"WHAT MATTERS IS: DID I DO ENOUGH TO WARRANT RUBBING ONE OUT THAT NIGHT," HE EXPLAINED. "I'M DEEPLY LONELY. MY OWN WIFE SAYS TO ME, SHE SAYS, 'I WOULDN'T F**K YOU WITH BRAD PITT'S DICK.' I'M UNSURE OF THE EXACT MEANING -- IS SHE SAYING SHE WISHES SHE HAD BRAD PITT'S DICK HERSELF BUT WOULDN'T F**K ME WITH IT IF SHE DID OR IS SHE SAYING THAT I COULD HAVE BRAD PITT'S DICK AND SHE STILL WOULDN'T LET US F**K? I DON'T KNOW BUT I KNOW THE ULTIMATE TRANSLATION IS THAT I'M NOT GETTING ANY. SHE LIKES TO SAY, 'THE RULES ARE, NO SEX FOR YOU UNTIL WE CAN SEE YOUR NECK.' SHE CALLS MY LOVE HANDLES MY 'GROTESQUE PROTRUSIONS'."
WE TRIED AGAIN NOTING THAT SOME WONDER IF YOU HAVE "ANY PLANS TO JUMP-START HOME SALES AND IMPROVE HOUSING AFFORDABILITY" OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO KEEP TRYING TO RAILROAD THE PEOPLE CONVICTED FELON DONALD CHUMP HATES? AGAIN, PULTE NODDED IN APPARENT AGREEMENT BEFORE SAYING, "MY WIFE USED TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME NEVER FLUSHING THE TOILET BUT NOW SHE SAYS IT'S PROOF THAT AT LEAST SOME OF MY CRAP DOES END UP IN THE TOILET BOWL. I THINK SHE PUTS UP WITH IT BECAUSE I'M A PEAR SHAPED BEAUTY -- WELL, A GRAPEFRUIT SHAPED BEAUTY AT LEAST. SHE SAYS IF I LOSE 30 POUNDS, SHE'LL LET ME GO TRICK OR TREATING DRESSED AS LUCIANO PAVAROTTI."
Inflation ticked up 0.3 percent for the month and 3 percent over the past 12 months as President Donald Trump defended his tariffs against Canada.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released the Consumer Price Index report that tracks inflation. The report had been delayed due to the government shutdown that began this month. The shutdown has also delayed the monthly jobs report that shows how many jobs were added or lost during September.
He lies about it constantly. As though Americans can be conned endlessly and won't notice the huge increase in prices? Bella Arnold (BUZZFEED) notes:
After Trump became the president-elect, a TikToker called TheEggWatch was skeptical about his promise to make egg prices great again. So, TheEggWatch decided to do exactly what his name suggests — watch the eggs. More specifically, he wanted to see how a Trump presidency would affect their prices.
“I felt that was a thing that can be easily proven true or false with documentation. So, that’s what I did,” he told BuzzFeed.
Now, TheEggWatch doesn’t just follow how egg prices are changing in Trump’s America. He also tracks gas and general grocery prices.
[. . .]
The price of a bag of coffee at TheEggWatch's local store was previously $7.99. Now, it's $9.99 a bag.
On Jan. 19, 2025, TheEggWatch bought a pack of bacon for $7.49. Now, it's on sale for $8.99.
A pack of giant Hershey's with almonds was $3.99. Now, it's $5.29.
The store's tailless beef loin boneless New York strip steak was $13.99 per pound when Biden was last in office. Now, that same steak is $16.99 per pound.
Bananas went from $0.54 to $0.59, which is approximately a 9% increase.
Lean ground beef was $5.69 per pound in January. Now, it's $7.49 per pound
And, finally: Chicken breasts were $4.99 per pound on Jan. 19, 2025. Now, they're $5.49 per pound.
At a White House event on Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump bragged, in response to an unrelated question, that he’d “already taken care of” inflation. For those who keep an eye on the president’s public positions, the lie was jarring but familiar.
American consumers would likely be delighted if such boasts were true. They are not. One day after the Republican again claimed to have triumphed over inflation, NBC News reported:
The data complicates the short-term future of U.S. monetary policy: The Federal Reserve has indicated that it expects to lower interest rates in response to the weakening economy, especially as job growth weakens to lows unseen since the Great Recession, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s inflation target is 2%.
With the latest report showing the Consumer Price Index inching up to 3%, the economy appears to be moving in the wrong direction, creating an uncertain path for the central bank.
As for the politics, the latest national poll from The Associated Press found that only 36% of Americans support Trump’s handling of the economy. Other recent surveys have pointed in the same direction.
