If there is one thing we have seen in the past ten years Trump has polluted our politics, it is one case of first impression after the next. He truly is blazing new ground — all the way to Hell. Today’s case of first impression is: Never before have we seen a $2 Trillion wipe out on the stock market (not to mention shaky markets in Japan, France, and Germany) followed by a president who takes off early that week to go play in a golf tournament. But that is the set up. And if you ask Trump about the markets, he just goes on social media and posts, “Hang tough. We can’t lose.” Oh yes we can. And we will. Here’s what’s going on in the real world.
That is absolute bullshit pic.twitter.com/tfmkFsl7zw
— RiotWomenn (@riotwomennn) April 4, 2025
And here is what the White House says. It’s official, this is the most important thing happening in this country. If you’re worried about the fact that your stock portfolio is worth less today than this time last week, hey, that’s on you. This is what’s important in Trump world.
The White House just issued this statement:
“The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow.”
How’s this real life? pic.twitter.com/xZfS7RPsNl
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 5, 2025
I guess Trump doesn’t bother to slather himself with the heavy orange makeup on the weekends because he’s worried about it melting in the sun. And I’m sure you heard the rumor that he refused to wear a face mask back in the early days of COVID because he didn’t want to smear his makeup. Nobody sane would bother to mention this golf game in light of the leaky economic boat we’re in but then who said Trump was sane? And you’ll enjoy this stroll down memory lane.
CNN put together a collection of clips of Trump complaining about Democratic presidents playing golf pic.twitter.com/kCMK2Zyxwu
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 5, 2025
The tariffs are real to everybody except the guy who created them.
But they were more far-reaching than some analysts had expected, triggering the worst week for the stock market since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to global shutdowns and other disruption.
The sell-off started with firms such as Apple and Nike, which rely heavily on suppliers in Asia. But on Friday, it moved into sectors that would typically not face the direct impact of tariffs, such as consumer staples, healthcare and utilities.
“Candidly the mood is pretty sour and it should be,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments in the US, warning that it will take weeks to understand the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
“What we’re really worried about right now is what we saw at 6am-ish [when China retaliated],” he said, “How much more of that is out there?”
In a note to investors, JP Morgan said it now put the odds of a global economic recession this year at 60%, up from 40% previously, noting that the shock from the tariffs could drive growth in the US down by two percentage points this year.
60% chance of recession is a sobering thought for most people. But not Donald. He’s down in Florida raking in the cash, selling everything from golf club covers to $130 steaks. Meanwhile, elected Republicans are starting to sweat, bigly.
Republican senators like Rand Paul (Kentucky) and even the normally Trump-loyal Ted Cruz (Texas) are warning about an electoral catastrophe. “If we go into a recession — particularly a bad recession — 2026 in all likelihood politically would be a bloodbath,” Cruz said Friday on his podcast. History suggests they have a point; most of the GOP’s worst elections since the Civil War came after the party instituted large tariffs.
And one new quote should send shivers down their spines. It comes from an authoritative new Washington Post report about how Trump arrived at his surprisingly large and often-puzzling tariffs.
“He’s at the peak of just not giving a f— anymore,” a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking told The Post. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f—. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”
This is an anonymous quote. And the White House certainly has reason to project resoluteness. Trump himself posted Friday, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” and, “ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!”
But we’re also in a very different Trump presidency than the first version. Gone are many of the non-loyalists who might seek to check his impulses, as former Trump commerce secretary Wilbur Ross suggestively noted to The Post’s reporters. (“The people now have been confirmed as true Trumpers,” Ross said.) Trump isn’t eligible to run for another term, so his personal political considerations are lessened. He is also pursuing far bolder and more authoritarian policies, many of which are quite unpopular (as are his tariffs). And he seems to have little regard for how any of it will play politically for the Republicans who will soon be on the ballot.
Trump is getting what he wants out of this presidency, which is a lot of cash flowing into his pockets and his Get Out Of Jail card. That’s all he cares about. The tariffs are a fantasy. They’re no more real to him than a video game. Except it’s a game that he may lose in the abstract but the rest of us are going to lose in the real world, to the detriment of our material comfort.
