factories are going to be automated. It’s going to be mostly robots that are going to be working in them. Even the “robot technicians” working to fix broken robots are going to be robots.

I find it fascinating because the Right seems to be obsessed with the idea that Americans need to get back to “real work” and that “real work” means factory work. Not namby-pamby white-collar office jobs. We need tough guys. Doing tough jobs. You betcha.

And, maybe that’s right. I don’t know. But I do know that huge numbers of humans working in gangs on assembly lines are not in the cards. And not all the Executive Orders from the White House are going to change that.

Which means…perhaps…that the country the Right is building has no real place for people in it.

Kind of disturbing, don’t you think?

5calls

Keep Those Calls And Letters Coming

Yesterday I learned about the app 5 Calls. This is very useful for Democrats. It locates your Senators and Representatives, provides their phone numbers, and even offers you scripts (if you wish to use them) when you call to express your concern or support about various issues. (https://5calls.org/)

You may not ever hear from the Congress members in question, but at least you can go on record. And that counts. They pay attention to that sort of thing.

I called my Senators and Rep to express my concern about RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine activities. (He could get us all killed.)

Go here: https://5calls.org/

Killing The Black Middle Class

Killing The Black Middle Class

There’s a fascinating article in a recent issue of Fast Company, How Trump’s mass firings could quickly hollow out the Black middle class: The president has gone nuclear against federal union jobs—historically African Americans’ ladder to economic equality, originally in Capital and Main and written by Mark Kreidler.

The piece looks at how Trump’s furious assault on federal workers and unions is hitting Black Americans hardest. Government jobs have been one of the traditional routes by which African-Americans have entered the Middle Class. Now, those jobs are going away, and they could take the Black Middle Class with them.

The question, of course, is whether this is strictly an accident. Trump and the GOP have waged a war of annihilation on federal workers for a long time. And perhaps the demise of African-American employment is just collateral damage.

Or is it? Could there be more? Could there be a design here? After all, Trump and his MAGAts are no fan of racial equality. Perhaps the point of the war against the civil service (or at least part of the point) is to remove those men and women whose ethnic heritage is distasteful to them?

Perhaps we’ll never know for certain. But, that’s irrelevant. It is clear that the current Administration is a disaster for Black America. Whether that disaster is by accident or design does not, even remotely, change the larger effect.  

Martial Law Coming

There Is A Coup Coming.

If you ever had any doubts about where Trump and his enablers are headed, then just consider these three articles:

Trump Orders Hegseth and Bondi to ‘Determine How Military’ Can Be Used in Domestic Law Enforcement, by Charlie Nash, Mediaite, Apr 28th, 2025, 9:08 pm 

Trump Orders Hegseth, Bondi to Send Military Assets to State, Local Police 'to Prevent Crime' in Latest Executive Order, by M.B. Mack / Published Apr 29 2025, The Latin Times, 11:58 AM EDT

Donald Trump's New Order Sparks 'Martial Law' Concerns, by Sophie Clark, Newsweek, Published Apr 29, 2025 at 11:25 AM EDT

Simply put, Trump is more or less openly preparing to use the military to impose his will on the nation. He’s purged the Pentagon of officers who might oppose him. And now he’s working to create a legal fiction that he has the right to use the Armed Forces inside the United States and against American citizens. The final act? It’s obvious. Some sort of coup d'état. 

We can only hope that 1) he and the GOP don’t get a chance to put their plans into motion, and 2) that our men and women in uniform will be unwilling to support his treasonous activities.

But one other thing is very true. To wit, no one can say that Trump and his Fascists have concealed their plans in any fashion. They are not making any secret of their preparations.

The only ones who will be surprised on the morning that there are tanks in front of the Capitol Building will be those members of the Democratic Party’s elite who are doing so painfully little to oppose Trump and his minions, and who have instead wasted their time and resources silencing those Democrats (Bernie, AOC, others) who have had the energy and the foresight to protest. 

 

A National Registry of Jews?

 

Rawstory just ran this alarming piece: 'Vindictive commissar’s list': Alarm as Trump admin appears to build Jewish registry, by Krystina Alarcon Carroll, April 29, 2025 4:08PM ET. According to Ms. Carroll, the Trump administration seems to be building lists of people (particularly in higher ed) who are Jewish. This follows the startling news that RFK Jr. is building a compiling list of individuals who are supposedly autistic. 

Frankly, this may be a story that means nothing. It could be just another of the inane and idiotic stunts that the White House uses to keep us all off balance and exhausted…a distraction while the Orange One and his billionaire enablers loot the country of another few trillion.

But, on the other hand, it could be …terrible. We know, too well, who has had these kinds of lists before. And we know what was done with them.

Let us, therefore, prepare. It may be necessary for us, someday, to find and shred those lists, and to defend the men and women whose names are on them. 

