memeorandum: Robert F Kennedy Jr claims anti-vax physicians healed ‘some 300 measles-stricken children’ (Richard Luscombe/The Guardian)

4:50 PM ET, April 7, 2025

Top Items:

Live Updates: Wall Street Slumps Further as Trump Defends His Tariffs — The S&P 500 tumbled, entering bear market territory, after more losses in Asia and Europe. President Trump said he would not back off his trade war, reinforcing fears of a global economic downturn. — Here's the latest.

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Politico, The Free Press, Semafor, Fortune, Washington Times, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, Raw Story, Forbes, NOTUS, Reason, Washington Examiner and CBS News

Axios:

Scoop: Trump issues veto threat on tariff bill — President Trump would veto the legislation introduced by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would limit the president's authority to unilaterally impose tariffs, according to a White House statement seen by Axios.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Rolling Stone, Politico, The Hill, New York Post, Deseret News, Hartford Courant, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Townhall and The Daily Wire

Steve Inskeep / NPR:

UAW President Shawn Fain explains why he supports Trump's tariffs — President Trump's announcements on tariffs have dismayed many of his erstwhile supporters on Wall Street. The suddenness — and steepness — of the tariffs announced last Wednesday prompted some global manufacturers …

Discussion: Detroit Free Press, RedState, The Hill and Bloomberg

Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:

House will give Trump ‘space’ on tariffs, Johnson says — Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that the House will provide President Donald Trump with “space” to carry out his massive global tariff regime, even as some GOP lawmakers openly plead with Trump to negotiate off-ramps before the levies kick in on Wednesday.

Discussion: NOTUS, ABC News, Forbes, Fox News, The Hill and The Daily Signal

David Goldman / CNN:

Jamie Dimon sounds the alarm bell on tariffs — JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has issued a blunt warning about President Donald Trump's tariff policy: It threatens to raise prices, drive the global economy into a downturn and weaken America's standing in the world.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, NPR, CBS News, Daily Mail, Crooks and Liars, VINnews, Mediaite, New Jersey Online, New York Post, National Review, Fortune, Bloomberg, Fox Business and City A.M., more at Techmeme »

Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
Trump's tariffs insanity begins to fracture the MAGA cult

Discussion: Washington Examiner, America 2.0, Washington Post and Bloomberg

Judd Legum / Popular Information: Trump tariffs, corporations cower

New Republic:
Transcript: Trump Voters Suddenly Shocked at How Badly He Screwed Them

Discussion: Raw Story

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:
Businesses, conservative lawyers planning legal challenge to Trump's tariffs

Discussion: Bloomberg and Forbes

Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
Democrats question law firms over ‘shakedown’ deals with Trump administration

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Examiner and Reason

Reuters:
Trump threatens additional tariffs on China, terminates talks

Jamie Dimon / JPMorganChase:
Chairman and CEO Letter to Shareholders

Discussion: CBS News, CNBC, NPR, Washington Post, Deseret News, NBC News, Fortune, IJR, Forbes, The Hill, Politico, The Independent and Washington Examiner, more at Mediagazer »

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump Created an Economic Sinkhole. He Doesn't Care

Discussion: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, To the Contrary, The Hill and Washington Times

The Economic Times:
Trump considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China: White House

Discussion: The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, 404 Media, Fortune, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, MeidasTouch News and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Politico:

Trump asks Supreme Court to block judge's order requiring US to bring back man who was wrongly deported — The Trump administration has described Abrego Garcia's deportation both as an “administrative error” and a “clerical error.” — The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Forbes, Raw Story, USA Today, New Republic, Law & Crime, The Gateway Pundit and The Status Kuo

Washington Post:
Supreme Court briefly pauses order to return deportee from El Salvador

Discussion: Associated Press, Reuters, Townhall, The Hill, Bloomberg, Forbes, Washington City Paper, Civil Discourse … and Washington Examiner

CNN:
Trump asks Supreme Court to block order requiring US to bring back man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

Discussion: ABC News, New York Times, NBC News, Washington Examiner, FOX 11 Los Angeles, Roll Call, UPI, New York Post, Axios, New Jersey Online, CBS News, Techdirt, SCOTUSblog and Townhall

Jacob Knutson / Democracy Docket:
‘This is a Path of Perfect Lawlessness’: Court Condemns Trump Over Wrongful Deportation

Discussion: Law & Crime

Julia Payne / Reuters:

EU Commission proposes 25% counter-tariffs on some US imports, document shows — The European Union flag pattern with the word “tariffs” is seen in this illustration taken April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights — The European Commission proposed counter-tariffs …

Discussion: New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, Forbes, Fox Business and Townhall

Aaron Parnas / MeidasTouch News: European Union Slaps 25% Tariffs On United States In Retaliation

Brent Neiman / New York Times:
Why Trump's Tariff Math Is a Joke

Discussion: New Republic, Reason, The Bulwark, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Peter Navarro / Financial Times:
Donald Trump's tariffs will fix a broken system

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, CNN and City A.M.

