What did Donald Trump do today?

He backed down still yet again on tariff-related threats.

Yesterday was another disastrous day for American markets, spurred by a Trump rant about Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell, whom he called a "major loser." (As with many government officials Trump now thinks are worthless, Powell was appointed by Trump himself, during his first term.) In particular, Trump is upset because he wants the Fed to cut interest rates quickly and sharply, while Powell—and the overwhelming consensus of economists and investors—favor a much slower and cautious approach.

Trump may believe that lowering interest rates and loosening the money supply will cushion the blow that the U.S. economy is likely to receive from the effect of Trump's own tariffs. But like medicine wasted on a patient that hasn't fallen ill yet, that would almost certainly make things worse in the long run, since interest rates can only be lowered so many times.

Alternatively, he may simply think that lower interest rates are always good, because they usually are for heavily indebted and overleveraged real-estate brokers—particularly the ones who call themselves "the king of debt." Trump did indeed wring some money out of debt renegotiation, but only because he could and at times did declare bankruptcy, which is not an option available to the United States.

In response to Trump's threats to fire him, Powell has simply said that Trump cannot fire him, and that he would not leave if Trump tried.

Powell is correct. By laws that were written precisely with the central bank's independence from political pressure in mind, presidents can remove Fed chairs only for cause, which the Supreme Court has defined as malfeasance or criminal conduct. Of course, Trump could try—but it would all but guarantee another market crash in the process.

Retreating today after what the extremely conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page called the "Fire Jerome Powell Market Rout," Trump repeatedly said he wouldn't even try to fire Powell.

Markets were up today on the news—but also because of another Trump administration retreat on the tariff front, this time from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He acknowledged to a group of extremely wealthy investors at a private meeting that Trump's current trade stance was "unsustainable," particularly with respect to China, and that "de-escalation" was the next likely step. Trump himself confirmed this later, though insisted that tariffs on Chinese goods would "not drop to zero." (They didn't start at zero.)

In other words, Bessent effectively leaked Trump's intention to fold his hand after some degree of performative "negotiation." That would be extremely good news for the U.S. economy, though—as the WSJ noted—not as good as simply giving up now, without trying to save face first.

Why does this matter?

• The stability of the United States economy is more important than Donald Trump's ego.

• Threats are never less credible than when they're coming from a bully who always gives up at the first sign of someone fighting back.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He sold corporate access to a White House Easter event for children.

The White House held an Easter egg roll today. This is an Easter Monday tradition that dates back to the 1870s. But in a sharp break with tradition, Trump sold corporate advertising rights to it.

The event is normally sponsored by an egg industry group specifically to avoid the problem of turning the People's House into a billboard. Also, the budget is modest to begin with—even with the price of eggs astronomically high due to an uncontrolled avian flu outbreak—because the White House hosts events of this scale almost every day. 

But this year, Trump charged corporate sponsors as much as $200,000 for "custom 30'x30' branded activation" in an event space seen mostly by children. The more likely appeal to the companies that paid up, which include the parent companies of Facebook, Google, and Amazon, is that the ad packages came bundled with private meetings to Trump and his wife.

Trump routinely sells access to himself and those with influence over him, a practice that goes back to at least the start of his first term. 

The event comes alongside new reporting on the quarter-billion dollars Trump's inaugural committee took in, an astronomical amount that is nowhere near what could have been spent on the inauguration festivities themselves. (Most of those costs are borne by the government, and in any event Trump moved the inauguration itself inside for fear of once again drawing embarrassingly small crowds.) Trump made a show of demanding—and getting—money for that committee from prominent businesses.

There are relatively few limitations on what Trump can do with the hundreds of millions of dollars left over in that fund, provided it is laundered through a non-profit organization like his presidential library. (Trump and several family members are currently forbidden from serving on a non-profit board in the state of New York without its permission, due to his involvement in the sham charity known as the Trump Foundation, but he can exert influence indirectly.) 

Meanwhile, paying money into what amounts to a slush fund for Trump seems to have been a good investment. At least 19 big-ticket corporate donors have seen criminal or civil cases against them dropped, stalled, or resolved in their favor in just the first three months since Trump's second term began.

Why does this matter?

• Selling access to people in power is the definition of corruption.

