The Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners to limit their dealings with China, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.

The idea is to extract commitments from U.S. trading partners to isolate China’s economy in exchange for reductions in trade and tariff barriers imposed by the White House. U.S. officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China from shipping goods through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from locating in their territories to avoid U.S. tariffs, and not absorb China’s cheap industrial goods into their economies. 

These measures are meant to put a dent in China’s already rickety economy and force Beijing to the negotiating table with less leverage ahead of potential talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The exact demands could vary widely by nation, given their degree of involvement with the Chinese economy.

China’s strategy of growing its economic power and influence depends on a river of money with its headwaters in the United States. And its ability to make deals in countries not hostile to the United States is only possible because the US tolerates its moves and is committed to using only modest soft power to oppose the moves. 

Donald Trump is not in a mood to tolerate expanding Chinese influence. Look at the Panama Canal port deals. Trump’s goal is not so much to own the canal as to deny China influence in the region. China, not Panama, is the target. 

In fact, most of Trump’s seemingly bizarre foreign policy moves–Canada as the 51st state and annexing Greenland are about trying to change the political geography to keep China from gaining influence in the Arctic. 

The flow of information out of China on economic performance since the tariffs hit is sparse, but I have been checking in on the social media chatter coming out of China, and the news is bleak. Consumer spending is down, export products are being sold at firesale prices, and business owners are locking doors and leaving employees unpaid. This is all chatter right now, but also likely true. 

Trade wars suck for everybody involved, and when the cost of Chinese-made products go up there will be some pain here in the United States, whatever Trump and his people say. 

But none of this pain will be an existential threat to Trump, the country, or the Republican Party. There will be a price to pay, but it will be modest in the longer term. 

Not so for China. Their regime is under threat because their hand is much, much weaker. Weaker than Trump’s and weaker than people think. 

Of course, if China were a normal country, what Trump is doing would be a horrible policy. Generally speaking, destroying a trading partner’s economy is both morally questionable and terrible for business. Normally you would cut a deal. 

But China and the United States are heading for a war, and a big one at that. Xi Jinping has made that abundantly clear, and he has counted on making the US economy dependent on China to keep us cowed. 

Trump is turning that logic on its head. 

Gavin Bade and Brian Schwartz

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,— One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country-folk to be up and to arm.”

Then he said “Good night!” and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war: A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon, like a prison-bar, And a huge black hulk, that was magnified By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street Wanders and watches with eager ears, Till in the silence around him he hears The muster of men at the barrack door, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, And the measured tread of the grenadiers Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed to the tower of the church, Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, To the belfry-chamber overhead, And startled the pigeons from their perch On the sombre rafters, that round him made Masses and moving shapes of shade,— By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, To the highest window in the wall, Where he paused to listen and look down A moment on the roofs of the town, And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, In their night-encampment on the hill, Wrapped in silence so deep and still That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread, The watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, “All is well!” A moment only he feels the spell Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread Of the lonely belfry and the dead; For suddenly all his thoughts are bent On a shadowy something far away, Where the river widens to meet the bay,— A line of black, that bends and floats On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride, On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. Now he patted his horse’s side, Now gazed on the landscape far and near, Then impetuous stamped the earth, And turned and tightened his saddle-girth; But mostly he watched with eager search The belfry-tower of the old North Church, As it rose above the graves on the hill, Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height, A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight A second lamp in the belfry burns!

A hurry of hoofs in a village-street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet: That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep, And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; And under the alders, that skirt its edge, Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. He heard the crowing of the cock, And the barking of the farmer’s dog, And felt the damp of the river-fog, That rises when the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock, When he galloped into Lexington. He saw the gilded weathercock Swim in the moonlight as he passed, And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare, As if they already stood aghast At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock, When he came to the bridge in Concord town. He heard the bleating of the flock, And the twitter of birds among the trees, And felt the breath of the morning breeze Blowing over the meadows brown. And one was safe and asleep in his bed Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read, How the British Regulars fired and fled,— How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farmyard-wall, Chasing the red-coats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm,— A cry of defiance, and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forevermore! For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history, to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

This poem is in the public domain.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Starting in 2016, how many of us heard the phrase “bash the fash” or “punch a Nazi” somewhere? I know I heard it or saw it all over the place. Those who espoused such things argued that this kind of thing was acceptable because the threat was so dire. They had every right to resort to violence in the face of what they argued was violence.

