Today in Politics, Bulletin 137. 5/23/25

… Corruption King Trump hosted his crypto dinner at his country club near DC, which was advertised as a competition where the people who paid the most money for his scam got invites. He flew there in a government helicopter with secret service and used the presidential seal on his podium at the event.

… Constitutional lawyer George Conway made an excellent point about Trump’s crypto scam - which is the single largest fraud and conflict of interest by far in American political history. Since Trump has now personally involved himself in it during his presidency, and since Karoline Leavitt said that this was on his “personal time” not related to his job as president, that means he will not qualify for presidential immunity for anything related to this scam.

… NBC reported that the 220 guests spent a combined $394 million on the Trump coin, which is an average of $1.78 million per person. Trump and the WH refused to disclose the guest list, although we have learned about some from their social media posts. Crypto billionaire Justin Sun is the biggest purchaser at $75 million. Sun was under investigation by the SEC for market manipulation, but that was magically “put on hold” in Feb. I wonder how that happened?

… Christoph Heuermann, who is from Germany, posted about the dinner on IG: “I got to see some very rich crypto billionaires. But the majority of the crowd were young professionals from the crypto space hailing mostly from Europe. A fair share of Chinese and a few Americans, but a great diversity of most European countries. People working mostly for crypto exchanges, funds, market makers or just trading themselves. Very nice networking.”

… The dinner they got looked overcooked, unimaginative and under seasoned - but I’m admittedly a foodie snob so maybe it’s just me who thinks that. This may seem trivial to you, but I pay attention to these things because they are a window into the soul. This was it.

… Bloomberg: “Already since the early days of his reelection campaign, Trump has more than doubled his net worth to about $5.4B. The approach is clear, the Trump’s are selling the family name - and doing it at scale. They are doing things they did not do the first term. They’re licensing their name to billions of dollars in projects around the world, and the deals include foreign govts. But Trump pledged going in that there would not be any new deals with foreign govts.”

… WH Spokesperson Anna Kelly: “President Trump is working to secure good deals for the American people, not for himself. President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public – which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on CNN: “This might be close to the top of the most corrupt things that the president has done. There are 200+ anonymous individuals who paid their way to meet with Trump. Because they know their names wouldn’t be disclosed, it is likely there are probably a bunch of corrupt people in the room who don’t want their audience with the president to be public. This is corruption, old fashioned corruption but out in the open for everybody to see. I wish we knew who was there, I wish they would release that list.”

… Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to Meidas: “Trump’s dinner is an orgy of corruption. That’s what this is all about - corruption in its ugliest form. Maybe you’re the guy who really needs a pardon, maybe you’re the one who really needs a criminal investigation dropped, maybe you’re the country that needs your tariffs lowered. Trump says he’s the decision maker for all of this. How do you get his ear? Well, you could offer him a $400 million jet or you could buy a bunch of his Trump coins. He’s showing the ways to buy influence with him.”

… Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR): “There is a big ‘For Sale’ sign on the WH lawn - ‘US Policy For Sale’. Anyone who thinks those 220 people attending the dinner tonight who paid about $150 million for those seats just really craved to have a digital equivalent of a baseball trading card, well, you’re a little off the mark. They absolutely want to buy influence over US policy.”

… Even Republican Rep. French Hill (R-AR) was a bit squeamish about it on CNBC: "The Trump family activity in the memecoin space makes my work in Congress more complicated. I view the dinner last night as, you know, whatever - that's to me a distraction."

… Before heading off for 3-day weekend of golf this afternoon, Trump created more economic chaos and sent markets into another panic with early morning posts on Truth Social that he was looking to impose a 25% tariff on Apple’s iPhones and a 50% tariff on all products from the EU.

… Trump at 7:43 AM: “The EU, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the US on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the US of more than $250B a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the EU, starting on June 1.”

… Treasury Sec Scott Bessent was asked on Fox if he was close to a trade deal with Japan. He isn’t. So he was asked if there are any deals imminent: “We're far along with India. There are 18 important trading partners. With the exception of the EU, most are negotiating in very good faith. We're gonna have to see.”

… They said on April 11 there would be 90 deals in 90 days. That was 42 days ago. There is one weak deal with the UK that favors them more than us. But we have the concepts of lots of other deals. Any day now. Golden Era.

… Trump at 7:19 AM: “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the US will be manufactured and built in the US, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US. Thank your for your attention to this matter!”

… Before flying off to Bedminster, Trump was asked why he would want to hurt an American company, and what gave him the authority to tariff an individual company. Trump: “It would be more. It would also be Samsung and any other company that makes that product or it would not be fair.”

… His brain is mush.

… Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said that over 50% of iPhones sold in the US are made in India, and if they are all manufactured here they would cost $3,500 each: "We believe the concept of Apple producing iPhones in the US is a fairy tale that is not feasible.”

… Economist Justin Wolfers: “It's on the tip of my tongue, but it still eludes me. Who was the great economic thinker who argued that decisions about what individual companies should produce, in which factory, and where, were choices best made by the government as part of their central plan?”

… Mao? Stalin? Mussolini?

… CNBC asked Rep. French Hill (R-AR) what Trump meant when he said he was going to "recommend" a 50% tariff on the EU, and who he was going to recommend it to. French: “I don’t know.”

