NPR: The U.S. economy shrinks as Trump’s tariffs spark recession fears
As President Trump marks his 100th day in office this week, there’s not much to celebrate about the U.S. economy.
Economic output is shrinking. The stock market has dropped sharply. And consumer confidence has tumbled to its lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That hardly looks like the new “golden age” the president promised on Inauguration Day just over three months ago.
Figures released by the Commerce Department Wednesday show that the United States’ gross domestic product contracted at an annual rate of 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, after growing at a solid pace of 2.4% in the final months of 2024.
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 30, 2025
This morning the Bureau of Economic Analysis released a report showing an abrupt reversal in the U.S. economy. Gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the total market value of goods and services, shrank from a healthy 2.4% in the last quarter of 2024 to -0.3% in the first quarter of 2025. The shift is the first time in three years that the economy has contracted. The slump appears to have been fueled by a surge in buying overseas goods before Trump’s tariffs hit.
The stock market plunged on the news. Although it would recover later in the day, the stock market during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office has been the worst since the administration of Richard Nixon. Today Trump posted on his social media site: “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden “Overhang.” This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
Observers noted that in January 2024, when the stock market was booming under Biden, Trump took credit for it, posting: “THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.”
Trump held a televised two-hour Cabinet meeting today, at which administration officials sat behind red MAGA hats and praised him so extravagantly that right-wing commentator Ann Coulter posted: “Would it be possible to have a cabinet meeting without the Kim Jong il–style tributes?”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Bulwark: Donald Trump, an All-Powerful President With No Power at All
When the rain falls, Trump wants credit. When the rain stops, Biden’s to blame.
(Bulwark more…)
Boing Boing: Trump solves toy shortage by telling children to want fewer toys
In today’s episode of “Make America Deflate Again,” President Trump told Americans to lower their expectations about the economy.
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Politico: Trump’s use of Alien Enemies Act for swift deportations is illegal, Trump-appointed judge rules
The Alien Enemies Act applies only when the country is facing an armed, organized attack, the judge ruled.
Allison Gill: For the First Time, a Judge Declares Trump’s Use of the Alien Enemies Act Unlawful
(Allison Gill more…)LAWdork: Federal judge appointed by Trump rules that Trump’s AEA proclamation is “unlawful”
The final judgment blocks Trump’s March 14 Alien Enemies Act proclamation from being used to deport anyone from southern Texas.
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Wired: RFK Jr.’s HHS Orders Lab Studying Deadly Infectious Diseases to Stop Research
NIAID’s Integrated Research Facility is one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. Tuesday afternoon, all of its work was put on indefinite pause by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s department.
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The research pause is the latest disruption to federal science agencies after HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced at the end of March that 10,000 people across the vast federal health agency would lose their jobs, including those at the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mass layoffs are part of a restructuring plan being carried out by President Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
(Wired more…)Your Local Epidemiologist: A meeting with the MAHA grassroots
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The meeting was last Friday. And it turned out to be one of the most raw, honest, and important conversations I’ve had in years. At first, we all agreed to keep it private. But afterward, everyone was surprised—pleasantly—by how constructive it was. With their permission, I’m sharing a glimpse of it with you.
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WI Churches: For Religious Liberty and Against Christian Nationalism
We, the undersigned, urge the federal government to protect the religious liberty of all people and we strongly condemn the rise of Christian Nationalism, a dangerous conflation of fundamentalist Christianity, conservative politics, and fierce patriotism which distorts what it means to be an American citizen and an engaged Christian in society.
An executive order signed by President Trump on February 6th established a new “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias”. This Task Force has the duty to “identify any unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices, or conduct by an agency.” This executive order is a threat to the religious pluralism enshrined in the constitution and does not protect Christians; rather it aligns the federal government with Christian Nationalism.
With the executive order for “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias”, the federal government has given itself the authority and mandate to define what might be considered “anti-Christian,” and therefore also the authority to define what is Christian – a power which belongs to the Church alone, not the federal government. This executive order violates religious freedom, corrupts the separation of Church and State, and creates a more hostile environment for Christians and all citizens who believe differently than the current administration and its religious advisors.
(WI Churches more…)
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Lucian K. Truscott IV: Mrs. Secretary Hegseth takes command at the Pentagon
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Jennifer Hegseth’s presence around the E-Ring at the Pentagon is ubiquitous enough that she is frequently referred to as “The Leash,” apparently a reference to the tight control she exerts over her dry-drunk alcoholic husband. Other Pentagon staffers refer to her as “Yoko Ono,” who was widely seen as such a controlling influence over her husband John Lennon that their relationship was thought to be one of the causes of the break-up of the Beatles.
(Lucian K. Truscott IV more…)Military Times: Hegseth cancels women’s leadership program despite past Trump support
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday ended a seven-year-old program to boost leadership roles for women within the military, blasting the initiative as a divisive, liberal focus that does not add to service members’ readiness.The Women, Peace & Security program was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.
(Military Times more…)WSJ: Trump to Oust National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
The decision came after Waltz placed a reporter on a sensitive Signal chat about bombing the Houthis in Yemen
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Sarah Jones: El Salvador’s ‘Dictator’ President Demanded More Proof Than Republicans
Elected Republicans can now proudly say they are less inclined to uphold the law than El Salvador’s dictator president, who demanded proof of actual convictions and actual evidence of gang membership.
(Sarah Jones more…)Bo Forbes: The Trump-Bukele Pact, Exposed
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Egberto Off The Record: A Nigerian immigrant points out the reality versus the American myth that confronts all of us.
- Her widowed mother worked 20-hour days yet earned too much for subsidized school lunches, illustrating the trap of “working poor.”
- U.S. corruption operates “behind closed doors,” as seen in the 2008 crash that wiped out household wealth while shielding elites.
- Mandatory racial checkboxes at JFK introduce immigrants to America’s entrenched hierarchy from day one.
- The country has never fully atoned for slavery, Indigenous dispossession, or anti-Chinese violence—historic debts that still shape inequality.
- She rejects tariff-driven trickle-down economics and urges the design of a system that guarantees basic needs—housing, healthcare, vacations, and savings—for everyone.
(Egberto Off The Record more…)
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Closer to the Edge: Jerce Reyes Barrios
They saw a tattoo. So they threw him into a hell built for monsters.
(Closer to the Edge more…)
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CNN: Ukraine minerals deal is largely symbolic – but that’s enough for Donald Trump
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The symbolism was, however, largely the point. Trump needed to feel America was getting something back from Kyiv. Ukraine needed to show its relationship with this White House was functional and improving. Ukraine’s allies needed this done and dusted to remove a distraction from the complex talk of military aid and real peace that must now become their focus.
(CNN more…)
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Popular Information: New Oklahoma curriculum includes pro-Trump conspiracy theories
Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, thousands of high school students in Oklahoma will be required to learn about President Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud. The lesson will not be part of a course on conspiracy theories, but an official component of the new social studies curriculum created by Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (R).
(Popular Information more…)
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Noah Berlatsky: What Would It Mean for Trump to Lose?
I’m not sure it means we win.
(Noah Berlatsky more…)
Borowitz: Karoline Leavitt Warns That Migrants are Smuggling Math into US
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