Source: Common Dreams
by Sarah Van Gelder

“DNC Chair Ken Martin on Friday announced the launching of a People’s Cabinet! This is potentially exciting news. As I wrote about last month, a People’s Cabinet is a powerful way to combat the latest unlawful, unconstitutional, cruel, and downright stupid action from the Trump-Musk administration. And it’s a great way to lift up leaders who can propose common sense, people-centered alternatives. One proposal that may be a stretch for the DNC, though: Instead of the same old top-down decision making, please make this an open process. Invite everyone to help select cabinet members …. The Democratic Party’s approval ratings are very low and there is a lot of ground to make up after the party first insisted Joe Biden would be the 2024 presidential candidate and then anointed Kamala Harris as the presidential candidate — with no public input.” (04/05/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/dnc-people-s-cabinet

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Reem Ibrahim

“‘Liberation Day’: That is what US President Donald Trump has called Wednesday, April 2, the day he announced huge swaths of taxes on imports worldwide. Despite the label, it was far from a day of liberation. By making imports to the US more expensive, the government is actively increasing the cost of living for American consumers. The Trump administration has fallen for one of the most common misconceptions about trade — that it only benefits a country when it is the exporter. This could not be further from the truth. One of the greatest benefits of free trade lies with the importing country, where consumers gain access to a huge range of goods, crucially, at lower prices.” (04/04/25)

https://fee.org/articles/tariffs-arent-liberating/

Source: The Bulwark
by Adrian Carrasquillo

“[T]ucked away in section 6B of Trump’s day-one executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border was this pearl, which I’ve set in bold and italics so you can’t miss it: ‘Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.’ Since we can assume the report from the secretaries will reflect Trump’s preferences, by the end of this month we’ll have a clear signal of the likelihood of his invoking the Insurrection Act — a previously unfathomable step that would dramatically escalate the administration’s already deeply controversial detention and deportation efforts.” (04/04/25)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/will-trump-invoke-the-insurrection-act-1807-southern-border

Source: EconTalk
by Pierre Lemieux

“The customs tariffs imposed on imported goods by President Donald Trump on April 2 will, according to some estimates, bring the average US tariff higher than after the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 …. As these tariffs are a tax on American consumers … the impact on the cost of living will be significant. The poorest Americans, a large part of whom voted for Trump, will be the hardest hit. … However, the costly shock that will hit the American economy and the world may have a silver lining. If Mr. Trump does not rapidly back up or is not rapidly forced to, the episode will show again what economists have known for nearly three centuries and what economic history has constantly confirmed — that mercantilism has disastrous effects on most of the population.” (04/04/25)

https://www.econlib.org/a-silver-lining-but/

Source: Fox News Forum
by Tanvi Ratna

“Let us be honest: When most people hear ‘tariffs,’ they think about price hikes and trade wars. But the Trump administration’s latest tariff rollout is not merely a knee-jerk protectionist move — it is part of a far broader strategy. What is actually in play here is a high-stakes effort to build up leverage and resources to manage America’s debt, reset its industrial base, and renegotiate its standing in the global order. And it all begins with a problem most people have not been told enough about. In 2025, the U.S. government must refinance $9.2 trillion in maturing debt. Some $6.5 trillion of that comes due by June.” [editor’s note: The only “broader strategy” this insanity could plausibly be part of is wrecking the US economy – TLK] (04/05/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/heres-what-trump-really-up-high-stakes-tariff-gambit