Elon Musk and Scott Bessent got into a shouting match in the White House last Thursday which included Bessent loudly criticizing Musk for overpromising and under-delivering DOGE cuts

The Treasury Secretary would know, of course, because he has to report income and outlays every month.

One person who witnessed the dispute said:

It was quite a scene. It was loud. And I mean, loud.

The story is here.

Supremes vote 7-2 to pause deportations of Venezuelans

The Trump administration has been bragging that the Supremes let them deport Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which of course is a half-truth. The April 7 decision 5-4 stipulates that due process be followed, which is why they ordered 9-0 the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia who didn't get it, and the Supremes this morning aren't sure that's the case either with the latest group set to be deported.

 

 U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halts deportations of Venezuelan migrants under wartime law

The U.S. Supreme Court early on Saturday paused President Donald Trump’s administration from deporting Venezuelan men in immigration custody after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices. ...

At issue is whether the Trump administration has met the Supreme Court’s standard for providing the detainees due process before sending them to another country - possibly to the notorious prison in El Salvador where others are jailed. ...

Their deportation would be the first since the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that allowed removals under the 1798 law while specifying that “the notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.” ...

On March 15, the Trump administration deported more than 130 alleged Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador. Many of the migrants’ lawyers and family members say they were not gang members and had no chance to dispute the government’s assertion that they were. 

 

 

After 38 years, it's time to junk the bedrock idea undergirding conservative economic philosophy of low taxes because IT'S NOT TRUE

 AXIOS today, here:

A bedrock idea of conservative economic philosophy is [the] idea that low taxes fuel economic growth. 

This idea is simply false, and history proves it.

We've had 38 years since the Reagan Tax Reform Act of 1986 to prove it correct and it's not.

Real GDP 1986-2024 has grown at a compound annual rate of 2.586%, a rate 29% worse than for the same length of time before that when taxes were much higher.

Real GDP 1948-1986 grew at a compound annual rate of 3.635%.

Tax reform is a complicated topic, the political subject of the AXIOS article.

I can simplify it for you: Tax like we used to in the immediate post-war.

Nominal marginal rates in 1957 (dollars are NOT adjusted for inflation in the tables), the height of the Baby Boom, went from 20% to 91%.

The set up didn't stop people from marrying, having children, and buying houses, and it didn't stop economic growth, because it forced rich people to avoid these confiscatory marginal rates by investing their money domestically to earn income at lower rates of capital taxation.

Ronald Reagan's tax reform was a license to invest elsewhere, and we're all poorer for it. 

If Democrats had any brains they would propose richly rewarding domestic investment using the tax code and severely punishing foreign investment. They could start by raising top marginal tax rates on ordinary income and offering much lower long term capital gains tax rates de-linked from ordinary income but only for domestic investment.

The country desperately needs much better economic growth, and the libertarian-Republican consensus is not providing it.

 

 

Investment abroad eclipsed investment at home for the first time in 1993 and is 200% of domestic today

A new party of violence in the making?

 "They hate us": Democrats confront their own Tea Party

Various observations after Democrat town halls:

 "Among the things I got [at a town hall] were: 'Will you call for Chuck Schumer to resign?'" the lawmaker said. "Last week I got: 'You need to tell your leadership they had no right rebuking Democrats for being strong at'" Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress.

"Another thing I got was: 'Democrats are too nice. Nice and civility doesn't work. Are you prepared for violence?'"

"The level of exasperation is comparable [to the Tea Party] for sure, even if the issues and policies are very different," said [Jared] Huffman [CA-2]. 

"The base has been pissed off for a while." ...  it "seems to be more widespread" now.

"My constituents have passionately said they are not happy with Democratic leadership. ... They expect more from me and from Democrats in Congress."

"If near unanimity against the Republican CR is not definitive evidence of a party unified in opposition to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, then I am not sure what would be," said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.).

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) told Axios that "no one expressed displeasure with Democrats" during his last two-hour town hall. People are "back to focusing on Musk and Trump," he said.

"All I know is that most folks are pissed, and scared, and they hate this chaos and the blatant corruption of Trump and Musk," said Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio). "Democrats absolutely want leaders who are going to fight back and fix what's broken."

Senator Schumer's surrender to Republicans inflames rank and file Democrats even in their homes

The anger mirrors less visible Republican discontent with its supine leadership for failing to assert Congress' control over the power of the purse and letting Elon Musk run their show.

 

House Dems go into "complete meltdown" as Schumer folds

... "I know I speak for so many in our caucus when I say Schumer is misreading this moment. The Senate Dems must show strength and grit by voting no," said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.).

... Some House members, in turn, have gotten an earful from constituents. "I have also never had so many people from home personally texting me—ANGRY," said another House Democrat. "I don't think they knew who Chuck Schumer was before today," the lawmaker said. "But they know now and they hate him." ...

Mad King Ludwig declares war on Representative Thomas Massie (KY-4), one of only two Republicans remaining with the gumption to oppose the proposed continuing spending resolution

The other Republican opponent of the CR is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. He won his 2022 Senate race with 61.8% of the vote and won't need to stand for re-election until 2028 when Trump is history.

Massie is unafraid. He's been there, done that, and is still standing:

 Trump vows to "lead the charge" to unseat GOP Rep. Massie

Defying every norm, Trump is negotiating directly with terrorists again (no, not the ones in Moscow)

 US holding secret talks with Hamas on release of Gaza hostages, 'Post' confirms

... US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler ... met with senior Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, several times. These meetings, first reported by Barak Ravid on Axios, mark the first known direct dialogue between Hamas and the US administration since the US designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in 1997.

Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contact with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations. ...

The White House said Boehler has the authority to negotiate directly with Hamas.