Of course, no one actually did anything to hurt them, but it didn’t matter because they’d already rationalized it in their minds.

Most of those who said it were big on talk, short on action. That’s probably for the best, really, because most of those couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

But now, with Trump’s return to the White House, I expected to hear a repeat of those mantras.

I really haven’t, all things considered.

Instead, the violence is real, not rhetoric.

And while the firebombings and attempted assassination make the bigger news, even more pedestrian assaults happen, and we’ve got a glimpse inside the mind of one of those attackers.

WSU student Jay Sani said he was attacked by instructor Patrick Mahoney and Gerald Hoff after Mahoney forcibly took his red Trump hat which read “Trump 2024 Take America Back.” The altercation reportedly occurred outside The Coug, a well-known campus bar, and was captured on surveillance cameras.

According to Sani, Mahoney ripped the hat off his head and taunted him by saying “Go get it, b***h,” before repeatedly punching him in the back. Hoff then kicked Sani several times, while Mahoney grabbed him by the chest and slammed him to the ground. Sani said he was left with multiple bruises.

Pullman police located and interviewed Mahoney and Hoff within hours. Both men admitted to the attack.

Mahoney told police that he had seen Sani on campus before and knew he was a “right-wing dude.” He admitted that he grabbed his hat, threw it, and said “Go get it.”

Hoff admitted, “We did grab him and threw him to the ground.”

Despite their admissions, Mahoney claimed he did not hit Sani and said he didn’t believe he had done anything illegal. Police, however, emphasized that the incident involved unwanted physical contact. Mahoney also blamed Sani, telling officers he “got what’s coming to him.”

Sani only came forward now because it looks like Mahoney might be reinstated, even after assaulting a student.

What’s interesting to me, though not surprising, is the argument that Sani “got what’s coming to him” simply because he wore a Trump hat.

Note that nothing we see here that these two said to the police really contradicts anything of relevance. They say they didn’t punch Sani, which isn’t surprising since it’s clear they figure that’s what assault is, but they admit to throwing him on the ground. They admit to taking his hat and throwing it, telling him to go and get it like he’s a dog.

They admitted to everything needed to justify charges, and they did it because they felt completely justified. They even told the police Sani “got what’s coming to him” simply because he was a Trump supporter.

In the mind of the leftist, everything they want to do is righteous, and anyone who opposes it is evil. They believe anything necessary to achieve their goal is good and just, including blatant assault over simply supporting the “wrong” guy for president.

Sani didn’t do anything. There’s no evidence he said anything. Even if it did talk smack, that’s grounds for talking smack in return, not snatching his property and assaulting him.

Now, let’s think about things like the vandalism of Teslas, the attacks against Tesla dealerships, the Trump assassination attempts and plots, the attack on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion, and whatever other insanity is yet to come.

These people all believe what they’re doing is righteous, that they’re the ones in the right, and everyone who opposes them is aligned with the forces of evil. The guy who attacked the governor’s mansion, for example, claimed that he was justified because of what Gov. Josh Shapiro—a Democrat, it should be noted—wanted to do to the Palestinian people.

They have decided that elections only have consequences when they win, and they will be the consequences when they lose. They’re ready to destroy each and every one of us if given half the chance.

Hell, look at Taylor Lorenz fangirling over Luigi Mangione. Yes, I get that there are a lot of people who have absolutely no sympathy for Magione’s alleged victim, but she crossed an insane line, not by just shrugging off a bad person dying, but by celebrating his murderer as if he’s the messiah or something.

As I noted over at Townhall, people like Taylor Lorenz are why I carry a gun. People like Mahoney and Hoff are, too.

Sooner or later, one of these leftist nutjobs is going to go beyond a simple assault and try something else.

They deserve the Kyle Rittenhouse Special, and they deserve it good and hard.

