As the stock market continues to drop due to President Donald Trump’s tariff program and resulting anxiety over the possible recession economists warn may come — reinforced by his refusal to rule one out — the President has decided to go on a campaign to promote Tesla, the electric vehicle company owned by the leader of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk. Tesla’s stock price reportedly had been sliced nearly in half since Trump was elected.

Late Tuesday afternoon Trump and Musk “turned the South Lawn of the White House into a temporary Tesla showroom in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk,” NBC News reported. “Tesla delivered five of its vehicles to the White House and parked them on a driveway for Trump to personally inspect, hours after he said in a post on his app Truth Social that he planned to buy a Tesla to demonstrate his support for Musk and for the slumping car company.”

READ MORE: ‘Cower Before a Mad King’: GOP Moves to ‘Surrender’ Congress’ Power Over Trump’s Tariffs

CNN called it “an extraordinary scene” as Trump “effectively held a combination press conference and live Tesla ad outside the White House,” while noting that “Tesla stock climbed on Tuesday, with Trump saying that he would label any violence against Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism.”

“I will do that. I’m gonna stop them.” — Trump on declaring that Tesla protesters are domestic terrorists

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM

Many Americans are increasingly concerned about the economy as Trump’s tariffs start to take hold and the markets continue to drop. The DOW, for example, has lost 2800 points in the past month, including Tuesday’s drop of 478 points.

Trump lavished praise on Musk’s Model S, repeatedly calling it “beautiful” and expressing surprise, remarking, “everything’s computer.” His remarks are in stark contrast to his history of denouncing electric vehicles, and more recently, indicating he plans to make it more expensive for Americans to buy them.

According to Kelley Blue Book, the Model S starts at $76,880.

During the event, Musk lavished praise on President Trump, declaring, “As a function of the great policies of President Trump and his administration, and as an act of faith in America, Tesla is going to DOUBLE vehicle output in the United States within the next two years. Double.”

Trump told reporters he was going to buy a Tesla today “because number one this is a great product, as good as it gets, and number two because this man has devoted his energy, and his life to doing this.”

“I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people, Trump continued. Earlier this week on social media Trump blamed “Radical Left Lunatics” for “illegally,” he claimed, boycotting Tesla.

READ MORE: ‘Heartless’: Trump’s $660 Million School Food Cut Is Latest GOP Attack on Nutrition Aid

“And I just want people to know that you can’t be penalized for being a patriot. And he’s a great patriot. And he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla and I mean, nobody else has a car company started up in the last 30 years that’s been successful, and I don’t think so. And not only successful, but super successful and because he’s able to find billions and billions and billions of dollars of fraud and waste and all other things.”

News reports question the evidence of fraud and waste unearthed by Musk’s DOGE team.

“I mean, our country is gonna be very strong very soon,” Trump added, “because of a lot of the things that he’s done, and a lot of the things that I’m doing. And uh this there is no better team, but there’s no better for what we’re doing. There’s nobody like this, and he shouldn’t be penalized, and when I watched the other day, I said, I can’t believe it. It should be the opposite.”

But it was Fox News’ Peter Doocy, known for his attacks on the Biden administration, who shifted the conversation, challenging the event that resembled a presidential endorsement of Tesla.

“President Trump, buying a new car while there are some folks who will see this clip at home, and they are struggling with their retirement accounts — down at the moment — uncertainty about work ahead,” he told Trump.

“Well I think they’re going to do great,” Trump declared, bypassing the line of questioning. “Our country had to do this. We had to go and do this.”

“Other countries have taken away our business. They’ve taken away our jobs,” Trump insisted.

DOOCY: You’re buying a new car. There are some folks who will see this clip at home and they are struggling with their retirement accounts down at the moment.

TRUMP: Well I think they’re gonna go great. Our country had to do this.

