U.S. job growth fuels a market rebound with all major stock indexes on the rise, President Donald Trump orders an end to taxpayer funding for NPR and PBS, and political unrest brews in Canada despite a fresh Liberal Party election win.
It’s Monday, May 5, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2>Trump Touts Economic Comeback</h2>
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Topline: President Trump takes a victory lap as the economy shows signs of improvement. 
After a tumultuous month, stocks are rallying following a better-than-expected jobs report and optimism about trade deals. In the last week or so, markets have taken a bullish turn. On Friday, the DOW, NASDAQ, and S&amp;P 500 all jumped about a point and a half – the S&amp;P saw its ninth straight day of gains, the longest streak in twenty years. Overall, the DOW is now within 2% of where it was when Trump kicked off his &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs, while the S&amp;P 500 and NASDAQ are higher than before. Markets have been fickle — there’s always a chance those gains are erased in a day or two — but this is a remarkable recovery so far.
Meanwhile, the April jobs report showed considerably more growth than projected. Economists expected 133,000 new jobs last month, but the number came in at 177,000 — 33% higher. Unemployment also held steady, and hourly wages saw a 4% increase from the same month last year. 
It’s worth noting who those new jobs are going to: Under President Joe Biden, foreign-born workers added nearly four and a half million jobs, but over the same timeframe, the number of American-born workers fell. But in April, the number of foreign-born workers decreased, meaning the net job growth last month was concentrated among workers born in America. Job growth was also concentrated in the private sector, as government employment declined for its third straight month due to the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project.
Markets also seem to be buoyed by reports that China may be willing to strike a deal with the United States to end the escalating tariff hikes that followed Trump’s Liberation Day announcement last month. Early last week, China was projecting an apparent willingness to dig in for a protracted trade war and weather the economic storm – the Chinese Communist Party said it was prepared to increase payouts for the unemployed, subsidize new housing projects, and incentivize its people to buy more domestic products. But on Friday, we saw our first major sign that Beijing was open to de-escalation, with the country’s commerce ministry saying, “If [The U.S.] wants to talk, our door is wide open.” 
As a sign of that new willingness to strike a deal, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/world/asia/us-china-tariffs-fentanyl.html">Wall Street Journal</a> reported that Beijing is weighing a potential crackdown on fentanyl production as a show of goodwill, and has been reaching out for details on what the White House is looking for on that front.
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<h2>Trump Orders Elimination Of Funding For Public Broadcasters</h2>
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Topline: NPR and PBS threaten legal action after Trump ends their taxpayer funding.
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday to eliminate about $535 million in annual funding to NPR, PBS, and other public media. NPR and PBS vowed to fight the order in court.
President Trump has made it clear for some time that he is no fan of public broadcasting. Recently, he said, “Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR and PBS, the radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country.” He’s also said that taxpayer funding of media networks is “outdated and unnecessary” and “corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
In a statement on Friday, Patricia Harris, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, immediately shot back, saying that the private nonprofit authorized by Congress is not “subject to the President’s authority.” Harris said Congress authorized the funding, so only Congress can revoke it. 
Paula Kerger, president of PBS, also issued a statement calling Trump’s order “blatantly unlawful.” 
“This is probably the most difficult and serious threat in the time that I&#8217;ve been in public broadcasting,” Kerger told PBS News Hour. “This idea that funds that had already been put aside for public broadcasting would be taken away.”
<h2> Oh Canada&#8230;</h2>
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Topline: Canada&#8217;s election season might be over, but the political drama is just beginning. Last week, Mark Carney led his Liberal party to a stunning comeback but <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/federal-election-2025/article/how-did-the-federal-election-change-canadas-representation-in-parliament/">fell just short</a> of a majority.
The Liberal Party of Canada has been in power for nearly ten years. Last week marked its fourth consecutive win, with Mark Carney as Prime Minister.  However, the party isn&#8217;t nearly as popular as that showing would lead you to believe – especially in the “prairie provinces,” where voters favored the conservatives by more than <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/canada/canada-election-2025-how-each-province-voted-liberal-fortresses-and-conservative-strongholds/articleshow/120733997.cms?from=mdr">2:1</a>. Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was so unpopular that he had to step down to avoid a total electoral blowout. 
The Liberal surge in the polls happened around the same time Trump started floating the idea that Canada should become America’s 51st state. Many Canadians, particularly in Canada’s more densely populated east, rallied around Carney as “the best man to take on Trump,” but recent polling suggests that some Canadians would rather be part of the United States – or their own independent country – than remain in Canada under a Liberal government. According to polling from Angus Reid in early April, three-in-10 voters from Alberta and roughly 1-in-3 from neighboring Saskatchewan said that they would support leaving the country if Carney won – at least 20% in each province would have supported secession even if he lost. 
For reference, Quebec – a province with a large, influential openly separatist party – also reported 30% support for secession from Canada. Québécois separatists have existed for centuries, and the Bloc Québécois has been a major force in Canadian politics for decades. By contrast, Western separatism is younger and less organized, and so far, it has been more of a grassroots phenomenon, but as of now, it appears to be just as intense. 
Canada’s prairie provinces are <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/444816/canada-median-age-of-resident-population-by-province/">younger</a>, <a href="https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/gdp-per-capita/">wealthier</a>, less densely populated, and more dependent on resource extraction – mining, drilling, exporting oil. That’s put them into conflict with the federal government, which has taken steps to restrict the construction of pipelines and refineries. Former Prime Minister Trudeau went so far as to argue for phasing out the production of fossil fuels entirely before Western outcry forced him to walk that position back. Carney has also been a vocal advocate of <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/mark-carney-investing-net-zero-climate-solutions-creates-value-and-rewards">net-zero policies</a> and was a leading figure in the ESG movement (Environmental, Social, and Governance) when he worked in the financial sector. He was also an economic advisor to Trudeau, leading many skeptics to fear his government would be more of the same.
Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith put forward legislation that would significantly lower the signature threshold for citizen-led referendums – as of now, that legislation has been tabled, and Smith and Carney are currently in talks, which are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/smith-carney-first-step-1.7525714">reportedly</a> going well. However, the possibility of secession appears to be a piece of leverage, and as of now, it’s still on the table.

