This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 138 Ron Filipkowski May 25 … Trump gave a bizarre, rambling, slurring, often incoherent speech at the West Point graduation. In addition to the huge military parade scheduled in DC for his birthday next month, Trump continued to politicize an institution that is supposed to be apolitical by wearing one of his red MAGA campaign hats during the speech. … Here were some of the things he said to the young graduates: On a wealthy real estate developer friend who retired: “He ended up getting a divorce. Found a new wife. Can you say a trophy wife? It didn't work out too well. That doesn't work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives don’t work out. It made him happy for a little while at least. He found a new wife. He got a big yacht.” (Sound like someone whose wife hasn’t been sleeping at WH) “I was investigated more than the great, late Alphonse Capone. Alphonse Capone was a monster. He was a very hardened criminal. I went through more investigations than Alphonse Capone. Now I am talking to you as President. Can you believe this?” (No, we can’t) “I proposed a $1 trillion military budget. $1 trillion. People say, ‘could you cut it back?’ I said I'm not cutting 10 cents. We can cut plenty of other things.” (Like health care and food for the poor) “I did this recently at Ohio State. They really liked it. I gave them a little advice as to what I see for what you want to do. Some tips.” (It was Alabama not Ohio St) “The whole stealth thing - I'm sort of wondering. We shape a wing this way, they don’t see it, but the other way they see it? I’m not so sure. But that’s what they tell me.” (Of course, he knows more about stealth tech in jets than anyone) … Trump then left without shaking the hands of any of the graduates. Joe Biden and Barack Obama shook the hands of every single one when they spoke there. But Trump headed to Bedminster for golf, where he later posted a photo of his playing partner getting attacked in the genitals by the swan guarding Ivana’s grave near the 16th hole. … Gen. Ben Hodges (Ret.), former Commanding General of US Army Europe, on Trump wearing a campaign hat: “What a rotten example for these new Officers. How are any of the Academies or ROTC programs going to teach Cadets about Duty, Honor and Country with him and Secretary Hegseth as their Leaders?” … Tom Nichols, retired Prof at US Naval War College: “Trump has been actively trying to politicize the US military since his first campaign. Those cadets have been taught that this is inappropriate, but now the Commander-in-Chief is telling them that rules are for other people.” … Richard Stengel, former Undersecretary of State: “1. He disrespects West Point by wearing his MAGA hat. The cadets all remove their hats out of a tradition of respect. 2. He disrespects them by talking about trophy wives and yachts. 3. He disrespects them by saying he ‘rebuilt the military’ in 4 months. The military he inherited is larger than the next top 10 nations combined. 4. He disrespects the military by erasing the memory of soldiers of color who fought for freedom even when they did not have it.” … This was the headline from the The Independent (UK) about the speech: … And here is the NYT headline sanewashing the speech for Trump, very similar to many other legacy media headlines about it: … Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on MSNBC: “It is time for Republicans to start calling him out and start questioning his mental acuity, and whether or not he is equipped to serve mentally. We know when it comes down to his criminality, he is not qualified to serve, but this is just absolutely deplorable.” … Crockett also said when Democrats take the House after the 2026 midterms, she wants to run for Oversight Chair: “I am hoping an praying that my colleagues see that I can provide what we need as a team moving forward, hoping we can instill some confidence in the America people knowing they have a real fighter who won’t back down - and I get death threats every day. But I will fight fearlessly and ferociously for the American people.” … She was asked what she would do as Chair: “We will investigate. We will look at whether this president has violated the emoluments clause. We will make sure we look into all these business deals they have going on. Think about how much money they’re raking in, whether we’re talking about the next golf resort they’re setting up in Qatar or this crypto scam. There is no shortage of things for us to dig into.” … Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has parlayed a 5th place finish at the NCAAs into a career as a MAGA social media influencer, was on Sean Hannity’s show complaining about Kermit the Frog’s commencement speech to Univ of MD grads: “Imagine being a 22 year old student who is graduating with a degree in aerospace engineering, and a fraud from the Muppets is on stage telling you to stay connected with your people. I mean, you can’t even make this stuff up. Instead of honoring entrepreneurs, or veterans or innovators they picked Kermit the Frog!” … “We have students who are drowning in debt, struggling to find jobs, and universities are handing the mic to puppets. Not puppets like many Democratic elected leaders, a real puppet. It’s all theater. I see this as the same institutions who have been pushing political agendas and cancel culture now want to use a puppet to inspire students. It’s unserious, it’s out of touch, and frankly it’s insulting.” … Legendary Muppets creator Jim Henson came up with the Kermit puppet character when he was an 18 year old student at Maryland. Henson’s wife also graduated from Maryland. That is why Kermit gave the speech, which the graduates loved. Kermit did not mention trophy wives in his speech, otherwise maybe Gaines would have liked it better. Reminder that we make the entire Weekend Bulletins available to free subscribers, with about the first 30% of