Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs: Fear Porn At A Fever Pitch

On April 2, 2025, President Donald Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariff policy, a bold stroke to rebalance global trade and deliver a windfall to American taxpayers. Branded “Liberation Day,” this plan promises to slash the trade deficit, boost domestic industry, and restore economic sovereignty. Predictably, the usual suspects—ivory-tower economists and free-trade purists—are gasping in horror, warning of inflation and trade wars. But with Canada and Israel already pledging to zero out tariffs on US goods, Trump’s strategy is proving its worth before it’s fully off the ground.

The congressional GOP must rally behind this policy, not just for party loyalty, but because it’s a pragmatic, taxpayer-friendly move that could redefine America’s economic future—potentially even paving the way to ditch the income tax.

American taxpayers have long shouldered the burden of a lopsided trade system. The US has boasted some of the world’s lowest tariffs—averaging 2.2%—while nations like India (12%) and China (with effective rates ballooning under non-tariff barriers) enjoy near-unfettered access to our markets. The fallout? A $1.2 trillion goods trade deficit in 2024, a gutted manufacturing base, and a tax system that squeezes workers to prop up foreign economies. Trump’s reciprocal tariffs turn this on its head.

By matching foreign tariffs—34% on China, 20% on the EU, up to 49% on outliers like Cambodia—Trump is forcing a reset.

Critics bleat about higher consumer prices, conveniently glossing over the policy’s core: incentivizing domestic production. “Build your plant here, no tariffs,” Trump declares. Companies that relocate will hire Americans, pay US taxes, and shrink the trade deficit. That’s not a tax hike—it’s a tax relief blueprint. Meanwhile, companies like Ford are establishing product discounts, calling them “From America, For America” discounts. More jobs, “Made in the USA” discounts, and higher wages mean less reliance on public assistance, easing the strain on taxpayers.

Here’s the kicker: tariffs could be the key to axing the income tax entirely.

In 2024, the federal government collected $2.2 trillion from individual income taxes. Trump’s team projects reciprocal tariffs could generate $500 billion to $1 trillion annually, depending on compliance and retaliation. Pair that with corporate tax revenue from repatriated businesses, and you’ve got a revenue stream that could replace the IRS’s chokehold on American paychecks.

Before 1913, tariffs funded nearly half the government; today, they’re a measly 1% of revenue. Trump’s plan revives that model, shifting the burden from workers to importers and foreign profiteers. Opponents who scoff at this as “unrealistic” are just scared of losing their sacred cow—complex tax codes that favor their cronies.

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Why did Jeffrey Goldberg leave the ‘bomb Yemen’ Signal chat?

With momentum for a strike on Iran building within the Trump White House, Goldberg was apparently summoned to move the neocon message. And he wound up with more access than he could handle.

Atlantic Magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg has won the admiration of his Beltway peers for the conduct he displayed after being accidentally invited into a smoke-filled “bomb Yemen” Signal chat with Trump’s national security honchos and top advisors. “Props to Jeffrey Goldberg for his high standards as a professional journalist,” declared Ian Bremmer, the trans-Atlanticist foreign policy pundit on his Bank of America-sponsored GZero podcast. “When he realized the conversation was authentic he immediately left, informed the relevant senior official, and made the public aware without disclosing intelligence that could damage the United States.”

But what exactly did Goldberg do to deserve such high praise?

With a once in a lifetime opportunity to view and report on high level discussions on the US launching an illegal war on Yemen, Goldberg chose to avert his gaze and leave the scene as soon as he could, apparently because maintaining such unparalleled access would have compelled him to report on discussions that might have complicated a war being waged on behalf of the Israeli apartheid state to which he emigrated as a young man. Instead of exploiting his front row seat to the Trump admin’s war planning – a vantage point that would have yielded countless scoops and a bestselling book for any adversarial journalist – Goldberg bolted and dutifully informed the White House about the unfortunate situation.

