Five Things: Tariffs, Isolation, DOGE, Fascim, Dictator
It's Sunday, again. Read this now.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things!
I am so disgusted by what’s going on in the United States of America. Even though I have only lived in the USA for two years, those two years where very important years to me and it still feels like home to me, especially the Midwest, America’s Heartland. Without the USA, Germany would not have this amazing democracy and we would not have lived in peace in Europe for the last 80 years. Right now, it looks like Trump is using the playbook of 1933 Germany, just with a 21st century update. I really hope that Democrats and Republicans recover their spines soon and remove Trump from office before it is too late.
On a personal note, I have experienced first hand that maybe I did not do everything wrong as a parent. Our youngest daughter turned 10 on Saturday and on Friday evening our oldest daughter returned from Vienna, where she’s currently attending university, as a surprise for her sister. The joy we could see when K4 was surprised to see K1 was just so wonderful. Of course the other two were happy as well to see her sister and helped organize everything for the surprise. It’s awesome to have all four kids back at home and to see how they all bond with each other. Also, I might have had too much cake yesterday.
Read on, my dear!
What the World Learned from Donald Trump’s Tariff Week
“The White House’s theory seems to be that high tariffs will eventually incentivize manufacturers to relocate, say, auto plants and aluminum smelters to the U.S. But businesses need stability to make the kinds of major capital investments that building new factories in this country requires, not a climate defined by ninety-day pauses and abrupt reversals.”
Donald Trump's tariff war is another sign America is in danger of becoming a friendless state
“To many international observers, however, his first two months in office have felt more like the total eclipse of America: a darkening of the leader the world has known since it entered World War II.”
Inside Elon Musk’s Gleeful Destruction of the Government
“Musk has spearheaded the president’s purge of the federal workforce and his efforts to consolidate information and power over federal funds — despite never being elected, appointed, or confirmed to hold such a pivotal role. Musk is technically a “special government employee,” a designation that allowed him to bypass a Senate confirmation process and avoid publicly reporting his financial holdings.”
What It Feels Like, Right Now
“Living here in America right now feels like that time.
Stuck riding shotgun in a car with a drunk driver.”
This Is Why Dictatorships Fail
“But in the past 48 hours, Donald Trump has just given us a pitch-perfect demonstration of why legislatures are necessary, why checks and balances are useful, and why most one-man dictatorships become poor and corrupt. If the Republican Party does not return Congress to the role it is meant to play and the courts don’t constrain the president, this cycle of destruction will continue and everyone on the planet will pay the price.”
That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico