The inconvenient truth for Democrats is that there is still no bottom in sight, as the party of leftist radicals doubles, triples, and quadruples down on diversity, equity, inclusion, all things woke, and most alarmingly, a rapid descent into embracing Marxist ideas. That’s why rational people have been jumping ship from the imploding party. Just look at the tech bros who voted for President Trump and how the right side of the political spectrum reformatted itself with a relatable message: ‘America First’…

On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon spoke at a foreign ministry event in Dublin, blasting the Democratic Party for going off the deep end with DEI, gender politics, and a series of failed policies that he said have harmed the country. “I have a lot of friends who are Democrats, and they’re idiots,” Dimon said at the event.

Holy. Shit.

Jamie Dimon on Democrats today:

“I have a lot of friends who are Democrats today, and they’re idiots. I always say they have big hearts and little brains. They do not understand how the real world works. Almost every single policy they rolled out has failed.” pic.twitter.com/AUG74vKaBG

— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) July 11, 2025

“I always say they have big hearts and little brains. They do not understand how the real world works. Almost every single policy rolled out failed.” Dimon continued, “They overdid DEI …. We all were devoted to reaching out to the Black community, Hispanic, the LGBT community, the disabled — we do all of that. But to the extent, they gotta stop it. And they gotta go back to being more practical. They’re very ideological.”

He described himself as “barely a Democrat” since the party of woke has fallen into the abyss. His criticism of the Democratic Party also extended to politics in New York City — particularly Manhattan, where the bank is headquartered — which now faces the possibility of a Marxist becoming mayor later this year.

“Barely a Democrat”? Please. Dimon was a full-blown kneeler not long ago…

Jamie Dimon kneeling on a taxpayer. pic.twitter.com/XZi5NS9acO

— Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) June 5, 2020

“This guy [Zohran Mamdani]  just got elected — he’s more of a Marxist than a socialist, and now you see these Democrats falling all over themselves saying, ‘Well, he’s pointing out some real problems, affordable housing and grocery prices.’ OK, maybe,” Dimon said. “There’s the same ideological mush that means nothing in the real world.”

Dimon’s criticism of the Democratic Party is nothing new. In late May, the CEO blasted Democrats for the border invasion they facilitated over the Biden-Harris regime’s first term.

JAMIE DIMON: “I call it blue tape. Republicans generally don’t like red tape … But most Democrats, they love it. They want more of it and they want to make it so confusing you can’t even meet the rules, so you get punished and fined afterwards.” pic.twitter.com/D6V4LApcby

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) May 31, 2025

“If you do not control the borders, you are going to destroy our country … Now that they are sending migrants into New York … all my super liberal friends realize what the problem is,” Dimon told CNBC last year.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: “If you do not control the borders, you are going to destroy our country … Now that they are sending migrants into New York … all my super liberal friends realize what the problem is.”

pic.twitter.com/JmWoHbQLNH

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 25, 2024

Dimon’s criticism signals that the party of leftist radicals is nowhere near a reset. In fact, it has gone further off course — doubling, even tripling down on failed policies that are driving more of its own supporters to jump ship and align with the America First movement.

Jason Curtis Anderson from One City Rising highlights just how far off course Zohran and the Democratic Party have gone (and spoiler alert: it’s bad): 

Zohran’s worldview is shaped by his father, who has dedicated his life to promoting anti-Western values and decolonization—a field in which he is regarded as a thought leader.

Marxism has become the philosophy of the “death to America” class, spanning from the permanent-protest and NGO movements to activist-teachers and into the Democratic Party through the Democratic Socialists of America—the political organization Mamdani calls home. Unfortunately, many Democrats remain slow to recognize that this philosophy breeds only misery and is incapable of improving society.

