POLITICS

FITSNews Political Stock Index: 2/3/2025

Where should you invest your political capital this week?

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The Trump White House had a bit of cold water thrown on it this past week, marking the official end of the inaugural euphoria/hangover. Donald Trump‘s first full week as the 47th president was marked by decisive action and glowing accolades from supporters – resulting in his political stock rising rapidly. Week two? It saw a few headaches – some self-inflicted and some delivered by the hand of fate.

It began with a self-inflicted wound. Trump’s budget office released a memo saying it was freezing some federal spending, including grants and other programs. A wholesale freakout ensued, forcing the administration to reverse course and rescind the order. Two federal judges (acting at the behest of 22 state Democratic attorneys general and a liberal group) also blocked the move.

Trump’s people apparently wanted a pause to review the massive cash outlays – but they got over their skis and badly bungled the matter.

Then there was Wednesday’s horrific army helicopter-jetliner crash at Reagan National Airport. In a White House briefing Thursday, Trump swung the finger of blame from diversity programs within the FAA to actions by his predecessor – even to former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg (whom he called “a disaster”).

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Many of those points were (and probably are) with merit – but with 67 bodies in the Potomac River, Thursday wasn’t the time for it.

The biggie came Saturday when Trump fulfilled a campaign promise by slapping 25% trade tariffs on both Canada and Mexico – along with a 10% duty on China. Democrats, who were suspiciously quiet about the financial suffering of working-class Americans during the worst of ‘Bidenflation,’ quickly began screaming about higher prices on many daily items.

With most economists fretting the impact of a lengthy trade war, less than 48 hours later the mood shifted suddenly. As this index was going to press, Trump announced a one-month delay in the tariffs on Mexican imports after his administration reached a tentative border security deal with president Claudia Sheinbaum.

Will Trump get the rest of America’s global trading partners to acquiesce to his demands so quickly? We shall see…

For now, though, Trump’s stock is holding…

Every Monday, we publish the ‘FITSNews Political Stock Index,’ which focuses on the national political scene. Every Tuesday, we publish the ‘Palmetto Political Stock Index’ – which focuses on politicos from our home state of South Carolina, host of the quadrennial “First in the Nation” (for Democrats) and “First in the South” (for Republicans) presidential primaries.

Got a hot “stock tip” for these indices? Email Will Folks (here) and/or Mark Powell (here).

Where should you invest your political capital this week? To the index…

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DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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STOCK: HOLDING

Meet Ken Martin, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He was elected on Saturday, replacing South Carolina’s Jamie Harrison.

While hardly a household name, Martin was certainly well-known within the upper strata of the party’s movers and shakers. And his election proved it, having nailed down the advance backing of 200 highly influential Dems – including South Carolina kingmaker James Clyburn.

Martin comes off a successful 14-year run as chairman of Minnesota’s funky Democratic-Farm-Labor fusion party. During that time, the DFL racked up an impressive run of statewide election wins – although when you consider the Gopher State hasn’t voted red in a presidential election in 52 years, it’s not the heaviest of lifts. Martin was also at the helm of Tim Walz’s two successful gubernatorial bids – although again, that’s not exactly something worth bragging about given his failure to shore up the rust belt for former vice president Kamala Harris.

A national chairman is typically a high-level functionary who makes sure the party’s nuts and bolts are properly fastened – and who guarantees the big dollar checks keep rolling in. But these aren’t “typical” times for the DNC. Last year’s popular rejection of Joe Biden – and utter thumping of Harris-Walz at the ballot box – have left the party rudderless. Democrats have no recognized leader at the moment – meaning Martin must serve as the party’s public profile until a new one emerges.

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Throughout his campaign for the DNC’s top post, Martin frequently echoed Democrats’ newfound outrage at “billionaires in Washington” – although they were singing a different tune a few years earlier when many of those same billionaires were keeping Biden’s campaign coffers flush with cash.

That was then, though… this is now. Martin says he’s focused on bringing blue-collar workers back to the Democratic fold, but he might want to start with his own family. His brother, a union carpenter, voted for Trump.

The first order of business for the new chairman is an after-action report on the 2024 election debacle. “We won’t call it a post-mortem or autopsy,” he quickly pointed out to reporters, “because our party’s not dead. It’s still alive and kicking, right?” 

Is he asking us or telling us? Time will reveal the answer…

But Saturday’s big DNC bash did reveal something else.

Committee members also elected a trio of new vice chairs in a show of artificially induced diversity: Latina labor and community activist Artie Blanco, state representative Malcolm Kenyatta from Philly and David Hogg – the perpetually scowling 2018 Parkland High shooting survivor turned gun control enthusiast. All are significantly left of center, which means despite Martin’s “Minnesota Nice” veneer, the Democratic Party is likely to continue kowtowing to its woke-progressive base, the very people who piloted the S.S. Harris-Walz straight into last year’s electoral iceberg. 

