The Witness Chronicles, 5/30/25

Tariffs on, tariffs off, rinse and repeat

The TACO Prez (Trump Always Chickens Out): Are the Tariffs Over?

A three judge court unanimously says so (and one was appointed by Trump)

TACO is the current Wall Street joke about Trump’s constant cycle of threatening economic destruction, waiting for deals that don’t come, then reversing course as markets and polls slide backwards.

This tariff roller coaster is doing incredible damage to the economy and America’s international reputation, but it may be over, at least for now. An appellate court consisting of three judges, one from Reagan, one from Obama, and one appointed by Trump, unanimously struck down the majority of the reciprocal tariffs in a defeat for the dumbest financial scam ever perpetrated by our government.

Trump is appealing, of course. Politico points out that this decision might offer the President a way out of his disastrous declarations but no, he cannot admit he has been wrong (about almost everything).

Of course, shortly after the ruling against the tariffs, an appellate court stayed the decision until it makes its way through the courts till it reaches the Supreme Court, which is fast tracking the case. It’s important to note that, by law, only Congress can impose tariffs. So this case will tell us how far the court will go in defying the Constitution they swore to uphold. Watch and wait.

Btw, Elon Musk is officially out of government, though his minions are still wreaking havoc with their DOGE ransacking of our government data. They are not there to cut waste and corruption, they are there to steal data for Musk’s AI to feed on. Was that the plan or did they just realize they had the keys to the kingdom? I doubt we’ll ever know.

I don’t envy future historians as they try to make sense of these first four months of Trump’s administration. I’ve been writing about parts of it daily and I am completely confused as the news changes hourly. And I’m trying to pay attention.

And I’m growing more and more disgusted with the whole DC circus, the ass kissing, the laziness of Congress, the media whitewashing the worst parts, and the inhumanity of the people in the White House, inhumanity that looks like psychopathic behavior as they appear to enjoy hurting the people who voted for them. And millions more around the world.

Marco Rubio this week claimed no lives had been lost as the result of the sudden cutting off of USAID funding around the world. This statement is so cynical that it’s almost incomprehensible. You don’t suddenly cut off access to food, medicine, healthcare, and other essentials to millions without unpredictable effects, including death.

Rubio seems to have sold whatever soul he had for a few years in the limelight at the White House, if he lasts that long. But that seems to be a common story there as we learn more about the essentially heartless tough guy thing they seem to worship.

I’m not in a good mood today, if you can’t tell. Normally I would applaud the judges’ tariff ban as good news but it’s not, because Trump will find some other way to keep the world off balance while he and his sons grab as much money as they can. Their blatant corruption is another story that is so widespread that it is difficult to keep track of.

Here is an example of how the Trumps are working behind the scenes of their tariff chaos. They announce huge tariffs on Vietnam, for example, and then make a deal to build an enormous resort hotel outside of Hanoi with three golf courses. The quid pro quo is lowering the tariffs, of course. That billion dollar deal will not make any major news outlets because there are a hundred other stories of impending chaos appearing hourly.

And that seems to be the plan, though I doubt it was intentional. Create chaos, then find a way to profit from it without scrutiny. Then wash and repeat. Musk has been doing it right along with the Trump boys, though Musk’s extreme ego has resulted in him losing billions in net worth as his Tesla sales crater and his SpaceX rockets crash and burn, along with his popularity.

That may be the only uplifting story right now, if you can call it that. Honestly, I admire the accomplishments of SpaceX but they are the results of thousands of smart people working hard to innovate, not the efforts of Musk. But at least they have contributed some positive things to the world.

You cannot say that about Donald Trump, not once. And that may be the thing that is most telling about the man. Nothing he has ever done has helped anyone else, not just as President, but across the span of his life. It appears he simply cannot take any action that might result in positive change for anyone beyond himself, which is, to put it bluntly, an amazing thing to take in. And a sad thing to say about anyone.

There’s a reality here and that’s the shame that should be aimed at the lazy voters who listened to this guy tell them destruction and chaos was ahead and then elected him. There are no excuses and please don’t tell me Joe Biden was an awful terrible man. He left Trump with the economy booming, inflation on the way down, and infrastructure growth projects around the country.

Yes, he was in decline physically and mentally. It happens when you get older, but that does not lessen his accomplishments. There are those, mostly Democrats, who have to play the blame game regarding his stubbornly clinging to the Presidency. Not my thing. And we now know that he was encouraged by his inner circle. If blame is your thing, target them.

My new theme is the need for older politicians to step down and make room for newer, younger blood. Don’t accuse me of ageism, I’m seventy so I have no illusions about where the problem lies. It’s old white guys like me who live in the past (I don’t) who are letting all this stuff happen.

That’s my goal, to kick them out and let the next generations have a shot. And that goes for both parties.

Information is power and sharing it is resistance.

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Martin