Trump’s War on the Press
Trump’s War on the Press
https://reason.com/2025/04/01/trumps-war-on-the-press/
Month: April 2025
Cheap Stuff Is a Huge Part of the American Dream
“It’s easy to decry cheap goods, or stuff. Stuff conjures up images of pointless consumption, materialism with no purpose, in service of nothing good, throwaway crap from Shein and Temu and Amazon. But that’s not what it really is, right? Stuff is important for a good life: The vitamins I take to stay healthy and the kettlebell that transforms my home into a gym so I can work out without securing child care. It’s the extra plates I bought to throw a huge dinner party over the summer. It’s the swaddles I got for my son when he was a baby so he could sleep soundly. It’s the phone I use to call my parents, since they live 2,000 miles away.
People express what they value through their stuff. Stuff is not the essence of the American dream, or the thing that makes life worthwhile, or what we’ll be thinking of on our deathbeds, but it is an elemental building block that allows us to pursue all the other things that do give us meaning: That dinner party you hosted at which you were able to fete a friend or get to know a neighbor really did need plates.
This isn’t a coastal elite value. The ability to take our stuff for granted, because it’s long been so cheap and easy to access, binds together Americans of all classes and creeds. It’s not the whole American dream, but it sure is a big part of it. Not because the stuff is inherently valuable, but because it allows us the ability to do all the other things we seek—some of which is noble, some of which is pointless. We Americans are blessed to have mostly moved up Maslow’s hierarchy; our basic needs have mostly been met. Now we can use stuff to reach a higher plane.”
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“Does medicine count as stuff? What about food? What about building materials for houses? Because these things will all be made more expensive by Trump’s tariffs too.”
https://reason.com/2025/04/01/cheap-stuff-is-a-huge-part-of-the-american-dream/
Trump’s Use of the Alien Enemies Act Violates Madison’s View of Presidential Power
“President Donald Trump claims that the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 grants him the power to deport certain Venezuelan-born aliens without due process based on the mere allegation of membership in a criminal street gang.
But the text of the Alien Enemies Act does not allow the president to do anything of the sort. “Whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government,” the act states, the president may direct the “removal” of “all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized.”
The alleged crimes of the alleged members of the street gang Tren de Aragua do not meet this legal standard. There is no “declared war” between the United States and Venezuela, and there is no “invasion or predatory incursion” of the U.S. by “any foreign nation or government.” The gang is not a foreign state, and the gang’s alleged crimes, as heinous as they may be, do not qualify as acts of war by a foreign state. Trump’s frequent talk about a rhetorical “invasion” of the U.S. by undocumented immigrants utterly fails to satisfy the law’s requirements.
The fatal defects of Trump’s position are further illuminated when you compare Trump’s stance with James Madison’s 1800 “Report on the Alien and Sedition Acts.” (The Alien Enemies Act was one of the three laws that comprised the Alien and Sedition Acts.)
As Madison explained, there are two categories of “offences for which aliens within the jurisdiction” of the United States “are punishable.” The first category involves “offences committed by the nation of which they make a part, and in whose offences they are involved.” In this case, “the offending nation can no otherwise be punished than by war.” In other words, the offending nation in this case has committed an act of war against the United States. The aliens who fall within this category are “alien enemies.”
The second category involves offenses committed by aliens “themselves alone, without any charge against the nation to which they belong.” In this case, “the offence being committed by the individual, not by his nation, and against the municipal law, not against the law of nations; the individual only, and not the nation is punishable; and the punishment must be conducted according to the municipal law, not according to the law of nations.” The aliens who fall within this second category are “alien friends.”
Notice that “alien friends” may certainly be punished by the normal U.S. legal system for whatever crimes they commit while on U.S. soil. They may be deprived of their life, their liberty, and their property. But—and this is a big but—they may only be deprived of life, liberty, or property after they have received due process of law, which is what the Constitution guarantees to all persons, not just to all citizens.”
https://reason.com/2025/04/01/trumps-use-of-the-alien-enemies-act-violates-madisons-view-of-presidential-power/
Operational Breakdown – B2 Stealth Bombers Deployed to Indian Ocean/Pete Hegeth’s Epic Debacle
Trump administration officials appear to have lied and bullshitted in response to accidentally leaking sensitive military information.
The Trump administration is hiring leaders more based on loyalty to Trump than competency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N07elp4g8jw
JD Vance’s role in Signal chat angers senior Republican lawmakers
““I think we are making a mistake,” Vance wrote in the Signal chat, later published by The Atlantic. Vance argued that although Trump wanted to send a message with the strikes, “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.” He did say, though, that he was “willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” but went on to say “there is a strong argument for delaying this a month.”
Minutes later, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller shut down the conversation, writing, “As I heard it, the president was clear.””
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“The senior Republican official added: “It’s one thing to have a healthy interagency debate before a decision is made. It’s another to try and undo a Commander-in-Chief decision once Trump gives the execute order. This is the latter, and it’s very [John] Bolton-esque.”
Some Republicans believe Vance raising questions about an action the president had already agreed to amounted to a form of obstruction, the same senior Republican official said.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jd-vances-role-signal-chat-130008838.html
Americans are spending less as they brace for new tariffs
“Americans are tapping the brakes on spending – pulling back on dining out, hotel stays and other expenses, as they boost their savings ahead of new tariffs and continued economic uncertainty.”
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“Strikingly, economists say Americans of all income levels, including the wealthiest, are rethinking their spending – in what could be a pivotal warning. The drop-off in consumer spending is expected to drag down economic growth in the first three months of the year, with many economists now forecasting a contraction after years of consistent growth.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-spending-less-brace-tariffs-120504861.html