MorningWire-0505

Morning Brief: Trump’s Good And Bad Economy & Canada In Crisis

Canada

Media

Morning Wire

National Public Radio (NPR)

Politics

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Stock Market

Tariffs

Trade War

The United States economy added more jobs than expected in April, while government positions continued to decline, according to the April jobs report.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_05022025.htm">report</a> on Friday, showing that jobs had increased in April by 177,000, much more than the 133,000 that had been projected by the Dow Jones. At the same time, federal jobs declined by around 9,000 while the healthcare, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance industries all saw growth. 
&#8220;This is the second month in a row where the jobs report has beat expectations,&#8221; <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/05/jobs-boom-more-americans-working-for-higher-pay/">said</a> White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. &#8220;Wages are continuing to rise and labor force participation is increasing. This is exactly what we want to see. More Americans working for higher wages. More winning is on the way!”
The healthcare industry added 51,000 jobs, including 22,000 in hospitals and 21,000 in ambulatory services, while transportation and warehousing increased by 29,000, according to the report. The 177,000 jobs were lower than the 185,000 jobs that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-cant-lose-march-job-growth-vastly-outpaces-expectations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were added</a> in March, which also beat job growth expectations. 
Unemployment remained at 4.2%, and the labor force participation rate changed little. This was the first jobs report released after President Donald Trump announced &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs. Most of those tariffs have been lowered to 10% across the board, with a 145% tariff on China.
The markets responded positively to the jobs report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&amp;P 500, and the Nasdaq all jumping more than 1%.
Responding to the news, the White House&#8217;s official &#8220;Rapid Response&#8221; X account celebrated the job gains made in the private sector and the decline in government employment. According to the White House, more than 95% of the jobs added to the economy under President Donald Trump have come from the private sector, while around 25% of the jobs created during President Joe Biden&#8217;s final two years were government jobs.
&#8220;Federal employment has already shrank by 26,000 jobs under Trump after ballooning by 139,000 jobs in Biden’s last two years. President Trump is right-sizing government while unleashing private-sector growth,&#8221; the account posted.
Trump and his top donor, Elon Musk, have pushed for a variety of cuts across the federal workforce — from the IRS to the State Department — through Musk&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency project. Some of the cuts have come through firings, while other departments have pushed federal employees to accept buyouts to vacate their jobs.
The White House also celebrated the job gains made among native-born Americans during President Trump&#8217;s first three months in office.
&#8220;Biden relied on government jobs and foreign-born workers. Native-born workers have fueled 97.6% of job growth under President Trump,&#8221; the White House posted. &#8220;In Biden’s final two years, native-born Americans accounted for only HALF (56.9%) of employment gains.&#8221;

President Trump Announces Aviation Safety Executive Orders In The Oval Office Of White House

Solid April Jobs Report Shows Govt Employment Drops As Private Sector Growth Beats Expectations

