Several key economic reports were released today highlighting a broad and strong U.S. economy with a very strong labor market.

♦ The first quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) [DATA HERE] The first estimate is for growth at 2.0 percent.  At first glance that is lower than we expected; however, a deeper look shows a large increase in imported goods that are deductions to the equation.  The imported goods increased 25.8% more than the fourth quarter of 2025 [Table 1.1], that led to a net -1.30 percent deduction [Table 1.5].

The jump in imports is a result of massive capital expenditures on tools and equipment for the ongoing manufacturing boom.  All the manufacturing machines and industrial tools that are not made in the USA become imported goods deducted from our economic valuation.

Exports were very strong rising 12.9 percent over the prior quarter.  However, the 25.8% increase in imports created a net deduction from GDP (-1.30%).  The last time we imported this much was just before the tariffs went into place and companies were rushing advanced orders, in the first quarter of 2025; this created a rebound effect in the second quarter.

I estimate the second quarter rebound will be even greater this year because we are exporting massive amounts of oil and LNG right now.  Simultaneously, the capital expenditure imports will likely soften.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlines Operation Economic Fury and the financial pressure campaign against the Iranian regime with Larry Kudlow.

KEY POINTS:

0:00 Introduction: Operation Economic Fury
0:39 Max Pressure: The Strategy to Freeze Iran’s Economy
2:04 Tracking the Money: Seizing IRGC Assets and Crypto
3:14 The Oil Blockade: Kharg Island at a Standstill
4:10 US Economic Resilience: Why Critics Are Wrong
6:04 IRS Modernization and Signature Tax Policies
7:33 Global Reshoring and the Manufacturing Boom
8:10 Geopolitical Chess: The UAE’s Break from OPEC
10:27 Federal Reserve Friction: Jay Powell vs. Kevin Warsh

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in a formal welcome ceremony for King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  The entire event video is below with the prompt to the beginning of President Trump’s remarks.

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Things are quickening.  It would appear that accountability for the COVID-19 cover up is finally here.

David Morens, 78, was the senior advisor to Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Mr Morens was indicted today by the Dept of Justice for conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting.  [Indictment pdf HERE]

In essence, Morens was indicted for manipulating science, facilitating the creation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and then running a cover-up operation.  The evidence of the cover up is what busted him.  Morens is hopefully the first of many who could be taken down in this network.  Peter Danszak should be next.

NEW YORK – […] The indictment, unsealed Monday in Maryland federal court, also notes two unnamed co-conspirators who “concealed, removed, destroyed and caused the concealment, and removal of federal records to evade FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] and FRA [Federal Records Act].”

Information in the indictment indicates the co-conspirators are Dr. Peter Daszak, the president of Manhattan-based non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, and Dr. Gerald Keusch, an associate director of Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Institute and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grantee.

Morens, who served as a senior advisor to Fauci from 2006 to 2022, made his initial appearance in court Monday, and a judge granted him conditional release pending trial so long as he surrenders his US passport by Wednesday.  He must also “avoid all contact” with the co-conspirators. (more)

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You cannot have King Charles in the USA without checking on the perspective of Promethean Action. After all, Queen Elizabeth II and her offspring King Charles III were the arch nemesis of Lyndon LaRouche.

“Susan Kokinda links a third assassination attempt on Donald Trump at the Washington Hilton—where a 31-year-old Californian, Cole Tomas Allen, charged a Secret Service checkpoint with firearms and knives—to a broader political struggle she frames as the British imperial system versus Trump’s “American System.” She argues Trump’s own remarks about assassinations point to a pattern of targeting “impactful” leaders, comparing today’s climate to anarchist-era killings around 1900 and the 1901 assassination of William McKinley. Kokinda ties the attack’s timing to King Charles’ Washington visit, a new book, The Queen and Her Presidents, and a House of Lords/Chatham House report on “rebalancing” the UK–US partnership, highlighting UK dependence on the postwar “rules-based order” and concerns about a lasting US shift under Trump.”  WATCH:

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There’s also a funny little video gif below that ties into this nicely.

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Today is not a good day for the Canadian trade team.

It started with Quebec’s new Premier in Washington DC meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer {citation} in order to talk trade {SEE TIMELINE} saying on Twitter, “Quebec wants a renewal of the [USMCA] to ensure a stable and predictable framework for our economic exchanges.” However, Mrs. Christine Fréchette (pictured left) then bragged about having strategic discussions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. {citation}

For those who might not know, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a parasitic Wall Street and K-Street lobbying organization that has been locked out of trade influence since President Trump took office in 2017.  It was the U.S. CoC who sold out our manufacturing base, paid-off prior administrations and wrote the actual trade language in almost every trade deal that destroyed U.S. manufacturing.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying organization who focuses on the bottom-line profits of U.S. multinational corporations, and they don’t care what happens domestically to American jobs, American manufacturing and American wages.  The CoC is the organization who created the rust belt and destroyed our manufacturing base under the guise of promoting a “service driven economy.”

