Holy Cow. Talk About Speaking Truth To Power! April 17, 2025 If you haven’t already seen it, this was last week’s opening TED Talk, by Carole Cadwalladr. Wow. Wow. Wow. Join Indivisible.
Gold And Frozen Vegetables April 16, 2025 “We’re going to get the prices down. Groceries, cars, everything. While working Americans catch up, we are going to put a temporary cap on credit card interest rates at 10%.” — Candidate Trump, September 29, 2024 It was smart to say this, because if he had said we’d get higher prices and a recession . . . falling 401k’s and a possible depression . . . pardoned January 6 cop beaters and a cut-off of aid to starving children . . . and an alcohol-challenged Fox Weekend News host heading the Pentagon — fewer people might have voted for him. (Not to mention chaos at Social Security, “disappearing” people without due process, and so many likely violations of the Emoluments Clause it’s clear he doesn’t take seriously his oath of office.) But he’s there now and already has his eye on a third term. It’s beginning to seem a bit monarchical. Speaking of which . . . How Trump and His ‘Gold Guy’ Are Redecorating the White House The president is making the world’s most famous residence more like Mar-a-Lago, his gilded Florida club The Government Publishing Office, which prints the official presidential portraits that hang in hundreds of federal buildings, received an unusual request from the White House last month. President Trump wanted his portrait to glimmer. The White House asked that Trump’s portrait, along with Vice President’s JD Vance’s, be printed with a golden border that would catch the light, an administration official said. The reprint required metallic gold ink and a specialized printer. And it delayed the completion of the portraits, some of which had already been printed with a more understated white border, according to an internal government document outlining the request. . . . Way to root out waste and abuse, boys! (Another nice touch — skewing more dictatorial than monarchical — would be the $100 million military parade being considered for his birthday.) FOOD NEWS Too Good To Go: End Food Waste! Too Good To Go makes it easy to make a positive impact on the planet while saving money on your favourite foods. That’s why it’s been named as Winner in the ‘2023 Cultural Impact’ category at the prestigious annual Apple App Store Awards. With the #1 app for reducing food waste, you can save tasty unsold snacks, takeaway meals and ingredients straight from shops, cafes, grocery stores and restaurants in your area – all at an unbeatable price. Lifehacker’s “New Favorite Way to Get Takeout.” How did I now know about this??? And wait! How did I not know about this??? 3 Reasons to Love Frozen Fruit and Vegetables They’re often cheaper . . . MORE nutritious . . . more convenient . . . and (my own, fourth, bonus reason) you’re less likely to waste them, the way I sometimes find myself having to throw out stuff that went bad before I got around to eating it.
Total Power, Harvard, DOGE, Puts, And A Dead Outlaw April 15, 2025April 15, 2025 What Hannah Arendt saw in Hitler’s Germany, we can see in Trump’s America As a descendant of German immigrants, from college on I devoured histories of the rise of fascism to grasp how the cultured and educated democracy of my great grandparents could succumb so tragically. I never got it; I had an American’s complacency that made Germans’ complicity incomprehensible. Decades later, I do understand. Because it is happening here. Comparing Hitler and the Nazis to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement is of course fraught. Trump’s world war is a bloodless one over trade; his lawless roundups of migrants and domestic enemies aim to deport, not exterminate. And yet the parallels are undeniable. . . . Just as this country’s Republican Old Guard, Germany’s conservative establishment initially thought it could control Hitler, so politicians and business leaders didn’t ostracize or condemn him. But he played them, just as Trump has mastered Republican “leaders,” parlaying his popular appeal and political ruthlessness into total power. Read in full and see if you agree. One thing for sure: He likes violence. Trump and Some of His Cabinet Members Attend U.F.C. Fight in Miami . . . In the second fight, Bryce Mitchell, a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump for many years, was beaten by Jean Silva, a Brazilian. Earlier this year, Mr. Mitchell faced a firestorm of criticism after he praised Adolf Hitler as a “good guy” who “fought for his country.” (In fairness to Mitchell: some believe “Hitler did some good things.