As well as pausing tariffs – or perhaps because of it – the Donald decided today would be an excellent day to “flood the zone” with nonsense about showers, the 2020 election and revenge
Some are calling it a u-turn. Others say Donald Trump bottled it. Chickened out at the last minute.
But if you ask the White House, last night’s surprise announcement of a 90 day pause on some tariffs was always part of the plan.
Either that, or a response to ‘the yips’.
Meanwhile, the White House decided now would be a good time to ‘flood the zone’ again – announcing such important presidential actions as an order to scrap regulations on shower heads because Trump likes to give his “beautiful hair” a proper wash.
Here’s all the wild and terrifying things the Trump administration got up to in the last 24 hours.
1. Performed the biggest U turn in the history of politics
Donald Trump, after insisting repeatedly that his tariff plan was not a negotiating tactic, and that they were here to stay with no pause being considered – paused most tariffs for 90 days.
The markets, obviously, rebounded after he announced the news (where else?) on his Truth Social account.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent bounded out into the Rose Garden to share the happy news, with a look of relief that suggested he’d just talked the most powerful man in the world down from a ledge to avoid an actual global financial meltdown.
The timeline of events is still to be deciphered, but two things stick out.
About three hours before the announcement, Trump posted the following on his Truth Social account: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”
And not long after that, there was a small, but noticeable rally in the stock markets.
Now, pay attention, because this is almost certainly going to come up in a court case in four years time…
2. He was saying ‘no pause’ even when he was considering a pause – and they didn’t talk to the lawyers
The above message was, by the President’s own admission, posted after he started considering a pause on tariffs.
Asked in the Oval Office when he started thinking about it, Trump said: “For a period of time, I would say this morning, over the last few days I was thinking about it. I’ve been dealing with Scott (Bessent), with Howard (Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce) with some other people that are very professional. And I think it probably came together early this morning. Fairly early this morning.”
The “GREAT TIME TO BUY” post was published at 9.37am Washington DC time. The announcement came around 1.18pm.
“We just wrote it up,” Trump added. “We didn’t have the use of…we didn’t have access to lawyers or anything. We just wrote it up from our hearts, right? It was written from the heart.”
I suspect Trump will come to regret not waiting for a lawyer to be available to him…
3. It was either all part of the plan, or it was a reaction to the ‘yips’
“This was his strategy all along,” Scott Bessent insisted to reporters after the pause was announced, explaining that 75 countries had been in touch to try and negotiate a deal. Which seems farfetched, considering the White House hasn’t actually done a deal with any of them.
Other sources suggest the decision was more in response to turmoil in the bond markets – which looked awfully like they could tip over and plunge the US (probably the rest of the world too) into a generational financial crisis.
Explaining his screeching u-turn to reporters outside the White House yesterday – in-between chats with champion racing drivers – Trump seemed to confirm the latter was true.
He said he’d come to the decision because people were “yippy” and “afraid” due to the stock market declines. He added that while he expected to reach deals, “nothing’s over yet.”
“Yippy”, or “the yips” is a term Trump has used previously to describe people who bottle easy golf putts.
The president said he had been monitoring the bond market and that people were “getting a little queasy” as bond prices had fallen and interest rates had increased in a vote of no confidence by investors in Trump’s previous tariff plans.
“The bond market is very tricky,” Trump said. “I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it’s beautiful.”
4. It’s not a negotiation until it is
In the Oval Office, Trump was asked why, if this was the plan all along, with the objective of making other countries beg for a deal, he continued to tell his team to say it was not a negotiating tactic.
Perfectly crystallising the madness that he’s trying to rationalise, Trump said: “A lot of times it’s not a negotiation until it is.”
5. Tariffs on medicines and steel are still on
The President may have pulled back the “reciprocal” tariffs on other countries to the 10% baseline – aside from China, who now get a whopping 125% on everything – but his other tariffs are still going ahead.
Specifically the tariff on steel and, presumably, aluminium, cars and car parts will still go ahead.
And he confirmed in the Oval Office that he still plans to announce an import tax on medicines, because what the American people really want is to pay more for their drugs.
6. He came up with this matchless spin
Trump described the rebound following his u-turn as “the biggest increase in the history of the stock market.”
To be clear, he was saying that as if it was something to be proud of and not as an indication that his trade war was a stupid idea.
“If you keep going,” he added, “you’re gonna be back to where it was four weeks ago.”
And I tell you what, that’s true. But it’s also probably true that if he resigned as President, the stock market would probably return to where it was in January – which is significantly higher than it is now.
7. Meanwhile, he flooded the zone again
Trump and the White House did the following things in the wake of the announcement – which seem both in content and in volume to be intended to try and dilute news coverage of the world’s biggest ever u-turn…
8. Published 15 press releases on various subjects
This is a lot more than usual – and barely any of them were about tariffs.
They included a presidential proclamation on Education and Sharing Day, another on National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day.
9. Opined from the Resolute Desk that the 2020 election was “corrupt” and “rigged”
Of course we’ve heard this before, but of interest this time is that he’s talking about it having been “proven” that the 2020 race was rigged, which it manifestly has not.
After fuelling some Biden conspiracies, claiming without evidence that pardons were signed on his behalf without his knowledge on his last day in the White House, Trump also claimed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had “admitted her guilt” for being in charge of security at the Capital on January 6, which is also untrue.
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10. Signed an executive order to bring back proper showers
In case you were wondering whether the “flood the zone” tactic wasn’t deliberate… Trump signed an executive order loosening rules that limit water flow for showerheads.
“I like to take a nice shower, take care of my beautiful hair,” Trump said Wednesday as he signed an executive order at the White House. “I have to stand in the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. Comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”
“What you do is you end up washing your hands five times longer, so it’s the same water,” he added. “And we’re going to open it up so that people can live.”
The order directs Energy Secretary Chris Wright to immediately rescind what Trump called the “overly complicated federal rule” that redefined the word showerhead under the last two Democratic presidents.
Biden and former President Barack Obama both imposed restrictions on water flow from showerheads and other appliances. The standards were intended to make dishwashers, showerheads, refrigerators, laundry machines and toilets use less energy and water.
11. Signed memos taking retribution against his critics from last time round
Trump ramped up his efforts to take revenge against his critics from his first presidency by signing two memos directing the Justice Department to investigate two officials and stripping them of any security clearances they may have.
Trump’s targeting of Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official in Trump’s first term, and Chris Krebs, a former top cybersecurity official, came as the Republican president has sought to use the powers of the presidency to retaliate against his adversaries, including law firms.
Trump also on Wednesday retaliated against another law firm, Susman Godfrey, as he seeks to punish firms that have links to prosecutors who have investigated him or employed attorneys he sees as opponents.
Although Trump has ordered security clearances to be stripped from a number of his opponents, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, the president’s order Wednesday directing the Justice Department to broadly investigate the actions of Taylor and Krebs marks an escalation of Trump’s campaign of retribution since he returned to power.
Taylor, who left the Trump administration in 2019, was later revealed to be the author of an anonymous New York Times op-ed in 2018 that was sharply critical of Trump. The person writing the essay described themselves as part of a secret “resistance” to counter Trump’s “misguided impulses,” and its publication touched off a leak investigation in Trump’s first White House.
Taylor later published a book under the pen name “Anonymous” and publicly revealed his identity days before the 2020 election.
Trump said Wednesday that Taylor was “like a traitor” and that his writings about “confidential” meetings were “like spying.”
“I think he’s guilty of treason,” he said.
Taylor responded by saying Trump had proved his point.
“Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path,” he wrote on Twitter.
