THE SET-UP: If nothing else, we finally know when Trump believes America was “great.”
The widespread assumption is that Trump probably believes the1950s were the high water-mark for American greatness. But today, during a press availability with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Oval Office, he made it clear that he’s talking about the end of Gilded Age, the coming of President McKinley and that era’s reliance on tariffs.
He’s absolutely convinced, too, and now that I’ve heard him opine repeatedly on what he sees as the great success of tariffs at the end of the 19th Century, it’s clear that he does have something he truly believes in. That, along with his nearly 40 year-long track record of criticizing US trade policy, means this tariff-driven attempt to overturn the international order is probably going to be with us for some time. This is not a lark or a ploy … this is a revolution. He’s trying to overturn the post-War order the US built … or, as he put it today, we wants to “re-set the table on trade.”
Yes, it’s audacious and megalomaniacal, but that’s exactly what he’s doing … and that’s not all. During today’s presser he said this is “an opportunity to remake the fabric of the country.” A couple times over the last two weeks I’ve even heard him say the tariffs are good for “the soul” of the nation. That causes my ears to prick-up because it reminds me of the grievances that motivated the Axis Alliance to come together and attempt to overturn what they saw as an unjust international order … one that worked with domestic traitors to sell out “the people” to a coterie of international crooks at the Paris Peace Conference.
Is history is rhyming … or repeating? Is that a distinction without a difference?
Either way, it’s just another layer of irony that Trump blames “stupid” domestic traitors for selling out the country to foreign thieves. Of course, that’s ridiculous. The US manufacturing economy was exported to China and Mexico and Vietnam by US corporations. China never stole a single factory. Walmart, on the other hand, led the charge overseas to exploit China’s cheap labor and its environmental sacrifice zones. And they and many other profit-chasing corporations had plenty of help from politicians on both sides of the aisle … but it’s notable that Trump prefers to lay the blame on foreign foes. He’s targeting scapegoats. And that’s another funny little thing I expect to hear on the way to fascism.
Then again, maybe this is all just an elaborate game of “Three-Card Monte.”
Or maybe Trump is simply playing good cop/bad cop with the disparate, intentionally uncoordinated voices in his administration.
Maybe we are meant to be left guessing … are Trump’s tariffs a new reality or just another negotiating tactic?
That question drove the market nuts today. “Madness” is what one floor trader called it. To avoid more “madness,” I suspect Trump’s team scuttled a formal, midday presser with Netanyahu. Most of the Oval event happened after the final bell.
Perhaps the ultimate irony is that today’s wild swings were caused by real “fake news.” You almost couldn’t make this stuff up. The absurdity is relentless. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to decide if this is another upwelling of fascism … or just another scam. - jp
TITLE: How actual ‘fake news’ caused a market whiplash
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/media/fake-news-x-post-caused-market-whiplash/index.html
EXCERPTS: Unsourced “headlines” about a potential “90-day pause in tariffs” sent markets into a state of turbulence Monday morning as investors sought any indication of a reprieve from the Trump administration’s new levies. The problem: It wasn’t true. The White House swiftly denied the rumor shortly after it began to circulate online.
The false posts may have originated from a real Fox News interview with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett at around 8:30 a.m. ET. Hassett was asked whether President Donald Trump would “consider a 90-day pause in tariffs,” and he replied in part: “The president is (going to) decide what the president is (going to) decide.”
According to CNN’s analysis, the first X post to claim Hassett said Trump would consider a 90-day pause in tariffs came at 10:11 a.m. ET from an account called “Hammer Capital” with the handle “yourfavorito,” which has barely 1,000 followers.
At about 10:12 a.m., CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich, who was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, said that cheers had broken out, as stock indices — which were already recovering from early-morning lows — suddenly surged.
“Walter Bloomberg,” an account with a much larger following that uses the handle “DeItaone” copy-and-pasted the original rumor along with a siren emoji at 10:13 a.m.
On CNBC, anchors were seemingly baffled, wondering what was causing the turnaround.
CNBC anchor David Faber and his network colleagues wondered aloud about the triggering “headline,” searching their computer screens for a wire service alert or any other indication of what could have caused stock market movements.
By 10:15 a.m., CNBC anchors were reading the news on air.
“I think we can go with this headline, apparently Hassett’s been saying Trump will consider a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except for China,” anchor Carl Quintanilla said.
“We’re trying to source that exactly in terms of where that’s coming from,” Faber quickly added. CNBC showed the “headline” on screen less than a minute later.
“HASSETT: TRUMP IS CONSIDERING A 90-DAY PAUSE IN TARIFFS FOR ALL COUNTRIES EXPECT CHINA,” the CNBC banner read, as if the news was confirmed.
By 10:19, Reuters alerted the supposed comments, citing CNBC.
