"Give Me A Break": Trump Tariffs Threaten Japan Auto Sector

04/02/25 2:57 PM

Business was already tough for auto parts maker Asahi Tekko, but with US car tariffs due to bite this week its president has a simple message for Donald Trump: "Give me a break."

"Jail Or Death": An Uncertain Future For Migrants Expelled By Trump

04/02/25 3:29 PM

AFP spoke to several migrants from a group of about 200, including around 80 children, who are detained at a facility near Costa Rica's jungle-clad border with Panama.

"Living In Hell": Monks Clear Rubble From Quake-Hit Myanmar Monastery

04/02/25 2:48 PM

Bare-handed monks slowly pick away the rubble that was once the wall of a historic Buddhist monastery in Mandalay, its exposed side a searing reminder of the deadly earthquake that rocked the city five days ago.

'Bit of a mess': NY Times finds many of Trump's executive orders make no sense

04/01/25 7:30 PM

President Donald Trump has signed more than 300 executive orders since coming into office — and a New York Times reporter thinks he knows why.According to opinion writer Carlos Lozada, Trump "favors the flourish of the order over the hassle of lawmaking." After all, "Why bother assembling legislative coalitions when you can just write, 'By the authority vested in me as president by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered' and then tack on whatever you like?" he asked.Lozada has read through every single Trump orders so far, and found that they laid bare "the assumptions, obsessions and contradictions of the man signing them." Lozada described Trump's orders as "a bit of a mess."ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the worldHe continued, "Some of the orders are so generic as to be meaningless. One of the shortest declares that U.S. foreign policy must always 'put America and American citizens first.'" Another order "requires that taxpayer money should be spent 'only on making America great.' It’s hard to know how to execute such orders, other than to proclaim them."Lozada wrote that although some orders are "specific in their instructions," still "others list no precise actions but only instruct some new task force or council to think of things to do."For example, Lozada wrote, "An agency or program may receive new responsibilities in one executive order only to find itself dismantled in another. Orders sometimes echo Trump’s standard slogans, whether putting America first or making America great, without adding much meaning to them. And stylistically, they veer from formal policy pronouncement to campaign speech to social media diatribe, sometimes all within the same text."Lozada wrote that "despite the muddle — or perhaps because of it — the new administration’s orders fulfill one essential service: They affirm and expand Trump’s vision of the presidency, of politics, of our Nation...they "illuminate the president’s interpretation of America’s values — what kind of people belong herebelong here, how the nation’s history should be taught, which principles are worth upholding and defending."The trouble with executive actions, which Trump may find out one day, "do not carry the same legitimacy or endurance of laws passed by Congress and can be revoked by future presidents."Read The New York Times opinion piece here.

'Circular firing squad': Signal chat members pick scapegoats to save their jobs

03/28/25 9:13 PM

A new article in Politico claims that "what started as a group chat has turned into a circular firing squad," in the ongoing saga of the leaked war plans that no one in the Trump administration will acknowledged contained classified information.Of the 19 people who were on the Signal chat, national security adviser Mike Waltz has stepped up to take some sort of responsibility for inadvertently adding The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the list of recipients. Goldberg thought it was a joke at first but knew he needed to leave the chat once bombs actually started falling on Houthi rebels in Yemen. In his subsequent article in The Atlantic, Goldberg said he would not reveal anything that would risk national security. However, the classified information denials at House and Senate hearings convinced him to publish the entire chat the next day, which included time, location, and weapons to be used in the strike that killed a Houthi commander and possibly his girlfriend.Although the public fallout hasn't yet seen anyone losing their jobs for putting U.S. service members at risk, behind the scenes is a different story.ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs"Trump administration officials who participated in the now infamous leaked Signal chat are scrambling to minimize the political stain on themselves," wrote reporters Eric Bazail-Eimil and Amy Mackinnon. "Many are blaming the media, or Democrats, for making such a big deal about it. Some are subtly pointing fingers at each other. Others are finding ways to reframe the conversation so they become minor players, otherwise deflecting, or staying silent and hoping the storm passes over."But the lack of admission and accountability is ensuring the storm will not blow over anytime soon."While President Donald Trump has so far stood behind the officials in the group chat (in public at least), the scandal could balloon big enough that someone loses their job," wrote Bazail-Eimil and Mackinnon.On the firing line could be Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who may have perjured themselves before the congressional hearings.While some play the blame game, other Signal group chat members have remained mum on the whole affair. According to Politico, they include National Security Adviser Alex Wong, State Department chief of staff and counselor Michael Needham, National Security Council senior director Walker Barrett, National Security Council Chief of Staff Brian McCormick, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Treasury Secretary, and Dan Katz, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Read the Politico article here.

