Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped?

[Winstonm]

Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs is defending a Rhode Island detention center guard who accelerated his truck into a line of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters and allegedly left one with a broken leg, claiming he was “within his rights.”

 

During his Thursday night broadcast, Dobbs ― a fervent supporter of President Donald Trump, who regularly tunes into his show ― spoke with former ICE acting director Tom Homan, the two echoing each other’s praise for the embattled agency.

 

“I know that it must just gladden your heart to see a bunch of demonstrators at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility blocking the path of a guard and then are complaining about the fact that he sought to do what is within his rights, which is to proceed to park his vehicle and go to work,” Dobbs told Homan.

 

Welcome to 1968-1970.

 

Ice soldiers and Donald coming

we're finally on our own

This summer I hear the drumming

bones broken on Isle of Rhodes

 

Gotta get down to it

Ice is running them down

Should've been banned long ago

What if you knew them

and found them dead on the ground

Would you still watch the show?

[johnu]

One of the most overweight presidents in US history has this to say

 

Trump Mocks Own Supporter as Overweight: ‘Serious Weight Problem. Go Home, Start Exercising!’

 

During a 2020 reelection rally in New Hampshire, President Donald Trump mistook one of his large adult supporters for (actually thin) protesters being escorted out and then mocked his appearance: “That guy has a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising!”

 

Breaking away from the rally as the protesters were led out, Fox News’ Martha MacCallum could be heard chuckling on air as Trump made fun of someone’s weight. “An insult for somebody who was just taken out of there, a protester,” she said.

Right on cue, a Fox Propaganda (bad) personality piled on after the fact.

 

The irony of calling out a person for being overweight is lost on the Blimp in Chief.

 

Since America (and much of the rest of the world) has a serious problem with obesity, people usually gain weight as they get older, and the largest Republican party support comes from the elderly, he's basically insulting a significant portion of his own supporters. I wonder how many of his overweight supporters at the rally cheered his comments without having the self-awareness that he was also insulting them.

[johnu]

Yet another WTF moment

 

Trump has asked aides about possibility of US acquiring Greenland: report

 

President Trump has privately asked aides about the possibility of purchasing Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

 

Two advisers told the Journal that Trump asked them and other advisers at dinners and in passing conversations whether such a move would be possible, listening intently when they talked about its resources and geopolitical importance.

 

He also reportedly asked his White House counsel to look into the idea.

There is no confirmation that the Trump Ice Corporation has plans to expand into Greenland :rolleyes:

 

Greenland responds

 

Greenland To Donald Trump: ‘We’re Not For Sale’

 

I don't want to put any ideas into the Conspirator in Chief's overcrowded head, but Australia is the biggest island in the world (ok, technically a continent, but is sure looks like an island). Why would the US "settle" for having the 2nd largest island in the world when it could have the largest??? And why would the US have to get involved. The Trump Organization could print a few billion shares of stock worth zillions of dollars for a (very) hostile takeover of the land down under.

[y66]

Quote of the week:

 

“What is the one mantra of the pro-Israel organizations for 30, 40 years?” asked William Kristol, a conservative critic of Mr. Trump who fought Mr. Obama’s policies toward Israel. “It’s congressional support. Presidents have their own views, but Congress is the core. So to pick a fight with members of Congress, which is going to force half of Congress to rally to their defense, is really foolish.”

[johnu]

Another truly WTF moment

 

Trump's large union crowd at Shell was given the option of not showing up — and not getting paid

 

Why were all those union members at Shell showing up for a political rally?

 

The choice for thousands of union workers at Royal Dutch Shell’s petrochemical plant in Beaver County was clear Tuesday: Either stand in a giant hall waiting for President Donald Trump to speak or take the day off with no pay.

 

“Your attendance is not mandatory,” said the rules that one contractor relayed to employees, summarizing points from a memo that Shell sent to union leaders a day ahead of the visit to the $6 billion construction site. But only those who showed up at 7 a.m., scanned their ID cards, and prepared to stand for hours — through lunch but without lunch — would be paid.

 

“NO SCAN, NO PAY,” a supervisor for that contractor wrote.

 

OK, so technically they weren't required to attend the Manchurian President's campaign rally, but if they didn't attend, they wouldn't get paid for the day. I don't know about you, but very few working people I know can afford to lose an entire day's paycheck.

