Sure, Vlad, old buddy. I inherited a great economy and screwed it up with tariffs; I made inflation worse. I fired government workers who provide service to the public; I’ve deported millions of hard-working, honest families; I fired our generals and hired an incompetent TV boob to run the military; I’ve got ICE running roughshod over people’s rights; I have an idiot running healthcare; A wrestling idiot runs education; I insult all our allies so no one will help us when we need it; American kids are dying because I started a stupid war and now the Houthis are making it worse. And frankly, I have no idea what the hell am doing except I personally am stealing billions. But I’ll get around all that by claiming the other guys are Communists.”
“Don, old pal, that’s a great ide . . . hey, wait a minute. Communists?
The Trump White House has decided to ramp up its international aggression, threatening a ground war in Iran and announcing yet another wave of tariffs (particularly at Canada). Once again, these international developments could potentially overwhelm whatever domestic economic trends are in place.
Oil prices have been reacting to the latest deterioration of the situation and the limited flow of oil through the Persian Gulf, but it remains to be seen whether the market can continue to brush off what appears to be a severe supply restriction. It also is unclear for how long countries will be willing to draw down strategic reserves given that diplomatic progress appears to be non-existent.
The problem with American diplomatic efforts is that none of the decisionmakers appear to have any understanding how targeted foreigners think, or their motivations. The focus is entirely on what the United States is doing, with the assumption that foreigners will give way to American demands if they are presented aggressively enough.
The White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner will be held tonight (after being cut short in April by a gunman). Once again, Trump will be on the dais, and his speech will be the main event.
But the highlight of the evening will be the award for “the most fair, impartial, objective news reporting” by a member of the White House press corps, which will be going to TheNew York Times’ Tyler Pager.
Pager is one of the Times journalists subpoenaed by Trump’s FBI to force the paperto reveal confidential sources behind its story about Trump’s Qatari-donated jumbo replacement for Air Force One. (A district judge has delayed enforcing the subpoenas.)
The backstory is that since returning to the White House, Trump has complained about the “look” of Air Force One. He was upset that other countries have newer planes that are “bigger and sleeker and sharper,” he told Fox News. “It doesn’t look right.” Of course, Trump wants the biggest, sleekest, and sharpest.
So in May of 2025 he accepted Qatar’s “gift” of a Boeing 747-8 jetliner, reportedly worth some $400 million. Trump described it as a gift to the United States (the Constitution prohibits gifts from foreign powers to presidents), but that’s rubbish. Trump says he intends to keep it for his presidential library (it’s hard to imagine a giant jumbo jet in a library or as a library) and post-presidential plaything.
The Qatari jumbo jet is intimately tied to Trump’s jumbo ego. Trump boasts that it will be “a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before,” adding, “Now when we land at airports in London and Germany and different places, nobody tops this one.”
He’s emphasized that it won’t cost taxpayers a dime, and would be easy to “bring it up to the presidential standards, meaning security wise.”
But the actual cost to taxpayers of retrofitting it to “presidential standards” has been between $400 million and $1 billion so far — more than the jet was worth in the first place. And it’s still not there, “security wise.”
Which brings us to the Times report, which drove Trump nuts. It said he had to fly out of Turkey (where the NATO summit was held) on the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari-donated jumbo jet because the Qatari jet still didn’t have sufficient security, including antimissile capabilities.
According to CNN, Trump was “fuming,” “embarrassed and angry” by the Times story. It made him look bad, even stupid. What kind of a businessman would describe a $400 million jet as “free” and then charge taxpayers more than $400 million to have it ready to fly? Even now, it’s not ready.
Trying to make the story appear as a threat to national security, Trump instructed FBI director Kash Patel and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to oversee a leak investigation. These are his top guns. Patel was even summoned to the White House and reportedly worked on it for eight hours.
Trump is paranoid that someone with knowledge that could embarrass him would be so disloyal as to leak it.
Subpoenas were sent to the homes of Times journalists who reported the story —including Tyler Pager. Other subpoenas went to the journalists’ phone service providers, seeking phone and text-messaging records for the journalists and their spouses. Rarely in history has the White House and FBI been mobilized like this.
But the threat here has nothing whatever to do with national security. Trump has even publicly admitted that the jet still has to be “maxed” for security.
No, the threat here is to Trump’s giant ego. His humongous ego is why he always has to fly in the biggest and the best plane — such as the Qatari jumbo jet. His ego is also why he hates to be the brunt of jokes by late night comedians, who’ve had a field day with Trump and his not-quite-ready Qatari jet.