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Donald Trump

Economy

Elon Musk

Jobs

Karoline Leavitt

Stock prices tumbled on Wednesday after a new report showed that the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter of 2025.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, while The S&amp;P 500 dropped 1.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5%, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/stock-market-today-live-updates.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC</a>. The drop in value followed a report from the Commerce Department that showed the U.S. GDP shrank 0.3% in the first three months of the year.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers,” President Donald Trump posted on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114427089568235019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Truth Social</a> on Wednesday morning. “Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
The underwhelming economic report hit after economists predicted that the U.S. GDP would grow by 0.4% in the first quarter. GDP contracted instead as Trump’s tariff policies drove up imports, which are subtracted from net exports as part of the calculation of a final GDP figure. It is the first contraction in the U.S. economy since the first quarter of 2022, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/us-gdp-q1-2025-1f82f689" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Trump paused and cut billions in government spending, which suppressed GDP growth. Consumer spending fell, as well.
Trump’s moves on trade – hefty tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, alongside a flat 10% tariff across the board with higher duties threatened – had the largest impact on the GDP report. Net exports, which is U.S. exports minus imports, subtracted 5% from the rest of the GDP calculation, according to WSJ.
Wells Fargo economist Shannon Grein said that the topline GDP contraction makes the U.S. economy appear weaker than it is.
“The headline decline overstates weakness because a lot of that was tariff-induced pull-forward,” Grein said. “Overall, I think that it was a relatively solid underlying report when it comes to demand.”
The GDP report has sparked concerns that the United States could be in recession. A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said that Trump’s tariffs have spurred significant new investment in the United States. He also downplayed the impact of tariffs on the latest GDP numbers.
“I have the pleasure of running the investment accelerator, which gets to recruit these companies, and you&#8217;ve never seen anything like the companies committed to building in America. Technology companies have committed over $2.5 trillion to build in America based on your tariffs,” Lutnick said. “Sovereign countries all backing, the whole Middle East and all these countries backing their sovereign wealth funds, they all want to invest in America, and they&#8217;re coming in, again, over $3 trillion committed.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Commerce Secretary <a href="https://twitter.com/howardlutnick?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@howardlutnick</a>: &quot;Technology companies have committed over $2.5 trillion to build in America based on your tariffs&#8230; Then you&#39;ve got the whole pharma industry knows it&#39;s got to come home&#8230; Auto is coming home, industrial is coming home.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/BHXpjTovB9">pic.twitter.com/BHXpjTovB9</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1917608615269261580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump announced new investments and pledges to the United States from companies committed to building domestically because of tariffs totaling $8 trillion.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President Trump and Commerce Secretary Lutnick tout the 8 TRILLION dollars of new investments in America as a result of tariffs.
Lutnick: &quot;And this is all driven by your tariff policies. No chance this would be happening without it.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Q8nLnX294F">pic.twitter.com/Q8nLnX294F</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1917606795486585080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

New York Stock Exchange

Stock Prices Drop After New Data Shows GDP Shrank Since Start Of Year

Department of Commerce

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the dropping stock market is the fault of former President Joe Biden, adding that slow economic growth is from &#8220;the Biden overhang&#8221; and &#8220;has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS.&#8221;
Trump made the comment on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114427089568235019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Truth Social</a> as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&amp;P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all dipped again Wednesday morning. Since Trump&#8217;s massive tariff rollout, which began with hitting China, Canada, and Mexico in early February, the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/djia?mod=mw_quote_switch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dow Jones</a> has dropped by around 5,000 points, the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/comp?mod=mw_quote_switch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasdaq</a> is down nearly 2,000 points, and the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/spx?mod=mw_quote_switch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a> is down around 500 points.
&#8220;This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden &#8216;Overhang.&#8217; This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!&#8221;
The president has <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-tells-americans-to-be-patient-as-global-markets-keep-dropping-over-tariffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly</a> asked Americans to remain patient as his economic and trade policies take effect, but many Americans are still uneasy about how Trump&#8217;s tariffs will affect the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, a U.S. Department of Commerce report showed that gross domestic product fell at a 0.3% annualized pace over the first quarter of 2025, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/30/trump-gdp-tariffs-biden-overhang.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. It was the first quarter of negative growth since the first quarter of 2022.
The Commerce Department report pointed to Trump&#8217;s tariffs as a reason for the decline in GDP in Q1, as companies tried to get ahead of the tariffs by ramping up imports. The Trump administration&#8217;s cut to defense spending also contributed to the GDP slowdown.
In January 2024, Trump took credit for a rising stock market under former President Biden. In a Truth Social post, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/111840568643216314" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.&#8221;
The stock market reacted positively last week after the Trump administration hinted that the trade war with China might be coming to an end. Last Tuesday, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned against a prolonged trade war, Trump said the 145% tariff on China &#8220;will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.&#8221; As the White House says that numerous countries are ready to make a trade deal, Trump is still trying to bring China to the negotiating table.

