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UPDATE: Donald Trump Takes Office as the 47th US President

MeidasTouch​

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"A very productive regime change"
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Beth Leja
As Bugs Bunny would say, “what a maroon”!
 
On April 7, 2026, members of the Trump administration cabinet and key officials were involved in advancing military objectives in Iran, implementing budgetary cuts, and managing regulatory changes, amid a tense 24-hour window before a declared ceasefire deadline.
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Key activities from that day included:
  • Vice President JD Vance: Visited Budapest, Hungary, to show support for Prime Minister Viktor Orban ahead of a crucial election.
  • Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: Held his first news conference since being elevated to the position (replacing Pam Bondi) to discuss the administration's anti-fraud efforts and Iran-related sanctions.
  • Department of Defense (Pete Hegseth, Secretary): Declared victory and claimed a "two-week ceasefire" in the war with Iran after a 38-day campaign, boasting that military objectives had been exceeded.
  • Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins: Announced a final rule to modernize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations within the USDA, aiming for a 66% reduction in regulation volume.
  • Department of Education (Linda McMahon, Secretary): Continued the transfer of K-12 and higher education programs to other agencies as part of the administration's plan to close the department.
  • Office of Management and Budget (headed by Russ Vought): Released a fiscal 2027 budget proposal that targeted 10 cabinet-level agencies with a 10% reduction in nondefense discretionary spending, aiming for a $73 billion cut to shift funds toward military spending.
  • "God Squad" (Cabinet-level appointees): The Endangered Species Committee moved to exempt oil and gas projects in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act.
  • White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: Touded the ceasefire as a "victory for the United States" on social media.
  • White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles: Overseeing the logistical management of the budget rollout and foreign policy negotiations.
 

The New York Times has just published the most damning account of Trump since the war began. And it's a bombshell.

Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, two White House journalists, reveal how Trump made the decision to go to war against Iran. What they describe is exactly what I analyze in The Puppet of the White House.

Here are the facts.

Netanyahu sold a dream. On February 11, in the Situation Room, the Israeli Prime Minister presented a four-act scenario: kill the Supreme Leader, destroy the Iranian army, spark a popular revolution, install a new regime. He even showed a montage video featuring the "future leaders" of Iran. Trump responded: "Sounds good to me." In one sentence, he had just sealed the fate of the region.

The next day, the CIA said it was hot air. Parts 3 and 4 of Netanyahu's pitch—the popular revolution and regime change—were labeled a "farce" by Ratcliffe himself. Rubio translated: "In other words, it's bullshit." General Caine added: "It's the standard Israeli procedure. They oversell, and their plans aren't always well developed."

Trump heard. And he still said yes.

Vance saw it all. The vice president was the only one in the room to outright oppose it, warning that the war could "destroy Trump's political coalition," that the Strait of Hormuz was the real vulnerability, that no one could predict Iranian retaliation when a regime's survival was at stake. He said: "You know I think this is a bad idea. But if you want to do it, I'll back you."

This isn't political courage. It's deference.

Susie Wiles watched. The chief of staff, who had concerns, felt it "wasn't her role" to voice them on a military decision in front of the others. She "encouraged the advisors to share their views." She stayed silent.

General Caine never said no. He laid out the risks: depleted munitions stocks, Strait of Hormuz, no clear path to victory. Then he said: "If you order the operation, the military will execute."

Trump, meanwhile, "only heard what he wanted to hear."

And Trump signed off aboard Air Force One, 22 minutes before the deadline set by his own general: "Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck."

That's how you go to war in the 21st century. Not with solemn deliberation. Not with a congressional vote. Not with an exit strategy. With a Netanyahu slideshow, a "sounds good to me," and a note sent from an airplane.

In The Puppet of the White House, I write that the real decision-makers are those who prepare the presentations Trump watches. Netanyahu understood that better than anyone. He staged an hour of visual spectacle in the Situation Room with Mossad as the backdrop, videos of "future leaders," a promise of quick and clean victory.

And Trump said yes. While Vance, Rubio, Wiles, and Caine watched.

Here's the New York Times article: https://nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/p....ZFA.k9sG.nFeYxY3sHoiv&smid=nytcore-ios-share

The Puppet of the White House →
 


Trump’s labor plan is a massive 401(k) greed grab for Wall Street
The Labor Department wants to give Wall Street firms greater access to a lucrative market — your 401(k).

April 8, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. EDTToday at 6:00 a.m. EDT
5 min

Summary



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(The Washington Post illustration; iStock)

Column by Michelle Singletary
With millions of workers lacking access to workplace retirement plans, the Labor Department has decided that a more pressing matter is giving Wall Street firms access to a lucrative market — your 401(k).

If you have a personal finance question for Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary, please call 1-855-ASK-POST (1-855-275-7678)
A proposed rule would encourage the addition of alternative assets, such as private equity, private credit and cryptocurrency, to 401(k) menus.