“) DOGE GETS IT WRONG Elon Musk now says his group will produce only 15 percent of the savings it promised. But even that estimate is inflated with errors and guesswork. And yet they’ve managed to wreak havoc on everything from Social Security and the V.A. to USAID and the IRS (whose slashed enforcement budget will increase the deficit). His trillion-dollar goal was preposterous from the start. HARVARD GETS IT RIGHT In defiance President Trump, President Garber concludes his letter: We proceed now, as always, with the conviction that the fearless and unfettered pursuit of truth liberates humanity—and with faith in the enduring promise that America’s colleges and universities hold for our country and our world. Worth reading in full . . . and, if you have time, watching Lawrence O’Donnell (from 2:45 to 15:45) remind us what Harvard has done for the world these past 389 years. PUTS A savvy Wall Street currency trader thinks puts are too expensive now and that “we’ll get a rally when he removes or vastly reduces the China tariffs which will happen sooner rather than later.” So maybe wait for that rally and buy them when they’re cheaper. And yet he tells me not to sell my December 2026 DIA 430 puts or my June 2025 SPY puts. (One of you asked which i had bought. Now you know.) He shares my view that there’s a great deal of risk in the market. As you know if you watched yesterday’s Ray Dalio clip. DEAD OUTLAW The thing is: it’s based on a true story. Try not to know any more than that when you go see it. (Well, know that it’s a musical and that there’s no intermission.) I was in the back row of the balcony at last night’s first preview — $48! — and I loved it. DON’T FORGET TO FILE YOUR 2024 TAXES TODAY OR AN EXTENSION . . . AND YOUR FIRST QUARTERLY ESTIMATED 2025 PAYMENT, IF DUE
Governed By Confused Intuition April 13, 2025 Wall Street Journal editorial board member Holman W. Jenkins Jr. — who in the middle of Trump’s first term was paraphrased as saying “Trump can do anything and I’ll support it” — now writes: Trump Wants to Be Impeached Again. It’s already in the cards thanks to his ill-founded trade war, no matter how that war plays out. . . . A future Trump impeachment seemed all but guaranteed by last Wednesday morning. It seems only slightly less likely now. It may even be desirable to restore America’s standing with creditors and trade partners. . . . Mr. Trump’s great achievement was his 2024 re-election, a rebuke to the injustices and insults meted out to him and his fans since 2016, some of which were even real. However, no consensus or even significant coalition exists for trying to force into existence a new American “golden age” with tariffs, which anyway is like asking a chicken to give birth to a lioness. He invented this mission out of his own confused intuition. But if we impeach him, could we please impeach them both? The Vice President says “peasants” and here’s what the Chinese hear (46 seconds). Fareed: “Complexity breeds corruption, and the tariff system is now tailor-made for both.” . . . The India I grew up in was a country riddled with tariffs, high barriers designed to protect the country’s domestic industry and shield it from what was regarded as unfair foreign competition. It produced stagnation, poverty and lots of corruption, thoroughly politicizing the economy. No business of any size in India could survive without a good relationship with the government. When I got to America, I was thrilled to see that most businesses went about their work with little care as to who was in the White House. But now I watch tech pioneers give interviews slavishly extolling Trump’s genius and Wall Street titans race to post North Korea-style congratulations to the president for his brilliance in rescuing the economy from his own actions, and I wonder, what country am I living in? If you saw Ray Dalio on Meet the Press, you know he thinks we could be headed for a global depression. I have the happy gene, but that hasn’t kept me from buying puts.
