Donald Trump’s schizophrenic tariff drama has sent the markets into a huge tailspin. Sobriety has set in among the investor class – in the past week, the S&P 500 has dropped nearly 6%, a $1.7 trillion selloff. The Asian markets are panicking and preparing for a global downturn. This might be the fastest any American president has tanked a great economy – Trump hasn’t even been in office for eight full weeks, and a recession looks inevitable by the summer, if not the spring. The NY Times decided this was the moment to remind everyone of Trump’s moronic economic messaging on the campaign trail:
As a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump promised an economic “boom like no other.” But eight weeks into his presidency, Mr. Trump is refusing to rule out a recession — a striking change in tone and message for a man who rode widespread economic dissatisfaction to the White House by promising to “make America affordable again.”
His comments come as the stock market is tumbling — the S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent Monday after falling 3.1 percent last week — and business leaders are spooked about the uncertainty over his tariffs. Even some Republicans, who fear retribution if they cross Mr. Trump, have started to raise concerns about his levies.
The moment captures a fundamental challenge for Mr. Trump, a showman who makes absolute and sweeping promises that inevitably run into the reality of governing. The economy Mr. Trump inherited was by many standards in solid shape, with low unemployment, moderate growth and an inflation rate that, while still higher than what the Federal Reserve wants, had declined substantially. But the uncertainty that his policies have injected into the outlook is a jarring contrast with the picture Mr. Trump painted on the campaign trail.
“We will begin a new era of soaring incomes,” Mr. Trump said at a rally in October. “Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs and a booming middle class. We are going to boom like we’ve never boomed before.”
All it took was a looming Trump Recession for the Times to admit that the Biden economy was actually pretty good. By the end of this year, investors and the donor class will be begging for just a sliver of the old Biden economy. As I said in the previous coverage of Trump’s tariff BS: this is what will get some of his people to turn on him. The MAGA faithful are in a cult and that won’t change. But the donor class? The business class? We’ll hopefully see some significant pushback from them.
The Daily Beast notes: “The Magnificent 7 tech stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla—all fell, with Elon Musk’s car brand taking the biggest hit with a 15% tumble.” Yeah, Tesla’s stock is falling rapidly, Tesla dealerships are being burned to the ground in Europe, and governments around the world are canceling their contracts with Musk and his companies. So much winning! Meanwhile, Trump went on a Truth-Social rampage, posting 100 times in six hours.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J Trump departs the White House in Washington, DC, headed for a weekend trip to Florida. Pictured: Trump BACKGRID USA 7 MARCH 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J Trump departs the White House in Washington, DC, headed for a weekend trip to Florida. Pictured: Trump BACKGRID USA 7 MARCH 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC – United States President Trump walks across the South Lawn after stepping off Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC. President Trump is returning from a weekend trip to his home in Florida. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 9 MARCH 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC – United States President Trump walks across the South Lawn after stepping off Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC. President Trump is returning from a weekend trip to his home in Florida. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 9 MARCH 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
2025 has been truly awful. I see CFDT is wearing his proud boy yellow tie in these pictures, which means that things are not going to be improving anytime soon.
I’ve lived abroad for a long time, and people have been asking me about immigrating or telling me I’m lucky. The world is interconnected, keep that in mind.
If you are serious about moving, and the country has public and private health care, pay more and choose private! In Western and Central Europe, it makes a huge difference in access and level of care. If you have celiac disease, check food labels every time you purchase a product. Certain countries are better than others in understanding gluten’s effects. Visiting somewhere is different than living there. Most people make friends and build a social network when young–keep in mind it might be difficult to make friends quickly. Learn the language if applicable. Learn the culture!!
