jerrymahoney

Golf with Lindsey Graham summer 2020

‘You can’t pin him down’: Trump’s contradictions are his ultimate cover Straits Times from NY Times Mar 09, 2025 WASHINGTON – What does President Donald Trump really believe? Does he want to run for a third term, or is that just a joke? Does he intend to seize control of the Gaza Strip and expel millions of Palestinians, or is that just a suggestion? Is Black History Month a waste of time and money, or worth a lavish celebration at the White House? Anyone looking for definitive answers will have a hard time finding them. Since storming back into office, Mr. Trump has used a dizzying rhetorical tactic of shifting positions like quicksand, muddying his messages and contradicting himself, sometimes in the same day. The inconsistencies have presented the American public with dueling narratives at every turn, allowing people to pick and choose what they want to believe about the president’s intentions. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/you-cant-pin-him-down-trumps-contradictions-are-his-ultimate-cover

From the Bloomberg link in OP: “Whipsaw movements in country tariff rates will do nothing to reduce already record levels of trade-policy uncertainty,” Bloomberg Economics economists Rana Sajedi, Maeva Cousin and Tom Orlik wrote after the pause was announced. “Trump appears to consider uncertainty a positive for negotiations. For businesses and markets, it’s a drag.”

Headline this morning NY Times: Trump’s Last-Minute U-Turn on Tariffs Left Advisers in the Dark Economic turmoil, particularly a rapid rise in government bond yields, caused President Trump to suddenly reverse course on his steep tariffs. _______________ Maybe Trump did not give those otherwise-in-the-know enough time for the insiders to buy on the bottom

Inside the Justice Department’s civil division, lawyers are squeezed between judges demanding answers and bosses’ instructions to protect the Trump agenda at all costs. Career lawyers say they increasingly feel trapped between President Trump’s political appointees, like Attorney General Pam Bondi, and judges who demand comprehensible answers to basic questions. April 7, 2025, 12:59 p.m. ET NYTimes via https://archive.ph/hJokJ#selection-4533.0-4565.401 The Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to enact major elements of its agenda have led to a series of courtroom clashes between increasingly skeptical judges and the beleaguered lawyers responsible for defending the government’s positions, which some have come to see as indefensible. The Justice Department’s thinned-out civil division has borne the brunt of the growing conflict. Inside the division, the strains of pushing the legal limits on topics as varied as mass deportations, spending power and punishing law firms are taking a major toll. Government litigators, their ranks increasingly depleted, often find themselves in court with few facts to defend policies they cannot explain, according to current and former officials. Career lawyers representing the government have a long tradition of arguing for the goals of Republican or Democratic administrations, regardless of their personal views. What is different now, they say, is that they increasingly feel trapped between President Trump’s partisan political appointees, who insist on a maximalist approach, and judges who demand comprehensible answers to basic questions.

I prefer this from Peter Sellers as "Chance the Gardener" in Being There: (a beat) Yes...of course. Well, I assume, since the President quoted you, that you agree with his view of the economy. CHANCE (on TV) Which view? Applause and laughter from the TV audience.

It's the same as on this left-wing propaganda machine: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-explains-dramatic-reversal-tariffs-people-bit-afraid/story?id=120651386

From the (much maligned on here) letter from 23 Nobel Prize economists 23 OCT 2024: Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.

Again no problem. From Marx Brothers Duck Soup (1933): Mrs. Teasdale: Your Excellency! I thought you'd left. Chicolini: [Impersonating Rufus T. Firefly] Oh, no, I no leave. Mrs. Teasdale: But I saw you with my own eyes! Chicolini: Well, who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?

Get with the program. That was the plan all along. Karoline Leavitt said so. But per NY Times: White House officials repeatedly tried to suggest that today’s change in policy was a premeditated strategy designed to secure favorable deals. But Trump himself acknowledged that his decision was made in response to the market turmoil, particularly in the bond market. “You have to be flexible,” the president said. “Over the last few days, it looked pretty glum.”

Well that was not the original quote but no problem.

Thank you Steven Cheung WH Communications director and Ms. Karoline Leavitt's boss in the Department of Alternative Facts.

(Per NYTimes) Mr. Trump himself acknowledged that his decision was made in response to the market turmoil, telling reporters Wednesday afternoon that “you have to be flexible,” and that “over the last few days it looked pretty glum.”

Re the backpedaling reference above from NY Times this morning: In announcing the pause, the White House repeatedly tried to suggest it was part of a premeditated strategy. Ms. (Karoline) Leavitt accused reporters of having “failed to see what President Trump is doing here,” and Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said it was Mr. Trump’s “strategy all along.” Or as Chico (not Groucho) Marx once put it: Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?

REDUX NY Times headline today: Markets soar after Trump backs down on tariffs

NB It was Forbes who noted that team Trump had lied about not knowing the size of Trump's apartment that started the wheels on the NY State civil trial where Trump was fined by the judge $400 million.

Sometimes I just put my hands on my ears and yell (Thai) PLEASE!

What happens at times for me is that I am using an ATM and maybe an involved transaction and there is (usually) a woman at the ATM next to me talking so loud on the phone I can barely think.

The Definitive Net Worth Of Donald Trump Mar 31, 2025 BE — Everyone has an opinion, but Forbes has the answer: $5.1 billion, according to our most recent tally, updated in March. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/article/the-definitive-networth-of-donaldtrump/

REDUX Because Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes at Fox made conservatism cool for stupid people.

From NY Post retelling of NY Times article: Economist Brent Neiman shocked to learn Trump admin used his formula to justify tariffs: ‘Got it wrong’ Published April 8, 2025, 7:06 a.m. A top economist was shocked to learn the Trump administration used his research to justify its hefty tariffs — insisting the White House got his formula “very wrong” and grossly miscalculated the levies for each country. Brent Neiman, a University of Chicago economics professor, said in a New York Times op-ed that President Trump’s sweeping tariff regime should have been roughly four times less if Neiman’s study had been followed correctly. https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/us-news/economist-shocked-to-learn-trump-admin-used-his-formula-to-justify-tariffs-it-got-it-wrong/

From the NY Post link above: The majority of the high court ruled that the plaintiffs, nine non-profit organizations who had sued to reinstate the employees, lacked standing to sue. "The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case. But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing," the court said in an order.

If it's the NY Post, it must be true. If it's the NY Times, it's: Well, whatabout Hunter's laptop. HUH? From the NY Post link above: And so far, nothing has happened. It’s all speculation about what COULD happen. And what COULD happen is this from Pensacola, FL: Trumps China Tariffs Face Legal Challenges From Conservative Group

I go with this (abbreviated) quote from Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) to explain the topic heading: But you're not crazy, you're mean.

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday ordered President Donald Trump’s White House to lift access restrictions imposed on the Associated Press over the news agency’s decision to continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in its coverage. Ruling to take effect on Sunday, giving White House time to appeal White House does not immediately respond U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, ruled the White House must allow AP journalists access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and events held at the White House while the AP’s lawsuit moves forward. <SKIP> "The Court simply holds that under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists — be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere — it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints," McFadden wrote in his ruling. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/judge-lifts-trump-white-house-restrictions-ap-while-lawsuit-proceeds-2025-04-08/