Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
On Sunday evening, news broke that the Trump administration was targeting Jerome Powell — the Federal Reserve chair, whom President Trump has been raging about for months — with a highly dubious criminal investigation into supposed financial improprieties. Usually reserved in his public statements, Mr. Powell posted a video bluntly calling the allegations a dishonest attempt at revenge for the Fed’s refusal to simply follow the president’s wishes.
The episode is a shocking violation of the central bank’s historical independence, one that puts the United States in league with authoritarian nations careening toward financial ruin. On Monday, markets reacted with something along the lines of “meh”: The dollar and stock prices edged down, while gold prices and interest rates rose.
Mr. Trump’s attack on the Fed is a breathtaking departure from precedent, a dangerous and scary power grab, but it’s already backfiring. If anything, this latest episode has weakened his ability to bend the institution to his will, at least in the short run. It definitely increases the chance that Mr. Powell, whose term as chair ends in May, but whose appointment as a board member does not, will remain at the Fed longer than he might otherwise have. It will also raise the hurdle for whoever Mr. Trump nominates as the next Fed chair. And it will make other members of that body a lot less likely to go along with the president’s agenda.
As recently as November 2024, Mr. Powell was saying as little as possible, replying simply “no” when asked whether he would resign if requested to do so by Mr. Trump. That restraint is what made the video he released on Sunday night so powerful. This is not a man looking to become a resistance hero.
When Mr. Powell’s term as chair ends in May, he could stay on as a governor — and one of 12 voters on monetary policy — through January 2028. With threats intensifying, the case for his continued presence as a quiet but firm defender of Fed independence grows only stronger.
Mr. Trump has made it harder for his nominee as the next Fed chair to be confirmed. Almost immediately after news of the criminal investigation broke, Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican member of the Banking Committee, issued a striking statement: “If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none.” He added, “I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed — including the upcoming Fed chair vacancy — until this legal matter is fully resolved.” Another Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, endorsed that view, as did several Democrats.
Further complicating matters, Mr. Trump’s attack on the Fed ensures that when a successor is eventually confirmed, he or she will have to do more to demonstrate independence, or else be remembered as the person who surrendered it. The Fed’s 11 other monetary-policy voters have increasingly been voting their own views. That is likely to accelerate if they feel that the new chair is just trying to please the president, rather than working in the best interests of the economy.
We have a relatively rapid feedback mechanism to measure the success of economic policy: Markets and business leaders react in real time, in a way they do not on issues like immigration enforcement and whether to invade Greenland.
The Fed is likely to win this battle. The broader war will probably continue as long as Mr. Trump remains president. One possible consequence is that the Fed becomes a victim of its own success, with people mistaking the markets’ mild initial response for proof that independence is no big deal. In reality, that calm reflects confidence in the defenses that were rapidly deployed: senators from both parties, former economic officials, the politically neutral judgment of markets themselves and ultimately the wisdom of the public.
The greater risk is time. Independence will not be lost overnight, but at least every two years the president can nominate a new governor for the Fed. With sustained effort over six to eight years, an administration could gradually transform the institution. That would require patience from Mr. Trump and complacency from everyone else. So far, at least, on this issue we are seeing neither.
"ICE is reportedly investing $100 million on what it calls 'wartime recruitment' of 10,000 new agents, in addition to the 20,000 already employed. Its recruitment is targeting gun and military enthusiasts, people who listen to right-wing radio, who have gone to Ultimate Fighting Championship fights or shopped for guns and tactical gear, live near military bases, and attend NASCAR races. It’s calling for recruits willing to perform their 'sacred duty' and 'defend the homeland' by repelling 'foreign invaders.'”
"There’s coming to be no difference between Trump’s foreign and domestic policies. Both are based on the same eight maniacal ideas: 1) Might makes right. 2) Law is irrelevant. 3) America is at war with the world’s 'radical left,' who are defined chiefly by their opposition to Trump. 4) Fear and force are better weapons in this war than hope and compromise. 5) The U.S. stock market is the best measure of Trump’s success. 6) Personal enrichment by Trump and other officials is justified in pursuit of victory. 7) So are lies, cover-ups, and the illegal use of force. 8) Trump is invincible and omnipotent."
