GRADING
ITEM: Wall Street Journal editorial board says Donald Trump is blowing his second term with misguided tariff and Ukraine policies.
What that loudmouth will say on your morning Zoom: I don’t get why Trump is doing either of these things.
What you should say on your morning Zoom: Patience, loudmouth. Judge the Ukraine policy on whether the war is over this year at an acceptable price to America’s credibility and Europe’s security. And judge the tariff policy by the state of the U.S. economy in Q4. Until then, you are on track to waste as much mental stress as Paul Gigot is wasting ink.
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POLLING
ITEM: President Trump deems new round of media polls uniformly showing flagging/sagging job approval numbers to be “fake” and says of the pollsters and news organizations:
“These people should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD…THEY ARE SICK, almost only write negative stories about me no matter how well I am doing.”
What that loudmouth will say on your morning Zoom: I’ve never been polled – and no one I know has ever been polled – so Trump must be right. FAKE NEWS!
What you should say on your morning Zoom: Ask any honest Republican pollster with private data – including some who work for the president! – if his standing has dropped over the first 100 days. The problem for the White House is not the “fake” polls; the problem is messaging, policy, and following the example of Harris ’24 and ignoring what the voters are actually and clearly saying.
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WINNING
ITEM: Canadian Mark Carney in victory speech Monday night, per the Associated Press:
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons…As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never ... ever happen. But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed.”
What that loudmouth will say on your morning Zoom: I have no idea who Carney is or how long his term lasts. I care as much about this as I do about a local Zaire school board election.
What you should say on your morning Zoom: Attention must be paid. Trump might want to shake up the status quo, but he is singularly responsible for creating an energized Canadian electorate and new PM who will be on the vanguard of the North American Resistance. Prediction: The next Democratic president of the United States will become a hero in Canada with a lay-up of rapprochement replacing Trump’s reproachment.
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SOFTENING
ITEM: Wall Street Journal:
President Trump is expected to soften the impact of his automotive tariffs, preventing duties on foreign-made cars from stacking on top of other tariffs he has imposed and easing some levies on foreign parts used to manufacture cars in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter.
The decision will mean that automakers paying Trump’s automotive tariffs won’t also be charged for other duties, such as those on steel and aluminum, according to people familiar with the policy. The move would be retroactive, the people said, meaning that automakers could be reimbursed for such tariffs already paid. The 25% tariff on finished foreign-made cars went into effect early this month.
The administration will also modify its tariffs on foreign auto parts—slated to be 25% and effective May 3—allowing automakers to be reimbursed for those tariffs up to an amount equal to 3.75% of the value of a U.S.-made car for one year. The reimbursement would fall to 2.5% of the car’s value in a second year, and then be phased out altogether.
Trump is expected to take the actions ahead of a trip to Michigan for a rally outside Detroit on Tuesday evening, marking 100 days since he took office.
What that loudmouth will say on your morning Zoom: I don’t get why autos get special treatment when so many sectors need relief.
What you should say on your morning Zoom: For Trump, all tariff exceptions are local, situational, regional, political, and available at his whim, economic theory be darned. In truth – and not just in Truth Social – this is a good idea in the context of his big bad idea of the overall current tariff regime.
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RUNNING/RISING
ITEM: JB Pritzker gets a second day of news cycle love from the Blues for his fiery New Hampshire Democratic Party speech assailing Trump 2.0.
What that loudmouth will say on your morning Zoom: Couldn’t pick the guy out of lineup, except maybe on MSNBC.
What you should say on your morning Zoom: If the extremely liberal governor of Illinois thinks he can find a way to get tested on the national stage by making himself the face of the Resistance, I’d be curious to know what template he is using. You can bet that other 2028 hopefuls are demanding of their teams to figure out how they can have their “Pritzker Moment” in 2025. Didn’t take much!
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RISING
ITEM: Wall Street Journal feature story says it is “in” to wake up around 4am to start the work day.
What that loudmouth will say on your morning Zoom: That is way too early to get up.
What you should say on your morning Zoom: For once I agree wholeheartedly with the Loudmouth.