CHINA SYNDROME: Market futures slipped this morning as China rebuffed President Trump’s suggestion that they are in discussions with the US about tariffs and trade. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said today, “Any claims about progress in China-U.S. economic and trade negotiations are baseless rumors without factual evidence.”

  President Trump said yesterday that his 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods might be reduced within weeks and stocks surged. That came following a Monday meeting in which the chiefs of Target and Walmart told him that his tariffs could result in empty store shelves.

  A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said,  “China’s attitude is consistent and clear: If you want to fight, we will fight to the end; if you want to talk, the door is open.” 

  Trump never outright said he was talking to China. Asked yesterday by a reporter whether the administration was “actively” talking to China he said, “Actively, everything’s active. Everybody wants to be a part of what we’re doing.” It’s one of those things he says when he’s making it up on the spot.

THE WAR ROOM: Vice President JD Vance threatened yesterday that the US will “walk away” if Russia and Ukraine do not agree to the administration’s peace proposal that would “freeze the territorial lines” in the three-year war. Ukraine would be forced to accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea and would be blocked from becoming part of the NATO military alliance. Presumably it would mean Ukraine accepting the loss of 20 percent of its territory to the Russian invasion.

   Today, nine people were killed in Kyiv in a Russian air strike.

   During a trip to India Vance said, “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process.” Vance said,  “The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine.”

  This came just hours after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country cannot accept Russia’s 2014 taking of Crimea and that Ukraine could not accept being barred from joining NATO.

HAIR & MAKEUP: Questions linger as to whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will get canned for his unprofessional use of a non-secure chat app to discuss classified information, including with his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.

  In at least two instances Hegseth shared what anyone would call “war plans” for attacks on Houthi militants in Yemen. Hegseth has denied the information was classified yet at the same time is pursuing and blaming what he calls “leakers” in the Pentagon as well as the press.

  “None of this is based in reality,” Hegseth told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade. “Those folks who were leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda.”

  Trump said Hegseth is “doing a great job” and spokesperson  Karoline Leavitt dismissed an NPR report as “FAKE NEWS based on one anonymous source who clearly has no idea what they are talking about.” 

  David Graham comments for The Atlantic  that, “A secretary facing the scandals that Hegseth has might well have been forced out by now in any other administration—though, to be fair, they might also never have been confirmed or even nominated in the first place. 

  Ryan Cooper writes for The American Prospect that; “Donald Trump was a TV star, and he clearly is attracted to people who look good on television, particularly big-shouldered men with square jaws and good hair. The result of that is not hard to predict: government of, by, and for, morons.”

NAMELESS: According to estimates by various news organizations, as many as 1,000 foreign student visas have been cancelled by the Trump administration, many of them for participating in campus demonstrations but many others for no given reason.

  The State Department and Customs and Immigration have been examining the political activities of foreign students and going after the ones publicly disagreeing with US support for Israel’s war in Gaza. 

  The Columbia Journalism Review reports that college newspapers are dealing with an increasing number of requests by students to have their names scrubbed from articles archived online. The magazine says that at Harvard, for instance, “The requests have come from students and alumni alike, seeking the removal of quotes or identifying information—such as dorms, majors, and class years—from published stories.”

  CJR says; “The turning point for many publications came in late March, when Rümeysa Öztürk, an international PhD student at Tufts University, was arrested by ICE and threatened with deportation over what the government alleged was anti-Israel activism and public support for terrorist organizations. The only evidence was an op-ed she coauthored a year earlier, along with three other students, criticizing the university’s response to the war in Gaza.” 

BABY BUST: Births in the US increased by just 1 percent in 2024, not much above the record-setting low of 2023 and still below the rate that would maintain the US population through births alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

  Demographers say the long-term decline of births began with the Great Recession of 2007. The ultimate  consequence, particularly during a period of crackdown on immigration, will be having fewer young workers supporting a growing population of aging Americans. 

THE SPIN RACK:  The Catholic faithful in Rome … even some non-Catholics … are waiting as long as five hours to view the body of Pope Francis. — A wildfire in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey has grown to 12,000 acres.

BELOW THE FOLD: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a small reception room near his office, “the green room,” to be converted to a hair and makeup studio to prepare him for television appearances, mostly on Fox News.

-30-