Today in Politics, Bulletin 129. 5/12/25 Ron Filipkowski May 12 ∙ … Trump surrendered again on tariffs - this time agreeing to reduce his ridiculous 145% tariffs to 30% on China in exchange for absolutely nothing except China reducing their reciprocal tariffs in response. … Economist Justin Wolfers: “The US will cut the rate at which it taxes Americans who buy stuff from China, to 30%. China will cut the rate at which it taxes Chinese folks who buy stuff from the US, to 10%. There are two ways to frame this news: 1. US trade policy and our macroeconomic prospects are much better today than they were yesterday. 2. US trade policy and our macroeconomic prospects are much worse today than on Inauguration day. Both are true.” … Wolfers: “Yet another zig, another zag, and another 90-day pause is just more policy chaos. I mean, we are now in the midst of a different 90-day pause with 189 other countries. The extent of this chaos cannot be understated.” … Fox Business analyst Charles Gasparino: “Trump raised tariffs on the world, the markets, particularly the bond market - which we need to finance our debt - rebelled. Trump then was forced to back off. End of story. Film at 11 of the president spinning this as a major victory. Ok sorry, I couldn’t help myself. But what we have seen is a little lesson on how markets exert their power, how when you have to depend on them as we still do, and you cant go to trade war with the world without bad stuff happening.” … Gasparino on the stock market going up in response: “Bond yields are telling an altogether different story this morning with the 10-year spiking now to close to 4.5%. Uncertainty about inflation is possibly one explanation; maybe investors don't like the temporary nature of the truce with China. I guess the notion that tariffs will pay down the deficit and for the tax cuts is off the table.” … Goldman Sachs: “The large reduction in the US tariff rate on China should only have a limited impact on the overall US effective tariff rate. After accounting for a reduction of that magnitude, the full set of US tariffs would still be considerably higher and broader than expected by markets at the start of the year.” … Press Sec Karoline Leavitt: “Thanks to the strength of President Trump, we were able to cut this initial deal with China.” COLORADO: PLEASE STOP ELECTING STUPID PEOPLE! ON HER 4TH TRY, SHE WAS GIVEN A COMPASSIONATE PASS FOR HER HIGH SCHOOL GED! … Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO): “We now have a trade deal with China. Will all those who told us tariffs would ruin us eat their words now? Don’t doubt President Trump on the economy. You’ll only end up looking wrong!” … WH Economic Advisor Kevin Haslett says Canada is to blame for the issues between the two countries right now: "Canada kept making it worse and worse with their rhetoric." ON HIS FIRST DAY IN OFFICE, TRUMP ISSUED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER THAT RESCINDED PRESIDENT BIDEN'S DRUG ACTIONS! DUH? TRUMP CREATED A PROBLEM THAT DIDN'T EXIST & BRAVO! HE SOLVED IT! … Trump announced an executive order on drug prices: "I'm directing the US trade reps and Dept of Commerce to begin investigations of foreign nations that extort drug companies. We're gonna tell those countries, like those represented by the EU, that that game is up. Sorry. If they want to get cute, then they don't have to sell cars into the US anymore." … This is even more bizarre than the scheme he tried with this during the first term, which was struck down by the courts. He is threatening to tariff countries who are able to negotiate better drug prices with big pharma than us. As if that is their fault. … AP: “President Trump set a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in a sweeping executive order. The order calls on RFK Jr. to broker new price tags for drugs. If a deal isn't reached, a new rule will kick in that will tie the price of what the US pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries. Trump's ‘most favored nation’ approach to Medicare drug pricing has been debated since he tried to implement it during his first term, with a court order blocking the rule.” IT'S THE BRAIN WORM SPEAKING! … New chief negotiator RFK Jr was at the presser: "I'm very very proud of you, Mr. President, for your courage. I'll say because I don't want to be crude, your intestinal fortitude - your stiff spine, and your willingness to stand up for the American people. There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the oligarchs than President Trump.” … Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL): "I am delighted that President Trump, who comes from that