“The European Union has been, it was formed, in order to screw the United States. I mean, look, let’s be honest. The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it. And they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.”
Video at the link.
This is utter nonsense, as Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, noted on Face the Nation.
Europe is a peace project. You know, it was created so that we wouldn’t have wars between the members of European Union, and we haven’t had.
For those who dozed off in history class, it is worth noting that both World War I and World War II started as great power conflicts in Europe, with countries like Germany and France as central beligerents. The 19th Century was rife with European wars, including things like the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, and the Franco-Prussian War. Indeed, the history of Europe prior to the end of the Second World War is a long string of wars, large and small, over territory and power. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a throwback to that era.
Since the end of WWII, however, there has been no continental war in Europe, and indeed, the continent has been, in relative terms, quite peaceful. Exceptions include the wars created by the breakup of Yugoslavia and various actions by Russia against former Soviet republics.
But there is no arguing that the period from 1945 to 2025 has been radically more peaceful than the prior two centuries (and more) of European history.
Two of the most significantly positive steps towards a more peaceful world stage were the creation of NATO and the European Union. Putting these actors, who historically fought one another, into a shared institutional framework has been a historical success. The creation of profound economic interdependence in Europe was meant, among other things, to make war between European powers unthinkably costly. And, further, to create deep and abiding ties among the member states. It was mostly assuredly not created to “screw the United States.” Trump’s belief on this count is warped.
All of this reminds me, to a degree, of anti-vax nonsense. People assume that the current state of the world just, you know, happened, and so there is no risk in letting things degenerate to a prior state of being.
Beyond that function, the EU is a massive market where the US sells its products, and yes, we buy theirs. Trump’s myopic understanding of economics utterly ignores the value created by a vast, global marketplace. And the fact that the US dominates the defense space means that we are in the driver’s seat in such matters. While there is an argument to be made that Europe is not adequately footing the bill on military matters, Trump seems not to understand that much of US power comes from its hegemonic position in this arena.
If Europe were to arm itself the way the US does, that would be a threat to US power and dominance. Or, as noted above, we could see great power conflict return to the continent, which will ultimately be good for no one.
It’s as if those who refuse to learn the lesson of history (and diplomacy, economics, science, et al.) are doomed to repeat them.
The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a bid by President Donald Trump’s administration to continue withholding nearly $2 billion in payments for foreign humanitarian work already completed under contracts with the State Department and USAID. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberals in the 5-4 decision, which sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Amir Ali to “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to ensure compliance” with his earlier orders to quickly restart the flow of money.
Who said what
The “closely divided decision” suggests that the high court will subject Trump’s various efforts to dramatically reshape the federal government to “close scrutiny,” The New York Times
said. Although the language of yesterday’s ruling was “mild, tentative and not a little confusing,” the “bottom line” is that Trump was dealt a narrow defeat on one of his “signature projects” — and we should expect some “major rulings testing, and perhaps recalibrating, the separation of powers required by the Constitution.”
Justice Samuel Alito, in an angry dissent joined by three fellow conservative justices, argued that Ali had overstepped his authority and said he was “stunned” the high court would reward such “an act of judicial hubris” that “imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers
.” The aid groups suing for their payments said the ruling “confirms that the administration cannot ignore the law” and must now “lift its unlawful termination of federal assistance
” and stop the resulting “needless suffering and death.”
What next?
Following Wednesday’s ruling, Ali ordered the Trump administration to develop a schedule for restarting the payments, setting up a hearing Thursday on the timeline for aid resumption
. In a closed-door House hearing, Pete Marocco, the “Trump political appointee overseeing the dismantling of USAID,” detailed “concerns” he had about the ruling and “did not directly answer when asked by Democrats if he would obey the Supreme Court,” The Associated Press
said.
President Trump said on Thursday he would pause most tariffs on exports from Mexico until April 2.Why it matters: It’s another abrupt turn for businesses
CNN’s Harry Enten reported that President Donald Trump’s efforts to make sweeping spending cuts in the federal government has majority support on Thursday, something the senior data reporter admitted “truly surprised” him.