The Great American Kleptocracy

Kleptocrat

So there’s a fascinating article in the current Foreign Affairs. Is America a Kleptocracy? Here’s how life could change for the rich, poor, and everyone in between by Jodi Vittori, who is described as “a professor of the practice and co-chair of global politics and security at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.”

Professor Vittori’s answer to her own question is “yeah, maybe not quite yet, but we’re definitely on our way there soon.” And she adds that being ruled by mega-crooks is going to impact us all in a lot of ways, and none of them will be pleasant. Expect prices to go up (everywhere!) and democracy to be increasingly unavailable at any cost.

And the question is what to do about it all. Personally, I’m afraid that so long as people like Trump, and his enablers, and the tech-bros are running things, there isn’t much we can do about it. They’ll just keep stealing and stealing, until the whole system collapses into ruins.

Still, Professor Vittori says there may be ways of fighting back. Some countries have managed to use a combination of legal action and non-violent protest to bring down the Kleptocrats. She cites in particular techniques developed and promoted by USAID.

Only, USAID was one of Trump’s top targets, and maybe we know why. It taught too many people how to resist him.

Tariffs ≠ Manufacturing

Trump's Economic Legacy

Fascinating article on the MIT Technology Review page this week. Sweeping tariffs could threaten the US manufacturing rebound: They won’t bring back manufacturing, and they could stunt our ability to make tomorrow's breakthroughs, by David Rotman. 

According to Mr. Rotman’s thoughtful analysis (based on a number of conversations with industry leaders), the tariffs that the Trump administration believe will encourage the return of American manufacturing may actually have the opposite effect. Notes Rotman, “In fact, the high and crudely designed tariffs set out by the administration could damage a recent rebound in US manufacturing. Building factories and the supply chains they run on takes years—even decades—of steady investment. Meanwhile, tariffs have the immediate impact of boosting costs for critical supplies, many of which come from overseas—helping to raise prices and, in turn, slowing demand.”

That’s pretty significant.

Once again, Trump and his enablers prove themselves brilliant at doing precisely the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

But, alas, that probably doesn’t matter to his fans, who will…doubtless…continue to support the current administration, no matter no much damage it does them, so long as it lets them “own the libs,” avoid higher taxes on billionaires, and withdraw crucial services to people even more vulnerable than themselves. 

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys

 

What they will become...

So I read on the AP website that things are not going well in Trump’s inner circle. In fact, it seems the insiders are turning on each other. Or, anyway, that’s what is said in the piece, As controversies pile up, Trump allies increasingly turn on one another, by Chris Megerian and Zeke Miller. 

But, of course, we knew that was going to happen. These people are not normal, and they are led by a fool. It was only a matter of time before they started rending each other, like inbred dogs snapping at others in the pack.

The question, of course, is how far will go. My guess? It will get pretty bad, indeed. The metaphor will no longer be inbred dogs, but rather rats…trapped in a locked basement or an air pocket in a sunken ship,with food running short…

And, gradually, inevitably, devouring one another…

Until absolutely none remain. 

Goodbye Europe

Europe says So Long, and thanks for all the movies

If you get a chance, check out this article in Zeit Online: Thanks America, That’ll Be Al:lAndy Warhol, Big Mac, iPhone: It was a grand American epoch. But it’s over, by Florian Illies

In it, the author looks at Trump and the American Right’s foreign policy (such as it is) and concludes that the special relationship that used to exist between the US and Western Europe is gone for good. And, maybe, American cultural vigor has gone as well.

The article is a little bit tongue in cheek, but you have to admit, the author’s got a good point. Trump has effectively ruined our relationship with the rest of the world, in general, and with our allies in Europe in particular.

Frankly, that could hurt us far more than it could hurt Europe. For a long time, Western Europeans accepted our leadership, and devoured our popular culture. But, now, that happy time is gone.

And mind you, all of this was so that one Orange Man could impose his diseased conception of the world on events, and so that rabid MAGAts could “own the libs.”

Somehow, I don’t think the “victory” was worth the price.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone.

It’s an odd thing, really, this Mexican holiday which isn’t that big a deal in Mexico, but which has been adopted wholehog by the United States. We celebrate it like it was us, and not the Mexicans who defeated (for a while) the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

I mention all of this because there is an interesting bit of irony here. We’ve adopted the holiday, and it has become a major North American celebration of Hispanic culture, while at the same time our government and MAGA is doing its best to force Hispanic people out of the country. 

Tell me, when it is all done and said, and His Imperial Majesty King Trump III rules in the district of post-democratic Columnia, will we still be allowed to mark Cinco de Mayo on the calendar? Or will it be erased forever? And we’ll just just from 4 May to 6 May, without so much as a moment’s hesitation?

“Under-loved” (and underlovable) Matt Gaetz

Vote...if only to annoy him.

So this is pretty much volume two of yesterday’s post, the one about GOP gubernatorial candidate Kyle Langford’s suggestion that undocumented women could be allowed to remain in the U.S. so long as they agree to marry “incels.”