• Getting things in exchange for giving money to politicians is the definition of bribery.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He celebrated Easter as only he can, or does.

Trump posted this today to his private microblogging website:

Trump does this kind of thing for most major holidays.

Easter is the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the holiest day on the Christian calendar.

According to Christian teachings, Jesus was born as a refugee from a tyrannical leader. His teachings emphasized charity towards the poor, compassion for the sick and dying, and an embrace of those outcast by society. He condemned the corrosive moral effects of wealth and power, and sought to keep affairs of state from polluting devotion to God. 

In particular, Christian scriptures record that Jesus taught empathy for those who came from foreign lands, and that God's highest commandment, other than to love God, was for people to love one another regardless of their nationality, condition of birth, or other earthly distinctions. In one of his most famous teachings, Jesus said that service to the most unfortunate and despised people was service to God:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

Trump identifies as a member of the Presbyterian denomination of Christianity, although he has at least once expressed confusion about whether Presbyterians were Christians. Whatever his actual religious beliefs, Trump's understanding of Christianity as practiced by hundreds of millions of Americans is strained at best. For example, he once proudly announced that he had never once asked God for forgiveness, a fundamental tenet of the faith. He has also dismissively referred to the rite of Holy Communion as "my little wine and my little cracker."

Trump did not attend services on Sunday, but played a round of golf he tried to keep out of the press.

Why does this matter?

• Presidents don't have to be Christians or devout, but that doesn't mean making a mockery of Christian faith is a good idea.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He lost the trust of the Supreme Court.

In an exceedingly rare post-midnight order early Saturday morning, the Supreme Court issued an injunction forbidding the Trump administration from removing a number of detainees to El Salvador. As a result, if Trump does remove the affected detainees to his rented offshore prison beyond the reach of the American justice system, it will be in direct and unambiguous violation of an order from the Supreme Court.

It is not especially surprising that the Court issued this injunction. Courts often issue stays, injunctions, restraining orders, or other halts to legal proceedings, simply as a means to make sure they have a chance to weigh the issue before they are overtaken by circumstance. The Supreme Court's order here does not by itself signify anything about how challenges to Trump's immigration policy are likely to go.

But one thing about the order is extremely unusual, other than the justices staying up late to act on it. It compels the Trump administration not to do something it had already promised lower courts it would not do. In virtually any other situation, a stipulation like that from the United States government would be taken at face value—not least because if a rogue government actor did renege on such a promise, that action could be reversed after the fact. But Trump's creation of an extraterritorial Constitutional dead zone makes it impossible to do that.

In other words, the fact that the Supreme Court issued this order at all is strong evidence that most of its members no longer believe that the executive branch of the government can be taken at its word.

It's not clear if the justices were aware that even as they deliberated, buses filled with detainees in the protected class were headed towards an airport in an apparent attempt to break the Trump administration's "promise" before anyone could do anything about it. The buses turned around when the Supreme Court's order was announced.

Why does this matter?

• It's bad if the judiciary doesn't think the executive branch can be trusted.

• It's worse if they shouldn't think the executive branch can be trusted.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He retreated.

Trump is spending a rare weekend in Washington, and while his public schedule included only one brief entry, he generated a lot of news.

For a lame duck President with no particular regard for his own party, Trump is surprisingly sensitive to public opinion—and it has turned sharply against him. In some polls, he is now below the previous most unpopular president at this point in their term—himself, in 2017.

But Trump is also famously obsessed with presenting himself in the image of a "winner"—whatever that may mean at any given moment—and it makes him prone to outbursts of fear and gloom when he thinks he's failing to do that. There were visible cracks in his facade on at least four different fronts today.

The Harvard affair. Even before Trump's attempt to bring Harvard University under his direct control blew up into a major scandal, American universities had already begun to band together and fight back against Trump's mass breach of federal research contracts. But Harvard is the oldest, wealthiest, and by some measures most prestigious university in the country, and while it's not immune to political pressure, it has much more ability to fight back than most—and that resistance is now stiffening the spines of universities across the nation. It probably doesn't hurt that Trump seems bound and determined to humble colleges whether or not they comply with his demands.

Trump's initial response was fury: he ordered the IRS to begin rescinding Harvard's tax-exempt status, a penalty so severe it is only used for the most egregiously fraudulent or criminal "non-profits" (like, for example, the Trump Foundation). 

