There’s a lot happening out there, and it’s moving fast. Trump’s still throwing a tantrum over the tariff ruling. His Fed pick can’t seem to answer a simple yes-or-no question about the 2020 election. The MAGA base is eating John Thune alive. And in Nashville, a man who showed up armed to a “No Kings” protest is now facing child pornography charges. Let’s get into all of it.
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Trump Threatens Companies Over Tariff Refunds
So the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs. Companies overpaid. They’re legally entitled to refunds. Pretty straightforward, right?
Not if you’re Donald Trump.
In a Tuesday morning phone interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Trump about large companies (Apple and Amazon were mentioned specifically) that haven’t sought refunds because they don’t want to, quote, “offend” the president.
Trump’s response was something else.
He said he thinks it’s “brilliant” if they don’t ask for their money back. He said he’d be “honored.” And then he said, “I’ll remember them.”
The president of the United States is telling corporations that if they voluntarily give up money they’re legally owed, he’ll reward them. And if they do take the refund? Well, he’ll “remember” that too.
That’s not a wink and a nudge. That’s a threat dressed up in flattery.
This kind of behavior has a name: corruption. It’s the same playbook Trump’s used throughout his political career. Companies that donate to his projects, or whose executives show up at Mar-a-Lago with a check and a smile, get favorable treatment. Companies that exercise their legal rights, or push back, get attacked.
From any other president in modern history, this kind of statement would trigger immediate congressional hearings and wall-to-wall media coverage.
But Trump’s normalized this. Corruption becomes the background noise. Nobody’s even surprised anymore.
That should terrify us.
Trump’s Fed Nominee Won’t Say Biden Won 2020 Election
Here’s a simple question: Did Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election?
Biden got 306 electoral votes. Trump got 232. Congress certified it on January 6th, 2021. The courts threw out every single legal challenge Trump and his allies brought.
It’s a matter of historical fact. Not opinion. Fact.
So when Senator Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, asked Kevin Warsh — Trump’s pick to chair the Federal Reserve — whether Biden won in 2020, you’d expect a pretty quick answer.
That’s not what happened.
Warsh tried to dodge by saying the Fed needs to stay out of politics. Warren pushed back: she wasn’t asking about monetary policy, she was asking a factual question about American history.
Warsh’s response? “I believe that this body certified that election many years ago.”
Warren made clear that wasn’t the question. She asked again whether Trump lost in 2020.
Warsh changed the subject to inflation.
This is the person Trump wants running the Federal Reserve. A man who can’t or won’t acknowledge a documented historical fact in a Senate confirmation hearing.
And the Warsh hearing raised other red flags too. His financial disclosure ran 69 pages and reported assets somewhere between $131 million and $209 million. But it didn’t include information on whether he holds stock in banks, which Federal Reserve Act rules say board members can’t do.
Warren also pressed him on a fund in his portfolio worth more than $50 million, asking whether it has any ties to Trump-affiliated companies, Chinese-controlled entities, or financing vehicles connected to Jeffrey Epstein. That last part matters: Warsh’s name appeared on guest lists for a pair of gatherings that Epstein apparently attended, according to Justice Department emails.
Warsh’s answers were evasive throughout. Warren called him “quite adorable” after one non-answer. It was not a compliment.
GOP Senate Leader Facing Full MAGA Revolt
The MAGA movement is now eating one of its own.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is under fire this week after Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna announced that he’s no longer pushing the SAVE Act — a voter ID bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and impose stricter photo ID requirements for federal elections.
The bill already failed to move forward in March, falling seven votes short of the 60-vote threshold it needed to break a filibuster.
MAGA world did not take the news well.
Right-wing commentator Rogan O’Handley called Thune a “swamp rat” and demanded South Dakota primary him. A Georgia state senator said Thune should be replaced for the “largest blown political trifecta in history.” And a MAGA influencer known as Catturd posted that Thune is “deep state” and should be fired from leadership immediately.
None of this is really about voter ID, though.
The underlying pressure is about the filibuster. Trump’s been demanding Republicans eliminate it so they can pass the SAVE Act and other legislation with a simple majority. Thune’s refused. He’s told reporters that nuking the filibuster is “way more complicated” than it sounds and that he’s not going to do it.
An anonymous Republican senator put it bluntly to Punchbowl News: “John is playing footsie with MAGA on the SAVE Act. Nothing he does will ever satisfy them. Why are we carrying on with this charade?”
That’s a remarkable thing for a sitting senator to say about their own leader. It tells you something about how dysfunctional the Republican caucus is right now, caught between a president who wants to blow everything up and a Senate leader who knows it’d blow back on them.
MAGA Man Who Threatened No Kings Protesters Hit with Child Porn Charge
This one’s deeply disturbing.
Elijah Millar, a 20-year-old from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was arrested last June after he brandished a gun while confronting protesters at a “No Kings” rally in downtown Nashville. He’d previously been diagnosed with a mental illness that legally prohibited him from possessing firearms. He had one anyway.
Now a federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against him, adding two more firearms charges and two counts related to child pornography — including receiving child porn and possessing artwork depicting children in sexual situations.
Earlier reporting by NewsChannel 5 Investigates had already revealed that Millar had a documented fascination with Adolf Hitler and mass murderers, and that he’d decorated several of his firearms to mimic the styles of some notorious killers.
He’s been in federal custody since his arrest and remains there.
This isn’t just a crime story. It’s a reminder of who was showing up armed to peaceful protests, and what some of those people were carrying around in their lives beyond the confrontation.
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Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris. We’ll see you tomorrow.