'Conservatives just embarrassed Mike Johnson': MAGA lawmaker lauded after GOP 'mutiny'

04/01/25 7:58 PM

In a major defeat for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) led the effort to advance remote voting for members of Congress who are new parents.Nine Republicans joined all House Democrats to advance the measure that would allow the new parents to designate a colleague to vote for them for 12 weeks after they or their spouse welcome a new child.The measure was introduced by Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) in January and gained bipartisan support. The fight against Johnson's attempts to undermine the measure caused Luna to leave the conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members backed Johnson.Johnson and other Republicans have called proxy voting unconstitutional and rife for abuse.Political writer @Monaheart1229 posted to social media, "Johnson's attempt to block MAGA House Rep Anna Paulina Luna's DP giving proxy voting rights to new parents has FAILED 206-222 Nine MAGA 'no' votes Luna: 'Never bet against the Luna.” House Dem Rep Brittany Pettersen’s message to Johnson: “Don’t f--- with moms.”ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the worldReporter Melanie Zanona wrote, "An effort by GOP leadership to kill @realannapaulina’s proxy voting push for new parents just failed on the House floor. Remote voting will still need to come to the floor & pass, but this is a big win for Luna — & big defeat for Speaker Johnson. 8 Rs sided w/ Luna."Luna, no liberal squish, did a brave thing by trying to enact a simple pro-family policy in a bipartisan manner. Mike Johnson tried to punish her for it and failed," wrote The Bulwark's Joe Perticone.Columnist Eric Michael Garcia posted, "Goodness gracious! EIGHT Republicans opposing this rule that would have killed Anna Paulina Luna's discharge petition! Mike Johnson is facing a mutiny!" Garcia added, "Conservatives just embarrassed Mike Johnson on a level I haven't seen since the McCarthy days. Johnson USED proxy voting regularly during the 117th Congress, but he needed to keep Chip Roy happy so he sided with her instead of Luna and got a jailbreak."Congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin called it a "HUGE win for @realannapaulina… who moments before the vote expressed her disappointment with House GOP leadership’s efforts to kill her proxy voting push for new parents 8 Republicans joined Luna in defeating Speaker Johnson."And PatriotTakes wrote, "Anna Paulina Luna attacks Speaker Mike Johnson’s hypocrisy over proxy voting," along with photo evidence of Johnson having voted by proxy as late as 2022.Luna posted before the vote, "Here are some documents showing [Johnson] voting by proxy in the 117th Congress, as late as December 2022. He argues it's 'unconstitutional' but has done it several times! Since the case is being made to the public via press, I'm doing the same."

'Cost Of Trade War Can Become Expensive For Both Sides': Germany To US

04/02/25 6:04 PM

Germany warned Wednesday that trade wars hurt "both sides" as Europe's biggest economy braces for US President Donald Trump to announce wide-ranging new "Liberation Day" tariffs.

'Diabolically unpopular': Trump allies worried 'about MAGA muddying their own brand'

