
TACO THURSDAY
Is the secret to making loads of cash in Donald Trumpās America⦠tacos?Ā Some financial experts say it is, as the White Houseās trade agenda gets chewed up.
- President Donald Trump once declared himself a huge fan of tacos, back when he infamously posted a picture of his big grinning mug over aĀ Trump Tower crispy tortilla bowlĀ filled with beans, cheese and sour cream on Cinco de Mayo. But think again! When a reporter recently asked him about TACO ā finance bro slang for āTrump Always Chickens Outā ā the president got red hot. āI chicken out? Iāve never heard that,ā Trump responded. āDonāt ever say what you said. Thatās a nasty question. To me, thatās the nastiest question.ā Someone squirt some lime juice on this guy, sheesh!
- But that term, coined byĀ Financial TimesĀ columnist Robert Armstrong, is suddenly going viral. And itās based on a very real phenomenon: Trumpās tendency to talk big and then wimp out. That habit has put the stock market on a rollercoaster, as threats repeatedly tank the market, and cowardly reversals prompt relief rallies. Example: Remember when Trump announced tariffs on most countries in the world ā including penguin-covered islands ā and the market tumbled? He paused the tariffs following backlash, and markets cheered. Some investors, understandably, call this chickening out. (Others might simply call itĀ chicken tinga.)
- Trumpās allies, includingĀ Attorney General Pam BondiĀ andĀ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), andĀ even Democratic lawmakers, have already put their cash down on the predictable route of Trumpās TACO truck. āSee how the TACO trade works? Itās a two-step process: Buy the dip ā the lowered prices following a Trump tariff announcement ā and sell at the higher prices after Trumpās inevitable chickening-out pushes stocks back up,āĀ writes Michael Hiltzik, a business columnist at theĀ Los Angeles Times. (I see what you did there… buy theĀ cheeseĀ dip. Right, gang?)
Sometimes, of course, Trump doesnāt have to chicken outā¦Ā because he gets slapped down by a court.
- Last night, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump canāt enact tariffs just because he made up a fake state of emergency ā which is basically how he justified launching his āLiberation Dayā trade war. An appeals court then paused that decision today while the legal wrangling plays out.
- But it still marks a huge setback for a White House that continues scrambling to score trade deals. Wall Street loved the news, and stock prices spiked ā showing the TACO theory can hold true even when Trump himself is still trying to stand strong.
- The presidentās team is now bracing for a spicy legal food fight. āWe expect to fight this battle all the way to the Supreme Court,ā White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said today. āYou can assume that even if we lose, we will [enact tariffs] another way,ā White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters.
The TACO term could even be a potent political weapon against Trump.Ā āItās meme-able,ā The Bulwarkās Jonathan V. LastĀ writes. āHell, thereās even a pre-built emoji for it.
You can put this thing anywhere and it will be a symbol of the democracy movement.ā Plus: Trump absolutely hates it.
CAMPUS CHAOS
The Trump administration is taking its attack on international students to disturbing new levels.
The State Department and Department of Homeland Security will work to āaggressively revokeā visas for Chinese students, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
āI think it is terribly misguided, counterproductive and another way in which we are shooting ourselves in the foot,ā Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, told theĀ New York Times.
Itās also cruel. Anyone whoās been to college in the U.S. knows some international students who enrolled with all the same hopes and dreams that college kids have. Now, imagine those dreams suddenly getting smashed by ā of all people ā Little Marco.
There are some 275,000 Chinese students on visas in the United States. American universities have benefited significantly in recent decades from the studentsā research contributions, as well as financial support. The White House and lawmakers worry that some of those studentsĀ may be used by Beijing to spyĀ on the United States, which appears to be one of the motivations for this new policy.
Rubio suggested that the Trump administration will only target those āstudying in critical fieldsā or with connections to the Chinese Communist Party. But we know others may be targeted for dubious reasons: The U.S. is trying to deport Tufts University student Rümeysa Ćztürk for writing an opinion article critical of Israel in her student newspaper. Itās easy to imagine Chinese students also being targeted for practicing free speech.
The White Houseās attack on foreign students is already having a chilling effect. At Harvard University, ātoo many international students to countā have inquired about transferring out of the school because of Trumpās actions,Ā the school said.
āA lot of us are just very scared,ā one Harvard doctoral studentĀ told Boston.com. āThere has been very little transparency on what protections the university is willing to commit to. Itās just been all very uncertain, and itās left us all with our lives a bit upended.ā
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NEWS NEWS NEWS
The White House said that Israel acceptedĀ its proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas. The militant group said itās considering the idea. Previously, Hamas said it agreed on a āgeneral framework,ā which would include Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza, a longer ceasefire, and an increase in aid into the territory.
Gazillionaire tech freak Elon Musk officiallyĀ left the U.S. government after a tumultuous tenure that destroyed his public image [sad trombone]. When news of his official departure broke, stock in Tesla, his electric car, rose 2 percent ā a sign that investors are happy that his focus might not be pulled in one million different directions anymore.
Brainworm survivor Robert F. Kennedy Jr.ās so-calledĀ Make American Healthy Again report cites studies that donāt actually exist, according to researchers who are listed in the report released last week. Kennedy has called the document a āmilestoneā for public health⦠when it really seems to be a milestone for public lies and misinformation. How much do you wanna bet someone used ChatGPT to write this thing, and it made up some fake sources? The White House blamed āformatting issuesā for the bogus research. Lmaoooo.
The Department of Health and Human ServicesĀ canceled millions in funding for Moderna to vaccines against bird flu. Iām now imagining RFK Jr.ās dream summer: taking cool dips in sewage-infested water, eating roadkill, hanging out with his dead brainworm, and contracting bird flu. And the government says itās okay! Woohoo!
Qatar appears uneasy with how TrumpāsĀ jumbo jet transaction went down, theĀ Washington PostĀ reports. The Qatari government wants a memo of understanding between Washington and Doha stating that the transaction was initiated by the Trump administration, and that Qatar isnāt responsible for any further transfers of the plane. In other words, the deal isnāt done yet ā despite the U.S. saying it will have a new Air Force One in no time. I, too, would like to manifest a free luxury jet for myself!
The Trump administration is working to returnĀ a Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico without due process, the Department of Homeland Security told a judge last night. Itās the first public sign that Trumpās team would comply with orders to bring back someone who they wrongfully deported. But, like, come on. Iāll believe it when I see it.
Paramount offered the Trump administration $15 millionĀ to settle its lawsuit against CBS News, but Trumpās team is demanding $25 million and an apology from the news outlet, theĀ Wall Street JournalĀ reports. Rumor has it, his team ends every new demand with a menacing look and a simple phrase:Ā Capisce?
Trump pardoned or commuted sentencesĀ for 26 people, including a former gang leader convicted of murder, reality TV stars and former GOP lawmakers. One of those former lawmakers, Michael Grimm, once told a reporterĀ on live television, āIāll break you in half, like a boy.ā Can someone check in on that reporter, please?
CEOs of S&P 500 companies brought homeĀ a lot of extra bacon last year ā nearly 10 percent more than the year prior. At many of those companies, it would take the average worker 192 years to earn as much money as the CEO makes in a single year. Wow, the CEOs must workĀ reallyĀ hard.
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