Smirking Chimp (2025)

11/04/2025

Robert Reich in Friday's Chimp: "My heart leapt last Saturday when I saw how many people turned out for the Hands Off protests: More than 1,200 rallies were held across all 50 states — drawing an estimated 3 million participants. Even red states like Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Kentucky had well-attended protests. Across the land, demonstrators were peaceful, civil, and respectful; the atmosphere was buoyant and joyful — yet determined. There were other reasons for modest hope this week."

My heart leapt last Saturday when I saw how many people turned out for the Hands Off protests: More than 1,200 rallies were held across all 50 states — drawing an estimated 3 million participants. Even red states like Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Kentucky had well-attended protests.

11/04/2025

Alex Henderson in Friday's Chimp: "Trump made his tariffs announcement at a time when his steep new tariffs were causing the stock market to tank and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was saying a recession was 'likely.' But Fox News, Gertz noted, was spinning the announcement to make it look like Trump was showing himself to be a master of 'the art of the deal.'"

Critics of President Donald Trump often accuse his supporters of behaving in a cult-like fashion. And two recent examples are being highlighted by Media Matters' Matt Gertz and former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Illinois), a Never Trump conservative.

11/04/2025

Amanda Marcotte in Friday's Chimp: "We're getting a compelling illustration on the national stage of how a cult leader can induce his followers to stick by him, even as he loses his mind and his behavior becomes too erratic and dangerous to defend. Almost every Republican on Capitol Hill knows that Donald Trump's tariff plan is political su***de, but few are willing to admit that Dear Leader fully intends to see this idiocy to the very end. Instead, most resemble the residents of Jonestown, many of whom hoped Jim Jones was testing their faith with all this poison-Kool-Aid talk, which allowed them to play along until it was too late to save themselves."

History's most famous cults are known primarily for their final suicidal acts: the mass poisoning at Jonestown, the self-immolation of the Branch Davidians, the self-asphyxiations of Heaven's Gate. We know these things happen, but it's still a mystery to most of us how cult members get to this point...

11/04/2025

Derek Devon in Friday's Chimp: "As a Canadian who has spent significant time in the United States—studying at an American university, maintaining close friendships with Americans, and spending winters in Florida—I’ve witnessed this deterioration firsthand. The relationship that once seemed unshakable has been fundamentally altered by an American political realignment in ways that appear irreversible."

In March 2025, a Florida supermarket chain refused to decorate a cake with a Canadian flag, offering only a note stating “Can’t do other flags. Just American flag.” This small incident at the Publix store perfectly illustrates the profound deterioration in U.S.-Canada relations that has unfold...

11/04/2025

Henry Giroux in Friday's Chimp: "We live in an age when disappearance is no longer a metaphor. It is both a threat and a governing principle. Under the Trump regime, language is no longer a prelude to violence—it is its echo, its announcement, its choreography. The rhetoric of erasure has been sharpened into policy, and policy has become the staging ground for an unfolding theater of cruelty. Immigrants, dissidents, students, institutions, and even sovereign nations are now targets of an authoritarian imagination that seeks not merely to silence but to unmake. What once lived in the realm of the unspeakable now materializes in the architecture of state violence, abduction, deportation, and political terror."

We live in an age when disappearance is no longer a metaphor. It is both a threat and a governing principle. Under the Trump regime, language is no longer a prelude to violence—it is its echo, its announcement, its choreography. The rhetoric of erasure has been sharpened into policy, and policy ha...

11/04/2025

Tom Hartmann in Friday's Chimp: "When he signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to investigate Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor — two public servants whose only crime was telling the truth — Trump didn’t just abuse his office. He weaponized the government against honesty itself. This wasn’t law enforcement: It was political vengeance. This wasn’t democracy: It was a warning shot from the edge of autocracy."

The highest form of freedom in a democracy isn’t just the right to vote or protest — it’s the right to speak truth to power. To call out corruption. To challenge lies. To stand firm when the powerful demand silence. This is the freedom that sustains all others.

11/04/2025

The Daily Chimp for Friday, 11 April 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Robert Reich | Twelve Small Reasons for Modest Hope Friends, My heart leapt last Saturday when I saw how many people turned out for the Hands Off protests: More than 1,200 rallies were held across all 50 states — drawing an estimated 3 million participants. Even red states like Alaska, Wyoming, So...

10/04/2025

Carl Gibson in Thursday's Chimp: "President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs didn't even last a week before he announced he was pausing nearly all of them, save for steep new tariff duties on China. Now, one stalwart conservative who opposes free trade is now acknowledging his wing of the GOP may not have much political capital left to spend if Trump's plan doesn't pay off."

President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs didn't even last a week before he announced he was pausing nearly all of them, save for steep new tariff duties on China. Now, one stalwart conservative who opposes free trade is now acknowledging his wing of the GOP may not have much political capit...

10/04/2025

Amanda Marcotte in Thursday's Chimp: "For those unclear on how paying way more for bananas and blue jeans will boost your testosterone, well, the tortured justification they offer isn't helpful. Jesse Watters tried to argue that tariffs will somehow magically result in millions of jobs doing physical labor, for which there is no evidence. (In reality, it will hurt existing manufacturing by raising prices on materials, and hurt agriculture by shutting down markets farmers depend on.) Watters went on to argue that these fictional jobs will restore manhood stolen from men who, like Watters, have desk jobs."

With the stock market plunging and the threat of hyper-inflation bearing down, the propagandists at Fox News are in quite a pickle. Their job is to paint every dumb decision made by Donald Trump as the work of a secret genius who is only pretending to be a half-literate idiot. But that's a tough sel...

