Bill Owens

I mentioned last week the surprise events of the previous weekend when the US and China agreed to reduce tariffs for 90 days to 30% for the Chinese and 10% for Americans. This development raises a whole host of questions. First, Mr. Trump promised revenue in the $60 billion range per month from tariffs, clearly the math does not work.

Mr. Trump’s budget proposes to reduce EAS funding by 50%, which threatens the EAS programs that assist Plattsburgh Airport, as well as all the other small-town airports in northern New York. So far, silence from Ms. Stefanik as she again abandons her constituents and does nothing to thwart these cuts nor the US Canadian tariffs.

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.

Mr. Trump has blinked on the China tariffs without any confirmation that China blinked before he did which it turns out was false, based upon China’s statements completely denying that any discussions were underway. Is a fake blink better or worse than a real one?

China has decided to halt critical earth metal exports as the trade war intensifies. These critical raw materials include minerals and magnets which could have an adverse effect on automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies, military contractors and others around the world. This could be a real pressure point and create significant issues for the United States.

The constant refrain of waste, fraud and abuse from Republicans and particularly from DOGE has been ongoing since at least 2009 with the emergence of the Tea Party. It is essentially nonsense.

It appears that Mr. Trump’s numbers are moving, and I think it is important to remember that he received slightly less than 50% of the popular vote, which means there are a significant number of people in opposition to him which certainly could account for the movement of his job approval rating downward.

It has been reported that household income growth is slowing, which poses a risk obviously to consumer spending and more generally to the economy given the fact that consumer spending represents in the range of 65% of our GDP. This taken together with rising inflation, rising food costs, rising gas prices, all does not trend well.

Senators Murkowski and Collins, as well as Mr. Thune and Congressman Zack Nunn are all trying to find a way around the various Executive Orders that may injure their States or Districts. How long will Trump put up with that?

Mr. Trump’s announcement that the US would own Gaza and develop it as a resort was discussed recently with the King of Jordan who uncompromisingly rejected it. Mr. Trump’s threat to reduce aid to Jordan and Egypt, as he wants them to provide refuge for the Palestinians, including a permanent place to live, did not impact the King’s response.