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‘Chilling’: Amid Recession Alarms and Market Nosedive Trump White House Blames Biden
It’s Monday, March 10, and Donald Trump has been president for 50 days. The stock market continues its steep decline, with the Dow losing nearly 2,500 points over the past month. Today, it closed down nearly 900 points—after losing over 1100—reportedly due in large part to the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs, their chaotic implementation, and concerns over the possible recession they may bring. Meanwhile, a government shutdown looms. If Congress fails to reach a budget deal by midnight Friday—and President Trump has barely addressed the issue in public—the federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM on Saturday. While Congressional Republicans will likely need some Democratic votes, and it’s unclear how many, if any, they can count on, some political commentators are warning that Speaker Johnson is “devising a trap for congressional Democrats.”
You would not know any of this if you just walked through President Trump’s Truth Social page, where he spent an hour on Monday afternoon posting links to right-wing and far-right websites praising the “Trump effect,” claiming Trump is “rebuilding domestic manufacturing” (something President Joe Biden actually did,) bragging about the historically low number of migrants ICE apprehended at the Southwest border (he said he would deport millions), claiming his tariffs will not cause inflation (despite economists’ warnings), quoting his border “czar” saying he will “bring hell” to sanctuary cities, boasting that European nations are boosting their militaries (because they see the U.S. as aligning with Russia and hence unreliable), and posting a screenshot claiming he has the highest approval rating since being inaugurated (despite reliable polls saying the opposite).
Headlines make clear, however: investors and consumers alike are worried about a Trump recession.
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“Stock Rout Picks Up Steam With Recession Warnings Blaring” (Bloomberg)
“Dow falls 1,100 points in market rout after Trump says he won’t rule out a recession” (CNN)
“White House pushes back against recession talk as household worries grow” (Reuters)
“Stocks slump yet again as fears grow about tariffs — and a recession” (NPR)
Just days ago, the headline at Foreign Policy was, “Trump’s Economy Is Flashing Red”:
“Trade wars, rising prices, falling confidence, and sinking stock markets are not what Wall Street or Main Street voted for.”
The Guardian on Monday reported on the Trump economic crisis.
“Wall Street falls as tariff fears grip markets,” The Guardian’s headline reveals.
“Boom! The US stock market has opened sharply lower, as fears that a trade war could spark an American recession sweep Wall Street,” it explains. After detailing how markets opened lower and continued to fall in early trading, it notes, “This follows last week’s selloff, in which the S&P 500 fell by over 3%, its worst run since early September.”
And it warns about the impact on Americans.
“Stocks are sliding today after China today imposed reciprical tariffs on US imports, targeting agricultural products, in response to the 10% tariff imposed by the US on Chinese imports. Beijing’s tariffs will make American goods, such as soyabeans, pork, beef, chicken and cotton more expensive for Chinese consumers, and may lead importers to buy goods from elsewhere instead, hitting sales for US farmers.”
Most importantly, here’s how the UK-based paper explained the cause: “Hopes that Donald Trump’s more erratic actions could be reined in by the markets appear to be being eroded, after the US president failed to rule out a recession in his weekend interview with Fox. Instead, Trump spoke about how there would be ‘a period of transition,’ implying the White House was relaxed about economic damage, expecting it to be short-term.”
‘Chilling’ and ‘Kind of Mystifying’
Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, a seven-term Republican of Pennsylvania, told MSNBC Monday afternoon that Trump’s actions are having a “chilling” effect on the economy, and said it is “kind of mystifying” that the President “is behaving so recklessly with respect to the stewardship of this economy.”
Accusing Trump of trying to “undermine” North American economic systems, Dent said Trump’s tariffs “will likely cause recessions in Canada and Mexico, and create higher prices here and disrupt manufacturing and agriculture, so that’s going to be very negative for us.”
“He’s also, at the same time, is bad mouthing Europe every day, a major trading partner with us,” Dent added, observing that amidst all of this, Trump is “talking about greater rapprochement with Russia, which has an economy smaller than some of our states.”