03/30/25 5:53 PM

International allies of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement are starting to worry their affiliation with the U.S. president will negatively affect their own popularity, the Economist reports. According to the report, “Some leaders on the hard right are now beginning to worry about MAGA muddying their own brand.” As the Economist reports, though “Trump has had few clear wins and many chaotic policy turns ... much energy has been devoted to targeting domestic political enemies for grievances that do not resonate outside America." Any benefit Mr Trump might have given right-wing parties is “being overshadowed by an expansionist and aggressive political nationalism”, says Eric Kaufmann, a professor at the University of Buckingham (and a self-described national conservative). America First, he says, “is activating political defensiveness in other countries”. Views of America have turned sharply negative across polls in several Western countries. This “Trump effect” is seen most keenly “in countries where the American president has picked fights,” including Ukraine and Canada," the report notes. “MAGA’s international allies (who describe themselves as ‘national conservatives’) had expected Mr Trump’s victory to make radical right-wing politics more credible with voters elsewhere,” the Economist reports. “… But a populist Trump-bump has failed to materialise, despite efforts by many of Mr Trump’s lieutenants to make his administration and the wider maga movement an inspiration to and example for right-wing populists around the world.” As the Economist reports, the net effect of Trump’s presidency “has been to boost mainstream incumbents at the expense of populist outsiders.” READ MORE: Here's why Trump is really targeting big DC law firms

'Fiasco': Analyst says MAGA loyalist paid a steep price for 'Trump's mistakes'

03/28/25 8:21 PM

MAGA Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) learned a tough lesson this week about President Donald Trump's political fickleness after completely altering her career path to become his ambassador to the United Nations.According to a new opinion piece for MSNBC, "Joining the MAGA White House was supposed to be the culmination of a political makeover years in the making." To take the new role, Stefanik left her post as Republican Conference chair, said her goodbyes to her staff, and posted "a retrospective of her congressional career on Instagram." Yet, while she was preparing, Trump was formulating other plans."On Thursday, Trump repaid Stefanik’s loyalty as only he could: by kicking her nomination to the curb — notably, not because of anything she did, but because of his own mistakes," wrote Opinion Editor James Downie. ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the worldTrump made the announcement on Truth Social, Trump posting, "I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength, and much more, so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat."Downie claimed, "The president may have bankrupted multiple casinos, but for once he is right about the odds."Since House Republicans hold just a 218-213 majority with several seats vacant, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is dealing with an uncomfortably slim margin for error if he wants to enact Trump's agenda."This fiasco, as is so often the case with Trump, is entirely self-inflicted," Downie wrote. "Just as in his first term, a disastrous start to his term has boosted Democratic voters’ enthusiasm for even low-turnout special elections. And whereas the Democratic-leaning vacancies came about because the representatives died while in office, Trump himself created the Florida vacancies by choosing those two representatives for his Cabinet. The first was Mike Waltz, now best known for his struggles with Signal. The second was Matt Gaetz, whose nomination as attorney general lasted just eight days."For her part, Stefanik is maintaining a stiff MAGA upper lip. She told Fox News, “I have been proud to be a team player. This is about stepping up as a team.”Read the MSNBC opinion piece here.

'I did not realize': Vance admits he only recently figured out why Trump wants Greenland

03/28/25 7:01 PM

Vice President J.D. Vance told U.S. service members at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland Friday that "didn't realize" until recently what they do while there. Vance was on a "national security" visit to the autonomous territory which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which President Donald Trump has said must be acquired by the United States for safety reasons. “We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump said in an interview on Wednesday.Vance's wife was scheduled to have more of a cultural trip to Greenland, but after failing to find anyone willing to greet her, that plan was changed, USA Today wrote. "I think a lot of Americans wonder why does Greenland matter so much? Why does the mission of this base matter so much to the American people," Vance said. "And I have learned a lot about that today myself. You can read about it in a book, but I saw it up close and personal."Vance said, "to my fellow Americans," that there is a concern that "if a missile was fired from an enemy country or enemy submarine into the United States, it is the people here before us who would give notice to our brave men and women further south in the United States to let people know what was coming and God willing to try to shoot it down and prepare for it."ALSO READ: GOP senators laugh off idea of Trump invading Greenland — but dodge serious questionsHe specifically named "Russia, China, and other nations" are "taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways and Arctic naval routes and in the minerals of the Arctic territories. We need to ensure that America is leading in the Arctic because we know if America does not, other nations will fill the gap where we fall behind."Vance told the soldiers, "What you guys do is so critically important. I think a lot of Americans — certainly I did not realize it fully until President Trump started talking about the importance of our Arctic mission, about building upon it and ensuring America will lead in the Arctic for the next generation."See the clip below or at the link here. - YouTube youtu.be