They say a week’s a long time in politics – but at the beginning of this week, the White House had an east and a west wing. Here’s everything you need to know from the last 24 hours
They say a week is a long time in Politics. But few in recent memory have been as physically consequential as this one. On Monday, the White House had an East and a West Wing. It’s now Friday and the entire East Wing of the White House has been demolished. The historic two story building, home to offices and drawing rooms and a walkway to the main White House building, is now a pile of rubble. They told the Nation they wouldn’t touch the existing buildings, but after Trump had a chat with an architect, they decided to make his gaudy ballroom even bigger – bigger than the actual White House, in fact – and so the East Wing simply had to go. If that weren’t evidence enough of Trump’s deep and humble respect for the White House, and office of the Presidency , his administration has also added events to the official White House website’s ‘Major Events Timeline’, in a bid to attack Democrats and supporters of Trump’s mortal enemy, Joe Biden. They include references to Bill Clinton’s affair with an intern, a bag of cocaine that was found in the building during Biden’s term, and the designation of Transgender Day of Visibility in 2024, which happened to fall in Easter Sunday.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- Trump hung up on Canada over a TV ad
- He pardoned a Crypto money launderer with links to his businesses
- He branded 7 million Americans “garbage”
- He called off the Surge in San Francisco…for now
- And the full list of people who have donated to the ballroom
Here’s everything you need to know and more. Try to keep up…
Tariffs
1. Trump ends all trade negotiations with Canada because of a TV ad
Donald Trump last night axed all trade talks with Canada, because he didn’t like a TV ad the province of Ontario paid for. The ad uses clips from an address Ronald Reagan gave in 1987, in which he sought to explain why he’d introduced a specific high tariff on Japanese semiconductors, in retaliation for what he said were unfair trade practices.
But he used it a warning to Congress not to introduce broader tariffs, saying imposing barriers of any kind was a step he was “loath to take.” The advertisement took clips from the five minute speech, presented in a different order, but did not unfairly represent Reagan’s views on tariffs. (He was agin them.)
Trump responded to the ad, set to air in a string of US states starting this month, on Truth Social – claiming it was “FAKE”, which it isn’t, and had been aired “to interfere with the decision of the US Supreme Court”, which is considering a legal challenge to many of his tariffs. It plainly is not.
The Ronald Reagan Foundation came out last night and said the ad “misrepresents” Reagan’s radio address, which it doesn’t. And Trump piled on, saying: “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.” This is in itself a huge misrepresentation of Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs. As we mentioned before, he was agin them in general.
“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country. Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
He went on: “THE UNITED STATES IS WEALTHY, POWERFUL, AND NATIONALLY SECURE AGAIN, ALL BECAUSE OF TARIFFS!” he wrote in a separate post on his Truth Social account. “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER IS IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!” And then, this morning, he added: “THE UNITED STATES IS WEALTHY, POWERFUL, AND NATIONALLY SECURE AGAIN, ALL BECAUSE OF TARIFFS! THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER IS IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!”
Phew.
2. Canada hits back
A Conservative Canadian politician today came out in defence of the ad. “The Ontario ad does not misrepresent President Reagan’s anti-tariff radio address in any respect whatsoever. It is a direct replay of his radio address, formatted for a one minute ad,” said Jason Kenney, who served in former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet. “Everything that Reagan said in his pro-free trade April, 1987 radio message is consistent with the ad. In fact, everything he ever said about trade, before and after becoming President, is consistent with his principled opposition to tariffs,” Kenney added in a social media post Friday.
3. Trump’s investment claims are increasingly mad
Trump’s bonkers claim for the amount of investment that he’s attracted into the US since becoming President continues to rise, and become more and more untrue every time he says it. He’s now saying it’s $20 trillion. With a T. Which is two thirds of the entire GDP of the United States.
King Donald
4. Trump pardons a crypto guy (who has deep ties to Trump’s crypto business)
Donald Trump last night pardoned Changpeng Zhao – also known (sigh) as CZ – the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering last April, and was sentenced to four months in prison. Binance was also ordered to pay $4.3bn in fines after an investigation found it had helped users bypass international sanctions. He completed his prison sentence last September, but the pardon lifts restrictions that had stopped him from running financial ventures.
Funny thing, though: Zhao has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. Trump’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar. World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance.