very high billionaire class, is thinking about those who are below him. That makes him a great leader." … Bernie Sanders’ Chief of Staff Faiz Shakir: “Some of you may have thought that Trump wanted lower drug prices for Americans. Wrong. He wants higher drug prices for Europeans and others - and higher profits for drug companies.” … NYT: “President Trump signed an executive order asking pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily lower their prices, but cited no obvious legal authority to mandate changes.” … Jon Bauman, Vice Chair of DNC Seniors Council: “The Dictator’s Executive Order to ‘cut drug prices’ is going to be the same lousy theater as his first term. This has to be done legislatively like Biden did and Republicans will never do it. Try electing Democrats in ‘26 and then see what Trump does. So just to confirm, The Dictator’s drug price act was the same performative drivel as in has first term when the courts stopped him. He pretends he wants to cut drug prices knowing this has to be done by Congress and Republicans will never do it. And the cult buys into this BS.” … Sen. Bernie Sanders: "As Trump well knows, his executive order will be thrown out by the courts. If Trump is serious about making real change rather than just issuing a press release, he will support legislation I will soon be introducing to make sure we pay no more for prescription drugs than people in other major countries." … Trump says all the money the govt is going to save on drug costs will pay for his ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense shield: “Your cost for Medicaid and Medicare and just basically pharmaceuticals and drugs is going down at a level that nobody has ever seen before. It'll pay for the Golden Dome. That'll easily pay for the Golden Dome. And we'll have a lot of money left over.” … Trump posted about the “palace in the sky” jet from Qatar: “So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!” … Trump’s “very public and transparent transaction” on the Qatar jet grift only came to light after confidential sources told ABC about it. Neither Trump nor anyone in the admin disclosed it to the public. … He then got angry when asked about it today. Reporter: What do you have say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you. Trump: “You are ABC fake news. You should be embarrassed. There was a golfer Sam Snead - he had a motto: ‘when they give you a putt, you say thank you very much and take it.’ A lot of people are stupid, they insist on putting it and they miss it and their partner gets angry at them.” … Leavitt on Fox: "The Qatari govt has graciously offered to donate a plane to the DOD. Any donation to this govt is done in full compliance with the law. We commit ourselves to utmost transparency. They know President Trump and they know that he only works with the interest of the American public in mind.” … RFK Jr: “We now have a president who is a man of his word. He can't be bought. He’s standing for the American people.” … Fox host Larry Kudlow: “I don't care if they give him a new Air Force One. What the heck? The president's Air Force One is very uncomfortable. There’s no real place to rest if you're a senior staff. These guys are big tall guys. Give it to him.” … Trump supporter Ben Shapiro went off on Trump on his podcast today about the jet and his crypto scam: “I promise you, if these issues continue to dog his admin, Republicans will lose Congress. It’s that simple. Then whatever Trump wants to do, his entire agenda, will be DOA and there will be endless investigations. Trump promised to drain the swamp, this is not draining the swamp. It need to stop.” Thanks again for reading my work, sharing it with others, and supporting it by subscribing. I know you have a lot of great choices now on Substack with new people coming over every day from mainstream media, and that is a really great thing. I try to make these Bulletins something unique and special that makes it worth it for you to be here. It is designed for people who want to stay up on everything while avoiding the social media war zone, or to supplement those of you who are also on X or Bluesky. See you tomorrow with Donald of Arabia! Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … After his press conference today, Trump boarded the current Air Force One for his trip to the Middle East. CBS: “With us on AF1 for Trump's 1st multi-stop foreign trip: Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick, Chris Wright, Susie Wiles, James Blair, Taylor Budowich, Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, Steven Cheung, Karoline Leavitt, Will Scharf and other White House staff.”

