Appearing on Fox New with Maria Bartiromo, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett walks through the intent of the upcoming April 2nd ‘liberation day’ tariffs.

Hassett notes the auto tariffs are likely to generationally change the dynamic of car manufacturing in the USA.  Additionally, the stock market disruption is entirely predictable against the dynamic of Wall Street -vs- Main Street. WATCH:

Today, exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett #KevinHassett spoke about President Trump preparing to announce reciprocal tariffs this Wednesday.@FoxNews pic.twitter.com/1lU8w9w0FB

— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) March 30, 2025

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The dynamic is obvious to any intellectually honest observer, which is to say U.S. and Western media disqualify themselves and continue pushing preferred EU narratives.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the latest U.S. proposal for a minerals deal that would create a partnership to repay the United States for ongoing financial support.  According to Zelenskyy, the deal to share in oil, gas and mineral revenue would amount to debt that would disqualify them from EU membership due to unstable financials.

However, it is important for U.S. readers to remember the U.S. aid package already underway pays for the entire operation of the Ukraine federal spending liabilities, including pensions, government worker paychecks and everything normally within a govt budget.  U.S. taxpayers are not only subsidizing the war with munitions, but we are also subsidizing the government operation and citizens of Ukraine.  Within that spending there is MASSIVE corruption ongoing.

When Zelensky rejects (1) the terms of a “minerals deal,” (2) rejects U.N peacekeepers, (3) rejects the predicate for peace that Russia will retain part of Eastern Ukraine geography, and (4) rejects the offered security guarantees, he is also rejecting the idea that American taxpayers should be repaid for all their support.

Almost all of these rejections appear based on Zelensky’s belief the U.K, France and European allies can replace any support lost by President Trump changing his approach toward Ukraine.  Zelensky, who has not been elected, is developing a reputation for being so difficult, so demanding, so spoiled and temperamental that neither Vladimir Putin nor President Trump wants to deal with him.

Against this backdrop, the ceasefire deal is tenuous at best.  Russia, who previously said they did not expect Zelensky to stand by any ceasefire proposal, continues to launch airstrikes against Ukraine as Zelensky continues to prove Vladimir Putin correct by rejecting U.S. proposed terms for a ceasefire – while claiming Russia is not abiding.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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The Chief of Staff to the President is a key administration official in any White House. With one foot in policy and one foot in politics, the CoS shapes the outcomes of a presidency.

Current White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, appears on Fox News for an interview with Lara Trump to share her views and perspectives along with her role in assisting President Trump with MAGA success.

Within every interview there are always nuggets that help put perspective on the interpersonal dynamics.  One of the nuggets within this interview is Wiles sharing how she came to be in the original orbit of President Trump.

According to Wiles she was “asked by a mutual friend” to travel to New York and meet with candidate Trump in “late December 2015.”  That timeline would be post-Fox Debate (Megyn Kelly attempted hit – Aug ’15) when President Trump was leading every republican primary poll and became the enemy of the professional Republican establishment.  WATCH:

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There is a lot of speculation about the potential for President Trump to remove National Security Advisor Mike Waltz following the SignalGate fiasco.  However, I doubt it will come soon.

Yes, CTH predicted in January that Waltz would be the first to get fired; but that prediction was due to the easily identified conflict between Waltz’s ideological mindset and his responsibility to execute a President Trump national security policy that is seemingly counter to Waltz’s worldview.

President Trump is unlikely to dismiss Waltz until some time has passed and his removal doesn’t look like a win for the media narrative operation.  Currently the SignalGate issue is diminishing. However, watch what assignments Waltz is given – that’s where we will likely see a shift in responsibility.

I suspect Mike Waltz will no longer have a critical role in the Ukraine-v-Russia conflict that President Trump is trying to bring to an end.  If Waltz has lost effectiveness or the trust of President Trump, his role as National Security Advisor will be visibly lessened.   The influence of JD Vance, Marco Rubio and to a smaller extent Steve Witkoff will be more prominent.

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Losing USAID likely means the CIA will hit back hard on the subject of Ukraine as retaliation.  USAID was the front group for CIA interventionist operations globally.  The omnipotent silo will not accept this decision by Secretary Marco Rubio.

The State Department has formally informed congress of their intent to dissolve USAID terminating the employment of every associate within the agency.  [per this release]

Watch the geopolitical events/actions closely in the next few weeks. This is a very big hit against the Intelligence Community network, and likely one of the reasons for CIA manager John Ratcliffe scheduling a meeting with DOGE head Elon Musk.

This announcement coincides with a 3-judge appeals court ruling that now permits DOGE and Elon Musk to take apart the USAID silo. [Ruling pdf Here]

(Via Politico) – A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to resume their efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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After a massive earthquake hit the region with epicenter in Myanmar, the death toll continues to climb.  As far away as Bangkok (600km from epicenter), rescue workers are still trying to find the victims of a downtown high-rise collapse.  The devastation is widespread.

BANGKOK — Myanmar’s ruling military said Saturday on state television that the confirmed death toll from a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake rose to 1,644, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country’s second-largest city.

The new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday’s quake. The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.

Rescue efforts are underway especially in the major stricken cities of Mandalay, the country’s No. 2 city, and Naypyitaw, the capital. But even though teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.

[…] The earthquake struck midday Friday with an epicenter not far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring 6.4. It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.

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In an announcement on his Twitter (X) account, Elon Musk announces that xAI is purchasing X (Twitter) in an internal stock swap.  Twitter was valued at $33 billion, and xAI at $80 billion.

The remaining $12 billion in debt attributed to Twitter, can now be removed and paid to the debt holders without worry of the financial instability a repayment would generate. IMHO this was the motive.

Those who followed my research on Twitter financials, clearly understand how the platform needed to restructure.  The same people who organized the Twitter financing are the same people who just organized the merger.

As noted by The Wall Street Journal, “The new valuations were determined during negotiations between the two Musk arms, which both had the same advisers.”

The Twitter debt holders can now get repaid without impact to Twitter.  Note, by Musk’s own admission the debt within Twitter is the same today as it was on the original purchase date. No debt was paid down.

Elon Musk – “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt).

Since it’s founding two years ago, xAI has rapidly become one of the leading AI labs in the world, building models and data centers at unprecedented speed and scale.

X is the digital town square where more than 600M active users go to find the real-time source of ground truth and, in the last two years, has been transformed into one of the most efficient companies in the world, positioning it to deliver scalable future growth.

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