Free Republic

DETROIT—If President Trump’s trade war has a physical battleground, it is Michigan, where companies and workers are already feeling the beginning of an onslaught that could blow a hole in the state’s economy. Nearly 20% of the economy is tied to the auto industry, which has become increasingly dependent on parts and vehicles from Canada, Mexico and China—imports Trump hit with steep tariffs in recent weeks. This trade has grown so large that Michigan ranks fifth in the nation by the size of its imports and exports, even though its total economy ranks 14th. Detroit’s automotive executives have shifted into...

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his move to impose wide-ranging tariffs is based on the simple concept of reciprocity: The U.S. should put the same conditions on imports from other countries that they impose on our goods through tariffs and other trade barriers. But the tariff scheme he announced isn’t reciprocal and isn’t based on measuring foreign trade barriers. Instead, it simply measures bilateral trade deficits and comes up with tariff numbers from there. Those are two very different things, and could be one reason why global financial markets are reacting so badly. The upshot is that, in the...

Despite repeated messages of support by Trump, Waltz has lost sway with the president and the backing of senior aides within the White House, officials said, just as the administration struggles to broker peace deals and faces the threat of further war in the Middle East. For Trump, Waltz’s biggest sin wasn’t starting a Signal chat to coordinate strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, or even posting Israel-provided intelligence onto an unclassified network, it was having the Atlantic magazine’s editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s number in his phone and inadvertently adding him to the conversation. Trump’s anger spilled over into...

The King of Canada wants President Trump to back off. Just don’t expect him to actually say that publicly. Britain’s King Charles III, who is also Canada’s head of state, is wrestling with an unprecedented diplomatic headache. The monarch wants to stand up for the largest country in his realm as Trump talks about turning it into the 51st U.S. state. At the same time he has to honor the British government’s desire that he keep Trump, who deeply admires the royal family, sweet. The result has been a master class in passive-aggressive pageantry from Buckingham Palace. Earlier this month,...

The Wall Street Journal has called for Donald Trump to be sued to prevent tariffs being imposed on Canada and Mexico. The newspaper's editorial board wrote in very blunt terms that Trump did not have the power to order the tariffs without Congressional approval. 'He's treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim,' the WSJ board wrote. 'It's doubtful Mr Trump even has the power to impose these tariffs, and we hope his afflatus gets a legal challenge.' The WSJ, published by Rupert Murdoch who also owns Fox News, is usually sympathetic...

The op-ed was entitled “Can White Men Finally Stop Complaining?” and it appeared the other day in the Wall Street Journal. White men, it charged, have a “victim mentality” – even though they’re back on top. Not only has Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, but for white dudes, everything’s coming up roses: The manosphere won. Bro podcasters top the charts. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg declares his company needs more “masculine energy.” Elon Musk shares a post saying only “high-status males” should run the country. The White House kills diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, and so do multiple companies,...

President Trump is looking forward to a fundamentally productive negotiation with Russia’s Putin and Ukraine’s Zelensky, Vice President JD Vance has said, in comments mischaracterised by the Wall Street Journal as a threat of war.U.S. Vice President JD Vance is speaking at the Munich Security Conference — taking place just one day after what is said to have been a terror attack in the city — and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal before these engagements, Vance communicated President Donald Trump’s determination to make a peace deal in Ukraine and the incentives on...

The Wall Street Journal reports that the consumer confidence that accompanied President Donald Trump’s entry into office has eroded. The University of Michigan’s February report on consumer sentiment found that it fell by 5 percent, from 71.1 percent in January to 67.8 percent this month. Americans now expect inflation this year will be 4.3 percent, a 1 percent increase from last month. Morning Consult also found that consumer optimism is quickly fading. Consumers are worried about volatile decisions around sweeping executive orders and potential tariffs. Early polling data from Trump’s first days in office showed that the speed of the...

WASHINGTON—In laying out the checks and balances of democracy, authors of the U.S. Constitution imagined that the president and Congress would wrestle for power when their authority conflicted, each fighting for influence. “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” James Madison wrote. President Trump’s ambition has been sweeping and muscular in the first days of his new term, producing less of a transition in government than a takeover. Congress, by contrast, has all but forfeited the match. The result, if Trump’s assertions of power survive the courts, would significantly rebalance power in Washington, centralizing unprecedented authority over federal spending, executive-branch...