In the 1960s, Frances Fox Piven outlined the revolutionary “Cloward-Piven strategy” to deliberately overload social service and welfare systems until they collapse, creating an opening for the far-left to demand a new system and “prove” that capitalism doesn’t work. It should come as no surprise that she is now an honorary chair of the DSA. 1m

From hating America to preaching Marxism and fueling chaos in city streets with dark money-funded NGOs, people are fed up with the radical left. And so is Dimon.

The progressive vision for America — green new deal cronyism, open borders, DEI, and even outright Marxism , among other disasters— has objectively FAILED. Their agenda is unraveling, just look at Gavin Newsom defending illegal cannabis growers bringing unaccompanied minors to… https://t.co/ujskHhQmk6

— Seamus Bruner (@seamusbruner) July 11, 2025

It’ll be a long time before Dimon takes a knee again — of that, we’e certain.

Two days after the FBI leaked a memo to Axios revealing that the Epstein case is effectively ‘closed’ (he killed himself and there’s no ‘list’ of clients) – former Epstein attorney and associate Alan Dershowitz says he knows exactly who’s on the ‘Epstein list,’ and why it’s being suppressed from the public. 

“I have seen – remember I was accused falsely,” Dershowitz said on the Sean Spicer show.

“Let me tell you, I know for a fact documents are being suppressed. And they’re being suppressed to protect the individuals. I know the names of the individuals. I know why they’re being suppressed. I know who’s suppressing them. But I’m bound by confidentiality from a judge and cases, and I can’t disclose what I know. But I – hand to God, I know the names of people whose files are being suppressed in order to protect them, and that’s wrong.“

SPICER: Just out of curiosity without names, are these poiticians, business leaders, both? 

DERSHOWITZ: They’re everything, and look – let me tell you… a lot of them are – at least one of them is somebody who was accused. Others are accusers, and the judges have said – if somebody calls themselves a victim, we’re not going to give any information about them – but they may not be victims, they may be perpetrators. So we don’t have information about false accusers. We know there have been many false accusers who have accused innocent people for money, and those records are being deliberately, willfully suppressed – and they shouldn’t be suppressed. If the accusation is allowed out, so should the material that diminishes the credibility of the accuser. We want total transparency on this. Every single document. No redactions. That’s what I’ve said from day one… I waive any of my rights to privacy, anything there is about me, I’m happy because it will be exculpatory.” 

Watch:

On Wednesday, President Trump and AG Pam Bondi completely botched a reporter’s question over Epstein – with Trump lashing out, saying “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” 

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump GOES OFF on reporter for asking about Jeffrey Epstein, Pam Bondi says the child p*rn Epstein files can NOT be released, ever.

TRUMP: “Are you still talking about – Jeffrey EPSTEIN? … We have Texas, this, all of the things…are people still talking… pic.twitter.com/SsNWZHkd4Y

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 8, 2025

Then Bondi jumped in – saying “First, to back up on that. In February, I did an interview on Fox and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I was asked a question about the client list. And my response was ‘it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the file – along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That’s what I meant by that. Also to the tens of thousands of video – they turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein. Child porn is what they were. Never gonna be released. Never gonna see the light of day. To him being an agent; I have no knowledge of that. We can get back to you on that.”  

For the first time, President Donald Trump is set to use his authority to send weapons directly to Ukraine from Pentagon reserves, Reuters reports, citing two sources familiar with the matter, after last week’s brief halt in shipments and now subsequent reversal.

Until now, the Trump administration had only transferred arms that were previously approved during Biden’s prior term. Trump is likely to use the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which enables the president to quickly provide military aid in ’emergencies’, despite long-running fears that America could lack for key military hardware if fighting its own wars against a major power, Reuters says. It remains that the US hasn’t fought a direct war with a ‘great power’ in quite some time, going back the WW2-era.

Trump on Tuesday indicated he would send more weapons to Ukraine amid intensifying Russian advances and aerial strikes, after the prior week saw hundreds of drones sent nightly.

“More than three years after Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, Trump’s team will identify arms from U.S. stockpiles to send to Ukraine under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, the sources said, with one saying they could be worth around $300 million,” Reuters reports.