"Trump is putting America on a war footing because war is good for him as it is for all dictators. War confers emergency powers. It justifies ignoring the niceties of elections. It allows dictators to imprison and intimidate opponents and enemies. It enables them to create their own personal slush funds. It distracts the public from other things (remember Jeffrey Epstein?). War gives dictators like Trump more power and more wealth. Period."
"On Jan. 7, 2026, U.S. Vice President JD Vance appeared on Fox News to discuss Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents' deportation actions, among other issues. Numerous listeners claimed Vance proposed that ICE would go 'door-to-door' to determine the immigration status of people across the country."
"Footage of Vance on Fox News shows him responding to a question from Watters about how President Donald Trump's administration would speed up deportations of immigrants in the country illegally, to which Vance said ICE agents would be going 'door-to-door' to check documentation. As such, we rate this claim a correct attribution." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vance-door-to-door-ice/
Comments: This is straight out of a FASCIST playbook!
If anyone needed to better understand just how nervous trump's own tariffs are starting to make trump, just look at him applying ONLY 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Iran. Weak sauce. He threatens them, bombs them and then goes with only 25%.
If anyone needed to better understand just how nervous trump's own tariffs are starting to make trump, just look at him applying ONLY 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Iran. Weak sauce. He threatens them, bombs them and then goes with only 25%.
"Just weeks into the new year, the Trump administration has rolled out a campaign across departments that draws on images and ideas borrowed from right-wing and white nationalist circles. Liz Landers reports on what some of these images and posts mean, and Amna Nawaz discusses more with Cynthia Miller-Idriss of the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-administration-posts-echo-rhetoric-linked-to-extremist-groups
Comments: I'm amazed that certain people of Jewish descent unquestionably endorse Trump's actions. Segments of Trump's support base (potentially large?) loathe all Jews based strictly on ethnicity. I guess this unusual phenomenon only occurs when these people are brainwashed into embracing "Trumpism."
Comments: I'm amazed that certain people of Jewish descent unquestionably endorse Trump's actions. Segments of Trump's support base (potentially large?) loathe all Jews based strictly on ethnicity. I guess this unusual phenomenon only occurs when these people are brainwashed into embracing "Trumpism."
"Just weeks into the new year, the Trump administration has rolled out a campaign across departments that draws on images and ideas borrowed from right-wing and white nationalist circles. Liz Landers reports on what some of these images and posts mean, and Amna Nawaz discusses more with Cynthia Miller-Idriss of the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-administration-posts-echo-rhetoric-linked-to-extremist-groups
Comments: I'm amazed that certain people of Jewish descent unquestionably endorse Trump's actions. Segments of Trump's support base (potentially large?) loathe all Jews based strictly on ethnicity. I guess this unusual phenomenon only occurs when these people are brainwashed into embracing "Trumpism."
It is a bifurcation of thought. They are themselves racist and intolerant, so are drawn to the overall messaging. At the same time they believe, like many before them, that they will not be targeted. Perhaps they believe that they are somehow "different" or "special". History has shown that this is not the case.
Either you help to stamp out hate, or hate stamps you out. Then hate comes for your children, too. The compartmentalism doesn't protect you. Leopards don't care if you cooperated with the oppressors. They still eat your face.
"You could be next. All of us need to realize this. The people who are being assaulted and murdered are abiding the law. You could be murdered because Trump’s attorney general has defined 'domestic terrorism' to include impeding law enforcement officers. What if you’re merely standing in the way — in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or maybe you’re engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience?"
"Trump could just as well arrest and expel permanent residents who voice support for, say, transgender people or DEI or 'woke' or anything else the regime finds 'anti-American' and offensive. What’s to stop the Trump regime from arresting you for, say, advocating the replacement of Republicans in Congress in 2026 and electing a Democrat to the presidency in 2028?"
"What’s at stake isn’t just American democracy. It’s also your safety and security and that of your friends and loved ones. This is personal — to every one of us. A dictatorship knows no bounds."
"Charlotte Clymer, who writes Charlotte’s Web Thoughts, walked readers through Kelly’s citations. They include the Navy Pilot Astronaut Badge, earned by fewer than 200 service members, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. As Clymer notes, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal is 'the highest award bestowed by NASA and one of the rarest awards in the federal government.' Since the medal was created in 1959, it has been awarded fewer than 400 times."
"Kelly’s lawsuit notes that the First Amendment prohibits the government from retaliating against those engaging in protected speech and that the Constitution’s protection of the speech and debate of lawmakers provides additional safeguards. Indeed, the lawsuit says, 'never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech.'"
