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How Trump's Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility - and What can be Done to Stop it

8 hours agoCenter Right

Economist David Hebert highlights an underappreciated danger of Trump's tariff mania. It's a serious problem, but one that can at least be mitigated.

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'People are scared': MAGA senator lashes out at Trump over 'hair trigger' tensions

Raw Story

1 hour ago

'People are scared': MAGA senator lashes out at Trump over 'hair trigger' tensions

A MAGA Senator took to the airwaves to call out President Donald Trump for hypocrisy. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) admitted on "Face the Nation" Sunday that he was not "comfortable" with Trump's newly announced and already problem-laden nuclear deal."We're bombing a country to keep'm from getting a nuclear weapon," said Kennedy. "But we're signing a deal with another country...that the world perceives as possibly, someday leading to a nuclear weapon."The countries, of course, are Iran — which Trump ostensibly started to dismantle their nuclear program — and Saudia Arabia, the nation Trump wants to allow to enrich uranium.The U.S. struck the deal Wednesday but hit a snag over the Saudi government's relationship with Israel. Less than 24 hours after announcing the deal, Trump added a condition that the Saudis normalize those relations. Experts warn the deal could trigger a cascade of nuclear ambitions across the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal has reported, and critics note the Saudis gave Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's private equity firm $2 billion."Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan noted Sunday that any deal would have to be approved by Congress, which prompted Kennedy to list off his concerns. "The world's on a hair trigger," Kennedy said. "The world looks at what's going on in Ukraine, the Middle East, the world looks at America's relationship now with Europe."He added, "People are scared." The Louisiana lawmaker is hardly the first U.S. senator to vent frustration with Trump this week. White House demands that Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) do more to pass the SAVE America Act — a non-citizen voting ban critics describe as redundant and dystopian — have infuriated GOP members of the Senate. "Instead of pointing the finger at Republicans," Thune said, "they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats."Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) added, "I have 1000 percent confidence in Thune, and anybody in the White House who thinks he's not a good leader isn't qualified for their job.""This idea that he can just command members of the Republican conference to get in line is just a fantasy," responded Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). “It’s creating a circular firing squad for Republicans.”Kennedy himself added, “John can’t put a gun to people’s heads."

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Sen. Kennedy says Trump likes daily strikes on Iran: ‘Sometimes you have to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys’

The Hill News

1 hour ago

Sen. Kennedy says Trump likes daily strikes on Iran: ‘Sometimes you have to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys’

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Sunday said President Trump likes the daily strikes on Iran, which paused going into the weekend after nearly two straight weeks of attacks on Iranian infrastructure. “I think we ought to continue the blockade and starve them out,” Kennedy said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan. “I…

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Biographer says Melania legal battle exposes 'Trump law in a nutshell'

Alternet.org

2 hours ago

Biographer says Melania legal battle exposes 'Trump law in a nutshell'

First Lady Melania Trump is engaged in an ongoing legal spat with an outspoken former biographer of her husband, and according to said author, her approach has "Trump law in a nutshell" and exposed how the family uses courts to "harass and intimidate" their enemies.Michael Wolff, the longtime author and reporter who has extensively covered the political career of President Donald Trump, filed an anti-SLAPP lawsuit against the first lady earlier this year, after she herself threatened to sue him over his comments about her connections to Jeffrey Epstein. In May, Trump-appointed New York District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil dismissed Wolff's suit, ruling that he would have to wait for an actual defamation suit from Melania Trump before filing his own response.Later still, Vyskocil warned the first lady against plans to seek sanctions against Wolff's legal team and an effort to force them to pay her legal fees, explaining that the bar for such a motion was high and urging her to take matters outside of the legal system."I wonder if it’s in the interest of the parties to continue litigating in this court," she said. "I think sometimes people get so caught up in the fervor of the moment that they don’t really stop and think about the cost-benefit analysis of motions that are contemplated and the burden you put a court to."Nevertheless, this past week, the first lady's team filed a motion for sanctions against Wolff, moving forward with her plan to seek payment. “Plaintiff filed a patently meritless lawsuit and used it to harass Mrs. Trump in public,” the motion read. “Plaintiff and his counsel asserted a legally frivolous claim, propped it up with factual contentions that lacked any evidentiary support, and used them to run a political and commercial campaign. They should pay for Mrs. Trump’s fees and expenses incurred for the process they abused.”During the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," the author touched on this latest development in his legal dispute with Melania Trump, saying that one might have expected that she and her lawyers "would have their tail between their legs," after Vyskocil's warning, "But instead, they actually have gone through."In doing so, Wolff explained, the first lady has exposed the whole playbook behind her husband's approach to legal warfare."And, of course, nobody knows what’s gonna happen there," Wolff said. "But the larger point is that they will have added months and months and months to the legal calendar... and countless expense. So that is... Trump law in a nutshell—delay, harass, intimidate, exhaust, and avoid... testifying at all costs."Elsewhere in the episode, Wolff claimed that his lawsuit had caught everyone in the White House off-guard, citing conversations with a source inside the administration. His success raising $837,000 for the legal battle via GoFundMe also allegedly scared "the bejesus out of... Melania and her lawyers."

