The neofascist takeover of America — of our cities, universities, media, law firms, museums, civil service, and public prosecutors who tried to hold Trump and Trump’s vigilantes accountable to the law — worsens by the day.
As I’ve traveled across the country peddling my book, trying to explain how this catastrophe happened and what we can do about it, I’ve found many Americans in shock and outrage.
“How could it have happened so fast?” they ask. I explain that it actually occurred slowly and incrementally over many years until our entire political-economic system became so fragile that a sociopathic demagogue could bring much of it down.
Some people I speak with are still in denial and disbelief. “It’s not as bad as the press makes it out to be,” they say. I tell them that it is — even worse.
Others are in despair — heartbroken and immobilized. “Nothing can be done,” they say. I tell them that hopelessness plays into the hands of Trump and his lackeys who want us to think that the game is over and they’ve won. But we can’t let them. The stakes are too high. Hopelessness is a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Rest assured. The seeds of Trump’s destruction have already been sown. He will overreach. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of birthright citizenship, for example, and Trump announces he’s not bound by the Supreme Court, the uproar will be deafening.
Or the economy will bite him in the butt. As prices continue to rise and job growth continues to slow — due to Trump’s bonkers import taxes (tariffs), his attempt to take over the Fed, and his attacks on immigrants — America will fall into the dread trap of “stagflation”: stagnation and inflation. After months of this, his base is likely to turn on him — remember, many voted for him because he promised to bring prices down — and he and his Republican lackeys in Congress will be toast in the 2026 midterms.
Or his brazen corruption will do him in (he’s personally raking in hundreds of millions from crypto, for example). Or Putin will do him in (if Ukraine falls to Russia or an emboldened Russia strikes Lithuania). Or the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
He no longer has any truth-tellers to advise him — he has purged all of them. And a president who’s flying blind, without anyone around him to tell him he’s about to crash, will inevitably crash. Many innocent people will likely suffer “collateral” damage. But at least the nation will see him for who he is and consign him to the dustbin of history.
None of this argues for complacency. We must continue to fight — demonstrate, phone your representatives and senators, boycott corporations and organizations that are caving in to tyranny, protect the vulnerable, make good trouble.
But please do not fall into denial or despair, and don’t let anyone else.
Donald Trump ended his proof of life Truth Social posting spree with a two-word and triple exclamation point sign off, “GOOD NIGHT!!!”
The 79-year-old president assured his MAGA followers and Never Trumpers he had “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE” after a debate raged online about his health.
Rumors of his death escalated over the weekend after Trump had not been seen in public for most of the week, speculation fueled by his mysterious bruised hands and bulging cankles.
Trump’s health update responded to a post that said, “Joe Biden would go multiple days at a time without any public appearances and the media would say he’s `sharp’ and `top of his game’… Meanwhile he was wearing diapers and napping.”
Trump swamped his Truth Social account on Saturday with AI-generated content, and returned to the familiar ground of crime and all caps on Sunday.
He mentioned his crackdown in Washington twice in a row, posting, “DC IS NOW A CRIME FREE ZONE, IN JUST 12 DAYS!!! President DJT.”
Trump then shared what he claimed were crime stats from a “list I get every single day,” documenting the number of arrests made, offenses, and how many firearms were seized. He posted that there was one arrest over “assault on a federal officer and threats to the President.”
Switching topics, the president reposted a letter from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which supported Lisa D. Cook. Trump has accused Cook of mortgage fraud in his attempt to get her fired from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
“We also see a troubling pattern of efforts to discredit leaders and experts who are eminently qualified and prepared to lead and to serve,” the letter from International President Cheryl W. Turner noted.
Trump ranted, “This is a total Conflict of Interest. The Judge must RECUSE, IMMEDIATELY!!! President DJT.” He also found time to slam U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, who blocked his fast-deportation process.
“Same Judge as on Fed Case,” Trump posted. “I wonder how that happened??? Must recuse!!! President DJT.”
He then pivoted to another presidential passion project, the mean streets of Chicago, shouting, “CRIME IS TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL IN CHICAGO. 6 DEAD, 24 BADLY WOUNDED, LAST WEEK ALONE!!!”
Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the president had not ruled out potentially deploying National Guard troops in Chicago.
“That always is a prerogative of President Trump,” Noem said.
Just before he logged off for the night, Trump found time to return to his beloved tariffs, claiming they would bring “more than 15 trillion dollars” into the U.S.
He stated, “If a Radical Left Court is allowed to terminate these Tariffs, almost all of this investment, and much more, will be immediately cancelled! In many ways, we would become a Third World Nation, with no hope of GREATNESS again. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!!! President DJT.”