[johnu]

One of the great memories of all time -

 

Trump May Have Confused Framed Gettysburg Address For A Michigan Man Of The Year Award

 

But former GOP Rep. Dave Trott told Michigan Live and CNN on Friday that he thinks he knows what Trump is talking about. He had invited Trump in 2013 to be the keynote speaker at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Michigan. At the event, Trott presented Trump with a tie, a statuette of Abraham Lincoln and a framed copy of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. But Trott says there was no man of the year award

 

Trump gave a “rambling speech touching every topic under the sun” but didn’t receive any awards, Trott, who was chairman of the event, told Michigan Live.

 

“There was no Michigan man of the year award,” Trott said, according to Crain’s Detroit Business. “There was certainly nothing like that bestowed upon him.”

The Liar in Chief has one of the great minds in modern history. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was confusing the Man of the Year Award with the golf tournament trophy from one of his clubs that he didn't even play in.

 

I don't think it would be appropriate to say that the Manchurian President may be displaying signs of d-e-m-e-n-t-i-a so I have spelled it out.

[Winstonm]

Guest post from Colbert King:

 

Life is short. So, don’t waste it trying to prove President Trump is a racist, a bigot or a white supremacist.

 

“If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” the rhythm-and-blues song by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, is instructive. If by now minds haven’t been made up about Trump’s repugnant racism and religious intolerance, nothing said or done from this moment on will make a difference.

 

The sad truth is that with all that Trump has said and done, millions of Americans don’t see where he has ever crossed the line.

 

Slurring Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists? Calling for a ban on all Muslims coming into the country? Suggesting that a U.S.-born judge overseeing a Trump University lawsuit should recuse himself because of his Mexican heritage (“He’s a Mexican,” Trump said)? Saying people in the United States from Nigeria will never “go back to their huts”? Referring to Haiti and African countries as “s---hole countries” while wishing the United States would take more people from places like Norway? Tweeting that four black and brown members of Congress — three of them born in the United States — should “go back” to their countries of origin? Launching a slimy birther crusade against President Barack Obama? Constantly resorting to racially charged language?

 

What about those acts, you might ask? Shouldn’t they prompt folks in Trump’s camp to start striking their tents?

 

The answer might be found in an interview that NBC affiliate WWBT in Richmond conducted during the 2016 presidential campaign with a man identified only as the “Imperial Wizard of the Rebel Brigade of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.” Declaring his support for Republican candidate Trump, the imperial wizard said: “The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in.”

 

What he believes in, they believe in. Trump’s loyal base of supporters rejects or ignores any charge of bias. They stay locked in, because they see things his way; he is speaking for them.

 

So, don’t waste time trying to convince them that Trump has a dark side.

 

They have heard what you heard; have seen what you’ve seen. The difference: They delight in the Trump thoughts, words and deeds that you denounce.

 

The dark side is with them.

 

The America in which Trump grew up so comfortable has changed.

 

Today’s women of color are more than servants, maids and nannies. Or staff put on the payroll to serve white bosses. These women demand to be taken seriously — as mayors, members of Congress, journalists, business executives, corporate directors, artists, writers, teachers. Some of them also wear hijabs.

 

Gone is the day when nonthreatening roles of entertainer, athlete and general helper were regarded as natural and inevitable stations in black and brown lives.

 

Buffoons, criminals and workers in the kitchen are within Trump’s comfort zone. They can be handled.

 

People of color, rich in knowledge and experience, and with nerve to stand up and talk back?

 

That’s a bridge too far.

 

Which gets back to the main point. Trump is what he is. There’s the no small matter of all the rest.

 

It is the Greenville, N.C., crowd chanting “send her back” that cannot be ignored.

 

Look closely: Among them are managers, shop owners, real estate agents, police officers and sheriff’s deputies, bosses, foremen — people whose day jobs affect people of color.

 

Within the ranks of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” disciples are people who believe he is all that stands between them and an earthly perdition where their version of Christianity is on the ropes. That helps explain why they cheer Trump on when he moves against the LGBTQ community, makes life miserable for “invaders” along the southern border and when he launches ugly racist attacks on women of color, oh yeah, and slurring that black congressman from Baltimore who dressed down a white federal bureaucrat over the treatment of detained migrant children. Put him in his place.