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Dent described Trump as “rather destructive and reckless,” noting he “does not understand” the consequences his tariffs will have on American manufacturers and farmers.
Despite Trump’s cycle of tariff threats, implementations, walk-backs, and renewed tariffs—along with his mass firing of potentially hundreds of thousands of government employees in an effort to shrink the federal workforce—his National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, is pinning all the blame for the bad economic news on President Joe Biden.
Former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, Jason Furman, apparently responding to President Trump’s remarks over the weekend, during which he said the U.S. could expect a period of “transition” as his economic policies take effect.
“If you are implementing a credible plan that entails short-term pain for long-term gain the stock market will go up not down,” Furman, a professor of economics, wrote Monday afternoon.
‘We’ve Got a Biden Economy’ White House Advisor Says
Hassett served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first Trump administration. He is known for his faulty prediction about the DOW reaching 36,000 in 2004 — it did not until 2024, under President Joe Biden. He is also known for his false prediction that by May 0f 2020 COVID deaths would drop to nearly zero. At least 1.2 million people in the U.S. to date have died from COVID.
On Monday Hassett blamed President Biden for Trump’s bad economic results, while calling massive disruptions, like Monday drop in the markets, as “some blips in the data.”
Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov, co-host of “The Five,” responded: “Strange that Biden never had these crappy numbers when it was actually his economy.”
Political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen mocked Hassett: “Oh, right, this is still the Biden economy, except for how the Biden economy had a record high market and now we’re in a market crash. Got it.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
Hassett: “We’ve got a Biden economy. Still, most of Biden’s policies are in place. If you look at the Atlanta Fed GDP now number, it’s showing negative first quarter, which is kind of a metric of the inheritance of President Biden.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
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Image via Reuters
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Highly sensitive information belonging to several top national security officials from the Trump administration—including passwords and cell phone numbers linked to their Signal accounts—is publicly available online. The encrypted messaging app was used in a major breach of classified national security information earlier this month, according to a leading German news outlet, DER SPIEGEL, which concluded that it is “conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group” discussions.
“DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials,” the news site reported Wednesday. The top officials include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—all of whom were part of the Signal chat in which a military attack was mapped out and carried out.
The sensitive information has been used by the three top officials in various ways, and reportedly remains in use.
READ MORE: ‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
Some are “linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s data was “particularly easy for DER SPIEGEL reporters to discover,” including his cell phone number and email address.”
The reporters “turned to a commercial provider of contact information that is primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment,” and then they “sent the provider a link to Hegseth’s LinkedIn profile and received a Gmail address and a mobile phone number in return, in addition to other information.”
“A search of leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in over 20 publicly accessible leaks. Using publicly available information, it was possible to verify that the email address was used just a few days ago.”
READ MORE: ‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
The DER SPIEGEL investigation, it said, also “revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices.”
But National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s data was also easily accessed, including “several passwords for Waltz’s email address in leaked databases. The information also led to Waltz’s profiles for Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal.”
“DER SPIEGEL reporting has demonstrated, though, that privately used and publicly accessible telephone numbers belonging to [Gabbard] and Waltz are, in fact, linked to Signal accounts,” the German news outlet states. “It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike.”
That essentially voids the arguments made by the Trump administration, Republican lawmakers, and right-wing news outlets which have said that the military strikes were successful, and no Americans were harmed so the breach of national security is, as President Trump claimed, a mere “glitch.”
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
Image via Reuters
As Signalgate enters its third day and Pete Hegseth emerges as the central figure in what experts warn may be a serious—and possibly illegal—breach of classified information protocols, House and Senate Democrats are coalescing around a single goal: building the case while calling for the immediate resignation, or firing, of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Politico‘s national security correspondent Robbie Gramer reports that “multiple White House insiders and GOP Congressional staffers argued to me that the reason this is turning into a scandal is because of Hegesth’s comments in the groupchat — not [Mike] Waltz for setting the groupchat up.”