This is expected to include Patriot air defense missiles and medium-range rockets, which is somewhat surprising and alarming given the amount of Patriots the Pentagon has just blown through defending Israel, and mid Iranian attacks.

According to the Guardian, “The United States only has about 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it needs for all of the Pentagon’s military plans after burning through stockpiles in the Middle East in recent months, an alarming depletion that led to the Trump administration freezing the latest transfer of munitions to Ukraine.”

And as we noted earlier, US weapons manufacturers can only produce approximately 500 Patriot missiles per year. The US stockpile of air and missile defenses has been drained to aid Ukraine during the war with Russia. Missile interceptors are in short supply in the West.

Trump’s fresh (up to) $300 million infusion would reverse Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to pause shipments while a more thorough review can be made, after he expressed wariness of expanding support to Ukraine.

He reportedly made that call without first consulting the president, and the White House earlier this week acted like it was surprised that the pause ever happened. On Wednesday the president was questioned by a reporter as follows:

“Yesterday, you said that you were not sure who ordered the munitions halted to Ukraine. Have you since been able to figure that out?” a reporter asked the president.

“Well, I haven’t thought about it, because we’re looking at Ukraine right now and munitions, but I have, no I have not gone into it,” he said.

The reporter followed up by asking, “What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without you knowing?”

“I would know if a decision was made, I will know,” Trump stressed. “I’ll be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet.”

Trump used to criticise Biden for sending weapons to Ukraine. Now, the Trump administration is making excuses for a brief halt to weapons supplies. “America First” is long gone pic.twitter.com/EYNiHOY94w

— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) July 10, 2025

Such obfuscation could be the result of rising anger among Trump’s base concerning the policy U-turn. Trump voters have wondered how keeping up the flow of massive monetary and defense aid to Ukraine is ‘America first’.

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

T-Mobile officially scrapped its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs to better align itself with the Trump administration’s policies, it has confirmed.

In a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr, T-Mobile executive Mark Nelson said the wireless carrier had made some “adjustments” to ensure its policies and practices “maintain close alignment with our values” and are “responsive to the direction you’ve provided.”

“For the last several years, we have described some aspects of our company culture and practices as aligned with ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI),” Nelson wrote.

“Our primary intention always was to create a culture that makes employees feel supported and therefore able to bring their best to the company.”

Nelson said the mobile carrier believes that “skills, aptitude, and a growth mindset are what contribute to exceptional performance—and that merit is how you advance at our company, regardless of who you are or where you’re from.”

The company recognizes, however, that the “legal and policy landscape” surrounding DEI under federal law has changed, and it remains “fully committed to ensuring that T-Mobile does not have any policies or practices that enable invidious discrimination, whether in fulfillment of DEI or any other purpose,” he wrote.

To that end, T-Mobile is ending DEI-related policies “not just in name but in substance,” according to Nelson.

The company will no longer have any individual roles or teams focused on DEI, and is redirecting the “handful” of employees who had previously focused on DEI within its human resources department to employee culture and engagement.

It is also removing any references to DEI on its websites, future communications, and employee training materials, Nelson said.

In addition, Nelson said the company will not take part in recognition surveys that “focus on employees’ protected characteristics.”

Nelson also noted that the company informed the FCC earlier this year that it was eliminating specific targets or goals for “diverse spend” in its procurement policies.

He said state regulators have required T-Mobile to set “non-binding goals” for spending with suppliers that are “owned by particular demographic groups, and federal policy has promoted consideration of suppliers’ diversity characteristics.”

Though the goals weren’t requirements, the wireless carrier has changed its supplier diversity program to a supplier development program that “focuses on small businesses and not specifically on suppliers whose owners identify with a particular race, sex, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristic,” he said.

“I appreciate the chance to explain how our values complement your commitment to promoting excellence and merit, expanding free speech and expression, and ensuring workplaces are free of invidious forms of discrimination,” Nelson concluded the letter.