If Canada want’s a successful trade negotiation with the USA, the Chamber of Commerce is the last organization they should be strategizing with.

Then comes Prime Minister Mark Carney who not only steps on a rake, but he also publicly insults President Trump and the entire U.S. trade team by saying every country in the world privately tells him they regret making a trade agreement with President Trump. ¹{Citation at 28:10 of Video}

I’m going to post the entire video of Prime Minister Mark Carney discussing USMCA (Canada calls CUSMA) trade negotiations because the tone deafness of it is off the charts. That includes the Canadian Prime Minister saying that Section 232 national security reviews are a violation of the U.S-Canada trade agreement.  Carney believes any independent U.S. trade position that negates trade with any Canadian sector is a violation of trade rules, yet he is afraid to sue over Sec 232 because he doesn’t want to discover the flaw in his mindset.

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Over the weekend King Charles called President Trump to make sure the events of this week were still secure following the attempted assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Today, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed King Charles and Queen Camilla to the White House.  Video Below:

Today: President Trump and the first lady greet the king and queen “informally,” per Buckingham Palace. Then it’s off to a garden party at the British ambassador’s residence, just up the street from the vice president’s home.

Tonight: a formal White House welcome, complete with a ceremonial military review.

Tomorrow: President Trump and King Charles hold a bilateral meeting, while the first lady hosts Queen Camilla. Then the king will address a joint meeting of Congress — a rare honor. Queen Elizabeth II was the first monarch to do so, in 1991.

The day tomorrow wraps with a White House state dinner.

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President Trump details his experience at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a gunman charged toward the ballroom. President Trump says he wasn’t worried and praised the actions of law enforcement. WATCH:

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UPDATE: The full extended 40-minute interview including the parts that did not air on television is below:

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It was a dark and looming morning in Washington DC when the studio lights slowly glowed brighter and Margaret Brennan took that last sip of her grande mochaccino before taking her seat, after narrowly escaping the danger of a raging gunman who attempted to enter the dining room last night.  The opportunity for a best dramatic media performance award in a supporting role is before her.  This is her moment.

With a confident pause and deep breath, Brennan delivers her best dramatic voice in combination with outwardly nervous appearances.  “You got this,” a producer says in her ear, as Ms. Brennan slowly paints the political picture of a “harrowing ordeal,” a near failure around the events of the evening.  A killer travelled by train from California to her neighborhood in Washington DC, with a shotgun and handguns. The lost innocence of journalism is almost too much to bear.

While doing her best job pretending not to know how the aligned politics of the potential killer match her own, Brennan pushes forward through the crisis, “something must be done.”

Meanwhile, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears on CBS Face the Nation to discuss the latest assassination attempt against President Donald Trump and/or any administration officials.  The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche. Welcome, good morning, and I’m glad you are safe, sir. It was a harrowing–

ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Good morning, you as well.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It was a harrowing night, I want to get straight to what we know now, in the light of day. The FBI, as I understand it, has gone to a home in Torrance, California, believed to belong to the alleged shooter, most likely into his DC hotel room as well. What have they discovered there? What do we know?

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A few years ago, I was eating breakfast in a DC hotel listening to two men talk about their schedule for the day.  Their business was decorating homes for Christmas, and they were discussing their heavy workload.

As I listened quietly the men were describing premium rates for DC families who wanted their decorating services completed fastest.  The average rate was $15,000 per residence for 30-day interior holiday decorating, and the rates went up from there. They were overwhelmed with business calls.

I sat there stunned doing spit-takes with my coffee while thinking, “holy cow, who has that kind of money to blow, just renting Holiday decorations?”  One of the client names was familiar, Kellyanne Conway.  “Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, this is an actual thing they do up here,” I thought.  My mind was blown, but this put context to the economic bubble that isolated DC from the rest of ‘real’ America.

Yesterday, I read a New York Times column describing how the professional political employees and their families have been impacted by President Trump and the downsizing of the federal workforce.

Amid the tear-filled typeset meant to generate sympathy this part jumped out at me: “The District of Columbia currently has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 6.7 percent, in large part because of major reductions in the federal work force, including U.S.A.I.D., and cuts to government grants and contracts.” {CITATION}

Almost all of the $35 billion spent by USAID in 2024 went to Washington-based contractors, not to people in need overseas.  Eliminating USAID has now created an unemployment problem for all of those DC-based federal contractors, NGOs and USAID employees. The NYT article gives examples of the terrible state of affairs.  This is one:

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