Waiting On Trump

We’re almost halfway through March of 2026 and have seen the United States attack another nation, embrace more tariffs, and see more rising prices.

After a breakneck pace, fallout is arriving. Under Trump, led by Noem at Homeland Security, ICE created recurring headlines around confrontations, court cases, and death. Now Noem is out.

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the administration could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping global tariffs. National refunds were ordered.

It’s a $170 billion dollar refund question, and Customs and Border Protection initially said, they can’t do it — yet.

The agency estimates that there have been roughly 53 million entries subject to IEEPA tariffs as of March 4, accounting for roughly $166 billion in deposits. The agency further said because CBP personnel must validate all refund requests, it would take over 4 million labor hours to complete returns for all IEEPA tariffs.

Trump hastily swung to other rationales for the tariffs, invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a new 10% tariff on imports from all countries. He later threatened to raise that to 15%.

Twenty-four states sued, arguing Section 122 requires tariffs to be applied nondiscriminatory and uniformly, contrary to Trump’s announcement. Some critics argue Section 122 has never been used for broad tariffs because it was meant for narrow, temporary financial emergencies that no longer exist.

We’re waiting to see what happens next.

More critically, we’re waiting to see what will happen next in the Trump Iran War. Israel is moving aggressively with the U.S. alongside them as a military power but costs are stacking. The war is expensive in terms of human life and financial costs. Most importantly to Trump, he’s probably realizing he’s a FAFO fool for attacking Iran, destabilizing the region, and upending the global economy.

Patterns and reminders are fast emerging that this is economy depends on shipping and cooperation. Trump was warned that before, when he broke trade agreements, arbitrarily imposed-rescinded-imposed-changed tariffs, and when he attacked allies and let the U.S. walk away from defense agreements.

Oil and gas prices swiftly went up. As oil storage tanks filled, production facilities shut down, because the shipping lanes have been impacted.

The results of all those are hurtling toward us in big ways. While ‘inflation’ is stable, that doesn’t include volatile things like food and energy prices. Food and energy are where American consumers are most affected.

More people are becoming aware that Trump promised no new wars. Now words like draft and phrases like ‘boots on the ground’ are rising in use. Polls show voters don’t like the air and naval war already in progress. They’ll like it less if large ground forces are sent into Iran.

When will it end?

We don’t know.

Neither does Trump, apparently. He has said, “We won.”

Trump also said — on the same day — it’s “ending soon.”

He also said that it’ll end whenever he says it ends.

Joe Rogan, a Trump supporter, seems like a bellwether. He’s called the Iran war, “nuts.” In comments made in an interview, Rogan pointed out that Trump is breaking his campaign promises.

“I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on ‘no more wars,’ ‘end these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

Many Trump voters had already awakened to Trump’s broken promises about lowering food prices on Day One.

They’ve noticed, too, that Trump didn’t end the Ukraine War on Day One. He later claimed he was being “sarcastic”.

That response is part of Trump’s regular responses whenever something is pointed out that’s factually wrong. For example, during the early part of the Trump Iran War, a school in Iran was bombed, resulting in 165 and 175 people killed, mostly children.

Trump suggested it was Iran’s fault.

“In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran…We think it was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate with their munitions, they have no accuracy whatsoever, it was done by Iran.”

When pressed by a reporter if Mr. Trump’s assessment was accurate, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded that the Pentagon was “investigating,” adding that “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

Investigations show a U.S. Tomahawk missile hit the school.

Trump responded, “I don’t know about that.”

The impact of Trump’s whimsical, chaotic approach is slowly adding up. I’m just waiting for the tipping point.

It can’t come too soon for me.

Lies, Plots, and Obfuscation: Another Year of Trump

The Trump trajectory is pretty much what many of us anticipated, based on his first administration and what he’s often said.

