Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Some may have heard of the tech geniuses who compose “The PayPal Mafia.” The mainstream media glamorizes them as “tech visionaries,” a band of rebellious geniuses who disrupted finance and went on to build empires. Yet, beneath the surface of the so-called PayPal Mafia is not innovation for the public good, but the construction of a new form of oligarchy—one more dangerous than the robber barons of the 19th century. Why? Because this new class of elites doesn’t merely build companies. These men influence monetary systems, shape global narratives, and fund policy engineering through unelected channels.
PayPal emerged in the late 1990s during the dot-com bubble, which I had warned would crash by 2000. PayPal became a clever workaround to bypass the traditional banking system, cloaked under the premise of convenience. This so-called “mafia” includes Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, David Sacks, Scott Banister, Roelof Botha, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, Premal Shah, Yu Pan, and Yishan Wong, among others who had roots in PayPal. Each went on to build their own tech empire spanning across biotech, social media, space, venture capitalism, and surveillance.
The “paypal mafia” photographed at Tosca in San Francisco, Oct, 2007. Back row from left: Jawed Karim, co-founder Youtube; Jeremy Stoppelman CEO Yelp; Andrew McCormack, managing partner Laiola Restaurant; Premal Shah, Pres of Kiva; 2nd row from left: Luke Nosek, managing partner The Founders Fund; Kenny Howery, managing partner The Founders Fund; David Sacks, CEO Geni and Room 9 Entertainment; Peter Thiel, CEO Clarium Capital and Founders Fund; Keith Rabois, VP BIz Dev at Slide and original Youtube Investor; Reid Hoffman, Founder Linkedin; Max Levchin, CEO Slide; Roelof Botha, partner Sequoia Capital; Russel Simmons, CTO and co-founder of Yelp
Fortune Magazine ran an article about these men in 2007, and even asked them to dress up as traditional mafia gangsters. These men are the new tech elite who wield immense power and influence. Elon Musk’s deep ties to Donald Trump shone a new light on how deeply the so-called PayPal Mafia has become embedded in politics and geopolitical affairs.
I reported how Peter Thiel provided J.D. Vance a platform to enter politics. Thiel introduced Vance to Silicon Valley and welcomed him into the scene of the tech elite. Theil’s Palantir was recently awarded a massive contract to create the first US federal centralized government database that will house every piece of data on every American citizen. Again, this is happening under the premise of convenience.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security Administration, and the Department of Education have already begun working with Palantir engineers to develop the most extensive federal database in US history. Social security numbers, medical claims, tax filings, bank information, immigration records, education records, debt—every piece of information that various agencies have collected on American citizens will be transferred to the coming centralized database.
Every world leader from Putin to Pope Leo XIV has issued dire warnings over advancing AI technology, believing it is the biggest threat to the future of civilization. The Big Beautiful Bill has several provisions related to AI, most notably a 10-year moratorium period during which state and local governments will be prohibited from regulating AI.
The bill awards the Department of Commerce $500 million to secure federal IT systems using AI. The Department of Defense, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Health and Human Services will also receive direct funding to promote the use of AI technology.
Prohibiting state regulations ensures that all technology is guarded and controlled by the federal government. There is resistance from both parties, as those who understand technology know the power this would provide the federal government.
“We don’t get the full bill text until very close to the time to vote for it, and so that was one section that was two pages that I didn’t see,” Marjorie Taylor Greene stated, adding, “I find it so problematic that I’m willing to come forward and admit there are two pages that I didn’t read, because I never want to see a situation where state rights are stripped away.”
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) called the provision a “giant gift to Big Tech.” This ban will allow AI companies to ignore consumer privacy protections, let deepfakes spread, and allow companies to profile and deceive consumers using AI. After stopping comprehensive national privacy from passing last year, Republicans are going after states and leaving consumers unprotected online,” she stated.
There are theories that the Elon v. Trump clash is based on this provision. Regardless, the PayPal Mafia tech elite have aligned in a form of techno-feudalism, and they’ve successfully entered the US government. Thiel’s Palantir feeds intelligence to the government. Musk receives massive state subsidies for Tesla and SpaceX while criticizing government inefficiency. Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, funds political influence operations and AI censorship platforms under the banner of democracy.
What we are witnessing is the consolidation of influence outside the democratic process.
Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
There is a conspiracy theory that the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is directly related to the AI provision in the Big Beautiful Bill. Looking back at Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance, Vance had no political experience before Thiel funded his ascension into the Senate after funding his entry into venture capitalism. Both Thiel and Musk urged Trump to select Vance as his VP candidate, and many believe this was to propel the so-called PayPal mafia into politics. The three men are also strongly associated with Curtis Yarvin (pictured above), the mastermind behind the Dark MAGA, Dark Enlightenment movement.
Tesla doesn't need subsidies. The other unprofitable EV makers do.
We are giving $7,500 to people who buy GAS cars with a small battery. We are capping the price of EVs, hurting the profitability of the industry.
Now, the media claims Musk turned on Trump because he is enraged by the EV tax cuts and subsidies. Yet, only six months ago, Musk was on Capitol Hill arguing for the abolishment of EV tax credits. “Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla. Also, remove subsidies from all industries!” Musk posted on his platform, X, on July 16, 2024. Musk had been offloading his White House duties in recent weeks and this over-the-top public feud seems fabricated.
In comes a potential conspiracy of “Dark MAGA” or “Dark Enlightenment.” Curtis Yarvin, a former programmer turned blogger, has long argued that American democracy is irreparable and should be replaced by a corporate-run monarchy led by Big Tech. Yarvin sees democracy not as civilization’s peak but as its degeneration—a system that obscures real power, which he claims is held by a “Cathedral” of media, academia, and bureaucracies that spread progressive ideologies. Yarvin calls his views “the Dark Enlightenment” or “neo-reaction” and firmly believes that the ideal government would resemble a feudal state or a tech corporation with centralized power.
Yarvin wrote “An Open Letter to Open-Minded Progressives” in 2008, which outlines his viewpoints. There is a ton of information he put forth on his substack, Grey Mirror. He believes that the tech elite should rule as they are the only ones intelligent enough to fix our failed society. The R.A.G.E. strategy is to ” Retire All Government Employees and replace them with private corporations under a complete dictatorship run by a “national CEO,” or what’s called a dictator. Yarvin describes his approach as “a humane alternative to genocide.”
CNN reported on Yarvin’s views, as did Politico, Time, the New York Times, The New Yorker, and every other big media agency. His views are not a conspiracy, but whether or not the tech elite has adopted these views is unknown; he has met with numerous members of the Trump Administration, including J.D. Vance. Yarvin has said he is “coaching” Theil, according to Time Magazine, and he even called him a “friend” in an interview with the Hoover Institution.
Yarvin was invited as a guest to Trump’s Coronation Ball in January 2025. In a follow-up interview with Politico, Yarvin stated that Trump’s first administration basically did not achieve anything for its supporters as opposed to its lobbyists. I’m not talking to the high strategic command or whatever, but just my impression from my connections among low- and mid-level people is that they’ve figured some things out.” He said that Congress, not the president, truly runs the nation. “Actually, if the White House didn’t exist, America would still work.”
He also said that the Federal Reserve should be under the executive branch:
“It’s clearly not part of the legislative branch, it’s clearly not part of the judicial branch, so it’s clearly part of the executive branch. And because the Fed actually controls the monetary system, I can order it to mint the trillion-dollar coin, or more to the point, I can basically order the Fed to buy assets. And because I can order the Fed to buy assets, I can order the Fed to buy notes issued by new institutions.
That allows me to basically come face to face with two very clear facts. One is that the U.S. doesn’t really have an executive branch — it has a legislative branch, and it has an administrative branch, which is basically managed not by a monarchical president, but by an oligarchical Congress.”
Washington has been briefed on the Dark Enlightenment movement. The concept itself is not a conspiracy, as Yarvin and others do believe that a corporate-run dystopia is the future. Steve Bannon, as reported by the New York Times, explained that a number of tech elites were on the government’s watchlist:
“I asked him if he saw the same deep-level philosophical tension I did. “A tension?” he asked. “I would almost argue it’s an unbridgeable gap.”
He named a roster of major figures on the tech right whom he saw as enemies: Mr. Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, the neomonarchist writer Mr. Yarvin and Balaji Srinivasan, an investor and technologist who promotes the idea of network states, new countries run on blockchain.
Mr. Bannon accused the tech barons of promoting “technofeudalism” and “transhumanism” — bending human life into technologized and unnatural new forms. “This thing is all tied together,” he said. “They have a very well thought through philosophy and a very well thought through set of ideas, and they’re trying to implement that. And to me, everybody’s afraid, everybody’s scared because of their power.”
