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Have you seen this clip yet? Have a listen [ [link removed] ].
Know what that is? That’s the sound of them laughing at us. At you. At me. All of us.
That swamp MAGA wanted to drain? It’s not only alive and well; it’s thriving.
First, Donald Trump screamed that tariffs would usher in a golden age in America. All of his sycophants screamed the same thing—one going as far as to call them “manly.” [ [link removed] ] Fucking ridiculous. Then the markets tanked. So what does Trump do? He puts a pause on these supposed keys to “liberation.”
It’s the same old, worn-out Trump MO. Create a problem, reverse course, take credit for “fixing” it.
Trump does it over and over again. And every freaking time, he’s cheered on by his cult. Now they’re calling it the “Art of the Deal.” [ [link removed] ] Please. It’s neither art nor a deal. There was no negotiating; just primitive bullshit.
If you deliberately dangle a child over a cliff then pull the child back, you don’t get credit for saving their life. You’re just a madman.
So let’s call the Liberation Day scam exactly what it was: CORRUPTION
The Social Contract with Joe Walsh is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Here’s what it was about: straight-up market manipulation to benefit his wealthy cronies. Trump deliberately crashed the market, then told his billionaire friends exactly when to buy, right before his conveniently timed pause. What a genius, right?
And it’s all happening right out in the open, because the lesson Trump has learned over the past 10 years (or his whole life really) is that he can get away with anything. Nothing matters. In fact, he’ll celebrate with a $92 million birthday parade [ [link removed] ] in his honor in June. Enjoy!
And what do you get out of it? “Transition costs. [ [link removed] ]” Oh.
It’s no surprise. Look at his party. A Republican who literally ran on banning Congressional stock trading [ [link removed] ] now trades more than most of his colleagues. Marjorie Taylor Greene bought treasuries [ [link removed] ] ahead of the market crash (and also solicited birthday gifts [ [link removed] ] for her kid, urging her followers to Venmo him beer money). Kristi Noem is wearing a $60K gold Rolex [ [link removed] ] at an El Salvador prison and traveling on your dime [ [link removed] ]. But don’t worry…they’ll still pass legislation [ [link removed] ] to kill the $5 overdraft fee cap—because that helps regular people, not the wealthy and the powerful.
And we can’t have that in the swamp, now can we?
Last week, I asked you how you were feeling about the Democrats right now. Most of you (49%) said, “Meh, they’re still not doing enough.” But right behind that, with 46%, was, “Good! They’re showing some fight!” That’s an improvement, I would expect, from a month ago.
So on that note, how did you feel about Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer [ [link removed] ] showing up in the Oval Office yesterday and unwittingly being in the room when Trump signed his authoritarian EOs ordering a DOJ investigation of Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor [ [link removed] ]?
SUBSTACK LIVE: Friday, 8pm ET. Please note the change! Sorry for the late notice, but I was asked to be on Jack Hopkins [ [link removed] ]’ show, and I couldn’t resist that opportunity. We had a great discussion. If you missed it, find it here [ [link removed] ].
AMPED UP!: I was psyched to be on with Cliff Schecter [ [link removed] ] and David Shuster [ [link removed] ] for the Amped Up kickoff earlier today. Check it out, and follow Blue Amp [ [link removed] ] on Substack, too.
Here are our Heroes of the Week…
LIZ OYER. A fired U.S. attorney, Liz Oyer [ [link removed] ], was called to testify in Congress on Monday and blow the whistle on corruption in the Justice Department. The DOJ went out of its way to make it difficult [ [link removed] ] for her. Here's to Oyer for her bravery.
IN THE SENATE. Thank you to Sen. Adam Schiff [ [link removed] ] for seeing the tariff scam for what it is and doing something about it. And kudos to Sen. Brian Schatz [ [link removed] ] for holding up 300 Trump nominees in protest of a range of Trump policies, including his shuttering of federal agencies and tariff policies.
BARACK OBAMA. Yep, my one-time nemesis, former President Barack Obama [ [link removed] ] said, “Imagine if I did this…” regarding Trump’s Constitution-defying behavior. He’s exactly right! We would have kicked his tail for it (metaphorically speaking, of course).
KAMALA HARRIS. Good to hear from former Vice President Kamala Harris [ [link removed] ], too. In a speech last Thursday, she said, “I’m not here to say, ‘I told you so'” about “these last few months in our country.” But we all know she did tell us so. She also promised the crowd, “I’m not going anywhere.”
YOU! Every one of you who marched in last Saturday’s Hands Off protests is a hero. A special shoutout to the small New York village of Sackets Harbor [ [link removed] ], who took it straight to Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, because of the arrest of a young migrant student [ [link removed] ] and his family.
HONORABLE MENTION. No Republican who supports Trump is a hero. Full stop. But we’ll spare some gratitude for Rep. Don Bacon [ [link removed] ] and the 7 Republican senators [ [link removed] ] who voted to limit Trump’s tariff powers.
Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way [ mailto:[email protected] ]!
Good Reads for This Week…
Things Everyone Should Know About Trade Deficits [ [link removed] ] –The Dispatch
“Abundance” Is How Dems Lose To Trump [ [link removed] ] –Lever News
“We the People” Need a Vision for the Future [ [link removed] ] –On the Journey
How to Undo Trump’s Growing Dictatorship and the Damage it Is Inflicting [ [link removed] ] –The UnPopulist
MAGA Cult Deprogramming Guide [ [link removed] ] –The American Pamphleteer
Do Americans Need a Citizen's Oath? [ [link removed] ] –Missives from a Middle-Aged Man
Authoritarianism Without Ideology [ [link removed] ] –Persuasion
The Party of Principles, Until They're Not [ [link removed] ] –Notes from the Circus
Donald Trump Is the Chosen One. That's the Problem [ [link removed] ] –The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz
Concentration Camps and the Deportation of American Citizens [ [link removed] ] –The xxxxxx
On TimesRadio [ [link removed] ], I said Trump is heading towards a “bloodbath” if he doesn’t change his tariff policies.
On AL.com [ [link removed] ], I was quoted for my response to Trump’s corruption.
In The Poke [ [link removed] ], I reacted to Trump saying that world leaders were queuing up to “kiss his ass” over tariffs.
On AlterNet [ [link removed] ], I slammed the “Dear Leader” praise from the MAGA right as the market took a dive this week.
That’s a great story about the elderly woman who protested at the town hall and had to be forcibly removed [in last week’s Heroes of the Week].
But why was she the only one? There were 10 people with their phones up filming the whole thing and no one sitting down with her. Why didn’t anyone join her? They let an elderly woman be removed by police alone!
Nothing will change until we are willing to put our phones down and participate. One person sitting down isn’t going to change a thing. All 20 of those people sitting down—that might make a statement. —Michelle Arnold Paine
First, I appreciate Joe’s thoughtful approach to analysis. Recently I floated the idea of a progressive Tea Party organized to push back aggressively to authoritarian rule. Later he mentioned he was open to the idea. Since then, I joined Indivisible, and I took action with many in my community with the national Hands Off protests.
I have my own pet concerns of course, the most important being protecting due process and the rule of law. “Liberation Day”? What a sad joke…a case of Orwellian Newspeak for sure.
My spouse and I helped launch The MeidasTouchNetwork (MTN) as two of the first Meidas Mighties. Since then, we’ve watched it grow to become hugely influential. Joe Walsh, David Pakman, Michael Cohen, Tennessee Brando, Mark Romano, and others in the podcast news environment have given us hope, incentive, and ammunition to fight back! And when I watched American hero Senator Cory Booker deliver his filibuster, I gleaned plenty of new insights to work with going forward. We simply can’t wait around while this administration destroys our country for fun and profit.
KEEP ON KEEPING ON JOE! I consider you an American hero too! With extreme admiration. —Doug McQuain
Why isn’t anyone talking about the fact that in America, we do not pull Hitler-style removals of people to El Salvadoran prisons known for their abuse, physical torture, and deaths of inmates. I don't care if these people (now prisoners) were in gangs. We do not pay other countries to torture people and imprison them.
I hate everything going on with immigration, but especially the fact that our Supreme Court is okay with this, as long as the people being detained get due process in the state that they are detained in. We aren't deporting people to their country of origin. We are enslaving people, and our tax dollars are paying for this shit. –Onyx Dove
As a Canadian watching this worldwide train wreck, y’all need to take the keys away from these stupid, senile, delusional idiots in DJT, Navarro, Lugnut, and Scott Baffon.
When your elderly parents keep crashing their vehicle, it's time to take away their keys. America needs to take away the keys ASAP. Democrats are useless, so it is up to citizens to fix this. Now I fret…will they? 2026 is too far away, and too much damage will have been done.
104% tariff on China imports, now 84% China tariffs on U.S. imports (U.S. farmers will be crushed). EU response later today...this all equals one thing: DEPRESSION the likes that only our parents lived through and inevitably leads to war to end the economic carnage.
I am Tariffied!!! (all pun intended). Over to you, American Citizens. —Paul Hutchison
I've read about Project 2025 and Agenda 47 and about the Third Reich. I see where this is going. Trump is following in Hitler’s footsteps. –Luann Morse
Hey, I want to hear from you!
What do you think of The Social Contract with Joe Walsh [ [link removed] ]? What are your thoughts about what’s happening this week? How can we fix the political mess we’ve created in our country? How do we mend our frayed social fabric and rebuild an America that works?
Tell us your story and share your ideas with us. Email our editor at [email protected] [ mailto:[email protected] ]. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Social Contract with Joe Walsh is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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