Everything He Touches Dies April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 It’s not as though we weren’t warned. Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever. That was published in 2018. This was published a few days after Trump won, digesting Timothy Snyder’s warning: Is Trump trying to kill us? Authoritarian expert says yes. Here’s how. (Professor Snyder has since moved to Canada.) Yesterday, The Economist gave us The Age of Chaos: How Trump’s Incoherent Trade Policy Will Do Lasting Damage. Just a few months ago, The Economist dubbed our economy “the envy of the world.” Because — despite its problems — it was. And here we are today with The Third-Worlding of America by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. Subhead: How to destroy 80 years of credibility in less than 3 months. Putin is succeeding beyond his wildest dreams. (The tariffs, and Russia’s singular exemption from them, are the least of it — though he likes them, too.) But is this what anyone here wanted? What any of us voted for? Would they have voted for this if they had known? Yes, 24% of American citizens voted for him (the rest voted for Kamala, were too young, or just didn’t bother). But I’m wondering what proportion of that 24% think the economy is better now, and that the country has a brighter future, with a more competent people running the government and its myriad departments and agencies, than when he took office. Consumer confidence has plunged to its second lowest level since they began measuring it 73 years ago. I hope you found time to read yesterday’s warning: On April 20th, 2025, the United States may Cross the Point of No Return > As crazy and unthinkable as all this is, remember how crazy and unthinkable the Ukrainians thought a Russian invasion was. Putin was very straightforward in assuring them and the world he would not invade. He was just conducting military exercises. > Is it any crazier or more unthinkable than that Kash Patel runs the FBI? Before setting foot there for the first time, he was a podcaster selling K$h-branded wine and tie pins and “an elixir,” Rachel reports, that could reverse your COVID vaccination status in case you had foolishly gotten the jab. Acknowledging that his authorship of a children’s book extolling King Donald and his charity work on behalf of the January 6th hostages might not make him the ideal candidate to lead the world’s premier law enforcement agency, he promised to appoint as his deputy someone from within . . . but instead hired a Fox News Host Permanently Banned From YouTube who had no experience but required a full security detail 24/7, which no prior FBI deputy director had ever had, even when he was inside FBI headquarters. Because this is an administration focused on eliminating waste and abuse as it hires the best people to fight crime. The only possible crime here is that I could not find Rachel’s segment lambasting Patel in its original form. It is too funny. Reacting to the April 20th doom-sayers, Oliver Kornetzke offers this message: I keep seeing these anxious posts bubbling up from the swamp of doom-scrolls, clutching their pearls about April 20th—the day, supposedly, when the Trump regime will dust off the Insurrection Act like a vintage bottle of fascism, smash it open on the table, and toast to martial law. Constitutional rights? Suspended. Civil liberties? Vaporized. America? Repackaged as a theocratic police state with a God complex and a meth addiction. And sure, the evidence pointing in that direction? Compelling. Chilling, even. But let’s not confuse “possible” with “inevitable” . . . and let’s certainly not confuse “dangerous” with “invincible.” This is not some fucking Marvel movie where the villain has a flawless plan. No, this is a clown car of egomaniacal sycophants with the strategic acumen of a toddler playing Risk while hopped up on Pixy Stix. . . . [So] here’s my answer: Don’t. Fucking. Comply. You want to know what non-compliance looks like? It looks like whatever the hell you want it to look like. It’s not about heroism or martyrdom. It’s about being a magnificent, ungovernable pain in the ass. It’s about weaponizing inconvenience, absurdity, and joy against a system that demands fear and obedience. Throw a wrench in the works—everywhere, all the time. Go limp when they try to arrest you. Laugh like a lunatic in the face of their solemn tyranny. Fill their inboxes with existential poetry or pictures of your morning post-coffee porcelain bowl masterpieces. Tape absurd messages in public places: “Authoritarianism gives you hemorrhoids.” Get petty. Get weird. Flush their toilet paper. Release crickets in inconvenient places. Spoil their scripts, trip their rhythm, yank the narrative from their hands. Join a general strike. Practice the black cat sabotage—cut their supply chains not with violence but with broken protocol and creative disorder. Don’t show up. Don’t respond. Don’t cooperate. Don’t validate their authority with your silence. If you’re going to get arrested, make it for being a glorious bastard who refuses to play their game. Make a mockery of it. Because here’s the