Enten joined CNN anchor Kate Bolduan on Thursday and showed that recent polling shows most support efforts by Trump and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) to cut federal spending and staff. Enten noted the efforts remain generally popular, while DOGE head Elon Musk himself remains “not that popular.”
“This to me, was one of the more shocking figures that I saw. Made me go, ‘Wait a minute. Hold on one second. Whoa!’” Enten said.
According to a CBS/YouGov poll
, 54% believe Musk and DOGE should have at least some influence on government spending and operations. More than 50% also backed cutting staff at federal agencies, something Trump has earned blowback from critics over.
“Elon Musk might not be that popular. But these cuts and the idea of spending cuts, at least within the federal government and cutting a government agencies that actually has majority support. I was truly surprised by this, but the numbers are the numbers,” Enten said.
In a separate poll
of registered voters by The Washington Post/Ipsos, Enten highlighted that people are fairly split on Musk’s specific efforts, but more approve than disapprove with 42% saying the X owner is mainly looking to cut “wasteful spending,” while 36% believe he’s trying to cut “necessary programs.”
Citing Gallup numbers, Enten also noted that views on the federal government and its size have shifted in recent years. In 2020, just 41% said the government was doing too much. That number jumped to 55% in 2024.
“They’re giving him running room on this, but that’s why I think these numbers show why transparency and what is actually being done, and why the problems of they’ve made mistakes in putting things up on their wall of resources that didn’t actually happen or not, why that is so important,” Bolduan said.
“I think that’s exactly right. Well have to wait and see what happens,” Enten added. “What’s popular one moment may not be the next.”
Andrew Tate casually admitted to deleting potential evidence while being investigated by the state of Florida for human trafficking during a recent interview with Candace Owens.
Due in large part to pressure from American politicians, Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate had their travel bans lifted in Romania. The two were stuck in the country due to an ongoing trafficking investigation, but that changed last week when they were flown to Florida.
In response to the announcement of that investigation, Tate appeared on Owens’s podcast and explicitly dared Florida authorities to arrest him. In fact, he felt so confident in his innocence that he made the baffling decision to admit he deletes potential evidence from his phone on a regular basis.
“If I’m really not welcome, I won’t stay!” Andrew said. “I don’t want to overstay a welcome. But you wanna play these games? I’m right here in Miami! I’m right here in Miami! Come get me! Arrest me! Perp walk me! Put me on the news! Tell everyone I’m a human trafficker!
He continued:
You think I’m not versed? You think I’m not ready. I’m a Navy SEAL in this shit! Come get me! Raid my house! Take my stuff! You think I sleep with a phone full of evidence? You think I don’t wipe my phone every night? You think I’m dumb? Come get me. Arrest me. Let’s do this all over again. I’ve done it for four years in Romania. You think I’m scared of your state jail after an Eastern European gulag? I’m staying right here until the case is concluded because when I beat it here, then what are they gonna say? I beat it in England; I beat it in Romania; and I beat it in Florida. I’ll beat it everywhere because I haven’t done anything to anyone!
Tampering with evidence is considered a third-degree felony
in the state of Florida and is punishable by up to five years in prison. Additionally, such an act is only a minor roadblock for authorities, as data can still be retrieved from a phone after the user has deleted it.
CNBC reporter Steve Liesman blamed President Donald Trump and DOGE czar Elon Musk for contributing to bombshell job losses in February, saying they played “the biggest part” in causing the reported layoffs.
Trump and Musk have been chainsawing
federal government jobs, and Trump’s trade policy has been tanking the stock
market this week, so expectations for Friday’s jobs report were already all over
the place
.
On top of that, Challenger, Gray & Christmas
dropped a bombshell report
Thursday morning that showed a 245% increase in announced layoffs from January to February, and the worst February since 2009.
