'Complete surrender': Trump trashed over latest deal with China

09/16/25 3:53 PM

U.S. law limits media ownership by non-U.S. citizens, which has caused complications for the Chinese app TikTok's operations in the U.S. Now President Donald Trump is being accused of rolling over for the Chinese government in an effort to solve the company's problems.The tech company Oracle, which is owned by a close ally of President Donald Trump, will play a key role in a reported deal between Trump and China, CBS News reported Tuesday. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's son, David Ellison, runs the company Skydance Media, which recently purchased Paramount Global, which runs networks like CBS and Comedy Central, where shows have been critical of Trump.Rush Doshi, assistant professor at Georgetown and director of CFR China Strategy Initiative, noted on X, "The TikTok deal is looking like a complete surrender by the admin. And it may even be illegal. If true, the US will let Beijing determine what appears on the news feeds of 180 million US TikTok users. Not quite America first. Even advisors to the deal are renouncing it!"He pointed to a Financial Times report Tuesday in which parent company ByteDance said the U.S. TikTok will use part of the Chinese algorithm, but it will be trained using data from Americans. Doshi noted the comment from an Asia-based investor who said, “Beijing’s bottom line is a licensing deal. Beijing wants to be seen as exporting Chinese technology to the U.S. and the world.” “It’s the ultimate Taco trade,” commented a U.S. advisor close to the deal, referencing to the mocking acronym “Trump always chickens out.""After all this, China keeps the algorithm," the U.S. advisor said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed to reporters that U.S. investors might control the new U.S. app, but it will preserve some "Chinese characteristics," Reuters reported. Read the full report here.

'Godawful mess' in US has foreign businessmen second-guessing working with Trump: NBC

09/10/25 3:37 PM

Donald Trump’s desire to deport immigrants from the U.S. by force is running headlong into his drive to increase foreign investments in the U.S. in the hope that it will improve his dismal job numbers.Asked about an immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia by agents working for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that led to a round-up of 475 employees, many of them South Koreans sent to help with the set-up, NBC’s Christine Romans said foreign investors are becoming nervous."So talk about the concerns you've heard from South Korean business leaders,“ she was asked on MSNBC.“Well, it's the collision of two Trump administration policies, right?’ she began. “Aggressive immigration enforcement and then using these trade deals to to get countries to invest more in the United States. Now, are you more likely in South Korea or elsewhere to invest more in the United States? If the 200 people that you've sent over to build the factory, literally, to train the American workers around it.”“They just said they're the top investor,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough prompted his guest.”That's right, that's right and this is what part of the trade policy is to get more countries to send their companies here to build in the United States,” Romans replied. “At the same time, you have this very messy public image that is being broadcast here.”“It's just these things are at cross purposes,” she elaborated. “What you hear from business leaders, overseas business leaders ,is that the us immigration system is a godawful mess, and that they need better visa pathways for skilled workers to get here. What you hear from MAGA, of course, and from many traditional Republicans as well, is that skilled worker visas take away American jobs, so it's not an easy sell on that end. It's a big mess and this is front and center here.”You can watch below or at the link. - YouTube youtu.be

'He has really let me down': Trump admits he's disappointed Putin is 'killing people'

09/18/25 3:02 PM

President Donald Trump admitted Thursday that he feels "let down" by Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing war in Ukraine.Trump held a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the U.K. following a lavish welcome to the country, including a military ceremony with multiple marching bands, horse-drawn carriages and a state dinner that included Rupert Murdoch and Tim Cook."Well, he has let me down," Trump said. "I mean, he's killing many people and he's losing more people than he's, you know, than he's killing. I mean, frankly, the... Russian soldiers are being killed at a higher rate than the Ukrainian soldiers. But, yeah, he's let me down."He argued that he inherited the situation from the previous administration and blamed former President Joe Biden. He even signaled it that the conflict in Europe could devolve into another world war.Starmer added that “we have to put extra pressure on Putin." Trump and Starmer had a closed door conversation about the war in Ukraine and Gaza.

'Here we go!' Trump issues 11-word statement on Russia's drone attack in Poland

09/10/25 3:30 PM

President Donald Trump issued a brief statement about the suddenly tense standoff between Poland and Russia.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned the NATO member's parliament that Russia had crossed a line by sending drones into its airspace during an early Wednesday attack against Ukraine, saying "this situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II," and the U.S. president briefly commented on social media."What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?" Trump posted on Truth Social at 11:09a.m. EST. "Here we go!"European leaders condemned the incident as an escalation by the Kremlin, which has continued its attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's efforts to push Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace talks.Polish military officials called the incursion “act of aggression" and said all of the drones were shot down with help from NATO allies, and Tusk said he has activated Article 4 of NATO’s treaty, which allows member nations to demand consultations with their allies.That's only the eighth time since NATO was established in 1949 that Article 4, which does not trigger a military reaction, has been invoked by a member.