ugly truth they don’t want you to hear: authoritarianism only works when the people allow it to work. It’s a performance, a bluff, a collective hypnosis. Break the spell. Break the frame. Mock it. Undermine it. Set it on fire (proverbially) with your refusal to kneel. But here’s the thing—this has to be everywhere. Everyone. If you sit back, clutch your pearls, and hope someone else will jump first—you’re part of the problem. This isn’t Putin’s Russia (yet). We don’t need a handful of martyrs; we need a flood. A tsunami of “nope.” A wildfire of “fuck you.” We need resistance so widespread, so creatively chaotic, so utterly unmanageable, that the regime cracks under the weight of its own overreach. History is watching. But more importantly, your children are watching. And if you let a pack of psychotic Bible-thumping oligarchs jackboot over your rights while you nervously refresh Twitter and do nothing—then don’t be surprised when the future looks back and calls you exactly what you were: a coward. Choose better. Be bold. Be clever. Be feral. And above all—DO NOT COMPLY. And let me be crystal clear here: NO violence. None. Not a shred. That gives them the excuse they’re desperately craving to justify tyranny. What we need is coordinated, irritating, clever-as-hell, petty-as-fuck, infuriating noncompliance. Be a stone in their shoe. Be sand in their eyes. Be a bureaucratic migraine. Drive them nuts—but never give them the moral high ground. This is about outsmarting them, not becoming them. Have a great weekend. Don’t sell your puts. Or your HYMC, PRKR, ANIX, SQNS, CNF, UNIT, or whatever other crazy speculations I’ve recently mentioned, if you bought them with money you can truly afford to lose.
What To Do Now — And What Might Happen A Week From Sunday April 10, 2025 Dave P.: “I have a friend who manages a small portfolio of stocks for me. A recently sent me a market commentary, understandably focused on the tariff issue. My response: My own thinking is that the tariffs, though significant per se, are just a sliver of the angst the market is now processing. They are just one weapon of potential self-harm for America, its people, and its corporations, and the valuation of those corporations. If Trump tomorrow declares victory, says every country in the world has kowtowed, they all have offered “great deals” which he graciously has accepted, so consider Liberation Day as being on rollback, the market will celebrate temporarily.* But it soon will reprocess the bigger message, that the Administration’s malevolence, mendacity, fecklessness, recklessness in matters of security as well as finance, incompetence, blindness, distrust of science, cruelty, pathological absence of empathy, disloyalty to friends, cozying up to tyrants, etc., etc. etc., are a recipe for catastrophes that to most remain unimaginable. *Someday, likely in the near future, the stock market will have a very large gain. Surely we don’t want to miss that! And that gain should signal “all clear,” right? Well, not exactly. If we look at the 20 best one-day gains in the DJIA, fully 40% of them, 8 separate days, occurred after the October 28, 1929 crash, and before the ultimate bear market low, 89% lower than pre-crash, in July, 1932. Had you bought following any of those big up days, you would have lost at least 16% to the bottom (from whence it would take another 22 years to recoup the pre-crash level). Excluding that (16)% day, buying at the close of any of those other 7 big up days would have led to losses of (29)-(84)%. Lest you think these archaic examples are long-bygone, two of the market’s 7 best single days occurred in October, 2008, following the commencement of the bear market foreshadowed by the September Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The ultimate declines from each of those closing levels was (29)-(31)% to the March 6, 2009 closing low. “I sent that Monday.” → Two days later — yesterday — we got that “very large gain.” Far from breathing a sigh of relief, I’d take yesterday’s market leap as an opportunity to sell some of your holdings . . . or, if they’d be subject to large capital gains taxes, buy some long-term puts like the ones I suggested last month. That’s what I’d do now. (Late yesterday, I bought more puts.) Of course, I’d love Dave’s caution — and my own — to prove unwarranted. Yet it‘s very hard to see how this ends well In the best-case scenario, where Trump gets countries to lower their tariffs, that will be nice and allow him to declare victory. (Europe can “slash” its from 1.7% tariff to zero, but can he get them to lower it below zero?) But even then, so much damage has been done. In a few short weeks, he has transformed America from a rock of stability into an unpredictable, unreliable, flailing bully, whose leader says — in public! on camera! — that countries are “coming to kiss [his] ass.” Publicly humiliating people — or nations — has a strange way of making them hate you. (Obama’s mocking Trump at the 2011 Correspondents’ dinner may have persuaded him to run; Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” remark five years later may have cost her the