'Big, Beautiful Bill': President Trump signs bill during White House 4th...

And he didn't have to use an autopen either!

What a novel concept.

Did Trump Turn on the Federalist Society?

Most times I don't give the windbags over at Digby's Hullabaloo the time of the day but like broken clocks once in a while they come up with some gems....case in point, Trump putting the judiciary on blast because they won't do his bidding (and in the process putting Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society on blast as well).

Seriously, go read it.

Now, to be fair, the judiciary isn't "beholden" to one side or the other; Chief Justice Roberts got it right in his "there are no Trump judges or Obama judges" quote. However, the way a judge rules on cases (and by extension, issues) is - SCOTUS notwithstanding - generally dependent on who appointed them....so to hear Trump put his fellow conservatives on blast was a surprise.

China's Sweating...

....one way we know this: they went after Hollywood!

China announced it would curb imports of Hollywood films, opening a new front in its trade war with the US hours after President Donald Trump’s record tariffs took effect.

Authorities vowed on Thursday to “moderately reduce” the number of US movies allowed into the world’s second-largest economy — a step floated earlier this week as a possible retaliation measure by two influential Chinese bloggers. 

“The wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favorability toward American films,” the China Film Administration said in a statement announcing the move. (HotAir via. Bloomberg News)

I'm sure Trump is shaking in his boots...from laughter, most likely.

If China thinks this is leverage over Trump they're even more deluded than once thought. Most of Hollywood hates Donald Trump and he's not losing sleep if they suffer over this as it would mean fewer resources to use against him down the road.

Its' also self-defeating on Beijing's part as Hollywood has long kissed their ass - I can think of four examples where Chinese authorities actively interfered in movie-making (the 2012 remake of Red Dawn, Top Gun: Maverick, The Departed, and 2012) because either the films made Beijing the villain and/or didn't show China in a positive light. (The Departed gets included here because Chinese customs don't allow for villainous characters to get away with crimes; in the movie its' based off, Infernal Affairs, the villain eventually gets arrested and in the original version, Matt Damon's character got away with everything. In the theatrical release, he got a bullet to the noggin from Mark Wahlberg's characters at the end of the film).

The only thing that would make this threat better - for the U.S. - is if Trump's DoJ opened investigations into whether Hollywood film studios colluded with China over access to the Chinese markets.

Trump & the "Organized Chaos" of the Recent Tariffs Row

This past week has been an ulcer-creating week for poli-sci junkies like myself.... For weeks, Trump stood firm on his tariffs and levies, which he characterizes as “a beautiful thing to behold.” He declared: “We have massive Financial Deficits with China, the European Union, and many others. The only way this problem can be cured is with TARIFFS, which are now bringing Tens of Billions of Dollars into the U.S.A. They are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold. The Surplus with these Countries has grown during the ‘Presidency’ of Sleepy Joe Biden. We are going to reverse it, and reverse it QUICKLY. Some day people will realize that Tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing!”

Trump’s biggest tariff target is, of course, Red China, our largest trading partner after Mexico and Canada. China’s communist leaders, who promised to “fight to the end” against the tariffs, slapped an additional 34% tax on all U.S. imports last Friday. In turn, Trump implemented 100%-plus tariffs on China, and the ChiComs then matched that tariff increase. Don’t underestimate China’s reckless economic resolve – remember that five years ago, China dropped the most devastating economic bomb ever detonated on the planet — the ChiCom Virus pandemic.

The China tit for tat notwithstanding, the National Economic Council director and Treasury secretary both report in the last 48 hours, that more than 50 nations have reached out to the White House to negotiate — and I suspect the number is substantially higher.

In other words, Trump’s tariffs are having the desired effect, except with China, though I think the administration has fully anticipated the ChiCom response. (Patriot Post, 9 April 2025)

I'm of two minds here....on the one hand, the "organized chaos" of the past week or so proved necessary; given America's position as the world's largest economy/consumer base, no country can long stand against us economically. (This was proven by the over-50 countries that've come crawling back to the U.S. for tariffs' relief.)

On the other hand, anyone who owned either stocks, bonds and/or crypto I guarantee either exacerbated or go an ulcer from this week's "organized chaos"...

Projecting Much, Digby?

Back when I was mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging Never Trumper I used to really enjoy Digby's Hullabaloo. Its' a liberal blog written by Heather 'Digby' Parton and her merry band is misanthropes, neer'do'well, carpetbaggers and scalawags and they've had their good moments but for once they're projecting what they and the broader Left in general do regularly - project their foul deeds onto the Right.

More than six weeks into the second Trump administration, there is a chill spreading over political debate in Washington and beyond.

People on both sides of the aisle who would normally be part of the public dialogue about the big issues of the day say they are intimidated by the prospect of online attacks from Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, concerned about harm to their companies and frightened for the safety of their families. Politicians fear banishment by a party remade in Mr. Trump’s image and the prospect of primary opponents financed by Mr. Musk, the president’s all-powerful partner and the world’s richest man.

“When you see important societal actors — be it university presidents, media outlets, C.E.O.s, mayors, governors — changing their behavior in order to avoid the wrath of the government, that’s a sign that we’ve crossed the line into some form of authoritarianism,” said Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard and the co-author of the influential 2018 book “How Democracies Die.” (NY Times, h/t to Digby's Hullabaloo)

The longer one follows the sordid, twisted spectacle that is the American political world, one notices a lot of different things - one of which being how our supposed betters complain whenever the hoi polloi - you know, the average person - grows a spine and doesn't go along with the Elites. It upsets them, it makes me break out in flop sweat - especially when you have someone like a Donald Trump who is actually willing to use the levers of power to get things done that the Elites don't like.

What they especially don't like is when their supposed allies - universities, businesses and the legal profession - actually remember what the laws are, who's in charge and realize, much to the Elites' chagrin, that rather than risk getting in trouble its' better to simply do your job and leave politics to the elected officials.