Trump: This Is Biden’s Stock Market

Executive

Joe Biden

It’s not an exaggeration to say that conservative shareholder engagement is changing the corporate game. For years, Left-wing activists controlled the agendas at our largest companies, using not only their leverage as stockholders but their perpetual devotion to activism to get in the ear of America’s boards and directors. The result? Leftward drift in virtually every major company. But now conservative shareholders, from ordinary investors to major conservative nonprofits, are stepping into the game — and their engagements are bearing major fruit. The latest proof? IBM.
IBM’s track record on corporate bias and activism is notorious. The company was a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a group created by the World Federation of Advertisers that worked to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-daily-wire-addresses-the-ad-industry-following-the-fall-of-garm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keep ad revenue away</a> from conservative news sites like the Daily Wire to free speech-centric platforms like X. And that’s before all the DEI concerns surfaced. After IBM CEO Arvind Krishna was caught on a <a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1734374423124176944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1734374423124176944%7Ctwgr%5E42e55266e59ec08d85550be6ab044097866bd072%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdallasexpress.com%2Fbusiness-markets%2Fceo-of-tech-corp-ibm-enshrines-dei-hiring%2F">hot mic</a> discussing how the company uses quotas of ‘underrepresented’ minorities in determining their executive pay — in Krishna’s words, execs have “got to move both [race and gender] forward by a percentage point” in order to get a higher bonus. That means DEI. That means quotas. Following these snafus, the reputational, ethical, and (in the case of the Missouri AG who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/missouri-attorney-general-sues-tech-giant-ibm-alleging-discrimination-against-whites-asians-men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> IBM) legal scrutiny was swift in coming.
IBM’s motto since its early years has been “THINK,” referring to the innovative spirit with which the company solves problems. Yet when it came to political bias, that motto was missing in action — and shareholders took notice. In January, the firm I work for, Bowyer Research, began <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-expands-efforts-hold-corporate-america-accountable-end-its-discriminatory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">work</a> with the Heritage Foundation to hold IBM accountable for the DEI quotas that Krishna described. The argument? Simple — use of non-meritocratic quotas based on race and gender aren’t just bad for reputation, but illegal on their face and bad for business. Shareholders, from major nonprofits to ordinary mom-and-pop investors, shouldn’t have their business returns impacted by IBM’s belief in identity politics.
As the shareholder engagement heated up on the internal front, pressure from <a href="https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5515346/the-ibm-red-hat-leaks-what-weve-learned-so-far" target="_blank" rel="noopener">journalists</a> and <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1910425361034383545" target="_blank" rel="noopener">influencers</a> like Robby Starbuck increased on the external front. That pressure built and built — and the release began earlier this month, when IBM announced the end of many of its DEI initiatives and related goals, including the elimination of its diversity council, the phaseout of its supplier diversity initiatives, and no longer participating in surveys put out by radical corporate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-radical-intolerance-behind-woke-corporate-activism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activist groups</a> like the Human Rights Campaign, which pressures companies to cover puberty blocker access for employees’ children in the name of “health care access.”
That would have been news enough — until several days ago, when IBM also <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-secures-commitment-viewpoint-neutrality-ibm-encourages-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed</a> to include viewpoint neutrality as part of its advertising policy in response to Heritage’s shareholder engagement. That means that biased, activist-driven, political censorship that ad cartels like GARM perpetuate is now explicitly banned under IBM corporate policy. IBM listened to its shareholders, its employees, and its customers — and the result is another company willing to make commitments to political neutrality. This is what happens when authentic shareholder advocacy, championing political neutrality, merges with external pressure to drop corporate bias: change happens, and happens in the form of concrete policy commitments, not just boilerplate PR statements. It’s a praiseworthy step.
But is the scrutiny over? Absolutely not. IBM needs to demonstrate that they’re committed to actually staying the course on being politically-neutral and quota-free. Outstanding questions remain. During our engagement on behalf of Heritage, the company <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/corpfin/no-action/14a-8/heritageibm3325-14a8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notably claimed</a> to the SEC that they couldn’t give a definition of DEI as grounds to ignore shareholder concerns — so how did they go from not knowing what DEI is to getting rid of it? (You can probably guess how.) The company holds its annual meeting of shareholders today, and if they’re savvy will make a point of focusing their messaging on business, not activism.
Achieving the commitment to neutrality at IBM was the result of a myriad of groups, from shareholders like Heritage to <a href="https://adflegal.org/press-release/sec-sides-with-adf-denies-absurd-attempt-from-govt-contractor-ibm-to-hide-from-shareholders-on-dei-proposal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legal giants</a> like Alliance Defending Freedom to the courageous IBM employees willing to speak out about the bias behind the scenes. And it’s going to take all of those groups to be vigilant now — not paying attention to our boardrooms is what got us into the woke mess in the first place.
This is the next phase of rooting out bias and wokeness from corporate America — watching tirelessly to see whether companies that commit to ditching DEI are actually willing to put their messaging and money where their mouths are. Smart companies will be willing to commit to change. Foolish ones will hope to either avoid scrutiny altogether or reintroduce the same tired DEI policies under the guise of <a href="https://www.shrm.org/executive-network/insights/time-to-add-b-for-belonging-to-workplace-dei-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phrases</a> like “belonging.” It’s our job, as shareholders, as customers, and as Americans, to keep up the pressure for accountability with the leverage that we’ve been given. And above all, to make the case for what truly makes every company successful: the courage to resist activism and the fortitude to focus on business.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Traders On The Floor Of The New York Stock Exchange As Fed Chair Powell Holds New Conference