But today, his administration is retreating, floating the story that it was all a big misunderstanding, and that Harvard received a draft with inappropriately harsh terms. The "mistake" was signed off on by three different government agencies and the White House.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia. As public horror at the implications of Trump's outside-the-Constitution approach to deportation or exile grows, Trump's staff has been trying to paint Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a monster. Trump officials have called him a domestic abuser, a terrorist kingpin, and a  human trafficker—none of which are true according to any evidence or witness. (The one bit of testimony linking him to the MS-13 gang was the unsupported opinion of a disgraced police officer who was suspended just days later, after it was discovered that he was sharing police information with a sex worker he was involved with.)

High-profile smear campaigns like this usually work to Trump's advantage, but with both Abrego Garcia and his distraught wife and young child remaining in the spotlight, Trump has distanced himself from responsibility for their veracity. He emphasized in comments today that he was citing "very legitimate sources I assume" and that what he'd heard about Abrego Garcia "was supposed to be certified stuff."

Some of the "certified stuff" Trump showed off was an obviously doctored photo of Abrego Garcia's tattoos, in which "MS-13" had been digitally superimposed—thus "proving" he was a member of that gang. 

Tariffs. Trump's tariff scheme is wildly unpopular with Americans even before the effects have really started to be felt (outside of collapsed retirement portfolios). That may explain why he has reportedly decided to make Vice-President J.D. Vance the public face of it as the new "tariff czar." According to administration sources, Vance would be now be responsible for handling the "negotiations" that Trump, who views himself as a deal-maker par excellence, was bragging about until recently. 

That would also make Vance the obvious scapegoat.

Vance faces two challenges if he can't escape this assignment. First, China's government has taken direct offense at comments he made recently about Chinese "peasants" and has made Vance the face of their own domestic political campaign against the Trump tariffs.

Second, when Vance was free to speak his own mind before becoming yoked to Trump as his running mate, he made it clear he does not actually think protectionist tariffs are a good idea, and certainly not at this scale—and he said so publicly many times.

Ukraine-Russia "negotiations." Trump has once again staked his belief that he is a master diplomatic strategist to the task of achieving a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war. In order to accomplish this—and to put a thumb on the scale for the side he personally favors—Trump has effectively forced the United States to switch sides in the middle of the war, American public opinion be damned. He continues to claim, against all reason, that Ukraine somehow started the war that began with a massive Russian invasion, and publicly berated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a White House visit. 

But in ranting remarks today, Trump made clear his frustrations that ending the war would not be as simple as he'd imagined when he was campaigning on making it happen in "one day."

Trump huffed that unless things somehow turned around, "We're just going to say, 'You're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people,' and we're going to just take a pass."

Neither Russia nor Ukraine were looking for a negotiated end to the war, nor for Trump to be involved in brokering one.

Why does this matter?

• Passing the buck to underlings doesn't mean presidents aren't responsible for their administration's failures.

• People who find themselves in jobs they're just not very good at should think about quitting.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to say that defaming a woman he raped was part of his presidential duties—again.

In 2020, while he was still president, Trump had his Justice Department attempt to intervene as the defendant in E. Jean Carroll's defamation and sexual assault suit against him. As this site wrote at the time:

DOJ lawyers argued, in effect, that when Trump called Carroll a pathological attention-seeker who was endangering women who had been assaulted, he was doing so in his official capacity as the President of the United States.

This kind of move is routine in the many lawsuits involving the executive branch, but using it to keep a president out of civil court for personal attacks on the character of a woman he's accused of raping is totally unprecedented.

The attempt to make Trump's problems the government's was unsuccessful, but the inevitable appeals dragged the case on two years longer than it otherwise would have. Once that question was finally settled, the case proceeded to trial and Carroll won not one but two judgments against him, because Trump repeated the defamatory claims in defiance of the first judgment. The total damages awarded to Carroll were $88.3 million—$5.3 million for the first verdict, and $83 million for the second.

The jury in that trial found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The judge's final ruling made clear that the jury's verdict and the facts established in the case meant that Trump had raped Carroll in the sense that the word is commonly used.

Today, five years after the first time he tried this, Trump once again had his DOJ file a motion seeking to have the United States government stand in as the defendant while he appeals the original verdicts—the exact same stance as before, on the exact same matter, in the exact same case.

