Life shouldn't be a popularity contest. But elections should be. So it might seem a little perplexing that the Trump administration is taking so many wildly unpopular steps. Yes, you could argue that the tough immigration stance, the attacks on higher education, the defiance of the courts, the chainsawing of the federal government workforce, and the obsession with all things DEI could bring daily moments of glee to a significant portion of the MAGA base. But I'm talking about the other stuff. The see-sawing tariffs that have shaken the economy for everyone from the investment class who voted for lower taxes and a deregulated market (but have gotten a market pullback and a less certain outlook) to working class voters who voted for lower prices? Meanwhile, the retaliation for those tariffs is being aimed to hurt Trump voters the hardest. Or the kowtowing to Russia when Americans widely support Ukraine? Or the persistant visual that the world's richest man is slashing benefits for the average American? Or the bizarre attacks on the national parks? The administration is even openly placing its sweaty little hands on the third rail of politics as Musk targets Social Security cuts. The moves have been so unpopular that many GOP members of Congress have stopped holding townhalls in their districts because of the angry reactions of their constituents. Why doesn't popularity seem matter in a game where popularity determines who wins and loses? Maybe the Trump administration doesn't think popularity will be the determining factor in 2026 and beyond. Maybe the bet is that an administration stacked with election deniers from the Justice Department to the FBI to the Oval Office will be able to do the very thing Trump has been trying to get done since the "perfect" phone call with Zelensky, the request to Georgia officials to find him 11,780 votes, or the the Jan 6 insurrection for which all of the attackers have been pardoned? The attack on the vote is Trump's most consistent and relentless policy position. Sue Halpern in The New Yorker: Trump Is Still Trying to Undermine Elections. "So far, it’s a tossup which of the Trump Administration’s wrecking balls will prove most destructive: the one that accelerates global warming, the one that abandons our allies, the one that torches the economy, or the one that compromises public health. Yet all of these are distractions from the President’s long-standing pet project: decimating free and fair elections. It may be that we have become so accustomed to hearing Donald Trump’s false claims about rigged elections and corrupt election officials that we have become inured to them, but in the past seven weeks he has pursued a renewed multilateral program to suppress the vote, curtail the franchise, undermine election security, eliminate protections from foreign interference, and neuter the independent oversight of election administration. And, as with the rest of Trump’s calamitous agenda, he is doing it in full view of the American people." (Only election deniers see this as a vote of confidence.) 2Greased Lightning"The legend goes that White Castle founder Walter 'Walt' Anderson started making hamburgers in the early to mid-1910s after he grew frustrated with how long it took to cook meatballs. So one day, Anderson smashed a meatball with a spatula, and, boom, he had a hamburger patty that he could cook much faster. If that's true, Anderson's embrace of hamburgers was really part of a quest for greater productivity — to cook and sell more meat sandwiches in less time. That origin story may or may not be bogus, but after founding White Castle in 1921, Anderson and his co-founder, Billy Ingram, pioneered many of the hallmarks of the fast-food industry, including helping to make hamburgers a national staple, standardizing practices across their chain restaurants and bringing an assembly-line mindset to food production." Since then, fast food only got faster. At least until the productivity gains slowed down for a couple decades. Well, they're back, and fast food is faster than ever. And consumers are partly to thank. NPR: Fast-er food: A productivity surge at U.S. restaurants. 3When the Chips Are DownSince 1963, Lay's potato chips have been promoting the addictive slogan, Betcha can't eat just one. It was a safe bet. But in 2025, Americans are actually limiting their chip intake. It's not a health thing. Or even an Ozempic thing. It's an inflation thing. "Chip prices have increased 29% since February 2021, outpacing the overall grocery price inflation of 23%." Chips and cookies have gotten too expensive. Shoppers are buying less. 4School BullyEarlier this week, I described an alternative March Madness in which more than 60 universities were competing, not for a basketball title, but for the funding to thrive in an era when they're being targeted by the federal government: A Method to the Madness. "Autocrats — both left-wing and right-wing — always attack universities." The latest attack comes in the name of transgender involvement in sports. NYT (Gift Article): White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy. "The move would intensify the government’s campaign against transgender people’s participation in public life and escalate a clash with elite colleges." 5Extra, ExtraEnemies, a Love Story: "The larger worry is that Mr. Trump is struggling to see Mr. Putin for the aggressor he is—one that previous Presidents have failed to tame via talks. The White House even heralded the possibility of working with Russia in the Middle East, where Mr. Putin has spent a decade as a force for instability." WSJ (Gift Article): Putin Rejects the Trump Cease-Fire. (Is there any signal that Trump won't give Putin whatever he demands?) BBC: Trump-Putin call seen as victory in Russia. "Instead of pressuring Moscow with the threat of even tougher sanctions and penalties, to get Russia to sign up to its plan, the US administration reacted by praising the Kremlin leader. 'We had a great call,' Donald Trump told Fox News. 'I would commend President Putin for all he did today on that call to move his country close to a final peace deal,' said Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff." 6Bottom of the News"Five men had smashed their way into the palace, ripped out a £4.8m solid gold toilet and fled in a stolen Volkswagen Golf. The working loo, entitled America, had been on display for just two days at the 18th Century stately home, plumbed in as part of an exhibition by the Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. Now, more than five years on, a total of three men have been convicted in connection to the heist." The inside story of Blenheim's gold toilet heist. (Now the thieves are gonna do some time in the can.) |