This post is about appreciation. I have none for Chief Justice John Roberts who spits on our Constitution. But there are judges doing real work around the country. Robert Alexander (NEWSWEEK) reports:
A
senior federal judge has issued an unusual warning about the dangers of
normalizing presidential use of military forces in U.S. cities,
breaking with colleagues on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Newsom
v. Trump, a dispute over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the
California National Guard.
Legal
experts say the ruling has far-reaching implications for presidential
power, judicial oversight, and the historic boundary separating civilian
law enforcement from military authority in the United States.
Why It Matters
The
dispute over Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard has
become a major test of presidential authority and judicial oversight.
At
issue is whether a president can send troops into American cities
without meeting strict legal conditions set by Congress—and whether
courts will enforce those limits. In sharply worded dissents, two Ninth
Circuit judges warned that normalizing military involvement in domestic
law enforcement could erode the separation of powers and the nation’s
long-standing resistance to using armed forces against its own citizens.
Their
concern extends beyond a single administration: It questions how far
future presidents may reach in claiming unilateral authority during
civil unrest.
I
am so proud of our justices -- the bulk of the ones in the country --
who have not forgotten that the Constitution is the supreme law of the
land. Yes, we have a Crooked Supreme Court. But look around the
country and see all the justices around the country who believe in rule
of law -- and they are Reagan appointees and Bush appointees and Clinton
appointees and Obama appointees and Biden appointees and, yes, even
some Chump first term appointees. These judges have met the test and
done so in very challenging times. They deserve applause.
We
have six crooks on the Supreme Court (and three real justices as
well). And those six need to be called out. But around the country, we
have seen real judges upholding the law -- often doing so in the face
of threats.
Thursday, October 23, 2025. Chump's war on immigrants is targeting a
lot of US citizens, harming pregnant women, harming special needs
children, harming us all just like Chump's wrecking of the economy is
harming all the American people.
Let's start with Katie Phang.
She's speaking with Robert Held about how ICE is attacking Americans -- Americans like attorney Robert Held. Sabrina Franza (CBS NEWS) reported earlier this month:
A Chicago area attorney is telling the story of his detention inside
the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview,
where immigrants have been taken pending deportation proceedings amid
the Trump administration's ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration in
the Chicago area.
Robert
Held, 68, was among the protesters who were detained but not charged
with a crime. He said he was never one to regularly attend protests, but
that changed recently.
"I started showing up about two weeks ago,
roughly, because I'm outraged about what the administration and several
agencies of this administration are doing; not just to immigrants, but
to people with lawful status and people that were born here as well"
On
Saturday, he and other protesters were in front of the ICE gate on
public land when agents sought to clear the area. Agents shouted orders
for people to move.
"I was backing up and filming what was happening, and eventually
decided I needed to clear the street, and when I ran off the street, I
was chased and arrested by federal authorities," he said.
Held continued filming as he was down on the ground, taken away in handcuffs, placed in a vehicle and taken into ICE custody.
"The
vehicle was driving back into the facility, and they stopped. They
opened the door and Greg Bovino, the chief enforcement officer of the
Border Patrol, looked straight at me and he said, 'Now what do you want
to say to me?' I didn't respond to that, but my sense was – and it was
pretty obvious based on his tone and language – that he was trying to
show his authority over me," Held said.
To say that ICE is out of control and lacks supervision is to repeat what has been obvious all year lone.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
suggested on Wednesday that local police could arrest federal agents if
they break California law while conducting immigration raids that are
expected this week in the San Francisco Bay Area.
With Border Patrol agents due
to arrive, Ms. Pelosi issued the stark warning along with Kevin Mullin,
a fellow Democratic representative, who represents the small slice of
San Francisco that Ms. Pelosi doesn’t. President Trump has said several
times in recent weeks that he wanted to send federal forces to the city.
“While
the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme
Court, those who operate under his orders do not,” they wrote in a statement
on Wednesday. “Our state and local authorities may arrest federal
agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the
President cannot pardon them.”
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement has allowed some recruits who haven’t been
fully vetted into its training program as it tries to boost hires.
The
Department of Homeland Security outfit later found out that recruits in
training had either failed drug tests, had criminal histories
preventing them from joining, or didn’t meet physical fitness or
academic criteria, one current and two former DHS officials told NBC News.
One
recruit at the ICE training facility in Brunswick, Georgia, the current
DHS official said, had been charged with strong-arm robbery and battery
over a domestic violence incident.
The
same official and the two former officials also said that some recruits
in the six-week training course hadn’t completed one element necessary
for background checks: submitting their fingerprints.