Re: Moving to another country
Feedback I’ve gotten includes Americans need to keep filing their taxes with the IRS. Salaries are different in different countries–some expats were shocked by that. Your retirement pension will be impacted. My French friend was shocked that she was advised to take folic acid when pregnant–the traditional French diet ensures you reach your target. On that, many American foods are supplemented (ie, cereals and milk, etc), but this is far less common internationally. Back to pregnancy or illness: in your own country, family and friends will help out. If you don’t have that network, things get trickier. The education system for your kids will be different. So will joining clubs (for yourself and other family members). Highly advisable to join clubs and volunteer if you don’t have a job right away to integrate into your community. And get in touch with other expats.
I have come to absolutely HATE the following stupid phrase in any form: “We are going to (fill in generic blank) like we’ve never (fill in unimaginative blank) before.” Tell me you don’t know what you’re talking about and don’t care that it won’t happen because you’re just running your mouth for people who have no intellectual curiosity whatsoever without telling me you’re just making it up for said people. I cannot believe the sheer volume of people that hear that and go…”Yeah. For sure. It’s gonna be amazing”. Also…where are any pictures of him with regular people since he’s been elected? Farmers? Steel workers? None. Because he believes there will never be a need for them again because there will never be elections again. Believe him when he tells you that. Reducing the military sharply? Sure – because he has his own minions that know they will get a pardon if they hurt their fellow citizens. No need for a paid Army. Lots of people happy to do it for free.
This is exactly right and why I commented to the NYT story that they need to stop ascribing legitimacy/strategy/credibility to anything Trump says. It’s beyond time the outlets cover him as he should be covered, as an ignorant, self-absorbed fool who’s failed upward his entire life.
Yeah he’s definitely creating a country where his brown shirts feel emboldened and protected any any private citizen who happens to disagree with him feels fearful of expressing their opinion.
My French mother refuses to text or email anything about Trump or Musk because as a greencard holder, she’s terrified of deportation.
Our family is either pissed off and worried or celebrating. We have Green Card/ naturalized US citizens, too. Too many people are losing jobs, being threatened with losing jobs and/ or deportation, and watching visitors being hauled off to who knows where isn’t reassuring. Lots of family and friends are warning me not to visit unless something dire happens.
Your mother is smart. Look at what they’re doing to the Palestinian student who organized a peaceful protest at Columbia. They’ve detained him indefinitely and are going to deport him (a court has put a stay on deportation for now, but they are still trying). And he had a green card AND a student visa (belt and suspenders for being in the country).
I am in your mom’s boat gc holder but am seriously considering returning it and just going home.
Yeah, DOGE needs to cancel out all the Space X contracts with the government. That would save far more money than firing low level employees. Oh, wait, guess that won’t happen. Any voter with even the least amount of good sense should have been able to look around the world at economies post-pandemic and see what a good job the Biden admin did.
But Musk is a billionaire–why would he need to steal from the American people? Ok cool, dude, then why take all these government subsidies if you don’t need the money. Why not do that shit for free?
It’s like asking why a heroin addict would need more heroin. It’s never enough for these billionaires. They are absolutely addicted to wealth and power.
IMO, we are in for a spectacular crash, likely/possibly by the end of the month. Trump has no plans for internal investment, in fact the opposite. Unemployment is about to soar, and the safety net is being gutted. A recession would be nice compared to the depression – an extreme recession characterized by widespread unemployment and major pauses in economic activity – I think we are actually headed towards.
If the economic picture weren’t bad enough internally, internationally, there will likely be a massive sell off of US debt because it is no longer a safe bet. The dollar will tank, further destroying any ability to rebound internally.
The pain coming will not temporary. It is not the ridiculous ‘detox’ talking heads keep saying on right wing news stations. Our economy is being intentionally strangled to death, and there is no plan or strategy to rebuild it.
We are not about to begin a ‘new era of soaring incomes.’ We are about to begin a new area of looking for grass to keep us fed.
FWIW, for all of human history prior to the Boomer generation, hunger and deprivation were the norm. Trump and his billionaires want us to go back to that.
The main problem is that all this speculating is going to crash world economy, not just the USA.
It’s a major global problem.