In his unrelated crusade against law firms who have opposed him or his administration in court, Trump has called for severe penalties for those who file "frivolous" legal claims. That term has a specific legal meaning, and it encompasses claims meant to delay justice that are "based on an indisputably meritless legal theory."

Why does this matter?

• "L'etat, c'est moi" is the slogan of a king, and presidents are not kings.

• Government lawyers don't exist to protect Donald Trump personally—even if most of them got their jobs because they used to be his criminal defense lawyers.

• Lying about a woman you raped in order to discredit her claim is still not part of the official duties of the President of the United States.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He ranted about how giving people due process of law was too much work.

Today, as a federal judge pondered the extremely odd question of how to go about holding the government of the United States itself in contempt of court, Trump posted this to his private microblogging site:

For the record, the 530,000 immigrants Trump refers were in the United States legally. They certainly didn't arrive "IN ONE DAY," which would have been more than four times bigger than the next-largest civilian airlift in American history—and that one took 17 days. 

Trump is lying, or absurdly misinformed, about the "approximately 100 years" part, too. Immigration courts heard 915,773 cases last year, which is what observing the Constitution's requirement for due process of law requires. That number is expected to be somewhat lower this year, though—because Trump has fired so many of the judges.

The Constitution of the United States requires the government to provide "due process of law" to all people. In fact, it is the only Constitutional right listed twice, in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. In simplest terms, it means that anyone subject to the authority of the government must be allowed to assert their rights in a fair and rule-bound process. The government is not allowed to make arbitrary decisions about someone's life, liberty, or property based on what is politically convenient—or because it seems like giving someone their day in court seems like too much work.

Why does this matter?

• If Donald Trump thinks governing according to the Constitution is too much work, he should get a different job.

• Immigration is governed by the law, not what's convenient or emotionally soothing for Donald Trump.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He once again used the power of the state to punish lawyers who opposed him or his political allies in court.

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly used the powers of his office to punish law firms who employed or represented his political enemies, or took positions he didn't like in court. He has revoked security clearances at those firms en masse (a basic job necessity for many lawyers in federal court), canceled routine legal contracts with them, and even tried to physically bar lawyers employed by them from federal buildings, which includes courthouses.

Some of the firms affected have signed consent agreements with the Trump administration in which they agree, in effect, to let Trump dictate their policies and clients to them. Others, however, have fought back in court—and they have been successful. 

Today, another law firm won a temporary restraining order against Trump's executive order targeting them. The firm, Susman Godfrey, represents Dominion Voting Services. That company received a $788 million settlement for its defamation claim against Fox News, which aired false claims that Dominion had "rigged" the 2020 election. Susman Godfrey continues to represent Dominion against Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell for their similar claims.

Trump continues to claim that he the real winner of the 2020 election, which in fact he lost by 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral college votes. It's not clear whether he actually believes any part of this, but he lost virtually every one of the dozens of court cases he filed related to it, and succeeded in changing none of its outcomes. That includes all the cases that reached the Supreme Court, where he appointed three of its members and openly stated his expectation that they would be "loyal" to him.

In a statement accompanying the order, the judge in the said Trump's actions were discriminatory and an unconstitutional government attack on the firm's First Amendment rights. She added that Trump's "personal vendetta" was a "shocking abuse of power" and said that Trump's attempts to personally pick and choose who could practice law were "immensely oppressive."

Why does this matter?

• It's not a crime to protect the rights of people Donald Trump is mad at.

• In a democracy, both sides get to be represented in court, not just the ruler.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He joked about sending American criminals to foreign prison camps, forgetting that he is one.

At a joint White House press conference today, Trump and El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele both confirmed at a joint press conference today that neither would take any action to obey a Supreme Court order to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

This was expected. Trump and Bukele have both openly mocked American judges seeking to enforce the Constitution's due process requirement, and continued to do so today. Trump and some of his staff today pushed harder on the false claim that the Supreme Court actually ruled in their favor in the Abrego Garcia case, permitting them to take no action. (It did not.)

Prior to the event, Trump laughed as he discussed his plans to send American citizens to Salvadoran supermax prisons like the notorious one Abrego Garcia was sent to, saying "Homegrown criminals are next. I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You've got to build about five more places, all right? It's not big enough." 