"If the court permits that unprecedented step, the lawsuit argues, it would allow the executive branch to punish members of Congress for engaging in their duty of congressional oversight. Kelly asked the court 'to declare the censure letter, reopening determination, retirement grade determination proceedings, and related actions unlawful and unconstitutional; to vacate those actions; to enjoin their enforcement; and to preserve the status of a coequal Congress and an apolitical military.'"
"The warning Kelly and the other five Democratic lawmakers offered to military personnel that they must refuse illegal orders took on renewed meaning this evening. Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt, John Ismay, Julian E. Barnes, Riley Mellen, and Christiaan Triebert of the New York Times reported that when the U.S. military attacked a small boat apparently coming from Venezuela on September 2, 2025, the first such attack of what now number at least 35, it used a secret aircraft that had been disguised to look like a civilian plane."
"The journalists report that disguising a military aircraft to look like a civilian plane is a war crime called 'perfidy.' 'Shielding your identity is an element of perfidy,' former deputy judge advocate general of the U.S. Air Force retired Major General Steven J. Lepper told the reporters. 'If the aircraft flying above is not identifiable as a combatant aircraft, it should not be engaged in combatant activity.'"
And one reason perfidy is illegal is that once it is a recognized practice, ALL civilian aircraft become fair game. Russia or China can now shoot down commercial aircraft that wander too close to their vessels.
Iran, or any ME nation, can now justify shooting down El Al aircraft.
The unintended consequences of this administrations actions will be entirely predictable.
Before a slow wildebeest tries to portray a single month core CPI as some sort of tariff victory, 2.6% core is still high. Single months are irrelevant to sustained inflation readings. And, at this point, government produced numbers are impossible to believe.
Further, much inflationary damage has already been done. Many companies have yet to fully raise prices, as they struggle to absorb some of the costs. Let us not forget that companies which absorb costs, become less profitable in the long run.
What we are looking at is failed policies that have driven costs much higher, and a scattered attempt to distract from that by demanding lower rates from the FED, from credit card companies, from banks, from mortgage lenders. And by telling investors that they cannot buy rental properties. Basically, full micromanagement and manipulation of the capitalist free-market structures that people rely upon for stability.
Still, those with flawed partisan political agendas, will no doubt try to gaslight, once again.
"What we are looking at is failed policies that have driven costs much higher, and a scattered attempt to distract from that by demanding lower rates from the FED, from credit card companies, from banks, from mortgage lenders. And by telling investors that they cannot buy rental properties. Basically, full micromanagement and manipulation of the capitalist free-market structures that people rely upon for stability."
A fool who has already bankrupted several companies surely know what's best for the U.S. economy!
"The latest gauge on inflation, released this morning, showed prices increasing 2.7 percent in December compared with the same period a year ago. Food prices were up 3.1 percent. (Reminder: Trump was elected on two issues: bringing prices down, especially food, and avoiding foreign entanglements.)"
"Today, Trump traveled to Detroit to deliver an address to the Detroit Economic Club. It was about 'affordability' and he filled it with lies — such as Americans aren’t paying for his tariffs (of course they are) and inflation was 'way, way, down' (it’s about the same as it was when he took office)."
"And he insisted that 'affordability' is a 'fake word by Democrats.' Unfortunately for Trump, 'affordability' has become even more politically potent than immigration or crime. And in his first year at the helm, he’s made America less affordable."
Comments: The only 'fake' things here are the words coming out of Trump's filthy mouth and the unnatural color of his crepey skin!
Food prices up 3.1% is the killer statistic here. This is what is killing Main Street. Mr Average Joe and his family are struggling to stay fed. Every extra dollar that they have to put into food, is money that can never be put to use for education or retirement.
My experience on food inflation is munch higher than 3.1%; more like 30% in 2025 ! That is from comparing grocery store receipts from a year ago and today prices.
Over Christmas holiday, we experience restaurants and lodging also went up double digits. So we cut out shopping at Amazon by 90%, and limited our holidays spending by 50%. We spent time to called our friends and family, and visit them if they are nearby. Consumers do have choices.