ICE’s
vetting and drug test policies, the former officials said, have not
been adhered to as strictly as it was before the agency sought to
increase its staffing.
In the days since an estimated 7 million people protested across the
country against the the attacks on democratic rights and threat of
dictatorship by the Trump administration, US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) launched new raids and major kidnapping operations in
New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and in Wilder, Idaho.
Using
aggressive and dangerous tactics, including indiscriminate sweeps and
the deployment of military-style force against immigrant communities,
the latest ICE actions are part of the Trump administration’s escalation
of arrests, detention and mass deportations. These measures are also
being intertwined with the mobilization of the National Guard to
suppress public opposition to the assault on immigrants.
On
Tuesday, dozens of federal agents from ICE, Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), and other police agencies descended on Canal Street in
Manhattan’s Chinatown. According to ABC7 New York, at least nine people
were arrested during the raid, which targeted street vendors who were
accused of selling counterfeit goods.
The
New York raid was offensive on so many levels including the fact that
Kristi Noem's ICE wrongly kidnapped four US citizens. Cy Neff (GUARIDAN) explains:
The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, rolled out a “Federal Action Reporting Portal”
form urging New York residents to share photos and videos of federal
immigration enforcement action across the state, just a day after a high-profile ICE raid rattled Manhattan’s Chinatown and prompted hundreds to come out in protest.
A
US congressman revealed in a Wednesday press conference that four US
citizens were arrested and held for “nearly 24 hours” after Tuesday’s
raid. Protests broke out in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
“Every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation,” James wrote in a statement announcing the portal.
“If you witnessed and documented ICE activity
yesterday, I urge you to share that footage with my office. We are
committed to reviewing these reports and assessing any violations of
law.”
The form offers spaces to submit images
and video footage of the raid, as well as a place to indicate location
information. Before submitting, users must check a box that indicates
that “the attorney general may use any documents, photographs, or videos
I provided in a public document, including in a legal proceeding or
public report or statement”.
Let's
take a moment to step away from ICE for another point. Letitia James
is doing her job. Chump's trying to prosecute her on chumped up
charges. But still Letitia James does her job. What does Chump do?
Tear down the White House, tank the economy, try to steal millions in
tax payer money and put the US government into a shutdown. That's what
he does -- everything but what he's supposed to be doing Mybe he
wouldn't be such a fat ass if he didn't sit around all day eating
McDonald's and planning his revenge over every real and imagined
slight? Again, Letitia James is doing her job. Chump? He's
overseeing the second longest shutdown in US history.
Women taken into custody by U.S. immigration agents while pregnant
say they received inadequate care in a letter Wednesday that calls on
the Trump administration to stop holding expectant mothers in federal
detention facilities.
The letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is part of a
broader campaign in recent months by Democrats and immigrant rights
groups to draw attention to what they say is the mistreatment of
pregnant women who have been detained in Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The Department of Homeland Security has defended the care given to
pregnant detainees, saying they are given regular prenatal visits and
nutritional support. The agency did not immediately provide figures on
the number of pregnant women in detention, as Democrats have demanded.
The letter sent by the American Civil Liberties Union gives accounts
from pregnant women who say they were shackled while being transported,
placed in solitary confinement for multiple days and given insufficient
food and water while held in detention facilities in Louisiana and
Georgia.
Chump lies and reality suffers.
AP's reporting reality. That's what ICE is doing. There's nothing
noble about it. They're thugs who can't get work anywhere else. And who
wouldn't get work if ICE actually vetted them. And there's no
oversight of ICE. Krisi Noem is apparently too busy carrying out her
alleged extra-marital affair with a Homeland Security employee she
supervises and selecting private planes to charge to the US taxpayer.
As the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on
immigration, an increasing number of U.S. citizens are finding
themselves caught up in the sweeping actions.
A recent
investigation by ProPublica reveals that more than 170 American citizens
have been detained by immigration agents during the first nine months
of this push.
Our own Liz Landers recently spoke with the mother of one of these individuals.
Liz Landers:
A 15-year-old boy with disabilities was handcuffed
outside of a Los Angeles high school in August after federal immigration
agents mistakenly identified him as a suspect. The boy was waiting in a
car with his mother while his sister registered for classes inside.
The
family is suing the Trump administration, alleging racial profiling,
false arrest and assault. Federal officials have denied any wrongdoing
and say they were conducting a targeted operation.
For more on
what happened that day and why the family is taking legal action, we are
now joined by Andreina Mejia, the boy's mother.
Andreina, walk us through what happened that day. What happened when federal agents approached your car?
