The Daly Weekly (4/4)

Rand Paul, Greg Gutfeld, Penguins, and more!

Hi everyone.

Welcome to this week’s Daly Weekly, where I answer whatever questions you throw at me.

Let’s get right to it…

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It seems that Rand Paul has gotten on Trump’s bad side since criticizing the tariffs? Trump harped on him among others in a tweet. Is it possible a Rand Paul type could potentially revamp the tea party movement or something similar? I’m pleasantly surprised, I thought Rand Paul was a MAGA zombie. — Ed G.

For the most part, Ed, Rand Paul has indeed been a Trump toady. I’ve criticized him a number of times over the years for abandoning many of the principles he used to preach. But every now and then, he pleasantly surprises me (as he has you). He’s absolutely right about tariffs. Most Republicans in Congress know that Trump’s trade war will be a catastrophe for the U.S. economy (and much of the global economy), but Paul is one of the few who are actually saying it out-loud, and taking meaningful steps to fight it. I give him credit for that.

Do I think Paul will inspire another Tea Party movement? No. Trump effectively killed fiscal conservatism on the political right. The Tea Partiers of yesteryear are mostly MAGA-folks now, and willingly support whatever Trump wants. Rand Paul will either be branded a “RINO” for his insubordination, or he’ll back down and rejoin the Trump chorus.

Unabated ars-kissing has always been a hallmark of working for and with Trump in business. I can understand how that works. You sometimes do what you have to do for a job. Trump has managed to get large numbers of people to willingly do [what people like Greg Gutfeld do] when they really don't need to. Will his "get even" politics ever wear thin enough or harm enough voters personally that he loses his mojo? — Scott K.

I don’t think the “get even” stuff will be Trump’s undoing, Scott, since it hasn’t caught up with him yet. But I suspect his current effort to destroy our country’s trade system, drive prices through the roof, and impose the largest peacetime tax-hike in U.S. history will keep his approval ratings underwater … likely for the rest of his presidency. That said, I don’t think Trump cares about a public backlash. Voters, knowing exactly who he was, put him back in office for another four years. Having surrounded himself entirely with yes-people this time, he feels emboldened to pursue whatever he feels like doing (and can get away with) on any given day, without any acknowledgement of the consequences, and without any regard for Congressional Republicans who’ll likely suffer big losses in the midterms because of him.

One more thing: You mentioned that people like Gutfeld are doing things “they really don’t need to.” I (kind of) disagree. To be a top star on Fox News, or on any other MAGA-oriented outlet, you have to carry Trump’s water. You have to fawn over him, treat every decision he makes like a stroke of genius, and assign the worst possible motivations to his critics. Otherwise, you’re not going to remain a top star.

How's everyone in the USA enjoying the news of the Trump Liberation tariffs? The usual Trump defenders have gone eerily silent on why nearly everything they buy will now cost more. But hey, this is MAGA! right? 👊🇺🇸🔥 — FDM

(I should note to readers that FDM lives in Australia, thus he’s watching this economic disaster from abroad — though it will soon affect him to). A number of Trump defenders in the media are trying to put the best possible face on this situation, but anyone who understands basic economics knows that what Trump’s doing with his trade war is godawful, and will cause Americans a lot of totally unnecessary pain. The biggest reason Trump won in November is that Americans were sick of high prices. It won’t be lost on them when those prices only climb higher (with lower and middle earners being hardest hit).

I don't know if you did John, but you should watch the interview Brett Bair had with the DOGE group. These are not sludge hammer baring hackers but brilliant people looking to clean up federal waste. To date DOGE has resulted in .15 percent reduction of the federal employees. Not the chain saw approach the MSM has been promoting. They are taking actions that every company does and, in many cases, will eliminate entire departments which I hope they do. Will this save the country and achieve a balanced budget? Of course not. If anything, maybe it will wake up some of the population to understand that the real important things for America are heading for insolvency.

John you are an idealist. I don't know your mind set but do you really believe there is hope that a congress that has driven us into trillions of dollars in debt will standup and change course? It's not happening. The only change that will happen is when our economy crashes. You can't have faith in the people who caused the problem to resolve it! We the voting populous are to blame. And now we need to pay the piper either through increased taxes through a flat tax or other means. Everyone needs to pay. — Tim H.

There’s a lot to unpack there, Tim. Lol.

No, I did not watch the Bret Baier interview, but my argument on DOGE has never been that the group is made up of knuckle-dragging morons with ill intent. It’s that these people largely don’t know what they’re doing in this arena (which shouldn’t have surprised anyone), and that much of what they’ve done is likely illegal.

There are very competent numbers-people, including congressional staffers, investigators and auditors, and think-tankers, who’ve dedicated years of their lives to identifying government-departmental waste, inefficiencies, and even corruption (at a very detailed level). I’ve interviewed some of them here on this website. Unfortunately, the DOGE group had no interest in talking to any such people. Instead, they swept through these departments with the power granted them, spread lots of false information about what they found, misreported numbers left and right, and fired a number of people (including nuclear workers) either by accident (who then had to be rehired), or with little or no regard for their job performance or salary-savings. They also made haphazard cuts to humanitarian aid abroad that may well lead to millions of deaths.

In the end, DOGE bragged of saving taxpayers a whopping $2 billion, while Congress, at the same time, raised spending by nearly $300 billion over last year. So no, I’m not terribly excited about what Elon and company have accomplished, even if their intentions have been good.

As for whether I think DC will suddenly gets its act together on spending, of course not! I think I’ve made that pretty clear. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop calling for it, and shaming those who only contribute to the problem

So, John: what are your thoughts on how the recent Democrat victories in Wisconsin and the Republican victory in Florida will affect the nation? —“Special Election” Regards from The Emperor

I don’t think they’ll affect the nation at all, Emperor, other than giving political analysts something to talk about and draw electoral conclusions from.

Were you surprised that Trump slapped tariffs on an Arctic island whose only inhabitants are penguins? — Alex D.

Oddly, no. In fact, I think it felt pretty representative of this moment in American history.

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Thanks everyone! You can send me questions for next week by leaving a comment in the comment section.