Senator Ossoff of Georgia has raised the specter of impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump. I was against impeaching him during his first term, not necessarily because I did not think his offenses were impeachable, but that they could never result in conviction, and that all bringing impeachment proceedings did was to make him into a martyr and galvanize his support. If Mr. Ossoff moves down this path, he will be taking away any potential momentum that the Democrats may gain based upon the “Big Bill” as it cuts into Medicaid and other programs along with passing tax legislation which does not aid or benefit middle class Americans.
Gas prices have continued to drop because we are, in fact, energy independent and we have an oversupply. More drilling, probably not necessary. If anything, it will drive gas prices down both at the pump but also decrease profitability for oil companies.
The Wall Street Journal has opined that the Trump tariffs are, in fact, a $6 trillion tax on the American public. So, we will give tax breaks to very wealthy people, and impose $6 trillion on all of us, it looks like most of us got the worst of this.
The 1st quarter GDP shrank by 3/10ths of a percent, which is the first since 2022. Obviously, all Biden’s fault. Forget tariffs, reduced government spending, and a surge in imports, creating a negative balance of trade due to stocking up to avoid tariffs in the future.
Mr. Trump forecast $3 billion a day in tariff revenue which, at a minimum, should have resulted in the recording of in excess of $90 billion in revenue while the Treasury Department reports $14.7 billion. Again, how do they spin that, after making the pronouncement on April 14th of $3 billion a day, this actually calculates to an average of $918 million. I wonder if his voters are aware of this.
Mark Carney won the Canadian federal election with 169 seats when 172 are needed to have a majority government. This means that they will need to rely on one of the minority parties with the most likely candidate being the NDP, which now has 7 seats, but a sufficient number to pass the 172-seat threshold for Mr. Carney. The race tightened more than might have been anticipated, but was overshadowed by Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio, both proclaiming on Canadian election day that they were still interested in acquiring Canada as the 51st state. Although I pointed out before that if they take over Greenland maybe Canada is the 52nd state.
Our Congresswoman continues to be silent on the tariffs and their impact locally, even as reports mount about the decrease in Canadian travel to our region. The past weekend as I was driving around to various shopping areas, I was able to identify less than a handful of Canadian plates, when in the past the reverse might have been true, as you would only identify a handful of American plates in the shopping malls, etc.
The stock market, even after last week’s recovery, is still down since January 20th, 2025, by a minimum of 4%. Many tariffs went into effect on May 1, 2025, which will begin to take effect in the coming months, and we will see what the results are on both the stock market and GDP. This is all part of the failure of the Trump administration to truly understand the economic impact of what they are doing and how they are creating needless chaos. We all want free and fair trade with other countries, meaning we are not subject to tariffs by other countries, at least to the extent greater than what we are charging them.
Mr. Trump depicting himself as Pope is an absurd and insulting act.
Mr. Trump recently sent a message on Truth Social to Mr. Putin. “Vladimir, STOP!” I am not quite sure whether this denotes panic, frustration, or an acknowledgement that the war he said he would end on day 1 is going strong.
Australia reelects its moderate government, with Mr. Trump’s actions impacting that outcome in a manner similar to Canda.
Ms. Stefanik and Mr. Johnson are in a bit of a dispute, with Ms. Stefanik calling him out as untruthful. Still, silence on issues important to us.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
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