election.) Having most of the world hate you — and distrust you — is probably not a great long-term strategy for success. Putin and Xi are thrilled. The stock market — and bond market — not so much. And of course the idea that we have 50 or 100 million Americans available to replace the labor of the 50 or 100 million foreign workers who sew our clothes and assemble our iPhones, make our umbrellas, toys, and Christmas tree ornaments — and make the merchandise Trump sells his followers — is just ridiculous. Our work force is only 170 million, of whom 8 million are unemployed. And Trump plans to deport millions of workers who pick our fruit, trim our hedges, build our homes, and care for our elderly, which will further shrink the pool available to do the work the Chinese and Vietnamese (and the penguins he is tariffing) currently do for us. How we even get through the next 19 months to the mid-terms is not clear . . . let alone to 2028. And does anyone doubt that he aspires to the models of strong men like Putin and Xi who rule for life? Which brings me to what one guy thinks will happen April 20. I doubt it will come that fast if it comes at all. Maybe in May or June or July?) But: a) It’s an interesting read. b) The more people aware of this fantastical scenario, the less likely it is to happen. c) It’s happened lots of other places. (Have I ever mentioned the book that Trump, famously a non-reader, long kept by his bedside?) So please read this: On April 20th, 2025, the United States may Cross the Point of No Return
Oh Boy, Oh Boy! Listen Or Watch April 8, 2025 Last night’s Lawrence O’Donnell, if you missed it, was a home run. Here is the first segment, which seems to be unrestricted. To watch the full episode, you need to jump through a hoop or two . . . but can listen to it all without commercials here. It seems Musk may actually be doing something good, pressing Trump for free trade, not tariffs. So far, that’s been in private. But look what his brother Kimbal Musk, a Tesla and SpaceX board member, posted: Who would have thought that trump was actually the most high tax president in generations? Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer. Even if he is successful in bringing jobs on shore through the tariff tax, prices will remain high and the tax on consumption will remain in the form of higher prices because we are simply not as good at making all things. A tax on consumption also means less consumption. Which means fewer jobs. Should turn leads to less consumption. Then even fewer jobs. America has incredible strengths. We should play to those strengths and not be forced to play to our weaknesses. Same with the rest of the world. So Peter Navarro (recently released from prison and again a key advisor to the convicted felon in the Oval office) may not win the tariff policy battle after all. He bases a lot of his trade theory on the work of economist Ron Vara — just read his book and you’ll see — but it turns out, as Rachel Maddow explains*, economist Ron Vara does not exist. He is just an anagram for Navarro. So the expert on whom he bases his world view that currently threatens global depression is . . . himself. Maybe economic sanity will prevail? One can hope, anyway. *And yes, of course, Rachel is almost always, a must-watch, too.
Fareed Makes Everything Clear April 6, 2025 Chris Murph says Trump’s tariffs are another tool for staying in power forever. Watch (2 minutes). I think he’s right but note that Trump’s tariff-philia pre-dates his megalomania. One of the few things he’s been consistent about throughout his life, along with his discomfort with non-whites, be they tenants or generals — is tariffs. Not least because he remembers reading (hearing?) about a time when there was no income tax, just tariffs. Fareed Zakaria explains: The real economic story of the past three decades is that the United States has surged ahead of all its major competitors. In 2008, the U.S. economy was about the same size as the euro zone’s; now, it is nearly twice the size. In 1990, average U.S. wages were about 20 percent greater than the overall average in the advanced industrial world; they are now about 40 percent higher. In 1995, a Japanese person was 50 percent richer than an American in terms of GDP per capita; today, an American is about 150 percent richer than a Japanese person. In fact, the poorest American state, Mississippi, has a higher per capita GDP than Britain, France or Japan. And yet Trump has been convinced that through all these decades, America is actually in steep decline. . . . But while America is the world’s dominant power, it is not so strong that it can act this irrationally. The world economy has grown to a size and scale that it will find ways around American protectionism, which is now among the world’s most egregious. Contrary to Trump’s stubborn beliefs, the United States was in fact already somewhat protectionist, with tariff and nontariff trade barriers greater than in 68 other countries. With these new tariffs, American protectionism is off the charts, with higher rates than the Smoot-Hawley ones of 1930 that exacerbated the Great