All posts tagged "economy"

'Abandoning Donald': CNN data guru reveals Trump's lost crucial voting bloc

CNN data expert Harry Enten revealed how working class Americans have turned on President Donald Trump.

Enten described during a live broadcast on Friday how polling shows working class voters — classified as people who make $50,000-a-year or less — were a major swing vote bloc that helped elect Trump in 2024. But now, they've been left disappointed.

"That was a very important part of his coalition," Enten explained. "But look at this now. Look at the net approval rating that he has with those making under $50K. Down it goes. Look at that. That's a 26 point switcheroo in the latest average of polls. Look at that -24 points. The working class voters are abandoning Donald Trump. Those who helped put him over the top in 2024 are saying, you know what? Not for me right now."

The struggling economy has left them dissatisfied with the president.

"His net approval rating with them right now is absolutely atrocious when it comes to the economy," Enten added. "They have seen what has happened. They have seen what has happened on tariffs. They have seen what has happened with the war. They have seen the gas prices go up. And you just say to yourself, if you're a voter making under $50K, you know what the economy, it is not where we want it to be. And therefore we are turning against Trump on the economy and we are turning against him overall as well."

Stock markets tank to Iran war lows after Trump threatens to 'blow them away'

U.S. stocks plummeted on Thursday to their lowest since the war in Iran broke out following Trump administration comments.

The largest daily decline hit as oil prices skyrocketed after President Donald Trump signaled he was turning up the pressure on Iran to accept his terms to end the ongoing war, The New York Times reported.

“We’ll just keep blowing them away, unimpeded,” Trump said during his cabinet meeting, which was the first gathering of his top administration officials since military strikes began.

The drop sank even lower after the meeting, just after the S&P 500 opened lower.

The index slipped 1.7 percent, which was the largest daily drop since January. That set the index now for the fifth straight week of losses — the first time in four years that has happened.

Economic uncertainty, climbing gas prices, and higher interest rates, combined with ongoing negotiations with Iran, had set the market on a downward spiral. The factors were all part of the continued concerns among investors over when the Iran war would end, according to The Times.

Trump losing top Fox News ally as MAGA host warns of 'cascading problems'

President Donald Trump has apparently started to lose support from one of his loyal Fox News allies as doubts rise over his decision to continue the war against Iran, according to reports on Thursday.

Fox News host and conservative ally Laura Ingraham had a skeptical response to the Trump administration's war on Wednesday night during a live broadcast, Media Matters for America reported. Ingraham warned that as the United States escalates its military action in the Middle East, it could prompt dire and "unintended consequences." She argued that Trump and his administration should focus on America's economy and political situation.

" Iran knows it cannot win militarily, so it's using the leverage it has by prolonging the conflict," Ingraham said during her monologue leading the show. "Now, what do they want to do? They want to inflict maximum economic pain on the region, on the U.S., [on] the global economy as much as possible until they think Trump relents. But the White House doesn't seem to be blinking."

The host pointed to a clip featuring White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said during a press briefing on Wednesday that "President Trump does not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell."

Ingraham described why Leavitt's comments were problematic and what that could mean for not just Iran, but the region as a whole, especially as Republicans anticipate tough midterms ahead.

"Well, the problem is obviously unleashing hell means destroying infrastructure, which itself causes a series of cascading problems for the region, including maybe outside the region — political problems for the president in a midterm election year," Ingraham said.

Trump has often looked to Fox News and its voices to gain further insights and potentially influence his next moves.

"The power struggle is significant — it is not an exaggeration to suggest the course of the war might hinge on which Fox shows the president is watching," according to the outlet.

And although Ingraham could be one of the few Fox News broadcasters expressing concerns about the Iran war, her voice could carry some weight.

"Ingraham is inching toward the type of dissent that has been virtually absent from Fox’s coverage of the war, even as the broader right-wing media has split," according to Media Matters for America. "Her colleagues have played key roles in convincing Trump to attack in the first place and are pushing for risky escalations. Ingraham herself briefly quibbled with Trump’s handling of an apparent U.S. strike that leveled an Iranian school, killing scores of children, but had supported the war itself, which she declared three weeks ago that Trump had already won."

Red state citizens beg to pay more taxes as Big, Beautiful Bill starts to hurt: Republican

Republican Party representatives warn new tax cuts brought in by Donald Trump's administration grinding up the operation of America's deep red states.