Aggressively going after immigrants, which Trump and his administration always call ‘illegals’ and categorize as criminals, he has swept up U.S. citizens and children. Right now, a 9-year-old child in a detention center wishes she was dead. She’s been locked up for eight months. That’s Trump’s soulless, uncaring nation for you, Evangelicals and all.

Under Trump, ICE killed eight people in 2025-2026.

Affordability remains a huge problem. While promising tax breaks, Trump has done little to address increasing the housing supply, which is the basis for the high housing costs. It’s simple supply and demand.

Not for Trump. Trump instead blames ‘illegals’ for high housing prices. Experts counter with a much more nuanced responses which don’t mention immigrants, no matter what their legal status is. His policies miss the mark because his policies have nothing to do with the issue.

Trump tariffs did not lead to the lower prices he promised for Day One. He did claim credit for doing it:

“Grocery prices, energy prices, airfares, mortgage rates, rent and car payments are all coming down, and they’re coming down fast,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech, adding: “We’ve done a hell of a job in 12 months.”

As usual, Trump failed, then lied. Egg prices have dropped but chicken, beef, and coffee prices are up, along with housing, cars, beer, and insurance premiums. We the People know if, if you’re not a MAGA. We feel it.

Trump’s trademark lying continues, aided now by White House officials. One is Johnny MAGA. Johnny MAGA appears to be Wade Garrett, who works in the Trump Administration. When ICE agent Jonathon Ross killed Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota earlier this year, Johnny MAGA rushed fake news out showing the U.S. flag burning, pushing a fake narrative to justify Good’s murder.

We anticipated that Trump would gut the Department of Justice and use it to persecute political opponents. That’s exactly what he’s been doing, going after people who were responsible for investigating Trump and his crimes, including more FBI agents this week.

In 2024, Trump said, “Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.”

Now many speculate that Trump is hatching a ‘national emergency’ to stop elections in 2028.

Given who Trump is and his history, there is every reason to worry about the future of our elections.

False, Exaggerated, Over the Top: Trump’s State of the Union

Donald Trump gave his State of the Union address last night. A political speech, much of it reminded me of one of his campaign rallies. He went on for a while, setting a new record for these things. While he applauded the hockey team, Trump ignored the Epstein victims in the gallery.

Walking away and thinking about Trump’s speech, it strikes me that the speech was heavily geared toward his base and low-information voters. He made sweeping claims and avoided talking about uncomfortable things like the Epstein files, the ICE killings, or the growing measles outbreaks. Trump insists everything is becoming more affordable and we’re in a ‘golden age’.

I don’t see that, and neither do many of my fellow citizens. Although a consumer confidence report showed a slight increase just before Trump’s speech, As AP points out, many components of the index reflect pessimism.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market rose four points to 72, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 13th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.

The NYT approached seven people about Trump’s speech. Two Trump supporters were happy. One said she was happy that he mentioned ending wars, housing costs and his “no tax on tips.”

Trump’s comments about housing costs were about both lowering mortgages to make housing more affordable while hoping housing prices keep going up. Neither actually address the problem of supply. In fact, if housing is more affordable, than with a limited supply, prices will keep climbing, making housing less affordable — especially if mortgages drop, bringing more people into the realm of being a homeowner.

That voter also didn’t specify what wars Trump ended. Trump has been making that claim for months, but facts don’t support his assertions.

Also, the “no tax on tips” is a broad claim. While the bill reduced taxes on tips, there’s a threshold, and the tax break doesn’t apply across the board. Nor does it exempt tips from other existing taxes.

Another voter claimed that Trump ‘brought the receipts’ and gave the speech ‘an A’. In fact, these were more Trump claims — not receipts.

The other five were not impressed. One said Trump sounded dictatorial because Trump said he’d do everything without Congress. Another respondent felt attacked. Others called it ‘one-sided’, ‘ridiculous’, and went into ‘both side-ism’.

Bottom line for Trump: five out of seven voters does not share his view that everything is going great.

Certainly, from my point of view as a child who endured polluted skies and water, everything is not great.

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