Tom Knighton, Tilting at Windmills

After Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned about the growth outlook during his address and held off on lowering interest rates, President Donald Trump responded saying Powell’s interest rate reductions will be “too late” and his “termination cannot come fast enough.”

“The ECB [European Central Bank] is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!'” Trump wrote Thursday morning on Truth Social. “Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now.

“Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

That remains more than a year from now, as Powell’s second four-year term as chair of the Federal Reserve ends in May 2026.

Trump’s remarks on Powell being “too late” come after he said Wednesday the Federal Reserve can stay patient and wait to see how tariffs and other economic policies of the Trump administration play out before making any changes to interest rates.

“As that great Chicagoan Ferris Bueller once noted, ‘Life moves pretty fast,'” Powell said in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago. “For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity” on the impact of policy changes in areas such as immigration, taxation, regulation, and tariffs, Powell said.

The sharp volatility in financial markets since Trump announced sweeping tariffs April 2, only to put most of them on hold a week later, has led to speculation about whether the Fed would soon cut its key interest rate or take other steps to calm investors. Yet the Fed is unlikely to intervene unless there is a breakdown in the market for Treasury securities or other malfunctions, economists say.

Stocks fell further after Powell’s remarks. The broad S&P 500 index dropped more than 2% in afternoon trading.

In his prepared remarks, Powell reiterated the Trump administration’s tariffs are “significantly larger than anticipated.”

“The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” he said.

Powell also said that the Fed could face threats to both of the mandates it has been given by Congress: To achieve maximum employment and maintain stable prices. Should both inflation and unemployment rise, that would be a “challenging scenario,” he said, because the Fed would essentially have to choose whether to keep interest rates high to fight inflation, or cut them to spur growth and hiring.

“Our tool only does one of those two things at the same time,” he said in a question-and-answer session.

Powell and many Fed officials have signaled previously that they are more concerned about tariffs pushing inflation higher than their potential hit to growth. That would mean that even if the economy weakened, the Fed might keep rates elevated to combat inflation.

Powell said the inflation from tariffs will likely be temporary, but “could also be more persistent,” echoing a concern expressed by a majority of the Fed’s 19-member interest rate-setting committee in the minutes of their meeting last month.

Yet some splits among the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee have emerged. Fed governor Christopher Waller said Monday he expects the impact of even a large increase in tariffs to be temporary, even if they are left in place for several years. At the same time, he also expects such large duties would weigh on the economy and even threaten a recession.

Should the economy slow sharply, even if inflation remained elevated, Waller said he would support cutting interest rates “sooner, and to a greater extent than I had previously thought.”

But other Fed officials, including Neel Kashkari, president of the Fed’s Minneapolis branch, have said they are more focused on fighting the effects of higher tariffs on inflation, suggesting they are less likely to support rate cuts anytime soon.

For now, most recent reports suggest the economy is in solid shape. Hiring has been solid and inflation cooled in March. Yet measures of consumer and business confidence have plunged, raising concerns among economists that spending and business investment could weaken.

Newsmax

America’s red and blue states aren’t just colors—they’re the battleground for our future, and every election proves it. We’re working to flip blue states red, hold our ground, and beat Democrats before they take more. We can’t sit idle until six months before the 2026 midterms to begin—start today, no excuses. Foreign-born Americans can swing close elections if we target their values with precision. Some blue states are ready to switch, others are locked tight, but we never quit. We’ve got a game plan—public relations, voter registration, ballot box tactics, vote counting, voter ID—plus a Republican Congress to (at least in theory) cement wins before Democrats try to tear them down. Red states need guarding—here’s how we pull it off.

First, the lineup. Reddest states—Wyoming, Florida, Oklahoma—gave Trump 40-point margins or better in 2024, per election data (UC Santa Barbara). Wyoming’s voter rolls are 70% GOP; Florida’s 30 electoral votes went red by 13 points, a lock since 2016. Oklahoma hasn’t flinched blue in decades. Bluest states—California, Vermont, Massachusetts—handed Democrats 20-point wins or more. California’s a Democrat fortress, with Los Angeles and San Francisco running things. Vermont’s all-in on progressive policies, and Massachusetts hasn’t gone red since Reagan in 1984. These are the anchors—knowing them shows where we can move the needle and where we’re stuck.