Sarah N. Lynch / Reuters:

US Justice Dept mobilized armed Marshals to warn ex-lawyer over congressional testimony, letter shows — The U.S. Justice Department sent armed U.S. Marshals to deliver a letter warning a fired career pardon attorney about testifying to congressional Democrats, her lawyer said in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Wausau

Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:

Trump Plans $92 Million Military Parade—Honoring Himself — Donald Trump may finally get his long-desired military parade through the streets of Washington. — The Washington City Paper, citing an unnamed D.C. source, reports that the president has chosen June 14, 2025 …

Discussion: Washington City Paper, ABC4 Utah, The Post Millennial and Raw Story

Lauren Lewis / The Daily Beast:
Trump Orders Four Mile Military Parade for His 79th Birthday

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Times, Raw Story, Twitchy, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Fortune

Washington Post:

Social Security website keeps crashing, as DOGE demands cuts to IT staff — The worsening problems come as Elon Musk's DOGE team pushes for more cuts at the agency, including in the department that oversees the website. — Retirees and disabled people are facing chronic website outages …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Raw Story, Fortune, New Republic, Business Insider and Can We Still Govern?

Washington Post:

RFK Jr. visits Texas after second child dies of measles amid outbreak — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R), a medical doctor, called on top health officials to “unequivocally” endorse measles vaccinations before “another child dies.” — A second child has died of measles amid an outbreak in West Texas …

Matthew Perrone / Associated Press:
Ex-official says he was forced out of FDA after trying to protect vaccine safety data from RFK Jr.

Discussion: The Hill, New Republic, CBS News, IJR and Politico

Richard Luscombe / The Guardian:
Robert F Kennedy Jr claims anti-vax physicians healed ‘some 300 measles-stricken children’

Discussion: Ars Technica, New Republic, Daily Mail, STAT, WAGA-TV, The Hill and NBC News

David Brooks / The Atlantic:

I Should Have Seen This Coming — When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won. — Listen to more stories on Hark

Discussion: Raw Story and OutsideTheBeltway

Reuters:

Exclusive: US admiral at NATO fired in expanding national security purge — U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, who holds a senior position in NATO, has been fired as part of what appears to be an expanding national security purge of top officials by the Trump administration, three sources told Reuters on Monday.

Politico: Trump fires a top U.S. military official to NATO

David Gilbert / Wired:

‘Wi-Fi Keeps Going Down’: Donald Trump's Return-to-Office Mandate Is Going Terribly — Dozens of federal employees tell WIRED the return-to-office order has resulted in widespread chaos, plummeting productivity, and significantly reduced services to the public.

Stephen Neukam / Axios:

Scoop: Schatz expands holds to more than 300 Trump nominees — Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) is expanding his holds on President Trump's nominees to include an additional 50 names — along with a batch of bipartisan foreign affairs bills, Axios has learned. — Why it matters …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

ABC News:

Former clerk for judge who tossed Trump's classified docs case now in senior DOJ position — A former law clerk to Judge Aileen Cannon is now with the Justice Department. — President Donald Trump crosses the South Lawn after exiting Marine One at White House in Washington, April 6, 2025.

Cheyanne M. Daniels / The Hill:

Harriet Tubman reference removed from National Parks' Underground Railroad web page — The National Parks Service (NPS) has removed a reference to abolitionist Harriet Tubman from its webpage dedicated to the Underground Railroad. — For years, the Parks' page on the Underground Railroad featured a prominent photo of Tubman.

Discussion: Civil War Memory, Global News, CNN, New Republic, USA Today, The Guardian, Raw Story, Axios and Washington Post

Jesse Pound / CNBC:

Peter Navarro says Vietnam's 0% tariff offer is not enough: 'It's the nontariff cheating that matters' — WATCH NOW — White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said Monday that an offer by Vietnam to eliminate tariffs on U.S. imports would not be enough for the administration to lift its new levies announced last week.

Discussion: Bloomberg, New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Raw Story, Semafor, Blaze Media, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, Axios and New York Post

Peter Smith / Associated Press:

US bishops halt partnerships with federal government on aid programs, citing funding cuts — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced Monday that it is ending a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to serve refugees and children, saying the “heartbreaking” …

Discussion: USCCB, Axios, America Magazine, Deseret News and Washington Post

Paul Krugman:

Political Styles of the Rich and Clueless — As we wait to see what fresh hell awaits us this week, one obvious question is, who put these malevolent clowns in power? — The short answer is ignorant people. But political ignorance takes two different forms.

Cecilia Vega / CBS News:

U.S. sent 238 migrants to Salvadoran mega-prison; documents indicate most have no apparent criminal records — Three weeks ago, 238 Venezuelan migrants were flown from Texas to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. — That country's president offered to take them and the Trump administration used …

Discussion: Townhall, Vanity Fair, Slate, Axios, Forbes and The Bulwark

Cecilia Vega / CBS News:
Trump administration deports gay makeup artist to prison in El Salvador

Discussion: New Republic and Mediaite

Eric Rosenbaum / CNBC:

‘This is the Trump recession,’ CEOs say, with tariff price increases, job losses coming: CNBC survey … WATCH NOW — The market has been through a housing crash, a dotcom bubble, a global pandemic, and the twin headwinds of the Russia-Ukraine war and runaway inflation in recent history …