Andreina
Mejia, Mother of Detained American Child: I was on the phone, and
something told me to look up, when I just seen this white truck
approaching my car, and it looked like coming directly to me, where I'm
like, oh, my God, did they lose control? Like, he's going to hit my car.
And
I just seen these two men get off from the front pointing their guns at
me and my son, like, actually at our car. I had my window a little bit
down. They just came one from my side, the other one from my son's side,
and they just opened our doors. They took me out. They took my son out.
All
I remember me telling my son is like: "Don't make any movement. Just
follow instructions," just because, in my mind, I'm like, OK, they're
pointing guns. If they see my son trying to reach for something, I don't
know if they're going to shoot.
So I was trying to maintain him calm. And after that, I'm just seeing that they pulled him out. And I'm like: "What's going on?"
The guy's like; "Oh, like, we're looking for somebody and your son fits that description."
So, I’m like:
"I mean, who are you guys looking for?" And they showed
me a picture. And I'm like: "That's not my son. Like, my son is with me
at all times."
So, after that, they let my son come towards me. As
my son was approaching me,he started crying and just hugged me. And I
didn't really appreciate the comment that the guy did where he just
called my son: "Oh, we confuse you with somebody else, but just look at
the bright side. Like, you're going to have an exciting story to tell
your friends when you go back to school."
I just looked at him.
And, as a mom, it hurt me, because I was just thinking, there's nothing
exciting about getting guns pointed at you.
In Chump's mind, he's never wrong. In the
real world? He's rarely right. It's bad enough that he's destroyed our
economy, but now he wants to 'chumpsplain' how it's ranches' ignorance
and not his own incompetence. Kevin Breuninger (CNBC) notes:
President
Donald Trump on Wednesday said U.S. cattle ranchers "don't understand"
how they have benefitted from his tariffs, adding that they "have to get
their prices down."
The admonition came after
some ranchers have openly criticized Trump's proposal to import beef
from Argentina in order to bring down prices for American consumers.
Trump
claimed that those ranchers "don't understand that the only reason they
are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put
Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States."
They
understand perfectly what's going on. A ranch isn't like a Chump
casino, it's not an eyesore that's falling apart the day after the grand
opening. Ranchers actually have to work. And they know their
overhead. They understand perfectly what's taking place.
Senate
Republicans from agriculture-heavy states are pushing back against
President Donald Trump’s proposal to import beef from Argentina, warning
that the move could hurt U.S. cattle producers.
Trump
told reporters Sunday while returning from South Florida that his
administration was considering the imports to help lower beef prices for
consumers. But several GOP senators said the plan would undermine
American ranchers already struggling with market pressures and high
production costs.
The president has been coming under
fire for his bailout of Argentina, initiated during the federal
government shutdown, from U.S. farmers and lawmakers. His plan to buy
beef from the country to make the meat cheaper for American consumers
has added to the tensions with a struggling industry struggling.
No, no, no, NEWSWEEK. Don't even pretend that this is about the American people. It is not about us at all. As your own Hugh Cameron reports:
President
Donald Trump’s administration has warned that disease issues facing
Argentina’s cattle industry could impede its plan to import the
country’s beef to help lower domestic prices.
On
Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on CNBC that Trump
is “in discussions with Argentina” regarding the proposal, but said that
the country is facing a “foot-and-mouth disease issue.”
Last night, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Buck Wehrbeing told Geoff Bennett on THE NEWSHOUR (PBS), "Argentina,
it's not just the amount of beef coming in, but they have a long
history of foot-and-mouth disease. USDA has not done a good enough job
yet of making sure that everything coming from there is safe. And so
we're not only concerned about the amount of beef that comes in, but
also the animal health issues. And so this is a bigger thing than just
cattle prices."
[Senator
Deb] said Tuesday on X she has “deep concerns” over the Trump
administration’s proposal to import beef from Argentina and has been in
touch with his administration about the idea, writing: “Bottom line: if
the goal is addressing beef prices at the grocery store, this isn’t the
way. Right now, government intervention in the beef market will hurt our
cattle ranchers.”
Woodall added that “Argentina has a
deeply unbalanced trade relationship with the U.S.,” noting Argentina
has sold $801 million worth of beef to the U.S. since 2020, compared to
$7 million the U.S. has sold to Argentina.
National
Cattlemen's Beef Association says one thing but Chump just knows
better? I'm sorry, how many head of cattle does Chump have at his dude
ranch in Florida? Oh, that's right: Zero.
President
Donald Trump attacked US cattle ranchers over their criticism of his
plan to slash record beef prices by importing more meat from Argentina,
deepening a quarrel over his trade policy with a group of reliable
supporters.