Party members from across the country aired their grievances against Trump's signature tax and spending bills, with some suggesting red-state citizens would prefer to pay more tax if it meant maintaining a better quality of infrastructure. Idaho GOP Sen. Jim Guthrie told Politico it's now harder to fund developments and maintain necessities like education and health.

He said, "The feedback I’m hearing from citizens is that extra few bucks on their [return] at the end of the year, because of the taxes they didn’t have to pay, comes secondary to wanting us to take care of the things that government needs to be invested in. Which is your infrastructure and your roads and bridges and schools and also your Medicaid population."

Fellow GOP rep, Oklahoma Republican House Appropriations and Budget Chair Trey Caldwell, believes the first example of Trump's tax cut impact will be seen in the first fiscal quarter of 2027.

Caldwell said, "We’re going to take the first hit in [fiscal] ‘27." He went on to note the economic impact will be "another direct cost of H.R.1." Trump's admin signed H.R.1 into law in May last year.

A Congressional act overview confirms Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill, "Reduces taxes, reduces or increases spending for various federal programs, increases the statutory debt limit, and otherwise addresses agencies and programs throughout the federal government."

These changes could cause problems as early as next year, according to Caldwell, who says red states in particular are having to shell out tens of millions now to avoid penalties of hundreds of millions in the future.

Politico writer Natalie Fertig explained, "Many red states are funding technology and additional staffing to process new Medicaid work requirements and improve the accuracy of their SNAP payment system.

"If they don’t spend tens of millions of dollars now, Oklahoma Republican House Appropriations and Budget Chair Trey Caldwell said, it could cost his state hundreds of millions in future years due to penalties imposed by the megabill".

CNBC warns Trump Americans aren't about to cancel Netflix and Spotify to pay for his war

President Donald Trump got a harsh reminder on Friday as gas prices soared amid the ongoing Iran war.

CNBC anchor Brian Sullivan suggested that as the economy takes a hit amid the conflict in the Middle East, people are still not likely to cut back on things such as subscriptions for Spotify and Netflix.

"I find it hard to believe that people are going to cancel their Spotify account at 19 bucks a month or Netflix at 22 bucks a month because of the war in Iran and slightly higher gas prices, which, while painful, I don't think they're enough to change people's behavior over a couple of dollars here and there," Sullivan said.

Tom Lee, entrepreneur and financial analyst, described how the economic downturn wasn't just temporary.

"Absolutely not," Lee said. "I mean, people do need to realize that volatility is here to stay simply because the options markets have gotten too big to ignore. They are the story. And so they have a there's a lot of mechanical volatility that gets created that has nothing to do with fundamentals."

Trump's war is just days away from causing economic chaos in US: business experts

Economists have warned that the U.S. will stagger economically into the next month as the war with Iran causes ongoing financial trouble.

It is not just consumers queuing up at gas stations set to be affected by the economic crunch, but businesses that are trying to keep their margins as thin as possible. Oil price rises as a result of the blockage in the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing war with Iran will affect shipping and logistics for many companies, experts have warned. These costs will likely be passed onto the consumer.

Stew Leonard, owner of an East Coast grocery chain with annual sales of more than $500 million, told CBS New he's expecting it to be harder still to balance the books the next month.

"Stew Leonard's has not felt the impact of rising oil prices, but our farmers, ranchers and fishermen are knocking on the door right now with fuel surcharges," Leonard said. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Customers are already feeling the pain of food, energy and insurance bills in their personal lives, and I'm going to resist raising prices until the cows come home," he added.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, said that "all of those shifts are adding to costs, a portion of which will be passed along to consumers. The costs that are not passed along show up as a squeeze in profit margins and employment."

Logistics expert Satish Jindel of ShipMatrix believes lower-value items will be affected most of all by the economic stagnation, with businesses potentially raising the price on usually cheap products.

"They don't have enough in margins — they'll need to raise prices," Jindel said. Despite the price rise for in-store items, online shopping may suffer worse than stores.

"Most people ordering online, they expect normal delivery for free — the moment you ask them even for five dollars, they will abandon the cart," Jindel said.

'Madman' Trump warned he may end America's 52-year reign as globe's financial king

President Donald Trump's bet on war with Iran could have a significant impact on the United States' global financial standing, an analyst explained Monday.

The Bulwark's Jonathan V. Last described how Trump's decision "could speed up de-dollarization" and challenge the American currency's dominance, ultimately altering the 52-year history of the petrodollar system.

"I have been saying since the beginning that America is playing checkers while Iran plays chess, but it’s worse than that," Last wrote. "American leadership is utterly incoherent: We won, but we need help. We hate our allies; but will our adversaries please come bail us out?"