Some blue states are ours for the taking. Wisconsin’s a tight race: Biden won by 0.6% in 2020, Trump by 1% in 2024—a 20,000-vote margin either way. Nevada’s winnable; it flipped blue by 2% in 2020, but 2024’s Senate race went GOP, and Vegas workers hate taxes. Virginia’s on the edge—Youngkin took the governor’s mansion in 2021, and 2024’s vote was a 3% Democrat squeaker. Wisconsin’s farmers are done with federal rules; Nevada’s got small-business owners mad about costs. Virginia’s suburbs want schools focused on basics, not politics. These states aren’t blue forever—there’s a crack, and we can pry it open with work.

Then you’ve got blue states that won’t budge—California, New York, Massachusetts. They’re lost causes for flipping red. California’s been Democrat since 1988, with a 29-point Biden win in 2020. New York’s got New York City, millions of blue voters drowning out rural areas. Massachusetts is wired for liberals—Boston calls the shots, and they eat big government for lunch. Democrat machines, urban strongholds, and cultures married to progressive ideas keep them locked. But we don’t walk away. These states still matter—red senators, representatives, and local officials can break through. California’s Orange County sent GOP House members in 2024. New York’s Long Island flipped congressional seats red. Massachusetts has picked Republican governors. Every race—city councils, sheriffs, school boards—chips at their grip, so we fight for every vote, every office.

This is how we flip blue states red, starting now—hammer jobs, taxes, crime. Run TV ads in Wisconsin’s small towns, post X clips of Democrat failures, pack Nevada bars with GOP speakers. Virginia’s moderates want cheaper groceries—hit that note. Voter registration: sign up conservatives fast. Rural Wisconsin’s got 60% of the state’s voters; Nevada’s got ranchers outside Vegas. Set up at fairs, gun shops, church suppers. Ballot box: get GOP voters to vote early—Georgia’s 2024 early turnout was 70% red after tightening rules. Secure drop boxes; they worked in North Carolina. Vote counting: demand poll watchers, push audits like Texas. Voter ID: it’s a no-brainer—70% of Americans back it, and Georgia’s law cut fraud claims. Make it universal.

We know voter fraud’s real—2024 audits in swing states like Georgia flagged thousands of mismatched signatures, and X posts exposed mail-in ballot dumps in Nevada drop boxes. But we’re not just whining about it; we’re built to win anyway. Our strategies—PR, registration, early voting, audits, voter ID—outmaneuver the cheats, turning blue states red by sheer numbers and smarter plays, no excuses. 

Red states aren’t untouchable. Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and now Pennsylvania are at risk. Georgia went blue in 2020 by 0.2%; Arizona followed. North Carolina’s cities—Raleigh, Charlotte—are growing bluer. Pennsylvania flipped red in 2024 by 2%, but Philly’s machine and suburban drift keep it shaky. Urban sprawl and new voters threaten them all. Georgia’s got 3 million rural voters—get them to the polls. Arizona’s retirees hate tax hikes—reach them. North Carolina’s military bases lean right—sign them up. Pennsylvania’s steel towns turned out for Trump; keep them fired up. If we slack, these states slide, and we’re not losing what we’ve won.

Now, let’s talk about a hidden weapon—rural foreign-born voters nobody’s chasing. Vietnamese in Texas, 200,000 strong, went red in 2024, hating communist echoes in Democrat policies. Wisconsin’s got 20,000 Hmong—pro-gun, pro-family, ignored by blue campaigns. Georgia’s Korean communities, 60,000 voters, lean GOP when you talk taxes. These aren’t urban crowds; they’re guys running farms, shops, and packing pews in small towns. Democrats assume they’re all blue, but they’re not—reach them with ads on AM radio, fliers at markets, talks at VFW halls. In 2024, a large portion of Wisconsin’s foreign-born rural vote broke red, estimated to be 50,000 votes. Flip 20 counties like that in Virginia, and it’s ours. Get organizers to their doors—now, not next year.