I think you’re 100% correct and the Rs don’t seem to care at all. They are welcoming this. And honestly, I’m not sure how much most of the Dems care. they’re wearing pink to the joint address and censuring one of their own. There are a few who are out there putting up the good fight, but so many still seem hell bent on….i don’t know. trying to make peace with MAGA?
He doesn’t seem surprised at the prospect of a recession. It practically feels like he wants one? I’m still so angry and ashamed that this is what’s happening right now. Purposely antagonizing Canada. Like WTH.
Maybe he does want a recession. Economic instability is a way for a dictator to control the masses.
I’m done trying to figure out what’s going on his addled brain–it seems like he makes decisions based on what the last person told him–but your theory is one that MANY people far smarter than myself have posited.
I think he wants a total collapse of the America we know. We are less than a year away from him and his goons declaring martial law and suspending all elections in the US. He cannot have a Democratic congress elected in 2026, which is what always happens (a switch from the prevailing party in mid-term elections). That is why he is dismantling everything (including the Board of Elections) so quickly
I go a couple of different ways here. I agree with the comments about how he wants economic and/or World War 3 etc.
But I also agree with @Kitten that it feels like he makes decisions based on what the last person told him. I’ve tried to avoid him, but when I do hear clips of him, he’s clearly experiencing some sort of significant cognitive decline. He doesn’t seem to know what EOs he’s signing, thats why someone in the office always has to explain them as he’s signing them.
I sometimes feel like he’s the Rs useful idiot except he’s no longer so useful. I dont think a lot of Rs saw the Musk involvement happening, at least not to this extent, and so they thought they were going to have this puppet in the WH, and now they’re the puppets.
I dont know. I feel like this sounds like I’m trying to give Trump a pass, and i’m not at all. But I just don’t think he has the cognitive ability to play the kind of political games some attribute to him. The people behind him do though.
It’s also a GREAT time for rich people & corporations to get richer – people who aren’t rich have to sell off assets (real estate, etc) at a discount to try and keep their head above water, and the mega wealthy who are in no real danger of losing much of anything, can scoop them up for pennies on the dollar
I truly believe some want a WW3 to reshape the world. I believe Trump is just as bankrupt morally as financially. He sold out this country and all of us along with his cult members. He flat out said in his Word Salad address the other night that he
firmly believes God saved him and put him in office . Alot of wackjob Christo fascist nuts think that also.Yes,the leopards will definitely have full bellies. I still can’t believe anyone fell for this but mankind has a depressingly long history of being absolutely stupid and breathtakingly cruel.
The evilgelicals want WW3 because they want the rapture to happen when they are alive.
Because plans to invade us. He doesn’t need the army, just the Jan 6 types. He’s already using similar tactics–language about historic unfairness, stealing, etc, even saying Canadian drugs killing Americans which is totally bullshit fantasy crap. His using the Kremlin playbook now too, creating a justification based on lies.
The Dems have a measure meant to bar funding from going toward the armed forces to engage in operations seeking to take over Greenland, Canada and Panama called the No Invading Allies Act.
I honestly cannot believe that this is a thing we’re actually talking about but here we are. Utter fucking insanity.
Fear and greed. Fear and greed. It’s what drives the market.
Trump sucks.
I do wish that all Democrats, including my beloved governor, Tim, would stop obsessing over what the Harris campaign did wrong. Just take a minute to consider that 77 million people found the Trump campaign appealing enough to fill in the little oval next to Trump’s name after he fellated a mic, spoke glowingly about a dead golfer’s junk, and stopped an alleged town hall after a few minutes to play canned music while he swayed on stage. Apparently, THAT was the winning message. There was no problem with the Harris campaign. The problem lies with the voters. Politicians can’t say that but I can. And I have no solution for this problem because you can’t fix stupid.
Thank you. All of this.
Amen 🙏🏾 to all that, can you imagine if Kamala called Puerto Rico garbage 😮 They would accuse her of giving Trump the presidency.