Trump returned to the theme during the press conference, insisting that he was serious and that he was "looking into" the legality of doing so. It is flatly illegal, but then so was the disappearance of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was under a judicial order preventing his deportation to El Salvador, and who has never been charged with or accused of any crime.

By contrast, Trump is himself in every legal sense an American "homegrown criminal." 

Why does this matter?

• Siding with a foreign dictator against the American justice system to deny an innocent man due process of law is about as big a betrayal of a president's oath of office as there is.

• Presidents who live in glass prisons shouldn't throw stones.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to make El Salvador a legally bulletproof concentration camp for his enemies.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who was shipped in violation of a court order by the Trump administration to a notorious prison camp in El Salvador for indefinite detention. He and several hundred others detained there were supposedly connected with gangs that Trump claims is a national security threat to the United States—but, like the vast majority of them, he was later determined to have no ties to gangs and no known criminal activity whatsoever. Abrego Garcia had fled El Salvador to escape persecution from gangs, and was in the United States legally on that basis.

Trump's DOJ now admits that Abrego Garcia's forced relocation to an El Salvadoran prison was an "administrative error." The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Trump must "facilitate" his return, but Trump is now claiming that the United States is powerless to make the El Salvadoran government do anything—even though Abrego Garcia and the other detainees are being held there at the request and expense of the Trump administration. 

Trump has refused to provide any details of that arrangement, or even a legal basis for it.

Trump's position, reiterated in two mandatory court updates filed today, is that when the Supreme Court ordered him to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the United States, it did not mean that Trump had to do anything to cause him to be released from the foreign high-security prison camp he's being held in—not even, apparently, to ask the "sovereign" El Salvadoran government to do so.

If Trump's position is allowed to stand, then anyone—whether a citizen or not, whether accused of a crime or not—can be "mistakenly" or deliberately put out of the reach of American law and the Constitution as long as there is a foreign autocrat loyal to Trump who allows it. This is about as serious a constitutional crisis as can be imagined.

Trump's respect for the "sovereignty" of the government the United States is paying to run an offshore gulag does not extend to other sovereign entities he has threatened to invade since retaking office, like Panama or Greenland or Canada.

Why does this matter?

• Secret offshore prisons for those who offend the ruler is about as un-American as it gets.

• Presidents are not kings.

• Not even trying to free someone from a foreign prison known for torture and abuse when you admit you sent them there by "mistake" is evil.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He stalled for time on his tariff policy.

As he virtually always does, Trump is spending the weekend at the Florida resort and social club where he lives. Each trip costs roughly $4 million, not counting the cost to local governments to assist with his security, which is about $250,000 per day. (It's not all red ink, though: Trump himself makes money on the trips by charging his Secret Service detail top dollar for their lodgings.)

A reporter aboard Air Force One early this morning asked Trump to comment on his decision, announced late Friday night, to exempt phones, computers, and various other expensive consumer electronics items from the staggering 145% tariffs he's levied on Chinese goods. 

Not doing this would have been a political nightmare for Trump and the Republican party. Tens of millions of Americans in the market for a new smartphone—already an expensive necessity—would have seen prices skyrocket well over the $1,000 mark on average. A rapid rise in inflation is already inevitable unless Trump yet again retreats, but seeing hundreds of dollars added to the sticker price for a single item—and one with no domestic-made equivalent—would drive the point home to American consumers that much faster.

And yet, carving out a substantial exception for noticeable inflation virtually gives the game away. Trump is essentially admitting that adding astronomically high taxes to the price of consumer goods will hurt American consumers. (While polls show that this is obvious to the overwhelming majority of Americans, Trump has pretended otherwise, at least in public.)

Trump had spent the last few days unsuccessfully lobbying China's president, Xi Jinping, to "request" an audience with him. Throughout the whole second-term trade war, Trump has been eager to portray himself as a "dealmaker" with the nations of the world begging favors from him. It now seems likely that Trump was hoping he could spin a call with Xi as evidence that he'd forced China to the bargaining table, and that the exemption for phones and computers was his "reward" to them.

In reality, Xi pointedly ignored the invitation, and the Chinese government has continued to raise tariffs on American products in retaliation.