IBM Rolls Back DEI, Commits To Political Neutrality

Business

Diversity

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Dow Jones

GARM

Heritage Foundation

Human Rights Campaign

Opinion

Robby Starbuck

Wall Street

Woke Culture

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) reintroduced the anti-corruption PELOSI Act on Friday, aiming to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks, while President Trump signaled he would sign such legislation into law.
The legislation, whose acronym PELOSI stands for &#8220;Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments,&#8221; and is named after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband has drawn <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/deceptive-tactic-nancy-pelosi-disclosed-180000159.html">scrutiny</a> for millions in suspected insider trading.
&#8220;Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve — not day trading at the expense of their constituents,&#8221; Hawley <a href="https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-reintroduces-pelosi-act-to-ban-congress-from-trading-stocks/">stated</a>, according to a press release from his office.
&#8220;Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public,&#8221; the Missouri Republican added. &#8220;It&#8217;s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans&#8217; trust in our nation&#8217;s legislative body.&#8221;
Under Hawley&#8217;s proposal, elected officials and their spouses would be barred from owning individual stocks while serving in Congress.
The legislation would still allow investment in broader financial instruments such as mutual funds, ETFs, and Treasury bonds.
The bill provides a six-month grace period for compliance after enactment. Any lawmaker refusing to divest would face financial penalties and surrender profits to the federal treasury.
The Government Accountability Office would be required to audit congressional compliance with the law within two years of enactment and submit a report to congressional ethics committees, according to the <a href="https://www.hawley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Hawley-PELOSI-Act.pdf">legislation</a>.
When asked on Friday by a reporter if he would support a ban on congressional stock trading, President Trump said he would “absolutely” sign such a bill.
&#8220;Well, I watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be okay with it. If they send that to me, I would do it,&#8221; the President said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It is time! Pass my PELOSI Act now &#8211; no stock trading by members of Congress <a href="https://t.co/w1enBmv0BG">https://t.co/w1enBmv0BG</a>
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1915759963386822771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
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A 2022 New York Times investigation <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/13/us/politics/congress-members-stock-trading-list.html">identified</a> at least 97 members of Congress who reported stock trades that potentially intersected with their committee work, raising questions about whether elected officials were using privileged information to enrich themselves.
The issue has <a href="https://publicconsultation.org/united-states/stock-trading-by-members-of-congress/">garnered</a> bipartisan support for reform, with polls consistently showing over 80% of Americans favor banning congressional stock trading.
Similar legislation has been introduced in previous sessions of Congress but failed to advance to a floor vote in either chamber despite widespread public support.

119th Congress Begins Its Term On Capitol Hill

Sen. Hawley Reintroduces PELOSI Act To Curb Congressional Stock Trading, Trump Signals Approval

Congress

Corruption

Insider Trading

Josh Hawley

Nancy Pelosi

Paul Pelosi

United States stocks opened on a high note on Monday after President Donald Trump temporarily exempted American tech giants from some of his new reciprocal tariffs, sending shares of Apple and Dell soaring while providing relief to a market that had been rocked by tariff uncertainty.
The three major indexes all rose compared to last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 421 points (1%), the S&amp;P 500 rising 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 1%, according to CNBC.
At their midday peaks, the Dow was up more than 500 points, and the Nasdaq was up 2.5% during the volatile trading session.
Investors welcomed the exemption of smartphones, computers, and semiconductor components from Trump&#8217;s new &#8220;reciprocal&#8221; tariffs, based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection guidance issued late Friday.
Apple shares <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/13/stock-market-today-live-updates.html">rose</a> 3% following the news at the opening bell, while Dell surged more than 4% as tech companies received immediate relief from the threatened tariffs.
&#8220;The market believes that the administration is probably in some sort of retreat from their most-extreme tariff proposal,&#8221; said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management. &#8220;That&#8217;s incremental good news.&#8221;
The market is coming off one of its most volatile trading weeks on record, with the CBOE Volatility Index <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/.VIX/">spiking</a> above 50 on Thursday,
&#8220;Smartphones, chips being excluded is a game changer scenario when it comes to China tariffs,&#8221; said Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities. &#8220;I think ultimately Big Tech CEOs spoke loudly, and the White House had to understand and listen to the situation that this would have been Armageddon for big tech if were implemented.&#8221;
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett provided the market further assurances during a Fox Business interview, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/trumps-trade-team-making-astonishing-progress-tariff-deals-multiple-offers-table-hassett">noting</a> that “more than 10” countries were already seeking “amazing” trade agreements to avoid the new levies.
Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-declares-national-emergency-to-increase-our-competitive-edge-protect-our-sovereignty-and-strengthen-our-national-and-economic-security/">aim</a> to, according to the White House, &#8220;strengthen the international economic position of the United States and protect American workers&#8221; and will remain in place until &#8220;President Trump determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated.&#8221;
However, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114332337028519855">clarified</a> on Truth Social that these &#8220;exempted&#8221; products remain &#8220;subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff &#8216;bucket,'&#8221; suggesting the exemptions might not be permanent, and reigning in the optimism of some investors.
Despite the recent tech stock rally, many on Wall Street remain cautious about potential volatility in the coming weeks as further details of the administration&#8217;s trade policies emerge, particularly regarding permanent tariff structures and potential exemptions for other goods and sectors.