Depression. In the short run, everyone will suffer. But in the medium to long run, countries will start trading around the United States. China will clearly be the big winner in this new world economy because it will position itself as the new center of trade. Add to this Trump’s hostility toward America’s closest allies, and you will likely see Europe, Canada and even some of America’s Asian allies find a way to work with China. Trump’s nostalgic worldview is rooted even further back than the 1960s. He looks fondly on the late 19th century, when, as he described this week, the United States had only tariffs and no income tax, and America was stronger economically than it has ever been compared with the rest of the world. This history is nonsense. In 1900, the United States accounted for about 16 percent of the global economy by one measure; it is now about 26 percent of it. Americans’ standards of living and health are much higher today. But in acting out on his nostalgic fantasy, Trump might well end up dragging America back to what it was then: a poorer country, dominated by oligarchs and corruption, content to swagger around its backyard and bully its neighbors but marginal to the great currents of global economics and politics. Is this what his fans voted for? He promised to lower prices on day one. Who knew he meant stock prices? At least someone’s doing well: Trump Family’s Cash Registers Ring as Financial Meltdown Plays Out. Tony S.: “The New York City protest was huge. It stretched nearly 40 blocks. The Times should have led with it. Instead, there was a photo below the fold, with the story — Mass Protests Across the Country Show Resistance to Trump — on page A18.” Kristina M.: “I saw these as I was scrolling through photos from various cities. The first is from a member of a group called Dentists for Democracy: Fight Truth Decay – No more lies or democracy dies. “And this one: They’re eating the checks! They’re eating the balances! “And for Youngblood fans, this one . . . . . . which can be sung while marching.”
Bob’s Sandwich / So Awful, Even Introverts Are Here April 5, 2025April 5, 2025 Condensed from the Winnipeg Free Press: Chaos follows Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ . . . Trump claims that the U.S. is being raped and pillaged — his words — by foreign nations, that Americans were subsidizing economies all over the world, because Americans buy more foreign products than foreign nations buy American. But there’s a clear problem with that analysis. A trade deficit is not a debt or a subsidy. Let’s say you want a good sandwich. Bob can make it better or more cheaply or more conveniently than you can. You pay Bob $5. Bob hands you your sandwich. Yes, Bob gets your money, but you get the sandwich you wanted at the price you were willing to pay. You arguably have a $5 trade deficit with Bob, because Bob didn’t buy anything from you. Donald Trump would argue that you’re propping Bob up with a $5 subsidy. But you didn’t subsidize Bob. Bob did not steal anything from you. You didn’t give Bob a gift — you chose to buy his sandwich for your own reasons. Much the way Americans have chosen to buy products from Canada or any other nation — because the value or quality was worth the money. Trump has decided to add a tariff, a tax on Bob’s sandwiches. A host of economists have suggested what’s likely to come next — significant inflation for American consumers, chaos in the global supply chain, and, most likely, layoffs and business closures. Stock markets are already delivering their verdicts. The irony is that, as president, Trump’s ability to levy tariffs is tangential at best — he has had to manufacture emergencies to justify his actions. And there’s been a gross failure by the legislative branch in the United States to rein him in and represent the interests of their own constituents. The real question now is whether anyone in America will stand up to him. The damage to Canada’s relationship is obvious and will be long-lasting — one can only imagine what that damage will be to the reputation of the U.S. globally. The damage to America — and Americans — may be incalculable. Which is why so many Americans joined more than 1,200 protests throughout the country yesterday, many carrying home-made signs like this one: Mine said: NATO NOT PUTIN on the front and . . . . . . on the back. There were lots about Social Security and Medicare and Veterans and Fascists and . . . LEASH YOUR DOGE One of my favorites summed it up: WAY TOO MUCH FOR ONE SIGN Inflation rising, recession looming, stocks plunging, measles spreading, medical research slashed . . . and tariffs slapped on islands from whom we import nothing (including the one with only penguins) . . . but not on Russia (from whom we imported $3.27 billion worth of goods last year). Michael K.: “I think of you every time I see Scott Bessent interviewed in this debacle. You’re not still a fan, are you?” → I’ve read that he’s trying to quit and move over to the Fed. I wish he had been strong enough to prevent — or denounce — this insanity. He’s on Meet the Press this morning and I can’t say I have high hopes.