Trump on Wednesday said that
cattlemen should be grateful for his tariffs, saying they have helped
boost their profits, while also imploring them to lower the cost of
their products.
Yes,
he did attack cattle ranchers, he is attacking them. He's out of
control. How many drugs is he on to stay up all night? We see him
falling asleep on camera during the day. What drugs are keeping him up
all night? And what idiot -- Tulsi Gabbard? -- thinks it's impressive
that he sometimes does not sleep a wink at night?
Steel
silos tower over the Midwest, packed with soybeans and corn farmers
can’t sell at break-even prices. Grain elevators from Ohio to Iowa are
overflowing as production costs outstrip market returns.
“We’ve
already beat last year in terms of Q1 national filings,” said Ryan Loy,
an agricultural economist, warning that farm bankruptcies are
accelerating.
As tariffs, debt, and high interest rates collide, is America quietly sliding into another farm crisis?
A
crisis has hit the American heartland this year. What began as a trade
standoff between Washington and Beijing has spiraled into a full-blown
agricultural collapse. For thousands of farmers, the cause can be traced
to one policy move in early 2025 that set off a devastating chain
reaction.
It started with tariffs -- and the fallout spread faster than anyone expected.
In
February, President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods,
doubling it to 20% just a month later. China swiftly retaliated with its
own measures targeting U.S. agriculture, striking hardest at
soybeans—the backbone of American farm exports.
By
early April, Trump escalated again, introducing sweeping “Liberation
Day” tariffs on nearly all imports. But Beijing’s next move would push
farmers into crisis.
China, the world’s largest
soybean buyer, halted U.S. purchases beginning in May. The blow was
immediate and severe, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
confirming widespread concern among farm contacts.
With
tariffs stacking up to a total duty rate of 34%, U.S. soybeans became
roughly $2 per bushel more expensive than South American competitors.
The market America once dominated was gone overnight.
Thanks, Donald Chump, for wrecking the US economy one sector at a time. Chump's also harmed the toys industry. Mike Bedigan (INDEPENDENT) reports:
Barbie
creator Mattel has revealed a sharp decline in sales and revenue as the
toy maker feels the impact of Donald Trump’s sweeping international
tariffs – a worrying sign for the toymaker ahead of the busy holiday
season.
Mattel saw net sales fall 6 percent to
$1.74 billion in the third financial quarter of 2025, falling short of
Wall Street’s expectations. The company reported a net income of $278
million, down from $372 million, a year earlier – a decrease of $94
million.
The company noted in a Tuesday earnings
report that worldwide gross billings (sales to retailers before
adjustments) for dolls were $674 million and drop of 12 percent overall,
driven by Barbie – one of its top earners. Barbie dropped 17 percent in
gross billings and Fisher-Price reported a 19 percent decline, though
the losses were slightly offset by an 8 percent increase for Hot Wheels.
It
is the first time that Mattel has missed on both earnings and revenue
expectations in three financial quarters, according to CNBC.
The
toy industry is one of the hardest hit by the president’s global
tariffs, due to its large reliance on goods from China – one of the
countries hit hardest by the levies announced by the president. Trump
set tariffs - costs that are typically passed on to the consumer - and
that has led to higher costs for those products.
So
are we in what Phil Gramm — remember him? — once called a “mental
recession,” a sort of mass delusion that the economy is bad? It’s likely
that some of Americans’ sour mood is driven by political unease. Huge
and ever-changing tariffs, masked agents grabbing people off the street,
assassinations, vindictive prosecutions, rising measles cases, Trump’s
false claims that cities are “war zones” as pretext for sending in the
National Guard, and more. Increasingly unhinged statements from the
administration feed a general sense of destructive instability. Next
thing you know they’ll start demolishing the White House itself to make
room for some vanity project. Oh, wait.
Yet
it’s not only about political unease. There are some objective,
measurable reasons to say that the US economy, which appears OK by the
most commonly used measures, is definitely not OK once you look under
the hood. One essential aspect of this weirdness is the economy is
strongly bifurcated: AI is booming, but the rest of the economy isn’t.
Another aspect is that in many ways the economy feels “frozen”: while
there have been no mass layoffs so far, people who have lost their jobs
or are just entering the work force are finding it very hard to get new
jobs. Third, while the economy is growing thanks to AI spending, it’s a
K-shaped expansion: People who were already affluent are becoming more
so, but the less well-off are under severe pressure. For example, there
are clear signs that middle-to-low income consumers are struggling: car
loan and credit card delinquencies are rising, and grocers report that
shoppers are buying cheaper varieties of food. At the same time, the affluent are spending freely: the top 10% of the income distribution now accounts for nearly half of all consumer spending.