Before he entered the White House, Vance spoke favorably of Curtis Yarvin. “There’s this guy Curtis Yarvin, who has written about some of these things,” Vance said on a podcast in 2021, adding: “I think Trump is going to run again in 2024 [and] I think that what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.”
Vance is certainly plugged in with the tech elite. Why did Elon Musk turn on Trump? I will avoid the more elaborate, far-fetched conspiracy theories (such as the Black Eye Club) and focus on what we know—the PayPal Mafia exists, as does the Dark Enlightenment theory. Musk is now calling for Trump to be impeached for a third time. Are the tech elite hoping to install Vance to the head position of POTUS? Time will tell the true plan, but this elaborate feud between Trump and Musk is too sudden not to raise suspicions.
Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Switzerland-based Credit Suisse Services AG pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by enabling ultra-wealthy Americans to hide assets in offshore accounts. The agency admitted to hiding over $4 billion from the IRS in at least 475 offshore accounts between 2010 and 2021.
As reported by the DOJ: “Credit Suisse Services AG entered into a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in connection with U.S. Accounts booked at Credit Suisse AG Singapore. Under the NPA, Credit Suisse Services AG agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department in ongoing investigations and to pay significant monetary penalties for maintaining accounts in Singapore on behalf of U.S. taxpayers who were using offshore accounts to evade U.S. taxes and reporting requirements.”
Credit Suisse openly helped clients conceal assets from the IRS and took measures to ensure that the tax authority would not target their clients’ funds. The agency concealed income, falsified records, fabricated fake donations, and serviced over $1 billion in accounts out of compliance with US regulations.
The practice has become commonplace. The Singapore branch was found guilty of the precise crime in 2023 in a $2.6 billion scheme that ran between 2014 and 2023, but the agency received a mere slap on the wrist. The bank continued to serve undeclared accounts. The agency is receiving a slap on the wrist once more as it is required to pay $510.6 million in penalties, restitution, forfeiture, and fines. This is basically the cost of doing business, and potentially an advertisement for Credit Suisse.
This is the game. Big institutions are protected while smaller players are thrown in prison. If the average American failed to file their taxes, or misses a deadline for that matter, the government penalizes them by seizing up to 100% of the unpaid tax. If the amount unpaid exceeds $65,000, the US government will revoke your passport. If the US government deems that someone intentionally evaded taxes, as is the case with Credit Suisse, they send them to prison for up to five years, with the average sentence for knowingly evading taxes being 16 months. Credit Suisse may have paid the fine, but the bankers involved will face zero repercussions. The banks always claim ignorance, the regulators balance fines with cover-ups, and the press accepts the payout as punishment.
Posted originally on Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Marty, with so many markets all showing sharp rises in volatility of panic cycles in 2026, ahead of what appears to be a significant turn in 2027, the rumor is that your computer will be correct. According to my military sources, Ukraine is expected to fall by August or by 2026. They say the real numbers are suppressed and that the kill ratio is more like 20 Ukrainians to one Russian. The fake propaganda comes from Ukrainian intelligence, and the Biden Administration instructed the US intelligence not to contradict Ukraine to keep the propaganda flowing. I was told that Ukraine is imploding. The attack on the airbases in Russia has not changed the game. It was a desperate attempt to pretend Ukraine is winning. Russia is in no hurry for peace because this is a war of attrition that they are winning. The West is out of patriot missiles, artillery shells, and tanks. Ukraine has gone through everyone’s stockpiles, leaving NATO incapable of war with Russia before 2027, which seems to be what Socrates is saying. They are probably taking Socrates’ for real projections of time, based on what I hear.
Do you agree with these statements?
PC
ANSWER: Ukraine is essentially on fire, and Russia is in no hurry to negotiate peace, for Ukraine will burn itself out. This is a war of attrition, and Russia is outlasting Ukraine and all of NATO. Russia has expanded its military and its arms production, and it is far superior to NATO; it is laughable. The politicians of Europe are being misled by the NEOCONS who have never won a single war since WWII.
There were three main objectives of Russia that the West has constantly ignored. (1) Ukraine does NOT enter NATO, (2) Ukraine is not militarized, and (3) Ukraine must be de-Nazified. That third objective I can only see being possible by just killing all the Nazis in Ukraine, but honestly who are lurking behind smiles like Kaja Kallas, who has come out and said the EU will not honor any peace deal that Trump negotiates. She is the daughter of Siim Kallas, a former Prime Minister of Estonia, and Kristi Kallas, a physician. However, her family has a history of political involvement, which is the source of the problem.