the daily ones during the week available for free. Everyone is also able to post comments to the weekend ones. If you missed Friday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Fortune interviewed Nicholas Pinto, who secured a spot at Trump’s crypto dinner after buying $360,000 of his tokens. He was asked about the food: “Trash. Walmart steak. Everyone at my table was saying the food was some of the worst food that they ever had. I was hoping for either Big Macs or pizza. That would have been better than the food that we were served. The only good part was the bread and the butter.” … Pinto text to Fortune from the event: “Most of the people here are sketchy, I’m not gonna lie.” … What did Pinto think about Trump’s speech? “Pretty much, like, bullshit.” … Speaker Mike Johnson was asked on CNN why he wasn’t saying anything about Trump’s crypto dinner scam: “Look, I don't know anything about the dinner. I was a little busy this past week, so I'm not going to comment on something I haven't even heard about.” … Apparently, the Speaker of the House is the only one in DC who hasn’t heard about it. He must just watch Fox News. … Retired AF Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax that Trump’s Palace in the Sky jet from Qatar is going to cost taxpayers plenty: "It's going to cost a lot of money to take the skin off the aircraft, to reinforce it where it needs to be, find any surveillance items that may be lingering around the airplane. All the electronics, communications gear, everything else involved that goes into that. Probably going to run a few dollars.” … NYT published a lengthy story detailing how Vietnam broke some of their own laws to rush approval of a Trump golf resort and a Trump Tower Ho Chi Minh City because they believe that’s what they have to do to get new US tariffs lifted: “To fast-track the Trump development, Vietnam has ignored its own laws, granting concessions more generous than what even the most connected locals receive.” … Le Van Troung was coerced into signing a consent form to allow a burial site with 5 generations of his ancestors to be plowed over to make room for the golf course, as well as rich farmland that has sustained local families for centuries: “There’s nothing I can do. Trump says it’s separate — the presidency and his business. But he has the power to do whatever he wants.” … “Vietnamese officials, in a letter obtained by NYT, explicitly stated that the project required special support from the top ranks of the Vietnamese govt because it was ‘receiving special attention from the Trump admin and Trump personally.’ Vietnamese officials have waved the development along in a moment of high-stakes diplomacy. They face intense pressure to strike a trade deal that would head off Trump’s threat of steep tariffs, which would hit about 30% of Vietnam’s exports.” … “The process usually takes 2-4 years. But records show that initial planning documents were filed only 3 months before Wednesday’s event, which was held on newly leveled land under an archway announcing ‘THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY OF TRUMP INTERNATIONAL, HUNG YEN.’ Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not respond to questions about the legality of the project.” … WH response to the story: “All of the president’s trade discussions are totally unrelated to the Trump Organization.” … Sen. Rand Paul was on Fox today complaining about the House budget bill: "Somebody has to stand up and yell, 'the Emperor has no clothes!' Everybody is falling in lockstep on this - 'Pass the big beautiful bill. Don't question anything.' Well, conservatives do need to stand up and have their voices heard. If we don't stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going." … Paul: "If you increase the debt ceiling $4-5 trillion, that means they're planning on $2T this year and more than $2T next year. That's just not conservative. So I've told them if they strip out the debt ceiling, I'll consider even with the imperfections voting for the rest of the bill." … They aren’t going to do that. Because the only way to do that is to take out Trump’s massive tax cuts or dramatically cut Social Security and Medicaid even more, and take out the $150B in new defense spending. Not happening. … Elon Musk’s X has been a technical disaster over the weekend, with the site going completely down for over an hour with a number of other glitches and problems continuing unabated. Users across the ideological spectrum have been complaining bitterly about it, including Musk’s biggest fan in the Senate, X-addict Mike Lee: “Something is terribly wrong with X.” … Bloomberg: “Elon Musk said he needs to be ‘super focused’ on his companies, pointing to issues at X as evidence of a need for ‘major’ improvement at the social network. Users reported problems with X Friday and Saturday, according to DownDetector. A post from the company’s engineering team also said it was facing issues from a data center outage.” … Musk posted this about it: “I’m back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms. I must be super focused on X/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out. As evidenced by the X uptime issues this week, major operational improvements need to be made.” … This was the guy Trump brought in to make govt more efficient. … WaPo: “Politics has been central to Musk’s identity over much of the past year, but his latest obsession has faded into disenchantment over the personal costs and difficulties in producing results, said 2 people familiar with his thinking. Musk has also become deeply concerned for the personal safety of himself and his family. [WHAT FAMILY?] He also did not anticipate the level of backlash against him personally or against his companies, including incidents of violence at Tesla facilities. Along with that push is a pull for renewed involvement in his 2 main businesses, Tesla and SpaceX.” … The white nationalist group