What’s
going on? I would argue that Trump’s wildly erratic policies are
creating huge uncertainty which is deterring many companies –
essentially those that are not in the AI sector or a sector catering to
the affluent – from making investments. And those forgone investments
include hiring new workers. The result is that much of the economy is
frozen — companies aren’t hiring or investing. This freeze, in turn,
explains both worker anxiety and rising inequality. Without the AI
boom/bubble spending, we might very well have fallen into a recession,
as some economists like Mark Zandi have claimed. And despite the AI boom, times for many workers are tough.
The
S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) crashed in early April when President
Trump announced sweeping tariffs on most countries, but the index
bounced back remarkably quickly due to strong earnings growth and
economic resilience. With the S&P 500 up 13% in 2025, the index is
on track for its the third straight year of double-digit gains,
something that has only happened twice since 2000.
However,
the picture is less rosy than it appears. Revised jobs data shows
hiring slowed sharply over the summer as businesses navigated economic
uncertainty, and inflation has trended steadily higher since Trump
announced his most severe tariffs in April. Meanwhile, investors just
got bad news about the U.S.-China trade war, and it comes at a time when
the stock market is already historically expensive.
Are
you getting how bad things are? Polling suggests most Americans are
registering just how bad the economy is and that Chump's the one who
destroyed it. If you're confused, read Tom Peterson (PENNY GEM):
Montgomery
Transport (Birmingham, AL) abruptly filed Chapter 7 in Oct 2025,
leaving ~1,000 workers jobless. This sudden collapse is part of a
brewing “Great Freight Recession,” as dozens of U.S. trucking firms have
crumbled under mounting costs.
The shock is rippling through America’s supply chain, threatening delivery reliability and economic stability.
U.S.
truckers are reeling from skyrocketing operating costs, tighter credit,
and tariff-driven price surges. Many carriers expanded during the
pandemic, only to face plunging demand. Dean Croke of Roper DAT bluntly
warned, “None of the signals are good when it comes to truckload
demand”.
The squeeze on margins and capital is proving unsustainable.
Shoppers
are already seeing consequences: spot truck rates climbed to about
$1.60/mile in Oct 2025, and cargo delays at ports lengthened restock
times. Grocers and retailers report absorbing higher shipping fees or
passing them on.
Analysts note these transport-driven costs are adding 2–3% to consumer prices, straining household budgets nationwide.
Multiple
carriers joined Montgomery’s fate. Jack Cooper Transport (Alabama) and
Carroll Fulmer Logistics (Florida) also folded in Oct 2025. Surviving
fleets are slashing staff and deferring expenses.
Will Chump ever admit he's wrecked the economy? Will he just keep lying? At what point will even MAGA have to walk away? Megan Cerullo (CBS NEWS) notes:
Trump
administration tariffs imposed this year on dozens of nations and a
range of industries are fueling inflation, especially for goods that are
widely imported into the U.S., a recent analysis shows.
Product
categories seeing some of the biggest price hikes due to tariffs
include furniture, car parts, electronics and musical instruments,
according to economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The
findings are based on research models estimating tariff-related price
hikes and drawing on Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, a
widely used gauge of inflation.
Importers
bear the cost of tariffs, typically passing at least some of the added
expenses to consumers, economic research shows.
The
St. Louis Fed researchers found that companies passed 35% of tariff
costs onto consumers from May through July. Other research from Goldman
Sachs suggests that businesses could eventually pass on as much as 55% of added tariff costs
to consumers. Companies would swallow 22% of the extra costs, while
foreign exporters would absorb 18% of the expenses, economists with the
investment bank found.
But, hey, as
long as you don't check your receipts from the grocery store or your
bank balance, you can just keep pretending it's "fake news" and applaud
Chump's destruction of the US economy.
Now, just nine months into his second term, Trump has continued to target Latinos by:
—
gutting the U.S. refugee system and giving preference to English
speakers, white South Africans (i.e., Afrikaners) and Europeans who flee
countries they consider to be plagued by excessive migration;
—
launching immigration sweeps that target brown-skinned people,
according to a federal judge who ordered a stop to indiscriminate
immigration detentions and arrests in Southern California;
—
ending government programs that promoted diversity, equity and
inclusion and closing DEI offices throughout the federal government,
while pressuring colleges and universities to do the same;
—
relying on stereotype in labeling Colombian President Gustavo Petro "an
illegal drug leader" after Petro criticized Trump for launching deadly
attacks on boats from Venezuela; and
—
trying to gut the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by arguing for a narrow
interpretation of the statute that would make it harder for plaintiffs
to prove discrimination and more difficult to use race in drawing
districts.