Her mother and grandmother were deported to Siberia during the Soviet occupation because of her family’s ties to the Nazis. I should emphasize that her grandfather, Johannes Kallas, was investigated post-war but never prosecuted, for he served as a deputy chief of police in Tallinn under the German occupation (1941–1944). He was not formally a member of the Nazi Party. This role was collaborating with Nazi Germany. Kaja Kallas herself or her immediate family held Nazi sympathies. Many saw the Nazis as liberators from the Soviets.
Her personal hatred of Russia was because her mother and grandmother were sent to Siberia. Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union (1940–1941), then Nazi Germany (1941–1944), and again by the USSR (1944–1991). In 2021, she stated:
“I cannot be held accountable for the choices of my grandparents’ generation, just as young Germans today are not responsible for what happened during WWII.”
Nevertheless, as Prime Minister of Estonia, she came out and said that Russia was too big and should be broken up. That was a deeply biased personal view, and this is the problem with this de-Nazification demand of Putin. It is hard to imagine how that will be possible when people like Kallas hate the Russian people for the very sins of previous generations who were communists. As a Russian or Chinese, if they want to return to the glory days of Communism, 99.9% will say no way. People like Zelensky and Kallas refuse to let go of this hatred of the Russian people for the days of Lenin and Stalin.
The hatred of the Russian people for the days of Stalin, who was a Georgian and not a Russian, is just overwhelming. Merkel deliberately lied to Putin and signed a peace deal only to allow Ukraine to build an army and thereby militarize. Then you have the EU that wants to bring Ukraine into NATO to create war with Russia. Sorry, but the computer warns that Russia will win, and this will be the third loss for Europe.
Just about every intelligence agency tunes into Socrates because it is not based on personal biases or opinions. In times of war, the truth is rarely ever reported. This is when an AI machine can offer the best advice, as there is no human interaction to influence the outcome.
Posted originally on CTH on June 8, 2025 | Sundance
According to most media estimates, there are over a million illegal aliens in the greater Los Angeles area with many of them currently in a state of uprising against the United States government. President Trump has authorized the Defense Department and Dept of Homeland Security to take any and all measures to protect the life and property of American citizens now held hostage within the conflict zone.
The U.S Northern Command is prepared to deploy additional troops and approximately 500 active-duty marines if needed.
PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – By direction of Secretary of Defense and in coordination with U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), approximately 2,000 California Army National Guard soldiers have been placed under federal command and control in a Title 10 status to support the protection of federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area.
As USNORTHCOM’s land component command, U.S. Army North stood up Task Force 51, with a two-star general, as the ground command and control element over the Title 10 forces. At this time, there are approximately 300 members of the California Army National Guard’s 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team deployed at the following locations in the greater Los Angeles area: Los Angeles, Paramount, and Compton, California.
Additionally, approximately 500 Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, are in a prepared to deploy status should they be necessary to augment and support the DoD’s protection of federal property and personnel efforts. [LINK]
Being put on a plane and flown back to your country is the most benevolent and humanitarian punishment for violating our laws and illegally entering our country.
Posted originally on CTH on June 8, 2025 | Sundance
I know no one likes to watch the Republican warmongers advocate for expanded intervention, conflict and escalated global violence as a means for them to retain power. However, this is one of those sickening points of advocacy that need to be watched and listened to very carefully.
Mike McCaul is Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and he has never experienced a war he didn’t enjoy. McCaul notes he is happy for the House to receive a sanction package against Russia from Lindsey Graham that will likely be voted on in the Senate tomorrow. Last week the Senate met with Ukraine officials in a closed-door session, where the after-activity review was never outlined by media. DC is pretending the meeting never took place.
After discussing his advocacy for enhanced U.S. conflict against Russia, the Texas republican notes he has just spent 3-days in a strategy session with the leadership of Israel, specifically Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the topic of Iran. As McCaul notes, “there is no question in my mind coming out of that meeting, what Mr Netanyahu’s intentions are and that is to strike Iran when the negotiations go bad.” WATCH:
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McCaul asked Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, “at least coordinate with us if you go alone to respond to the retaliation coming out of Iran.” In essence, it will be easier for us to convince the American people to defend you, if you at least tell us after you attack Iran. This is nuts.