'Hoax!' Karoline Leavitt insists Epstein doodle ‘proves’ Trump didn’t send it

09/08/25 8:42 PM

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued without evidence that The Wall Street Journal had proven President Donald Trump did not send a birthday letter to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even though the publication released a copy of the note.On Monday, the Journal reported that House Democrats had obtained a copy of the letter from Epstein's estate. The note included a doodle of a woman and mentioned a "wonderful secret.""The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire 'Birthday Card' story is false," Leavitt claimed later on X. "As I have said all along, it's very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.""President Trump's legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation," she added, referring to a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal.Leavitt also complained that reporter Joe Palazzolo had not given her enough time to respond before publishing the story."This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!" she exclaimed.Supporters of the president have insisted that the signature on the note to Epstein does not match Trump's.

'It's unacceptable': 'Infuriated' Trump lashed out at ally in private phone call

09/11/25 12:26 PM

The White House is reportedly “infuriated” following the surprise Israeli strike Tuesday on American-ally Qatar, an operation that the United States was given little advanced notice of and has put a key international alliance in jeopardy.According to Israeli officials, the strike on Doha, the capital of Qatar, was intended to eliminate Hamas leadership, specifically those actively involved in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations. The strike was immediately condemned by Trump, who said he was “very unhappy” with what he called an “unfortunate incident.”But behind the scenes, Trump was reportedly “infuriated,” and had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to insiders familiar with the matter who spoke with Axios in a report published Thursday.“It's unacceptable,” Trump told Netanyahu during a phone call Tuesday, according to “two sources with knowledge,” speaking with Axios. “I demand that you do not repeat it.”The strike has also jeopardized the United States’ relationship with Qatar, which for decades has remained a key ally in the Middle East, having even been designated a major non-NATO ally by the United States.A “source with direct knowledge” told Axios that Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani told Steve Witkoff, the United States’ special envoy to the Middle East, that the country would reevaluate its security partnership with the United States, and “maybe find some other partners.”Netanyahu’s response to Trump during their phone call Tuesday is unclear, but in the days since, he has defended the strikes as necessary to protect Israel’s security and to bring “terrorists to justice,” while also proclaiming that Israel would “continue to strike” as necessary.According to Axios, Trump was not notified of the impending attack until “missiles were in the air.” According to Axios, Al-Thani told the White House that it considered the attack a “betrayal” by the United States, and that Qatar was actively engaged in conversations with other Persian Gulf nations on how to respond.

'Large number of farmers won’t survive this': Trump's new trade moves put growers at risk

09/11/25 2:30 PM

The game of chicken Donald Trump is playing with China as part of his tariff war is reportedly on the verge of doing irreparable harm to America’s soybean farmers with Chinese negotiators holding the upper hand.According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, soybeans farmers are poised to harvest “tens of millions of tons of soybeans,” but their biggest market, China, is not buying, thereby putting pressure of the Trump administration to make a tariff deal.As the Journal’s Jon Emont and Patrick Thomas are reporting, China’s buyers are boycotting American soybean crops unless Trump first drops the 20 percent tariff the the president imposed.Trump’s reluctance to bend now has U.S. farmers on edge, fearing this could be the end for them.“It is U.S. farmers who are feeling the pain. Nearly a quarter of the more than 4 billion bushels of soybeans American farmers grow each year are exported to China, which is by far the world’s biggest soy importer. The country imported nearly $13 billion of soybeans from the U.S. last year, compared with about $2 billion two decades ago,” the report notes before adding that Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky soybean farmer, lamented, “We have a large number of farmers that won’t survive this.”At a U.S. soy industry conference in August, Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng laid the blame of the Trump administration and stood up for the U.S. farmers by noting, “After confusion and chaos in the plowing season, our farmer friends may soon have to face new uncertainty in the harvest season.”According to the Journal, China anticipated the fight with the American president and created stockpiles to lessen the blow in their own country, with China turning to other trade partners, including Argentina and Uruguay, to make up for their own shortfalls.You can read more here.

'Makes no economic sense': Trump adviser flips on tariffs five months after praising them

09/18/25 1:39 PM

With Donald Trump out of the country, one of his most prominent economic advisers is bashing him for costing America jobs.The U.S. president is currently in the UK, being feted with banquets and parades, while the effects of his trade war with the world are taking effect and that has alarmed Stephen Moore, long associated with Trump going back to his first stint as president.In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Moore lashed out at Trump’s aluminum tariffs, explaining it is not only crippling job creation but that they make no “economic sense.”That is a far cry from the stance he took in April of this year when he told Fox News personality Sean Hannity, “Nobody in the media will give Trump, you know, a fair hearing here. It looks like he's getting these deals coming in, and that is good for America. In fact, frankly, it's good for some of these other countries -- to American farmers and American manufacturing products and our technology products. So it looks to me, Sean, like this is kind of going according to plan.”Almost five months later, he is no longer so sure.“If left to stand, President Trump’s June order to raise the tax on imported aluminum to 50% will almost certainly cost far more manufacturing jobs than it will save,” he wrote late Wednesday.He went on to report that “Novelis alone is one of the world’s largest producers of aluminum for cans of beer and soft drinks,” and now a proposed $4.1 billion plan in Alabama is facing suspension and thousands of jobs may disappear."The U.S. manufacturers hit by Mr. Trump’s tariffs are frustrated. They provide good jobs to Americans yet are getting hammered. Many also compete directly with China—which will be the big winner of the aluminum tariffs. Mr. Trump promised that ‘there are no tariffs if you manufacture or build your product in the United States.’ That has proved utterly untrue," he accused.With that, he advised, “If the administration really wants a return of good blue-collar jobs, the president should immediately cancel, or at least suspend, the aluminum tariffs. It could be prudent to offer firms a rebate for aluminum producers reshoring jobs to America, which many of these companies are.""Punishing U.S. manufacturers and their hardworking employees is hardly putting America first,” he lectured.You can read more here