NYSE Opens Monday Morning After Volatile Week In The Markets

Dow Jumps 400+ Points After Trump Moves Smartphones, Computers To Different ‘Tariff Bucket’

Communist China

&#8220;The View&#8221; host Sunny Hostin claimed on Thursday that President Donald Trump&#8217;s comments on his Truth Social platform amounted to &#8220;insider trading&#8221; and were specifically coded to give a heads up to his billionaire friends.
Hostin argued that because Trump had recommended &#8220;buying&#8221; when the stock market dropped — amid turmoil over his &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs — he had been signaling to billionaires that they should buy with the expectation that the market would shoot up again when he put them on hold.
&#8220;I gotta tell you, I think what&#8217;s fascinating to me is that the corruption is just completely out in the open at this point,&#8221; Hostin claimed. &#8220;You know, because these kinds of actions where Trump tweeted out before this li&#8217;l pause, he said, &#8216;This is a great time to buy.&#8217; And that&#8217;s really a whistle to those billionaires or people that have money that can buy low and then the stock market prices go up, that&#8217;s generally called insider trading and that would ordinarily trigger an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.&#8221;
&#8220;We know now that that&#8217;s not probably going to happen because all of these government agencies have been, you know, destroyed and dismantled,&#8221; Hostin continued. &#8220;But someone with knowledge of an economic policy change that would cause the markets to shoot back up right before posting about how great a time it is to buy right before the policy change happened would certainly be guilty of insider trading in my view.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ana Navarro disagrees that it was strategic insider trading only because, &quot; if they&#39;re saying that this was all strategic then he is a sadist because what kind of government leader puts his people through this kind of distress and sadness and anxiety for a week just for giggles.&#39;… <a href="https://t.co/9cDFtgBLfV">pic.twitter.com/9cDFtgBLfV</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1910366005466890502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Co-host Ana Navarro pushed back slightly, saying, &#8220;If they&#8217;re saying that this was all strategic, then he is a sadist because what kind of government leader puts his people through this kind of distress and sadness and anxiety for a week just for — you know, just for giggles. His supporters always say that he plays fourth-dimensional chess, I think he should be in a padded room.&#8221;

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, SARA HAINES, JOY BEHAR, SUNNY HOSTIN, ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN

‘The View’ Host Claims Trump’s Truth Social Posts Are Coded ‘Insider Trading’ Tips

'The View' Host Claims Trump's Truth Social Posts Are Coded 'Insider Trading' Tips

Sunny Hostin

The View

Liberation Day. April 2, 2025. The Trump administration announced reciprocal tariffs on nearly ninety nations across the globe. The stock market tanked, impacted nations retaliated, businesses canceled their guidance to Wall Street, and the mainstream media began to try to talk the nation into a recession.
Many wondered just what Trump was trying to achieve. Now, to be fair, the Trump administration sent mixed messages about the purpose of the tariffs. Some said the tariffs were designed to drive manufacturing investment in the United States, indicating that the tariffs were here to stay. Others claimed that the tariffs were a means to force other nations to drop their tariffs on the United States. While others said that the tariffs were meant to force all nations to drop tariffs on American goods, reduce their trade surplus with the United States, and to cease all non-tariff barriers to free trade. 
The confusion as to the purpose of the tariffs created doubt about the off-ramp and Trump’s end game.
This uncertainty contributed to a significant market selloff, with the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2025/04/09/stock-market-trump-tariffs-updates-wednesday/83002347007/">S&amp;P 500</a> shedding over $5.8 trillion in value by April 8.
Then, on April 9, President Trump dropped new tariff rates on <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/09/trump-announces-90-day-tariff-pause-for-at-least-some-countries.html">imports</a> from the majority of the United States’ trading partners to 10% for 90 days, allowing for trade negotiations to take place. Trump also announced that he was raising the tariffs on goods imported from China to 125%, “effective immediately.”
The market’s reaction was swift and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/stock-market-today-live-updates-.html">positive</a>. The S&amp;P rose more than 9.5%, its biggest one-day gain since World War II. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 7.9%, its biggest percentage gain since March 2020. The Nasdaq Composite rose 12.2%, its largest one-day increase since January 2001. Approximately 30 billion shares traded hands, making it the heaviest volume day on Wall Street in history.
Amid the market surge, one key development received little attention: Trump designated U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to lead the trade negotiations to resolve the tariff issues.
Trump is showing excellent leadership skills with the decision to allow Bessent to lead the negotiations instead of trying to lead them himself. Bessent is level-headed and a serious negotiator. He understands markets and the benefits of free trade. More importantly, it keeps the nuclear option of negotiating with Trump in the administration’s back pocket. Bessent can say, “you had better find a way to get a deal done with me, or you will have to negotiate directly with the president, and he will reinstate the tariffs during the negotiations.”
The tariff war of 2025 is barely a week old, and President Trump is poised to win but he needs to be disciplined enough to take the win.
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Secretary Bessent needs to be able to reach agreements in principle with the nation’s trading partners, extending the tariff freeze with any nation that drops their tariffs on the United States and agrees to negotiate in good faith to reduce other non-tariff trade barriers. These agreements are complex and thousands of pages long. Trump and the administration must be willing to use the carrot with the same vigor as they have used the stick.
The win for Trump and his team will come if Secretary Bessent can announce agreements in principle with a number of trading partners in the next week, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, for example. The tariff freeze with these countries must be extended indefinitely, as long as active negotiations are on-going.
This will signal to our trading partners, and more importantly, the market, that the United States is serious about getting deals done. The stock market will rise, interest rates will come down, and, most importantly, consumers will have the confidence to spend, avoiding a recession.
Trump’s book, &#8220;The Art of the Deal&#8221; was written decades ago, but the principles he espoused in the 1980’s still apply today.
* * *
Jim Nelles is a Navy veteran and supply chain consultant based in Chicago. His articles have appeared in the Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Foxnews.com, and the Daily Wire. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-RETURN

