Today in Politics, Bulletin 141. 5/29/25 Ron Filipkowski May 29 ∙ … TACO Trump is all the rage on social media after CNBC reporter Mary Cassella asked Trump this question about him always backing down on tariffs: “Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the ‘TACO’ trade. They’re saying Trump always chickens out, and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?” … Trump came unglued: “I chickened out? I’ve never heard that. Because I reduced China from 145% down to 100 and then down to another number? 6 months ago, this country was stone cold, dead. We had a dead country. We had a country, people didn’t think it was going to survive. And you ask a nasty question like that! It’s called negotiation. We were doing no business because of the tariff, because it was so high. But I knew that. But don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.” … Seems a bit touchy about this subject. … Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times came up with the ‘TACO’ term when he wrote a few weeks ago that the markets stopped reacting as strongly to Trump’s tariff announcements because they know he will eventually cave: “A lot to do with markets realizing that the Trump admin does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure, and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain.” … Market analyst Ed Yardeni to CNBC: “Trump’s style in negotiating deals is he huffs and he puffs, but he doesn’t blow the house down.” … That set off a blizzard of memes mocking Trump alternately as a taco or a chicken. Today is now officially Taco Trump Thursday! … Former podcaster, fake tough guy, now Dep. FBI Director Dan Bongino went on Fox to cry about how difficult it is to have to work for a living: "I gave up everything for this. I mean, you know, my wife is struggling. I stare at these four walls all day in DC, by myself, divorced from my wife. Not divorced, but I mean, separated. And it's hard." … If they are separated, she isn’t struggling. … But Bongino says he’s working hard on important stuff: “As we read and process reports of a new Covid strain emerging, I want you to know that we are actively investigating, in multiple field offices, the cover-up of the origin of the Covid virus, along with associated matters requiring our attention. You deserve answers.” … Bongino also claims that he is closing in on the J6 pipe bomber: “Before us, no one seemed to show any interest in this case. The second we got in, I put a team on it. I’m pretty confident that we’re closing in on some suspects.” … I was interest in the case. … NOTUS: “HHS Sec RFK Jr says his Make American Healthy Again Commission report harnesses ‘gold standard’ science, citing more than 500 studies and other sources to back up its claims. Those citations, though, are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions. Seven of the cited sources don’t appear to exist at all.” [BLEACH BLONDE BRAIN DEAD] … Press Sec Karoline Leavitt was asked about the report today. Reporter: An investigation found the MAHA commission report cites studies that appear not to exist. Leavitt: “I understand there were some formatting issues. It does not negate the substance of the report.” Reporter: Is AI used to put together these reports? Leavitt: “I can’t speak to that.” … Two different federal courts ruled that the vast majority of Trump’s tariffs violate the Constitution since he tried to use emergency powers to bypass the taxing authority of Congress. First, the US Court of International Trade in NY ruled that his “Liberation Day” tariffs were illegal, exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims. A fed judge in DC then followed that up with a similar ruling. … The case in NY was decided by Timothy Reif, who was appointed by Trump, Jane Restani, a Reagan appointee, and Gary Katzman, an Obama appointee. … The ruling left tariffs in place on autos and auto parts, plus steel and aluminum, since they were imposed using a specific federal statute. … WH Policy Director[NAZI] Stephen Miller: “The judicial coup is out of control.” … Former Rep. Tom Malinowski: “Critical lesson from ruling striking down tariffs: It was small businesses that stood up to the president in court that succeeded. Not the big corporations, like Apple and Amazon, that contributed to his inauguration and generally tried to suck up.” … Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) on Fox: "I don't think anybody can deny that Donald Trump has tried to stretch-- ah, er, maybe just explore, the edges of executive power."   THAT'S THE BEST HE CAN DO? NORTH DAKOTA: ELECT SOMEONE WITH A BRAIN! … Trump filed an emergency appeal, and a federal appeals court then issued a temporary stay of the ruling from the US Court of International Trade until it can hearing arguments in the case. The parties were ordered to file briefs no later than June 9. ... Trump’s economic advisor Kevin Hassett on Fox Business: "This trade negotiation season has been really, really effective for the American people and it's unfortunate that people would attack it, as the journalists did or the way the judges just did." TARIFF LUNACY! … Trump asked Fed Chair Jerome Powell to come to the WH so he could beg him to lower interest rates to jumpstart the sputtering economy that Taco Trump wrecked. The Fed issued a statement after: “Chair Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic info. Chair Powell said that he and his colleagues will set monetary policy to support maximum employment and stable prices, and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis.” … Reuters: Weekly jobless claims increased from 14,000 to 240,000 Continuing claims rise 26,000 to 1.919 million Corporate