His concerns follow the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on Friday that most of his tariffs are illegal. They found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) statute used by Trump to impose international tariffs did not “explicitly include the power to impose tariffs.”
After that, the president tapped out with his “GOOD NIGHT!!!” post.
The de minimis exemption—a tariff loophole that for years made millions of direct-to-consumer imports duty free—is gone, and its end marks a structural shift for American shoppers and logistics providers.
Up until Friday, U.S. consumers could order up to $800 in goods per package from overseas without paying any tariffs or taxes. Now, this landscape is changing, adding to inflationary pressures that will squeeze everyday purchasing power, particularly for low- and middle-income Americans, experts tell Fortune.
“It’s a different shock to the system at a different level than what we’ve seen with the tariffs on large industrial goods,” Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank, told Fortune. “It does start up another near-term challenge for consumers and for businesses and spending overall.”
The de minimis exemption ended in May for imports from China, where an estimated three-quarters of goods under the $800 threshold came from, with a large share coming from e-commerce companies Shein and Temu. The de minimis suspension for parcels from all other countries implemented Friday now means the American dollar won’t buy as much as it used to, when it comes to shoppers purchasing goods made overseas.
“Categories like footwear and apparel will see some of the highest impacts, estimated at 15%-25% increased end consumer pricing, given the manufacturing origin often being China,” Sean Henry, CEO of Stord, an e-commerce and fulfillment company, told Fortune.
A senior Trump administration official said that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has collected more than $492 million in additional duties on packages shipped from China and Hong Kong since ending the exemption.
And tariffs on goods that previously fell under de minimis could raise as much as $10 billion a year, U.S. trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters Thursday. Putting that into perspective, the 2024 trade deficit in goods was $1.2 trillion.
“The net number (of tariff revenue without de minimis) is not all that meaningful in terms of how big the deficit is,” Baird Investment Strategist Ross Mayfield told Fortune. “The bigger difference is going to be the extent to which the government is levying these bigger, kind of broader swaths of tariffs.”
Over the past decade, the number of shipments entering the U.S. de minimis surged by more than 600%, from approximately 139 million in 2015 to almost 1.4 billion, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. However, the amount of revenue generated by these new tariffs depends on whether consumers are willing to continue to purchase cheap products from abroad.
“Nearly 40% of online shoppers abandon their carts when faced with these extra tariff and duty surcharges at checkout,” Stord CEO Henry said.
Lee Klaskow, a senior analyst of transportation and logistics at Bloomberg Intelligence, told Fortune he expects spending on these largely “discretionary” purchases to decrease.
“That Shein shirt that you really want that’s $5—maybe you’ll think twice about getting it because it’s going to be more expensive,” Klaskow said.
Prior to the pandemic, consumers had a “huge appetite for cheap things,” but Klaskow expects consumer behavior to flip in response to the change.
U.S. Bank’s Haworth said he’s more focused on how the government will implement the change, as it will require new systems, investment, and infrastructure to collect on small purchases.
He added the whole purpose of de minimis was to streamline the process of bringing small imports into the country, since they are more complex to track. The government has previously said this allowed illicit substances like fentanyl to cross into the U.S. more easily. Still, the system will need to recalibrate to adhere to the new rules.
“Originally why you had a de minimis exemption is so that you weren’t spending a lot of time on small transactions that didn’t net anything,” Haworth said. “So that’s kind of an interesting or challenging cost that is going to come into the business system.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom took a swipe at President Donald Trump on Friday after an appeals court struck down his sweeping plan on global tariffs.
Why It Matters
The decision undercut a central element of President Trump’s unilateral trade strategy and could potentially raise the prospect of refunds if the tariffs are ultimately struck down.
The ruling set up an anticipated legal fight that could reach the Supreme Court.
What To Know
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that Trump had exceeded his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act IEEPA to declare national emergencies and impose broad import taxes on most trading partners, the Associated Press reports.
The legal challenge centered on two sets of actions: reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2—including up to 50 percent on some goods and a 10 percent baseline on most imports—and earlier tariffs announced February 1 targeting selected imports from Canada, China and Mexico tied to drug and migration concerns.
Newsom’s press office reacted to the ruling on X on Friday, saying, “If it’s a day ending in y, it’s a day Trump is found violating the law!”
The rebuke comes amid weeks of back-and-forths from the pair as Newsom has taken aim at Republicans‘ redistricting efforts and Trump’s implementation of national guard troops in U.S. cities.