Posted originally on CTH on June 8, 2025 | Sundance
The implication of the remark, as President Trump says, “a better security” venue, is that something of much greater significance than traditional White House operations is in need of attention. To such a degree, that prior strategic discussion arrangements are not considered “secure enough.”
President Trump does not like Camp David.
Before taking office, President Trump once told a German journalist in an interview, “Camp David is very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.”
So, the big picture questions become:
What issue would be of such importance, that changing the venue would be needed in order to address it?
What issue(s) has DC interests so aligned, that Rubio and Trump are two of a very small group on the other side of it?
I suspect this is about Iran.
Last Wednesday, June 4th:
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Put the datapoints together and my speculation is… The terms of an Iran agreement not to generate or build nuclear weapons comes down to the issue of verification. In the verification aspect, perhaps, just perhaps, a Russian inspection regime could be negotiated in the deal. Vladimir Putin agrees to utilize Russian scientists as the verification component of a nuclear agreement between the USA and Iran.
That type of agreement would necessitate a pitch to U.S/Israeli advocates (congress and others) that a joint verification group of Russian and USA nuclear inspectors would audit and verify compliance with the terms. The unspoken details would likely include Russia as the lead, in order to gain support from Iran, but that would be a matter of executive level discussion.
Obviously, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli government, the Israeli lobby in the USA and AIPAC beneficiaries in congress, would collectively go bananas.
It’s just a guess; pure speculation on my part, but something like this seems quite possible if you followed closely.
NEW 🔴
Iran is expected to deliver its response to the U.S. nuclear deal proposal tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/6r3MqtGCj6
Posted originally on CTH on June 8, 2025 | Sundance
President Trump and Secretary of State/National Security Advisor Marco Rubio depart New Jersey en route to Camp David for a principals group meeting, discussion and strategy session. As President Trump notes, there will be “generals, and ¹others” in attendance at Camp David, using the additional term “better security.”
On the subject of whether he would trigger the Insurrection Act to quell violence in Los Angeles, President Trump replied, “that depends on if there’s an insurrection.” lol President Trump said he and his team are watching the events closely, but they will not permit law enforcement to be harmed in any way. Violence will not be tolerated.
President Trump then asked the assembled pool if they had any questions for Marco Rubio, they did not – so the duo left. WATCH:
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¹Crazy impossible thought… what if, Putin or similar (Iran/Gaza?). Nah,.. crazy thought. Nuts. It’s all just coincidental alignments of stuff. No way. Ignore my rambling.
Posted originally on CTH on June 8, 2025 | Sundance
The blood slowly drains from the face of Margaret Brennan as she faces the indefatigable smiling truth that Kevin Hassett represents. The furrowed brows deepen, the lips pulsate to a purple posture, the accusatory sanctimony drips from her squints and failed constructs until ultimately, she is reduced to a sneering inflection of autonomous twitching.
Kevin Hassett smiles, thanks Ms. Brennan for her endeavors, outlines the White House position on the BBB and China trade negotiations, then happily orders an ice-cream cone for his walk back to the office on a bright sunny day.
[TRANSCRIPT] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. He joins us from the White House. Good morning to you.
KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Hey Margaret, good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So I do want to allow you to respond to some of the very specific criticisms that Senator Klobuchar made. One of the things she brought up was something that, frankly, the Senate Majority Leader seemed to acknowledge was under discussion, and that was touching Medicare, making some kind of adjustment. He said anything we can do that’s waste, fraud, and abuse is open to discussion. Is the White House open to any discussion around Medicare?
HASSETT: Well, first of all, what’s happening is that the senators, respecting the legislative process, are discussing what they think that they can put on the table. And the President has made it clear that ending waste, fraud, and abuse, and giving benefits to illegals and giving benefits to people who are able-bodied workers, those are his high priorities. If the Senate comes up with other things they’d like us to look at, I guess- I guess we would have a look at them. But, there have been a lot of false stories about Medicare being on the table, and it’s totally not on the table.