From there, the story became a palace intrigue over an embarrassing failure of “opsec,” or operational security, and not one about the policy itself, which entails a gargantuan empire bombarding a poor, besieged country because it is controlled by a popular movement that is currently the only force on the planet taking up arms to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

In the fourth paragraph of Goldberg’s Atlantic article about the principals’ Signal group, he strongly implied that he supports the war’s objectives, describing Ansar Allah, or the Houthis, as an “Iran-backed terrorist organization” which upholds a belief system that is (what else?) antisemitic. Given Goldberg’s admission that Waltz first reached out to him at least two days prior to mistakenly adding him to the Signal group, it appears the NSC director had been leaking to the Atlantic editor on behalf of the neocon faction in the Trump White House. And it seems clear why Waltz would have sought to cultivate Goldberg.

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Colbert Begs The Deep State To Stop Trump

Late Show host Stephen Colbert called for the “deep state” to step in and stop President Trump enacting his tariff policy, pleading “we’re f*cking dying.”

The ‘comedian’ packaged the plea as a comedy skit, but its not comedy when you don’t even have to scratch the surface to tell he’s deadly serious.

As we highlighted yesterday, the stock markets plunged when it was reported that China would put retaliatory tariffs on US goods of 34%.

However, that plunge started to reverse on news of Trump being open to deals with countries to reduce the tariffs.

It’s part of a long term economic strategy to bring manufacturing back to the US after years of globalist ‘free trade’ agreements such as NAFTA eroded away millions of jobs and businesses.

Trump announced “our Declaration of Economic Independence” Wednesday at a “Liberation Day” event to mark the introduction of reciprocal tariffs on other countries.

Trump said American taxpayers have been “ripped off for more than 50 years, but it’s not going to happen anymore.”

“They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once-beautiful American dream,” he further stated.

“For years, hardworking American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense,” Trump urged, adding “But now, it’s our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt and it will all happen very quickly.”

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Shake Up At NSA And NSC

The Media is blaming Laura Loomer for the firings at the National Security Agency (NSA) and also the National Security Council (NSC).

From what I have seen, Laura has brought reasonable things to light that were rightly reviewed. House cleaning was in order.

Let’s address these one at a time.

On the NSC, there have been multiple firings. “Among the officials being fired, according to two people familiar with the matter, are Thomas Boodry, a senior NSC official overseeing legislative affairs who worked for Waltz when he was in Congress; David Feith, an official overseeing technology and national security; and Brian Walsh, an NSC official working on intelligence issues who previously worked for Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his time in the Senate.”

The concerning one is Alex Wong (not mentioned above).

We need to be careful about guilt by association, but these are sensitive positions. Alex’s wife had both feet in the Deep State.

If the President or Mike Waltz had any concerns, better to swap them out.

Sorry, but that is the game and life in the big leagues.

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Ohio newspaper edits black state lawmaker who sponsored anti-DEI bill out of photo of law signing

An Ohio newspaper has been accused of cropping out a black Republican state lawmaker from a group photo that had been taken during the signing of a bill to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the state’s public colleges and universities. Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Township) sponsored the House version of SB1, the Enact Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine last month. Williams had posed for a photo alongside his colleagues, all of whom were white, during the bill’s signing.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has been accused of deliberately cropping Rep. Williams out of the image in its report, sparking significant outrage. Williams, who made history as the first black Republican elected to the Ohio House, has said the publication pushed “propaganda” to fit a false narrative and demanded the outlet issue a correction and public apology.

“This is just another example of fake news mainstream media changing the facts to fit their narrative in an attempt to lie to Ohioans,” Williams told Ohio News. “I was at that event, and for the Cleveland Plan Dealer to deliberately crop me out of the while while using it to discuss the elimination of DEI in higher education is dishonest and manipulative. I call on them to issue a public apology and correction of the public record. Ohioans deserve the truth, not carefully edited propaganda.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer had featured the edited image along with unfavorable reporting on the state’s decision to eliminate DEI programs, a decision defined by lawmakers as racial discrimination and “deliberate media bias.” Williams’ Republican colleagues also expressed outrage over the matter.

Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) demanded an apology, saying, “The utter audacity to publicly discriminate against a black lawmaker when discussing DEI is atrocious! Rep. Williams deserves a very public apology from the Cleveland Plain Dealer without delay and without excuse.”

Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) added that the paper deliberately decided to push a false narrative. “Legacy media is dying because they can’t resist the opportunity to spin reality,” he said. “Cutting out Rep. Williams, who was an instrumental part of passing SB1, is a prime example of the never-ending spin.”

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New York Times Blockbuster Article Prepares Americans for Defeat in Ukraine

A March 29 article on America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine in The New York Times by Adam Entous “reveals that America was woven into the war far more intimately and broadly than previously understood.” “Understood” is a euphemism. It means the American and global public were lied to.

The article reveals that the war in Ukraine truly was, as former British prime minister Boris Johnson and U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio have already said, a proxy war against Russia. U.S. military and intelligence were involved in every stage of the war, including supplying the weapons, the training, the planning, the war-gaming, the intelligence and the targeting. They were involved in everything from the big picture to the minute detail: “A vast American intelligence-collection effort both guided big-picture battle strategy and funneled precise targeting information down to Ukrainian soldiers in the field.”

American military and intelligence provided “intelligence about Russian battlefield positions, movements and intentions.” “Every morning, officers recalled, the Ukrainians and Americans gathered to survey Russian weapons systems and ground forces and determine the ripest, highest-value targets.” When a “European intelligence chief” discovered how “deeply enmeshed” NATO was in the battlefield operations, he marveled that “They are part of the kill chain now.”

But none of this is really new. For those paying attention to the news, and not the propaganda and repeated assurances and talking points, this information was readily available. Even The New York Times had already reported much of it. The Entous piece adds many names and significant details, but it is not a revelation that the U.S. was not only supplying the Ukrainian armed forces the weapons but that it was feeding them the intelligence.

But beneath the supposed bombshell, important nuggets are exposed that deserve more attention. Though, again, not entirely new, the piece opens with the revelation – intended as dramatic narrative and not investigative journalism–that from early in the war, NATO troops were on the ground in Ukraine. In the dramatic description of a clandestine convoy that smuggled two Ukrainian generals across the Polish border to meet with American intelligence and military officials to “forge what would become one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war in Ukraine,” The Times reveals that the convoy was “manned by British commandos, out of uniform but heavily armed.”

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CNN’s Abby Phillip Lies About Elon Musk and Social Security, Gets Corrected by Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

During a segment on CNN about the state’s Supreme Court election this week, Abby Phillip straight up lied, claiming that Elon Musk and DOGE were targeting Social Security.

Former Wisconsin governor, Republican Scott Walker, was on the show, and he jumped in to correct her in real time, pointing out that Musk specifically said he was NOT targeting Social Security.

Phillip was basically just parroting false Democrat talking points, as so many people in the media do on a regular basis.

FOX News reports:

CNN host spars with former Wisconsin governor on the claim Musk said he would cut Social Security

CNN’s Abby Phillip and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got into a heated argument over her claim Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk talked about cutting Social Security and Medicaid benefits at a recent town hall event.

During a segment on “CNN NewsNight” Tuesday night, Phillip referenced Musk holding an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, over the weekend ahead of a closely watched state Supreme Court election. She claimed that at the town hall he “talked about cutting Medicaid and Social Security through DOGE.”

“Actually, he never talked about that. He explicitly said in Green Bay he would not cut Social Security. That’s exactly what he said,” Walker pushed back.

“Well, he talked at his rallies,” Phillip said.

“No, no. Other people said that,” Walker argued. “But I was there. I watched him. He did not say he was going to cut Medicaid.”

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Garbage Human Joy Behar Wonders if There Will be a ‘Backlash’ Against Republicans Over Death Sentence for Luigi Mangione

Attorney General Pam Bondi has recommended that prosecutors should seek the death penalty in the case of accused murderer Luigi Mangione.