Stocks would later decline as the White House firmly denied the supposed headline. CNBC reporters quickly reported the White House denial, and Reuters updated its stories, later issuing an advisory at 12:28 p.m. withdrawing the original alert along with a statement that the newswire service “regrets its error.”
The “Walter Bloomberg” account appears to borrow its name from the Bloomberg financial news service to gain credibility. The account, which has more than 800,000 followers, often posts accurate news flashes from Bloomberg, Reuters and other outlets. “Hammer Capital” also posts headlines, as well as stock market memes.
Both that account and “Hammer Capital” do not publicize their real identities. Both have blue checkmarks on X, which used to indicate the account holder’s identity had been verified. But when Musk took over the service formerly known as Twitter, he turned the blue checkmark into a paid service, meaning anyone could pay to appear verified and have their posts boosted on others’ timelines.
Once the financial damage was done, “Walter Bloomberg” deleted the post, claiming they first saw it on Reuters, and market participants were left wondering what just happened. “Hammer Capital” said on X they first saw the news on Reuters and CNBC, although Reuters’ flash was at 10:19 a.m., sourced to CNBC. CNN has reached out to CNBC for comment.
TITLE: Billionaire Trump Backer Bill Ackman Skewers Howard Lutnick's Glaring 'Conflict of Interest': 'He Profits When Our Economy Implodes!'
https://www.mediaite.com/news/billionaire-trump-backer-bill-ackman-skewers-howard-lutnicks-glaring-conflict-of-interest-he-profits-when-our-economy-implodes/
EXCERPTS: Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a Trump 2024 megadonor, took to X this week to skewer Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Wall Street ties and accuse him of seeking to profit from the economic chaos.
With markets reeling from last week’s sweeping tariffs — the Dow down 8.75%, the Nasdaq off 10.6%, and the S&P 500 sliding 9.9% — Ackman spent Sunday pleading with Trump for a 90-day pause to give time for trade negotiations and avoid a global loss of confidence in the U.S. before he unleashed on what he said was Lutnick’s glaring and “irreconcilable conflict of interest.”
“I just figured out why @howardlutnick is indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing,” he wrote. “He and Cantor are long bonds. He profits when our economy implodes.”
He added: “It’s a bad idea to pick a Secretary of Commerce whose firm is levered long fixed income. It’s an irreconcilable conflict of interest.”
The “firm” in question is Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial powerhouse Lutnick helmed for 35 years before joining Trump’s cabinet. The point being that Cantor is heavily invested in long-term bonds — instruments that spike in value when markets crash and investors flee equities.
Ackman, then, arguing that as Americans brace for recession, Trump’s top commerce official is poised to gain.
The billionaire touted himself as “long America” while Lutnick is “short.”
TITLE: Eric Trump’s Crypto Call Sparks 46% Ethereum Crash — “Don’t Trust the Trumps,” Warns Peter Schiff
https://coinfomania.com/eric-trumps-crypto-call-sparks-46-ethereum-crash-dont-trust-the-trumps-warns-peter-schiff/
EXCERPTS: ETH was one of the biggest losers of today’s crypto downtrend. The Ethereum price decrease was significant, sending this token below the $1500 mark. This devastating drop has caused many community members to criticise the recent Eric Trump crypto advice. Donald Trump is also under fire from the crypto community for his aggressive tariff policy in the wake of the crash.
Eric Trump crypto advice came in early February, as he tweeted that it is a great time to buy Ethereum. This post attracted a lot of criticism even then. Pierre Rochard, a Bitcoin purist, called Ethereum one of the assets to avoid investing in. Another community member also mentioned that Trump investment firm, World Liberty Financial, had recently moved to sell $175 million in ETH.
Since the Eric Trump recommendation, however, the value of [ETH] has dropped significantly, by almost 45%. A large percentage of this decline occurred just today, as the daily Ethereum price decrease is now at 17.5%. As ETH fell to $1,492, the 30-day decrease is now at 30.27%, marking one of the biggest ETH crashes. Additionally, Ethereum is now trading 69.4% below its all-time high of $4,878. As such, Eric Trump advice was followed by one of the worst crashes in ETH value. This has earned some interesting reactions from the market veteran Peter Schiff.
This is not the first time that Donald Trump crypto recommendation has been criticised for being wrong or manipulative. TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins experienced explosive growth at first; however, they were soon pumped and dumped, leaving investors devastated. With such cases, many now accuse the Trumps of market manipulation for … personal gain. As we discussed, this was also the case for the Eric Trump recommendation, which came before the WLFI Ethereum dump. To put it more in perspective, Eric Trump is one of the main managing figures behind World Liberty Financial.
[M]aybe he did not intend to manipulate the market. However, the point stands that you should not listen to Trumps for investment advice. This is because all these cryptocurrencies have gone down in value since [Eric Trump] recommended them.
[BTW: I am certain that this last story was authored by A/I.- jp]