Patriot Front marched in KC this weekend. When this well-documented group did this during the Biden Admin, people like Elon Musk, Sen. Mike Lee, Joe Rogan and many others claimed it was a false flag operation by the FBI to try and discredit right-wingers. Rogan told Musk on his show that we would not see them again once Trump took office, and Musk agreed: “I bet when Kash gets in they disband.” … But Kash Patel and Dan Bongino have been running the FBI for months, and PF is still marching. Is MAGA now going to finally admit these are white nationalists? Nope. … Former FBI Director James Comey was asked about right-wingers who are upset with Kash Patel for yet not arresting anyone connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Deep State political enemies of Trump: "He's found himself now in a reality-based world where statements have to be under oath in front of judges and there are severe consequences for lying — not the case with a podcast." PARDON MY INTRUSION! HARVARD ACCEPTS THE BEST & THE BRIGHTEST! LIVING WITHIN PROXIMITY OF THE  BEST TEACHING FACILITIES IN THE NATION, WE SOMETIMES TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED....EXCEPT WHEN LIFE THREATENING CONDITIONS EXIST!  A FRIEND WAS IN THE VA HOSPITAL OVER THANKSGIVING WEEK WITH AN UNRESOLVED PROBLEM & A 'CONSULT' WAS REQUESTED...ONE WOULD THINK THE 'CONSULT' WOULD BE AFTER THE HOLIDAY..NO!  I WAS THERE! A GAGGLE OF DOCTORS ARRIVED ON THANKSGIVING DAY, EACH WITH A DIFFERENT LAB COAT IDENTIFYING THEIR AFFILIATION...THEY OFFERED A QUICK, SIMPLE RESOLUTION, EASILY EXPLAINED!  NOT ONE OF THOSE DOCTORS WAS WHITE!  AMERICANS ARE LAZY & PROVE IT REPEATEDLY!  A FRIEND'S DAD LIVING IN MAINE HAD A LIFE THREATENING CONDITION THEY WERE UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT. HE WAS SENT TO MASS GENERAL WHERE A DOCTOR WEARING A BURKA IMMEDIATELY DIAGNOSED HIS CONDITION & TREATED HIM.  IT DOESN'T MATTER WAS GOD YOU WORSHIP. IT ONLY MATTERS WHAT'S IN YOUR BRAIN & YOUR ABILITY TO EXCEL!   … Trump posted: “Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the US, pay NOTHING toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to. NOT TRUE! Nobody told us that! We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries!” HARVARD IS A PRIVATE INSTITUTION!  … JD Vance made it clear with an X post that the Trump admin is using govt power to coerce a right-wing takeover of major universities: “The voting patterns of university professors are so one-sided that they look like the election results of N. Korea. And on top of all of this, many universities explicitly engage in racial discrimination (mostly against whites and asians) that violates the civil rights laws of this country. Our universities could see the policies of the Trump admin as a necessary corrective to these problems, change their policies, and work with the admin to reform. Or, they could yell ‘fascism’ at basic democratic accountability and drift further into irrelevance.” … Netflix is out with a new documentary about former NFL QB Brett Favre, which included his sexting scandal where he made unwanted advances to a NY Jets employee while he was married, and his welfare fraud scam in Mississippi. Favre complained that Netflix is only targeting him because he is “an outspoken Trump supporter.” … Another MAGA victim. … NBC: “Mexican singer Julión Álvarez announced the postponement of his Sat concert at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, saying his work visa had been revoked. Álvarez, show promoter CMN and management company Copar Music said the show had been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances and that Álvarez was ‘unable to enter the US in time for the event.’ Alvarez said they were formally notified on May 23 that the work visas for his band were canceled ahead of the May 24 concert. 50,000 tickets were sold for the show.” … Alvarez said he will refund the money and cancel the show if the visa issue can’t be straightened out quickly so he can do the show on another date. … NYT: “Under intense scrutiny about his mental health and his ability to function in his job, Sen. John Fetterman has been in damage control mode, attending hearings and votes that he had been routinely skipping over the past year. Fetterman does not enjoy participating in these hearings that he has sat through in recent weeks as he seeks to prove that he is capable of performing the job he was elected to do until 2028. In fact, at a critical moment for the country, he appears to have little interest in the day-to-day work of serving in the Senate.” … “In an interview, Fetterman said he felt he had been unfairly shamed into fulfilling senatorial duties, such as participating in committee work and casting procedural votes on the floor, dismissing them as a ‘performative’ waste of time. Instead, he said he was ‘showing up because people in the media have weaponized’ his absenteeism on Capitol Hill to portray him as mentally unfit, when in fact it is a product of a decision to spend more time at home and less on the mundane tasks of being a senator.” … “Fetterman has also foregone events in his state. He has avoided hosting town halls with his constituents because he does not want to get heckled by protesters. ‘I just want to be in a room full of love,’ he has told people. At the same time, Fetterman has shed staff. And he has grown more isolated from his Democratic colleagues. Despite attempts from his friends in Congress to draw him out, Fetterman still does not attend the weekly Democratic caucus lunch in the Capitol.” … Kierstyn Zolfo, with the progressive grass roots group Indivisible, who lives in Bucks County: “The regrettable fact is that John Fetterman is not doing the job he was elected to perform. It makes me very sad, because I have supported him for so long, and I worked so hard to get him elected. But he’s just not getting the job done.” … El Pais: “Both the Miami Herald and FL public radio WLRN