Source: Cobden Centre
by Benn Steil and Elisabeth Harding
“President Trump has many times suggested that tariff revenue could replace the federal income tax. This claim is absurdly off-base, since it is mathematically impossible for tariffs, even at current levels of imports, to generate the $2.4trn in revenue that would be necessary. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, has said that the president only aspires to eliminate income tax for Americans earning less than $150k. Could tariffs cover that? As shown in the figure above, annual tariff revenue from the current effective Trump tariff rate of 28% would — assuming that imports stayed constant — amount to $838bn more than that collected in 2024, under Joe Biden. But the constant-imports assumption is clearly ludicrous, as imports are bound to shift away from China.” (04/29/25)
“Today, April 29, 2025, is President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office. The liberal [sic] media, which has underestimated and misrepresented this president for the past decade, would have us believe that his second term so far has been a disaster. Many of us who voted for Trump disagree. Pollsters tell us that Trump’s approval ratings are in free fall. Critics (and the president) suggest some polls don’t pass the smell test. GOP pollster John McLaughlin reports that in the new NY Times/Siena poll, which showed Trump with a meager 42% approving of how the president is handling his job, only 37% of the survey group voted for Trump in 2024. The recent ABC/Washington Post poll showed Trump at 39% approval – ‘The Lowest in 80 Years’ blared a headline – but included, according to McLaughlin, only 34% Trump voters. As McLaughlin asked pointedly on Truth Social, ‘Didn’t we win popular vote with 50%?'” (04/29/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Former Israeli ambassador to the United States Mike Herzog acknowledged on Israeli media on Sunday that the Biden administration never at any time pressured Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza. ‘God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse,’ Herzog said. ‘We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did.’ So everyone who said the Biden administration was working for a ceasefire lied. They lied that whole entire time. They committed genocide and lied about it, and then they said you were crazy and irresponsible if you didn’t support them. People’s rage should shake heaven and earth.” (04/29/25)
“Despite assurances on campaign trail that President Donald Trump would not weaponize the government against his political opponents as former President Joe Biden did, Trump is weaponizing the government against his political opponents as former President Joe Biden did. And ‘limited government’ Republicans are ecstatic.” (04/29/25)
“Mark Carney has done the impossible. A former central banker turned centrist politico, Carney’s brought his Liberal Party back from the electoral dead, winning a historic fourth straight term in government. Positioning himself as the tough, experienced pair of hands Canada needs to face down an unpredictable southern neighbor, Carney single-handedly saved the Liberals from annihilation in just a few short weeks. The campaign was fought amid existential dread set off by Donald Trump’s repeated threats to Canadian sovereignty.” (04/29/25)
“In early April, President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs in part of his greater protectionist economic policy. Included was a baseline 10 percent tariff on nearly all imports, with major manufacturing hubs for gaming hardware such as China, Vietnam, and Japan now facing rates of up to 145 percent, 34 percent, and 24 percent, respectively. As Asian suppliers exported $23.6 billion or 75.5 percent of the global total of video games in 2023, the international video game market is bracing for impact. So far, the shocks have prompted adjustments from video game companies and outcries from fans. As the largest entertainment sector, millions of customers would feel any downturn in the international video game market. The Trump administration must calibrate its approach to ensure it isn’t game over.” (04/29/25)
“Liberal [sic] judges have been making a mess of America’s immigration policy, but that could soon be changing. At the state level, a pair of obstructionists could soon trade their black robes for striped jumpsuits. FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that agents arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for attempting to foil the capture of an illegal [sic] alien named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz. President Obama deported Flores-Ruiz back to Mexico in 2013, but he returned under Democratic open borders [sic] policies, only to find himself on trial for domestic battery. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intended to arrest Flores-Ruiz at the courthouse when he showed up to answer for an alleged violent outburst where he punched his roommate in the face 30 times because he was ‘playing loud music.’ He purportedly struck two women who tried to intervene.” (04/28/25)
“Although the statement that ‘power grows out of the barrel of a gun’ was made by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, it’s an idea that, in one form or another, has motivated a great many people, from the members of teenage street gangs to the statesmen of major nations. The rising spiral of world military spending provides a striking example of how highly national governments value armed forces. … Of course, advocates of military power argue that, in a dangerous world, there is a necessity for deterring a military attack upon their nations. And that is surely a valid concern. But does military might really meet the need for national security?” (04/29/25)
“Soon after Syria experienced its Arab Spring uprising in 2011 and slid into a gruesome civil war, the country became a battleground for Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah supporting the former regime on one side, and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey backing rebel groups on the other. Since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster late last year, however, dynamics have shifted, transforming Syria into an arena of Turkish-Israeli competition. A major source of tension between Turkey and Israel stems from the former’s desire to see Syria emerge as a strong, unitary state with a Turkey-oriented government in Damascus while the latter wants Syria permanently weak and divided along ethno-sectarian lines.” (04/29/25)