profits fall $118.1 billion in first quarter Economy contracts at 0.2% rate in Q1 by all measures … “The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week and the unemployment rate appeared to have picked up in May, suggesting layoffs were rising as tariffs cloud the economic outlook. The report from the Labor Department showed a surge in applications in Michigan last week, the nation's motor vehicle assembly hub. The number of people collecting unemployment checks in mid-May was the largest in 3-1/2 years. The outlook for the economy is dimming with other data showing a sharp decline in corporate profits in Q1.” … Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS: "This is a sign that cracks are starting to form in the economy and that the outlook is deteriorating. There is nothing great about today's jobless claims data and the jump in layoffs may be a harbinger of worse things to come." … CNBC on bond rates rising: “Investors will be awaiting the gross domestic product growth rate for fresh insights into the health of the US economy. They are also looking ahead to the personal consumption expenditures index — the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge — which is set to be released on Friday morning.” … CNBC: “Spending from foreign visitors to the US is poised to fall by $8.5 billion this year as negative perceptions tied to trade and immigration policy lead overseas tourists to look elsewhere, according to Oxford Economics. International arrivals to the US are expected to fall about 9% this year, Aran Ryan, director of industry studies at Tourism Economics, part of Oxford Economics, wrote in a research note last week.” … “Other estimates suggest the potential economic loss may be even larger. The World Travel & Tourism Council said this month it expects the US economy to lose a staggering $12.5 billion in spending from international visitors in 2025, a ‘direct blow to the US economy overall, impacting communities, jobs, and businesses from coast to coast.’” … Flight bookings to the US between May and July were down 11% from the same time last year. Air bookings from Europe (-10%) and Canada (-33%) are down the most. … CA Gov Gavin Newsom to Meidas: “The ports in LA saw 17 cancellations of vessels. 10 cancellations already that we’re projecting in June. This has already had an impact. Shortages and supply constraints are inevitable if this continues. It’s self-inflicted by the Trump admin. We cannot overstate the impacts of the damage.” … Stephen Miller’s wife Katie is leaving the Trump admin to work directly for Musk, which has prompted rumors that she may soon end up being Musk’s latest baby mama given his predilection for procreation. CNN: “She is reportedly helping Musk to set up media interviews unrelated to his govt work now that he has officially stepped down as head of DOGE. Musk has given interviews this week to Ars Technica, CBS News and WaPo, where he complained about WH betrayal and criticized the ‘big beautiful bill’ Trump was trying to push through Congress.” … USA Today columnist Rex Huppke: "I read the words 'Stephen Miller' and 'throuple' then passed out for like 20 minutes. Has it stopped yet or are all the worst things imaginable still happening all at once?" … James Palmer, editor of Foreign Policy: "Congratulations to Katie Miller for being literally the only woman in the world for whom joining Elon Musk’s harem would be a step up.” … Far-right Russian fascist Alexander Dugin, who is often called ‘Putin’s Brain’ posted on X how sad he was to see Elon Musk leave govt: “I regret Musk departure. Dems are happy. That means something is going wrong. They were an excellent pair. DOGE made a great favor to the entire world liquidating USAID, Health Dept and Dept of Education. That was a serious strike on the Deep State.” … The Pentagon just issued a statement that Elon’s ‘List 5 things you did last week’ mandatory emails for all employees have been permanently canceled. … MN Gov Tim Walz responded to the story about Musk’s last day in the Trump admin: “Finally rooting out waste and abuse.” … WSJ reported that Musk is using his clout with the Trump admin to try and muscle his way into the deal made by arch-rival Sam Altman with UAE: “Elon Musk worked privately to derail the OpenAI deal announced in Abu Dhabi last week if it didn't include his own AI startup, at one point telling officials in the UAE that there was no chance of Trump signing off unless his company was included.” The streak of slow-ish news days this week certainly ended today, and this Bulletin is packed with news. I’m still going to put out another article in a little bit of my top Taco Trump Memes, so stay tuned. If you missed the last Bulletin, you can find it here. I am going to be off tomorrow because we are doing a FRI-SAT trip to Rhode Island. Tomorrow is Newport where we are visiting 3 Gilded Age mansions and the International Tennis Fall of Fame. Saturday is Providence where we have a food tour, Italian dinner on Federal Hill, and then the WaterFire downtown at night on the river. Next Bulletin is the weekend recap on Sunday night. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … After her trips to Israel and the Middle East,DOG KILLER Kristi Noem then went to Poland to urge voters in that country to vote for far-right candidate Karol Nawrocki in this Sunday’s presidential election. She called pro-EU centrist candidate Rafal Trzaskowski “a train wreck of a leader” to a group of Poles organized by CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp in the town of Rzeszow. … Noem warned Poles that their country may lose support from the US if they don’t elect Nawrocki: “I just had the opportunity to meet with Karol. Listen, he needs to be the next president of Poland. You understand me? If you elect a leader that will work with President Trump, the Polish people will have an ally. Trzaskowski would take all of that protection away from you.” … Just disgusting. Yet another attempt to meddle in the election of one of our allies by the US govt under Trump by threatening one of our closest allies that they will destroy their friendship with us unless they vote for a far-right leader (Musk and Vance are behind this). Their efforts backfired in Germany and Canada - we will see about Poland on Sunday. … With all the problems at the airports heading into the busiest travel season of the year, Trans Sec and former Fox host Sean Duffy is organizing a road trip photo op for himself: “We're about to celebrate America's 250th birthday. The president has told all departments to come up with ways to celebrate this anniversary. So at DOT we are going to do the great American road trip. We have 40 cars here all made in America.” … Axios: “In a tense meeting last week, Stephen Miller and DOG KILLER DHS Secretary Kristi Noem demanded that ICE arrest 3,000 people a day. The new target is triple the number of daily arrests that agents were making in the early days of Trump's term. Miller's directive and tone had people leaving the meeting feeling their jobs could be in jeopardy if the new targets aren't reached. It's not the first time Miller has yelled at senior DHS officials about getting arrest and deportation numbers up.” … NAZI Miller was asked about the report on Fox: “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day.” … Trump just pardoned another 11 felons. WaPo: “Trump pardoned a couple who admitted to knowingly employing a felon at their insurance company and a popular hip-hop artist, NBA YoungBoy, convicted of gun charges in addition to commuting the sentence of former Gangster Disciples leader Larry Hoover. The pardons of former congressmen Michael Grimm of NY and John Rowland of CT brought to nine the number of former Republican members of Congress Trump has pardoned.” … NBC: “Larry Hoover Sr. the ‘chairman of the board’ of Chicago's Gangster Disciples, serving 6 life sentences tied to the drug trade and called ‘one of the most notorious criminals in Illinois history’ has had his prison sentence commuted by President Trump.” … Trump also said he is considering a pardon for the men convicted of plotting to kidnap MI Gov Gretchen Whitmer: “I will take a look at it. It’s been brought to my attention. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job. You know, they were drinking, and I think they said stupid things, but I’ll take a look at that." … Whitmer was asked about it by MSNBC: "Very disappointed that they are even considering it, frankly. You know, when the president was shot at in Pennsylvania, I was one of the first people on either side of the aisle to condemn it. We have to condemn political violence, no matter where it comes from." … House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) says that based on "more and more evidence coming out from Jake Tapper,” he is launching another investigation of the Biden Admin to determine whether “unnamed bureaucrats” were signing executive orders and pardons for Biden. He also told Fox that he may subpoena Biden to testify: “We are going to see who was giving the directive to sign these. If everyone says it was Joe Biden then I'm open to bring him in.” … CNN’s May ratings are down 24% this year from the same time last year. … Fox reported that Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) introduced a bill today that would establish a panel of congressional investigators to "investigate and report upon the facts of President Biden’s cognitive and physical health decline and the potential concealment of information from the American public." … The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO), John Rose (R-TN), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), and Barry Moore (R-MO). Carter is running for Senate against Jon Ossoff and Van Orden is a top target for Dems in 2026 in a tight swing district. … Military.com: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered staff cuts at the congressionally mandated Pentagon office that oversees tests of major weapons systems, to ensure they’re effective and maintainable, before billions of dollars are spent on them. Hegseth framed the decision to scale back the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation as a cost-cutting move that would save $300 million each year.” … KMTV-Omaha: “Before the doors even opened a line of concerned constituents started to form outside of Rep. Mike Flood’s town hall Tues night. Colleen Nygern was at the front of that line. ‘I want to ask him specifically about section 70302 of HR1.’ Section 70302 was tucked away more than 500 pages into the more than 1100 page HR1 budget bill, better known as Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.” … That line would allow officials to ignore judicial orders without the consequences of being held in contempt, and the provision would be retroactive to any current injunction or restraining orders placed on the Trump admin. Nygern: “It legislates away the ability for fed court to enforce their contempt charges, and this is in a budget bill and doesn’t belong there.” … Flood’s response was met with loud boos and jeers: “I’m not going to hide the truth, this provision was unknown to me when I voted for that bill.” … Another angry constituent responded: “You say, oh I care about the rule of law but you voted for a bill that contains a provision that guts the checks the judicial branch has and you didn’t even read it? That’s ridiculous!” … Trump posted this deranged rant late last night: “BREAKING! In a major WIN in our powerful lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board regarding the illegal and defamatory ‘Award’ of their once highly respected ‘Prize,’ to fake, malicious stories on the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, by the Failing NYT and the Washington Compost, the FL Appellate Court viciously rejected the Defendants’ corrupt attempt to halt the case. They won a Pulitzer Prize for totally incorrect reporting about the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax. Now they admit it was a SCAM, never happened, and their reporting was totally wrong, in fact, the exact opposite of the TRUTH. They’ll have to give back their ‘Award.’ They were awarded for false reporting, and we can’t let that happen in the USA.” … This is the dumbest lawsuit and nobody has to give anything back. They got Republican judges appointed by Desantis and Rick Scott to deny the motion to dismiss before trial. This is going nowhere, but Trump needed a distraction to divert attention away from our Taco memes. Not happening. I’m laser focused on the memes. … WaPo: “Despite claims by DOD, legal teams representing the US and Qatari govts have not finalized an agreement for transferring the luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner that Trump wants for AF1. Qatar is insisting that a memo of understanding between Washington and Doha specify that the aircraft’s transfer was initiated by the Trump admin. The delay reflects lingering concerns about legal liability stemming from the WH maneuver to transform what was originally a sale between two countries into a “gift”. … “After Trump toured the jet, AF officials reviewed the aircraft and found that it was ‘very poorly maintained’ and would require millions of dollars just to bring it up to satisfactory maintenance conditions. The AF estimated then that it could cost $1.5B to meet those requirements. To then remove the military gear and convert it for civilian use after Trump leaves office could cost another $500 million.” … Sec. of State Marco Rubio made two social media posts about deporting foreign students, the first aimed at China and the second at Europe: “The US will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” “For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights. Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign govts have no authority. Foreigners who work to undermine the rights of Americans should not enjoy the privilege of traveling to our country.” … Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren posted a lamentation on X that new DC US Attorney and former Fox host Jeanne Pirro doesn’t want to be her friend anymore: “I think everyone has gone nuts. I asked a mutual friend for Jeanne Pirro’s new cell (I have known and been friends with Jeanne since the 90’s) and the friend said that Jeanne told her not to give it to me. Huh? What in the world is that all about? Has everyone gone nuts?” .. Floyd Brown posted this on X: “I was fired yesterday by Richard Grenell from the Kennedy Center. One month ago, I was recruited to join the Kennedy Center as a Vice President. My firing came approximately two hours after CNN sent an email asking me to comment on my past writings and statements about traditional marriage and homosexual influence in the GOP. Grenell is a professing Christian and is married to a male spouse. CNN also contacted Grenell.” … “I asked for an explanation of my dismissal, and I asked to speak to Grenell. Both of those requests have been ignored. The only explanation is the one given to me at the time of my firing: ‘Floyd, you must recant your belief in traditional marriage and your past statements on the topic, or you will be fired.’ Needless to say, I refused to recant and was shown the door. My beliefs are much more common to Biblical Christianity. My only conclusion is Grenell was intimidated by a CNN story, which hasn’t been aired or published, so he preemptively fired me for my Christian beliefs on marriage.” … MAGA influencers who already didn’t like Grenell (Trump’s token gay friend) have knives out for him now. Former NSA Michael Flynn: “I am so sorry this happened to my friend Floyd Brown who was massively experienced and talented and exactly the right person to manage the day to day operations of the Kennedy Center. This was an unnecessary firing of a man who is simply a passionate Christian, a fierce patriot and a true friend. In my judgement, there is no leader better suited to oversee the Kennedy Center than Floyd. America’s success story will also require an unwavering stance in what it means to be an American, ie., redefining exactly what are American values. Some values are not up for discussion. By congressional decree, we are one nation ‘under GOD’.” … Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) filed a bill to rename the metro system in DC after Trump: “All Aboard the TRUMP TRAIN! WMATA takes $150M a year in fed funds and delivers nothing but delays, dysfunction, and decay. My bill blocks funding until WMATA is renamed WMAGA and the Metrorail becomes the TRUMP TRAIN. WMATA’s reputation has been wrecked after years of mismanagement, breakdowns, and public distrust. Americans have demanded that Congress cut waste and improve efficiency. This bill answers that call. Let’s Make Autorail Great Again. Let’s ride the TRUMP TRAIN.” … There are currently other bills pending filed by Republicans in the House to put Trump’s face on the $100 bill, add him to Mount Rushmore, rename the Dulles Airport after him, and to make his birthday a national holiday.