The way that that was covered in the news a couple of weeks ago was that in the end, when the budget process ends, if they don’t waive the budget caps, then there’s going to be reductions across the board in spending. And that’s what no one would intend, and no Democrat would vote for that, but that was covered as our intent to go after Medicare, and it was just a big fake news story last week.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so Leader Thune and leader Johnson have- and Speaker Johnson have said anything with waste, fraud, and abuse. But you right now, you are taking-
HASSETT: Waste, fraud and abuse. Waste, fraud and abuse–
MARGARET BRENNAN: But to be–
HASSETT: It’s the same.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood, but you were taking Medicare off the table. The White House says don’t do it-
HASSETT: No we- no, but, but, but, but I’ve not- I’ve seen a massive amount of waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, and I’ve not been briefed on Medicare waste, fraud and abuse. But if they find something then, of course, we would look at it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You would look at it —
HASSETT: — Of Course
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Senator Hawley was also brought up by Senator Klobuchar- Klobuchar, and Missouri senator has made it clear he wants to see changes to the increased copayment requirements for Medicaid that was in the House version that was sent over to the Senate. Are you comfortable with this House bill as it is written? What do you want to see done to Medicaid?
HASSETT: Again, what we want to see done now is we want the Senate to pass the bill, and then we want the House and the Senate to work out their differences, while negotiating with us. And right now, the Senate has to get the votes they need to pass the bill, and we’re supporting them in that process. But you also need to be mindful when you’re thinking about this, that one of the things that we put out a report for the Council of Economic Advisers, that if the bill doesn’t pass, then they estimate that this would cause a reduction of GDP by 4 percent. We’d be in a deep recession. We’d lose six or seven million jobs of those people, almost all those people, would lose their insurance. And so this idea that the only person who ever is going to get insurance is someone who’s getting it from the government is just incorrect, and if we create the jobs that we have in the bill, then we’re going to create a heck of a lot more insurance than what we’re talking about in waste, fraud and abuse.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you’re open to what Senator Hawley is looking to change, though, that’s what I understand.
HASSETT: I’d, I’d have to go see what he has and I’d want to look at the high details before I say I’ll open it. And I also would want to talk to the President about the specific matter, which I’ve not done.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so one of the other massive influences on the economy right now is the, the trade war, particularly with China. Tomorrow in London, the treasury secretary, the trade representative and the commerce secretary are going to meet with Chinese officials. Treasury Secretary Bessent told us last Sunday that the recent tension was around exports of critical minerals. When will those exports resume? And what do you expect to come from tomorrow’s meeting?
HASSETT: Right. Those, those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is, you know, higher than it was, but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva. And President Trump, being a deal maker, talked with President Xi, and he said, let’s take, you know, our senior guys, and the people who are the same level as you. Let’s have them meet somewhere, and let’s get these things cleared up, and then we’ll clear up what you don’t like that we have agreed to release on our side, and we’re going to shake hands about it. He literally said, I want to meet in London, and I want to shake hands on it, so that we know we’ve got a deal. And then after that, I think there was a very affable exchange about President Trump visiting China and President Xi coming here. And so, I’m very comfortable that this deal is about to be closed, and it’s going to be closed not with a bunch of staffers and bureaucratic language, but with handshakes. So that’s the way President Trump operates.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Same terms, nothing new.
HASSETT: Well, I think that there- we can’t talk about the terms that they’re coming out with throughout because they’re still working on it. But the point is, we want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else, to flow just as they did before the beginning of April. And we don’t want any technical details slowing that down, and that’s clear to them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So our CBS News polling shows that most Americans don’t like the tariffs, and most Americans don’t think the Trump administration has a plan. We’re also hearing from top economists, including the head of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve who said the rules are really unclear, and business leaders need certainty. When will they get that certainty from the administration?
HASSETT: Well, you could be certain that there’s going to be some tariffs, and the stuff that folks have been saying that’s going to happen to tariffs is inconsistent with what you and I have talked about before, Margaret. So what’s going on, right, is that we’ve had a trade deficit with China forever and ever, because they just want to sell stuff here, so they create jobs in China and help, you know, control their government so people are unemployed, that it’s harder for a dictatorship to run. And so the point is just that, that if we put a tariff on them, then they’re going to bear the tariff. So what just happened? What just happened is that we had about 60 billion dollars in tariff revenue in the U.S., and inflation, inflation, every measure of inflation, is the lowest that it’s been for more than four years. And so all of our policies together are reducing inflation and helping reduce the deficit by getting revenue from other countries. And how much revenue, I think that you might have covered it, the Congressional Budget Office put out a 10-year estimate that says that the tariff revenue that’s already in place right now is going to raise 2.8 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. That’s more than their own estimate, their own static estimate. So this entire bill, so that that’s deficit reduction right there.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I’m glad you brought up that stat, because it made me wonder. You just said that one certainty is there will be tariffs. You are saying tariffs are staying put, that this is a constant source of–
HASSETT: –we’re, we’re negotiating reciprocal-
MARGARET BRENNAN: –of
HASSETT: –You’ve seen deals.
