If you are looking for a RINO, look at Trump.
Lawmakers Debate Spending Cuts
Rand Paul Video Link: “I’m not voting to add $5 trillion to the deficit, or to the debt ceiling. Conservatives have never voted for that, and now conservatives are lining up and falling all over themselves to vote for the largest debt ceiling increase in all of history.”
Fiscal conservativeness is enough to get one Branded a RINO by clueless Trump cultists.
As you can see, the nitwits go after Rep. Thomas Massie as well.
There are dozens of idiotic Tweets like the above.
Nitwit Tina Ann says Paul Rand RINO needs to be primaried out.
Trump is the RINO
I endorse this Comment by Holly
“The tariffs are 100% owned by RINO Trump (and his simps in congress who voted against Rand’s bill), and everything that comes with them.”
Trump has brainwashed the cult into believing every idiotic thing he says, no matter how contradictory.
The Trump cult is acting just like the climate fearmongers and the abortion through 9 months advocates who propose drowning out all dissents.
Trump wants to pack the courts with loyalists just as AOC and Warren wanted to do for their goals.
Very few are willing to stand up to either cult.
Trump is not a fiscal conservative.
I am proud to stand with Rand and anyone else fighting for genuine fiscal conservative principles.
If you believe fiscal conservativeness is a Republican value, then Trump is the RINO, not Rand Paul.
Gold Soars to Another New High
Ponder this: Gold Soars to Another New High, What’s the Message?
There are three messages. Do you see them?
Trump is the RINO. Real conservitives need to as the Democrats to Impeach him and then vote to get rid of him, along with the Dems.
Nothing gets you through hard times better than cash.
With all the naysayers about Trump’s MAGA, you’d be well advised to buy gold and/or move to Canada.
Take away MAGA, and what exactly does the US have to justify its standard of living… other than constant borrowing?
See, you already have the alternative: MOAR. That’s more government employees, more welfare, more health, more free tuition, more foreign support, more crappy education, more laws, more immigrants,….. more everything, and more taxes.
Eventually, it implodes.
I live in Kentucky and am pleased to have both Rand Paul and Thomas Massie in the Kentucky delegation. Rand Paul is the ONLY politician to whom I have very made a donation. Massie does not represent my district but I will be donating to his campaign. Both are extremely popular. President Trump, good luck finding a candidate that can pose a real challenge to these two. If we could only populate the house and senate with clones of these two we might have a hope of only enduring hard adjustments rather than a disaster when the that proverbial can reaches the end of the road.
They are about the only good ones.
Meanwhile Trump is still sending weapons to the Ukros to attack the country with the biggest nuclear arsenal. He also wants to spend over 1,000 billion dollars on “defense” and – contrary to his recent theater – is still helping Israel kill innocents. No matter who you vote for, you get John McCain.
Exactly. We are the oldest major continuous government in the world right now. Switzerland is our closest peer, formed in mid 1840s. The USA is past its prime. Governments go extinct as part of the natural order. Tick tock.
watching amerika be taken over by cult leader has been fascinating and fun. the cult of dumbfucks in pax dumbfuckistan. idiocracy was a documentary. i truly get a great kick out of the morons in this empire.
You are remarkably astute.
Not sure why Rand Paul suddenly woke up from his fiscal slumber party. At the same time, being the voice of reason among the MAGAs is more risky than playing Russian roulette.
Are we talking about the same Rand Paul. He strikes me as one of the few politicians with integrity. Which means his days are numbered.
We never did hear his wife’s cause of death.
This country is heading towards Second Great Depression.
Paul is gonna get a pizza delivery in his kids name.
God bless Rand Paul. He is a (singular?) voice of reason in a sea of idiocy,
A rare voice of common sense among politicians with no backbone to stand up for what it is right. Amazing how long that he has been able to survive in the quagmire of dc.
Trump and his followers are populists, not conservatives. The opposite of conservatism is populism, not liberalism. The GOP is the populist party. There is no conservative party.