'No banquet lasts forever': NYT's Maggie Haberman pours cold water of Trump's UK visit

09/18/25 12:29 PM

Despite unhappiness about Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom outside the castle walls, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Sean McCreesh reported the American president is highly enjoying his respite from the troubles he left behind in the U.S. as he hobnobs with royalty and the wealthy.But, they noted, that will soon come to a crashing end. Back home, the U.S. is embroiled by Trump’s militarization of cities, a culture war raging over the shooting of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk, ICE agents grabbing immigrants off the streets and a looming government shutdown. For the moment, the Times is reporting, “Britain’s aim is clear: The royals were working in tandem with the British government, lavishing attention and honors on the president on Wednesday so that he might be more pliable in negotiations with America’s oldest ally in his diplomatic meeting with the prime minister on Thursday.”RELATED: 'Open season': Expert says Trump heading straight for a 'danger moment' with UK visitThe report went on to note that there were hints of the troubles outside the banquet hall with billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch, an occasional Trump antagonist also in attendance despite his Wall Street Journal lately taking the lead on breaking news on Trump’s relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.“Mr. Murdoch’s position in the banquet hall was far enough down the table that he was out of the president’s field of vision, and yet, he was still there, sitting through a speech about Mr. Trump’s greatness,” the Times is reporting before adding, “Outside those castle gates, Mr. Trump must return to a world that does not necessarily see him — or at least, will not necessarily treat him — the same way that the mighty men and women gathered at Windsor Castle did.”Referring to a recent confrontation Trump had with protesters when he ventured out of the White House for dinner in militarized Washington, D.C., Haberman and her writing partner suggested that is the reality the president will once again be returning to.“Still, in Britain, the night before the state dinner, protesters beamed images of Mr. Trump socializing with Mr. Epstein onto the walls of the castle, a reminder of the political furor that awaits him back home,” they wrote before cautioning, “After all, fortresses are designed to keep the world out. And no banquet lasts forever.”You can read more here.

'Putin played Trump for a fool': Internet mocks president for Russia's 'unprecedented' act

09/10/25 12:54 PM

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that several Russian drones were shot down Wednesday that had flown over the NATO country’s airspace, igniting a firestorm of criticism against President Donald Trump for his handling of Russian aggression.“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin embarrassed Trump 3 weeks ago in Alaska,” wrote X user “Maine,” a self-described Democratic strategist with more than 88,000 followers. “Putin bombed an American factory two weeks ago; Putin [is] now expanding war into Poland and Moldova. Putin has played Trump for a fool.”According to Tusk, the incursion was the first time in history that Russian drones had been shot down over NATO country territory, NATO being the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the intergovernmental military alliance of western nations. Putin has frequently named NATO as the impetus for his country’s aggression amid long-running talks to accept Ukraine as a NATO-member state.Ron Filipkowski, a former prosecutor, ridiculed the Trump administration for its handling of Russian aggression by mocking Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth, criticizing what he characterized as the administration’s weak and performative responses to past instances of Russian aggression.“Hegseth is working on a very energetic workout video to respond to Putin’s aggressive military violation of Poland’s airspace,” Filipkowski wrote in a social media post on X Wednesday.The incursion was called the “most serious European airspace violation by Russia since the war began” by Kaja Kallas, the European Union foreign affairs chief, who went on to note that the incursion appeared “intentional,” and “not accidental.”It’s unclear exactly how many Russian drones had invaded Poland’s airspace, though the Ukrainian Air Force estimated it to be at least eight, according to the New York Times. On Polish television, Tusk said there had been as many as 19 Russian drones that flew into Polish airspace.“Putin never would have launched drones into Poland if Donald Trump was President,” X user Maine wrote in another social media post, poking fun at Trump’s past claims that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine “would have never happened” were he president at the time. Trump has also said at least 53 times that he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office for his second term, a pledge that clearly did not come to fruition.CNN's Natasha Bertrand said, "Russia’s drone incursion into Poland marked the first time in its history that NATO planes have engaged potential threats in allied airspace, per Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe spokesperson. Fellow CNN personality Aaron Blake also called the move "unprecedented."Putin embarrassed Trump 3 weeks ago in Alaska. Putin bombed an American factory 2 weeks ago. Putin now expanding war into Poland and Moldova. Putin has played Trump for a fool https://t.co/ePfltZXaem— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) September 9, 2025