Trump, who apparently has not landed on a more appealing narrative, simply ducked the question and told the reporter on Air Force One that he'd explain it all on Monday.

Why does this matter?

• This is one of many reasons that trade wars are not "good and easy to win," which is something Trump probably should have figured out by now.

• Policies that make sense and accomplish good things don't need to be spun.

• Americans deserve to know what our trade policy is now, not when Trump decides he's ready to go back to work.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He collected no tariffs.

Trump's latest attempts to play "dealmaker" with the entire world have caused chaos in financial markets, created an enormous diplomatic rift with the nation's closest ally and largest trading partner, and threatened the US dollar's status as the world's reserve currency. The justification that Trump has offered is that tariffs (which are taxes paid by American importers, and ultimately by consumers) are somehow better than income taxes. He appears to believe that he can usher in a new age of prosperity akin to the Gilded Age of the 1890s, simply by copying that era's sky-high import taxes. 

As more or less every economist and historian has pointed out, there are a few problems with this logic. For one thing, the Gilded Age is nothing to be nostalgic for if you're not a billionaire "robber baron." By every conceivable measure, Americans are far better off economically now than they were then. 

For another, the federal government of that era was tiny and, for many practical purposes, barely functional because it was limited by its dependence on foreign trade to raise revenue. 

And most importantly of all for the average American, tariffs are consumption taxes. People who spend most of their income on necessities like grocery, fuel, and clothing will pay a far higher share than people—like Trump—who can't possibly spend more than a tiny fraction of their wealth on goods.

But another problem with Trump's plan to fund the government through tariffs arose today: his administration has broken the system used to collect them. Rates have whipsawed back and forth so chaotically and so often in recent months that the collection system has broken down as importers and officials try to figure out which ships carrying goods from which countries are subject to which set of rates. 

For now, it appears that that means that the United States is collecting effectively nothing in the taxes that Trump supposedly wants to fund the entire federal government with, at least from the ports where the vast majority of goods arrive.

Why does this matter?

• "Move fast and break things" isn't a great motto for governments.

• Dollar for dollar, this isn't even the worst incompetence at tax collection Trump has demonstrated in his second term.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He "saved money" by canceling a disease outbreak monitoring agency that does not cost taxpayers any money.

Layoffs of the full-time staff of the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program were announced today, the latest casualties in the Trump administration's purge of critical public health services. 

According to the official Trump administration position, all such programs are being ended or incapacitated in order to spend taxpayer money more "efficiently." As critics have noted, most of the "savings" announced by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and Trump cabinet heads are fictitious—either errors or outright lies. In fact, year-on-year federal spending is up under Trump, not down, and tax revenues are expected to fall by a catastrophic 10%, or $500 billion, as businesses and wealthy non-salary individuals take advantage of a decimated IRS. 

But unlike other disease prevention teams, the VSP cost taxpayers nothing in the first place. Its operating expenses were paid for by the cruise industry itself.

The firings come as American cruise ships are battling an outbreak of norovirus. This is a common and highly contagious shipboard illness.

Why does this matter?

• Whatever the purpose of this is, it is not about efficiency or savings.

• There is never a good reason to make Americans more susceptible to disease outbreaks.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He caved on his tariffs after 14 hours, then pretended he hadn't caved.

Early this afternoon, about 14 hours after his so-called "Liberation" tariffs went into effect, Trump rolled back most of them to a flat 10%. This undid some, but not all, of the massive damage done to the capital reserves of companies and the retirement portfolios of tens of millions of Americans over the past four trading days.

The three countries the United States does the most business with—China, Canada, and Mexico—are still subject to tariffs ranging from 25% to 104%, meaning American consumers will pay prices inflated by proportional amounts for goods from those places.

Trump offered two explanations for why he had, yet again, imposed taxes on imported goods only to revoke them immediately. The first was that, supposedly, the nations of the world had been "kissing [his] ass" and "begging" for a "deal." He claimed that because many nations had not imposed retaliatory tariffs of their own, he had decided to be lenient. 

This is, to put it bluntly, a ridiculous lie. The White House refused to provide a list of the countries—Trump claimed a variety of numbers in the vicinity of 75—that had supposedly reached out to negotiate. But the reality is that Trump is unusual among world leaders in having the ability to instantly impose taxes like this, and most countries simply did not have time in the few hours since they went into effect (or the few days since they were threatened) to retaliate.