A populist wouldn’t be waging a proxy war against Russia or be threatening a war on Iran at Israel’s behest.
A populist that is dismantling the…
National Labor Relations Board,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission,
Consumer Product Safety Commission?
Who do you think those institutions serve to protect? Who benefits from tearing them down?
A populist who is corrupting the authority of the SEC, NTSB, IRS, FAA, FCC? Are those institutions threatening the power of the people? Has the NTSB been binding your personal liberties lately? Or do a few dozen want attention off their crime and to tilt federal contracts in their direction?
Is loading the NIH, EPA with loyalists improving public health and environment? Is defunding education, weather, and science good for the future of our nation? Or is it an excuse to lower taxes on the 0.01%?
Do you think your individual freedoms will be more or less secure in 2027? If a corporation wrongs you directly or indirectly, will you have any recourse? You might get away with “self defense” against each other, but federal law will be defending the interests of those who have paid for it in coin rather than those who protect it with their service and lives.
Trump may have been elected on “populist vibes” but the playboo publushed prior to the election, and nearly every action since has been looting our nation for the benefit of the ogliarchy.
Republicans haven’t been about fiscal conservatism since Reagan.
raygun a fiscal conservative. BWAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. too fucking stupid
There you go again. You were definitely brainwashed when you were younger.
If you want to blame someone for the early-mid 80s, try Tip O’Neil and the Democrats, who raped the US for more and more social programs.
The budget deficit might flip to a surplus when higher paying jobs, protected by tariffs, a smaller gov and inflation will fill gov coffer. It started already under Biden. Export will rise, Import will shrink. Twenty countries are in line to buy a thousand of F-15 EX. Some people erupt like a volcano in anger. Who they f**k they think they are.The US econ relies too much on consumption. The Chinese econ relies too much on industrial production. Trump was elected bring back industrial jobs, to do rebalancing. A thriving econ lift all people and reduce pain. Lower debt strengthen DX.
I’d like to have some of whatever it is that you are smoking.
The budget deficit might flip to a surplus when higher paying jobs, protected by tariffs, a smaller gov and inflation will fill gov coffer. It started already under Biden
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OR MARTIANS FLY DOWN AND FIX THINGS!
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buddy, you have no idea about USA fed gov budget, do you?
USA gov in good year collects about 4.5*5 trln in taxes. and prints $2 trln more to balance expenses!
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USS ship named =USA is bankrupt= is already in salty waters, and huge chunk of ice is on already horizon!
NOTHING, REPEAT nothing will help. it is USSR in 1985-1987 year
believe me!
alx
=buy a thousand of F-15 EX.
cant believe you would post this moronic figure!
lets say price is 50 mil per item, it is just $50 bil,
USA gov spends this each 2 days more or less!
and it is gross sales. cost taxes are about 30*40% tops!
The problem is bringing back jobs to industries that the US no longer has a competitive advantage in. Tariffs merely reward inefficiency–the same as subsidies.
The ONLY way the US recovers is by out-competing. That means innovation. And with the US education system the way it is, change of that type is HIGHLY UNLIKELY.
1980 presidential debate: Carter, Reagan and that Orville Redenbacher guy.
$800,000,000,000 national debt then. Who was talking about it?
The post today is for all you middle schoolers out there, “and that is how the exponential function works – any questions!”
A poignant observation, Mish … 2025 US Corporate buy back spending to date at 640 billion for 2025 has exceeded the totals of all previous years. What’s happening? There is simply no other place to invest profit money and expand business activities in a debt-strapped, contracting global market. The operative 4-phase fractal series from 27 Oct 2023 to 17 June 2025 is 55/139/136/83 days :: x/2.5x/2.5x/1.5x similar to the US hegemonic 1807 to 2074 36/90/90/54 year :: x/2.5x/2.5x/1.5x 4 phase fractal series. 3.13 and 2.78 trillion deficit spending(14.7 and 11.7 deficit to GDP spending- higher than wartime 1942 ) in 2020 and 2021, has propelled the SPX to the final 19 Feb 2025 high.