Taking to his social media platform Truth Social, reacting to the ruling, the president vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court, saying in part that: “ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong. The U.S.A. will no longer tolerate enormous Trade Deficits and unfair Tariffs and Non Tariff Trade Barriers imposed by other Countries, friend or foe, that undermine our Manufacturers, Farmers, and everyone else.”
What People Are Saying
Republicans Against Trump reacting to the president’s vow to appeal to the Supreme Court on X: “Grandpa is mad”
Retired U.S. Air Force General Robert Spalding reacting to Trump’s post on X: “Thank god”
William and Mary Law School Professor Jonathan Adler on X reacting to the ruling: “Whoa”
Justin Wolfers, professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, on X: “BOOM. The federal appeals court rules Trump’s tariffs illegal, because they are. There’s no national emergency, and so the power to tariff a country rests with Congress. Trump admin has lost at every stage of the process, but stay tuned for the Supremes to chime in.”
Wolfers in a follow-up post: “This won’t end all tariffs. This ruling applies to tariffs applied to entire countries (which is most of the tariff agenda). The industry-specific tariffs use a different legal authority, and will remain. The White House has other (more limited) tariff powers it’ll dust off.”
What Happens Next
The appeals court did not immediately block the tariffs, however, allotting the Trump Administration until October 14 to appeal the decision.
https://www.newsweek.com/gavin-newsom-mocks-donald-trump-tariff-plan-struck-down-2121980
At one point, a woman asks, “Why are people not getting due process? Why are immigrants not getting due process?” Moore’s answer went down like a lead balloon. “So, due process for a citizen and a non-citizen are different things.” He was drowned out by loud jeers and cries of “false!”
What a f*ck*ng retard! We are all — citizens and non-citizens alike — equal under the law.
A Republican congressman left a heated town hall via the back door after he was relentlessly laughed at and heckled while trying to defend President Trump.
Rep. Barry Moore was hammered with tough queries—and more than a few heckles—during a raucous town hall in Daphne, Alabama.
The tense showdown was captured in a 40-minute video from the advocacy group Indivisible Baldwin County. It shows Moore squirming under relentless questioning about Medicaid cuts, the closure of rural hospitals, Trump-era tariffs, immigration crackdowns, abortion bans, and even the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C..
Moore’s attempts to respond were drowned out with laughter and interruptions. At one point, the audience openly mocked his evasive answers.
By the end of the night, the Republican lawmaker had had enough, cutting things short and slipping away through an exit rather than facing his increasingly hostile crowd.
At one point, a woman asks, “Why are people not getting due process? Why are immigrants not getting due process?” Moore’s answer went down like a lead balloon. “So, due process for a citizen and a non-citizen are different things.” He was drowned out by loud jeers and cries of “false!”
Moore continued speaking into his mic, but he couldn’t be heard over the crowd’s reaction. Failing to restore calm, he turned to an aide who took the mic from him before he headed for the exit to chants of “shame!”
The question about due process provedto be the tipping point, but Moore had been grilled all night in Baldwin County, an area where proved toDonald Trump won 78.4 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Asked what he viewed as Donald Trump’s “most meaningful” accomplishment, Moore cited border security. The audience responded with laughter, loud jeers, and chants of “Next question.” He was also accused of “lying” after asserting that Medicaid cuts in Trump’s megabill would apply only to undocumented immigrants.
Moore did not offer closing remarks or say good night as he exited the event in Daphne, a suburb of Mobile.
In an interview on Thursday on The Dale Jackson Show, a conservative Alabama podcast and radio program, Moore denied slipping out the back. “We left like any other event,” he said. “I think we tried to engage and answer questions, but unfortunately, it got hijacked.”
Moore added that he was “so calm” throughout the event and insisted he “doesn’t mind facing the heat head on.” He attributed the disruptions to “some of the same bad actors,” who he said he had seen at other appearances.
The Alabama congressman, first elected in 2020, is now running for Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s seat as Tuberville campaigns for governor.
Since Donald Trump re-entered the White House in January, numerous Republican lawmakers have faced intense backlash during in-person town halls. Rep. Warren Davidson was booed over Trump-sponsored policies in Ohio, and, amid sweeping DOGE cuts in February, Rep. Rich McCormick in Georgia was heckled for justifying Elon Musk’s work.
Rep. Mark Alford was the latest GOP lawmaker to host a contentious live event during the August recess. On Monday, voters at a town hall meeting in Missouri demanded that the Republican congressman denounce President Donald Trump’s “lies”—and told him to get his head “out of Trump’s a— .”
Moore did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
A big change to all the “cheap goods” Americans order just went into effect.