 

It doesn’t bother them at all when Trump resorts to racist, sexist and religiously intolerant tropes in his onslaughts.

 

Face it. They helped put — and are now fighting like mad to keep — a prejudiced president in the White House. What does that say about them?

 

What does it say about the rest of us if we let them? Forget labeling; spend the time we have left on the political effort to rid the White House of that problem.

[Winstonm]

Using the power of the federal government against political enemies: Number 89 in the articles of impeachment.

 

President Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to say he is considering having the antifascist protest group known as antifa designated a “organization of terror.” The president’s tweet singling out antifa comes as far-right groups plan to rally against protests in Portland, Oregon later in the day. In a tweet, the president said “major consideration” was being given to designating the collection of left-wing groups a terrorist organization, adding, “Portland is being watched very closely. Hopefully the Mayor will be able to properly do his job!” City authorities had warned they feared violence at the rally—as well as clashes between antifascists and right-wing protesters—after conservative organizers made social media posts reading “death to antifa” and “get your gun license.” It was unclear Saturday morning how volatile the protests would become, but arrests and groups dropping out in recent days have complicated things.

 

Yet the House lets him do this over and over and over. Come on, Nadler, you don't need Pelosi's permission.

[Winstonm]

It's not just Trump - it's the entire party of the NRRA (National Republican Rifle Association):

 

Congressional Republicans recently circulated talking points on gun violence that falsely described the El Paso massacre and other mass shootings as “violence from the left.”

[johnu]

FEC chair challenges Trump to provide evidence of voter fraud in New Hampshire

 

The Democratic chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission on Friday challenged President Donald Trump to provide evidence of the voter fraud he insists cost him New Hampshire in 2016 or quit talking about it.

 

In a letter to Trump, Ellen Weintraub said the country's democracy depends on "the American people's faith in our elections. Your voter-fraud allegations run the risk of undermining that faith."

 

Weintraub's missive came a day after Trump complained to reporters — and to his supporters at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire — that he had narrowly lost the Granite State because of fraudulent voting, a claim for which there is no evidence.

Of course, Putin's candidate has no evidence because he is repeating one of his 12,000 documented lies that he has told since he was elected.

 

Weintraub said Trump should provide his evidence to the public and the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

 

"To put in terms a former casino operator should understand," she wrote, "there comes a time when you need to lay your cards on the table or fold."

A slight correction to Weintraub's statement. As a former casino operator, the Grifter in Chief would declare bankruptcy after stripping all the cash assets from the casino and pocketing them in his personal account.

[y66]

From Neil Irwin at NYT:

 

There won't necessarily be a recession in 2020. But if there is, this is how it will happen.

 

In short: a capital spending downturn spurred by the trade war and global forces, exacerbated by high corporate debt and inadequate government response.

[barmar]

The irony of calling out a person for being overweight is lost on the Blimp in Chief.

If Trump had any sense of irony, his head would have exploded a long time ago.

 

Actually, I should just have ended that after "If Trump had any sense".

[Winstonm]

From Neil Irwin at NYT:

 

IMO, the writer sounds like the same old supply-sider whose belief is that investment spurs demand. But reality shows that businesses respond to demand; they do not create it.

[johnu]

One of the "very fine people" thanks the Manchurian President

 

Proud Boys Deem Portland A Success Because Trump Sided With Right-Wing Extremists

 

A former Infowars staffer who organized the Proud Boys protest in Portland Saturday deemed the “mission” a success because President Donald Trump sided with the right-wing extremist group against the anti-fascists.

Of course, the Racist and Bigot in Chief did not have a single bad word to say about the Proud Boys.

 

The Proud Boys organization has been characterized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its spread of white nationalism, misogyny and Islamophobia. Several members of the group were charged last year in an attack in Manhattan on anti-fascists.

[johnu]

So, as it turns out the economy is not as great as promoted , and now is signaling a normal recession.

 

 

 

I wonder if the religious right who support him will still give an Amen when that happens?

 

Of course, the Con Man in Chief's economic team disagrees 100%

 

Top Trump Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow Sees ‘No Recession In Sight’

 

Very reassuring that a giant in the field of economics ( :lol: at least in the Fox Propaganda world ) has such confidence that there will not be a recession.