President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at ending DEI policies and programs since taking office as part of efforts to ensure every person is treated with “equal dignity and respect” and that federal funding is spent properly.

Carr welcomed the move from T-Mobile in a statement on social media platform X, calling it “another good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and the public interest.”

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, criticized T-Mobile’s decision, writing on X, “In yet another cynical bid to win FCC regulatory approval, T-Mobile is making a mockery of its professed commitment to eliminating discrimination, promoting fairness, and amplifying underrepresented voices.”

T-Mobile is awaiting FCC approval for its $4.4 billion deal to buy almost all of regional carrier U.S. Cellular’s wireless operations, including its customers, stores, and 30 percent of its spectrum licenses and spectrum leases.

In a May 2024 statement, T-Mobile said it expected the transaction to close by the middle of 2025.

The FCC is also looking at T-Mobile’s plan to establish a joint venture with the global investment firm KKR to acquire a 50 percent stake in the internet service provider Metronet.

T-Mobile said in a July 2024 statement that it would invest $4.9 billion for the stake, along with 100 percent of Metronet’s residential fiber retail operations and customers.

Mises Institute Jedi Bob “Anakin” Murphy finally faced his nemesis: George Mason University’s David Beckworth, deemed the “Count Dooku” of Austrian Economics by Bob for Beckworth’s apprenticeship under Misesian scholars and subsequent drift into mainstream circles. 

They waged battle at last night’s ZeroHedge debate on the question: Should we abolish the Federal Reserve?

Whether this was the first Dooku-Skywalker battle in which Anakin loses his arm or the second where Dooku loses his head — you’ll have to decide. Below were the highlights for those short on time and listen to the full debate on X or Spotify:

“Lender of last resort”

Beckworth believes the lender of last resort function is necessary but advocated for “some kind of federal facility, something that’s approved by Congress… shifting the burden of being the lender of last resort or the bailouts to the federal government as opposed to the Federal Reserve.”

Murphy criticized the Fed’s motives during the GFC, arguing the ‘lender-of-last-resort’ principle was merely a pretext. He noted the irony that “right when they were saying all this stuff and buying the so-called ‘toxic assets’ is when the Fed started paying banks to not make loans to their customers,” referring to the introduction of interest on reserves in October 2008. Pretext aside… Murphy contended an omnipresent lender is not healthy: it “short-circuited” the necessary “cleansing process” of the market and resulted in favoritism rather than democratized crisis response: “Lehman goes down, others get saved.”

pic.twitter.com/0BRaTV6tJy

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) July 11, 2025

But who will finance the wars?

Murphy: “Making it harder for your government to take your people into war is actually a good thing. It’s not a negative.”

Acknowledging that total elimination the Fed would be difficult, Murphy nonetheless insisted it is more realistic than reforming such a corrupt institution and could be possible with enough public will. “Once it was gone… it wouldn’t be there anymore” and will be a lot harder to reinstate.

Relying on minor reformations and trusting the benevolence of central bankers to self-restrain — Murphy argued — us naive: “Let’s just be practical. These are some of the most powerful people on planet earth that have access to printing presses.”

pic.twitter.com/YBrrfJxdW6

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) July 11, 2025

**

Listen to the full debate below:

https://t.co/ujhMe5XPu5

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 10, 2025

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Department of Education announced it will restart interest accrual for student-loan borrowers in the Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, starting from Aug. 1, according to a July 9 Education Department (ED) statement.

Launched in 2023 by the Biden administration, the SAVE plan calculated student loan payments based on the individual’s income and family size. The plan prevents interest from getting accrued, brings loan payments for those who earn less than $32,800 annually to zero per month, while providing early forgiveness for low-balance borrowers.

In June last year, a federal court blocked parts of the SAVE plan. As a result, student loan borrowers enrolled in the plan had their loans put in forbearance with a zero percent interest rate. The SAVE plan was struck down as illegal by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in February.