After
conservative activist Charlie Kirk was murdered last month, the MAGA
mob made it clear that they resent it when they're called racist.
I
get that. Then they ought to cleanse their movement and scrub out all
the racism. It's a big project. They're going to need a lot of soap —
and even more humility.
I'm shoe horning that in because
otherwise it'll wait for another day that never comes -- there's so much
to cover every day. Let's wind down, Senator Patty Murray's office
issued the following yesterday:
Washington, D.C. – Today, on the 22nd day
of the Republican shutdown, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice
Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined Senator Jeff
Merkley (D-OR) on the Senate floor during his twenty hour-long and
counting speech sounding the alarm on how President Trump is acting like
a king, following an authoritarian playbook, and seeking to control
more aspects of Americans’ lives.
The exchange between Senator Murray and Senator Merkley, as delivered on the floor today, is below:
“I
see the Senator from Washington state is on the floor, and I would be
very happy to yield to a question,” Senator Merkley said.
[RINGING THE ALARM BELLS ON TRUMP’S ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL AMERICANS’ LIVES]
“I thank the Senator from Oregon. And first, let me just
commend you for what you are doing here, throughout the night,
throughout today, calling attention to a really critical issue in this
country,” Senator Murray replied.
“So many people come up to me. And you know, because we go
back and forth to the West Coast all the time, how many people walk up
to us and say, ‘What can I do about this?’ And each one of us has to
say, here’s what I can do.
“And I want to thank you for doing what you are doing today,
because you’re going above and beyond to point out to people that, as
your chart says, authoritarianism is here and it is here now, and we can
ignore it or we can speak out. And you have spent all night long, all
day, standing on your feet, and at, I’m sure, great personal sacrifice,
to fight for everyone in this country and to sound the alarms you’ve
been talking about. And so I just personally want to, want to thank you.
“And I want to reiterate something that you have said for all
of these hours and actually many times to me over the past few months,
the fact that Trump is using his place in government to control every
aspect of our life. Whether it’s what our schools are teaching or not
teaching, it’s whether or not he’s prosecuting his enemies, which he is
doing, it’s cutting off projects and funding to punish the political
opposition.
“And as you and I both know, we represent ‘blue states,’ but
we have a lot of red counties and cities and neighborhoods, and even
within all of our blue districts. And you can’t just randomly say ‘I’m
hurting blue without hurting red,’ because these are all Americans. But
he is using his power to do that.
“We are seeing him, as you know well, in your home state
deploying troops to intimidate Democrats. And I listened to you late
last night talk about what is happening in Portland. And the misuse of
this kind of power should be frightening to every single American, and
we need to stand up and we need to call it out, which is what you are
doing today. And even dictating what late night TV hosts is doing is
part of this whole picture that you’ve been describing.”
[TRUMP TRAMPLING ON CONGRESS’ POWER OF THE PURSE]
“But I came to the floor today as your partner on the Appropriations Committee,” Senator Murray continued. “We
serve on that together, and we all know in this body how important that
committee is, because we decide where the funding is going to go in the
country. Now I’ve been out on this floor, I’ve been at home, I’ve been
everywhere talking about the power of the purse, which sounds kind of
like this quaint little phrase, but it is really important for anybody
who has a family. You know that the person who writes the checks in the
checkbook decides where the money is going to go? Well, that power of
that checkbook, that power of the purse, it is, as it is called, lands
in this side of the aisle, on this side of the White House and Congress,
we have the power of the purse. Why is that? Because we represent our
constituents from across the country. I from Washington State, you from
Oregon, people from Illinois and Alabama and Florida all come here to be
a voice for their constituents on where their taxpayers’ [dollars] are
going to go. And within this country, the power of the purse means we
have the ability to decide where the money is going to go, because we
represent our constituents. That’s what they call on us to do, and I am
seeing Trump doing an all-out assault on Congress’ power of the purse.
“So, I wanted to come here today and ask you your thoughts on
how this President is undermining the power of the purse, and how it
plays into your ringing the bells about authoritarianism?” asked Senator Murray.
Senator Merkley responded, “Ringing the alarm bells for the
authoritarian power of the purse is one of those fundamental ways that,
in fact, the President is concentrating his power. The difference
between a democracy—in a democracy the legislature says, ‘here are the
programs, here’s how we want to run them, and here’s how we’re going to
fund them.’ And it brings together the collective wisdom of a large
group that comes from every portion of the nation, like we do here our
100 Senators from 50 states. And we not only bring our geographic
differences, we bring our life differences and our life skills and all
of that helps us form a pretty complex set of decisions about the
programs that need more support because of the challenges we’re facing
as a nation at that moment and those that can do with less support. And
that’s our responsibility. But all those voices together are just so
central to that.