The Five Eyes is the most powerful spying alliance in history. Forged in the conflagration of World War II, the intelligence-sharing pact among the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand helped defeat Nazism and Communism, fend off al Qaeda and Islamic State and shield its members from the ever-growing risk of cyberattacks. Now former and serving members of the Five Eyes and outside experts say it is facing its biggest challenge ever: President Trump’s pledge to curb the “Deep State” by overhauling America’s vast intelligence apparatus. Trump left the Five Eyes alone during his first term and hasn’t named...

Forgive us if we missed it, but we don’t recall Donald Trump campaigning to invade Panama and retake its famous canal. But there was the President-elect on the weekend, threatening our Central American ally with punishment if it doesn’t meet his demands. “Our Navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama—I say, very foolishly, by the United States,” Mr. Trump told a crowd in Phoenix. “This complete ripoff of our country will immediately stop.”...

WASHINGTON—In naming a set of unconventional nominees to run federal departments, Donald Trump this week also took steps to push for a broader goal: realigning the balance of power among Washington’s major institutions so that more authority flows from the White House. Trump has threatened to take steps that would undermine the Senate’s confirmation powers and Congress’s role in budgeting—the most essential powers of the two chambers. He has insisted that senators allow him to place some nominees directly in their jobs, bypassing the Senate’s public hearings and confirmation process. He has said he would move to impound—or decline to...

SENATE PROBE ON ELON BASED ON WSJ’S UNFOUNDED CLAIMS? A WSJ article alleging Elon held “regular conversations” with Putin is now driving a Senate investigation—but where’s the accountability for WSJ’s reporting? Despite relying solely on unnamed “current and former officials,” the piece quickly sparked backlash, with both Elon and the Kremlin slamming it as “absolutely false.” Now, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Jack Reed are calling for a probe based on these unverified claims—so why isn’t WSJ facing scrutiny for publishing such an explosive story on shaky grounds? https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1857608109012783348?t=ns0BAkwpB0os0TDMCX-LeQ&s=19 Sources: Sky News, PBS

*** Mr. Gigot asks how Mr. Trump would persuade Xi Jinping to stand down from a blockade of Taiwan. “Oh, very easy,” the former president says. “I had a very strong relationship with him.... *** Mr. Trump returns to Mr. Gigot’s question: “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you”—meaning impose tariffs—“at 150% to 200%.” He might even shut down trade altogether. Mr. Gigot: “Would you use military force against a blockade on Taiwan?” Mr. Trump: “I wouldn’t have to, because he respects me and he knows I’m f— crazy.”...

Does anybody in politics understand tax policy these days? The Biden-Harris Democrats want to raise tax rates to Thomas Piketty French socialist levels. Republicans want to cut taxes, but they want to do so for specific groups to buy their votes. They’ve all lost the growth plot. Mr. Trump’s tax fumbling is especially disappointing because his 2017 cut in tax rates was the policy foundation for the strong pre-pandemic U.S. economy. But so far in this campaign he’s proposing hugely expensive tax cuts for different voting groups that won’t do much for growth. We’ve written about his promise not to...

WASHINGTON—Kamala Harris is making abortion rights central to her candidacy for president as Republicans struggle to articulate a winning message on the issue. In contrast with President Biden, who was reluctant to say the word abortion, the vice president has campaigned aggressively on it since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the constitutional right to the procedure. At the White House, she has met with abortion providers and women who have had abortions. Earlier this year, Harris was believed to be the first president or vice president to visit an abortion clinic. After locking up the support to be...

In a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal, former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley came out way ahead of President Joe Biden in a general election matchup by a much larger margin than Trump polls against the current president. Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, showed she would be a formidable general election opponent to Joe Biden, coming out 17 points ahead of the sitting leader, as compared with Trump's four-point lead against him. Haley began surging in the polls after the first GOP debate and has maintained that momentum through last week's fourth debate. A...