Kamala’s sanity and dignity definitely put her at a disadvantage in that campaign. It infuriates me that anyone would suggest the loss was her fault. It also infuriates me that no one ever suggests that Trump’s refusal to do a second debate just two weeks before election day might be the only thing that could have made a real difference. And that’s why neither he nor his campaign wanted it.
I definitely agree with the crux of your argument but I do think the Democratic party needs reform. I think both things are true…Americans are irreparably broken in terms of how we get our information–the modern era of our siloed disinformation media feels unsolvable/overwhelming AND Democrats need to somehow go back to being a party that resonates with the middle class. I think the two issues are deeply interconnected because by and large, Democrats have always been better for the working class–yet that message isn’t breaking through to people. Don’t get me wrong–I don’t have any easy answers on how to do that–but I really hope Dems figure something out because I want them to win again which feels nearly impossible in the face of the RW media ecosystem of lies and disinfo.
I agree. The Dems need to improve their messaging and streamline it. I’m not sure how though.
Even here – the NYT is like “well actually the Biden economy was pretty strong.” and yet we could never seem to get that point across.
Right we went from “EGGS ARE TO EXPENSIVE” to “STFU ABOUT EGGS” as soon as Trump took office. Sigh.
But I feel like Dems need to use every tool at their disposal. Dem governors need to pour over their powers and do everything–big and small- to combat this regime and protect their state’s rights.
This might be controversial but here’s one example: I think they should have audited every swing state, post election. Make these fuckers show their work. And maybe it wouldn’t have mattered in the end, but why not do it? Give the left some reassurance that everything was above-board–or not—but just make a stink about it and remind the GOP that have sewn deep distrust in our election process. Trigger TF out of the Right,
@Kitten and @Becks agree with you both Absolutely you both are voices of wisdom and sanity when you comment. The Dem party is our best hope and I believe has alot of great people in it. But they have to regroup and remessage. This isn’t about just politics as usual. We are fighting to keep the soul of our nation.
Thanks, Kiki, exactly. As Rep Crockett said, “this is not normal”.
We have a huge problem with information.
One of my relatives in a nursing home is experiencing mental decline. Essentially, we’re at an inbetween point right now. My relative is forgetting words and appointments, but is still cooking/ grooming/ cleaning and knows what they ate/ day of the week/ who the president is. The nursing home wants this relative’s apartment. My family member watched Zelenskyy being attacked by Trump and his minion. The nursing home people do not believe that happened, and it was one of their arguments to my family as to why this relative is losing it.
A lot of voters are not getting factual information, and they do not believe anything beyond what they are being mentally fed. That is scary! Tim and the Democrats need to start there, and it’s going to mean deprogramming people who don’t believe you and don’t trust you.
Yes! Misinformation and disinformation are a huge problem. Democrats definitely need to figure out how to build their own information infrastructure. And not like the old Air America where a bunch of leftists who were not Dems filled the airwaves with scathing critiques of Democrats and just occasional negativity about Republicans. That was not helpful. At all.
Maybe the nursing home people have more cognitive issues than your relative. They could surely find the video still of DT and JD attacking Zelenskyy.
Well said
Midterms can’t come fast enough
They won’t matter. He’s dismantling the agency that reports on elections.
Laughing, no, they really can’t. I cannot believe the entire Dem strategy is “keep silent except an occasional tweet or fund appeal and hope you win in two years.” S*it, man. So much for democracy being on the line!
It isn’t. It IS, however, still trusting that at least some of the courts at least some of the time will do the right —and Constitutional— thing. I’m doing yet another shout out for Jamie Raskin here. I’m also applauding Jasmine Crockett, AOC, and
Bernie Sanders — among others — for keeping our focus on the insanity and illegality of much of what’s been happening courtesy of Trump, Musk, and their ilk.
And I’m crossing my fingers for the upcoming special elections.
@Jane, Comments like yours, that wail about “the Dem strategy” without either suggesting potential courses of action or holding the Republicans accountable in any way are frustrating. It’s as though people are giving the Republicans a pass — while expecting miracles from the Democrats, as the designated adults in the room. I trust that everyone with similar views is doing more than just waiting for the Democrats and Bernie Sanders to save us — while laughing.