“In an authoritarian nation, all of that
responsibility—design the program, fund the program, choose whether the
program will happen—it’s all transferred to the executive. So, we’re
thinking authoritarians over here, power of the purse with the
executive, democracy over here, power of the purse of the legislature.
So, Russell Vought, the current head of OMB, he’s a well-trained, clever
man, and he’s saying, ‘Well, let’s see how we can actually take the
power of the purse. You passed a bill for fiscal year [20]25 and now
we’re in. Now we’re not now, we’re no longer in fiscal year [20]25, but
let’s say we were, ‘Hmm, well, maybe I can just slow off the funds for
the programs I don’t want to fund. That way, the decision is transferred
to the executive. Maybe I can freeze them, maybe I can impound them,
basically permanently take them off the table, see if I can get away
with that. Maybe I can send over a request to have Congress formally
undo the programs that they have funded,’ and they did send one of those
over, and it was voted and needed a majority vote in both chambers. But
the problem with that is, you have a bipartisan vision to serve the
entire depth—this job to me is representing the geography of the United
States, to serve the entire breadth and depth of our nation with all of
our differences, and then on a partisan basis, meaning half the room,
they decide what programs to cut. And that means a deal was done in the
beginning between Democrats and Republicans, and then it was undone, and
the programs that were cut were the programs by and large the Democrats
had advocated for. How do you do the next deal in that situation? And
then we have Mr. Vought saying, ‘Hmm, what I’ll do is pretend I’m going
to spend it, but then in the last 45 days, I’ll send a notification that
I’d like Congress to undo it, but there is a waiting period, so
therefore I know what I have done is set it up so that before those 45
days are out, the end of the fiscal year comes, and that bucket that
goes to that program goes poof into thin air.’ And that’s the fancy term
he’s used for the pocket rescission. And so here, we are saying to our
Republican colleagues: if you’re negotiating in good faith to serve the
interests and concerns that all 100 senators bring here, that a bill
forged in that bipartisan manner can only be undone in a bipartisan
manner. And we do rescissions in a bipartisan manner. We do undo
funding. We take one year two, year three, year funding that turned out
not to be needed or better spent elsewhere, and we pull it back and we
put it into a different program, but we do that readjustment in the same
bipartisan way we did the initial program,” Senator Merkley continued.
“So, we’re saying to our colleagues across the aisle, if the
power of the purse means something, and it does—the difference between
an authoritarian government and a democracy, then work with us to defend
our Constitution. Defend that what we have done together cannot be
undone by the executive. And so far, we have not received a ‘Yes, we
will defend the Constitution.’ And what I hear is mainly, ‘Yeah,
President Trump would never go for that.’ When you hear that, you know
you’re trapped in an authoritarian because the vision of our nation is
that we the Congress will forge these programs and decide how to fund
them, how much and when it’s like, ‘Can’t do that, because Trump would
be upset,’ well, that just confirms we are in authoritarianism now, and
it’s not just the power of the purse, of course, it’s an attack on due
process. It’s an attack on free press. It’s an attack on the freedom of
speech. It is the weaponization of the Department of Justice. It is the
ignoring the laws that apply to the executive completely, like firing
all the IGs, getting rid of all the referees. In the book that I really
spent the night trying to use as a framework in order to say, ‘Hey,
experts who have studied how democracies die—they don’t die with people
with guns anymore. They die when people get elected, and then they
follow the authoritarian playbook on how to basically undo the checks
and balances and amplify the power.’”
[NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENTS IN OREGON]
“And another piece of that that we should be very concerned
about in the Northwest right now, more in Portland, but who knows what
happens in Seattle, is trying to carve a path in which Trump has court
decisions that say he can put troops into the street whenever he wants,
and that is a massively dangerous amplification of authoritarian power.
And that’s why what we do this year makes such a such a difference that
we have to protest and say, ‘This is not normal.’ We have to ring the
alarm bells. We have to praise the 7 million people who got out there
and said, ‘No Kings’ in the United States. And that’s such a beautiful,
short way of saying, ‘No authoritarianism. We want our republic back,
and we’re willing to fight to make that happen,’” Senator Merkley said.
“That’s what you’re doing. And I thank the Senator from
Oregon, for all he’s been doing for so long—for so many years, but
especially for the last 20 plus hours that you’ve been
on the floor, many, too many hours on the floor—reminding us all of why
this is so critical,” concluded Senator Murray.
