Anchor Watch with Bobby Jones | Shipwreckonomics: How Trump’s Gut Instinct Is Gutting the Economy

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. Texas’s democracy crisis. Trump’s economic chaos. The Constitution has something to say about all of it — if anyone in Congress remembers cares to glance it over — sooner rather than later … please.

“They are crimes,” Bobby Jones says. “Make no mistake.”

From the starvation of civilians to the blackout on foreign journalists, the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza violates every law of war Bobby learned in 22 years of Navy service. He doesn’t flinch from the footage or the politics. “Netanyahu wants to occupy all of Gaza because he’s trying to cover up the war crimes,” he argues. “Because now the videos are starting to leak out.” With the U.N. sidelined and U.S. weapons still flowing, Bobby calls out the moral failure: “There are rules to this. And they’re being broken.”

Meanwhile, in Texas, the map is the weapon. Trump’s demand for five new Republican seats has triggered a full-on redistricting war — one targeting Black and brown districts with surgical precision. Bobby calls it “apartheid 2.0,” and Rep. Jolanda Jones makes the case with fire and receipts. She is calling the GOP’s plan what it is: an attempt to rewrite the House by force. “We ain’t fleeing,” she says. “We’re fighting.” It’s not just Texas on the line — it’s whether Democrats show up or keep getting steamrolled one seat at a time.

Bobby digs into the economics of it all with Dr. Charles Ballard, who’s spent decades studying how bad policy becomes worse outcomes. Trump’s trade war isn’t targeted — it’s erratic, reactive, and flattening small businesses. “It seems like he should be going in with a scalpel,” Bobby says. “And he’s got a meat cleaver.” Ballard doesn’t disagree — “more like a machete,” he adds. “He’s not just throwing out the baby with the bathwater. He’s throwing out the aunts and uncles and cousins, too.” Add in attacks on the Fed, the politicization of jobs data, and growing inequality, and Ballard’s warning is clear: The numbers may soon stop meaning anything at all.

Congress was never meant to be an afterthought. Article I puts it first — not as decoration, but as the engine of American democracy. Yet in the face of war crimes abroad, rigged maps at home, and an economy sabotaged for political gain, Congress isn’t leading. It’s not doing much of anything. “Congress is supposed to be the big dog,” Bobby says. “But right now it’s being wagged by the tail.” When the branch with the most power refuses to use it, the damage isn’t abstract — it shows up in every law ignored, every district stolen, every lie left unchecked.

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Fourth & Democracy | More Distractions, Drastic Redistricting, & Ballrooms Built for Grift

Evan Fields · 1:02 PM

Welcome to this week’s edition of Fourth & Democracy: Where the playbook meets the public square. I’m Evan Fields — your writer, host, friend, and resident regular dude of Lincoln Square trying to keep you up to date on what’s going on in the world and how to make sense of it.

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