The arrogance of Trump is breathtaking. Millions of Americans are frightened and he just continues to spew lies in a deliberate act of economic deceit.
Re: Who will blink first? … ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this on face value, makes sense to me.” Or … Why is Trump doing what he is doing?
To become the richest man on the planet in 100 days!
As you may have realized, President Donald Trump is following Herbert Hoover’s playbook that worsened the Great Depression in 1930 by imposing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. But the question is why?! I would put my money on Donald‘s ability to manipulate the stock market with all those tariffs.
Step 1 - He crashes the stock market with 150+ tariffs … not to mention the way he did it … with all the “on again, off again” uncertainty exacerbating things.
Step 2 - He buys up all the fallen blue-chip stock at bargain basement prices.
Step 3 (on or before April 30) - He removes all the tariffs and watches gleefully as the stock market rebounds, bragging to everyone: “See what a great man I am — I just alleviated all the pain those pesky tariffs caused. And by the way, where’s all the thanks you should be giving me?”
Step 4 - When the markets peak again, he sells off most of his stock, buys gold, and in the process pockets billions, making him the first trillionaire in history and the richest man on the planet. Of course, that will earn him another front cover on TIME magazine.
The cryptocurrency he’s been peddling right now is going to give him one hell of a lot of cash to buy up all that devalued blue-chip stock. “President Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto project said on Monday that it raised $250 million in its second token sale, bringing the total amount of coins sold to $550 million. WLFI, a venture backed by the first family that describes itself as a sort of crypto banking platform, launched in October, weeks before Trump's election victory. In a document published at the time of launch, WLFI said the Trump family could take home 75% of net revenue.”
And let’s not forget another source of cash Donald can use — his gold cards. As described by Forbes: “Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced in late March the sale of 1,000 Gold Cards this week, raising $5 billion in a single day.” Donald told reporters on Air Force One, “For $5 million, this could be yours.” According to Forbes magazine: “Priced at $5 million each, President Trump introduced these Gold Cards in February 2025, as an opportunity for wealthy foreign citizens to work and live in the United States, granting them permanent U.S. residency and effectively replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.” How nice is that!
Some say that Donald and Putin are in it together. But Donald is not in it with Putin. He’s in it for himself. He wants to be the richest man in the world (even richer than Putin) in his first 100 days as president. (That gives him until April 30, 2025.)
Look, who’s the only guy in the world who can make the stock market go up and down “on command” and get away with it? Why, of course, the one guy who can impose sweeping tariffs on practically every country in the world … and then with a simple tweet, sweep them away. Now that’s pure power, wouldn’t you agree?
Question: But could the Donald be charged with “insider trading”? Sure, but no matter … because if and when Donald gets caught, all he has to do (being as he’s the President) is declare himself IMMUNE and guess what? … He gets off Scott-Free … with all that money 💰… “tax-free,” I might add. … Don’t forget American billionaires (in a class of their own) have just been given a special tax break by POTUS because, in the end, they are helping the economy, aren’t they? … I mean one way or another? 😂 They do buy stuff, don’t they?
I repeat … “Why is Trump following Herbert Hoover‘s Playbook?” To commit the “Crime of the Century” and get away with it “In Plain Sight.” Oh yes, don’t forget, Donald can pardon any of his fellow conspirators who participate in his “insider trading” scheme to get rich themselves. Because he’s the president! And if his billionaire co-conspirator buddies don’t cooperate, he may withhold that pardon (without prejudice) as he threatened to do with the disgraced Mayor of NYC — Eric Adams.
Now perhaps you’ll understand, after the stock market crashes of the last two days (April 3 and 4), why Donald is playing golf and telling everyone: “'This Is a Great Time to Get Rich!” What gets me is that no Democrats or Indie Media critics have called Donald out on his outrageous plot! — “The Question is Why?!”
IF ONLY WE HAD “DIRECT DEMOCRACY” AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL & THE TOOLS TO ‘RECALL’ DONALD, then we could toss him out with a few million signatures and have a new election within 60 odd days, which hopefully would set things right.