Foreign-born Americans can swing close elections, and they’re not all Democrats. Cuban-Americans and Venezuelans lean red, burned by socialism back home. 2020 exit polls showed 52% of Florida Hispanics for Trump; Venezuelans hit red in 2024. Mexicans, Haitians —overwhelmingly voted for Biden in 2020. Talk jobs, small business, less government to red-leaning groups. Wisconsin’s Hmong are pro-family, pro-gun; Nevada’s Filipinos like low taxes. Virginia’s 13% foreign-born include 20,000 Colombians who hate leftist policies. Don’t ignore them—talk their language, and they’ll vote red.

Six months out is too late—ads take months to hit, voters need to sign up today. Registration drives take months; voter ID laws hit court walls—start those fights today. Wisconsin’s 2024 race was won by groundwork laid in 2022. Democrats are already moving; we’d be fools to lag behind.

Grassroots is the engine—Scott Presler’s Pennsylvania work is proof. He hit gun shows, fairs, churches, shrinking the Democrat advantage by 300,000 voters since 2020. Bucks County flipped red in 2024 because of it. We need more like him in blue states teetering red—Wisconsin, Nevada, Virginia—pounding pavement, signing voters, turning close races our way. Scale that up—Virginia’s got hundreds of gun shows a year; man them. Nevada’s rodeos draw crowds; register them. Georgia’s churches pack Sundays—get clipboards ready. Hit low-turnout spots—rural Arizona, North Carolina’s farms. It’s not flashy; it’s work—knocking doors, signing names, building lists.

A Republican Congress has to move fast. Pass the SAVE Act—voter ID for every federal election—but it’s jammed in the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster. Pressure swing-state Democrats like Tester or Brown; their voters hate fraud. Push a filibuster carve-out for election bills—51 votes gets it done. Try slipping it into budget reconciliation or go nuclear and kill the filibuster, though that’s risky. Flood social media sites and rallies with grassroots heat to make senators budge. Fund 10,000 poll watchers; Georgia’s 2024 audits caught issues. Protect state laws—North Carolina’s voting rules are tight; don’t let blue lawsuits kill them. If Democrats take Congress in 2026, they’ll ditch voter ID, push same-day registration, and gut audits. Lock it down now—pass laws needing 60 votes to change election rules, keep states in charge. It’s not just holding the line; it’s making sure we keep winning.

The path’s clear: flip Wisconsin, Nevada, Virginia—they’re in reach. California, New York, Massachusetts won’t flip, but grab their red senators, reps, mayors—every seat’s a fight. Hold Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania—don’t let them go. Run PR, registration, ballots, counting, ID, Congress full throttle—start today. Foreign-born voters like Cubans can tip races—reach them. We’re not hoping for red gains; we’re making them before the 2026 midterms hit.

M. Ray Evans, a U.S. Navy veteran who served his time, lives in Jacksonville, Florida, with his wife, Grace. Recently retired after decades as a senior executive in international real estate development, working across more than ten countries, mostly in East Asia, where he built a solid track record over the years. A conservative and patriot by conviction.

CBS host Gayle King responded to the backlash over the Blue Origin space flight on Tuesday and suggested the all-female crew was being held to a different standard than men who’ve been to space.

The journalist and talk show host was part of a historic flight on Monday that also carried Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sánchez; pop star Katy Perry; film producer Kerianne Flynn; NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe; and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen.

The rocket landed safely after roughly a 10-minute flight. The high-profile trip drew some criticism from those who questioned if the brief flight was a worthwhile use of resources.

King responded to the backlash in comments to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, where she compared the Blue Origin flight to the historic space flight taken by American astronaut Alan Shepard in 1961.

“Have you been?” King scolded critics.

“Please don’t call it a ‘ride,’” she added, claiming people don’t use this term when talking about men going into space.

“We duplicated the same trajectory that Alan Shepard did back in the day, pretty much. No one called that a ‘ride,’” King said. “It was called a flight, it was called a journey.”

“There was nothing frivolous about what we did,” she added. [from Fox News on 4-16-25[

She said that women aren’t being held to the same standard as men. Seriously? The Blue Origin flight was 10 minutes long. A 10 minute space flight was headline news in 1961. In 2025, it’s no big deal. It seems to me that these women ARE held to the same standard as men. A 10 minute space flight with all men in 2025, in fact, would not have been news at all.