It's also undermined by the fact that Trump's own Treasury Secretary had been publicly asking other countries not to retaliate, presumably in order to give Trump this off-ramp—and also by Trump posting an all-caps ransom demand to the same effect after he'd caved.

Trump's other justification was that other people, not himself, lost their nerve, and that he was mercifully pausing the full implementation out of consideration for their feelings. Specifically, he said he had to act because Americans were getting "yippy." 

"The yips" are a golf term for someone who misses easy putts under pressure.

It is much more likely that Trump was acting on the genuine fear his own staff felt over the unfolding consequences of his actions. Trump has crashed stock markets before, but this had the effect of threatening the market for U.S. Treasury bonds. That would mean that investors no longer saw American debt as the safest possible investment during economic downturns—and that would be absolutely catastrophic for the American economy.

As the New York Times reported, virtually all of Trump's senior staff intervened once the bond markets started souring, and succeeded in making clear to him that he would not be able to avoid being blamed this time:

Mr. Trump’s decision was driven by fear that his tariffs gamble could quickly turn into a financial crisis. And unlike the two previous crashes of the past 20 years — the global financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic of 2020 — this crisis would have been directly attributable to only one man.

Trump's sudden reversal created almost as much chaos as the initial announcement had. For example, the White House was unable to answer reporters' questions about what the tariff rate on Canada and Mexico was right now—whether it was the 10% global-across-the-board rate, the previous rate of 25% since they had not been part of the tariffs that went into effect today, or the two added together for 35%.

Why does this matter?

• Attributing to other people the emotions that you are feeling is called projection, and it is not a sign of good mental health.

• Chaos and uncertainty are not good for the economy.

• The United States economy is more important than Donald Trump's need to save face.

• If you start a fire in your own house, and then put it out after it's burned down part of the house, you are still an arsonist, not a firefighter.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He lied about "saving" steel mills that are closing due to his trade policies.

During a rambling speech to the NRCC this evening, Trump claimed he personally "saved every steel mill" in the country during the trade war he launched during his first term.

TRUMP: They were dumping tremendous amounts of steel into the country during my term, I saved every steel mill, I—every—we only have steel mills because of what I did. I put a high tariff on them. Twenty-five and then fifty percent, and it stopped. 

In reality, Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum drove prices through the roof, and widened the gap between what American wholesalers had to pay and prices elsewhere in the world. In other words, it made things worse for anyone needing to buy anything containing steel—and it hurt American consumers more than it hurt anyone else. It also didn't "save" any steel mills: domestic production was virtually unchanged.

Trump is confused about the amounts involved. Tariffs on steel were 25%, not 50%, in 2018. In this term, he had threatened Canada specifically with 50% steel tariffs, but almost immediately backed off. 

In other steel industry news, the Cleveland-Cliffs company is laying off 1,200 workers because of plummeting demand in the face of the current trade war. It also scrapped plans to employ an additional 1,200 workers on renovation projects after Trump canceled a Biden administration grant to modernize their furnaces in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Why does this matter?

• Americans keeping their jobs is more important than indulging Donald Trump's fantasy that he is a hero.

• If Trump isn't knowingly lying, he's dangerously incompetent.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He changed his mind about negotiating with Iran over nuclear weapons.

Trump threatened Iran with an attack if it didn't abandon its nuclear weapons program. That is nothing new—Trump has been rattling his saber over Iran since his first term. But he also said that he would be willing to negotiate directly with Iran over its nuclear weapons program.

This marks a drastic change in tactics for Trump. Iran had been part of a multinational agreement with the United States and five other nations known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. Under that arrangement, Iran halted development of its weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief. The other five nations—the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, France, and the U.K.—had the ability to monitor Iran's domestic nuclear energy program from inside the country.

In spite of Iran's compliance and the satisfaction of on-site monitors that it had effectively given up its ability to create the highly enriched uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon, Trump abrogated that treaty in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. Iran responded by resuming its enrichment of uranium and rebuilding its capacity to make weapons-grade material on short notice.

Trump never gave an explanation for his decision to blow up the agreement, other than his unsubstantiated belief that it was somehow a "bad deal," and his open contempt for the Obama administration. (Trump appears to genuinely believe, all evidence to the contrary, that he is a master tactician at the negotiating table.) 