"Meanwhile Iranian leadership survived a transition of power in the midst of war, achieved its strategic objective in closing the strait, and is now looking to leverage China’s rising economic ambitions against the United States," Last wrote.

Last argued that as the rages on, Iran and China could reach an agreement to allow oil transport through the Strait of Hormuz, but under the condition that the currency switch from the dollar to the yuan.

"I don’t know how to make people care about this except to say that if Iran and China made this deal it would absolutely be the beginning of the end of the dollar backstopping the global financial order," Last wrote. "The long-term cost to America would be incalculable."

"The fact that Iran is making this overture ought to scare the crap out of us because it’s another sign that America’s political leadership is completely out-classed," Last added. "We have an illiterate madman tweeting contradictory bullshit every ten minutes. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime is calmly and methodically probing the structural weaknesses of the American-dominated global financial order."

‘I don’t want to go to prison’: JD Vance ducks tough Iran question

Vice President JD Vance tried to evade a question about his real thoughts on the war in Iran on Friday.

Vance was taking questions from reporters following his speech in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he campaigned for GOP candidates in a district Republicans were hoping to flip. Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow asked the vice president what advice he gave the president regarding military strikes and the economic fallout, including surging gas prices.

"Did you express any concerns like those you've expressed in the past on the possibility of those extended wars?" Barrow asked.

Vance refused to directly say whether he supports the joint U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

"We're in the Situation Room, where you can't even take your iPod in there, or your AirPods, I guess what they're called, you can't take your iPhone in there, you can't take anything in there — because it is the most classified space anywhere in the world," Vance said.

"And I sit there with Pete Hegseth, and Gen. Caine, and Marco Rubio, and the entire White House team, and the president and I, and the entire senior team are talking about the options and about what we need to do and how we must best protect the American people," Vance added. "I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to show up here in front of God and everybody else and tell you exactly what I said in that classified room partially because I don't wanna go to prison and partially because I think it's important for the President of the United States to talk to his advisors without those advisors running their mouth to the American media."

Insiders have reported that Vance, who was a public affairs officer during the Iraq war and served from 2003 to 2007, has remained skeptical about the military operation. He has previously criticized wars in the Middle East.

Q: “What did you advise the president initially as he considered his actions in Iran?”

Vance: “I’m not gonna show up here and in front of God, and everybody else tell you exactly what I said in that classified room, partially because I don't wanna go to prison.” pic.twitter.com/wqcuc5hJO2
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) March 13, 2026

Iran called Trump's bluff — and somehow Putin won

Donald Trump suddenly popped on TV screens late Monday, giving his most extensive remarks on the war in Iran and taking questions from the press.

Trump had previously given no public speech to the American people upon the initiation of this war — unlike every American president taking the country to war in the past. His communication to the American public was mostly in the form of videos or speaking by phone to select reporters, offering wildly shifting rationales for the war and its goals.

On Monday, however, he finally came before the White House press corps and repeated what he’d said earlier in the day to CBS, that the war — which he now dubbed a mere “excursion” — is “very complete.” But he also said it would go on, even though it would end “soon,” and said that Pete Hegseth, who earlier said the war is “just the beginning,” is correct, even though Trump himself said that it’s “complete.”

What?

He’s trying to have it all ways in a war that had no planning or an endgame.

The crazy presser perhaps is explained by two things that happened in the hours before it: Trump spoke at length to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Trump saw oil prices surge to $120 a barrel on Sunday, tanking markets around the world and in the U.S. on Monday morning.

Let’s take the latter first. We learned from the tariff upheaval that Trump cannot stomach the markets crashing and particularly the bond market starting to teeter. It’s the only thing that stops him. Corporate America and his billionaire friends and GOP donors wind up shrieking. And average Americans — in this case looking at the price of gasoline — become very attuned to the economy and high prices.

Trump’s earlier statement in the day to CBS, while the markets were open, that the war is “very complete” was meant to calm the markets.

“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Trump told CBS. “They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force ... Wrapping up is all in my mind.”

And the intended effect worked. The markets began to rebound as the price of oil came down. It actually had been coming down a bit from earlier when Trump promised insurance and military escorts for companies. None of that may actually happen. It’s risky for American military vessels to escort ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which has essentially been brought to a standstill, stranding 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. But the market operates on hope and fear.