5. …and then he claimed to know very little about it
For a man who bangs on about Joe Biden’s use of the autopen, Trump sure doesn’t pay much attention to which crooks he’s letting out of prison.
Asked to explain why he issued the pardon, Trump seemed unsure who he even was. “I believe we’re talking about the same person,” he said. “Because I do pardon a lot of people. I don’t know. He was recommended by a lot of people.”
6. Trump claims he has raised the $300 million he needs for the ballroom
In fact, Trump said he’s raised $350 million. He said: “It’s going to cost right in the neighbourhood of $300 million – it’s been expanded and made absolutely…it’ll be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world, I think.”
For the record, and should you wish to make purchasing decisions based on it, here are all the companies who have donated to the ballroom fund.
- Altria Group
- Amazon
- Apple
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- Caterpillar
- Coinbase
- Comcast Corporation
- J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
- Hard Rock International
- HP Inc.
- Lockheed Martin
- Meta Platforms
- Micron Technology
- Microsoft
- NextEra Energy
- Palantir Technologies
- Ripple
- Reynolds American
- T-Mobile
- Tether America
- Union Pacific Railroad
- Adelson Family Foundation
- Stefan E. Brodie
- Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
- Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
- Edward and Shari Glazer
- Harold Hamm
- Benjamin Leon Jr.
- The Lutnick Family
- The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
- Stephen A. Schwarzman
- Konstantin Sokolov
- Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
- Paolo Tiramani
- Cameron Winklevoss
- Tyler Winklevoss
(I mean, good luck boycotting all of those and living in the modern world, but you’re welcome to try.)
7. He called 7 million Americans ‘garbage’
You’ll recall the outrage when Joe Biden was accused of referring to Trump supporters as “garbage”. That resulted in people turning up at rallies wearing bin bags. Trump drove a rubbish truck.
Well, Trump had some choice words for the people who attended the No Kings protests over the weekend.
He said: “Even that garbage deal they had this weekend, which was embarrassing to them. And the crowds were not big at all. But when you look at signs and they’re all made beautifully, they’re all made professionally in a printing shop. Some guy is paying for all that stuff … they’re going crazy because they’re getting paid”
The Surge
8. Trump calls off the surge into San Francisco
Trump says he’s backing off a planned surge of federal agents into San Francisco after speaking to the mayor. He said on social media last night that Mayor Daniel Lurie had told him the city was making progress in reducing crime and asked him very nicely to let them keep trying. Trump said he agreed to let San Francisco keep trying on its own. Trump’s post came after Lurie said the two spoke Wednesday night, and Trump said he planned to call off a federal deployment to the city.
9. It’s a ‘shame’ that ICE agents get into trouble for going ‘a little bit too far’
Trump lamented that the “brave people” he’s got rounding people up for deportation occasionally get held accountable for breaking the rules. “These are brave people,” he said of ICE agents. “And it’s very dangerous. And if they go even a little bit too far, they get into trouble, which is a shame. I protect them, but they get into trouble.” He added: “Obviously every once in a while they may get one wrong, but they always correct it. They’re able to correct it.”
You’ll recall, no doubt, that the US government is still in a vindictive legal battle with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who they deported to a Salvadoran torture camp by mistake.
10. Trump backs apps that track ICE agents
Asked whether he’d support efforts to ban apps that track the locations of ICE agents, Trump – again – seemed oblivious. “I guess we’ll do that. I’m not a big app guy. I’m not into that too much. I think Pam [Bondi, the attorney general] might be. Let’s go.” Bondi said, yeah, they want to do that because those apps are, she said “risking the lives” of ICE agents.
It’s worth noting that when Joe Biden’s administration asked Facebook to pull Covid misinformation off their platform, MAGA went absolutely nuts. But when Trump wants to interfere with tech platforms, it’s AOK.
The Shutdown
11. Trump claims a “friend” has offered to pay people’s wages during the shutdown
Trump claimed last night that “a friend of mine …called us the other day and he said ‘I’d like to contribute any shortfall you have because of the Democrat shutdown. I’d like to contribute any shortfall you have with the military because I love the military and I love the country…’ Today, he sent us a check for $130 million. I would love to tell you, he doesn’t want the recognition, if you want to know the truth. It’s gonna go the military.”
He did not name the friend. This is quite obviously illegal, or more likely, is not true.