Don’t Doubt The Art Of The Deal

Don't Doubt The Art Of The Deal

China

President Trump

The American stock market quickly rebounded on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump announced that he was pausing his reciprocal “Liberation Day” tariffs on all countries except China. 
Responding to Trump’s announcement, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&amp;P 500, and Nasdaq had all climbed above their Tuesday close by early Wednesday afternoon. Before the surge, Trump said on Truth Social that he was raising tariffs on China to 125% and lowering tariffs across the rest of the board to 10%, pausing the steeper reciprocal hikes. 
After the news, the Dow Jones jumped up to 40,179, a six percent increase on the day and higher than its 37,645 close on Tuesday. The S&amp;P 500 climbed to 5,388, an eight percent increase on the day, and higher than its Tuesday close of 4,982. The Nasdaq jumped up to 16,830, a 10% increase on the day and higher than its Tuesday close of 15,267.
In his <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114309144289505174" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a>, Trump said that he was implementing a 10% tariff on all imports coming into the U.S. and a 125% tariff on China because of their retaliatory action. 
“Based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” Trump said. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
That announcement came hours after Trump posted on Truth Social that “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY” and “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!”
China announced earlier on Wednesday that it was imposing additional retaliatory tariffs of 50% on the United States starting Thursday, bringing its total tariff on American imports to 84%. Chinese officials accused the United States of being a bully and violating international trade law. 
Top Trump administration officials celebrated the announcement from Trump, saying that it was an effective strategy to target China.
&#8220;President Trump’s master strategy, bold statesmanship and brilliant tactical planning has done more to reform broken international trade in days than anyone has achieved in decades while economically and politically isolating the global architect of economic aggression: China,&#8221; White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller <a href="https://x.com/StephenM/status/1910036581861236901">posted</a> on X.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Market Surges After Trump Hits Back At China, Pauses Other ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs

A listener to my show asked me two questions regarding Trump’s tariffs.
First, why should he care about the stock market dropping? He added that, like the majority of the middle and lower class, he had no stocks whatsoever.
Second, I previously stated that if President Trump laid out exactly what his goals were with the tariffs, his strategy might work. The listener asked how that could be true since Trump would be telling everyone he was basically bluffing, thereby losing all leverage.
To begin with, 62% of Americans own stocks in some way, shape, or form. You may not be in the stock market or own stocks at all. The truth is, however, that there has never been a time in American history where there was a massive drop in the stock market that did not have a spillover effect on Main Street.
Why?
Because one of the ways that capital markets work is the issuing of new stock. If you can&#8217;t issue new stock because nobody is buying it, then no additional capital. The market is both a way to make money — because you can own a piece of a company — and also a good symptomatic examination of what&#8217;s happening.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2175-member-exclusive?row=0&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
The stock market is a bleeding edge indicator of what comes next in the economy. The stock market is a giant pool of capital that is deciding whether to invest or disinvest in business.
The stock market is like a scale. It&#8217;s like saying, “Well, you know, I don&#8217;t use scales, so whether I&#8217;m fat or whether I&#8217;m skinny doesn&#8217;t really matter because I don&#8217;t use scales.&#8221;
The scale is just a measurement technique.
As far as the second point, I don&#8217;t understand why. It doesn’t have to be a bluff. He could say, “Listen, I&#8217;m going to 25% tariffs on you unless you go to zero,” and then do it. Why does he have to bluff? We have the cards. Why do we have to bluff? You bluff when you don&#8217;t have the cards?
So why don&#8217;t you just say it? You can say to the Vietnamese, “Listen, we&#8217;re going to put a 15% tariff on your goods because we don&#8217;t like what you&#8217;re doing. Come to the table and deal or we’re doing it.” What&#8217;s Vietnam going to do? They&#8217;re trying to deal now. Why are you bluffing when you have four aces?
It makes no sense at all. Don&#8217;t bluff when you have four aces. Just say, “I have four aces. Let&#8217;s negotiate.” President Trump did this with Zelensky.
I don&#8217;t understand why we&#8217;re not doing it with everybody.