Here’s a bitter pill to swallow… As much as we all like to hate Trump, Trump is not the problem. He’s a symptom of the problem — a totally dysfunctional system of representative democracy. There’s far too much power that’s been assigned to Trump’s position as POTUS. Trump is merely taking advantage of it … to the nth degree. “Change the system, and you change the man.“
That’s why we need direct democracy at the federal level — to be able to restrain the abuse of that power not only in the executive branch, but also the judicial branch and Congress. The only ones that can stop the chaos and the ongoing destruction of the government are the people. But they have been refused the tools to reign in the “powers that be,” who sit idly by waiting for the next election.
As Sun Tzu said, 'In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.'
We need to demand, not ask for, Direct Democracy NOW!
We had over 1 million people protesting in 50 states in one day that will be happening again very soon, now trump is planning to declare Martial law to stop it.
The number was between 3 and 5 million Judy and he will have to weigh the odds very carefully on 20th March to decide if he wants to declare martial law. That will then be a real test of the military.
Musk has gone on the attack against trump because it is costing him his fortune. He announced publicly that No Country should have to pay tariffs which caused an uproar with Mr. Incompetence. Musk than tried to save his butt by stating that he couldn’t understand how gov officials (dems) only making $200k could become millionsires, suggesting insider trading. All this to cover up the fact that he has gutter the 34 gov agencies that were investigating him, stolen gov contracts that were given to other bidders, now given to him by trump, and gone after the people/companies that actually had the nerve to try & punish trump for crimes he actually committed.
Trump is now getting his AG, pam bondi, not worth caps, to turn his police force into an army to turn on American Citizens like his personal gestapo. Allowing them to .use brutal force for any reason they feel necessary.This is his latest executive order while completely ignoring any and All Court Orders
Just wondering if you have seen anything about the digital remimbi possibly replacing SWIFT in a number of countries, including in the Middle East and in South East Asia.
Strange you should say that Marianne, I was just reading about it yesterday. I don’t feel well enough informed to comment on it right now. It is an interesting development though.
My thoughts too. Tbh, I have been thinking for a while that was inevitable that it would happen eventually, primarily because of China’s increasing role in the global economy - especially WRT many emerging economies, and Trump’s approach to international trade might just be the catalyst. Like you, I don't know enough about it. From my understanding there may be some advantages for those using this system, although I have never had any issues with SWIFT, which for me involves changing from AUD to USD to whatever.
Your thoughtful writing gives me peace - in the face of outrage … 🎼 you give me reason to live 🎸 you give me reason to live 🧯you give me reason to live… I just shared a quote from this piece and my wry reflection. God bless your pea-pickin’ heart and deep thinking, Martin.
You say you are a numbers guy. And yet you populate your commentary with crude ad hominem attacks. I’m reminded that figures can lie, and liars can figure.
America has allowed itself to be taken advantage of by the world. America itself espoused , corporately and politically , outsourcing and socialist support through fantastical money printing inflation at taxpayers expense.
Trump has a history of Jacksonian “America first” policies. I support his position. I do not need to pump
Up my chest and inflate my own importance. I just look at the Democrat led political landscape the past few decades. That all you need to know: it has not worked. America is poor and in debt.
Trump will change this. For the better. My opinion.
Look, the US is the wealthiest country in the world. The reason working class Americans have not been able to benefit from the incredible growth in wealth in recent decades is due to distribution. From the 1980s when Reagan introduced tax cuts for the wealthy, the position of working class and middle class Americans has been going backwards in real terms. This is basic economic history. The data has been available for years.
Your political system virtually guarantees that neither major party really addresses this - although Biden did a better job than any since the 1980s (I am not a fan of Biden at all, but he does deserve credit for the economy - if you don't know that, it's because you have no idea how other countries had fared post covid).
Trump will not make things better. He is economically illiterate. The US is the most powerful country on earth, but he is busy unravelling everything that makes it that way. Bullying has its limitations. He is likely to find that out in the coming months.
Sadly, the American people especially will pay a very high price for his stupidity.
Re: Who will blink first? … ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about this on face value, makes sense to me.” Or … Why is Trump doing what he is doing?
To become the richest man on the planet in 100 days!
As you may have realized, President Donald Trump is following Herbert Hoover’s playbook that worsened the Great Depression in 1930 by imposing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. But the question is why?! I would put my money on Donald‘s ability to manipulate the stock market with all those tariffs.