The absence of logic and reason in the leftist mentality grows more stunning by the day. These people like Gayle King are lower than idiots.

Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Charleston SC). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on X at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram, @DrHurd on TruthSocial. Dr. Hurd is also now a Newsmax Insider

Once upon a time – back in the 1970s – there were only a handful of places to get news – and one of them was National Public Radio. Today, Americans have access to thousands of diverse news stations on radio, TV and smartphones. None of them cost taxpayers a dime.

NPR is at best unnecessary and at worst so left leaning that it sounds like a daily mouthpiece for the progressives.

As you’ve probably heard, the CEO of NPR, Katherine Mayer, called President Trump a “Deranged, racist sociopath.” Maybe she thinks that language plays to NPR’s listeners.

Uri Berliner, a former NPR senior business editor who resigned last year over its increasing bias, found that in D.C. (where NPR is headquartered), there were 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. Fair and balanced.

The hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars that subsidize public TV and radio represent a wealth transfer from poorer Americans to the significantly wealthier audiences who tune into them. If NPR is of any value, surely the rich and famous niche audience who virtue signal by listening to it can afford to pay for it themselves. Or they can turn on MSNBC or CNN for their daily fake news.

Stephen Moore

Wednesday afternoon, while many were riveted by the heartbreaking remarks of Rachel Morin’s mother at the White House Press Briefing, the Department of Justice released information from Kilmar Abrego-Garcia’s 2019 arrest and deportation proceedings that should put a lot of the whisperings about the “Maryland Father’s” gang affiliations and alleged lack of due process to rest.

Abrego-Garcia was detained by Prince Georges County, Maryland officials on March 28, 2019 in a Home Depot parking lot in Hyattsville, Maryland. Here are the highlights of that encounter and a subsequent bond hearing, as found in the documents:

• Abrego-Garcia was loitering with three other men either known or suspected MS-13
• One of the men had an extensive and violent criminal history, including a conviction four months prior for MS-13 gang activity
• Abrego-Garcia and another man at the scene were “detained in connection to a murder investigation.”
• Two bottles with marijuana inside were recovered at the scene
• Abrego-Garcia was in attire associated with MS-13 members, those being a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears, and nose of the presidents on the separate denominations (meaning, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil – in other words, don’t snitch)
• A confidential informant advised Prince Georges County investigators that Abrego-Garcia was a member of the MS-13 Westerns clique
• The confidential informant said that Abrego-Garcia held the rank of “Chequeo” and the “moniker of ‘Chele.'”
• Abrego-Garcia admitted that he entered the US illegally in 2012 through McAllen, TX, and was a citizen of El Salvador.
• While no criminal record was found, Abrego-Garcia had received numerous traffic violations for which he never appeared in court.
• One section of the report says Abrego-Garcia did not claim to be fearful of returning to El Salvador, but another section states that he did claim to be fearful.

As part of that encounter, ICE ERO agents were called to the Prince Georges County jail. They arrested Abrego-Garcia for violating Section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and transported him to the Baltimore Field Office for processing. The next day, he was served with a Notice to Appear on that charge.

RELATED: Startling New Info Emerges on Deported MS-13 Illegal—and It Makes Chris Van Hollen Look Even More Foolish

On April 24, 2019 a bond redetermination hearing was held in which the immigration judge determined that “no bond was appropriate in this matter,” because he had not met his burden of showing that he would not pose a danger to others and that he would not be a flight risk. That judge admitted the Prince Georges County gang information sheet into evidence and found that Abrego-Garcia was affiliated with MS-13 based on both the clothing he was wearing and the information from the confidential informant, who was a “past, proven, and reliable source of information” to authorities.

Abrego-Garcia appealed that decision, but it was affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the US Department of Justice, on December 19, 2019.

The fact that one of the forms (the I-213) mentions that Abrego-Garcia was detained in relation to a homicide investigation is interesting, especially since only two out of the four men at the Home Depot parking lot were mentioned as being part of that investigation. There is no other information in the documents about what case that might be in reference to, but we are investigating.

Read the full document drop below.