 

Kudlow’s assurances about the strength of the U.S. economy haven’t always panned out, however, as Todd noted in his interview with the former television host on Sunday. For example, shortly before the Great Recession began in 2007 Kudlow wrote: “There’s no recession coming … the pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen ... The Bush boom is alive and well. It’s finishing up its sixth consecutive year with more to come. Yes, it’s still the greatest story never told.”

In defense of Kudlow, what are the odds that he could be wrong about when the next recession is coming twice in a row? :rolleyes:

[Winstonm]

Of course, the Con Man in Chief's economic team disagrees 100%

 

Top Trump Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow Sees ‘No Recession In Sight’

 

Very reassuring that a giant in the field of economics ( :lol: at least in the Fox Propaganda world ) has such confidence that there will not be a recession.

 

 

In defense of Kudlow, what are the odds that he could be wrong about when the next recession is coming twice in a row? :rolleyes:

 

"In defense of Kudlow" is an oxymoron. B-)

[y66]

Donald Trump recently tweeted that he donated 100% of his President’s salary of $400,000 to the U.S.

 

He did not mention that he has spent 278.5 years of annual presidential salary in taxpayer money to play golf (per HuffPo WH correspondent S.V. Dáte).

[barmar]

Donald Trump recently tweeted that he donated 100% of his President’s salary of $400,000 to the U.S.

And of course, compared to his total income from his businesses, that's petty cash.

 

I give about 15% of my income to charity every year. If Trump gave merely 1% it would be around $5 million.

[Winstonm]

And of course, compared to his total income from his businesses, that's petty cash.

 

I give about 15% of my income to charity every year. If Trump gave merely 1% it would be around $5 million.

 

How do you know that 1% would be $5 million - have you seen his tax returns? B-)

[y66]

From Maggie Haberman at NYT:

 

President Trump, confronting perhaps the most ominous economic signs of his time in office, has unleashed what is by now a familiar response: lashing out at what he believes is a conspiracy of forces arrayed against him.

 

He has insisted that his own handpicked Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, is intentionally acting against him. He has said other countries, including allies, are working to hurt American economic interests. And he has accused the news media of trying to create a recession.

 

“The Fake News Media is doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election,” Mr. Trump tweeted last week. “The problem they have is that the economy is way too strong and we will soon be winning big on Trade, and everyone knows that, including China!”

 

Mr. Trump has repeated the claims in private discussions with aides and allies, insisting that his critics are trying to take away what he sees as his calling card for re-election. Mr. Trump has been agitated in discussions of the economy, and by the news media’s reporting of warnings of a possible recession. He has said forces that do not want him to win have been overstating the damage his trade war has caused, according to people who have spoken with him. And several aides agree with him that the news media is overplaying the economic fears, adding to his feeling of being justified, people close to the president said.

 

The claims provide a ready target to help Mr. Trump deflect blame if the economy does tip into recession. But whether they could truly insulate the president on what could be a significant issue of the 2020 election after he has so conspicuously wrapped himself in the good economic news of the past two years remains an open question, and he and his advisers have sought to tamp down concerns that a downturn is on the way.

 

“Our economy is the best in the world, by far,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Sunday. “Lowest unemployment ever within almost all categories. Poised for big growth after trade deals are completed.”

 

“I don’t see a recession,” he told reporters later on Sunday before leaving his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., for Washington. But he added that if the economy slowed down, “it would be because I have to take on China and some other countries,” singling out the European Union as among those treating the United States “very badly.”

 

The president’s broadsides follow a long pattern of conspiratorial thinking. He has claimed, without evidence, that undocumented immigrants cast millions of ballots, costing him the popular vote in the 2016 election. During the campaign, he predicted that the system might prove to be “rigged” if he did not win. He conjured up a “deep state” conspiracy within the government to thwart his election and, more recently, his agenda. And he has said reporters are trying to harm him with pictures of empty seats at his rallies.

 

The attacks come as the economy has begun flashing some warning signs, despite unemployment near historic lows and relatively high marks by voters on Mr. Trump’s economic stewardship. Global growth has been slowing. Last week, stock markets plunged as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note briefly fell below that of the two-year Treasury note, an unusual situation known as an inversion of the yield curve that is considered one of the most reliable leading indicators of recession in the United States.

 

And signs of damage from Mr. Trump’s trade war with China have been mounting.