Companies can already offer these assets. But employers have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of their workers. And because these sorts of assets are costly and hard to value, many plan sponsors worry about the possibility of legal action from workers.



If finalized, this rule — open for public comment — would add protection against lawsuits. As long as the people managing your 401(k) can demonstrate they’ve checked certain boxes, like reviewing fees, this rule would provide companies with a “safe harbor.” It essentially creates a legal shield that makes it much harder for you to hold your company accountable if they choose to offer riskier investments.
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This proposal comes directly from an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in August, instructing the Labor Department to change the rules so that 401(k) plans can include “alternative” investments. It’s a move the administration claims will give regular investors more options.

Trump’s order argued that “burdensome lawsuits” have “denied millions of Americans opportunities to benefit from investment in alternative assets.”

Not for a second do I believe this is a move to help regular investors. Instead, it’s a massive greed grab for Wall Street firms looking to tap into the money workers are trying to save for retirement.

Americans held $14.2 trillion in all employer-based defined contribution retirement plans at the end of the fourth quarter, according to a report released last month by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
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I have talked to hundreds of workers investing in their workplace plans, and I have never, ever heard a single person complain that they didn’t have access to alternative assets. I dare say the overwhelming majority wouldn’t even know what private equity and private credit are, and that’s not shade on their investment prowess. It’s an acknowledgment that investing their money can be complicated.


This push to add complex investments feels like a case of “misplaced priorities,” focusing on Wall Street’s needs while ignoring the struggles of average workers, according to Christine Benz, the director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar and author of “How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement.”

The companies behind these alternative investments have lobbied hard to get onto plans, arguing investors could see higher returns than traditional stocks and bonds. But with higher returns come higher risks. Employees are better off in the simple, and yes, boring low-cost index funds.

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” Benz said in an interview.

In a standard 401(k), you usually have access to low-cost index funds or a target-date fund, both of which are much more suitable for workers. In fact, employers have been expanding their offerings of target-date funds, a sort of set-it-and-forget-it investment designed to reduce investors’ risk automatically as they near retirement.



Plan sponsors have been increasingly shifting to cheaper products, Benz said.

Private asset fees typically range from 1.5 percent to 5 percent, compared with 0.06 percent to 0.60 percent for typical target-date funds, according to Vanguard. The promise is that you pay people more money to make you more money. The higher returns aren’t a guarantee, although it will make fund managers richer by charging you higher fees.

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“This proposal seems to take a step backward toward opacity,” according to Benz.

Instead of pursuing high-fee private securities, the focus should be on accessibility and “helping people figure out how to generate sustainable income from their portfolios,” she said.


A massive 401(k) greed grab for Wall Street
11:06

Trump’s labor plan is a massive 401(k) greed grab for Wall Street (Video: Charla Freeland, Michelle Singletary/The Washington Post)
As Benz pointed out in an online post about this issue, “roughly half of workers don’t have access to a workplace-savings plan for retirement.” Many small businesses still can’t offer them, because they face high administrative costs and lack the corporate muscle to negotiate the lower fees that big companies get for their employees.

We know that people save more when they have access to a workplace retirement plan. Nearly half of all Americans with a 401(k) or similar plan admit they likely wouldn’t save for retirement at all if they didn’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan, according to another ICI report this year.


“The good news is that 401(k)s are typically very slow-moving ships. And in general, even with this safe harbor that the proposal would allow for 401(k) plan sponsors and the people who oversee the plans, they do not want to take risks,” Benz predicted.

I understand the appeal of these investments. It’s the same pitch that promises extraordinary wealth through cryptocurrency. But data from Fidelity Investments show a more realistic reality. The people who become 401(k) millionaires get there by sticking to basic stocks and bonds.

I hope many people weigh in on the proposal before the June deadline. While some firms may opt to add these high-fee investment options, they should tread carefully, or better yet, not at all.
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Big Tex said:
Dumb people vote too. If you're only he party of smart people, that means you will never consistent win elections.
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You cannot dump down yourself right now because America is at a tipping point. Stupidity and racism is why America is stuck in the mud.
 
easy_b said:
You cannot dump down yourself right now because America is at a tipping point. Stupidity and racism is why America is stuck in the mud.
Click to expand...
You can if you prioritize winning elections over being right.

How much was being right and smart in 2024 helping us right now?

Go...win..every..vote..you..can...
 
DC_Dude said:
Click to expand...


They can make being registered for the US military draft automatic and yet for some reason can't make voter registration automatic upon turning 18.

Having to register for something that is granted to all US citizens upon birth is ridiculous but that's sort of the point.

They want as many people to register to die for this country so they can continue to profit via the military industrial complex but want to have the number of actual voters be a low as possible (particularly of the voters are minorities) for similar reasons.
 
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