Step 1 - He crashes the stock market with 150+ tariffs … not to mention the way he did it … with all the “on again, off again” uncertainty exacerbating things.
Step 2 - He buys up all the fallen blue-chip stock at bargain basement prices.
Step 3 (on or before April 30) - He removes all the tariffs and watches gleefully as the stock market rebounds, bragging to everyone: “See what a great man I am — I just alleviated all the pain those pesky tariffs caused. And by the way, where’s all the thanks you should be giving me?”
Step 4 - When the markets peak again, he sells off most of his stock, buys gold, and in the process pockets billions, making him the first trillionaire in history and the richest man on the planet. Of course, that will earn him another front cover on TIME magazine.
The cryptocurrency he’s been peddling right now is going to give him one hell of a lot of cash to buy up all that devalued blue-chip stock. “President Donald Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto project said on Monday that it raised $250 million in its second token sale, bringing the total amount of coins sold to $550 million. WLFI, a venture backed by the first family that describes itself as a sort of crypto banking platform, launched in October, weeks before Trump's election victory. In a document published at the time of launch, WLFI said the Trump family could take home 75% of net revenue.”
And let’s not forget another source of cash Donald can use — his gold cards. As described by Forbes: “Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced in late March the sale of 1,000 Gold Cards this week, raising $5 billion in a single day.” Donald told reporters on Air Force One, “For $5 million, this could be yours.” According to Forbes magazine: “Priced at $5 million each, President Trump introduced these Gold Cards in February 2025, as an opportunity for wealthy foreign citizens to work and live in the United States, granting them permanent U.S. residency and effectively replacing the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program.” How nice is that!
Some say that Donald and Putin are in it together. But Donald is not in it with Putin. He’s in it for himself. He wants to be the richest man in the world (even richer than Putin) in his first 100 days as president. (That gives him until April 30, 2025.)
Look, who’s the only guy in the world who can make the stock market go up and down “on command” and get away with it? Why, of course, the one guy who can impose sweeping tariffs on practically every country in the world … and then with a simple tweet, sweep them away. Now that’s pure power, wouldn’t you agree?
Question: But could the Donald be charged with “insider trading”? Sure, but no matter … because if and when Donald gets caught, all he has to do (being as he’s the President) is declare himself IMMUNE and guess what? … He gets off Scott-Free … with all that money 💰… “tax-free,” I might add. … Don’t forget American billionaires (in a class of their own) have just been given a special tax break by POTUS because, in the end, they are helping the economy, aren’t they? … I mean one way or another? 😂 They do buy stuff, don’t they?
I repeat … “Why is Trump following Herbert Hoover‘s Playbook?” To commit the “Crime of the Century” and get away with it “In Plain Sight.” Oh yes, don’t forget, Donald can pardon any of his fellow conspirators who participate in his “insider trading” scheme to get rich themselves. Because he’s the president! And if his billionaire co-conspirator buddies don’t cooperate, he may withhold that pardon (without prejudice) as he threatened to do with the disgraced Mayor of NYC — Eric Adams.
Now perhaps you’ll understand, after the stock market crashes of the last two days (April 3 and 4), why Donald is playing golf and telling everyone: “'This Is a Great Time to Get Rich!” What gets me is that no Democrats or Indie Media critics have called Donald out on his outrageous plot! — “The Question is Why?!”
IF ONLY WE HAD “DIRECT DEMOCRACY” AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL & THE TOOLS TO ‘RECALL’ DONALD, then we could toss him out with a few million signatures and have a new election within 60 odd days, which hopefully would set things right.
There is some synergy in our thinking and thanks for taking the time to map out your thoughts, I appreciate it. I’m sure we’ll have an answer shortly.
Here’s a bitter pill to swallow… As much as we all like to hate Trump, Trump is not the problem. He’s a symptom of the problem — a totally dysfunctional system of representative democracy. There’s far too much power that’s been assigned to Trump’s position as POTUS. Trump is merely taking advantage of it … to the nth degree. “Change the system, and you change the man.“
That’s why we need direct democracy at the federal level — to be able to restrain the abuse of that power not only in the executive branch, but also the judicial branch and Congress. The only ones that can stop the chaos and the ongoing destruction of the government are the people. But they have been refused the tools to reign in the “powers that be,” who sit idly by waiting for the next election.