The firm’s VP says it’s not just direct cuts to federal workers that make up the DOGE effect:
“Private companies announced plans to shed thousands of jobs last month, particularly in Retail and Technology. With the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] actions, as well as canceled Government contracts, fear of trade wars, and bankruptcies, job cuts soared in February,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
On Thursday’s edition
of CNBC’s Squawk Box
, host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Liesman about the “DOGE effect” on the upcoming jobs report:
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Some new data out just announcing layoffs released. Our senior economics reporter, Steve Liesman, joins us now with more on how much DOGE could be in tomorrow’s jobs report.
What do you think, Steve?
STEVE LIESMAN: It’s a tricky story here.
But first, let me tell you, Andrew announced layoff in February is surging 245% to the highest level since the pandemic, with the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce planning not the only, but the biggest part in that.
The outplacement firm Challenger Gray Christmas. They’re saying that announced February layoffs, not actual layoffs, but announced ones rose to 172,000, up from just 49,000 in January.
It’s the highest monthly number since July 2020, the worst February since 2009.
It was a mix of layoffs from the government and the private sector, including government at 63,000 announced.
That includes federal workers and private government contractors. Retail 45,000 hit by cold weather as we know, and tech 22,000 with HP, Meta and Workday among the tech giants we know that announced February layoffs.
The DOGE impact was the top reason cited for job cuts, followed by market and economic conditions and then bankruptcy.
The bulk of government job cuts are likely too recent to show up in tomorrow’s jobs report. Workers won’t be counted as unemployed until their severance runs out.
But remember, roughly 30,000 federal workers. They leave their jobs monthly in a normal month. So the hiring freeze announced by President Trump on day one of his presidency, that could mean vacated jobs won’t be filled. That could create some negative numbers that could drag down the headline number even as soon as tomorrow.
Now, Evercore ISI, in a research, suggests total job losses from DOGE could be as low as 50 if the government eventually gets back to hiring, or as high as 660000.
In a worst case scenario created by what it calls DOGE policy uncertainty. They wrote “DOGE related uncertainty over contraction grants could have an additional paralyzing effect on hiring at employers exposed to those funding sources, or in need of regulatory approvals from agencies that are themselves paralyzed by DOGE review.”.
Now, most forecasters that I’m reading are settling on some kind of midpoint here between total job losses of 250 to 350,000. That’s federal job losses, or roughly 20 to 30,000 a month.
That would be a noticeable number. But the ultimate economic impact depends on whether the private sector finds job for those workers, Andrew, and can make up for those job losses.
Joe Rogan argued that establishment media and Democrats used the Pizzagate shooting in 2016 to “put a halt” to public interest in then-Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails, which were published by WikiLeaks.
Pizzagate, which gained traction during the 2016 election, alleged that top Democratic officials were running a child trafficking ring out of Washington, D.C. pizzeria Comet Ping Pong, and were using words like “pizza” and “hotdogs” as code. The theory led to a real-world incident when a man fired a rifle inside Comet Ping Pong in December 2016, claiming he was there to “self-investigate.”
Law enforcement dismissed the conspiracy, but during Wednesday’s ranging Joe Rogan Experience podcast with YouTuber and independent journalist Ian Carroll, the host insisted that the shooting conveniently shut down what he believed were legitimate inquiries.
As Carroll discussed long-standing claims about pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Rogan pivoted to the Pizzagate shooting:
When they had that guy come in and fire off that shot, I felt like that was a great way to put a halt to all the looking into the Podesta emails, because then all of a sudden it’s a kook thing. Now it’s a crazy person and a dangerous person because he’s got a gun. [Mocking media and establishment voices] ‘You’re causing dangerous people to take their guns…’
Because if you read those emails, those emails are bananas. They are talking about young kids who are going to be coming to a party to have fun, they’re talking about pizza and hotdogs…
Carroll agreed, bringing up an older debunked claim
that former President Barack Obama flew “sixty five thousand dollars’ worth of hot dogs flown from Chicago for a White House party.” That claim was based on an email from an employee for intelligence company Stratfor, published in a 2012 WikiLeaks release.
“The whole thing is, like, very weird,” Rogan added.