dedicated editorials to the country’s first Latino Sec of State. ‘Rubio used Venezuelans in his hometown for political gain. Now, he’s betrayed them,’ read the article in the Herald headline. ‘Venezuelans and other migrant groups see leaders like Marco Rubio no longer have their backs — because today, boosting deportations matters more than bolstering democracy,’ wrote WLRN Americas editor Tim Padgett.” … Groups have filled billboards in recent days targeting Rubio and other Republicans in FL who have supported Trump’s immigration policies. One billboard: “Little Marco sold out all Venezuelans. He told Trump to end TPS. He’s a traitor to all those fleeing dictatorships.” … The Trump admin has adopted a strategy to try and bypass the EU to negotiate directly with member countries who they perceive as being more friendly to them like Hungary, Italy, and Poland. It isn’t going to work, but as with all things the Trump strategy is divide and conquer. … Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller was on GB News: “You have to separate out Brussels from the rest of the European countries - from the member countries. President Trump has had his greatest success with bilateral trade agreements. The EU is controlled by these bureaucrats in Brussels. They’re putting up a resistance fight. The president is sending a very clear message that if they don’t come to the table there is going to be ramifications.” … When asked about which bilateral trade agreements Trump has reached that were so successful, Miller cited the BS deal with UK and concepts of deals with some Asian countries that they are still working on. … Economist Justin Wolfers: “Maybe men are just too emotional to run trade policy.” … President Zelensky: “Today, rescuers have been working in more than 30 Ukrainian cities and villages following Russia’s massive strike. Nearly 300 attack drones were launched by Russians overnight. In addition, almost 70 missiles of various types were fired, including ballistic ones. Each such terrorist Russian strike is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia. Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day. The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored.” … “The silence of America, silence of others around the world, only encourages Putin. Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help. Determination matters now – the determination of the US, of Europe, and all those around the world who seek peace. The world knows all the weaknesses of the Russian economy. The war can be stopped, but only through the necessary force of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think not about launching missiles, but about ending the war.” … Oliver Carroll, foreign correspondent for The Economist: “Another heavy night of Russian air strikes on Ukraine. At least 8 dead and 15 injured. Three kids were killed in their beds in Zhytomyr region. The capital was targeted by ballistic missiles and drones again. I still remember the ‘VLADIMIR, STOP!’ phase of Trumpian diplomacy.” … UK journalist Theo Mullis in Kviv: “It amazes me how much the psychology of this echos that of a domestic violence case. I was a police officer for 7 years. I seen a lot of that stuff, and the most dangerous moment is when the survivor tries to break away. That’s what we see from Russia - the impotence, the violent rage, the spitefulness. The sense that if I can’t have you no one will. These attacks on Kviv over the last couple of nights are spiteful outbursts. Exactly the same as when a domestic violence abuser gets drunk and attacks their partner - the psychology is the same.” … Independent journalist ‘Jay in Kviv’: “Russia is merely the broken down, alcoholic wife beater that just cant let go. Sadly, the US now plays the part of the corrupt cop that looks the other way for a small bribe.” … Trump has threatened additional sanctions by Truth Social post on 4 separate occasions over the past 4 months if Russia didn’t stop the bombing, starting with his first day in office. Putin has ignored him, and Trump has done nothing. He played golf yesterday and today with zero statement or response to this weekend’s bombings. … Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA): “The US cannot fail to respond as Putin escalates his barbaric assault on innocent Ukrainians. Congress must act immediately and decisively. Peace through strength begins with action. We need full, crippling sanctions targeting Putin, his regime, and those bankrolling this campaign of terror until the Russian war machine collapses in on itself." … Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected Pope Leo XIV's offer to mediate peace talks with Ukraine at the Vatican: "It would be a little inelegant for Orthodox countries to discuss issues related to eliminating the root causes of the war on Catholic ground. It would not be very comfortable for the Vatican itself to host delegations from Orthodox countries in these circumstances." … As usual, everything that comes out of the Kremlin is a lie. Just like our government now. … Rudy Giuliani surfaced on Steve Bannon’s podcast, where he wanted to talk about Jake Tapper’s Biden book. Rudy said he was lobbying Trump and AG Pam Bondi to appoint him as special counsel to prosecute Joe Biden and his family. … Kayleigh McEnany seemed to like the idea of a special counsel, but maybe not Rudy leading the charge. … Joe Exotic, the subject of the Netflix documentary Tiger King, continues to look for new and creative ways to lobby the Trump admin to give him a pardon. His husband was recently deported to Mexico, and he promises Trump that if he lets him out of prison he will go to Mexico and earn $5 million to buy US citizenship for him from Howard Lutnick: “President Claudia Sheinbaum, call President Trump and tell him to release me so I can go to Mexico and work to buy Jorge a Trump Gold Card.” Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