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KRISTI NOEM

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STOCK: RISING

This is a busy time to be an ICE agent. From the frozen tundra of the far north to the smoldering heat of the Rio Grande, they’re logging lots of overtime enforcing Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. And new homeland security chief Kristi Noem has been right there with them. 

Literally…

Noem accompanied ICE agents on a roundup of undocumented migrants in New York, paid a surprise visit to northern Vermont (where a Border Patrol agent was fatally shot during a traffic stop last month), toured the southern border and even was on the Potomac River Thursday morning, where the U.S. Coast Guard had mobilized a half dozen emergency stations around D.C. to assist with the plane crash search and rescue efforts.

And that was just her first week on the job… Noem began her second week with an appearance on “Meet the Press.” Not bad for someone who, until recently, had been stuck in the governor’s mansion in Pierre, South Dakota.

If it sounds like Noem is becoming omnipresent, it’s because she is. She’s making it clear from the get-go that not only will she be a hands-on secretary, but she’s positioning herself to become the face of the administration’s get-tough approach to the illegal immigration crisis. And as she reminded readers of her autobiography released last year (when she described shooting an unruly family dog), she has no problem getting tough herself when the occasion calls for it.

Could it be she harbors plans to put that elevated profile to use in a run for higher office?     

We shall see, but judging from the White House’s amplification of Noem’s efforts, Trump likes what he sees from his new homeland security secretary.

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BIG PHARMA

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STOCK: FALLING

For decades, Big Pharma has had its way in Washington, D.C. A few million in campaign contributions here, a few corporate favors there – and the pharmaceutical industry sat back and watched the billions roll in.

But now, the industry is bracing for a potential one-two punch that could have significant impacts on its bottom line… and its Swamp dominance.

First, there’s the new Trump administration – in which the days of rubber-stamping drug approval paperwork appear to be over. The new president has repeatedly said he wants to overhaul the regulatory process, and if the past two weeks have taught Americans anything, it’s that Trump seems determined to follow through on his big promises.

That could be a bad prescription for the folks who make America’s pills. 

And speaking of pills … the nomination of noted anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary could result in a direct hit to some of their most profitable product lines. 

It’s little wonder, then, that Big Pharma is furiously lobbying to block Kennedy’s confirmation in the Senate – finding natural allies in many Democrats who view RFK’s defection to Trump World as a Benedict Arnold-level betrayal. It’s an open secret Kennedy and fellow former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard – Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence – are the two appointees they’d love to sink the most.

Big Pharma’s deep pockets could do the trick against Kennedy, but even if that wins them a tactical victory, the larger strategic outlook remains daunting for the industry. As long as Trump remains in office, that is.      

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REVISIONIST HISTORY

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STOCK: FALLING

History-loving Americas are increasingly hopeful these days. After nearly a quarter century of the intolerant left rubbing an eraser over American history, the revisionism has hit a roadblock.

President Trump said in his inaugural address he would restore “Mount McKinley” to the 20,310-foot peak in Alaska christened ‘Denali’ by the Obama administration. Then there’s that body of water fed by the Mississippi River now referred to (by the Trump administration, anyway) as the Gulf of America.

Trump isn’t the only one returning things to form. Upon starting work last Monday, new defense secretary Pete Hegseth turned heads at the Pentagon with a comment he made about America’s active duty warriors.

“Every moment that I’m here, I’m thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, on missile defense sites and aircraft carriers,” Hegseth said.

Wait… stop the tape. Hegseth intentionally used the former names of these two legendary military installations, both of which fell victim to a 2021 base renaming purge pushed by Nancy Pelosi and cheered on by Joe Biden. Renamed Forts Moore and Liberty, respectively, they were among the dozens of facilities that — horror of horrors! — carried the names of Confederate generals. In addition to Benning and Bragg, such famous sites as Camp Beauregard and Forts Gordon, A.P. Hill, Hood, Lee, Pickett, Polk, and Rucker were all sacrificed to appease the woke gods.

Biden was so hellbent on his mission of deleting history he disliked that he led the charge to remove Arlington National Cemetery’s Civil War Reconciliation Monument.

That’s right… he removed a monument to reconciliation.

But the Confederate monuments were just low-hanging fruit. Recent years have witnessed the removal or vandalization of monuments honoring Christoper Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Stephen Foster, Francis Scott Key — even a statue of freed slaves kneeling at Abraham Lincoln’s feet.  

Marxist-inspired academics fueled the 21st-century push to expunge the past. Though it is widely credited to him, Karl Marx did not say, “keep people from their history, and they are easily controlled.” But he was disdainful of history in general, seeing it as a vehicle for pushing his radical views.