"Trump’s reign of error and terror is spinning out of control. Minneapolis becoming a war zone. Americans murdered in the street. The Justice Department declaring the shooter innocent. Investigators quitting. Oligarchs contributing to the shooter’s defense fund. The FBI investigating the victim’s wife. Meanwhile, a criminal indictment of the head of the Federal Reserve because he won’t cut interest rates. Investigations of Democratic senators. Trump and Hegseth committing war crimes. Trump claiming to be president of Venezuela. Deciding for himself which companies will get access to its oil. Setting up slush funds in other countries to take the spoils. Threatening imminent war on Iran. Refusing to turn over the Epstein files, even though Congress demanded them."
"From Minneapolis to Caracas, from Chicago to Greenland, from Washington, D.C., to Tehran, Trump’s lawless violence — and his threats of even more violence — are increasing. The civil liberties of Americans are ever more endangered. His flouting of Congress and defiance of international law are growing."
When you list it out like that, it seems even more distressing.
Too bad the MSM is now controlled by Trump's MAGA lovers, or else more people might have a clue. This is escalating and half the country either doesn't care or doesn't understand. Which is worse?
The testimony, part of the derailed Georgia election interference case, makes clear how dismissive some senior Republicans were of claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina found President Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020 “unnerving.” Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia described Mr. Trump’s efforts to get his state’s lawmakers to intervene a “fruitless exercise.” David Ralston, a former speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, called the plan to create slates of fake pro-Trump electors in states he had lost “the craziest thing I ever heard.”
Transcripts of secret grand jury testimony from the Georgia election interference case against Mr. Trump and his allies, obtained this week by The New York Times, show just how alarmed and exasperated a number of senior Republicans felt about the president’s efforts to overturn an American presidential election. The testimony, given in 2022, is emerging at a time when Mr. Trump is again raising complaints about his 2020 defeat and voicing regret that he did not order the National Guard to seize voting machines after the election.
He has also said he wanted to “lead a movement” to ban voting machines and mail-in ballots in time for the midterm elections this year.
The transcripts were part of the investigative file in the case brought by Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., who obtained indictments of Mr. Trump and 18 of his allies on election interference charges in 2023. The case was dismissed in November after Ms. Willis was removed from prosecuting the case.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the Trump campaign’s plan to enlist fake electors in swing states where the president had lost the election “weird — I don’t know what to tell you, just weird.” He attributed Mr. Trump’s 2020 defeat in Arizona not to fraud, as Mr. Trump and his allies claimed, but rather to Mr. Trump’s bashing of the state’s longtime senator, John McCain.
Chris Carr, the state attorney general, said in his testimony that in a call with Mr. Trump after the 2020 election, the president urged him to stop lobbying other state attorneys general against joining a lawsuit filed by Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas. Mr. Paxton had filed the suit against Georgia and three other swing states, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the four states from casting their electoral votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr. and to extend the deadline for certification of presidential electors. The court ultimately rejected the suit.
Mr. Carr testified that he believed the Texas suit to be “legally, factually and constitutionally wrong,” but he told the president that he was not reaching out to his fellow attorneys general about the matter. Mr. Carr and Mr. Kemp did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday, and Mr. Graham’s office had no immediate comment.
Comment: Carr, Kemp and Graham don't seem anxious to even remember any of this, do they?
Weather, supply, tariffs, labor and changing consumer habits continue to drive up the cost of groceries. President Trump falsely claims prices are falling.
Days away from the first anniversary of President Trump’s second term in office, grocery prices are still rising, undercutting his administration’s rhetoric about how it is making life more affordable for average Americans. The price of beef has risen 16.4 percent over the last year. The price of coffee is up a whopping 19.8 percent. The price of lettuce is up 7.3 percent and frozen fish 8.6 percent.
Yet Mr. Trump continues to falsely claim otherwise. “Grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” he said Tuesday afternoon during a speech in Detroit. It’s not the first time that he has said food prices are down, even when data show they’re not.
There is no single reason that food is growing more expensive, and not all food products are pricier. The price of eggs — long a campaign topic — had dropped sharply over the past year. Some of the things that factor into price — fertilizer, machinery, labor and fuel costs, weather, where food is grown and what customers want — are difficult to control. Some of Mr. Trump’s actions, like tariffs and immigration crackdowns, have contributed to higher, rather than lower, costs. Low-income families are suffering the most, while middle-class shoppers are starting to take a hit.
Data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the cost of food at home rose 2.4 percent overall in the previous 12 months and 0.7 percent in December alone, the fastest single-month increase since October 2022. That month-over-month gain stood out in an otherwise subdued inflation report.