Over on ‘The View,’ Joy Behar recently wondered if this decision would cause a ‘backlash’ against Republicans. This betrays Behar’s entire worldview.

It doesn’t matter to her what happened, or the fact that a completely innocent man was murdered in cold blood. All that matters to Behar is that there is a possibility that something might go badly for Republicans. That is all Behar thinks about, that is all she cares about. Ever.

FOX News reports:

Joy Behar wonders if Trump DOJ seeking death penalty for Luigi Mangione will cause ‘backlash’ against GOP

“The View” co-host Joy Behar said Wednesday that there could be “backlash” against the Republican Party as the Trump Justice Department has ordered prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“He’s very popular, this guy, there could be a backlash,” she said. “All I’m saying is, politically, it could be a backlash against Republicans to give him the death penalty.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Tuesday that Thompson’s murder was “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin suggested that Bondi’s efforts were “an assault on the process.”

“It just seems like the attorney general is acting, really, against our institutional standards, which is what this administration is doing,” Hostin added.

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said she believed in the death penalty, but questioned the administration’s push to apply it in this case.

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PATHETIC: Journalists of White House Correspondents Association Considered a ‘Sit-In’ Protest Over Changes in Seating Chart

As the Gateway Pundit recently reported, the Trump administration is planning to take over the seating chart in the briefing room, a power once held by the far-left White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA).

Members of the WHCA, who are apparently a bunch of toddlers throwing a tantrum over the change, considered doing a 1960s style ‘sit-in’ protest in order to object to the changes.

The left views the entire world as a liberal college campus. This is just more proof of that.

From Semafor:

Journalists consider briefing room sit-in as Trump clashes with White House press corps

The Trump administration’s proposal to take over the seating arrangement within the White House press briefing room has rattled the journalists who cover the president and left them mulling how exactly to push back.

The White House plans to impose its own seating chart for reporters in the briefing room, seizing control of a prerogative long managed by the journalists in the room through the White House Correspondents’ Association, Axios first reported Sunday.

The WHCA’s current system reflects the 20th century media power structure: wire services and broadcast and cable television networks occupy the front row, major newspapers and radio get the second and third rows, and a more fluid collection of news organizations sits further back. The White House proposal would upend the arrangement in a move White House officials reportedly believe will be a “fundamental restructuring of the briefing room, based on metrics more reflective of how media is consumed today.”…

According to two people familiar with the discussions, among the proposals raised by members was a potential Civil Rights era-style “sit-in” protest, in which members would return to their old seats and refuse to leave them.

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Mystal: Every Law Passed Before 1965 Voting Rights Act ‘Should Be Presumptively Unconstitutional’

Elie Mystal, a justice correspondent at The Nation, said Tuesday on ABC’s “The View” that “every law” passed before the Voting Rights Act 1965 “should be presumptively unconstitutional.”

Mystal said, “I set out to start to kind of try to write Project 2029,” Mystal explained. “When Republicans come into office, they come in with a sledge hammer. They come in smashing things that I hold dear. When Democrats come into office, they come with like superglue and tape. And, so they try to put things back together. So, I thought about writing ten Constitutional Amendments that would be super cool if we had. But, I was like, ‘No, no, no.’ We need to smash the things that they like. We need to smash the things that are holding this country back. And, so I came up with ten laws that we could just get rid of — not reform, not update for the modern era. Ten things that we can smash if we ever are allowed to get power again that would make this country better tomorrow.”

Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “One of the laws you write about is playing out right now, the Immigration and Nationality Act,” Hostin said. “Now, this administration is using this statute to justify the detentions and possible deportations actually of visa and green card holders who they seem to deem a threat to U.S. foreign policy. What do you make of the administration’s use of the act, and more broadly, is Trump really setting up a First Amendment showdown — which is what Whoopi’s been talking about?”

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