Meanwhile, Trump is still causing economic chaos through trade wars—regardless of current halts or pauses in levying tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Jeet Heer explains, “The major mark of Trump’s second-term trade wars to date has been that he has mostly gone after countries considered close allies,” while going lighter on our supposed “geopolitical rival” China.

In addition to alienating allies, tariffs could of course affect the prices of goods and services in the US, among other things—as if the price of eggs due to bird flu weren’t already a problem. I wish I could say Trump is causing the biggest disruption. But we can’t forget about Elon Musk: DOGE’s schemes are well underway, but Musk is also spreading fake news about “state-owned media” on his platform X, and targeting churches involved in immigration resettlement. It’s not entirely clear what comes next. But the bad boys are certainly up to no good.

-Alana Pockros

Engagement Editor, The Nation

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