“They said,” he added, “the real concern is what Hegseth said, and the sensitive information on Yemen strike plans that Hegseth volunteered without prompting in the groupchat.”
During Wednesday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) blasted the 18 Trump administration national security officials who participated in the Signal group chat, during which Secretary Hegseth reportedly shared classified information in an insecure environment.
RELATED: ‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
Making his case for Hegseth’s immediate resignation, Congressman Crow got confirmation that both the National Security Agency and the Pentagon had issued warnings about the use of Signal and the vulnerabilities surrounding it. DNI Tulsi Gabbard admitted to Crow that she was part of the Signal text chain, along with lead Russia negotiator Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow during the chat and possibly using a personal phone, which he has denied.
“I deployed three times to combat in service to this nation,” Crow said, during the end of his remarks (video below). “I learned in that time in service that responsibility is core to leadership. You accept responsibility when things go wrong, you admit mistakes, you set the standard from the very top.”
“It is completely outrageous to me, completely outrageous to me the administration officials come before us today with impunity. No acceptance of responsibility. Excuse after excuse after excuse while we send our men and women down range to do incredibly difficult, incredibly dangerous things on our behalf. And yet, nobody is willing to come to us and say, ‘this was wrong, this was a breach of security and we won’t do it again.'”
“It is outrageous and it is a leadership failure and that’s why Secretary Hegseth, who undoubtedly transmitted classified sensitive operational information via this chain, must resign immediately. There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there is accountability, and I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability.”
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, blasted Hegseth’s claim that he shared no classified information in the Signal chat: “Pete Hegseth is a f—— liar. This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed. He needs to resign in disgrace immediately.”
Conservative commentator Bill Kristol of The Bulwark remarked, “Prediction: Hegseth gone by Friday.”
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
NCRM has complied a very partial list of congressional Democrats who are calling for Secretary Hegseth’s resignation, or his firing. (Links go to their video or statement.)
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA)
U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ)
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY)
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA)
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), says Hegseth “should be fired.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT)
U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
Watch the video below or at this link.
“There can be no fixes, there can be no corrections until there’s accountability. And I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) says Pete Hegseth ‘must resign immediately’ following leaked signal chat pic.twitter.com/rzw9xPM7ia
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 26, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Makes Me Want to Throw Up’: Democrat Goes Off on Fox Host Over Signalgate Spin
Image via Reuters
In response to the Trump administration’s disinformation-and-discredit campaign, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, has released the full Signal chat at the center of the growing national security scandal. National security experts and other analysts and experts, after reviewing the exchange, are sharply rejecting the administration’s efforts to downplay the severity of the breach. Many assert that, contrary to official claims, classified information was clearly shared by unsecured means—violating established protocols, internal policy, and potentially federal law.
The Trump administration and its Republican allies have been waging a disinformation campaign and pushing back against the credibility of The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief, after he revealed on Monday that he had been inadvertently added to a group text chat on Signal that took place over a number of days and involved the planning of a military strike against a terrorist group in Yemen.
The use of what has been called an unsecured chat on the messaging app Signal, likely on private, not government phones, while various members of the 18-person group were traveling overseas, including in Moscow, constitutes extreme violations of accepted national security practices, experts say. The conversations should have been held via secure communications, inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).
READ MORE: ‘Putin Is Giddy’: NSA Knew Signal Was Vulnerable to Russian Hackers Before Security Breach
The President, the White House Press Secretary, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of Defense, and other officials — along with top Republican lawmakers and right wing media outlets—have all claimed that information in the Signal chat was not classified.
In sworn testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the CIA both insisted none of the information shared in the Signal chat was classified.
Experts disagree.
“The information Secretary of Defense Hegseth disclosed in the Signal chat was classified at the time he wrote it, especially because the operation had not even started yet, according to a US defense official and another source who was briefed on the operation,” CNN Pentagon and national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported.