Trump Admin To Accept ‘Palace In The Sky’ 747 Jet From Royal Family Of Qatar, ABC Says=========
trump really lost any link to reality! jesus!!!!!
Off topic.
Does anyone know if the new Pope will have to file a FBAR?
I was having a discussion with someone about the curious situation with the new Pope. He’s head of a different state and a US citizen. Some strange tax and political situations will arise at some point.
I don’t think the Pope has income – prob below the filing limit, lol.
He is now the head of the Vatican bank.
MAGA looks more and more, step by step, like Mao’s cultural revolution. Mao’s America Gutted Again = MAGA ?
And we all know how central planning works out – misery for everyone.
It was Harris who supported Mao’s Cultural Revolution, with her word salad about being unencumbered by the past, which is what Mao wanted in eliminating the Four Olds of Chinese culture. Trump is standing up for American culture.
May be that Cultural revolution wasn’t about culture, maybe that Trump doesn’t care about culture (has anybody heard about Trump going to any cultural event?), maybe that part of MAGA is the same like radical students (will Trump send them to blue cities??) and may be that the Gang of Four are Navarro, Lunatnick, Bessent and Miran. But I agree, Harris was a disaster.
Professor are the ennemy
From jd Vance?
Mish, my advice, which is I realize is not worth much. Take a break from the current line of posting and try some different takes. I have been following you for what seems like twenty years now and greatly appreciate the blog. But the negativity is just overwhelming at this point and the comments section has become filled with TDS. Sorry, but it is my honest assessment.
Mish,
I’ve been following you since 2007 and as counterpoint to the comment above, I’d like for you to keep doing what you do best, analyze the marketplace and give us the truth no matter how much it hurts. Keep up the good work.
And you’ve just earned another Mishelin™ star for triggering cult clowns again.
It’s funny how there were no “you’re being too mean to Biden” comments the past four years but suddenly it’s too much. Lol.
Another Mishelin™ star for making me laugh.
I agree. I would like to see more posts about pure economics. I get that a lot of what is going on in the economic sphere is driven by what the Trump admin is doing, but blogs that rail againstTrump and comment sections that are running arguments between Trump supporters and Trump opposition are a dime a dozen and a big turn off.
Don’t recall you saying anything along these lines when Biden was president, what’s changed?
sorry pumpkin!
here is other opinion.
YOU TAKE BREAK FROM READING HERE! there is always FOX for you
SORRY to inform you but Mish is not you personal and free informational slave
A rational economic actor goes where the money is.
about that TDS!!
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Trump Admin To Accept ‘Palace In The Sky’ 747 Jet From Royal Family Of Qatar, ABC Says
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A lot of us read Mish to get a different perspective from the Fox News and Newsmax propaganda you enjoy.
and Trump cuts this program that SAVES money Another example that this administration is not interested in Americans saving any money Industry groups are not happy about the imminent demise of Energy Starhttps://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/industry-groups-are-not-happy-about-the-imminent-demise-of-energy-star/
And now Trump can look down even more at us via his 400 million dollar gift
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121680511
Is America simply TOO FAR GONE to save? We are already (COPIED):
“As of May 11, 2025, the United States’ total gross national debt is $36.21 trillion. This includes $28.90 trillion held by the public and $7.31 trillion held by intra-governmental accounts….”
That is an amazingly ridiculous number. NOW, what does it matter if default will be inevitable. They might argue: LET’S SHOOT FOR $50 Trillion by 2030!
We are TOO FAR GONE to care any longer. I am serious.
WHAT IF WE STOPPED SPENDING ANY MONEY on Government ops.
I think that things would actually improve immediately.
Imagine a world where not ONE DAILY IMBECILIC POLITICAL BULLSHIT STATEMENT IS UTTERED ON TV?
WOW! DREAM DREAM DREAM.