This is going to get a lot uglier before it reaches any kind of a resolution. Right now the fantasy is that fourth quarter of this year will be great — according to Howard Lutnick. How he can predict that when we just began the second quarter and the markets are tumbling is beyond anybody’s ability to guess. Apparently, there’s some kind of mass hypnosis in Trump’s billionaire’s boys club: just make up a fantasy, keep repeating it, and let’s see if it works.
It won’t work and it’s all going to collapse way before Q4. Let’s watch it one day at a time. I can’t wait for mid-morning on the New York Stock Exchange. Bookies are now laying odds whether trading will have to be halted to prevent a crash.
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What pisses me off most is the R’s whose main concern over tariffs is how it will affect their reelections and NOT what the tariffs are going to do the global economy, their constituents and the rest of us. You don’t hear one of them showing concern for those of us who will be eating canned cat food, unable to drive our cars, shivering or sweltering in our homes and doing without basics in a couple more months. They’ve never cared about us and now it’s blatant.
Unfortunately, you have it right. The congress critters in both chambers have plenty of money. They’re not worried about the yous and mes. If we go without, oh well. But THEY don’t want to go without their cushy jobs. Ted Cruz wants to do his podcasts and pretend to govern. He doesn’t want to work.
I commented earlier on Susan Fenyx’s Trump golfing article and mentioned my anger at how much golfing he does and how much it costs taxpayers to send him to his own golf courses. Over $26M so far this year when he can do plenty of grifting, grafting, and corrupting at nearby Andrews AFB and its excellent courses. But, one thing Trump can do ONLY at his own courses is win!!
When the WH issues a statement about Trump doing well at golfing, it is as big a lie as everything else coming from the White House!
Tom D’Angelo, the staff sportswriter at the Palm Beach Post reminded us of this 2 days ago.
“Because claiming to have won his own tournaments is nothing new for Trump.
Two years ago, he declared he won a Club Championship at Trump International West Palm Beach even though he didn’t play the first round. Later that year, Trump posted he won the Senior Club Championship at his club in Bedminster, N.J.
A year ago, he boasted of adding two more championships to his long list, saying he won the Club Championship and the Senior Club Championship at his course near West Palm Beach.
That night, the 2024 Trump International Golf Club Most Improved Player was announced at the banquet.
The winner was … Donald Trump.”
⛳️ Always a weird coincidence when the boss wins every time, ain’t it?! What an athlete! 🤢🤮💩
Trump’s won dozens of golf tournaments. What I wouldn’t give is for some camera crew to follow him stroke by stroke like they do at pro tournaments and record each stroke. That I would love to see.
Ir got mostly overlooked although a few brave journalists/outlets mentioned it. The other night, instead of heading over to Dover AFB to take part in the traditional ceremony of receiving the bodies of fallen troops (in this case four Amercian soldiers killed on a training exercise in Lithuania which DID honor them during their departure) Trump had different plans. He flew down to FL to take part in a dinner for the upcoming LIV golf tournament taking place at his Doral Course this week! LIV and all that Saudi money and influence has wrecked golf. But hosting some of their events at his courses is a way for Trump to take in huge amounts of Saudi money and they are almost desperate to improve their image. I could write reams about that stuff (having grown up with an interest in golf even though I wasn’t welcome to play at our local country club) but the point is that rather than act like a President and Commander In Chief Trump CHOSE to go hang out with a bunch of too rich asshole golfers, and their Saudi paymasters that would cut up any of them (starting while they’re still alive) with a bone saw if that person became a threat to the current ruler of The Kingdom!
You are judged by the company you keep.
I’ve seen my share of corpses (long ago before my Marine days I worked in a small town funeral home) who looked better than this lying there on the embalming table. Of course makeup could make them look much better for a viewing. Given how ghastly Trump looks in this and so many other pictures sans makeup on the golf course (and he rides a fucking cart instead of walking!) I can understand why he’d wear makeup most of the time since he’s always looking to have his photo taken or be on camera. But HE PAINTS HIS FACE ORANGE instead of normal colored makeup. Why? What THAT particular color? Oh well. Nothing about the guy or his actions is normal.
What blows me away is all the racists, including himself, who detest persons of color but insist on either tanning or makeup to look like them.
In Trump’s mind he’s some California surfer stud, all tan and blond. That’s my take on it.
I see the heavy make up as a mask projecting his idea of health and virility while the real (scared) T hides behind