Trump knows that. The real economy operates on facts — real data as well as on experiences on the ground by Americans in their jobs and in their consumer spending — but the market operates on hope and fear until that real economy catches up. The market can be temporarily lifted, and Trump lent it a helping hand.

But later, in the presser, after the markets had closed, Trump gave much more mixed signals — the New York Times called it a “zigzag” — saying the war may go on for a while. He even responded to a question about Hegseth, saying it’s “just the beginning” by saying that “both” could be true.

Clearly, Trump still wanted to convey that he had massive leverage over Iran, and that the bombing will continue — which it has. That’s because, in essence, this was all a capitulation to the Iranian regime, which knew the US wouldn’t have the stomach to go on for long.

Trump had only on Friday called for an “unconditional surrender” from Iran and said he’d need a say in who would be its leader, promoting his most extensive thoughts on regime change yet. And Trump absolutely rejected the idea that the son of the former Supreme Leader could be the new Supreme Leader.

But Iran indeed installed as Supreme Leader the son of 86-year-old Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a U.S. strike along with a few dozen other leaders, some of whom were viewed as more moderate by U.S. intelligence and as leaders with whom the U.S. could work. As national security analyst Joe Cirincione, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, told me on my SiriusXM program yesterday, that strike was a strategic blunder — spurred on by Israel — as the U.S. now had no top leaders with whom it could negotiate.

The son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is much more hardline than his father and is only 56 years old. So Trump killed the old man who could likely have been replaced when he died by one among several moderates — all of whom Trump also killed — and now the hardline, young son will be there for a long time.

Iran’s regime defied Trump’s demand — there would be no surrender — and they chose their more extreme leader. And then the markets tanked as oil was cut off. And Trump caved.

So Trump’s bluster at the presser yesterday was his way of trying to make Iran’s brutal government feel afraid of him. But why should they feel afraid? He’d, after all, just melted away. Trump also completely sidestepped a question from a reporter about how the Iranian people — the vast majority of whom support democracy — could feel betrayed by him? Trump had promised them he’d save them, only to now cave and hand them over to a new ayatollah.

Trump’s move to declare victory wasn’t, however, just a response to the market and the billionaire overlords. He’d had a long conversation with Putin earlier in the day as well, a call that Putin initiated, according to reports in the media. We learned in recent days that Putin was continuing to supply Iran with intelligence, which is outrageous since Iran was targeting American soldiers using intelligence from Russia. And yet, both Trump and Hegseth dismissed that, as usual tiptoeing around Putin. And now Trump had a long conversation with Putin.

The conservation, which Trump said was a “good” one, is pretty much shrouded in mystery. But we can put together how it went. Putin had earlier said that the attack would trigger an oil crisis and said oil transport would stop in the Strait of Hormuz. He was, of course, right.

Putin also said that Russia — whose economy is collapsing under sanctions but which is the second-largest oil exporter in the world and has the biggest reserve of natural gas — was happy to once again sell Europe its oil and gas. Europe had stopped importing Russian energy after the Ukraine invasion began.

Putin wanted a long-term deal again. And Trump, we’ve learned, is now considering pulling back on oil sanctions against Russia. He’d already announced a few days ago that he was allowing India to buy oil from Russia, dropping the threatened tariffs if India bought Russian oil, because of the shortage of oil coming from the Gulf.

“We’re also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices,” Trump said at the presser yesterday. “So we have sanctions on some countries. We’re going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out.”

So Trump capitulated not only to Iran but to Russia.

Putin now had more leverage on Trump, able to help Trump out in the oil crisis he created. Putin is getting Trump to actually help sell Russian oil, and lift Putin’s devastated economy. The invasion of Ukraine be damned.

Trump may be trying to claim the U.S. has won, but the only winners so far are Putin and, to the extent that they survive even if their military capability is damaged for now, the Iranian regime.

The Iranian people are still living under a horrific, murderous theocracy. Thousands have been killed in Iran and the region, including hundreds of Iranian children killed in a school that analysts have determined was caused by an American Tomahawk missile. Seven American service members lost their lives. And the American people are paying higher gas prices, as the oil shock will last a while.

The Gulf nations suffered casualties because the U.S. didn’t plan for this war, mindbogglingly thinking the war would be over in days and that Iran wouldn’t attack U.S. assets in the Gulf states, while thousands of Americans and people from other countries were stranded in the war zone.

And U.S. credibility took another dive, as Trump weakens this country’s standing in the world by the day.

Michelangelo Signorile writes The Signorile Report, a free and reader-supported Substack. If you’ve valued reading The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism.