And his paranoid ego is why Trump can’t stand the possibility that anyone in the White House, Pentagon, or Secret Service might have revealed to journalists his utter stupidity.
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 
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Brian Romanchuk
Jul 24
The Trump White House has decided to ramp up its international aggression, threatening a ground war in Iran and announcing yet another wave of tariffs (particularly at Canada). Once again, these international developments could potentially overwhelm whatever domestic economic trends are in place.
Oil prices have been reacting to the latest deterioration of the situation and the limited flow of oil through the Persian Gulf, but it remains to be seen whether the market can continue to brush off what appears to be a severe supply restriction. It also is unclear for how long countries will be willing to draw down strategic reserves given that diplomatic progress appears to be non-existent.
The problem with American diplomatic efforts is that none of the decisionmakers appear to have any understanding how targeted foreigners think, or their motivations. The focus is entirely on what the United States is doing, with the assumption that foreigners will give way to American demands if they are presented aggressively enough.
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The Real Reason Trump Subpoenaed The New York Times It has nothing to do with national security
Robert Reich
Jul 24
Friends,
The White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner will be held tonight (after being cut short in April by a gunman). Once again, Trump will be on the dais, and his speech will be the main event.
But the highlight of the evening will be the award for “the most fair, impartial, objective news reporting” by a member of the White House press corps, which will be going to The New York Times’ Tyler Pager.
Pager is one of the Times journalists subpoenaed by Trump’s FBI to force the paperto reveal confidential sources behind its story about Trump’s Qatari-donated jumbo replacement for Air Force One. (A district judge has delayed enforcing the subpoenas.)
The backstory is that since returning to the White House, Trump has complained about the “look” of Air Force One. He was upset that other countries have newer planes that are “bigger and sleeker and sharper,” he told Fox News. “It doesn’t look right.” Of course, Trump wants the biggest, sleekest, and sharpest.
So in May of 2025 he accepted Qatar’s “gift” of a Boeing 747-8 jetliner, reportedly worth some $400 million. Trump described it as a gift to the United States (the Constitution prohibits gifts from foreign powers to presidents), but that’s rubbish. Trump says he intends to keep it for his presidential library (it’s hard to imagine a giant jumbo jet in a library or as a library) and post-presidential plaything.
The Qatari jumbo jet is intimately tied to Trump’s jumbo ego. Trump boasts that it will be “a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before,” adding, “Now when we land at airports in London and Germany and different places, nobody tops this one.”
He’s emphasized that it won’t cost taxpayers a dime, and would be easy to “bring it up to the presidential standards, meaning security wise.”
But the actual cost to taxpayers of retrofitting it to “presidential standards” has been between $400 million and $1 billion so far — more than the jet was worth in the first place. And it’s still not there, “security wise.”
Which brings us to the Times report, which drove Trump nuts. It said he had to fly out of Turkey (where the NATO summit was held) on the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari-donated jumbo jet because the Qatari jet still didn’t have sufficient security, including antimissile capabilities.
According to CNN, Trump was “fuming,” “embarrassed and angry” by the Times story. It made him look bad, even stupid. What kind of a businessman would describe a $400 million jet as “free” and then charge taxpayers more than $400 million to have it ready to fly? Even now, it’s not ready.
Trying to make the story appear as a threat to national security, Trump instructed FBI director Kash Patel and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to oversee a leak investigation. These are his top guns. Patel was even summoned to the White House and reportedly worked on it for eight hours.
Trump is paranoid that someone with knowledge that could embarrass him would be so disloyal as to leak it.
Subpoenas were sent to the homes of Times journalists who reported the story —including Tyler Pager. Other subpoenas went to the journalists’ phone service providers, seeking phone and text-messaging records for the journalists and their spouses. Rarely in history has the White House and FBI been mobilized like this.
But the threat here has nothing whatever to do with national security. Trump has even publicly admitted that the jet still has to be “maxed” for security.
No, the threat here is to Trump’s giant ego. His humongous ego is why he always has to fly in the biggest and the best plane — such as the Qatari jumbo jet. His ego is also why he hates to be the brunt of jokes by late night comedians, who’ve had a field day with Trump and his not-quite-ready Qatari jet.
And his paranoid ego is why Trump can’t stand the possibility that anyone in the White House, Pentagon, or Secret Service might have revealed to journalists his utter stupidity.
LikeLike