Trump's War Within

Much of Trump’s appeal to his base has always been his promise to reclaim the glory days of the past. This appeals to those who feel resentment at having been left behind by an increasingly globalized economy and technological changes they don’t understand.

But what Trump doesn’t tell his supporters is there is no going back, at least not without major upheavals that will further destabilize the lives of average Americans.

Trump’s trade war is absurd. The idea that tariffs will incentivize multinational corporations to relocate their manufacturing plants back to within our borders is simply false.

The companies go where the labor costs are lower, the tax burdens less, and increasingly where the global supply chains determine they should be. You might call this the natural distribution of resources in a globalized economy.

And nothing Trump can do will change any of that in any substantive way. But what he can do, and currently is doing, is to disrupt the free flow of goods and services across borders, which affects millions of people around the world.

The dirty story no one in Trumpville wants to hear is that the only way the U.S. can extract an even greater share of global resources than we consume already is by making everyone else poorer. We already dominate these resources; Trump aims to bully his way to command even more.

It will not work, and Americans are going to literally pay for his misguided approach. In the end, Trump’s declaration of war against everyone else is a war on us as well. It is indeed his War Within.

HEADLINES:

• Supreme Court rejects Trump’s request to keep billions in foreign aid frozen (CNN)

• Fact-checking Trump's address to Congress (BBC)

• Tariff War Risks Sinking World Into New Great Depression, International Chamber of Commerce Warns (WSJ)

• Breaking Down Trump’s Tariffs (New Yorker)

• Target and Best Buy warn of price hikes from Trump's tariffs (NBC)

• Trade war escalates as China, Mexico, Canada retaliate (WP)

• Warren Buffett Rebukes Trump’s Tariffs Plan in CBS Interview: ‘Act of War’ (NYT)

• US tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect, as China takes aim at US farm exports (AP)

• DOGE firings provoke heated confrontations, shouts of ‘Nazi,’ at Republican town halls (LAT)

• Speaker Mike Johnson Is Living in a D.C. House That Is the Center of a Pastor’s Secretive Influence Campaign (ProPublica)

• The Trump administration plans to put an anti-union advocate in charge of the Labor Department’s office that oversees financial disclosures by unions and "union-busting" consultants, HuffPost's Dave Jamieson reports. [HuffPost]

• RFK Jr.’s Solution for Measles Outbreak Has Health Experts Horrified (TNR)

• Why Elon Musk is targeting a free tax-filing software package (Guardian)

• Planes are having their GPS hacked. Could new clocks keep them safe? (BBC)

• US supreme court weakens rules on discharge of raw sewage into water supplies (Guardian)

• Republicans target 4 ‘sanctuary’ cities as Trump pushes mass deportations (AP)

• US and Ukraine prepare to sign minerals deal (Reuters)

• Zelenskyy says he will work under Trump’s leadership as he proposes Ukraine peace plan (Guardian)

• Scientists Discover Natural Compound That Stops Cancer Progression (SciTechDaily)

• Carl Dean, Dolly Parton's husband of nearly 60 years who inspired 'Jolene,' dies at 82 (NPR)

• AI copyright wars need a market solution (Financial Times)

• A.I. Start-Up Anthropic Closes Deal That Values It at $61.5 Billion (NYT)

• Pete Hegseth Deploys 3,000 U.S. Troops On Beer Run (The Onion)