Traders On The Floor Of The NYSE As US Stocks Rally Most Since 2022 On Trade Deal Hopes

Two Questions On Tariffs

Ben Shapiro

Vietnam

It appears many traders are betting that things are going to continue to be really, really chaotic in the world of tariffs. The biggest problem, however, is that the Trump administration has not made it clear what exactly they want to accomplish with these tariffs.
This has been my point. There are times when tariffs can be useful. In fact, of the three times tariffs could theoretically be useful, two could actually be useful.
First: Tariffs are important to protect vital industries such as defense industries. You need to produce those goods here at home instead of producing them elsewhere. Thus, you actually protect and give what are effectively artificial subsidies to American defense industries. That is totally understandable.
Second: Using tariffs to leverage other countries, either because those countries are our enemies and we want to do harm to them, or because we wish to get other countries to lower their own tariffs. In the end, the goal is a lower-tariff regime.
But there&#8217;s the third possibility, one that is retailed by President Trump and many other members of his administration. Of all of the various rationales given for the tariffs, this is the most problematic and currently roiling the markets.
Third: Tariffs are good and trade wars are good and easy to win. Tariffs will make us rich; ignoring the fact that they are a tax on American consumers.
The idea that tariffs are inherently good and make the American economy strong is wrongheaded. It is untrue. The idea that these tariffs will result in mass reshoring of manufacturing is also untrue.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2174-member-exclusive?row=0&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
And this is why Bill Ackman, investor extraordinaire and ally to President Trump, put out <a href="https://x.com/BillAckman/status/1908992002366292286">a statement</a> over the weekend. He said: 
<blockquote>The country is 100% behind the president on fixing a global system of tariffs that has disadvantaged the country. But, business is a confidence game and confidence depends on trust. President @realDonaldTrump has elevated the tariff issue to the most important geopolitical issue in the world, and he has gotten everyone’s attention. So far, so good. And yes, other nations have taken advantage of the U.S. by protecting their home industries at the expense of millions of our jobs and economic growth in our country. But, by placing massive and disproportionate tariffs on our friends and our enemies alike and thereby launching a global economic war against the whole world at once, we are in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital. </blockquote>
Here&#8217;s what Ackman is basically saying to Trump: Take a time-out, figure out what it is that you want to do here.
Ackman continued: 
<blockquote>The president has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out, negotiate and resolve unfair asymmetric tariff deals, and induce trillions of dollars of new investment in our country. If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.
What CEO and what board of directors will be comfortable making large, long-term, economic commitments in our country in the middle of an economic nuclear war? I don’t know of one who will do so.
When markets crash, new investment stops, consumers stop spending money, and businesses have no choice but to curtail investment and fire workers. And it is not just the big companies that will suffer. Small and medium size businesses and entrepreneurs will experience much greater pain. Almost no business can pass through an overnight massive increase in costs to their customers. And that’s true even if they have no debt, and, unfortunately, there is a massive amount of leverage in the system.
Business is a confidence game. The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe. The consequences for our country and the millions of our citizens who have supported the president — in particular low-income consumers who are already under a huge amount of economic stress — are going to be severely negative. This is not what we voted for.
The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system. Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down. May cooler heads prevail.</blockquote>
The problem here is a vast combination of radical uncertainty and overtly bad policy being spouted by members of the administration. There is no one in the administration who&#8217;s making the overtly good case. There are many people in the administration, however, who are making bad to strained cases right now.
Over the weekend, Trump put out <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114285375813275308">a statement</a> on Truth Social writing:
<blockquote>THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!</blockquote>
But the words “hang tough” scare the living daylights out of the entire market because “hang tough” sets up a lengthy, significant period of tariffs. If that is to happen, we&#8217;re getting all the consequences. Basically, it melts down the markets. If you&#8217;re talking about these tariff rates on countries maintained as they currently stand, if they are implemented just a few days from now, you are talking about an economic catastrophe.
And even if on the other end there is a brand new world, we still have not heard what exactly that brand new world looks like. Is that a brand new world where we are reshoring manual labor from Vietnam to make T-shirts? This is the confusion.
No one knows what is actually going on. People like Bill Ackman are hopeful that this is a sort of 4D chess game in order to leverage other countries to open up their tariffs. If that&#8217;s the case, it sounds great. We can get there if the final policy is good.
In the meantime, we can all hope and pray that’s what this chess game is.

Markets Open Monday Morning After Plummeting Prior Week On Tariff News

Market Sell-Off Continues: What’s Next?

Bill Ackman

Economics

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