 

Today in Politics, Bulletin 137. 5/23/25

Ron Filipkowski May 23 ∙

… Corruption King Trump hosted his crypto dinner at his country club near DC, which was advertised as a competition where the people who paid the most money for his scam got invites. He flew there in a government helicopter with secret service and used the presidential seal on his podium at the event.

… Constitutional lawyer George Conway made an excellent point about Trump’s crypto scam - which is the single largest fraud and conflict of interest by far in American political history. Since Trump has now personally involved himself in it during his presidency, and since Karoline Leavitt said that this was on his “personal time” not related to his job as president, that means he will not qualify for presidential immunity for anything related to this scam.

… NBC reported that the 220 guests spent a combined $394 million on the Trump coin, which is an average of $1.78 million per person. Trump and the WH refused to disclose the guest list, although we have learned about some from their social media posts. Crypto billionaire Justin Sun is the biggest purchaser at $75 million. Sun was under investigation by the SEC for market manipulation, but that was magically “put on hold” in Feb. I wonder how that happened?

… Christoph Heuermann, who is from Germany, posted about the dinner on IG: “I got to see some very rich crypto billionaires. But the majority of the crowd were young professionals from the crypto space hailing mostly from Europe. A fair share of Chinese and a few Americans, but a great diversity of most European countries. People working mostly for crypto exchanges, funds, market makers or just trading themselves. Very nice networking.”

… The dinner they got looked overcooked, unimaginative and under seasoned - but I’m admittedly a foodie snob so maybe it’s just me who thinks that. This may seem trivial to you, but I pay attention to these things because they are a window into the soul. This was it.

… Bloomberg: “Already since the early days of his reelection campaign, Trump has more than doubled his net worth to about $5.4B. The approach is clear, the Trump’s are selling the family name - and doing it at scale. They are doing things they did not do the first term. They’re licensing their name to billions of dollars in projects around the world, and the deals include foreign govts. But Trump pledged going in that there would not be any new deals with foreign govts.”

… WH Spokesperson Anna Kelly: “President Trump is working to secure good deals for the American people, not for himself. President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public – which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on CNN: “This might be close to the top of the most corrupt things that the president has done. There are 200+ anonymous individuals who paid their way to meet with Trump. Because they know their names wouldn’t be disclosed, it is likely there are probably a bunch of corrupt people in the room who don’t want their audience with the president to be public. This is corruption, old fashioned corruption but out in the open for everybody to see. I wish we knew who was there, I wish they would release that list.”

… Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to Meidas: “Trump’s dinner is an orgy of corruption. That’s what this is all about - corruption in its ugliest form. Maybe you’re the guy who really needs a pardon, maybe you’re the one who really needs a criminal investigation dropped, maybe you’re the country that needs your tariffs lowered. Trump says he’s the decision maker for all of this. How do you get his ear? Well, you could offer him a $400 million jet or you could buy a bunch of his Trump coins. He’s showing the ways to buy influence with him.”

… Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR): “There is a big ‘For Sale’ sign on the WH lawn - ‘US Policy For Sale’. Anyone who thinks those 220 people attending the dinner tonight who paid about $150 million for those seats just really craved to have a digital equivalent of a baseball trading card, well, you’re a little off the mark. They absolutely want to buy influence over US policy.”

… Even Republican Rep. French Hill (R-AR) was a bit squeamish about it on CNBC: "The Trump family activity in the memecoin space makes my work in Congress more complicated. I view the dinner last night as, you know, whatever - that's to me a distraction."

… Before heading off for 3-day weekend of golf this afternoon, Trump created more economic chaos and sent markets into another panic with early morning posts on Truth Social that he was looking to impose a 25% tariff on Apple’s iPhones and a 50% of all products from the EU.

TARIFF LUNACY!

… Trump at 7:43 AM: “The EU, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the US on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the US of more than $250B a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the EU, starting on June 1.”

… Treasury Sec Scott Bessent was asked on Fox if he was close to a trade deal with Japan. He isn’t. So he was asked if there are any deal imminent: “We're far along with India. There are 18 important trading partners. With the exception of the EU, most are negotiating in very good faith. We're gonna have to see.”

… They said on April 11 there would be 90 deals in 90 days. That was 42 days ago. There is one weak deal with the UK that favors them more than us. But we have the concepts of lots of other deals. Any day now. Golden Era.

… Trump at 7:19 AM: “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the US will be manufactured and built in the US, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US. Thank your for your attention to this matter!”

… Before flying off to Bedminster, Trump was asked why he would want to hurt an American company, and what gave him the authority to tariff an individual company. Trump: “It would be more. It would also be Samsung and any other company that makes that product or it would not be fair.”

… His brain is mush.  [THANK YOU RON! WELL SAID!]

… Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said that over 50% of iPhones sold in the US are made in India, and if they are all manufactured here they would cost $3,500 each: "We believe the concept of Apple producing iPhones in the US is a fairy tale that is not feasible.”

… Economist Justin Wolfers: “It's on the tip of my tongue, but it still eludes me. Who was the great economic thinker who argued that decisions about what individual companies should produce, in which factory, and where, were choices best made by the government as part of their central plan?”

… Mao? Stalin? Mussolini?

… CNBC asked Rep. French Hill (R-AR) what Trump meant when he said he was going to "recommend" a 50% tariff on the EU, and who he was going to recommend it to. French: “I don’t know.”

… I guess Trump’s closest allies in Congress know as much as we do about all this.

PARDON MY INTRUSION, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND! 

LET'S SAY YOU HAVE A $1,000 BOND THAT PAY 4% 

BECAUSE THE 'YIELD' - THE INTEREST RATE GOES UP, YOUR BOND IS 

WORTH LESS BECAUSE BUYERS ARE SHUNNING U.S. DEBT!

… Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) to Meidas: Moskowitz: “You’re seeing the bond market go down. The yields on those bonds are going up because no one wants to buy our debt. The stock market is down today because, guess what—we’re back to tariffs. I thought the president learned his lesson, didn’t you? Now we’re raising tariffs on the EU and on Apple again.”

… “This, unfortunately, is what happens when you lose elections. Elections have consequences. They have all of govt. They have no brakes. They’re drunk with power. And the only way we’re going to send a message to them—the only way we’re going to be able to put brakes on this and stop it—is to make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker.”

… Quartz: “Mortgage rates surged to 7.08% this week. That means housing, already unaffordable for millions of Americans, just got even less affordable. Adding to the turmoil, Trump said in a Truth Social post that he’s seriously considering re-privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While details remain vague, the move would almost certainly strip the agencies of their quasi-sovereign status, prompting a credit downgrade and likely pushing mortgage rates even higher. At a time when housing affordability is already straining household finances, that threat isn’t helping inspire confidence.”

… ABC published audio from Trump’s Social Security Administrator Frank Bisignano talking about how he got the gig: "So, I get a phone call and it's about Social Security. And I'm really not, I swear I'm not looking for a job. And I'm like, 'Well, what am I going to do?' So, I'm Googling ‘Social Security’. I'm like, 'What the heck is the Commissioner of Social Security?'"

… All the most qualified people. I feel better.