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Democrat Schools Musk on ‘What Makes America Great’ After He’s Called a ‘Traitor’

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Facing a midnight Friday deadline to prevent a federal government shutdown if no budget is passed, the Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, insists he has the votes to secure a continuing resolution, a “CR,” and without any help from Democrats. Democrats have vowed to oppose the measure, citing its spending cuts to health care and veterans’ benefits, as well as the inclusion of controversial policy provisions — despite Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole’s specific claim to the contrary.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday wrote: “House Republicans want to gut Medicaid. Hard pass.”

Mike Johnson: “We’ll have the votes. We’re gonna pass the CR. We can do it on our own.”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM

“The 99 page bill continues funding levels for federal agencies through September 30, 2025,” NPR reports. “GOP leaders argued the bill was largely a ‘clean’ continuation of current funding levels, but it does include a boost for immigration enforcement and a boost for defense programs.”

It also includes a little-noticed provision, however, that, according to one longtime congressional staffer, “preemptively surrenders” Congress’s constitutional authority to block President Donald Trump’s highly controversial and unpredictable tariffs, which he appears to be imposing and rescinding on a whim.

READ MORE: ‘Heartless’: Trump’s $660 Million School Food Cut Is Latest GOP Attack on Nutrition Aid

Here’s how one noted economist explained President Trump’s tariffs on Tuesday:

“Tariffs are on/off/paused, and are targeted/universal, applied to our friends/foes/everyone, starting sooner/later. They’ll be in place for the short/long run because they are a useful policy/bargaining chip, and will solve our problem with fentanyl/deficits/manufacturing/revenue,” wrote Justin Wolfers a professor of economics and public policy.

Meanwhile, that provision House Republicans quietly inserted into the bill that at least temporarily would revoke their authority is now getting some attention.

“Republicans snuck a provision into the rule for the CR that would preemptively surrender congressional authority to block tariffs,” observes Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “When House Republicans vote for this rule today, they will also be voting to support Trump’s tariffs and all the resulting damage to the US economy.”

Congressman Beyer, in a joint statement with U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), blasted the rule:

“”Every House Republican who votes for this measure is voting to give Trump expanded powers to raise taxes on American households through tariffs with full knowledge of how he is using those powers, and every Republican will own the economic consequences of that vote. It speaks volumes that Republicans are sneaking this provision into a procedural measure hidden from the American people.”

“While [Trump] babbles about making Canada the 51st state, your groceries and housing are getting more expensive and your retirement accounts are getting crushed- and House Republicans are supporting him every step of the way.”

The provision might be able to be removed if the House voted to do so after the CR is passed, but chances of that happening — voting to oppose a core tenet of Trump’s agenda — are slim if the GOP holds the House majority. Trump would also have to sign the bill, or the House would have to overturn a veto.

Some House Democrats are explaining their opposition to other provisions in the continuing resolution, which one of them, U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), appears to compare to an exercise in bondage.

“I don’t know whether the GOP will get the votes on their disaster of a bill this week. But I do know that majorities of Republicans voted against similar bills for all of the last 2 years. So what is making them strap on the ball gag and climb into Trump’s dungeon now?” Congressman Casten wrote on social media.

Noting that “Congress has the Constitutional power of the purse and has reaffirmed it through multiple laws (Impoundment Control Act, Anti-Rescission Act) that are being used by multiple courts to block the WH’s over-reach,” Casten warns that the CR “has language that would weaken those cases.”

“This is what you do to cower before a mad king. It is not what you do if you are defending a constitutional democracy,” he declares.

And continuing his explanation for opposing the bill — and continuing his ribald language, Casten notes that the bill “would cut ~$28 billion in funding we passed under the PACT Act to make sure veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and toxic burn pits get healthcare coverage. Pissing on US veterans is a choice.”

READ MORE: Democrat Schools Musk on ‘What Makes America Great’ After He’s Called a ‘Traitor’

There’s more.

“It would slash funding for USDA food inspectors. You know, the people who go into monitor the spread of avian flu, or to make sure you don’t have E. Coli in your lettuce,” he writes.