[CROSSTALK]
HASSETT: And exactly where they are. We’re working it out, and we’re opening up markets. So that–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah but the deals- this is where I’m stuck, because deals is about negotiating down the tariffs. So that’s a diminishing source of revenue over time. But, are you saying that there will be blanket tariffs–
HASSETT: –Last year–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –of what percent?
HASSETT: Last year, before we got here, we were raising 80 billion a year in tariffs. Right now, the CBO projects that we’re going to get 2.8 trillion over the next 10 years. Exactly where the number ends up is going to depend on how much foreign countries open up their markets to our products and how much- how well they treat our farmers and we’ll see–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –So you don’t know how much revenue you are going to have–
HASSETT: Revenue, revenue was 80 billion last year. Revenue- tariff revenue, is not going away. That’s what I’m saying.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But we don’t know what the tariffs are going to be. So-
HASSETT: We’re negotiating them on a country-by-country basis.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Exactly.
HASSETT: We’ve got a whole bunch of trade deals. We’ve got a trade deal with UK that’s already, you can see what the trade deal with the UK is now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, so it’s a fluctuating number. It’s not- it’s not a constant. But before I let you go, the Senate Finance Chair, I know you were in this meeting at the White House this week, he indicated quadrupling the state and local tax deduction, or SALT tax, is not something he’s interested in doing. They don’t have the politics in the Senate like they do in the House that would require it, right. So is the White House committed to keeping this, this quadrupling of the SALT tax deduction as it is?
HASSETT: The- the President has said that he supports changing the law, the state and lo- local tax deduction. And this is a very, you know, it’s a horse trading issue with the Senate and the House. And again, the President has listed his priorities of the tax bill, and you know, it’s no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, you know them all. And the Senate and the House, they know that those priorities for the President are red lines. And then on the other side, they’re negotiating what they’re going to negotiate, because there’s a different level of support in the Senate that there was in the House. And in the end, the one thing we need, the President wants, is a bill that passes. It passes on the Fourth of July.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So Senator Crapo needs to prepare himself that that is staying as the House wrote it.
HASSETT: He’s got to work it out with the House.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Kevin Hassett, thank you for your time this morning. We’ll be back in a moment.
Posted originally on CTH on June 8, 2025 | Sundance
After agreeing to pay $15 million to President Trump from a previous lawsuit, apparently ABC executives are not in the mood for more anti-Trump bias revelations within their ranks. ABC News has suspended Senior White House Correspondent Terry Moran for a Twitter rage against President Trump and Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller.
Moran sent the following Tweet last night, which -subsequent to the sunlight it contains about his bias- he apparently deleted. However, not before several people noticed it, including the White House Press Secretary.
ABC Responded to the mask dropping by suspending Terry Moran for not concealing his bias.
WASHINGTON DC – Veteran ABC News correspondent Terry Moran was suspended Sunday after he posted a highly critical assessment of President Donald Trump and Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on the social media platform X.
In the missive, which was posted shortly after midnight, Moran said both Trump and Miller are “world-class haters.” For Trump, he said, hatred is “only a means to an end, and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”
For Miller, on the other hand, “hatreds are his spiritual nourishment,” Moran charged. “He eats his hate.”
Moran — who landed a rare Oval Office interview with Trump in April — later deleted the tweet and didn’t post anything further.
On Sunday morning, Trump administration officials condemned Moran and said the post reflected poorly on ABC News as an institution. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly pushed ABC to discipline Moran.
[…] About one hour later, the news division said Moran, its senior national correspondent and former “Nightline” anchor, had been suspended.
“ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others,” a spokesperson said in response to CNN’s inquiry about Moran. “The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.” (MORE)
The most important fact about Terry’s full public meltdown is what it shows about the corporate press in America. For decades, the privileged anchors and reporters narrating and gatekeeping our society have been radicals adopting a journalist’s pose. Terry pulled off his mask.
An ABC journalist @TerryMoran posted this absolutely vile smear of Stephen Miller. It’s dripping with hatred. Remember that every time you watch ABC’s coverage of the Trump administration.
As it happens, I know Stephen quite well. And he’s motivated by love of country. He’s… pic.twitter.com/hX93zKTWjy
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