… US District Judge Allison Burroughs granted a temporary restraining order blocking DHS SecretaryDOG KILLER Kristi Noem’s order to revoke visas for foreign students at Harvard. A hearing on Harvard’s emergency lawsuit was set for Tuesday morning.

… In the lawsuit, Harvard alleged that Noem’s order will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders. With the stroke of a pen, the govt has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

… Harvard also said in the lawsuit that the order is already hurting them with “future applicants who may shy away from applying out of fear of further reprisals from the govt.”

… New Republican Rep. Randy Fine, who just won the special election in FL with Trump’s endorsement: "We should not be bringing people into America to get an education who hate us. They should be coming here to get an education, and frankly they should keep their mouths shut beyond that."

… Former Harvard President Lawrence Summers: “This is madness. I cannot imagine a greater strategic gift that we could be giving to China and Russia, the enemies of freedom around the world. If this is allowed to stand, it is going to be incredibly damaging to Harvard. But that is the least of it. It is much more profound in how damaging this will be to the standing, the role and the position of the US. We used to be a beacon to the world. We're now becoming a negative example. I imagine there must be great joy in Beijing and Moscow, seeing us implode with these kinds of policies.”

… Summers: “Harvard is doing just the right thing. This is extortion. It's a vendetta using all powers of the govt because of a political argument with Harvard. It is violating the First Amendment. It is also violating all the laws we have regarding administrative procedures. The consequences are real, whether it's students who are dissidents from tyrannies who are going to be sent home and possibly be imprisoned, whether it's labs that are fighting cancer or diabetes, that are going to lose key people - some small fraction of whom are going to go on to be Prime Ministers of countries who've now been turned into enemies of the US.”

… Zheng Fang, a 1996 graduate of Harvard Business School whose Keywise Capital Management oversees $2.5 billion in investments from Hong Kong, to Bloomberg: “I was shocked. This will not only jeopardize Harvard’s academic strength, but also hurt US competitiveness. While a lot of businesses start in the US, for them to be trillion-dollar companies they need to go global. If you don’t have the global market, your success is capped.”

… Michal Galek-Aldridge, co-founder of Amsterdam-based college admissions consultancy Think Smart: “A Harvard devoid of its international student population—who comprise 27% of the student body—would suffer a profound diminishment of its global influence.”

… Sam Cox, with London-based college consultancy A-List: “Not long ago, a US offer from an Ivy League school or MIT often trumped a place at Oxford or Cambridge. Today, we’re seeing those same students prioritize the UK, citing a more predictable and welcoming environment.”

Reminder that I am off on Saturdays so next Bulletin will recap the weekend, which will be out on Sunday night. We were going to go to opening day at the seaside amusement park on Old Orchard Beach here in Maine, but the weather isn’t cooperating. So we are going to see the new Mission Impossible in IMAX and go out to dinner. Nothing too exciting this weekend!

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, which was a long one that almost killed me, you can find it here. Btw, I do read all your comments every morning - I am sorry I don’t usually have time to reply but I appreciate all the kind words of support for my work very much. It is also helpful to me to hear about what matters most to you and what is most impactful in the news.

I am the one who decides what goes in here of course, but I also am very open-minded and listen to what everyone has to say because this is your column as much as it is mine. At least that’s how I look at it.

Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

… There is one small problem for Trump on his dream of building a ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense shield - he can’t build it without Canada’s cooperation. And right now, given how he has treated them, Canada isn’t exactly eager to just agree to anything Trump wants to do. Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar: “There’s a lot we just don’t know. There’s a lot that needs to be revealed about how the economic and security partnership with America and Canada will unfold.”

… Trump just assumed Canada would be thrilled with his plan: “They want to have protection also, so as usual, we help Canada.”

… But maybe he should have checked with Canada first before he decided to insult them again over this. PM Mark Carney: “It’s something that we are looking at and something that has been discussed at a high level. But one negotiates on this.”

… Politico: “Canada has nearly 4 million square miles of territory. That airspace offers a crucial line of sight for US sensors to shoot down missiles that Beijing and Moscow are developing to fly over the North Pole — a huge gap in American air defenses.

… Retired AF General Glen Van Herck, who was in charge of US Northern Command until last year: “What Canada really brings is terrain. If we can position, or Canada positions, over-the-horizon radars further north in the Arctic, that dramatically increases the US and Canada’s ability to see over the pole into Russia, into China and other places.”

… RFK Jr. is already walking back is promise that HHS will discover the cause of autism by September. To CNN: “We’ll have some of the information in probably 6 months.” (That’s November 23).