“History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of the ends,” he wrote.

Ironically, that’s just what the history-erasers here in the U.S. have been doing here.

Until now…

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PANAMA CANAL

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STOCK: RISING

Many Americans are puzzled by this one. Nearly 122 years after the U.S. secured control of Panama’s Isthmus, 111 years after its government completed the famous canal, 47 years after Jimmy Carter negotiated the Canal Zone’s return to Panama, and 26 years after Panama assumed control of it, the world’s second busiest interoceanic waterway is back in the news.

And not in a good way…

Trump is demanding America reclaim control of the canal. He says the Panamanians haven’t fulfilled the terms of the 1999 transfer and have bowed to pressure from China. On his first official trip abroad, newly minted secretary of state Marco Rubio met with Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino on Sunday – presumably engaging the carrot before Trump follows with the stick.

Rubio told Mulino “the status quo is unacceptable” and that “absent immediate changes,” America would be required to “take measures necessary to protect its rights under the (1977) treaty.”

What measures?

We shall see… unless of course Trump’s brinksmanship results in a new deal on shipping fees for container vessels, which soared by nearly 60 percent from 2018 to 2023.

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5 comments

Nanker Phelge February 3, 2025 at 3:18 pm

Trump is bungling his way though his 2nd week. Can’t wait for week 3.

I would expect there to be some outrage around here over private citizen Leon Mush taking so much control of the government. It’s interesting that Mush’s big customer, China, world supplier of fentanyl, only got a 10% tariff. Crony capitalism?

Only at Fitsnews could the brain trust believe that the only source for history is monuments. Get back to me when these things called “history books” are deleted.

Panama expanded the canal, and the US paid nothing towards it. Leave it to Fits to leave out pertinent facts.

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The Colonel Top fan February 3, 2025 at 5:17 pm

Nanker, Nanker, Nanker, “Panama expanded the canal” iis a bit of sophistry, yes they did expand and add some of the locks to allow larger ships through but there would have been nothing to expand were it not for America’s blood sweat and treasury.
The French worked for 18 years accomplishing nothing but killing a lot of Frenchman, Panamanians and trees. In 10 Years, Americans developed a plan, executed it and along the way came up with a method to deal with malaria causing mosquitos. From 1914-1977, America upgraded, maintained an managed the canal. Then Jimmy Carter gave it away – one of his dumbest moves in a lonnnnnnggggg list of dumb moves (for the record, Jimmy was the first presidential vote i ever cast.) Panama owned the canal for more than 15 years before they bothered to do any real work to it.

Bragg was an idiot, not worthy of remembering as a fort but Liberty is a stupid name for Bragg. Troops generally refer to it as Bragg or, surprising no one at all, Liberty Biberty… Hal Moore is deserving of the honor and Benning wasn’t all that swift of a leader either. Gregg-Adams is one of the better names for our forts but there was nothing wrong with Lee and using two different peoples names (both South Carolinians btw) is kind of stupid. Eisenhower was a good call as Gordon, though a great combat leader, was a racist of unmatched vehemence and a lousy gubernor of Georgia. I’d love to know what all the renaming really cost – I’d guess $100,000,000 or more.

The McKinley/Denali and Gulf of America thing is pure stupidity but I get it, Trump’s trying to roll back 4 years of liberal stupidity. Congress needs to pass a law to end all the naming stupidity (from both sides) .

One of the smarter things the Dems have done post their November ass whipping was dump Harrison.

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Tom February 3, 2025 at 7:33 pm

Colonel, Colonel, Colonel, you know the original Canal Treaty was negotiated with the barrel of our gun to the head of the Panamanians. They had just achieved independence from Colombia, and we said we would support Colombia retaking the territory if Panama did not sign the treaty we wanted.

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The Colonel Top fan February 3, 2025 at 8:58 pm

AND?

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Tom February 4, 2025 at 12:10 pm

There is no and. It’s just a moral and ethical point. It’s accurate history for the future to judge. Jimmy Carter was a man of principle with a deep sense of justice. In my opinion, he is probably the most Christian man ever to occupy the office of President. Trump is the exact opposite. Just say you agree with Trump that we should use our military power to do whatever we want to whomever we want. It’s foolish to attempt to justify anything we have done in Panama. Whatever we did, we did for our benefit with no consideration for the people of Panama or anyone else. Panama owes us nothing. There was never a real agreement or valid treaty. It is a fundamental principle of the law of any civilized country that a contract under duress is not a valid contract.

So, like the Emperors of old, Trump will exact what tribute he can from those of lesser power, and America will cede our moral leadership of the world. I think that is a huge mistake, it will cost us our allies and leave us friendless. I mean, it takes a lot to get the Canadians to boo your National Anthem, but that is the choice we have made. Locked in a prison of our own or should I say Trump’s making.

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