Professor Volpe, of the agribusiness department at Cal Poly, formerly worked at the Department of Agriculture and said: “This does hammer home the point that when the current administration claims that grocery prices are down, that is, of course, not correct.”
Higher prices are particularly affecting low-income consumers, some of whom temporarily lost their SNAP benefits during last year’s government shutdown. Those consumers are prioritizing essentials, trading down to cheaper products, buying less and making more frequent trips to the store instead of stocking up, according to grocery executives.
“Instead of buying steak, they’re buying ground beef and so forth,” Susan Morris, the chief executive of Albertsons, said on an earnings call last week. Ronald Sargent, the interim chief executive of Kroger, said last month that consumers were turning to promotions and store brands to save money. And both executives said they were beginning to see similar behavior from middle-income consumers.
Not everything is going up; some foods have declined in price. Eggs are 20.9 percent cheaper than a year ago, and the cost of most dairy products has declined modestly. But overall, prices are up in five of the six major food-at-home categories tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Trump administration’s ever-changing tariff policies have directly affected only a small number of food items in the grocery store, because much of what is consumed in the United States is grown here. But there are some products — like coffee and tropical fruits and vegetables — that are primarily grown abroad and imported into the United States. Many of their prices have climbed on the heels of increased tariffs.
The cost of bananas, for instance, was up 5.9 percent in December from year-earlier levels. Consumers are most concerned about price increases in categories like beef, coffee and chocolate, Mr. Sargent said on a conference call last month. But tariffs are not only affecting the cost of food; they have driven up the cost of farming inputs, which are eventually reflected in price, as well as food packaging. Higher prices for canned and frozen foods, sodas and other drinks most likely reflect higher costs for aluminum and other packaging materials.
Coffee drinkers are likely to see some relief in the coming months; in November, Mr. Trump removed the 40 percent tariffs on imports from Brazil, a major coffee exporter. But beef eaters likely aren’t, as high prices are mostly linked to a half-decade-long drop in the supply of cattle, which will take as long to reverse. In December, ground beef hit a record $6.69 a pound, up from $5.61 a year earlier. Both coffee and beef were rising in price before Mr. Trump took office, highlighting why some consumers may feel that food costs have risen more than the 2.4 percent that the data say they have risen: It’s coming on top of years of elevated prices. Grocery store prices are nearly 26 percent higher than they were five years ago, according to the labor bureau.
“The headline number, the 2.4 percent increase, in food is not that encouraging, and it’s building on already higher numbers,” said Michael Swanson, the chief agricultural economist at Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute. “That is what people really find a challenge.” The Agriculture Department expects food-at-home prices to rise 2.3 percent in 2026, about the same as they increased in 2025.
Anecdotally, the White House’s immigration crackdown has also played a role in driving up food costs. A lack of workers in some areas has led to cherries rotting in Oregon fields, blueberries rotting in New Jersey fields and Pennsylvania dairy farmers selling off cows. But the cost of other fresh fruits, which include berries, has fallen 1.2 percent over the last year, and the price of milk is down 1 percent.
Fruit farms and dairies are especially reliant on immigrant labor. Given that those prices have fallen, it isn’t clear if the immigration crackdown hasn’t yet affected them or if perhaps prices would have decreased more if labor was more readily available. Agriculture groups have warned that they are struggling to find workers, and in November, the Trump administration responded by making it easier for farmers to hire foreign workers.
“Labor is clearly the biggest cost driver and makes up about 50 percent of our industry’s expenses,” said Cathy Burns, the chief executive of the International Fresh Produce Association. She said that limits placed on immigration had made it more difficult for farmers to find workers, and that labor costs in agriculture had been rising for a decade. John David Rainey, the chief financial officer at Walmart, the country’s largest grocer, said at a conference last month that he expected “peak impact from the tariff cost to land around the beginning of the first quarter” before subsiding.
But even if that is true, labor challenges remain, extreme weather could always wreck a crop and the costs of farm inputs like fertilizer, seeds and equipment could continue to rise.
Comment: "Yet Mr. Trump continues to falsely claim otherwise." That all-purpose statement can be accurately used for 99.995% of anything that comes out of the Trumpet's mouth.
Comments
any guesses?
trump is 0 for ~8 so far in his retribution lawsuits.
all this taxpayer funded winning is not making me wealthy.
