We discuss the Congressional Budget Office's projection of tariff revenues and whether those revenues will cover the costs of the tax cuts in his Big Awful Bill.

We also discuss the recent use of parody and irony by Governor Newsom of California, to illustrate the hypocrisy and foolishness of Trump's use of social media to corrupt political discourse. We also note that neither Trump nor his followers seems to have the capacity to understand either, while possessing a sense of humor less sophisticated than that of most five-year-old children.

We return to the topic of Trump's ongoing attempt to fire Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, as a continuing part of his attack on the Federal Reserve System.

Additionally, we observe Trump's attempts to distract the public from the consequences of his policies by issuing clearly ridiculous executive orders, which attract news coverage, that the media can't seem to resist.

These include, an unconstitutional executive order making flag burning a criminal offense with a one-year prison sentence because it incites riots (Trump knows a great deal about inciting riots and insurrections). He is also floating a proposal to use the National Guard to invade Chicago and Baltimore.

And he has thrown tantrums over the "blue slipping" of a judicial nomination in the Senate and a Trump-appointed district judge throwing out his lawsuit against all the Maryland Federal District Court Judges because the lawsuit had no legal or constitutional basis.

Bill discusses the criminal referral by the head of the Federal Housing Authority of Lisa Cook, a Governor of the Federal Reserve, as a shameful attempt to drive her off the Board of Governors.

Linda explores predictive policing and other scary data-driven surveillance. A deeper dive into the activities of Palantir Gotham.

Additionally we return to the cherry crisis, immigration, and add the issue of visas for foreign students.

Finally, Linda brings to our attention the content-less television coverage of the meeting between Putin and Trump, likely caused by the fact that (predictably) nothing of substance happened at the meeting. Trump once again showing the world that he knows nothing about the conduct of foreign policy and diplomacy, but will do anything for coverage of his feeble attempts at both.

We start this week with a return to Statistics, specifically Trump's nominee to lead the Ministry of Truth (the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Trump's nominee (which we somewhat gleefully note) is being savaged in conservative media as, well, completely incompetent, and is seen as evidence that Trump wants someone to manipulate the numbers rather than present the truth. We examine why this is significant for constituencies that usually support Trump unequivocally and look forward to the drama that is likely to unfold.

We also explore the plan by the Palantir corporation—a data gathering and analysis firm that uses all your data available anywhere on the web—to create a film production company. The goal is to make pro-American films featuring military action, anti-Chinese themes, and heroes from the right. Their list of projects sounds tediously boring and somewhat offensive. Shades of Project Vertas. 

Anyway, Hollywood has a glorious past and well-deserved high regard for the propaganda films it has made, especially in times of crisis. And there is no shortage of wacked-out right-wing military glorification on mainstream media. So what is the new agenda of this group? 

Finally, we wonder why Trump wants to sell our most sensitive computer chips, which are highly restricted in sales, to the highest bidder as long as the government receives akickback from the sales. Can this possibly be legal? We all know felon Trump doesn't care if it is.

We discuss Trump's attack on the Bureau of Labor Statistics and its real consequences. We discuss the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of a larger attempt to control the content of news. We also ponder the Texas redistricting scandal and the war between the Governors of Texas, California, and New York on non-Census redistricting of congressional districts.

Linda explains the FCC's approval of the Skydance and Paramount merger. The corruption of the meaning of broadcast news as serving the common interest by informing the public, and redefining the public's best interest by turning the news into infotainment centered on ratings and profits.

Bill discusses the Brain Drain. Trump's attacks on higher education and research are leading to a loss of U.S. scholars to other countries, keeping foreign scholars and students out of the U.S., and degrading our workforce. Additionally, foreign student expenditures are the largest 'export earning industry' in the U.S., which completely contradicts Trump's trade policies and goals of improving our balance of trade. Additionally, this international brain drain exacerbates the regional brain drain within the U.S., with red states losing their best-educated workers to the blue states to which their educated citizens migrate, exacerbating regional inequality and economic development.

We follow up with our loyal listener's queries regarding the details of the 'so-called' tax cuts in the Big Bad Bill.

And we briefly return to cherry trees and cherry picking.

Harvard is defying the Trump administration's attempt to seize control of the academic life of Harvard by withholding research grant money. The accusation of antisemitism is Trump's stalking horse for this blatant attack on academic freedom, attempt to eliminate dissent, and thereby control higher education in the same manner that all authoritarian regimes do.

Linda explains the recent ACLU challenge to Trump's attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship.

Bill discusses the impact of indiscriminate ICE raids on the agricultural labor market and its impact on future food availability and prices, especially in light of impending tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

The Big Bad Bill passed Congress. Linda and Bill discuss the impact of this piece of legislation on the taxing of Social Security beneficiaries. They also discuss the fraudulent claims of Mr. Trump that tips will not be taxed. In the final section, we note that cause-and-effect reasoning is irrelevant when policymakers and the public both prefer magical thinking about the consequences of proposed policies.

Linda and Bill don't panic over bond yields on US Treasury bonds exceeding 5%.

Bond interest versus bond yields are explained.

It is explained why the US cannot be forced to default. This makes US treasury bonds highly secure assets for individuals and financial institutions of all kinds.

The impact of Trump's magical thinking about tariffs and policy in general, as opposed to actual outcomes for the economy is also discussed.