In April, a federal court issued an injunction to implement the decision made by the appeals court. The latest action by the ED was taken in order to comply with the court injunction.

The department will start charging interest rates from Aug. 1. The interest will not be assessed retroactively, the department said.

Interest will begin accruing from Aug. 1, when borrowers under the SAVE plan will see their loan balances grow. And when the SAVE forbearance period ends, borrowers will have to start making repayments on the loan, including the accrued interest, according to the ED.

Starting July 10, the department will begin direct outreach to 7.7 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan, providing instruction on how to move to a legal repayment plan.

“For years, the Biden administration used so-called ‘loan forgiveness’ promises to win votes, but federal courts repeatedly ruled that those actions were unlawful,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

“Congress designed these programs to ensure that borrowers repay their loans, yet the Biden administration tried to illegally force taxpayers to foot the bill instead.”

“Since day one of the Trump Administration, we’ve focused on strengthening the student loan portfolio and simplifying repayment to better serve borrowers.

“As part of this effort, the Department urges all borrowers in the SAVE Plan to quickly transition to a legally compliant repayment plan–such as the Income-Based Repayment Plan. Borrowers in SAVE cannot access important loan benefits and cannot make progress toward loan discharge programs authorized by Congress.”

In its last days in office, the Biden administration forgave more than $600 million for 4,550 borrowers under the income-based payment plans.

“The Administration leaves office having approved a cumulative $188.8 billion in forgiveness for 5.3 million borrowers across 33 executive actions,” an ED statement said at the time. It has since been taken down.

The Biden administration’s zero percent “litigation forbearance” forced American taxpayers to foot the bill, while leaving borrowers without clear direction on how to legally repay their loans, the Education Department said in its latest statement, adding that the Trump administration will support borrowers in selecting a new, legal repayment plan.

The Biden administration announced the SAVE Plan just weeks after the Supreme Court blocked the Education Department from unilaterally waiving federal student loans.

According to the ED, 42.7 million borrowers currently owe $1.6 trillion in student debt.

“Only 38 percent of borrowers are in repayment and current on their student loans,” the ED said in April.

“Most of the remaining borrowers are either delinquent on their payments, in an interest-free forbearance, or in an interest-free deferment. A small percentage of borrowers are in a six-month grace period or in-school.”

The global copper industry had been on edge since the start of President Trump’s second term amid rising tariff threats. Earlier this week, those fears materialized when the Trump administration announced a 50% tariff on all copper imports, set to take effect August 1, citing a strong national security assessment. Still, questions remain over how long the tariffs will last—and whether they’ll ultimately be reversed. 

Analysts from BMI Research, a unit of Fitch Group, view the impending 50% copper import tariffs as merely a negotiation tactic rather than a serious policy, intended to pressure trading partners into fairer agreements.

“The tariff threat is, of course, a negotiating tool more likely rather than a serious proposal,” BMI analysts wrote in a Thursday report to clients.

In fact, tariffs are primarily used by the Trump administration as economic tools to pressure trading partners into offering market access, policy reforms, or more favorable trade terms. This view is echoed by the analysts, who believe the president will ultimately walk back the copper tariff, summed up by the acronym TACO: “Trump Always Chickens Out.” They said the president “always backs down on his tariff threats.” 

However, the analysts warned of a painful market adjustment if the tariffs are not reversed. They cautioned that the policy could backfire by undermining the competitiveness of American manufacturing firms without meaningfully reducing the country’s reliance on imports. Additionally, they noted it could harm the U.S. refining sector, as a widening spread between domestic and global copper prices would likely prompt foreign exporters to redirect finished copper products toward the U.S. market.

So, with Chinese stocks dwindling and U.S. stocks soaring, and by the way, Goldman expects a further acceleration in shipments into the U.S. in the coming weeks, as the incentive to front-run the tariff implementation has increased… 

… tariffing copper right now is interesting in its timing—whether it’s intended as a negotiation tactic with trade partners or, as a strategy to flood the U.S. with copper supplies to bridge the gap until domestic supply chains come online. 

