Trump Gets Devastating Review in Consumer Confidence Poll
As Americans navigate Donald Trump’s deranged war on global trade, consumers have never trusted him less.
Consumer sentiment has plunged for the fourth month in a row, according to new data released Friday by the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, a key indicator of national economic conditions.
“Consumers report multiple warning signs that raise the risk of recession: expectations for business conditions, personal finances, incomes, inflation, and labor markets all continued to deteriorate this month,” the University of Michigan said in a statement.
Sentiment among consumers is down 11 percent from March, and the decline was “pervasive and unanimous across age, income, education, geographic region, and political affiliation,” wrote survey director Joanne Hsu. Sentiment is also down 30 percent from December, before Donald Trump took office and tanked the hopes of millions of consumers desperate for affordable groceries and sustainable livelihoods.
Since taking office, Trump has spurred economic mayhem in the United States and abroad with his relentless flip-flopping on tariffs and perverse trade policy. On his so-called “Liberation Day,” Trump used national emergency powers to enact tariffs ranging from 10 to 60 percent on more than 90 nations, including an 84 percent tariff. A week later, he announced a 90-day reduction on most of the tariffs while ramping up those on China, leading to some of the most volatile fluctuations financial markets have seen in decades—not exactly the best way to gain consumer trust.
The index also showed that inflation expectations grew from 5 percent last month to 6.7 percent, the highest recorded reading since 1981. Unemployment expectations among consumers also rose to more than double what they were last year.
The numbers were recorded and released before Trump announced the 90-day freeze on reciprocal tariffs, which may have inspired some relief among consumers. Regardless, Americans across all demographics are losing faith in the administration that promised them economic refuge.
Donald Trump’s former attorney turned interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey is threatening to prosecute the state’s governor.
Alina Habba, following reports that Governor Phil Murphy has directed state police not to work with federal immigration officers, told Fox News Thursday that she has directed her office to open an investigation into Murphy, as well as New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, saying that she wanted it “to be a warning for everybody.”
“That will no longer stand,” Habba said, of Murphy and Platkin’s actions.
“[Attorney General] Pam Bondi has made it clear, and so has our president, that we are to take all violent criminals and criminals out of this country and completely enforce federal law, and anybody who does get in that way … will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment, and I will come after them hard, and those investigations will start immediately,” Habba told Sean Hannity.
Habba: I have instructed my office today, to open an investigation into Governor Murphy… anybody who gets in our way will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment… those investigations will start immediately pic.twitter.com/PyYYQBNKNc
It’s a direct challenge to the leader of a heavily Democratic state by the Trump administration. New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, issued in 2018, limits how much assistance law enforcement officers can provide to federal immigration authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Murphy has thumbed his nose at the Trump administration over immigration, at one point in February alluding to harboring an undocumented immigrant in his home and daring ICE to come after them, resulting in a backlash from right-wing media. Murphy later clarified and said that actually wasn’t the case, but that likely put him on MAGA’s radar, with Trump’s border czar saying, “We’ll look into it.”
A president taking legal action against a sitting governor is unprecedented, and threatens to cause a constitutional and legal crisis. The question is how the federal court system will handle charges against Murphy if the situation gets that far.
The U.S. military has fired yet another woman it disagrees with.
Colonel Susan Meyers, the commander of the U.S. military base in Greenland, was fired after she sent an email distancing herself from JD Vance, who visited Greenland last month and slammed Denmark for not keeping it safe amid Donald Trump’s fixation on annexing the territory of 56,000.
“I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the US administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” Meyers wrote in an email obtained by Military.com. The military news site said the email was confirmed as accurate by the U.S. Space Force.
On Thursday, Space Operations Command released a statement announcing that Meyers was “removed from command” for “loss of confidence in her ability to lead,” further cementing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s quest to rid the U.S. military of anybody who isn’t a white, straight, male MAGA loyalist. Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead the U.S. Coast Guard, and Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. Navy, were fired earlier this year.
Hegseth........© New Republic