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Trump’s border czar makes remarkable admission as questions swirl about killer ICE agent

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Trump’s border czar makes remarkable admission as questions swirl about killer ICE agent

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, made a remarkable admission Sunday regarding David Brouillette, the ICE agent identified as having fatally shot Colombian man Johan Sebastián Guerrero earlier this month, The Guardian reported.Five days after the fatal shooting, The Washington Post revealed through court filings allegations of violent abuse leveled against Brouillette. One of his ex-wives accused him of once throwing boiling water on her while she was holding their young daughter, and in another instance, pointing a gun at her while she was in the shower.Given Brouillette’s alleged violent past, CNN’s Dana Bash asked Homan whether someone “with those issues” was qualified to be an ICE agent.“No, if those … are facts … I don’t think he should ever have cleared vetting,” Homan admitted, according to The Guardian.Homan also said that part of an ongoing probe into the fatal shooting involved determining how “the vetting process [failed].”Guerrero was fatally shot in Maine during a traffic stop by Brouillette on July 13. Guerrero was one of two people killed by ICE in the past week during traffic stops, leading ICE to suspend all traffic stops, though President Donald Trump called for the policy change to be reversed the next day.Lucinda Brouillette, one of Brouillette’s ex-wives, issued her former husband a brutal condemnation in the wake of Guerrero’s killing.“If you were to ask me whether I believe David Brouillette is capable of this level of extreme violence, my answer is unequivocally yes,” she said in the statement. “That belief is not based on speculation, but on my own lived experiences over many years.”

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'Deadly mistakes': Trump border czar gets pummeled on-air for shrugging ICE answers

Raw Story

2 hours ago

'Deadly mistakes': Trump border czar gets pummeled on-air for shrugging ICE answers

A high-ranking official in President Donald Trump's administration was subjected to ridicule and scorn Sunday after he struggled to answer basic questions.CNN anchor Dana Bash asked White House Border Czar Tom Homan about Immigration Control and Enforcement officers in Texas and Maine who fatally shot unarmed fathers this month. "Do you know specifically what happened to the officers involved in the Texas and Maine shootings?" Bash asked. "Are they on administrative leave?""I don't know, specifically," he said. "The policy would be to put them on administrative leave."Bash pressed, "But as border czar, you don't know for sure if they have been?"Homan shrugged and said, "No."Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was killed during a traffic stop in Texas on July 7 — FBI claims that he had drugs in his car were later disproved.Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, 25, was fatally shot in Maine on July 13 by an ICE agent identified in reports as David Brouillette, an Army veteran whose two ex-wives have accused him of abuse.Bash quizzed Homan on this point. "One of the ICE officers connected to the fatal shooting in Maine was accused of abuse by two ex-wives…Should someone with those issues be an ICE agent?" asked Bash.Homan replied, "No, if those are facts, I don't think he should have ever cleared vetting."Homan's admissions of ignorance stunned onlookers who expected greater detail from an official who oversees Trump's mass deportation initiative."If Tom Homan doesn't know he should be fired on the spot," replied X user Craig Carl. "This is a blatant lie or gross incompetence.""ICE has vetting?" political commentator Mike Bates quipped. "Who knew!""Feckless lying stupid sack of s---," fumed Lizzie Cochrane.Even Bash joined in on the bashing, as video shows, when Homan declared, "I wouldn't say that mistakes were made.""We've seen with our own eyes that mistakes were made," she said. "Deadly mistakes were made. At least 5 of them."

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Saudi nuke ‘last thing we want,’ Netanyahu says after US inks energy deal

Washington Examiner

3 hours ago

Saudi nuke ‘last thing we want,’ Netanyahu says after US inks energy deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his strong objection to Saudi Arabia acquiring a nuclear bomb, voicing caution over its planned nuclear program. Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump for attaching the condition that Riyadh must normalize relations with Israel to have a nuclear program, the former of which has been one […]

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Top NYT journo calls on reporters to ‘rethink’ White House Correspondents Dinner after Trump dares to clap back

New York Post

3 hours ago

Top NYT journo calls on reporters to ‘rethink’ White House Correspondents Dinner after Trump dares to clap back

During the ritzy WHCD redo Friday, the back-patting association doled out awards to reporters for stories fiercely critical of Trump, including his past association with late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein

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Trump spurs GOP panic with one 'scary number': Report

Raw Story

3 hours ago

Trump spurs GOP panic with one 'scary number': Report

It's not the number of service members who've been killed in the war with Iran. It's not the number of people who have died in ICE custody. It's not the millions of people imperiled by the Trump administration's decision to dismantle USAID.The number terrifying Republicans, according to a new Washington Post report, is the amount of voters worried about the economy. “This is a big chunk,” Nathan Nascimento told the Post. “This is a scary number.”Nascimento, executive director of the conservative super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action, told the Post Sunday that he's disturbed by polling that shows even loyal Republicans and consistent voters are losing enthusiasm for President Donald Trump.About 1 in 5 of those voters in swing states such as Ohio and New Hampshire told the PAC they think they'll either stay home of vote blue in November, the Post reported. There is however enthusiasm on the left, Mitchell Brown, a Republican pollster, told the Post. "Democrats are as enthusiastic about voting as they were at the same time ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when they swept back into power in the House," Brown said. "But Republicans are far less excited to vote at this point than they were then, posing an issue for the party." In particular, men under 40 represent the greatest risk as they are most likely to have concerns about the economy and prices. "This group proved pivotal to Trump’s 2024 electoral victory," the Post reported, "which included a sweep of some of the same battleground states holding critical elections this year."Natalie Baldassarre, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, denied a dour state of affairs within her party. “Republicans are united, on offense, and armed with our largest war chest in party history because voters are energized and understand what’s at stake in November’s election,” said Baldassarre. As of Sunday, the number of service members who've been killed in the war with Iran is 18. The number of people who have died in ICE custody is 19. The number of people imperiled by the Trump administration's decision to dismantle USAID is 14 million.

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How Trump's Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility - and What can be Done to Stop it

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How Trump's Tariffs Undermine US Trustworthiness and Credibility - and What can be Done to Stop it

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