10/04/2025

Robert Reich in Thursday's Chimp: "The reversal prompted the S&P 500 stock index to climb over 7 percent in just minutes. Traders with inside information about what Trump was about to do — some of them, presumably, Trump family members and cronies — just made a fortune. It looks like chaos, but Trump’s chaos always creates winners and losers, and Trump makes sure he’s on the winning side."

Today — telling reporters that “you have to be flexible” and conceding that “over the last few days it looked pretty glum” — Trump paused his tariffs for most countries for the next 90 days, backing down on his policy that had sent markets into a tailspin and threatened to upend global t...

10/04/2025

Thom Hartmann in Thursday's Chimp: "The simple reality is that bringing manufacturing back to America without accompanying it with intense unionization won’t raise wages at all. It’s why Honda workers in Alabama and Indiana make less than do unionized MacDonalds workers do in Denmark (who also get six weeks of annual paid vacation, free healthcare, and free college)."

“In the years 1945-1981, before Reagan and Clinton (and pretty much all of both parties) embraced ‘free trade’ neoliberalism, a single worker in an American factory could buy a house, take a nice vacation every year, get a new car every two or three years, put his kids through college, and ret...

10/04/2025

John Feffer in Thursday's Chimp: "Dictators defend their rule with guns. Democrats defend their rule with paper. Of course, the constitution that upholds democracy is not just any piece of paper. It is a document backed up by political institutions, by courts, and by the public will. In a normal situation, this paper is stronger than military force or police actions because the product of the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. But we don’t live in normal times."

Of course, the constitution that upholds democracy is not just any piece of paper. It is a document backed up by political institutions, by courts, and by the public will. In a normal situation, this paper is stronger than military force or police actions because the product of the pen is indeed mig...

10/04/2025

Lindsay Koshgarian in Thursday's Chimp: "This year, you may be more worried about the price of eggs than your tax dollars. But with President Trump now urging a $1 trillion military budget, it’s worth thinking about what we’re already spending. Last year, the average taxpayer paid $3,707 for weapons and wars. That’s the equivalent of 628 dozen eggs. So if you thought buying a dozen or two a week for your family was taxing, well, that’s just the beginning."

Each year for Tax Day, my colleagues and I at the Institute for Policy Studies release a tax receipt so you can learn where your taxes are actually going.

10/04/2025

The Daily Chimp for Thursday, 10 April 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Carl Gibson | Potential ‘Knives Out’ for MAGA Republicans Following Trump’s Trade War Implosion President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs didn't even last a week before he announced he was pausing nearly all of them, save for steep new tariff duties on China. Now, one stalwart conserva...

09/04/2025

Steven Harper in Wednesday's Chimp: "With his conservative majority, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rewrote the Constitution to place Trump above the law. Would the court stop Trump’s ultimate power grab or crown him king for life?"

The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restored the two-term tradition that President George Washington established. Except for Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, every president since Washington has followed it. President Donald Trump talks about breaking it.

09/04/2025

Ailia Zehra in Wednesday's Chimp: "However, just three months into the year, there has been a sharp decline in international arrivals. Amid reports of tourists being detained at the border, many travelers from other countries are opting to avoid the U.S. in favor of other destinations. Reacting to the administration's harsh immigration policies, several nations have updated their travel recommendations regarding the U.S. Recently, Germany amended its advisory to stress that having a visa or entry waiver does not ensure admission into the country. The UK Foreign Office also updated its guidance to highlight the importance of adhering to all regulations, noting that U.S. authorities strictly enforce entry rules and violations may lead to arrest or detention."

According to preliminary government data released on Tuesday, visits to the United States from abroad declined by 11.6 percent in March compared to the same month last year, with international arrivals from China seeing a decrease of nearly 1 percent.

09/04/2025

Amanda Marcotte in Wednesday's Chimp: "But while Kennedy — or someone working for him — technically wrote those words down, those paying closer attention will notice that is not the message sent to the MAGA base by Kennedy's visit to Texas. If one looks past Kennedy's rote words to his actions, a much different picture emerges, and it becomes clear that he thinks vaccines are for weak, lazy parents. Superior parents, Kennedy suggests, toughen kids up by putting them through the measles instead. For one thing, Kennedy spent most of his time in Texas celebrating parents who refuse to vaccinate, highlighting how many kids they have who didn't die."

Reading mainstream media headlines over the weekend, one would think that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy has finally learned his lesson on vaccines. After a second child died in Texas due to a measles outbreak, Kennedy, a long-time opponent of the measles vaccine in particular, p...

09/04/2025

Jaime O'Neill in Wednesday's Chimp: "It was just another Monday in Trump’s America. The 45th and now 47th President of the United States had returned to the White House after a winning weekend of fun and golf at one of his properties in Florida starting off the week by welcoming war criminal Bibi Netanyahu to the people’s house while the U.S. stock exchanges tried to decide whether to s**t or go blind over Trump’s tariff wars against just about everybody but the Russians. He knows who his friends are, being a very stable genius. Most of his friends are geniuses, too, from Pete Hegseth to Stephen Miller to the man sitting next to him on Monday who is currently the world’s Number 1 killer of civilians, especially children."

It was just another Monday in Trump’s America. The 45th and now 47th President of the United States had returned to the White House after a winning weekend of fun and golf at one of his properties in Florida starting off the week by welcoming war criminal Bibi Netanyahu to the people’s house whi...

Smirking Chimp

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