Ah, Liberation Day! Things Not To Sell April 4, 2025April 4, 2025 We’ve been under Vietnam’s thumb for so long. It’s about time we stood up for ourselves and made our own sneakers. Which will give the laid-off cancer researchers something to do. Drew W.: “The thing about people with his brand of personality disorder is that it can be really hard to tell when he’s lying, when he’s come to believe his lies, when he’s psychotic, or when he’s just an idiot.” Bob F.: “The tariff rates were calculated based on the trade deficit? Trade deficit divided by trade volume? This is crazy! This has to be worse than most people could have envisioned.” Kevin R.: “Well, now the economists and bankers know what the scientists and doctors felt like when he told everyone to inject bleach to ward off COVID.” Thomas Friedman: Trump Just Bet the Farm — our farm. . . . If Trump turns out to be right — that we’ll still enjoy the economic benefits and stability we’ve had for nearly a century even if America suddenly shifts from a benign hegemon to a predator, from the world’s most important proponent of free trade to a global tariffing giant, from the protector of the European Union to telling Europe it’s on its own and from a defender of science to a country that forces out a top vaccine specialist like Dr. Peter Marks for refusing to go along with quack medicine — I will stand corrected. But if Trump turns out to be wrong, he will have sown the wind, and we as a nation will reap the whirlwind. But so, too, will the rest of the world. And I can tell you, the world is worried. When I was in China last week, more than a few people asked me if Trump was launching a “cultural revolution” the way that Mao did. Mao’s lasted 10 years — from 1966 to 1976 — and it wrecked the whole economy after he instructed his party’s youth to destroy the bureaucrats that he thought were opposing him. If the Republican Congress wants to save the country and the world, it had better find its spine really fast. Putin and Xi are winning. Big time. Tomorrow, April 5, will be the single biggest day of protests since Trump retook office, and if you haven’t found a Hands Off! event to be part of, you can click here to join one near you. THINGS NOT TO SELL A couple of weeks ago, I suggested buying puts on the broad market indexes — the Dow (DIA) or the S&P (SPY) or NASDAQ (QQQ). I hope they expire worthless because — somehow, miraculously — this ends well. But I fear they may grow ever more valuable. Most of my nutty speculations are getting killed, but, for now, at least, my two least nutty and speculative, CHRB and BKUTK, remain strong (the former, because it promises to pay 53 cents a quarter until August of next year when it will be redeemed at $25 . . . though in this crazy world, who knows? . . . the latter, because it is a very conservatively run community bank with a loyal customer and investor base selling for 7 times earnings and less than half its book value). As to the rest (or at least the ones that come to mind) . . . I haven’t sold my CNF, because its business is in China, which may do relatively better than the U.S. in the years to come, if and as they come to be seen as the more stable, reliable trading partner — and sells at less than 3 times earnings. (In fact, a long-standing order I had in to buy yet a little more at 71 cents “good til canceled” was executed this morning — with money I could truly afford to lose.) I haven’t sold my PRKR, because none of what’s going on should affect the outcome of its several patent-infringement claims. So it remains as speculative as ever — heads it’s a quintuple or ten-tuple, tails it’s zero. Or my ANIX (if its cancer treatments prove effective — however long that shot may be — it will surely be worth billions, not today’s $80 million) or my OPRT or SQNS or UNIT or, yes, even my by-now-longest-of-long shots BOREF (not least because no brokerage firm I know of currently accepts orders for it). Needless to say, when things look really bleak and people are panicking, it’s a better time to buy than to sell. And today may be the bottom. But I can see “Dow 26,000” just as easily as a snap back to good times. I hope I’m wrong!