Who is Trump?

China introduced 24 different restrictions on critical minerals and related technology in the five years from 2020 to October 2025.

“The five years between 2020 and the meeting between Xi Jinping and Trump in October of '25, China introduced 24 different restrictions.”

74% of all US solar capacity installed in Q1 2026 was in Trump-voting states: Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Arizona, and Mississippi.

“Seventy four percent of all solar capacity that was installed in the first quarter of twenty six was in Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Arizona, and Mississippi, all that voted for Trump.”

Mira Rapp-Hooper on Trump aligning US Taiwan framing closer to Beijing's position than any prior president.

“He is aligning his framing of Taiwan closer to China's than we have seen from any other president.”

The Trump administration has set a goal for the Department of Energy to build a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028.

“He set a pretty ambitious goal for the Department of Energy to build a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028.”

Ari Shapiro's five-step cycle describes how the US-Iran conflict repeatedly escalates then pauses: tit-for-tat strikes, Trump social media threats, diplomatic scrambling, a presidential announcement of a near-deal, then a return to fighting.

“Essentially we're in this cycle where every few weeks we seem to be going through step one. we have tit-for-tat escalation. And again, it's increasingly now affecting more countries and more choke points in with Iran hitting US partners, US forces. The United States then retaliates and hits some Iranian targets. Then step two, we typically have the kind of tit-for-tat escalation on social media where the president tends to, you know, have a series of true social posts and talks about blowing up a bunch of targets in Iran, brings in potential civilian infrastructure, and you know, threatens possibly war crimes. Defer to Scott and Natalie on that piece, but certainly, you know, taking a number of steps that are dubious in nature. Then you have a lot of scrambling that happens diplomatically. That's step three. You have partners sending messages to Iran saying, "Hey, everybody should calm down here." Sending messages to the United States saying, "Hey, we're working out a deal. Perhaps, you know, maybe stop tweeting about blowing up bridges and roads and, you know, and then after that, you typically have step four, which is where the president comes in and says, "We may have a deal on the table and therefore, insert, you know, Arab leader's name here, has asked me to stop, you know, the tweeting and the fighting. So, we're going to take a And then that happens and then step five, it's oh, never mind, we're back to shooting because it's actually not working out and rinse and repeat.”

Jim Bianco on the structural break in how the Fed operates under persistent political pressure.

“Everybody at the Fed because of the incessant attacks by Trump on the Fed is now said that they're independent. They're going to assess the economy and inflation and they're going to vote as they see fit. They're not going to wait for the chairman to tell them how to vote. That's the way it's worked for 40 years. Doesn't work that way anymore.”

The Trump administration's supply chain risk designation against Anthropic is accompanied by officials simultaneously acknowledging Claude is the best AI model available, exposing the action as politically rather than merit-driven.

“The reason that this fight is so important to them, he said, is because it's the best. And yet at the same time his regulatory actions are trying to drive the company at least hurt them, if not drive them out of business.”

Trump's attacks on the Fed have paradoxically made FOMC members more independently minded, breaking a 40-year norm where the chairman effectively directed member votes.

“Everybody at the Fed because of the incessant attacks by Trump on the Fed is now said that they're independent. They're going to assess the economy and inflation and they're going to vote as they see fit. They're not going to wait for the chairman to tell them how to vote. That's the way it's worked for 40 years. Doesn't work that way anymore.”

Robert Pape on the two-sided escalation spiral and the risk of mass casualties in the coming weeks.

“What I'm looking for in the next few weeks, I'm seeing the spiral of escalation now occurring. It's a two-sided spiral. It's not just President Trump. Iran is escalating here as much as Trump, if not more. And in this spiral of escalation, there could be a mass casualty attack either against our troops or against American civilians.”

The Trump family has made over 1 billion dollars in crypto-related business, drawing Congressional scrutiny of the Clarity Act.

“The Trump family had made over a billion dollars and kind of crypto-related business over the last And that has gotten certain members of Congress very focused.”