The boomers accumulated $80T in asset. They will liquidate their savings to survive bc SS and dividends are not good enough. They consume less Chinese stuff. They will leave less to their descendants.
No easy feat, making Rand Paul look like the voice of reason.
Perhaps to Kamala supporters or AOC fans, but they are operating in opposite world where idiot fanatics are deemed thoughtful, and enlightened.
Era of U.S. dollar may be winding downhttps://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/05/era-of-u-s-dollar-may-be-winding-down/
Poor Canada! It dumped its official gold holdings in exchange for US$ about a decade ago.
They have plenty of gold – in the ground, just ask Xi.
I wish we had more Republicans like Rand Paul. We need to cut spending.
It’s sad that RINO is now defined as anyone who disagrees with Trump, covid lockdown pushing, free money check writing, profligate spending Donald Trump.
It’s textbook fascism 101. It’ll get worse from here, peak then collapse.
Got exit strategy?
I don’t see stupid policy, and cult followings as fascism especially when it usually comes from the crowd that thought covid policy from 2020-2022 wasn’t at all authoritarian when in reality it fit the modern epithet of fascist like a glove. Granted nobody seems to understand what fascism actually is.
What I’m seeing is that after 100 years of authoritarian children running things we were finally getting a long overdue upsetting of the applecart.
And rather than making a thoughtful effort to right the ship we are getting this clown show.
Paul and Massie are possibly the only 2 useful members of the republican party, and Trump is unleashing his sheltered workshop army on them. Its kind of depressing, but there isn’t an exit strategy.
Where would you go? Europe? They are canceling election results they don’t like and arresting people for memes.
Where would you go? Europe? They are canceling election results they don’t like and arresting people for memes.
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/10/trump-ice-arrest-house-democrats-new-jersey
As opposed to the current administration arresting political opponents.
And if you can’t figure out where to go then you’re right where you belong.
I guess that comes down to whether the people in question assaulted law enforcement as is claimed. Those arrests would then be in a different universe than arresting people for social media posts.
The violence is speech, and speech is violence crowd don’t have an argument. The judge Dugan getting arrested is totalitarianism and an attack on the judiciary don’t have an argument.
And of course Europe as well as NY are big on arresting political opponents. I think Trumps inclinations are much like the lefts namely cracking down on speech we don’t like. The main place that has manifested is funding cuts and non-citizen deportations over comments.
Thats concerning, but its not in the universe of the flat out totalitarianism we are seeing in Europe.
Primary Paul?
MAGA is having serious issues in deep red Texas. The end is nigh for MAGA.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/magas-very-bad-night-in-texas
Mid-terms are just 540 days away and empty shelves are only 6 weeks away.
Texas was always destined to be feudalist, no matter what colors it was painted or flag flown.
Please define what a “Republican” is (i.e. define the platform). I truly don’t know.
Historically speaking the expectation is republicans minimize the role of government in society, cut spending, and reduce taxes. You can throw in opposition to the woke fever swamp as another marker. Now RINO just means I don’t support Trump’s latest hairbrain scheme.
Trump was a D on the Phil Donahue and Oprah shows. He gave plenty of money and Manhattan office space to Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign. (Not to be confused with Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson) He changed uniforms when Jeb! (Please Applaud) showed up to be the fall guy for It’s Her Turn. Simple game theory. He never heard of Calvin Coolidge.
That was several decades ago. I am trying to remember when Republicans voted to cut spending as a whole. Voting to cut taxes without cutting the spending is worse than not doing anything at all.
None of the cohort I know that voted for Trump considers Massie or Paul as RINOs. Frankly I don’t know why we’re quoting TinaAnn or CJMoore, one sounds like a Gilligan’s Island actress and another a football player. I wish everyone would get to work on the budget and I would hazard a guess that Mish’s attempt to get the budget in order had far more honest work to reach it than most members.
Rand and Massie are what principled governance looks like. Well said, Mish.