This one, though, is about Matt Gaetz (yes, he’s still around). It seems that on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, he said that “...Over-Educated, Under-Loved White Women Are This Nation's True Pandemic.” 

Hard to believe, but he really said that.

It seems college educated women are the group which, according to some polls, are the most anti-Trump. So, this is Mr. Gaetz’s interpretation of that data. Too much education, but not enough…well, you know. Call it, “being farped.”

Okay…

So if you had the slightest doubt about what Mr. Gaetz…and the Republican Party…think of women and their role in the world…

You may effectively bury it now.

This is not a joke. Even if it should be.

 

Husband Material?

Some stories you see in the news and you think, “This is a joke, right?” Except it isn’t. And you can’t believe it. So you check again. And it still isn’t. 

This is one such story: “Republican Governor Candidate Proposes Female Undocumented Immigrants Can Stay If They Marry ‘Incels’”

No. I’m not making that up. 

Kinda wish I were, though.

Factories, but not Factory Jobs

No place for people

So I’ve heard that one of Trump/Musk’s justifications for large scale layoffs of government employees is that no one will really suffer for long. What will happen, they say, is that the unemployed will find fulfilling, well-paid jobs in the factories that Trump’s tariffs will return to our shores.

But, come, this is a fantasy. If manufacturing is coming back to America (itself not certain), then it will be modern and efficient. Meaning it will be automated. Factories will have a workforce of (mostly) robots. Today, you don’t want people on the factory floor. They just get in the way. You have machines instead.

Thus, in an age of automation, the economy may be based on manufacturing, but employment is not. Which means that the supposedly well-paid factory jobs coming in the wake of tariffs will almost certainly never get here. 

One wonders what they will do then…our glorious leaders? When yet again the prosperity they promise to the many proves an illusion? And all they can offer is still greater wealth to the vanishingly few? 

When You’ve Lost Karl Rove

Good Ole Karl 

So I read the other day that Karl Rove is looking a bit askance at the Trump administration. He says it is exhausting Americans, and the regime will end badly.

Well, of course. That’s sort of like saying Tuesday comes after Monday. Most weeks, anyway.

But it is fascinating to see good ole Karl getting into this fight. This is the man who was “Bush’s Brain.” And who did so much to make demonizing Democrats a popular pastime. And he also worked very hard to make the GOP the focused and obedient militant Party-Army that it is today. When Trump says sh*t, Republicans ask what color. And that wouldn’t have happened without Karl.

So what do we say about Karl? Perhaps not much. Perhaps nothing. Except, of course, to note that the man who did so much to get us into this mess is now vaguely noticing that it is, in fact, a mess.

Except, of course, and obviously…

He’s taking none of the blame. No matter how much he deserves it. 

How very Republican of him. 

Reading Mr. Brooks’ call for an uprising

 

We The People

By this time, you will probably have already read, or read about,  David Brooks’ op-ed in the New York Times,  What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal. It is genuinely an important piece in that it was written by a conservative who was in opposition to us lefty loonies for decades, but who would now stand with us.

Why? It seems he has discovered that Trump and his regime are, indeed, illegitimate and a threat to everything America stands for…at least, everything good that America stands for.

I’m glad to see this. And I’m heartened that the call is coming from the Right. (At last someone over there is hearing something other than Fox News or the Heritage Foundation.) And I hope, very much, that Mr. Brooks is heeded and we do manage to cobble together a united front that will be able to bring down our Trump and his emerging dictatorship..

Yet, I fear this will be hard to do. Mr. Brooks is hardly a MAGA, and the GOP remains beholden to that curious movement. I see very little to indicate that Republicans, in general, and Trumpsters, in particular, will feel any sympathy for his positions. Meanwhile, the Left can’t seem to stay united long enough to support AOC and Bernie, much less coalesce around some future leader or leaders who could provide common direction. 

Still, better small things than nothing. Let us hope that this op-ed piece will resonate with enough people…right, left, and center…that something will come of it. After all, a single drop of rain can presage a mighty storm. 

Now The Right Is After The Pill and Condoms

Who They Really Are

Interesting and terrifying article on the CommonDreams website the other day, Group That Helped Reverse Roe Sets Sights on Birth Control, by Jessica Corbett. It turns out that “the conservative Christian group, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),” which was one of the prime movers behind the end of Roe v. Wade, is now gunning for birth control. Yes, they want to make condoms, the pill, IUDs, etc., illegal. 

We all saw this coming, of course. The real thrust of the Right was always against recreational sex, not abortion. Abortion was just the convenient launching pad for the larger effort. 

In short, the Right stands revealed for what it truly is. Not a band of humanitarians protecting the unborn, but Anthony Comstock returned, full of hate, detesting pleasure, and eager to condemn all and sundry to the pit for exercising (God forbid!) their freedom to choose.