It’s probably a bad sign for the economy that next season’s White Lotus is going to be filmed at a Motel 6. The tariff-induced market mayhem has entered its second week, causing many of us to lose our shirts (and our lunch). I've got an old Cal Bear cheer stuck in my head because it seems to perfect capture this market: You know it, you tell the story, you tell the whole damn world this is bear territory. Maybe this association with Cal Berkeley will convince Trump to back off from the twisted math and sham theories that have driven his current efforts, because the collapse of world markets doesn't seem to be doing the trick. In retrospect, I wish I had invested all my money in Imodium futures.
+ Even Trump's loudest (and most financially supportive) backers aren't backing this. WSJ (Gift Article): Wall Street Starts to Speak Out Against Trump’s Tariffs.
+ "What happened on Wednesday ... was a case of him doing exactly what he’d promised to do and what he’s wanted to do for decades." James Surowiecki in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Wall Street Blew It.
+ "Anyone hoping that Trump will soon see the light and reverse course might want to reconsider the force of nature that they’re dealing with. He has been insulated from the consequences of his own actions his entire life and appears to care very little about the economic sinkhole he just created. He shared a video of himself golfing over the weekend and one White House insider told the Washington Post that the president, only about three months into his second term, carries the burdens of a notoriously burdensome job rather lightly. 'He’s at the peak of just not giving a f--- anymore.'" (So is my stock broker.) Timothy O'Brien in Bloomberg: Trump Created an Economic Sinkhole. He Doesn’t Care.
+ A rumor sent the market soaring and crashing in a matter of minutes on Monday. "The wild swing has little precedent in market history, moving potentially trillions of dollars up and then back down — a clear sign of how desperate people are for any sign of relief from Trump's tariff regime." (The only safe bet in this market is that insiders and rumor mongers are making money off these dramatic swings.)
+ US defends tariffs on remote island of penguins and seals. (Of course. Admitting mistakes is not in the playbook.)
+ Far from backing off, Trump's latest salvo is a threat of 50% tariffs on China. Here's the latest from CNBC and AP.
+ And, as per usual, Anne Applebaum perfectly integrates this story with all the others: "Trump has done the same damage to our health, environment and security as to our markets, it's just that there isn't a stock ticker that measures the impact so clearly."
2
All Hands Off Deck
If you looked at the headlines today or watched cable news over the weekend, you may not have noticed the massive turnouts at more than 1200 protests across the globe. As Margaret Sullivan explains, they were big protests — but not big news. But I don't mind digging a bit...
+ See demonstrators around the country rally in 'Hands Off!' protests.
+ Anti-Trump protests hit cities worldwide – in pictures.
+ Kottke has a good collection of Photos of the Hands Off! Protests.
3
Gone, Wrong
"President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to temporarily halt a judge's order requiring his administration to return by the end of the day a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was erroneously deported to El Salvador." And here's what the White House is arguing: "The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge's bidding." In other words, once someone is sent to a foreign prison, it's too late for a US judge to intervene. What makes anyone think that logic couldn't apply to anyone the administration chooses to target?
+ So they won't bring back a guy sent to a notorious prison even though he was sent there because of an error. What about the lawyer who pointed out that error? WaPo: Justice Dept. suspends lawyer who acknowledged deportation was a mistake.
+ 60 Minutes: Trump administration deports gay makeup artist to prison in El Salvador.
+ Duke basketball star among South Sudanese who could be deported due to new Trump policy.
+ Axios: Most migrants sent to mega-prison have no apparent criminal record.
4
This is Not Your Father's Authoritarianism...
... but he'd recognize it. In 2015, my dad (who lost his entire family in the Holocaust before joining the Partisans and spending years fighting the Nazis) said of Trump's speeches. "You know, they remind me of Hitler's early speeches when I vas a kid. Everyone laughed at those speeches, too." Over the next few years, he went on to accurately predict just about all of Trump's moves, including the efforts to steal the 2020 election. He knew what authoritarianism looks like because he'd seen it before. Those voices are becoming fewer and fainter as the years pass. I'd argue that's directly related the rise of authoritarianism and increased antisemitism we're seeing worldwide. That's not exactly what Taffy Brodesser-Akner's piece in NYT Mag (Gift Article) is about. It's about a lot of things. But for me it's a story about that and an explanation about why I'm still passing along my dad's warnings. This Is the Holocaust Story I Said I Wouldn’t Write. "All the Holocaust survivors were dying, and at home in New York, spray-painted swastikas had been showing up all over town, and my nephews had stopped wearing their yarmulkes. Yes, all the Holocaust survivors were dying, and we were locked in debates over whether a salute given by a newly installed government official was a Nazi dog-whistle or a Nazi Nazi-whistle or maybe just an awkward wave or a weird shout-out to his buds. What would become of stories like Mr. Lindenblatt’s if the generation of mine that was supposed to inherit them had taken the privilege that came with another generation’s survival and decided not to listen? What would happen to these stories when there was no one left to tell them?"
+ Here's another headline wouldn't surprise my dad: Trump Plans $92 Million Military Parade—Honoring Himself.
5
Extra, Extra
Fast and Furious: "For decades, the world’s largest car factory was Volkswagen’s complex in Wolfsburg, Germany. But BYD, the Chinese electric carmaker, is building two factories in China, each capable of producing twice as many cars as Wolfsburg." NYT (Gift Article): ‘The Tsunami Is Coming’: China’s Global Exports Are Just Getting Started. (Causing a tariff-induced global recession isn't the answer. But China's economic might is a big story.)
+ Returning to the Scene of the Crime: "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine." Believe it or not, that quote is from RFK Jr. But does it come too late and will anyone who's been following his statements for years buy it? Measles Rates Hit New Record as RFK Jr. Keeps Waffling on Vaccines. NPR: RFK Jr. visits epicenter of Texas measles outbreak after death of second child.
+ Paige Turner: "In her final game as a Husky, Bueckers earned that elusive national title. She scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in an 82-59 victory over defending champion South Carolina that secured the sole accolade missing from Bueckers' résumé and snapped UConn's nine-year title drought." How Paige Bueckers and UConn got their fairytale ending with national title.
+ Ovechkin Do Attitude: Alex Ovechkin scores goal 895 to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL scoring record. (And like LeBron, Messi, Curry, Djokovic, and others, he's part of a great generation of athletes that are performing at amazing levels at advanced ages.) ESPN: Ranking Alex Ovechkin's top goals in a record-breaking career.
+ Land Grab: As Bibi visits DC to meet with Trump, "Israel has dramatically expanded its footprint in the Gaza Strip since relaunching its war against Hamas last month. It now controls more than 50% of the territory and is squeezing Palestinians into shrinking wedges of land."
+ Evil Empires Collide: The 2024 World Series Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, were honored by President Trump at the White House on Monday.
+ Wolf at the Door: "Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished." Time: The Return of the Dire Wolf. (As if things weren't dire enough.)
6
Bottom of the News
"Accidentally boarding a boat packed with beer-swilling football fans would be some people’s idea of hell. But Evan Johnston, a 21-year-old student from Arizona, said he 'had a blast' after inadvertently joining a boat trip chartered by 150 Southend United supporters before their National League game at Sutton United on Saturday." American student becomes Southend fan after boarding wrong boat.
+ "Indian police have arrested a 24-year-old American Youtuber who visited an off-limits island in the Indian ocean and left an offering of a Diet Coke can and a coconut in an attempt to make contact with an isolated tribe known for attacking intruders." (He could have just visited Pennsylvania Avenue for that...)
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