… Secretary Brainworm then had this enlightening exchange:

CNN: You said that people should not take your medical advice?

RFK Jr: People should not be taking medical advice from somebody who's not a physician. And they should also be skeptical about any medical advice, they need to do their own research.

CNN: You told Congress “we have a team on the ground in Milwaukee.” But the city said that's not true.

RFK Jr: CDC is giving them assistance with their labs, their analytics and advice.

CNN: They just said one technician was on the ground.

RFK Jr: I can't tell you how many are on the ground.

… US public health is in good hands. MAGA!

… Attorneys for immigrants dismissed a complaint they previously filed without prejudice, which allows them to refile it at a later time or in a different court. Kristi Noem then posted a copy of the Voluntary Dismissal with this classy caption:

… NOTUS reported on the closed-door meeting this week when Trump went to Capitol Hill to bully conservative budget hawks to go along with his deficit-exploding budget. Trump got into it with Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, who ended up changing his vote from a No to voting Present: “At one point, Trump began pointing his finger and cursing at Harris, ‘You’re stupid if you vote against this bill!’”

… Fox to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the House budget: Q - This bill adds trillions to our debt. How is that acceptable to the admin? Bessent: “You're referring to the CBO scoring, which, I believe, is DC style scoring.”

… No, it is non-partisan, apolitical scoring. What Bessent wants is “dynamic scoring” of economic growth projections to unrealistic levels to create an artificially large amount of projected revenue coming in so his deficits don’t look so horrendous after their huge tax cuts.

… Despite House Republicans patting themselves on the back, Senate Republicans are saying that they do not intend to vote for their budget. Majority Leader John Thune: “We are going to write our own bill.”

… Thune was asked about the agreement that was reached in the House on SALT: “The House had to make a deal. But our members want to be heard on it and I assume we’ll have something to say.”

… Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to CNN: “Somebody’s got to be the dad that says, ‘I know y’all want to go to Disney World, but we can’t afford it.’ I guess I’m going to be that guy.”

… I don’t want Ron Johnson as my dad, and I don’t want to go to Disney World with him. But neither does Mike Johnson in this case.

… Johnson was asked how he will react if Trump starts threatening him: “I couldn't care less if he's upset. I'm concerned about my children and grandchildren. $37T in debt and we're going to add to it? There is no way I'm going to vote for this bill in its current form.”

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has an issue with Medicaid cuts in the House bill: “There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging, if not impossible, for us to implement.”

… Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is concerned: “I have said and made clear that I do not want to take away Medicaid benefits.”

… Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) says the Senate isn’t going to pass the House plan, so the House is going to have to agree to theirs: “At some point, we have to send the bill back to them and they’ll have a binary decision to make. And it will be, ‘Is a yes vote in passage better than if it doesn’t pass?’ I hope that’s the way they’ll look at it.”

… This is going well.

… Cramer was asked by CNN about criticism of Republican Senators by right-wing House members on the budget: “It’s rich coming from the Freedom Caucus, who are supposed to be fiscal conservatives and end up with not that conservative of a bill to lecture us.”

… Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the House: “You had your chance. There’s some of these cuts that are not real, and we’re talking about over a decade, if you do a trillion and a half in spending cuts, that’s like 1.5%. So, let’s don’t get higher on our horse here that we’ve somehow made some major advancement of reducing spending, because we didn’t.”

… Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD): “Once the Senate weighs in on it, I think we’ll have a different opinion about what the bill looks like. We can negotiate about a lot of other things, except for spectrum, which has got to come out. We’re a long ways from the finish line.”

(Spectrum is Trump’s plan to put a chunk of band-width used by DOD up for auction, which is something wireless providers have been lobbying him about. Rounds said the Senate doesn’t want to do that).

… SecDef Pete Hegseth, constantly paranoid about someone in the Pentagon talking to the press about the crazy shit he’s doing on a daily basis, issued a new set of rules today for the media restricting their access to the building and banning them from common areas where DOD employees tend to congregate when they aren’t working. Why are they constantly trying to hide everything from the public?

… Post and Courier (SC): “A political strategist for Rep. Nancy Mace testified in a deposition that the congresswoman once asked him to pressure her former fiancé into giving her full ownership of their two jointly held homes and threatened to use images she'd found on her ex's cellphone as leverage if he refused. Strategist Wesley Donehue said he interpreted it as a blackmail threat.”

… Donehue also described Mace as someone prone to embellishing stories and "unstable - she sees black helicopters everywhere."

… I’m shocked.

… This photo is now hanging in the West Wing of the White House.