Today in Politics, Bulletin 197. 9/1/25

… Today was Day 6 of a frail and pale looking Trump hiding from the media and not speaking in public. Andrew Caballero of Getty Images got a photo of Trump leaving the WH on the way to his golf club nearby in VA. Trump appeared only for a few seconds and pool photographers were kept far away.

… A second photo that was posted, which was apparently from yesterday at his golf club, led many to speculate that Trump had recently suffered from a stroke. Investigative journalist Adam Cochran gave his analysis: “More proof of a Trump health cover-up: Trump leaves WH again this morning, mouth agape. Not allowed to speak with reporters. Then it gets weirder...”

… “He once again ‘goes golfing’ at his club. And, reporters are confined to the tennis court area. Not allowed to speak to Trump, and not allowed to seem him golfing, which they normally can. His team posts this picture with close friend and radio host John Fredericks. After days of outdated pictures, we finally get something that seems current - but something is off.”

… “Other than the weird staging, we notice that Trump's eyes are barely open, especially his right eye. This would be consistent with someone recovering from a minor stroke or larger TIA who is recovering physically but not fully well yet. But, it's also an odd smile for Trump. Large, overly toothy, and uniform. The rare times he smiles with teeth, its smaller and larger on one side. It's not this clenched teeth full smile. And his face doesn't push back that much when he does it.”

… “So then I thought, what about tools like FaceApp that use AI models to adjust a person appearance? Since this isn't a press photo, we don't know its not faced edits. Hard to see with Twitter's compression but the outline around Trump's face has pixelated noise, and so do his teeth. Suggesting, although *not proving* touch-up. It could be lighting inconsistencies but along with the weird smile and behavior it does raise questions.”

… “If there is nothing wrong with the president then: Why is not taking questions from the press? Why are they not allowed to see him golfing like usual? Why are we only getting controlled media releases? Why are all press images inconsistent with what his team puts out? We're on 7 days since he was last freely in front of the press. We'd expect a TIA or minor stroke victim to be able to walk and pose for a photo now, but perhaps still have other small tells.”

… “The press are not asking any hard questions, and its likely by mid-week we'll get some simple talking from the president sitting behind the Resolute desk and they'll pretend everything is ok.”

… Right-wing podcaster Nick Fuentes: “If Joe Biden disappeared for an entire week like this, you know that every Trump supporter would be crashing out about it. Where is the consistency? Trump 2.0 has been a disappointment in literally every way but nobody wants to admit it.”

… Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) told Fox that “people are going to be outraged” when they hear what the 10 Epstein victims have to say at his press conference with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Wed: "These victims haven't spoken for decades. When Epstein got that lenient plea deal, no one talked to the victims or their lawyers. My belief is, when the American people actually hear the victims for the first time, they are going to sympathize, their hearts are going to be broken, and all the victims are saying is for closure."

… The press conference is intended to put pressure on Republican holdouts to vote for their bipartisan bill to release the files as the House returns to session. Khanna: "There are a lot of other rich, powerful men, politicians, business leaders, who have committed abuse and who have not been held accountable. That's what we're going to hear on Sept. 3, and people are going to be outraged, and I don't see how, after that, the House can't vote for the release of these files."

… The White House issued a Labor Day statement claiming that Trump’s tariffs have brought in $8 Trillion. Economist Justin Wolfers posted this in response:

… European economist Anders Aslund: “Has anybody in a position of power ever lied as much as Donald Trump? He appears to exceed even inveterate lying dictators such as Putin. When Trump claims $8 trillion in tariff revenue, it is (fortunately) only $115 billion. How can Americans tolerate such lying?!”

… Today was also the launch of Trump biggest grift of all-time, his World Liberty Financial crypto token was available in public trading for the first time since it was launched to private investors earlier this year. Whether the rubes win or lose their money, Trump figures to walk away with several billion when all is said and done - more than he has made on any other business venture in his lifetime.

… The token opened trading at $0.30 but was down a whopping 24.2% in the first 24 hours of trading to $0.212. LOTS of suckers losing lots of money.

… Eric Trump was in Japan to announce the launch: “We are now live!!!! Our team has always believed in American strength and leadership. With today’s WorldLibertyFi’s $WLFI token launch, we’re setting a new standard for financial freedom; built on trust, speed, and US values. This is a huge moment for the future of money!”

… BBC: “The navigation system of a plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen was disrupted due to suspected Russian interference, the European Commission said. A spokesperson said the GPS jamming happened while the Commission president was about to arrive in Bulgaria on Sunday. They added: ‘We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.’”

… “The Financial Times reported that von der Leyen had to land at Plovdiv Airport using paper maps. The European Commission said ‘threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia's hostile actions’ and that the incident would reinforce its commitment to ‘ramp up our defense capabilities and support for Ukraine.’”

… FT asked Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov for a comment on the incident: “Your information in incorrect.”

… WSJ on how Trump’s bumbling has driven China, Russia and India closer together: “India is the cornerstone of America’s strategy to prevent a Chinese domination of Asia. Sino-Indian relations have remained nearly frozen since deadly clashes along the two giants’ disputed border erupted in 2020. Modi traveled to China for the first time in 7 years after Trump’s abrupt move to impose 50% tariffs on India, half of them as punishment for New Delhi buying cheap Russian oil, sparked widespread outrage in India.”

… “These tariffs are higher than those enacted against China, America’s strategic rival, and have been accompanied by many statements by Trump admin officials that amplify Indian anger. Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, caused particular outcry in recent days by using caste terminology as he said that Indian ‘Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people’ with the Russia oil trade. The Trump admin so far hasn’t enacted any additional sanctions on Russia itself, despite repeated threats to do so.”

… “The meeting in Tianjin represented a reset between China and India, and a message for Washington that India cherishes its strategic autonomy, said Kabir Taneja, deputy director of the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank in New Delhi: ‘Washington is not backing down in any shape or form, and no PM of India, which is the world’s largest democracy, can ignore public opinion. This means you have to stare down the US and say we will not be cowed.’”

… Trump’s account posted this today: “What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us. In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client,’ but we sell them very little - Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades. Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the US. They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!!!”

… He didn’t write that, but it was posted on his Truth Social account by someone.

… NDTV’s Aditya Raj Kaul: Trump desperately trying to shift narrative from India’s SCO Success. India will remain defiant and will continue trade with Russia. Trump wants India to buy military products from US. Reality slowly coming out. And hence, he supports terror nation Pakistan. Incredibly desperate!”

This is an abbreviated version of my normal Bulletins which is also out earlier than usual because I am heading out to the Bernie Sanders/Graham Platner rally today. I will give you a report on how it went with a Substack tomorrow.

If you missed yesterday’s monster Weekend Bulletin, you can find it here.

… John Bolton on Sky News: “This is a series of things that Trump has done that has offended the Indians. The basic tariffs that Trump wants are a disaster for everybody, but the Indians thought they were close in negotiations to solve this. Then Trump whacked India with secondary tariffs for purchasing oil from Russia but did not tariff Russia or China, the largest purchaser of Russian oil. Then Trump took full credit for the deescalation between India and Pakistan as one of the 7 wars that he stopped to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, which has made India incandescent.”

… Michael Fullilove with Australia’s Lowy Institute: “President Trump’s gentle treatment of Vladimir Putin has done nothing to pull Russia away from China. His rough treatment of Narendra Modi, on the other hand, is pushing India closer to