 

In some conversations, the president has been preoccupied with the trade war, as well as with how to handle the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, according to the people who have spoken with him. “I’d love to see it worked out in a humane fashion,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday, referring to potential retaliation against the demonstrators by China. “It does put pressure on the trade deal,” he added.

 

Mr. Trump also indicated that the Chinese tech giant Huawei, which his administration sees as a national security threat, might not receive an extension of a reprieve that allows American companies to supply it with certain goods despite a ban on such trade.

 

“Huawei is a company we may not do business with at all,” the president said, casting doubt on reports that the reprieve, which is set to expire on Monday, would be extended.

 

On Sunday, his advisers battled any notion that the trade war could be harming the economy. Peter Navarro, a top trade adviser who has urged the president on in his trade war, dismissed a study from researchers at Harvard, the University of Chicago, the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that showed that the cost of Mr. Trump’s tariffs had “fallen largely on the U.S.,” not on China and other countries, as the administration has asserted.

 

“There’s no evidence whatsoever that American consumers are bearing any of this,” Mr. Navarro said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” insisting, despite abundant data to the contrary, that “they’re not hurting anybody here.”

 

While maintaining that any turmoil in the economy is overstated, Mr. Navarro and Larry Kudlow, the White House economic adviser, also said the Federal Reserve had slowed economic growth, mirroring Mr. Trump’s criticisms.

 

Mr. Kudlow, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” said that the state of the economy under the Trump administration “is kind of a miracle, because we face severe monetary restraint from the Fed.”

 

Mr. Navarro, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” blamed the Fed for raising interest rates “too far, too fast,” adding that “they have cost us a full point” of growth in gross domestic product.

 

Mr. Trump has also struck an increasingly strident economic tone.

 

“You have no choice but to vote for me because your 401(k), everything is going to be down the tubes” if Democrats win, he told a crowd at a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., last week. “Whether you love me or hate me, you’ve got to vote for me.”

 

The rally was one of a few departures from a relatively low-profile period during a nearly two-week trip to his club in Bedminster, where he typically spends part of August. He also took official trips to El Paso, Tex., and Dayton, Ohio, after the gun massacres there, and he went to Pennsylvania ostensibly to talk about energy sources, but instead delivered remarks indistinguishable from those at one of his rallies.

 

But the dyspeptic diatribes came in spurts, and the president whipsawed between frustration and freewheeling meetings and golf outings, including one on Saturday with the president of the P.G.A. and the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to two people familiar with his playing partners. Still, Mr. Trump was frustrated by the news media’s coverage of his rally in New Hampshire. He repeatedly complained about misleading pictures of empty seats, or that attendance at the arena had beat Elton John’s record crowd there, but no one was covering it.

 

Long-serving aides say that Mr. Trump understands that presidents face harder re-election battles in a bad economy, and he has made the issue central to his presidency.

 

But even as he returns to Washington facing new pressures, Mr. Trump did not seem to anticipate a quick resolution to the trade war. “The tariffs have cost nothing, in my opinion, or certainly very little,” in terms of pain to American consumers and businesses, Mr. Trump insisted, adding that “China is eating the tariffs.”

 

“China would like to make a deal,” he said. “I’m not ready.”

re: "he went to Pennsylvania ostensibly to talk about energy sources, but instead delivered remarks indistinguishable from those at one of his rallies" -- as opposed to indistinguishable from a raving lunatic who can't rave enough to satisfy his fans and won't be ready to make a trade deal with China until they make unspecified major concessions and beg for mercy which they really want to do.

[johnu]

Donald Trump recently tweeted that he donated 100% of his President’s salary of $400,000 to the U.S.

 

Since a yuuuge percentage of the Manchurian President's tweets are filled with outright lies, how can anybody know that is true?

 

Unless we see a final tax return from the IRS showing this as a deduction listed under charitable contributions, this is just a tweet. Maybe he donated, maybe he didn't. The Con Man in Chief has often claimed he would make contributions to other charitable causes and failed to contribute. His own "charitable" trust was a sham and frequently benefited himself in violation of the laws governing trusts.

[johnu]

The Grifter and Con Man in Chief has been telling the the big lie that China would pay for his tariffs all around the country and all over the airwaves. Even some members of his own administration have admitted that American consumers and importers pay for every cent of the tariffs.