For nearly a century, low-value packages of goods from abroad have entered the United States duty free, thanks to what’s known as the “de minimis rule,” which as of 2015 has applied to packages worth less than $800.
The loophole has reshaped the way countless Americans shop, enabling many small businesses globally to sell goods to US consumers with relative ease and allowing, in particular, ultra-low-cost Chinese e-commerce sites like Shein, Temu and AliExpress to sell everything from clothing to furniture to electronics directly to American shoppers, escaping many duties in place for packages exceeding the $800 threshold.
But those days are over. As of one minute past midnight Eastern Time, all imported goods — regardless of their value — are now subject to 10% to 50% tariff rates, depending on their country of origin. (In certain cases, they could face a flat fee of $80 to $200, but only for the next six months.)
A headache for delivery services
Ahead of the expiration of the de minimis rule, a slew of delivery services across Europe, as well as Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Mexico suspended deliveries to the United States, citing logistical compliance challenges.
International shipper UPS, meanwhile, said in a statement to CNN Thursday: “We stand ready for the new changes and do not anticipate any backlogs or delays.”
DHL, which suspended service for standard parcel shipments from Germany but is continuing to ship international packages to the United States from all other countries it serves, told CNN that shipments “may experience delays during the transitional period as all parties adjust to the changes in tariff policy and regulation.”
The United States Postal Service and FedEx declined to comment on whether customers should anticipate delays.
“Our systems are fully programmed and equipped to support the seamless implementation of these changes. CBP has prepared extensively for this transition and stands ready with a comprehensive strategy, having provided clear and timely guidance to supply chain partners, including foreign postal operators, carriers, and qualified third parties to ensure compliance with the new rules.
Susan Thomas, the acting executive assistant commissioner for Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade, told CNN in a statement that the agency’s systems “are fully programmed and equipped to support the seamless implementation of these changes.”
“CBP has prepared extensively for this transition and stands ready with a comprehensive strategy, having provided clear and timely guidance to supply chain partners, including foreign postal operators, carriers, and qualified third parties to ensure compliance with the new rules,” she said.
A potential benefit for some American small businesses
While some small businesses, like some individual consumers, have benefited from the de minimis exemption by purchasing goods duty-free, the end of the exemption may benefit some, too.
For Steve Raderstorf, co-owner of Scrub Identity, which sells scrubs and other medical apparel at two stores located in Indianapolis, the tariff change will “level the playing field” for him and, he believes, other small business owners, he said.
A 2023 report by Coalition for a Prosperous America, a group that advocates for US producers and manufacturers, estimates that e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart took in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue in 2022 through their networks of third-party sellers who took advantage of the loophole.
Raderstorf said almost all the goods he sells are imported. But as a small business, he doesn’t have the ability to set up a third-party network to tap into the exemption. Instead, his imported goods are all subject to applicable tariffs.
Additionally, many of the foreign manufacturers from whom he purchases goods in bulk in order to get a better price have benefited from de minimis by setting up sites to sell directly to people who could have otherwise shopped at his stores.
With de minimis gone, he feels small businesses have a better chance to compete more fairly with mega retailers and also support their local communities more.
“When somebody comes to my door and they want me to support the local football team or baseball team, I have money to do that then, and then it gets back into the community,” he told CNN. “When it goes to China, it never, ever stays in the United States — it’s gone for good.”
Since the de minimis exemption was closed for China and Hong Kong, CBP has seen packages that would have otherwise qualified for duty-free status go down from an average of 4 million a day to 1 million, White House officials told reporters Thursday.
Raderstorf is empathetic to Americans who are concerned about the increased cost of goods — but at the same time, he’s hopeful it’s “going to push them back out into their communities to meet their local retailers.”
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that most of President Donald Trump‘s global tariffs are illegal, striking a massive blow to the core of his aggressive trade policy.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a 7-4 ruling held that the law Trump invoked when he granted his most expansive tariffs does not actually grant him the power to impose those levies.
Trump is all but certain to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. The appellate court paused its ruling from taking effect until Oct. 14, in order to give the Trump administration time to ask the Supreme Court to take up the case.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Friday’s ruling, which is the second straight loss for Trump in the make-or-break case.
The Trump administration has argued that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, empowers the president to effectively impose country-specific tariffs at any level if he deems them necessary to address a national emergency.
The U.S. Court of International Trade in late May rejected that stance and struck down Trump’s IEEPA-based tariffs, including his worldwide “reciprocal” tariffs unveiled in early April. But the Federal Circuit quickly paused that ruling while Trump’s appeal played out.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/29/trump-trade-tariffs-appeals-court-ieepa.html