… I guess Trump’s closest allies in Congress know as much as we do about all this.

… Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) to Meidas: “You’re seeing the bond market go down. The yields on those bonds are going up because no one wants to buy our debt. The stock market is down today because, guess what—we’re back to tariffs. I thought the president learned his lesson, didn’t you? Now we’re raising tariffs on the EU and on Apple again.”

… “This, unfortunately, is what happens when you lose elections. Elections have consequences. They have all of govt. They have no brakes. They’re drunk with power. And the only way we’re going to send a message to them—the only way we’re going to be able to put brakes on this and stop it—is to make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker.”

… Quartz: “Mortgage rates surged to 7.08% this week. That means housing, already unaffordable for millions of Americans, just got even less affordable. Adding to the turmoil, Trump said in a Truth Social post that he’s seriously considering re-privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While details remain vague, the move would almost certainly strip the agencies of their quasi-sovereign status, prompting a credit downgrade and likely pushing mortgage rates even higher. At a time when housing affordability is already straining household finances, that threat isn’t helping inspire confidence.”

… ABC published audio from Trump’s Social Security Administrator Frank Bisignano talking about how he got the gig: "So, I get a phone call and it's about Social Security. And I'm really not, I swear I'm not looking for a job. And I'm like, 'Well, what am I going to do?' So, I'm Googling ‘Social Security’. I'm like, 'What the heck is the Commissioner of Social Security?'"

… All the most qualified people. I feel better.

… US District Judge Allison Burroughs granted a temporary restraining order blocking DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s order to revoke visas for foreign students at Harvard. A hearing on Harvard’s emergency lawsuit was set for Tuesday morning.

… In the lawsuit, Harvard alleged that Noem’s order will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders. With the stroke of a pen, the govt has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission. Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

… Harvard also said in the lawsuit that the order is already hurting them with “future applicants who may shy away from applying out of fear of further reprisals from the govt.”

… New Republican Rep. Randy Fine, who just won the special election in FL with Trump’s endorsement: "We should not be bringing people into America to get an education who hate us. They should be coming here to get an education, and frankly they should keep their mouths shut beyond that."

… Former Harvard President Lawrence Summers: “This is madness. I cannot imagine a greater strategic gift that we could be giving to China and Russia, the enemies of freedom around the world. If this is allowed to stand, it is going to be incredibly damaging to Harvard. But that is the least of it. It is much more profound in how damaging this will be to the standing, the role and the position of the US. We used to be a beacon to the world. We're now becoming a negative example. I imagine there must be great joy in Beijing and Moscow, seeing us implode with these kinds of policies.”

… Summers: “Harvard is doing just the right thing. This is extortion. It's a vendetta using all powers of the govt because of a political argument with Harvard. It is violating the First Amendment. It is also violating all the laws we have regarding administrative procedures. The consequences are real, whether it's students who are dissidents from tyrannies who are going to be sent home and possibly be imprisoned, whether it's labs that are fighting cancer or diabetes, that are going to lose key people - some small fraction of whom are going to go on to be Prime Ministers of countries who've now been turned into enemies of the US.”

… Zheng Fang, a 1996 graduate of Harvard Business School whose Keywise Capital Management oversees $2.5 billion in investments from Hong Kong, to Bloomberg: “I was shocked. This will not only jeopardize Harvard’s academic strength, but also hurt US competitiveness. While a lot of businesses start in the US, for them to be trillion-dollar companies they need to go global. If you don’t have the global market, your success is capped.”

… Michal Galek-Aldridge, co-founder of Amsterdam-based college admissions consultancy Think Smart: “A Harvard devoid of its international student population—who comprise 27% of the student body—would suffer a profound diminishment of its global influence.”

… Sam Cox, with London-based college consultancy A-List: “Not long ago, a US offer from an Ivy League school or MIT often trumped a place at Oxford or Cambridge. Today, we’re seeing those same students prioritize the UK, citing a more predictable and welcoming environment.”

Reminder that I am off on Saturdays so next Bulletin will recap the weekend, which will be out on Sunday night. We were going to go to opening day at the seaside amusement park on Old Orchard Beach here in Maine, but the weather isn’t cooperating. So we are going to see the new Mission Impossible in IMAX and go out to dinner. Nothing too exciting this weekend!

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, which was a long one that almost killed me, you can find it here. Btw, I do read all your comments every morning - I am sorry I don’t usually have time to reply but I appreciate all the kind words of support for my work very much. It is also helpful to me to hear about what matters most to you and what is most impactful in the news.

I am the one who decides what goes in here of course, but I also am very open-minded and listen to what everyone has to say because this is your column as much as it is mine. At least that’s how I look at it.

… There is one small problem for Trump on his dream of building a ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense shield - he can’t build it without Canada’s cooperation. And right now, given how he has treated them, Canada isn’t exactly eager to just agree to anything Trump wants to do. Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar: “There’s a lot we just don’t know. There’s a lot that needs to be revealed about how the economic and security partnership with America and Canada will unfold.”

… Trump just assumed Canada would be thrilled with his plan: “They want to have protection also, so as usual, we help Canada.”

… But maybe he should have checked with Canada first before he decided to insult them again over this. PM Mark Carney: “It’s something that we are looking at and