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Rep. Greg Casar accused Trump of attempting to ‘shift the news off his tariff disaster’ by suddenly authorizing the military to take control of public lands along the southern border
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President Donald Trump has authorized the military to take control of lands along the U.S.-Mexico border – leading a top Democrat to accuse him of using it as a tactic to distract from his tariffs rollout.
In a Friday announcement, the president ordered a “phased implementation” to occupy a “limited sector of federal lands” at the U.S.-Mexico border, as chosen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It has been reported that the military will take control of the Roosevelt Reservation that runs along California, Arizona and New Mexico.
The move allows military members to detain migrants crossing illegally in the stretch.
Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat, wrote on X: “Trump wants to shift the news off his tariff economic disaster, so he’s deploying the military into our own country and targeting immigrants. Insane, an abuse of our military, and true to form.”
U.S. markets ended a turbulent week higher despite the escalating trade war against America’s trading partners that threatens to upend global supply chains. China increased its tariffs on American imports to 125 percent in retaliation for the 145 percent levy on its exports.
Trump has ordered the U.S. military to take control of some federal lands. Most notably, the military will be taking over the Roosevelt Reservation.
That is a stretch of land that runs along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, Arizona and New Mexico.
It stretches about 600 miles and is 60 feet wide.
The area was created in 1907 by Theodore Roosevelt to keep the stretch “free from obstruction as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico.”
Businessman and Shark Tank panelist Kevin O’Leary has emerged as one of President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters in his trade war against China.
In an appearance on CNN this evening, he called for 400% tariffs on China to force President Xi Jinping to the negotiating table — and not just regarding trade.
He reiterated the point, saying it was a “game of chicken” between the two nations, claiming that millions of workers might rise up against Xi if they lose their factory jobs if the U.S. stops buying Chinese goods, with no market to replace it.
O’Leary went on to say that the U.S. is not in a recession — no matter what others say.
Here’s BlackRock CEO Larry Fink saying that we might already be in one:
Reacting to the news that Donald Trump has authorized the military to occupy and take jurisdiction over public land along the southern border, Rep. Greg Casar has accused the president of wanting to change the dominant story of the week — that of the tariffs debacle.
In a presidential memorandum released on Friday evening, Trump says it will be a “phased implementation” that begins on a “limited sector of federal lands” chosen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but it can be expanded at any time.
Casar, a Texas Democrat, wrote on X: “Trump wants to shift the news off his tariff economic disaster, so he’s deploying the military into our own country and targeting immigrants.”
He added: “Insane, an abuse of our military, and true to form.”
As he departed a rainy Washington, D.C., for Florida on Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump climbed the steps of Air Force One holding a very large umbrella.
Here’s what happened when he got to the top of the steps to board the plane:
With China and the U.S. lashing out in an escalating trade war, Alicja Hagopian and Millie Cooke look at which industries might be hardest hit…
Law firm Susman Godfrey is suing the U.S. government after being targeted by President Donald Trump in an executive order.
The firm is representing Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation case against Newsmax.
The complaint reads in part:
In America we have, in the words of John Adams, a government of laws and not men. President Trump’s campaign of Executive Orders against law firms and others, including the Executive Order he signed on April 9, 2025 against Susman Godfrey, is a grave threat to this foundational premise of our Republic. The President is abusing the powers of his office to wield the might of the Executive Branch in retaliation against organizations and people that he dislikes. Nothing in our Constitution or laws grants a President such power; to the contrary, the specific provisions and overall design of our Constitution were adopted in large measure to ensure that presidents cannot exercise arbitrary, absolute power in the way that the President seeks to do in these Executive Orders.
Unless the Judiciary acts with resolve—now—to repudiate this blatantly unconstitutional Executive Order and the others like it, a dangerous and perhaps irreversible precedent will be set. Whatever opinions one may hold about President Trump, or about Susman Godfrey’s litigation on behalf of its clients, someday a different president with an entirely different set of policy priorities and personal grievances will sit behind the Resolute Desk. That future president may genuinely believe that an entirely different set of organizations or people have “engage[d] in activities detrimental to critical American interests,” to quote the accusation President Trump has leveled at Susman Godfrey. If President Trump’s Executive Orders are allowed to stand, future presidents will face no constraint when they seek to retaliate against a different set of perceived foes. What for two centuries has been beyond the pale will become the new normal.
Put simply, this could be any of us.
Read the full complaint here
Here’s Justin Baragona with the background on the case:
Visitors to the White House on Friday were greeted with a new addition to the executive mansion’s art collection — a painting depicting the now-iconic photograph of President Donald Trump raising his fist just moments after a bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
White House staff installed the painting just outside the East Room, in the main foyer of the White House, at a location traditionally reserved for a painting depicting the most recent president to have his official portrait unveiled.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, D.C.
Eric Garcia writes:
President Donald Trump had perhaps one the biggest setbacks for his agenda this week. After a whipsaw performance in overnight markets on Tuesday evening, Trump blinked and announced a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal tariffs.”
Trump himself admitted this came after markets got “a little queasy.” It also came after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, arguably the most respected executive on Wall Street, warned that a recession was likely. It turns out that even as the Republican Congress and the courts largely stand by, one thing that can grind Trump to a halt: the bond market, which went haywire on Tuesday evening.
Read more:
Alicja Hagopian writes:
US bond markets erupted on Wednesday as panicked investors scrambled to cash them in in the wake of Donald Trump‘s tariffs and the trade war that followed.
The yield, or interest rate, for US government 30-year bonds spiked – a possible indicator of economic downturn – forcing the US president to perform a dramatic U-turn that saw him announce a temporary pause on tariffs for all countries but China.
“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” said Mr Trump as he laid out a 90-day pause on retaliatory levies.
The humiliating backtrack has striking similarities with Liz Truss’s rapid downfall as prime minister – also prompted by the bond market response to her disastrous mini-budget.
Here The Independent looks at the financial turmoil caused by both and what it might mean for Mr Trump’s future in the White House.
As the stock market turbulence prompts fears that the U.S. could soon be in a recession, an investment management firm executive believes we’re already there.
President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth approach to his tariff policy — announcing an across-the-board tax one week and then pausing it the next — has caused the markets to go wild.
Kelly Rissman reports on comments made by Blackrock’s Larry Fink.
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Trump orders military to take control of border lands as he continues to crack down on migrants crossings: Live – The Independent
