Today in Politics, Bulletin 84. 3/4/25

… Alina Habba said many veterans getting fired aren’t fit to have federal jobs. She was asked about the high percentage of vets who are federal employees getting fired by DOGE: “We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people who actually work. That doesn’t mean we are going to forget about our vets - we are going to care for them. But perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment or they’re not willing to come to work.”

… This really tells you all you need to know. They claim to support vets, and they know how to play the game with messaging and symbolism to exploit their patriotism, but every once in a while the mask slips and you see that they really think we’re just suckers and losers.

… Canadian PM Justin Trudeau gave a powerful press conference today responding to Trump launching a tariff war against his country: “Today, the US launched a trade war against Canada: their closest partner and ally - their closest friend. Canadians are reasonable, but we will not back down from a fight. Not when our country is at stake.” Some key moments of his speech:

• "They're talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin - a lying, murderous, dictator. Make that make sense! Canadians are reasonable and we are polite. But we will not back down from a fight.”

• “We’re probably going to keep booing the American anthem. But let me tell Americans, we're not booing you. We're not booing your teams. We're not booing your players. We're booing a policy that is designed to hurt us. And we're insulted. And we're angry. But we're Canadian. Which means we're going to stand up for each other. We're going to fight. And we're going to win.”

• “Canadians are not angry at the American people for this. We don't have anything against Americans. Americans are our neighbors, our friends, our partners. This is a policy decision by the American govt.”

• “I've just spent some time over the past few weeks meeting with allies to talk, and I can tell you that every country is very, very aware that if the American govt is willing to do this to their own closest ally, neighbor, and friend, everyone is vulnerable. What Trump wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy. Because that will make it easier to annex us. First of all, that's never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state.”

• “I want to speak first directly to the American people: Your government has chosen to do this to you. Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk. They have chosen to raise costs for American consumers on everyday essential items.”

… Trudeau then announced retaliatory tariffs on the US: “Canada will be implementing 25% tariffs against $155 billion of American products. Starting with $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and the remaining $125 billion in 21 days’ time.”

… Right before Trudeau’s presser, Trump posted this on Truth Social: “Canada doesn’t allow American Banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American Market. Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn’t it?”

… Trudeau responded: "I heard he talked about banking again this morning in a tweet, which doesn't make any sense because 16 banks are currently active in Canada holding about $113 billion worth of assets in this country, so American banks are alive and well and prospering in Canada. It's an example of not really being able to see what he wants - what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us."

… Right after Trudeau was done, petulant child Trump rage-posted on Truth Social: “Please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount!”

… Ontario Premier Doug Ford: “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything to fight back - including cut off their energy. I’ll do it with a smile on my face. They rely on our energy, so they need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard, we’re going to come back twice as hard. I didn’t start this tariff war, but we’re going to win this tariff war.”

… Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum: “There is no reason, rationale or justification to support this decision that will affect our people and nation. Nobody wins with this decision.” She said she will announce retaliatory tariffs on Sunday.

… China also announced retaliatory tariffs of 15% on US soybeans, chicken, beef, and produce. China also hit several US companies with export restrictions and placed them on its "unreliable entity" list.

… Deputy Secretary of the Intl Chamber of Commerce Andrew Wilson to WSJ: “Our deep concern is that this could be the start of a downward spiral that puts us in 1930s trade-war territory.” When asked if this could result in a global recession: “Right now it’s a coin-flip. It comes down to whether the admin is willing to rethink the utility of tariffs. That puts us in a remarkably precarious position that will cloud the global economy for the coming months.”

… Warren Buffett rarely comments on politics, but made an exception today: “Tariffs are actually an act of war, to some degree. Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the Tooth Fairy doesn’t pay ’em! And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?’”

… Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) to MeidasTouch: “I want everyone to look at their auto insurance bill and their home insurance bill. Take a picture of it now. Take a picture of it 18 months from now. It’s going to go up double digits because your premiums are a message from the future about the cost of living. The cost to repair a car or a house is going to spike because lumber, steel, and aluminum are all taxed now.”

… Oil and gas analyst Patrick De Haan: “As a result of Trump's tariffs- at 12:01am, Irving Oil, a major refinery based in St. John, Canada, adjusted fuel prices on nearly all fuel heading for the US Northeast market to reflect the 10% tariff. Gas and diesel prices in ME, CT, VT, MA, RI, NH are likely to begin rising today- pace will vary- but by mid-March could be 20-40c/gal higher. Jumps may stretch into NY as well.”

… Fox host Maria Bartiromo is not so sure her hero is making the right moves. To Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL): “Are you worried about all of these spending cuts potentially leading to recession? Now we're expecting a contraction in the first quarter.” Trump cultist Steube: “We have to cut spending, and if that means short-term pain for the country, then we're gonna have to walk through that together.”

… We didn’t hear about this “short term pain” stuff during the campaign.

… Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “I’m against the tariffs and I’m going to do everything I can to stop them. US tariffs inevitably bring Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese tariffs which means higher prices for lumber, steel, aluminum and more expensive homes and cars. Retaliatory tariffs lead to lowered US farm exports, lowered bourbon exports, and less international shipping. Tariffs are taxes and if you tax trade you’ll get less trade and less prosperity.”

… Fox Business host Charles Payne: “Look at GDP projections now - Thursday it was 1Q - 2.3%. Friday it was negative 1.5%. Yesterday it was negative 2.8%. We’re seeing dramatic declines - just free falls! This is scary stuff. There’s a lot more substantial things going on besides tariffs - those haven’t even hit yet. The economic data moving the markets are moving in the wrong direction.”

… A veteran stock market analyst on X: “Target is out with earnings this morning. Comps were flat. A lousy year, and they say 2025 isn't looking so good. So now add Target to the list with Home Depot, Amazon, and Walmart of retailers guiding lower. Looks like a storm is coming.”

… JD Vance created another international incident in a new Fox interview where he disparaged the fighting capabilities of the French and UK military: "If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine. That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years."

… The UK and France recently made the pledge to send 20,000 troops to Ukraine. They also fought with US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

… After a huge backlash ensued, Vance did what he always does - he lied and claimed that he wasn’t talking about those two countries: “This is absurdly dishonest. I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip.”

… Veteran UK Journalist Antonello Guerrera, who posted the clip that Vance was referring to, responded: “Could you please tell us which ‘random countries’ were you referring to in the video, as so far only the UK and France have announced to be willing to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine?”

… Former UK Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer: "This clown needs to check his privilege. I read JD Vance’s book. By his own admission he spent his time in the Marines 'writing articles and taking pictures'. Perhaps if he had got his hands dirty serving his country like so many of his fellow American and British veterans, chasing his own country’s crazy foreign policy ideas, he might not be so quick to dismiss their sacrifice."

… Vance was a correspondent during his service in the Marines and was never in combat.

… Former Armed Forces Minister James Heappey: "Serving with the USA and France were defining moments of my military career. Sad to hear the relationship reduced to this."

… Former British Army Officer and Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty: "JD ‘I was lucky to escape any real fighting' Vance wrote in his 2016 memoir about his time as a Marine Corps journalist in Iraq. I was part of British forces fighting in highly kinetic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter in response to the US’s invocation of NATO Article 5 following 9/11. The disrespect shown by the new US VP to the sacrifices of our service personnel is unacceptable."

… Trump/Vance ally and UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage told GB News that Vance was “wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. For 20 years in Afghanistan - pro rata our size against America's - we spent the same amount of money, we put the same number of men and women in, and we suffered the same losses. We stood by America all through those 20 years, putting in exactly the same contribution. And, alright, they may be 6 times bigger but we did our bit. So, on this one, JD is wrong.”

… Elon Musk posted on X that it is time for Trump to consider pardoning Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was convicted in both state and federal court of murdering George Floyd.

… Reuters reported that Trump is going to withhold further aid to Ukraine that was previously voted on and approved by Congress. A US official told them: "President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution."

… Sen. Susan Collins told CNN that she’s concerned: “This is a critical time for Ukraine. And I managed the Ukraine supplemental last year that provided additional help to Ukraine, and I do not think we should be pausing our efforts. It's the Ukrainians who are shedding blood. It is Putin who launched an unprovoked and unjustified attack on a free, democratic and sovereign country. And I am not backing off my support for Ukraine.”

… Fox host Brian Kilmeade went rogue and posted this on X last night: “Can we all remember Russia is the bad guy? They invaded, they kidnap kids. Whatever happens, Ukraine cannot lose. Eastern Europe will be next.”

… I figured he was drunk, since the syntax was a little garbled and he just randomly went after Trump. But no, he came on air this morning and said this: “If the president wants maximum leverage for a great negotiation, he shouldn’t do Russia a favor by cutting off aid to Ukraine. He just gave Russia a huge advantage. Now what’s Russia’s incentive to get to the table?”

… Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) was asked on Fox why SecDef Pete Hegseth stopped Cyber Command from conducting operations to combat cyber attacks from Russia: “The Admin is trying to be the middle of the road neutral arbiter that can be viewed by both sides as somebody that can bring a peace deal. That’s why they’re stepping away in that respect.”

A reminder that there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my live podcast Uncovered on Wednesdays at 4:00 pm ET where we do a deep dive into the Top 10 stories of the week. It is called Uncovered because we report of a lot of things that were not covered by legacy media outlets.

If you were not one of the 278,434 people who read yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Marge Greene’s boyfriend Brian Glenn was asked by BBC if he was aware he upset a lot of people when he told Zelensky in the Oval Office it was disrespectful that he wasn’t wearing a suit: “I know by the tens of thousands of comments I received on social media, death threats, phone calls. I don’t know how they got my number. My