 

American Families Will Pay $1,000 Per Year For Trump’s China Tariffs, JPMorgan Says

 

Despite repeated assurances from Trump administration officials that U.S. consumers are not bearing the brunt of its tariffs on China, a new JPMorgan analysis predicts that the average American family will shoulder $1,000 per year.

 

According to CNBC, the firm estimates that the administration’s newest round of tariffs ― 10% on $300 billion of Chinese goods ― will result in a $400 increase in costs per household. Roughly half of the new tariffs are due to take effect on Sept. 1 and the other half are set for Dec. 15. The Chinese tariffs already in place are expected to cost the average household $600 per year.

December 15 is a familiar date. The Grifter and Con Man in Chief delayed some of the China tariffs until December 15 so that some Christmas related goods would be imported before the tariffs become effective and the tariff costs are passed on to consumers during their Christmas shopping. This self confirms the lie that China is paying for tariffs and not American consumers.

[y66]

From Steel Yourself for the Trump Slump from the Editors at Bloomberg:

 

Stocks tanked last week amid signs of a worsening slowdown in Germany and China, and bond investors flashed the clearest signal yet that the U.S. is courting a self-inflicted recession. Hopefully these cries of alarm from financial markets will cause President Trump and his advisers to stop and think. If not, steel yourself for worse to come.

 

Slowing growth in Europe and China has various causes, but high on the list is trade — because Trump has made disrupting commerce his main instrument of economic policy. Right now, damage to the flow of goods and services is the least of it. Far more dangerous is the blow to confidence and investment. Firms and investors are starting to ask where the president’s willingness to wreck the global economic architecture might actually lead.

 

Until now, the tendency has been to see the administration’s protectionist initiatives as a combination of tactical (hence temporary) disruptions and threats that will come to nothing. This is presumably why stock markets have mostly been betting on further expansion. But Trump, erratic in so many other respects, has been consistent on one thing: his disdain for international cooperation in general, and for the liberal order of global trade in particular. An idea seems to be dawning at last: Perhaps he really is willing to see both destroyed.

 

It would be hard to exaggerate what’s at stake. For decades, the international economy was built on the assumption that liberal trade would prevail. The only question was how far the zone of productive integration would expand, and how fast. Countless billions have been invested on the assumption of no backsliding; companies large and small have designed their operations around it. Now this fundamental premise is being called into question. The new risk is not that the evolving structures of economic integration will be cautiously modified or put on pause, but that they’ll simply be smashed by people who appear to have no clue what they’re doing.

 

If this happens, the costs would be staggering. The mere risk that it might happen, once the possibility begins to be taken seriously, could easily be enough to push the U.S. and the world into another recession.

 

Perhaps the president is beginning to sense the prospect of a crash that would rightly be blamed on him. He delayed some of his new tariffs against China until after the Christmas shopping season starts. If nothing else, this suggests he grasps, finally, that taxes on imports hurt U.S. consumers. His fervent criticism of the Federal Reserve could be another tell. Alarm over last week’s sudden drop in long-term bond yields, often an indicator of impending recession, was all the Fed’s fault, he said. But nobody is buying it — the Fed is helpless to dispel fears about a deliberate policy of smashing world trade.

 

Sadly, even if he wanted to, Trump couldn’t entirely undo the damage he’s caused. The world now knows what it’s dealing with. With trust gone, the president can’t repair the partnerships he has so blithely fractured, and restoring confidence in the stability of the global trading order will take years of wiser leadership. Yet the president and his officials can at least refrain from making matters any worse, by ending their policy of reckless aggression on trade. And Congress should start reaffirming its constitutional responsibility for tariff policy and claim back the trade powers it has delegated to the White House.

 

With luck, this glimpse of a Trump slump will do some good. But if the president just plows on, and Congress lets him, the economic consequences could be dire.

[y66]

Quote of the day from Paul Nolte, a money manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago:

 

“It’s kind of like a drunken walk. There’s no rhyme or reason from day to day as to what’s happening with trade, and trade is really what’s driving the markets. And there’s no way to handicap it. There is no glide path, there is no, ‘Here’s what happening.’ It’s a random walk.”

[y66]

Susan Glasser explains Mike Pompeo's path to becoming Secretary of State and what makes him tick.