Unusual Whales
@unusualwhales.bsky.social

BREAKING: US Commerce Secretary Lutnick has said: Trump may roll back Canada and Mexico tariffs tomorrow

Aaron S. Veenstra
@asveenstra.bsky.social

1. Short everything
2. Announce tariffs
3. Close out short positions
4. Buy the dip
5. Call off the tariffs
6. Sell the spike
7. Repeat

Is there any reason to believe Trump's entire inner circle isn't doing this?

But don't let people lie about who has the leverage here. The US economy is the golden goose and the whole world knows it.
#48 | Posted by lee_the_agent

Unless this isn't about border security or domestic industry but simply about the rich insiders getting richer, which knowing Trump would be a safe bet to make:

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm.bsky.social
Just an obvious point that anyone with the inside word on when these these total reversals are going to be announced is in a position to make almost limitless amounts of money. Don't forget that given the kind of people who make up this administration.

This is the takeover of the Gov from the People by the Corporations.
Soon, you local Pay Day Scam Loans guy will loan you the money to pay your mortgage to the Musk Tiny Homes Company.... and sell you the Building Permit for that addition.
#2 | Posted by Corky

It's a scam alright:

Dave Sund @davesund.bsky.social
This is pretty much the vulture capitalist playbook so it's no surprise that Musk is running it.

Victoria Ward @hotspurstudio.bsky.social
This is an accurate analogy. But it isn't just Musk, it is a world wide movement that all right wing gov'ts want to adopt. See Argentina.

Sounds like a plan con artist real estate developer would love:

John Skiles Skinner
@skiles.bsky.social

Imagine DOGE opens your mail and finds your household electric bill. To eliminate this cost, they burn your house down without warning. Then they total up the bills that, as a homeless person, you will never again pay. On its website, DOGE boasts about the money it has saved you.

DOGE did this to 18F, and now they are doing it to the rest of GSA. They destroy things of great value to the public, tell the public about the small "savings" that result from that destruction, and do not mention the far larger costs.

It is a simple accounting trick: DOGE keeps a one-sided ledger.

Lacking a column for losses, the ledger reports gain after gain to you as your public assets are sold off.

The GSA is the landowner of public buildings. The people who took over our government presumably plan to sell these buildings to themselves in the current discounted market for office space.

They will tell the American people they have saved us money by making us homeless.

Presumably there will be vast waste in the liquidation of GSA too. Public dollars become private dimes.

Owning buildings is generally far cheaper for the government than leasing. I predict DOGE will throw away that efficiency as quickly as possible.

FTA:

Other high-profile buildings soon to go on the market include the Hubert H. Humphrey Building (home to the Department of Health and Human Services), the Frances Perkins Building (which houses the Department of Labor), and even GSA's own headquarters--a striking acknowledgment that the agency itself is not immune to the restructuring.

GSA did not say where the thousands of federal workers housed in these buildings would work or speculate on what entity would buy such buildings. The Trump administration has been pressuring workers who had been telecommuting to work in person.

What's staying? GSA emphasized that it will retain properties deemed critical to government operations, including courthouses, land ports of entry, and facilities essential to national defense and law enforcement.

"I don't think they should do is heckle him."

On second thought:

Dean Obeidallah @deanobeidallah.bsky.social

I will not be watching the convicted felon, adjudicated rapist give his pretend State of the Union tonight. But I do hope Democrats interrupt him at least as many times as the GOP heckled Biden!!

And now we know why they are closing so many Social Security offices: it's the first step toward outsourcing/priviatizing the operations:

Sam Stein
@samsteindc.bsky.social

NEW: In an email obtained by The Bulwark, the acting Social Security administrator made clear they're going to outsource-privatize operations. The expectation is it will be the call centers that seniors depend on.

Elon Is Coming for Your Social Security

What AOC and other Democrats will do during Trump's big dumb speech

The most significant part of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's olive branch offering to Donald Trump

The Ukraine leader described Friday's Oval Office bust-up with the US president as "regrettable", adding that now "is time to make things right".

Most significantly though was his spelling out of a vision for the first stage of how Russia's war with Ukraine could end.

Pushing back on false claims by Trump allies such as Elon Musk that Mr Zelenskyy wants an endless war, he said that Ukraine is committed to peace and is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible.

Crucially, he said: "We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky - ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure - and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same."

Appealing to the US president's ego, he praised Mr Trump's "strong leadership" and repeated his gratitude for past American support--again responding to criticism from the American commander in chief and his team that he is not showing enough gratitude.

Biden's Fault!:

Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social

BREAKING: The S&P 500 has now completely erased all gains since the election, wiping out $3.4 trillion in market value.

Make America great again!

Reallly? Then these really are Trump Tariffs:

Lawrence O'Donnell
@lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com
Fun fact about Trump tariffs you won't see in 99% of the reporting:

Trump tariffs are illegal.