We are in for a long, scary ride. I pulled everything from the stock market on Feb 20th, the day after an ATH, because Trump and Musk are deliberately tanking our country and economy. Gee, I wonder who could be telling them to do that? I can barely speak to anyone who voted for him. My Mom is full blown MAGA and we used to talk to every day but I’m disgusted. I can’t compartmentalize anymore, especially after convo’s around the election when her racism, homophobia, and misogyny were finally revealed. I barely speak to her anymore and when I do, I keep it to discussing my kids. I’m just so disappointed that hate and fear won…AGAIN!
When you say “pulled everything” are you talking about cashing out investment vehicles, retirement funds or…?
I’ve been debating cashing out a Roth IRA I’ve had for over a decade because of fears of economic strain due to recession (i.e. I feel like I’ll need the cash on hand) and because I believe the market will continue to spiral over the next four years and honestly, maybe even longer.
I insure retirement assets for a living so this goes counter to everything I believe in which is why I’ve been hesitating..
Anybody else doing this??
I moved the small amount in my 403b out of stocks and bonds and into a guaranteed money market account.
This is good advice, Ciotog, thanks.
My husband and I exchanged our Roth IRAs that were invested in indexes into money market accounts. We sold all index and individual stocks and parked it in several high yield saving accounts making around 4.26%. We will get hit with capital gains this year but I did the pillow test and I was ok paying more in taxes and missing out on potential gains knowing our money was safe. What we would’ve lost over the past few weeks is now more than what we’ll pay in capital gains. The downside of “timing the market” is you have to be right twice when you get back in. I don’t need to get in at the very bottom, I think we still have a ways to go with how erratic and destabilizing Trump is.
We are mid-40’s and still decades away from retirement. We have never tried to time the market before, more of a let it ride mentality. The more research I did, the more it seemed things were going to go downhill and fast.
I did buy some AST Spacemobile a week later when it was low. I like their business model and want to see them stick it to Starlink. I planning to hold onto it for years.
Did we make the right choice? Who knows in the long run. I’m sure there will be some negative aspects we didn’t consider and it’s definitely been a learning curve making these big decisions. It really seems like Trump is purposefully tanking our economy, government, and stock market. Pumping and dumping cryptocurrencies like in Argentina. Alienating allies and trade partners. I’m ok with sitting out this financial hellscape so I can concentrate on other areas of combating Project 2025 and supporting those that are affected most.
If you have investments in somewhere big like a Fidelity, you can just sell your stock fund and hold it in cash. I moved everything in my IRA into the cash fund except for the currently active company 401K, just so I could keep an eye on what the market was doing in that fund. Probably should have cashed that out too, but it is a tiny amount.
A failed business man taking an entire country’s economy immediately after he put his dirty little hands on it ? This shouldn’t surprise anyone. I hope that every person who voted for that suffers.
Trump’s attitude to Canada, seemingly wanting it to tank it economically so it’s easier to take over, shows there is no appeasing a bully. Canada agreed to the renaming of what was basically the NAFTA agreement in trump part 1 because trump wanted the name USA to come first. FT standing for free trade btw. What happened to that. Canada has always supported the US at times of crisis like after 9/11. Yet 50% tariffs are going to be imposed because Canada had the temerity not to meekly accept the previous tariffs. Trump is a wannabe mobster and thug. And what sane person, least of all a world leader, posts 100 times in six hours? But I see very little internal resistance.
Trump is not a wannabe mobster and thug, he IS one… And has been for years..
It took someone internally to deliberately ruin the U.S economy (and this will definitely be a domino effect to the world economy as the U.S. is pretty much (both) provides the most foreign direct investment to the world and also takes the largest inflows of foreign investment from other countries). Russia is not strong enough to do it by themselves, they needed someone like Trump and Musk to help them.