...and MAGA says right back atchya via postings on MFO !
in addition to the 20,000 already employed. Its recruitment is targeting gun and military enthusiasts,
people who listen to right-wing radio, who have gone to Ultimate Fighting Championship fights
or shopped for guns and tactical gear, live near military bases, and attend NASCAR races.
It’s calling for recruits willing to perform their 'sacred duty' and 'defend the homeland' by repelling 'foreign invaders.'”
"There’s coming to be no difference between Trump’s foreign and domestic policies.
Both are based on the same eight maniacal ideas:
1) Might makes right.
2) Law is irrelevant.
3) America is at war with the world’s 'radical left,' who are defined chiefly by their opposition to Trump.
4) Fear and force are better weapons in this war than hope and compromise.
5) The U.S. stock market is the best measure of Trump’s success.
6) Personal enrichment by Trump and other officials is justified in pursuit of victory.
7) So are lies, cover-ups, and the illegal use of force.
8) Trump is invincible and omnipotent."
"Trump is putting America on a war footing because war is good for him as it is for all dictators.
War confers emergency powers. It justifies ignoring the niceties of elections.
It allows dictators to imprison and intimidate opponents and enemies.
It enables them to create their own personal slush funds.
It distracts the public from other things (remember Jeffrey Epstein?).
War gives dictators like Trump more power and more wealth. Period."
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-foreign-and-domestic-policies
"How to f**k up a country and make Uncle Vlad extremely happy in the process."
Oh, ya. I almost forgot: EPSTEIN. EPSTEIN. EPSTEIN.
No Text In Post. Makes sense.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents' deportation actions, among other issues.
Numerous listeners claimed Vance proposed that ICE would go 'door-to-door'
to determine the immigration status of people across the country."
"Footage of Vance on Fox News shows him responding to a question from Watters about how
President Donald Trump's administration would speed up deportations of immigrants in the country illegally,
to which Vance said ICE agents would be going 'door-to-door' to check documentation.
As such, we rate this claim a correct attribution."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/vance-door-to-door-ice/
Comments: This is straight out of a FASCIST playbook!
Canada is 35%.
Door-to-door? Like vacuum salesman?
that draws on images and ideas borrowed from right-wing and white nationalist circles.
Liz Landers reports on what some of these images and posts mean, and Amna Nawaz discusses more
with Cynthia Miller-Idriss of the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University."
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-administration-posts-echo-rhetoric-linked-to-extremist-groups
Comments: I'm amazed that certain people of Jewish descent unquestionably endorse Trump's actions.
Segments of Trump's support base (potentially large?) loathe all Jews based strictly on ethnicity.
I guess this unusual phenomenon only occurs when these people are brainwashed into embracing "Trumpism."
Segments of Trump's support base (potentially large?) loathe all Jews based strictly on ethnicity.
I guess this unusual phenomenon only occurs when these people are brainwashed into embracing "Trumpism."
That would explain it.
Either you help to stamp out hate, or hate stamps you out. Then hate comes for your children, too. The compartmentalism doesn't protect you. Leopards don't care if you cooperated with the oppressors. They still eat your face.
the law. You could be murdered because Trump’s attorney general has defined 'domestic terrorism' to include
impeding law enforcement officers.
What if you’re merely standing in the way — in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or maybe you’re engaging
in nonviolent civil disobedience?"
"Trump could just as well arrest and expel permanent residents who voice support for, say, transgender people
or DEI or 'woke' or anything else the regime finds 'anti-American' and offensive. What’s to stop the Trump regime
from arresting you for, say, advocating the replacement of Republicans in Congress in 2026 and electing
a Democrat to the presidency in 2028?"
"What’s at stake isn’t just American democracy. It’s also your safety and security and that of your friends and loved ones. This is personal — to every one of us. A dictatorship knows no bounds."
They include the Navy Pilot Astronaut Badge, earned by fewer than 200 service members,
and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. As Clymer notes, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
is 'the highest award bestowed by NASA and one of the rarest awards in the federal government.'
Since the medal was created in 1959, it has been awarded fewer than 400 times."
"Kelly’s lawsuit notes that the First Amendment prohibits the government from retaliating
against those engaging in protected speech and that the Constitution’s protection of the speech
and debate of lawmakers provides additional safeguards. Indeed, the lawsuit says,
'never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions
on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech.'"
"If the court permits that unprecedented step, the lawsuit argues, it would allow the executive branch
to punish members of Congress for engaging in their duty of congressional oversight.