Congress controls tariffs just like tax rates.

President can change a tariff only for national security emergency, meaning war.

"Scoop: Some Dems plot to disrupt Trump's speech to Congress"
www.axios.com
#19 | Posted by Corky

This sounds like good advice to me:

Jeffries also said leadership understands if some members skip the speech--as several have said they plan to do--but urged a "strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber."

House Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told Axios leadership is telling members to "keep the focus on the health and safety and the economic wellbeing of our constituents."

The bottom line: "Whether we are wearing pink, or black, or yellow and blue, we are all conveying our displeasure with this administration," said. Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.).

"What's more important is our work together and the pressure for three Republicans to do the right thing for everyone," she said.

Angry
@angrystaffer.bsky.social
Trump is reportedly going to announce the Ukrainian minerals deal at the State of the Union tonight. We'll see.

Tim Walz Offers to Meet With Voters Whose GOP Reps Refuse to Hold Town Halls

"Canceling town halls to avoid voter backlash is the thing you do, right before you lose the majority," said one Democratic strategist.

Voters in Republican districts may see considerably less of their members of Congress in the coming months following a directive from the chair of the U.S. House GOP's campaign arm on Tuesday, but Democratic leaders including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz offered to fill in for lawmakers who don't want to face constituents who have questions about the Trump-Republican agenda.

"If your Republican representative won't meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will," said Walz, who was former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate in the 2024 election. "Hell, maybe I will."

If Democrats have half a brain, which feels generous, they will start having twice as many Town Halls.
#6 | Posted by snoofy

Yep, Democrats need to "adopt" Republican districts like they did back in 2017/2018 when Democratic Congress people went into neighboring districts held by no-show Republicans and held town halls there.

Tariff Man:

Investors and consumers expected President Donald Trump to be a pro-business billionaire. What they got instead was Tariff Man.

Everyone should have seen this coming. Trump often talked about tariffs on the campaign trail. He also threatened tariffs after he was elected. Then, he threatened more tariffs after he was sworn in. And yet, investors " like everyone else " weren't sure how seriously to take those warnings until this week.

"They're believing him more now," said Neil Dutta, head of U.S. economic research at Renaissance Macro Research. "He finally shot the hostage."

Trump's move to shatter supply chains across North America is a stunning development, no matter how foreseeable, and it's changing the U.S. outlook fast. The U.S. economy was not entirely out of the inflation woods when Trump took office, but steady consumer spending and a low unemployment rate normally provide a healthy buffer against smaller economic shocks.

But throwing new tariffs on top of broader policy uncertainty and potential economic ripple effects from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency will mean a hit to growth. The question is how large of a hit it will ultimately be.

No more in-person town halls, NRCC chief tells House Republicans

Rep. Richard Hudson issued the edict after a spate of testy episodes.

The chair of the House GOP's campaign arm told Republican lawmakers Tuesday to stop holding in-person town halls amid a wave of angry backlash over the cuts undertaken by President Donald Trump's administration.

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the NRCC chair, delivered the message inside a closed-door meeting of House Republicans, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private remarks.

OMG, in-fing-santiy:

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar.com
Rep. Carlos Gimenez on CNN alludes to military strikes on Canada: "Instead of taking kinetic action, he's taking economic action in order to protect American lives."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
@aoc.bsky.social
Already hearing that Republican members have been showing up to the House floor trying to take up the Dem side seats for the joint address '

SOTU seats are not assigned. There are general seating areas for each body (House, Senate, SCOTUS,etc) but there are honored seats for each party's leadership and they're even trying to squat those.

If it doesn't sort out, be aware you may see applause on both sides of the aisle but they may be GOP

No, it wasn't planned. Trump seemed a bit surprised by how Zelenskyy handled himself.
POSTED BY BELLRINGER

That's your problem right there. It absolutely was planned.

Macron and Stamer both had to correct Trump a few times when he did press conferences for Christ sake. The guy is an habitual liar who is spouting Putin's talking points, and other world leaders are supoosed to ignore that and act like Trump is an honest, respectable, stand up guy?

What do you expect Zelensky to do? Just sit there nodding and smiling politely while he listened silently to Trump and Vance's lies?

Video at link:

The Tennessee Holler
@thetnholler.bsky.social

WATCH: A Dodge dealer says their prices just went up $20,000+ overnight and Trump's tariffs will kill their sales--"This is pretty radical"

#Trumpcession

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
@aoc.bsky.social

I'm not going to the Joint Address. I will be live posting and chatting with you all here instead. Then going on IG Live after.

Nope, this isn't going to cut it. If they attend at all, they should be wearing black:

Why Democratic women are wearing pink and white at tonight's Trump speech

The change in color reflects a shift in how they're thinking about opposing Trump in his second term.