“It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court martialed for this,” the official said, Bertrand wrote.. “We don’t provide that level of information on unclassified systems, in order to protect the lives and safety of the servicemembers carrying out these strikes. If we did, it would be wholly irresponsible. My most junior analysts know not to do this.”
Barbara Starr, the iconic, now former CNN Pentagon correspondent for two decades, focused on Trump National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, who admitted he set up the chat and inadvertently included Goldberg. She wrote:
“Waltz revealed an extraordinary detail when he said there was intel showing the top Houthi missile guy walked into a building. You only know that if you have overhead surveillance, comms intercepts, or an operative on the ground. It means the US had ‘pattern of life’ surveillance. How is that not classified?”
READ MORE: ‘Makes Me Want to Throw Up’: Democrat Goes Off on Fox Host Over Signalgate Spin
NBC News senior congressional reporter Scott Wong reports that two House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Republicans are denouncing the Trump administration’s handling of Signalgate.
“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data. They should just own up to it and preserve credibility,” U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said.
After reviewing the Signal text chain, U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) “said he is concerned about Hegseth sending this detailed information over the messaging app,” Wong also reported.
DesJarlais, chairman of the HASC subcommittee on Strategic Forces said: “It should have never happened and must not happen again.”
Joseph J. Collins is a retired U.S. Army colonel, professor of national security strategy at the National War College, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations. He currently leads the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University.
Dr. Collins, responding to Starr’s remarks, wrote: “Important point … this fiasco compromised or potentially compromised sources and methods, possibly including our agents and stringers on the ground.”
Veteran, veterans’ activist, and Amherst College political science lecturer Paul Rieckhoff declared: “Hegseth must step down or be removed. Any member of the Department of Defense that did this would be in prison. There is no way someone that did this can lead our military as SecDef. And even he knows it.”
“Everyone on this chat probably has to go. Everyone. They all know the rules,” he continued. “Loose lips sink ships. Everyone who’s ever served knows that line. It’s OPSEC 101 that every Private learns in Basic Training. And a f— up like this could have cost American lives. There is no spinning it. Hegseth’s got to go.”
“We can’t have a SecDef who doesn’t follow the same rules and standard he’s expected to hold for millions at DoD,” Rieckhoff added. “There’s no wiggle room. Stakes are too high. Our troops lives depend on it. And our enemies are celebrating.”
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is one of a handful of top Democrats who have been vociferously contesting the administration’s claims. Based on his extensive military and high-level of government service, late Wednesday he simply wrote: “Well, they lied. Obviously.”
Former CIA lawyer Brian Greer posted screenshots from The Atlantic’s report, and the regulations surrounding what is classified information. He wrote: “This is all very plainly classified at the SECRET level. They all lied. They should all lose their jobs.”
Apparently referencing Tuesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing during which the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified, claiming there was no classified information shared, Greer wrote: “There was quite a bit of perjury yesterday.”
See his social media posts below or at this link.
On the left: Hegseth’s message.
On the right: the applicable CENTCOM classification guide provisions.
This is all very plainly classified at the SECRET level.
They all lied. They should all lose their jobs. https://t.co/koVfF4SIhN pic.twitter.com/D8Iaxh7zcd
— Secrets and Laws (@secretsandlaws) March 26, 2025
RELATED: ‘Sloppy, Careless, Incompetent’: National Security Chiefs Slammed in Senate Hearing
Image via Reuters
‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
Passwords, Contact Info for Top Trump NatSec Officials ‘Publicly’ Available: Report
Passwords, Contact Info for Top Trump NatSec Officials ‘Publicly’ Available: Report
‘Liar’ Hegseth Faces ‘Immediate’ Resignation Demand From Growing List of Democrats
‘Quite a Bit of Perjury’: Texts Shatter Trump Admin’s ‘Bungled Coverup’ of Classified Leak
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