Stop or I’ll Put All Caps in Your Ass

During the campaign, Trump famously said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. Well, we’re 2256 hours into his reign and his very stable art of the deal negotiating skills have been reduced to all-caps pleas to Putin. A day after the Trump administration tried to kickstart peace talks by surrendering to Russia everything it could want, Russia responded with a deadly attack on Kyiv. Trump took to social media: “Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!” (Looks like we’re gonna have to give it another 24 hours.)

+ In between efforts to try to surrender to Vladimir, Trump is getting embarrassed on the world stage by Xi, as tariff talk cratered our markets, weakened the dollar, and infuriated our allies. Don’t take it from me. Take it from the WSJ Editorial Board (Gift Article): Another harsh reality is that China called Mr. Trump’s bluff and seems to have won this round … Beijing has also warned countries not to do trade deals with the U.S. that exclude China—or else. With even U.S. allies facing Mr. Trump’s tariff assault, Beijing’s threat has resonated in a way that it never previously did. U.S. diplomatic sway is ebbing. The question going forward is whether Mr. Trump is internalizing these economic and political lessons or merely pausing to fight his trade war another day. We doubt even Mr. Trump knows the answer, since so much of his decision-making is ad hoc.”

+ Trump says the U.S. and China are ‘actively’ discussing tariffs. Beijing says that’s false. (There’s not a smart person in the world who doesn’t know who’s telling the truth. And that’s damn scary.)

+ These are just a couple examples of how much damage has been done to America’s role in the world in a short amount of time. For a great overview, quick check out this interview with Jake Sullivan. “These are the things that are uniquely American. And in less that 100 days, Trump has gone after all of them.”