Related:

• Copper Soars To Record High As Trump Unleashes 50% Tariff

• US-UK Arb Hits Record High As Trump Tariff Threat Sparks Copper Market Chaos

. . . 

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

Near-term US recession risk is low, but there are pockets of weakness that could mutate into a downturn later this year. The weaker dollar, though, will be key to whether the US avoids that fate and stocks a significant decline.

For now, it’s gone quiet on the recession front.

Not long ago, there was febrile speculation that a downturn was imminent, despite a lack of support from leading data.

Since then, the clamour has died down, and that can make one a little uneasy. Not necessarily because we should be worried about an imminent recession, but it does imply the market is now less prepared for bad news, which increases the likelihood of a disproportionate impact on asset prices.

My Recession Gauge – an amalgamation of 14 separate recession indicators – has fallen and is well under the activation threshold. But there are areas of weakness in the economy that could trigger anxiety and cause stock markets to drop, at least temporarily.

One notable point can be found in the Federal Reserve’s regional manufacturing indexes. Individually they are very volatile. But when they act in concert, they give a more reliable indication. The combined signal has recently jumped back to 100%, with all the indexes now in the contraction zone.

As we can see from the chart above, this particular data point has given a few false positives in the past, so it is not perfect. But equally it’s not something that should be ignored, as manufacturing is one of the most leading sectors in the economy. Moreover, recessions are pervasive. So a nationwide decline in manufacturing is best monitored.

We might also see other signs of economic weakness in the coming months. One point to focus on might be whether the rise in WARN (advance layoff) notices presages weakness in unemployment claims and the wider labour market. Another area to watch is the housing market, and whether that starts to become a wider problem.

None of these guarantee a recession however, especially if the weaker dollar eases financial conditions to keep a downturn at bay. The drop in the US currency should also translate into a boost for stock earnings.

More broadly, though, dollar weakness and (at least for now) relatively stable yields are typically consistent with economic data improving relative to the consensus.

There are more malign effects from the weaker dollar also in the pipeline such as higher inflation, but at least through the rest of this year, it might be enough to forestall a return of recession angst.

An investment thesis gaining traction across our desk is the “Hemispheric Defense” theme, driven by the urgent need for the Western world—led by the U.S. and Europe—to accelerate weapons production, re-shore critical supply chains, and expand domestic industrial capacity. This initiative is unfolding as the world rapidly stumbles into a bipolar geopolitical order, with the U.S. challenging the BRICS bloc to preserve the global dollar system (remember this from earlier in the week?)  

For months, we have outlined the specifics of the Hemispheric Defense investment theme, along with the companies best positioned to profit from new Department of Defense strategies aimed at ensuring America remains the dominant superpower heading into the 2030s: 

• Making Sense Of Hemispheric Defense In Trump Era

• Golden Dome Unleashes U.S. Hemispheric Defense Theme – And Goldman Finds One Firm Stands Out

• Goldman Flags Must-Own Defense Stocks Amid Pentagon’s Shifting Priorities

• Goldman Cranks Up Bullish Tone On Hemispheric Defense Theme

At the start of the year, billionaire investor Marc Andreessen—co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz—underscored the urgent need to re-shore the drone supply chain to the U.S. He emphasized that drones share a common manufacturing ecosystem with other strategic technologies set to dominate the next decade, including chips, AI, EVs, clean tech, and space. Andreessen also issued a stark warning: 90% of drones used by the U.S. military are sourced from China. As he put it, this must change.

In April, Goldman hosted its Private Tech Tour 2025, which prompted us to reexamine eight critical industries—including AI, semiconductors, eVTOL, and photonics—that are poised to define the great powers of the 2030s. The event reinforced the idea of the urgency of re-shoring these supply chains, and in our view, the hard deadline is before the next decade begins if the U.S. intends to remain competitive and wants to preserve the dollar system. 