… WSJ reported that each of the 3 countries Trump is visiting have extensive new business deals with Trump and Trump Org: “Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the three countries on the president’s itinerary, stand out for their warm embrace of Trump Inc. In the past year, Trump-branded residential towers have been launched in Dubai and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and a developer in April unveiled a Trump luxury golf resort at a state-owned project in Qatar at an event featuring Eric Trump and a Qatari minister.”

… “A UAE state and royal family fund earlier this month used $2 billion of a new crypto stablecoin issued by Trump’s World Liberty Financial to invest in a crypto exchange. The Trump admin is in talks with the Qatari govt about accepting a plane. Sovereign or royal funds from all 3 states have committed more than $3.5 billion to a private-equity fund run by Jared Kushner. In addition, state-backed funds from Qatar and the UAE were major investors in a $6 billion fundraising round for Trump adviser Elon Musk’s xAI. In February, Dubai tapped his Boring Company to build an 11-mile tunnel network.”

… David Schenker, Asst Sec of State for Middle East Affairs in Trump’s first term: “The national interest has seemingly merged with the president’s interests in some ways. It’s obviously a different way of doing business, unprecedented for the United States.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “I will block any arms sale to a nation that is doing direct personal business with Trump. We should have a full Senate debate and vote. UAE's investment in Trump crypto and Qatar's gifting of a plane is nuclear grade graft. An unacceptable corruption of our foreign policy. Normally, arms sales go forward without a vote. But any Senator can object and force a full debate and Senate vote. I will do that for any military deal with a nation that is paying off Trump personally. We can't act like this is normal foreign policy.”

… The Congressional Budget Office reported that proposed changes by Republicans to Medicaid and ACA in the current House budget plan will cause 13.7 million people to lose their health insurance.

… Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) on Fox: “This Medicaid proposal and the overall bill is going to add $6.9 trillion to the national debt, that's not me that’s the CBO’s nonpartisan independent analysis saying those two things will leave 5 million Americans without health insurance and we're gonna have $7 trillion over the next decade of more debt. I don't support that kind of legislation.”

… Sen. Josh Hawley wrote an OpEd in NYT titled, ‘Don’t Cut Medicaid’: “It is both morally wrong and political suicide. Will Republicans be a majority party of working people, or a permanent minority speaking only for the C Suite?”

… Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX): “I sure hope House and Senate leadership are coming up with a backup plan, because I’m not here to rack up an additional $20 trillion in debt over 10 years or to subsidize healthy, able-bodied adults, corrupt blue states, and monopoly hospital CEOs.”

… Conservative journalist Eitan Fischberger on the release today of Edan Alexander: “Imagine surviving 19 months in Hamas captivity - only to be flown straight to the regime that empowered your captors, now using you as a photo-op trophy. Absolutely despicable. Edan Alexander will fly to Qatar, where he will meet with President Trump and the Emir of Qatar. One of the most vile things I've ever seen. Trump should be ashamed of himself. And right now, to be honest, I'm ashamed to have supported him.”

… Trump said he is “thinking about flying over to Turkey” on Thursday to join peace negotiations with Putin and Zelensky. Zelensky immediately responded: "I support President Trump with the idea of direct talks with Putin. I have openly expressed my readiness to meet. I will be in Türkiye. I hope that the Russians will not evade the meeting. And of course, all of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there."

… But Financial Times and some officials in Russia are saying that Putin isn’t going to show up: “Trump this morning in Washington, on potential Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul on Thursday: ‘I believe the two leaders will be there.’ But that doesn't seem to be the case. The Kremlin has dismissed the idea of Putin going, after Zelensky challenged him to show up.”

… Trump ally Jonathan Bass has been trying to set up a meeting on the trip with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, and is dangling a Trump Tower Damascus as part of his sales pitch. Bass: "Sharaa wants a business deal for the future of his country. He told me he wants a Trump Tower in Damascus. He wants peace with his neighbours. What he told me is good for the region, good for Israel.”

… Reuters: “A person close to Sharaa said afterwards a Trump-Sharaa meeting remained possible in Saudi Arabia, but would not confirm whether Sharaa had received an invitation: ‘Whether or not the meeting takes place won't be known until the last moment.’”

… Trump crypto owners will learn today which of them will make the top 220 who will get a private dinner with Trump at his DC area country club. The Top 25 will also get to attend "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception" with Trump with a "Special VIP Tour."

… Reuters: “The top 220 holdings amounted to $160 million worth of $TRUMP coin as of Friday, according to crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital. The top holder of $TRUMP meme coins on the leaderboard on Sunday was a wallet called "SUN" with nearly $18 million worth of the coin in time weighted holdings. The wallet is owned by Seychelles-based crypto exchange HTX, according to blockchain analysis firm Arkham.”

… “The current market value of all $TRUMP coins is $2.74 billion. A company controlled by the Trump family and a second firm together hold 80% of the remaining supply of the meme coins, which are advertised with an image of the president raising his fist in reference to his July assassination attempt. So far, the entities behind the Trump coin have earned $320.19 million in fees, including at least $1.35 million after the dinner announcement.”

… Trans Sec Sean Duffy continues his daily media tour of blaming Biden for problems at airports, despite the fact that Trump did nothing about it during his first term and Duffy voted against funding for the FAA when he was in Congress: "We didn't have to be here. This did not have to be our story. Over the last 4 years, the last admin, they knew this was a problem. During COVID, when people weren't flying, that was a perfect time to fix these problems."