 Kilmer Abrego Garcia Documents  by Jennifer van Laar

The onus is on those whose favored policies have left us imperiled to present a better plan than Trump’s to defend America’s interests.

If the status quo in global trade were to persist, would America remain the world’s dominant power, or would we more likely be eclipsed by our worst adversary, Communist China?

That is the key question the globalists, financiers, and their corporate media mouthpieces who ginned up hysteria and market panic in the days following President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs on dozens of trade partners should have to answer.

For they have developed and been the primary beneficiaries of a distinctly unfree and unfair trade architecture that has left America reliant on other nations, namely China, for critical military components and the necessities of life. They have also eroded our dominant position in manufacturing and industry, created vulnerable supply chains, and hollowed out our country’s heartland with generational consequences for our people.

While this de facto China First policy has played out, the U.S. has continued to provide a security umbrella to myriad countries that have not only slapped tariffs and imposed non-tariff barriers on us but have also grown more economically and politically intertwined with Communist China and other foes.

Trump laid much of this out in his “Liberation Day” executive order and subsequent amendment to it, justifying reciprocal tariffs on the grounds that the trade deficits resulting from the status quo “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States.” His critics have largely failed to grapple with this argument, suggesting a bad-faith position that favors their own self-interest over America’s national interest.

The administration has dramatically ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods. It has also threatened to impose significantly higher rates on other trade partners, only to freeze them at 10 percent as a reported 75-plus countries rushed to the negotiating table. These maneuvers have made clear the three goals of Trump’s trade policy.

First, the president wants to develop a bloc of genuine free-trade partners not only to benefit America’s economy but to serve our geopolitical aims by forming a unified front against China. The threat of heightened tariffs effectively separated the wheat from the chaff in this regard. As the president noted in his April 9 executive order modifying the tariff regime, the clamoring of dozens of nations, including those in China’s immediate orbit, “to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationships and our resulting national and economic security concerns” constituted a “significant step by these countries toward remedying non-reciprocal trade arrangements and aligning sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters” (emphasis mine).

Second, and relatedly, in breaking and rebalancing the global trade architecture that has served China’s grand strategy at America’s expense, the administration is isolating Communist China and creating great pressure on its regime. To what end, we will have to wait and see. The president is a dealmaker and values flexibility. But if there is no deal to be had that would leave America better off, we could well be looking at meaningful decoupling, which the tariff policy should only accelerate — a decoupling in which America is far better positioned to thrive than it would be under the status quo.

Third, the president wants to incentivize the reshoring of critical industries and reassert American dominance in manufacturing as an economic and national security imperative — while tilting toward Main Street over Wall Street. This is about ensuring American independence, which our freedom rests on, and doing right by those wronged under the globalist policies of the last several decades.

It is worth remembering that the president’s use of tariffs to drive freer and fairer trade and secure our vital interests comes amid a slew of other policies aimed at unleashing America’s economic might in the way of tax, deregulatory, and energy policy. For the same people who promised us the trade policies of the last several decades would not lead to substantial job losses, an eroded industrial base, or the empowerment of China to now claim with certainty that Trump’s trade policy will lead to cataclysmic effects represents a total lack of self-awareness and continued hubris.

We simply do not know how all the administration’s bilateral trade negotiations will shake out, nor what the collective effects of the president’s policies will be on our economy and national security. But we do know that the prevailing policies he inherited have threatened America’s viability.

To be sure, any attempt to restructure a trade architecture built up over decades will rankle markets to some extent by creating uncertainty and causing significant shifts in how companies operate. But that short-term or even medium-term dislocation is a small price to pay if it ensures America’s long-term ability to thrive.

The onus is on those whose favored policies have left us so imperiled to present a better plan than Trump’s to defend America’s economic and national security interests. Their unwillingness to do so suggests they are content to subordinate such interests, a position that would put us on the road to ruin.

Ben Weingarten is editor at large for RealClearInvestigations. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, columnist at Newsweek, and a contributor to the New York Post and Epoch Times, among other publications.

https://artfuldilettante.com/2025/04/15/mark-twain-on-our-idiot-politicians-and-our-current-predicament/