Which brings us to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Thursday evening announcement outlining sweeping reforms to America’s defense complex, centered on achieving “drone domain dominance” by 2027.

That’s three years ahead of our projected timeline, underscoring the Trump administration’s urgency in expanding domestic small drone production. The move comes just days after we revealed that Russia has already accomplished a similar buildout. 

“While our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones, before us we were mired in bureaucratic red tape,” Hegseth said in the video posted on X. “Not anymore.”

Hegseth’s announcement builds on a June 6 White House executive order about “unleashing American drone dominance.”  

The executive order read:

“The United States must accelerate the safe commercialization of drone technologies and fully integrate UAS into the National Airspace System.  The time has come to accelerate testing and to enable routine drone operations, scale up domestic production, and expand the export of trusted, American-manufactured drone technologies to global markets.” 

The messaging from Hegseth and June’s executive order has translated into tailwinds for defense companies, including drone firms. Among stocks rising in premarket trading: Red Cat +17%, AeroVironment +4%, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions +5%. 

Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance @DOGE pic.twitter.com/ueqQPc7rKI

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) July 10, 2025

“Drones are the future of warfare and America will come from behind to lead the way,” Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire worte on X, in response to Hegseth’s post. 

Maguire is right. Listen to Erik Prince’s conversations from earlier this year about the future of warfighting—small drones equipped with shaped charges are beginning to eliminate the need for snipers on the battlefield, at least to some extent. The operational range is shifting from 1,000 yards with a scoped battle rifle to several miles with a drone controller.

The takeaway: Hemispheric Defense them… 

Via Rabobank,

A combo of confidence, arrogance, and ignorance has seen continued TACO trades on tariffs:

Trump always chickens out, say those who just watched him bomb Iran’s nuclear sites with vastly fatter tail risks than a spike in CPI (the fear of which overlooking Japanese car-markers just cut prices 19.4% to keep access to the US market). 

But did that just get burrito-ed?

True, the Vietnamese government still hasn’t formally accepted the trade deal announced, showing how unhappy they are with 20% tariffs. Yet Trump just dropped a bomb in stating he plans to impose rates of 15% or 20% on most trading partners, not 10%.

He also dropped a 35% tariff on non-USMCA compliant goods from Canada starting 1 August with any counter tariff rate stacked on top: no transshipped goods from Canada will be allowed. Can you see what was flagged here months ago: that the US would set the level of the USMCA external tariff, forming a Fortress North America?

A similar Trump letter could go out to the EU today: will it say 10%, 15%, 20%, or 35%, and will everyone continue to buy EUR on the back of it “because markets”? Perhaps: but, what a croque, monsieur or madame. There’s no ham in that toasted sandwich if you open it up and look.

That’s as Politico claims it was “BRICS-fuelled anger” around de-dollarisation behind the recent 50% tariff threat to Brazil, as I’d flagged: “The White House concluded that non-tariff methods for punishing Brazil would take too long, two people familiar with the situation said.” Brazil’s President Lula has threatened counter tariffs and said he isn’t obliged to use the dollar for trade: is he referring to the BRICScoin that doesn’t exist, or to barter, or to gold, or CNY? Somebody will be eating humble taco ahead there – place your trading bets accordingly.

However, other reports have the US lifting tariffs on Israel ahead: geopolitics sets your rate. 

Staying in geoeconomics, a US metals magnate praised “intelligent” national security tariffs on copper and dismissed any market reaction as “irrelevant.” Who knew markets come second when America comes first? Those who saw we are in a world of economic statecraft, not policy.

Similarly, US rare earths firm MP Materials announced a “Transformational public-private partnership” with the Pentagon worth billions including a new “10X” magnet facility, a 10-year price floor and offtake agreements, and the Department of Defence positioned to become its largest shareholder to create “a national champion, built to scale.” What and where next?