Trump may survive Epstein — but this act of contempt will finally bring him down

We at least know now that the fuse for the Trump administration's destruction is lit and burning fast.

Yes, the Epstein Files loom larger almost by the day, with allegations that Donald Trump attacked a 13-year-old girl, reporting on Epstein's possible murder and its cover-up, and new stories about Epstein's ranch in New Mexico and potential deaths.

But as we have seen time and again, there seems to be no "scandal" big enough to bring Trump down. The president’s corruption and abuse of women are baked in at this point. (He was found civilly liable for sexual abuse, remember, survived, and returned to office.)

The even bigger threat to Trump, the one that will unleash the necessary predicate to more devastating Epstein revelations, will come from a slumping economy and the failure to lay down the single most necessary element to starting a war, in this case against Iran — proving with evidence the underlying reason to attack and sustain American deaths and economic suffering.

This administration might never recover.

We see Trump, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and the other prominent alleged abuser of women, the never-to-be-damned-enough Secretary of "War," Peter Hegseth, all telling us Iran was "a week away" from developing a nuclear weapon and attacking the United States.

Fine. Prove it.

Twenty years ago, on the road to disastrous war in Iraq, even though they spread misinformation throughout the media, the Bush administration at least made the effort, trying to prove Iraq had a WMD program. At least they respected the American people enough to show us the sadly hung-out-to-dry Colin Powell stumbling along in testimony to the United Nations, serving to (sort of) rally his country to war.

Not Trump.

"Take our word for it," is the best Leavitt can offer:

"That's not the first time the president has said that he chose to launch Operation Epic Fury because he felt as though Iran was going to strike the United States and our assets.

"And he has said, was not going to sit back and allow the Iranian regime to threaten or to attack the United States of America any longer."

Yes, an American president is charged with defending the nation against imminent attack. Yes, the public certainly will support a war to defend ourselves and our allies. Americans will accept and endure higher gas prices, growing inflation, American deaths, even the horrific but predictable side effects of war — all war — such as the destruction of a school full of Iranian girls. The public will show a willingness to at least consider support, but only when it is respected enough to be shown proof.

That lack of respect will haunt the Trump administration.

This administration lies, steals, and covers up. If Trump stands for anything, it is that his corruption should be out in the open: accepting a plane, pushing crypto and meme-coins, indulging his self-dealing sons, his Department of Justice ignoring the law and failing to release files full of illegal redactions, all of it.

The administration simply has no credibility when it comes to the truth. The fact that it won't make even the most basic attempt at showing us the intelligence that gave Trump his "feeling" about Iran is simply devastating.

Americans don't like being "dissed." Ask the Hillary Clinton campaign, which in 2016 may have sealed its fate by calling many Trump voters "deplorables." Though she stated she didn't mean "all" Trump voters, the damage was done. Never disrespect a single voter. (Disrespect specific elements — hate the racism, the corruption, the faith-based aggression, attack it — but don't lob a personal attack, however true it may be.)

Trump's failure to bring "proof" of the need to strike Iran to Congress and the public is a statement to American voters: "You suckers aren't worth it, less 'deplorable,' more 'pathetic,' and thus unworthy of our seriousness."

In the end, this is what it gets down to. An administration so unserious as to make no effort to show us its war prevented an attack. The sneer tips the first domino, which falls hard into the next when American lives are lost, when Americans suffer pointless economic pain, and when Trump's obvious cover-up of the Epstein matter spills into the public sphere.

Trump may be immune to "scandal" but disrespecting Americans as it pertains to war and suffering at all levels is a new element. Look at the dissension in MAGA world already.

If the Epstein Files or economic collapse is the dynamite, the utter laziness — wearing a white cap at a dignified transfer of the greatest Americans, failing to bring forth anything resembling a reason for war — was the fuse.

Heading to the midterms, expect nothing more than reckless lashing out in an attempt to contain the damage. Expect, even, an attack on the election itself. The Trump White House cannot be bothered to respect Americans enough to show us one satellite photo of Iranian capabilities, one intercepted discussion between officials in Tehran, but it stands ready to bring inhuman effort to blocking a losing election. Bank on it now.

With the first dropped bomb, with the follow-up of just to "trust us," fate sets in — the rest is just timing, and the degree of blowback.

Boom.

Jason Miciak is a former associate editor at Occupy Democrats, author, American attorney, and single-parent girldad. His soon to be released novel is available for beta readers. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, on "X" @JasonMiciak, and on Bluesky.