Bad deal or not, the absence of a deal means that Iran can now effectively create the fuel for nuclear weapons at will, assuming it hasn't already.

At a press conference today, Trump was asked the obvious question: how would his proposed diplomatic solution differ from the JCPOA he had rejected? He appeared unsure as to what the reporter was referring to, and evaded the question.

Why does this matter?

• If you are constantly in a worse position as a result of your "dealmaking," you are a bad dealmaker.

• It's bad if a president can't remember major events from his first term, even if they happened seven years ago.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He said he should be able to ship Americans off to foreign torture camps.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he returned from a four-day golf weekend, Trump said that he would be "very happy" if he could have Americans incarcerated in a notoriously brutal foreign prison.

The prison in question is known as CECOT, and it is notorious for its deliberate harshness. It is overcrowded by design, and prisoners are subject to abuse and torture. It has no educational or rehabilitative programs, and inmates are used a source of slave labor for programs that benefit the state. 

While the American prison system has its issues, virtually everything about CECOT would be illegal in the United States and a violation of the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment—which seems to have been Trump's point.

In theory, CECOT was built to combat gang violence. But it has also been used to punish the Salvadoran president's political enemies, and serves as a threat to those who would oppose the man who refers to himself as "the world's coolest dictator." 

Trump has also flirted with calling himself a dictator, constantly expressed admiration for other authoritarians, and has called for the jailing of his political enemies.

Also tonight, a CBS News report found that 75% of the supposed Venezuelan "gang members" Trump had deported to El Salvador in violation of a court order were not accused or suspected of any crime, much less affiliation with gangs. Trump has ignored court orders to have them returned, claiming that he has no authority over what El Salvador does with people in its custody.

Trump himself is a convicted felon, though he escaped incarceration for the criminal trial that was concluded before his second term began.

Why does this matter?

• There's a difference between being "tough on crime" and endorsing torture, enslavement, and exile.

• It's bad if the only people a president ever speaks well of are dictators.

• Felons who live in glass prisons shouldn't throw stones.

What did Donald Trump do today?

He told Americans that everything was fine as more than a million of them took to the streets to protest against him.

Trump was once again on the links today, supposedly "winning" the round in the elderly division of his own club's tournament. (Trump is notorious for his golf cheating and almost always claims to win tournaments he plays in—but he only plays in tournaments at his own club, and occasionally declares himself the winner when he didn't even compete.)

That left little time for social media, but he did post a few times to his boutique website to tell Americans to "HANG TOUGH." He also claimed credit for "FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT" that had supposedly "already" happened. Coincidentally or not, that is the consensus estimate of how much wealth his latest tariff blitz has wiped out of American companies and investors in the last two days.

Trump wasn't the only one having a busy day, though. Protests against his administration were held in St. Paul, MN;

Hartford, CT;

Tupelo, MS;

Richmond, VA;

Austin, TX;

Macon, GA;

Cheyenne, WY;

Oakland, CA;

Salt Lake City, UT;

Denver, CO;

Washington, DC;

New York, NY;

Juneau, AK;

Palm Beach Gardens, FL;

Portland, OR;

Boston, MA;

Portsmouth, NH;

Montgomery, AL;

Asheville, NC;

Rehoboth Beach, DE;

Lansing, MI;

Grand Rapids, MI;

Charlotte, NC;

Bowling Green, KY;

St. Joseph, MI;

Harrisburg, PA;

Charleston, WV;

Houston, TX;

Columbia, SC;

San Jose, CA;

Omaha, NE;

San Francisco, CA;

Anchorage, AK;

Los Angeles, CA;

Pocatello, ID;

Chicago, IL;

Phoenix, AZ;

Philadelphia, PA;

San Antonio, TX;

Chico, CA;

Dallas, TX;

Jacksonville, FL;

Columbus, OH;

Indianapolis, IN;

Nashville, TN;

…and more than 1,200 other towns and cities across the United States.

Neither Trump nor the White House put out any kind of statement acknowledging the protests. The White House did release a statement noting Trump's supposed golf win, though.

Why does this matter?

• Problems—and voters—don't go away just because the president says not to worry about them.