Bloomberg today runs a rebuttal of US tariffs aimed at local shipbuilding, but makes the argument this needs integrated economic statecraft from tariffs to subsidies to infrastructure to labour –as do copper, steel, and aluminium, required as inputs– as well as a push to compete globally for economies of scale. So, either bank on that happening for national security reasons, or on no maritime national security and “because markets.” There are huge implications either way.

Moreover, as the latest projections show we are apparently very far from peak global oil and gas demand, OPEC+ just barred major media organisations from their meeting.

In geopolitics, Secretary of State Rubio called for a new approach to peace re: Ukraine; Trump said there could be “a major statement” on Russia Monday; Axios reports the US is to sell weapons to NATO to provide to Ukraine; and the UK and France will “police Ukraine’s skies“ and seas if Russia agrees to a ceasefire. That sounds expensive, with fat tail risks: so, TACO?

Reports suggest Israel could soon strike Iran again as the latter scuttles about its nuclear sites with intent. Jerusalem is also urging the US to resume strikes on the Houthis and form a broad coalition, after two commercial ships were sunk this week, impacting far more than Israel alone.

Moreover, as The Economist calls to end the west’s failed asylum system (when you’ve lost The Economist…), there’s more entente cordiale via a UK-French “one in, one out” asylum-seeker pilot scheme which will swap one who crosses the Channel for one from France who can show they have family connections in the UK – but, according to some reports, only up to 50 people a week, and in any case not reducing the total number of asylum-seekers in both countries.

In politics, a US judge placed a new block on Trump’s birthright citizenship order by claiming a class action weeks after the Supreme Court had blocked the use of far-reaching district court injunctions against the executive, and Justice Alito had specifically warned not to use spurious class actions to end-run it. This week also saw a lower-level judge try to overrule Congress, worth considering as the financial press worries about executive over-reach: everyone is.

Staying with the law, Trump said of FBI investigations into ex-CIA head Brennan and ex-FBI head Comey over suggestions of faking the evidence re: Russiagate: “Maybe they have to pay a price.” That’s as former Epstein lawyer Dershowitz raised his hand to God and swore he knows that documents are being suppressed to protect individuals pertaining to this scandal, and he knows who is doing the suppressing.

California Governor Newsom’s team signalled he may redistrict ahead of the critical 2026 midterms if Texas does the same to gain GOP seats – except California has an independent redistricting commission; four Republican senators threatened to reverse President Trump’s DOGE cuts to funding for NPR and PBS, seeing him threaten to refuse to support them; and Axios states ‘MAGA on “amnesty watch” as Trump weighs migrant worker protections’ as the base wants no watering down of promises to deport millions, regardless of the economic consequences.

Not to leave Europe out, Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate banned any member of an extremist organisation –which they say covers the AfD Party leading opinion polls– for working for the civil service or police, etc. Coming just after a French police raid on the populist National Rally HQ, one wonders if that will get slipped into the Trump letter to the EU, as with Brazil.

In markets, there was excitement about a potential Chinese property bailout yesterday: yet that was as The People’s Daily argued for reintroducing “comrade” as title and pronoun rather than “Boss”, “Miss”, or “Teacher”; or “Leveraged Wall Street trader thinking a housing bubble is common prosperity” – in either China or the US?

The White House continued its new front vs Fed Chair Powell, with the director of the OMB also attacking him for the “ostentatious” $2.5bn refurbishment of the Fed’s HQ as the FT’s Big Read asks, ‘Can the Fed stay independent under Trump?’, overlooking that it hasn’t been for a large chunk of its existence, and critics question how independent of lobbyists it can ever be. 

That FT report includes the line that even the janitor knows who the worst Fed chair was: the 70’s Burns, who looked through massive commodity-driven headline inflation to please politicians. Fair enough, but who was the second worst: Greenspan, Bernanke, or Yellen?

Lastly, and this time not a multi-tasking typo, Bitcoin this morning is sitting at a record $116,500, with the S&P and Nasdaq also at all-time highs. 

Who thinks they need to chicken out of what from here?