ARTICLE AD BOX
U.S. markets have ended a turbulent week higher despite continued turbulence stemming from Donald Trump’s chaotic trade war against America’s trading partners.
Stocks began the day down but, after lunch, made solid gains following comments from the Federal Reserve that they would keep markets functioning.
The S&P 500 gained 1.73%, ending at 5,359.40 points, while the Nasdaq rose by 1.97% to reach 16,710.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.53%, finishing at 40,201.28.
China increased its tariffs on American imports to 125 percent in retaliation for the 145% levy on its exports, raising the stakes in a trade war that threatens to upend global supply chains.
“There are no winners in a trade war, and going against the world will only lead to self-isolation,” Chinese Premier Xi Jinping told state broadcaster CCTV.
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled that the claim the student poses “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the U.S. is “facially reasonable.”
Watch: Trump tells reporters he took a cognitive test during physical
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 01:09
Trump appears to be pulling out of G20 meeting
President Donald Trump does not sound like he will attend the next G20 meeting in South Africa.
He wrote on Truth Social from Air Force One:
How could we be expected to go to South Africa for the very important G20 Meeting when Land Confiscation and Genocide is the primary topic of conversation? They are taking the land of white Farmers, and then killing them and their families. The Media refuses to report on this. The United States has held back all contributions to South Africa. Is this where we want to be for the G20? I don’t think so!
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 00:58
Trump says report on his annual physical to be released Sunday
President Donald Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to a weekend in Palm Beach this evening.
Overall, I felt I was in very good shape. Good heart. A good soul. Very good soul. I took — I wanted to be a little different than Biden. I took a cognitive test. I don’t know what to tell you other than I got every answer right.
President Donald Trump
Asked about his annual physical, which he underwent at Walter Reed this afternoon, he said he took: “Every test you can imagine.”
The president added: “I think I did well.”
He said the report would be released Sunday, that today’s tests included a cognitive test, and that he passed every question.
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 00:56
Law firm Susman Godfrey sues U.S. government after being targeted by Trump
Law firm Susman Godfrey is suing the U.S. government after being targeted by President Donald Trump in an executive order.
The firm is representing Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation case against Newsmax.
The complaint reads in part:
In America we have, in the words of John Adams, a government of laws and not men. President Trump’s campaign of Executive Orders against law firms and others, including the Executive Order he signed on April 9, 2025 against Susman Godfrey, is a grave threat to this foundational premise of our Republic. The President is abusing the powers of his office to wield the might of the Executive Branch in retaliation against organizations and people that he dislikes. Nothing in our Constitution or laws grants a President such power; to the contrary, the specific provisions and overall design of our Constitution were adopted in large measure to ensure that presidents cannot exercise arbitrary, absolute power in the way that the President seeks to do in these Executive Orders.
Unless the Judiciary acts with resolve—now—to repudiate this blatantly unconstitutional Executive Order and the others like it, a dangerous and perhaps irreversible precedent will be set. Whatever opinions one may hold about President Trump, or about Susman Godfrey’s litigation on behalf of its clients, someday a different president with an entirely different set of policy priorities and personal grievances will sit behind the Resolute Desk. That future president may genuinely believe that an entirely different set of organizations or people have “engage[d] in activities detrimental to critical American interests,” to quote the accusation President Trump has leveled at Susman Godfrey. If President Trump’s Executive Orders are allowed to stand, future presidents will face no constraint when they seek to retaliate against a different set of perceived foes. What for two centuries has been beyond the pale will become the new normal.
Put simply, this could be any of us.
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 00:44
A guide to actions on Trump immigration policies — from classifying immigrants as dead to deportation
President Donald Trump's immigration agenda is playing out in numerous ways Friday, from hearings in key cases on the government's power to deport people to the start of a registry required for all those who are in the country illegally.
And on Thursday, immigration developments came on multiple fronts as federal officials work on the president's promise to carry out mass deportations and double down on his authority to do so. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of a mistakenly deported man, and the administration's classification of thousands of living immigrants as dead came to light.
Here is a breakdown of some of what has happened so far and what is ahead:
Inside Trump’s failed tariff gamble
If you read one thing today...
Richard Hall writes:
Donald Trump has made an art form of selling his failures as triumphs, and this week’s capitulation on tariffs was his Mona Lisa.
Continue reading...
Oliver O'Connell11 April 2025 23:50
Watch: 'A crisis of confidence in the competence of the administration'
University of Michigan Economics Professor Justin Wolfers offers his take on the Trump administration’s tariffs policy as markets end a turbulent week.
Oliver O'Connell11 April 2025 23:32
In case you were wondering...
Here’s what happened to that giant umbrella when President Donald Trump got to the top of the steps of Air Force One:
Oliver O'Connell11 April 2025 23:27
Trump moves Obama’s White House portrait to display painting of his own assassination attempt
Visitors to the White House on Friday were greeted with a new addition to the executive mansion’s art collection — a painting depicting the now-iconic photograph of President Donald Trump raising his fist just moments after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania last June.
White House staff installed the painting just outside the East Room, in the main foyer of the White House, at a location traditionally reserved for a painting depicting the most recent president to have his official portrait unveiled.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, D.C.
Oliver O'Connell11 April 2025 23:15
Trump departs Washington for another weekend at Mar-a-Lago
With his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center complete, President Donald Trump is on his way to Florida for the weekend, accompanied by a very large umbrella.
Oliver O'Connell11 April 2025 22:58
English (US) ·