“It gives the White House much more discretion over public-private partnerships, essentially allowing them to prioritize infrastructure projects (highways, rail, etc.) only in their political supporters communities. That is anti-American, in the purest sense,” says Casten.

“It cuts rent subsidies for low-income folks. Which means a whole lot of landlords are going to find themselves forced to evict some ~32,000 families. If you think your community needs more homelessness, that’s a good idea. Otherwise… really f’ing dumb.”

Congressman Casten concludes, “Here’s the bottom line. When faced with a constitutional crisis, some members of Congress are fighting back. Others are strapping on the ball gag, climbing into Trump’s dungeon and assuming the American people share their masochistic fetish.”

Casten also includes in his analogy Fritschner’s observation about stopping their ability to block Trump’s tariff’s. He responds: “This is how you legislatively mandate the ball gag.”

See the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Chilling’: Amid Recession Alarms and Market Nosedive Trump White House Blames Biden

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The Trump administration is cutting over $600 million from a program designed to help schools and child care facilities buy healthy food from local farmers, the GOP’s latest attack on poor families. The administration is also cutting a similar program that helps local food banks and other organizations feed people. In total, Politico reported, the cuts come to over $1 billion.

“Roughly $660 million that schools and child care facilities were counting on to purchase food from nearby farms through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program in 2025 has been canceled, according to the School Nutrition Association,” Politico reported. “State officials were notified Friday of USDA’s decision to end the LFS program for this year.”

Coincidentally, last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) celebrated National School Breakfast Week:

The decision by the USDA to eliminate funding for healthy food from local farmers also comes as congressional Republicans target programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for cuts.

READ MORE: Democrat Schools Musk on ‘What Makes America Great’ After He’s Called a ‘Traitor’

“Late last month,” Axios reported on Saturday, “House Republicans voted to pass a budget resolution that sets the stage for $230 billion or more in cuts to agriculture programs, with a large chunk expected to come from SNAP.”

The move to ax funding for programs that help children eat healthy foods appears to conflict with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claim to want to “Make America Healthy Again.”

That slogan has led RFK Jr. to announce he wants to curtail the types of foods families can buy through SNAP, which could especially affect Americans living in rural areas or “food deserts,” as Axios also reported last month.

According to The Guardian, “more than one in eight households say they have difficulty getting enough food.” SNAP, “formerly known as food stamps, helps more than 42 million people fill those gaps, and is considered the country’s most effective tool to fight hunger. But now, the USDA-run program is facing attacks from House Republicans who see deep cuts as a way to pay for an extension of the 2017 tax bill that benefits the very wealthy.”

READ MORE: ‘Chilling’: Amid Recession Alarms and Market Nosedive Trump White House Blames Biden

Critics are blasting the cuts.

“Taking $230 billion out of the food economy hurts the farmers who grow our food, the truckers who move it, the processors who package it and the grocery stores that sell it,” House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-MN) said in a statement in February. “Cutting farm bill nutrition programs does not make life affordable for everyday people. Instead of cutting SNAP to pay for handouts to wealthy donors, Republicans should prioritize helping working people and rural economies.”

Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health remarked, “Trump is cutting $660M meant for local farmers to provide healthy food for kids in schools. Big win for the giant processed food corporations who poured millions into Donald Trump’s campaign. How does hurting farmers and kids make America great again?”

Zach Rodvold, director of public affairs at Second Harvest Heartland, a hunger-relief organization, wrote: “With hunger rates soaring and the farm economy under threat, now is not the time to cut funding for local farm-to-school and food bank programs. (In fact, we should be doing just the opposite.)”

“This is absolutely unacceptable. They’re literally taking kids’ lunch money and farmers’ incomes so they can give tax cuts to billionaires,” observed U.S. Rep. Josh Riley (D-NY).

“Cutting food aid hurts kids, farmers and struggling folks,” noted U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA). “Why is Trump doing it? To help pay for his tax cut for the rich. Heartless.”

READ MORE: ‘Cowardice and Cruelty’: Rubio Slammed for ‘Huge Mistake’ Destroying American Influence

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