Continuing on topic, Carroll referenced Instagram posts from James Alefantis, the Washington D.C. pizzeria owner, which he said had been scrubbed from the social media platform but which he claimed was available on some archive websites and showed “photos of children with their arms taped to tables.” He added that Alefantis’s followers showed similar “dark” interests.
Carroll doubled down on his belief that powerful figures manipulated the public’s perception of Pizzagate.
“There’s so much more ripe, clear evidence that’s way more powerful,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) sat down with MAGA influencer and organizer Charlie Kirk for the first episode of his new podcast, which dropped on Thursday. Newsom, who is working to rebrand the Democratic Party and muster some kind of opposition to the Trump administration, asked Kirk for advice as to how the Democrats can create better content.
“I think you talked about it the other day. A lot of folks were talking about that [James] Carville article where he talked about–” Newsom said at one point as Kirk interjected, “Roll over and play dead.”
“In essence, he said that, I think it was a strategic retreat, right. That we need to come back. Trump’s starting to implode. His numbers are getting soft. This was even before the tariff issues, etc., and then come back and strike one hot,” Newsom continued, adding:
And I immediately, no BS, thought about you who’s just 24/7 flooding the zone, owning this space every day, getting a convert every day, picking up 1, 2, 10,000 folks, continuing the momentum coming out of this damn election. And then I’m thinking about we’re going to stand back and watch you run circles around us for six months — the next 2 or 3 years, waiting for the moment to finally strike. Struck me as not necessarily the best advice. And it’s not a knock on Carville. Who, I have deep respect for what you thought.
“Okay, so I don’t, but I don’t have to. He was right about one thing in the last 40 years, ‘It’s the economy stupid.’ And oh boy, he has spent down that one line pretty amazingly,” Kirk said as Newsom laughed.
“Yeah. I hope you guys retreat,” Kirk added.
“You kind of like the advice. You like the advice?” added Newsom.
“I mean, there’s no opposition. There’s no opposition, activist spark. You guys are posting these cringe videos on social media,” Kirk replied.
“What are the videos? What are the ones? I don’t know,” Newsom pressed.
“This, like harmonious thing of like 22 senators all saying the same thing,” Kirk said, offering an example.
“Oh, I didn’t like that. Yeah,” agreed Newsom.
“I didn’t like it, but go ahead, go do more of that,” Kirk replied.
“What do you do? But what do you do? Seriously, Charlie Kirk, give us some advice,” Newsom asked.
“Get better ideas, governor,” Kirk replied.
Kirk’s Turning Point USA has been a key group boosting MAGA during Trump’s time in politics, rallying young voters and growing the president’s base. The organization holds annual conferences and voter registration drives across the country. Kirk also hosts a popular podcast, which has made headlines over the years for controversial comments made and stances taken by Kirk, including a recent campaign
to eliminate Martin Luther King Jr. day and the Civil Rights Act.
President Donald Trump called for Rep. Al Green (D-TX) to be forced to pass an IQ test after the Democratic lawmaker heckled Trump during his address before a joint session of Congress this week.
In an interview with Fox News Digital
, Trump argued Green “should be forced to pass an IQ test because he is a low IQ individual and we don’t need low IQ individuals in Congress.”
Green was censured
on Thursday in a bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives for trying to interrupt the president. While Trump was speaking, Green screamed that he does not have a “mandate” to cut Medicaid. Green was removed
from the chamber over his disruptions.
Green told reporters after being removed that he would accept whatever “punishment” came his way.
“It’s worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security,” the lawmaker claimed.
Ahead of his censure vote, Green remained defiant about his actions, saying he would do it again.
‘I did it with intentionality. The president indicated that he had a mandate. I said to the president, ‘You do not have a mandate to cut Medicaid.’ I have constituents who need Medicaid. They will suffer, and some will die if they don’t get Medicaid,” he told
his colleagues.
Trump called the Democratic lawmaker a “fool and a clown” and an “embarrassment” to both Congress and his political party.
“Nobody takes him seriously,” the president said. “He is an embarrassment to Congress but a much bigger embarrassment to the Democrats.”