As Sun Tzu said, 'In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.'
We need to demand, not ask for, Direct Democracy NOW!
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7ve4qnlw9o
👏👏👏👏👏 🇰🇷
Yes, and China has lifted nearly 800 million people out of poverty over the last 40 years. That accounts for a 75% reduction in global poverty.
You are not wrong Lynn. The problem here is China is the word we should not utter for fear of being described a ‘traitor’.
I’m rather hoping China is not the first to blink.
I personally don’t think they will.
We had over 1 million people protesting in 50 states in one day that will be happening again very soon, now trump is planning to declare Martial law to stop it.
The number was between 3 and 5 million Judy and he will have to weigh the odds very carefully on 20th March to decide if he wants to declare martial law. That will then be a real test of the military.
Musk has gone on the attack against trump because it is costing him his fortune. He announced publicly that No Country should have to pay tariffs which caused an uproar with Mr. Incompetence. Musk than tried to save his butt by stating that he couldn’t understand how gov officials (dems) only making $200k could become millionsires, suggesting insider trading. All this to cover up the fact that he has gutter the 34 gov agencies that were investigating him, stolen gov contracts that were given to other bidders, now given to him by trump, and gone after the people/companies that actually had the nerve to try & punish trump for crimes he actually committed.
Musk is a man weighing up his options right now. Trump is costing him big time. But he has plenty of money to burn.
Trump is now getting his AG, pam bondi, not worth caps, to turn his police force into an army to turn on American Citizens like his personal gestapo. Allowing them to .use brutal force for any reason they feel necessary.This is his latest executive order while completely ignoring any and All Court Orders
Trump will dump him soon he got trump elected with fixing the votes but now he doesn't need him anymore and the people hate him
Just wondering if you have seen anything about the digital remimbi possibly replacing SWIFT in a number of countries, including in the Middle East and in South East Asia.
Strange you should say that Marianne, I was just reading about it yesterday. I don’t feel well enough informed to comment on it right now. It is an interesting development though.
My thoughts too. Tbh, I have been thinking for a while that was inevitable that it would happen eventually, primarily because of China’s increasing role in the global economy - especially WRT many emerging economies, and Trump’s approach to international trade might just be the catalyst. Like you, I don't know enough about it. From my understanding there may be some advantages for those using this system, although I have never had any issues with SWIFT, which for me involves changing from AUD to USD to whatever.
Rubbish position.
I believe that your absolutely correct
Your thoughtful writing gives me peace - in the face of outrage … 🎼 you give me reason to live 🎸 you give me reason to live 🧯you give me reason to live… I just shared a quote from this piece and my wry reflection. God bless your pea-pickin’ heart and deep thinking, Martin.
https://open.substack.com/pub/taibbi/p/timeline-a-recent-history-of-tariffs?r=kgcei&utm_medium=ios
You say you are a numbers guy. And yet you populate your commentary with crude ad hominem attacks. I’m reminded that figures can lie, and liars can figure.
America has allowed itself to be taken advantage of by the world. America itself espoused , corporately and politically , outsourcing and socialist support through fantastical money printing inflation at taxpayers expense.
Trump has a history of Jacksonian “America first” policies. I support his position. I do not need to pump
Up my chest and inflate my own importance. I just look at the Democrat led political landscape the past few decades. That all you need to know: it has not worked. America is poor and in debt.
Trump will change this. For the better. My opinion.
Look, the US is the wealthiest country in the world. The reason working class Americans have not been able to benefit from the incredible growth in wealth in recent decades is due to distribution. From the 1980s when Reagan introduced tax cuts for the wealthy, the position of working class and middle class Americans has been going backwards in real terms. This is basic economic history. The data has been available for years.
Your political system virtually guarantees that neither major party really addresses this - although Biden did a better job than any since the 1980s (I am not a fan of Biden at all, but he does deserve credit for the economy - if you don't know that, it's because you have no idea how other countries had fared post covid).
Trump will not make things better. He is economically illiterate. The US is the most powerful country on earth, but he is busy unravelling everything that makes it that way. Bullying has its limitations. He is likely to find that out in the coming months.
Sadly, the American people especially will pay a very high price for his stupidity.