… Duffy: "We've all been reporting and seeing what's happening at Newark airport. And I think it's clear that the blame belongs with the last administration."

… AP reported that Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche will replace longtime professional librarian Carla Hayden as acting Librarian of Congress after Trump fired her last week.

… Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) sent a letter to AG Pam Bondi demanding that she fulfill her promise to release the Jeffrey Epstein files: “In Feb, Bondi promised she’d release the full Epstein Files immediately. 74 days later, and she hasn’t released them or explained why. People are asking if she’s covering for Trump? I’m demanding answers to determine if she's betraying her promise at Trump's direction.”

… From the letter: “It is now 74 days past the issuance of your 24-hour demand and 14-day deadline for a comprehensive report, yet you have provided no additional materials or explanation for the delay. Extensive reporting reveals that President Trump had a lengthy and close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.”

… Goldman concluded the letter by demanding to know whether Trump’s name is being redacted out of any of the materials.

… Right-wingers on X spent the weekend posting a viral video that supposedly showed French President Macron, British PM Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz snorting cocaine together on a plane. A grainy video, first made viral by Alex Jones, allegedly showed a baggie of cocaine and a straw on the table where they were sitting. But the altered video appears to have originated from Russia. A clearer video showed that the “baggie” was a crumpled up tissue and the “straw” was a coffee stirrer.

… Statement from Macron’s office: “This fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation.”

… Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko: “The tragedy of our world is not that the sewer of Russian propaganda in the West immediately began spreading a photo of European leaders with a white paper napkin on a table, claiming they openly snort cocaine in front of cameras. No, the real tragedy is that a great many people have genuinely lost all connection to basic common sense for the sake of their cheap politics, unquestioningly believing this, spreading it on social media, and continuing stubbornly to eat up whatever shit the Kremlin shovels at them.”

… The Hill reported that former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley’s has challenged Elon Musk to a debate about DOGE’s impact on Social Security: “Americans are fired up and ready to fend off attacks on their social security benefits. We must illustrate the stakes, firmly place blame for the uncertainty and fragility of the Trump/Musk induced fragility of the program, and tell the American people what we are doing to protect their benefits now and into the future. It’s time to put up or shut up about the destruction you unleashed on Social Security.”

… WSJ reported that former Project 2025 author and current WH Budget Director Ross Vought will take over DOGE after Musk leaves.

… Trump has signed only 5 bills into law, fewer than any president at this point in his term in 80 years.

… Daniel Horowitz, editor of right-wing The Blaze: “Serious question: Everyone on the right has roundly panned the performance of Congress. So naturally, the next logical step is to focus on primaries, right? Well, if Trump preemptively steps in a year early and endorses every single incumbent we would want to replace, what exactly is the plan to change things? We've been trying, but what do you do when Trump pre-emptively endorses everyone we're trying to primary for 5 consecutive cycles?”

… The first major poll on the senate primary in Texas next year conducted by the GOP Senate Leadership Fund has incumbent Sen. John Cornyn behind AG Ken Paxton 56-40. Democrats are rooting for corrupt MAGA cultist Paxton, since his numbers with independent voters are dismal and polls show Colin Allred beating Paxton but losing to Cornyn.

… The first group of white South Africans arrived in the US today, and Trump was asked why he is creating an expedited path to citizenship exclusively for them: “Because they're being killed. And we don't want to see people be killed. It's a genocide that's taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white.”

… Trump’s Dep. Secretary of State was asked why others fleeing persecution were being deported like Afghans, while only white South Africans are being allowed in: “One of the criteria is making sure they can be assimilated easily into our country.”

… Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) revealed his new immigration plan as he continues to seek to lead the Democratic Party on the issue that hurt them more than any other in 2024 according to the polls. To Politico: “We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform. We can and should do both. We need to secure the southern border, reform our asylum system, expand legal pathways to citizenship, protect Dreamers and tackle the reasons why people leave their homes in the first place.”

… Pardoned J6 defendant Brent Holdridge, was just arrested and booked into the Humboldt County (CA) Correctional Facility on new charges of Burglary, Grand Theft, and Possession of Stolen Property. He is accused a stealing a large quantity of copper wire from an industrial site.