Kelly asked the court 'to declare the censure letter, reopening determination,
retirement grade determination proceedings, and related actions unlawful and unconstitutional;
to vacate those actions; to enjoin their enforcement; and to preserve the status
of a coequal Congress and an apolitical military.'"
"The warning Kelly and the other five Democratic lawmakers offered to military personnel
that they must refuse illegal orders took on renewed meaning this evening.
Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt, John Ismay, Julian E. Barnes, Riley Mellen, and Christiaan Triebert
of the New York Times reported that when the U.S. military attacked a small boat
apparently coming from Venezuela on September 2, 2025, the first such attack
of what now number at least 35, it used a secret aircraft that had been disguised to look
like a civilian plane."
"The journalists report that disguising a military aircraft to look like a civilian plane
is a war crime called 'perfidy.' 'Shielding your identity is an element of perfidy,'
former deputy judge advocate general of the U.S. Air Force retired Major General Steven J. Lepper
told the reporters. 'If the aircraft flying above is not identifiable as a combatant aircraft,
it should not be engaged in combatant activity.'"
Iran, or any ME nation, can now justify shooting down El Al aircraft.
The unintended consequences of this administrations actions will be entirely predictable.
Further, much inflationary damage has already been done. Many companies have yet to fully raise prices, as they struggle to absorb some of the costs. Let us not forget that companies which absorb costs, become less profitable in the long run.
What we are looking at is failed policies that have driven costs much higher, and a scattered attempt to distract from that by demanding lower rates from the FED, from credit card companies, from banks, from mortgage lenders. And by telling investors that they cannot buy rental properties. Basically, full micromanagement and manipulation of the capitalist free-market structures that people rely upon for stability.
Still, those with flawed partisan political agendas, will no doubt try to gaslight, once again.
and a scattered attempt to distract from that by demanding lower rates from the FED,
from credit card companies, from banks, from mortgage lenders.
And by telling investors that they cannot buy rental properties.
Basically, full micromanagement and manipulation of the capitalist free-market
structures that people rely upon for stability."
A fool who has already bankrupted several companies surely know what's best for the U.S. economy!
in December compared with the same period a year ago.
Food prices were up 3.1 percent. (Reminder: Trump was elected on two issues:
bringing prices down, especially food, and avoiding foreign entanglements.)"
"Today, Trump traveled to Detroit to deliver an address to the Detroit Economic Club.
It was about 'affordability' and he filled it with lies — such as Americans aren’t paying
for his tariffs (of course they are) and inflation was 'way, way, down' (it’s about the same
as it was when he took office)."
"And he insisted that 'affordability' is a 'fake word by Democrats.'
Unfortunately for Trump, 'affordability' has become even more politically potent
than immigration or crime. And in his first year at the helm, he’s made America less affordable."
Comments: The only 'fake' things here are the words coming out of Trump's filthy mouth
and the unnatural color of his crepey skin!
Over Christmas holiday, we experience restaurants and lodging also went up double digits. So we cut out shopping at Amazon by 90%, and limited our holidays spending by 50%. We spent time to called our friends and family, and visit them if they are nearby. Consumers do have choices.
Minneapolis becoming a war zone.
Americans murdered in the street.
The Justice Department declaring the shooter innocent.
Investigators quitting.
Oligarchs contributing to the shooter’s defense fund.
The FBI investigating the victim’s wife.
Meanwhile, a criminal indictment of the head of the Federal Reserve because he won’t cut interest rates.
Investigations of Democratic senators.
Trump and Hegseth committing war crimes.
Trump claiming to be president of Venezuela.
Deciding for himself which companies will get access to its oil.
Setting up slush funds in other countries to take the spoils.
Threatening imminent war on Iran.
Refusing to turn over the Epstein files, even though Congress demanded them."
"From Minneapolis to Caracas, from Chicago to Greenland, from Washington, D.C., to Tehran,
Trump’s lawless violence — and his threats of even more violence — are increasing.
The civil liberties of Americans are ever more endangered.
His flouting of Congress and defiance of international law are growing."
Too bad the MSM is now controlled by Trump's MAGA lovers, or else more people might have a clue. This is escalating and half the country either doesn't care or doesn't understand. Which is worse?
You may be underestimating the level of Trump's deception.
I believe that 99.99999% of his statements are utter bullshit.