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Wednesday’s Final Word – HotAir

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April 16, 2025
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Wednesday's Final Word – HotAir
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Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike … which tabs are closing? …





“President Biden in Chicago talking about Social Security there, saying the administration has ‘dismantled’ Social Security. They have fired and gotten rid of a number of employees, but in that interview with @ElonMusk  and his Doge team, they said they’re going after waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security.”

“And also President Trump has said that he will not touch benefits. In fact, Elon Musk is pledging that benefits will be protected more by what they’re doing.”

Ed: Who thought this was a good idea? Joe Biden’s serial fabiulism predated his senility by a few decades. All this does is remind everyone that we’re better off with a president in full control of his faculties, even if you don’t like the policies — and many do. 

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The petition launch came hours after Joe Biden made his first post-presidency speech. In its news story about the speech last night, The Associated Press quoted RootsAction’s national director, Norman Solomon, who said: “The best role that Biden could play going forward would be to stay off the public stage. That might sound harsh, but frankly, his self-centered mentality has already done so much damage to the Democratic Party and the country that he certainly owes us some belated humility.” 

Ed: He owes us a lot more than that. He and his team owe us a lot of answers as to who was actually in charge at the White House, and who thought they could pull off a second fraud in the 2024 election. But at this point, Democrats would be better off if Biden stayed on Rehoboth Beach.

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Ed: Don’t kid yourselves. The trip itself was the point. What was Van Hollen going to say to Abrego Garcia if he got a visit, anyway? President Nayib Bukele also snubbed him, but Van Hollen got more national media attention over this than he has for anything else he’s ever done. Mission accomplished.

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The Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. trading partners to limit their dealings with China, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.

The idea is to extract commitments from U.S. trading partners to isolate China’s economy in exchange for reductions in trade and tariff barriers imposed by the White House. U.S. officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries, prevent Chinese firms from locating in their territories to avoid U.S. tariffs, and not absorb China’s cheap industrial goods into their economies.

Those measures are meant to put a dent in China’s already rickety economy and force Beijing to the negotiating table with less leverage ahead of potential talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Ed: Well, good — and this is a good policy. It would have been better policy if it had been the focus from the beginning, and if Trump hadn’t muddied the waters with his initial tariff moves. If they focus on this strategy, it may pay off. 

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Ed: John wrote about this last night. We need to see whether the referral actually results in in indictment, but it looks serious for the moment. Jonathan Turley’s up next with a reminder about geese and ganders.





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On April 14, William J. Pulte, Director of US Federal Housing (FHFA), sent a referral letter to the Justice Department detailing alleged false statements made in filings by James to secure housing loans.

For an attorney general who just prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, the irony is crushing.

The alleged false statements are particularly damning for someone who insisted that she had zero tolerance for such irregularities or errors in financial filings.

Indeed, the greatest danger is that the Letitia James standard could be applied to Letitia James in guaranteeing that “no one is above the law.”

Ed: James could face state charges in New York, Turley notes, but also doesn’t expect anything to come of it. The terms of her office require James to maintain her primary residence in New York. But Democrats don’t hold Democrats accountable in the Empire State. 

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If the administration were sincerely interested in the very real problems of antisemitism and intellectual diversity on campus, the university plausibly argues, it might have given Harvard credit for positive steps it has taken since coming under pressure, both internal and external, 15 months ago over its feckless response to anti-Israel campus protests and antisemitic incidents on campus.

And yet any sympathy for Harvard has to be tempered by the knowledge that the school—and others like it—brought much of their current predicament on themselves.

The expression “they’re framing a guilty man” comes to mind.

Ed: This is the first of two excellent essays at The Free Press today on the battle between Harvard and Trump. This one comes from Charles Lane and is sympathetic to Harvard, but clear-eyed on the real issues that Harvard refuses to address. It’s worth reading in full.





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Ed: I endorse every word Katie offers here.

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In the decades that followed, the right’s response was marked by ambivalence. Some libertarians called for repealing the Civil Rights Act, but—like many libertarian proposals—this was never a political possibility, given the Act’s broad public support. The establishment right, meanwhile, largely suppressed its private misgivings. Republicans repeatedly voted to expand the civil-rights regime, further embedding dubious concepts like disparate impact theory (the idea that discrimination can occur even inadvertently) into law.

Now, all of this has changed. After mounting a successful fight against DEI, the political right has come to accept that if there must be a civil-rights regime, it should be one of its own making. Rather than continue to defer to left-wing interpretations of civil-rights law, the right can now advance a framework grounded in color-blind equality, not racialist ideology.

The first field of battle is higher education. The Trump administration has set its sights on the Ivy League universities, which have not only advanced the ideologies of left-wing racialism but made them administrative policy.

Ed: This is the second of the essays at the Free Press, written by Christopher Rufo. This too is worth reading in full. Neither essay responds to the other, but the Free Press has offered them as a way to frame the debate over rational concerns about public policy and interpretations of the Civil Rights Act.





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The weekend’s apparent attempted murder over the weekend of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro with an arson attack is, unfortunately, only part of the wave of political violence sweeping over the country. Recent months have seen assassinations and attempted killings, attacks on political headquarters, arson against Tesla cars and dealers, and other acts that make it clear that some people have gone beyond hardened political hostilities to assaults on people and property. Worse, Americans—especially those on the political left—seem increasingly open to violence as a means of settling ideological disputes. …

If we go back to last year, we have two assassination attempts against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson by—allegedly—a man who has since become a cult figure, a Democratic campaign office shot up in Arizona, and plenty more. Suffice to say that political relations in this country have been nasty for a while and are getting worse.

Political scientists have argued for years that the right is more prone to violence than the left. That always seemed a dubious claim subject more to the period selected for examination than any inherent disposition. It certainly has not been true in the U.S. since Republicans won the 2024 elections.





Ed: It hasn’t been true since 2020 and the riots that tore up multiple urban areas for weeks after the death of George Floyd. Even with that time frame including January 6, it’s clear that is a rare anomaly in the march of left-wing violence — even while American media outlets insist they see no pattern of violence on the Left. Kudos to Reason for being honest. 

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Ed: Supposedly, refunds have been issued for all presales. If so, the fools who put money for this supposed event got lucky not to be permanently parted from their money. 

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Salem Media Group, Inc. announced today that Salem Radio Network (“SRN”) will offer affiliates a one hour special on the first 100 days of the current Trump administration, airing on Tuesday, April 29th. This special will take the place of the third hour of the Larry Elder show, and be fed live to affiliates at 8pm ET, 5pm PT. Both current affiliates of the Larry Elder show, and non-affiliates may carry this hour. This hour-long special will also be broadcast on Salem News Channel.

President Trump has changed the way we look at the presidency and has moved quickly to install his agenda. The motto “Promises Made, Promises Kept” could not be truer. This one-hour special will be hosted by Larry Elder, with co-host Chris Stigall who is also the host of the morning show on SRN, heard mornings 6-9am ET.





Chris and Larry will be interviewing White House officials, cabinet members, and members of congress on this one hour special, discussing the accomplishments during “The 100 Days of Trump,” both on the Stigall morning show and this special. Other Salem hosts will join the live broadcast on the 29th.

Ed: Holy moly, that went fast. And yet in other aspects, it feels like almost forever, thanks to the massive amount of change that has taken place. Mark your calendars!







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