“When it comes to the negotiations that you’re referring to, first of all, the special envoy who’s engaged in those negotiations does have the authority,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. ...

Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contact with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations.Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contact with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations.

Republican fantasies about using "current policy" to price the cost of extending the Trump tax cuts at $0 are illegal

House GOP explores alternative math on Trump tax cuts

 ... But the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires that Congress use "current law" to account for how much a tax cut will cost. ...

Yeah, he didn't really though: It was a no apology apology

 Zelensky expresses regret for Oval Office spat with Trump

... "Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive," Zelensky wrote on X. ...

Dictator Trump threatens American students with expulsion for "illegal protests"

Trump threatens federal funds for schools that allow "illegal protests"

 . . . Trump also took aim at American students protesters, who he said will be "permanently expelled" or arrested, "depending on the crime." . . .

You know what to do.

House Republicans everywhere are taking incoming at townhalls and district office protests over DOGE layoffs and cuts, budget bill is full of more of the same

Republicans fear their big budget win is a 2026 time bomb

... Some Republicans already see signs that the backlash to the Trump administration's "efficiency" efforts is spilling over into opposition to their legislative plans. ... Republicans have been barraged the last week and a half by angry constituents at town halls and protests outside their district offices complaining about DOGE's layoffs and cuts to federal programs. ...       

The lone GOP truth-teller is Thomas Massie, who voted against the budget bill because it puts America at least $56 trillion in debt in 10 years, even with the spending cuts.

America needs spending cuts and tax increases, but Republicans are virtually incapable in their DNA of raising taxes.

 

 

Congressional Republicans are unhappy with imprecise and rash spending cuts and personnel reductions, resulting in violations of the law, mistakes, and human carnage in their districts and states

 Trump faces growing DOGE revolt from GOP lawmakers

... "We all want efficiencies, there is a way to do it, and the way these people have been treated has been awful in many cases. Awful." ... some are quietly fuming that their Constitutional role in controlling federal funds could be steamrolled in the process. The House Republican who spoke anonymously warned that many conservatives are "very constitutionalist" and may be inclined to protect Congress' power if forced to do so. "Even though it's our guy in the White House, if there's a lot of executive overreach, we want to protect the institution of Congress," they said. ...

Trump's European-style coalition cabinet is full of liberals and conservatism is dead LOL, says tormented son of a member of the John Birch Society

 

 A pro-abortion RFK Jr. at HHS. A pro-union Chavez-DeRemer at Labor. Lefty Democrat Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. And gay George Soros adviser Scott Bessent at Treasury. 

The team represents the Trump worldview: Traditional conservatism is dead — and its biggest, lifelong advocates neutered to the point of irrelevance.          

Mike Allen of AXIOS reminds me of no one so much as George W. Bush: "There is no conservative movement. I redefined the Republican Party".

I think Mike is in a perpetual state of PTSD because his father was a John Bircher.

Donald Trump's problem is that no real conservative wants to be associated with his lame duck brand, so he's got to find people SOMEWHERE to serve in his hapless administration. Might as well be lefties and liberals and Jeb Bush retreads like Pam Bondi at the Department of Justice after the Gaetz flameout.

Meanwhile, Donald J. Trump and George W. Bush are exactly the same person, except Georgie actually got more than 49.83% of the vote.

 

75+ million votes already cast

 Nearly half of 2020's electorate have already cast ballots in 2024

Around 100 million people voted early, either in person or via mail, in 2020. ... Of those who have cast their vote so far in states that report party registration data, Democrats hold a slight lead — 37.9% to 36.2% — per [University of Florida Election Lab's] count.

Democrat Senators (candidate) Baldwin, Casey, (Slotkin), Tester and Brown, who all voted to impeach Trump twice, now suck up to him in ads before election

 

Some of the most vulnerable Democratic senators in this election are using the closing stretch to boast about their ties to former President Trump.

Why it matters: Even candidates in presidential battlegrounds are now featuring Trump cameos in campaign ads — as Democrats up and down the ballot run to the middle.

• The trend comes as split-ticket voting declines, making it more likely that a Senate candidate's fate will be tied to their state's presidential results. ...
  

What they're saying: "These Senate Democrats all voted to impeach President Trump twice, so it is surprising that they are now running ads praising his work as President," NRSC communications director Mike Berg told Axios in a statement.

More.

The Harris-Biden messaging is in complete disarray: Kamala boasts right now about spending millions to aid Lebanon, which harbors Israel's enemies, while her own DHS Secretary is warning FEMA is running out of money for hurricanes

 And Mayorkas couldn't care less about FEMA running out of money or the suffering in the Southeast. He went clothes shopping on Saturday.

This administration excels at in-your-face bad optics in addition to doing a horrible job.

A year ago Axios blamed the migrant surge for making the US housing crisis worse, now that Vance agrees omg

 

Harry Reid eliminating the filibuster for judicial appointments worked out poorly for Democrats, Kamala Harris tells Wisconsin Public Radio she'd eliminate the filibuster to get a national right to abortion back

 It doesn't occur to these people that Republicans would retaliate in kind when they regain control of both chambers of Congress, passing their biggest ideas on simple majorities.

Retiring Senator Joe Manchin said ending the filibuster would turn the Senate into "the House on steroids," which is exactly right.

Retiring Senator Kyrsten Sinema said Republicans would use the new power "to ban all abortion nationwide", which is unlikely but possible.

But still Kamala persists, because she's not too bright.

 

 

Kamala Harris is hiding from the press

 The Harris-Walz media strategy: Hide from the press :

Bottom line: Some of Harris' worst moments as vice president have come during interviews when she made flip or unclear comments about key policies.

 

 

What do the AWFLs read first thing in the morning?

 Axios, where a "deep read" takes 1 minute lol.