FITSNews Political Stock Index: 3/3/2025

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Less than six weeks into his second presidency, Donald Trump continues to shred historical precedents. Friday’s fascinating — and exceedingly rare — dustup in the Oval Office with a visiting dignitary was the most recent example.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to the White House last Friday hat in hand, looking for another round of financial freebies to bankroll his country’s ongoing war with Russian invaders. But the former comedian failed to “read the room,” in the words of one observer.

Instead of playing the role of grateful supplicant, Zelenskyy instead took Trump to task for not stopping Russia’s invasion. An angry exchange played out as millions watched live.

The end result: Zelenskyy was quickly shown the door – leaving without lunch, without a much-needed minerals deal and without a scheduled White House press conference with Trump.

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Reaction to the brouhaha was split along partisan lines. Liberals (who view Ukraine as their pet charity project) are in a state of apoplexy, while many conservatives (who’ve long seen aid to Ukraine as stuffing cheese down a rat hole) were thrilled to learn former president Joe Biden’s open checkbook policy was clearly at an end.

How will this geopolitical drama play out over the long-haul? That’s what this index is here to track…

Every Monday, we follow the rising and falling fortunes of national politicos via the ‘FITSNews Political Stock Index.’ Every Tuesday, we publish the ‘Palmetto Political Stock Index’ – which looks at 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 us to include in either of these indices? Email Will Folks (here) and/or Mark Powell (here).

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

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JD VANCE

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STOCK: RISING

There he was Friday morning, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the 5-foot-7-inch warrior fresh from the Steppes of Eurasia, all decked out in the combat sweater he sports in the same way Fidel Castro made combat fatigues his signature look.

Ushered into the innermost sanctum of American power (the Oval Office), the scene veered completely off script when White House press corps cameras started rolling. 

Intending to showcase that since he isn’t afraid to stand up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, he isn’t shy about taking on Trump either, Zelensky made a power play by trying to pull at the heartstrings of the American public watching at home.   

That was when vice president JD Vance pounced. 

“Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said.

The diminutive warlord slumped back in his seat; arms sullenly crossed over his chest in a defensive position as Vance pressed his case. Trump then jumped in and dropped the hammer – and that ended that. But Vance’s spirited rebuttal had cleared the way for it.

“The American people just saw convincing proof that JD Vance is ready for prime time,” one political strategist told us. “Add to that his strong showing in last week’s 2028 presidential straw poll of young conservative activists at CPAC (where he dominated the field with 61% of the vote), and the future looks promising for the young veep.”

The contrast between Vance and wannabe veep Nikki Haley was never sharper, either. That’s because the neoconservative (read: warmongering) think tank which hired Haley last spring had to embarrassingly announce Zelenskyy had cancelled his scheduled appearance there later that afternoon.

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LINDSEY GRAHAM

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STOCK: FALLING

Speaking of neoconservative warmongers, thousands of South Carolina Republicans received the following text message from U.S. senator Lindsey Graham on Friday afternoon just hours after the White House skirmish: “I’ve never been more proud of President Trump than I was after witnessing his unwavering AMERICA FIRST [emphasis original] leadership in today’s Oval Office meeting with Zelensky (sic).”

Proving it’s impossible to lay it on too thick when servile flattery of Trump is involved, Graham slobbered love all over what he described as “masterclass” performances by the president and his No. 2.

“There’s a word for that kind of fawning, obsequious praise,” one D.C. political operative told us. “Distraction. Graham hopes today’s praise of Trump standing up to Zelenskyy will make folks at home forget his earlier praise for Zelenskyy.”

Like, “right before the meeting” earlier…

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Really good bipartisan meeting before President Zelensky heads to the White House. We stand with Ukraine.?? pic.twitter.com/s5NJx0BcKZ

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 28, 2025

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Graham, who never met a conflict he didn’t like, has been the chief GOP advocate for taxpayer subsidization of the Ukraine conflict from the very beginning. When it comes to other people’s blood and treasure, he is a definitional “bleeding heart liberal.”

The veteran lawmaker needs all the distraction he can get these days, though, because in fifteen months he’ll face GOP primary voters as he seeks a fifth term in Washington, D.C.

“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” Samuel Johnson famously put it in 1775.

To update it in 2025 terms, “Trump is the last refuge of a Republican pretending to be a conservative.”

“Graham’s nose is buried so deep in Trump’s rump, he can’t smell fresh air,” our intrepid operative added.

Look for a lot more brown-nosing by Graham as he tries desperately to keep would-be GOP primary opponents at bay in the months to come.

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MIKE JOHNSON

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STOCK: RISING

Mike Johnson may still be a newbie as speaker, but the Louisiana congressman is developing quite the reputation as a political Houdini – an escape artist with a knack for extracting himself from dire situations while keeping the coveted gavel in his hand.

Last week, the House passed a budget resolution by the narrowest of margins. This was the first step in delivering the full spending package Trump wants, and it included $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase, and $2 trillion in spending cuts.

Given the House’s current 218–215 party breakdown, even a handful of defections would have proved fatal. Fiscal hawks spent a week tenaciously fighting the bill (and with good reason). The outcome was so uncertain Trump had to get personally involved in persuading the holdouts – with the final tally delayed so he could work the phones.

In the end, the measure passed by the narrowest of margins – 217 to 215. All Democrats present in the chamber – and one Republican (Thomas Massie of Kentucky) – voted “no.” The bill is now in the Senate, where new majority leader John Thune ominously predicted “nothing about this is going to be easy.”

But from Johnson’s perspective, it’s now the Senate’s problem.

Johnson isn’t out of the woods just yet, though. Congress is rushing pell-mell toward Washington’s most beloved manufactured drama of them all – the “shutdown.” The potential for another partial government work stoppage exists when Uncle Sam hits the debt ceiling (yet again) next Friday – March 14, 2025. As that deadline approaches, be on the lookout for increasing levels of partisan panty-wadding and hysterical media meltdowns until the inevitable 11th hour compromise comes along that once again kicks the can down the road.

Thune’s problem?  The American Republic is running out of road…

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FEDERAL TRANSPARENCY

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STOCK: FALLING

MAGA supporters are furious, and America’s new attorney general Pam Bondi is livid. What, you ask, is the source of their anger and frustration? 

Nearly five years after financier and pedophile purveyor Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell (arguably the most suspicious suicide ever), calls have been mounting for the government to identify the wealthy and powerful figures allegedly implicated in the scandal. It’s suspected in some circles the official investigation shielded those VIPs from the public eye.

Files related to the Epstein investigation were included in a massive document dump ordered by Trump shortly after he returned to office on January 20, 2025. The new president said the order was a bid to fully implement transparency in government – and to restore faith in government.

Last week, ostensibly in keeping with that objective, multiple conservative influencers were brought to the White House and handed binders labelled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” 

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Unfortunately for them – and for the White House – no “smoking gun” was contained within the binders. In fact, there wasn’t even a cheap Fourth of July firecracker. The vast majority of the documents included in the release were already in the public domain.

“Why can’t people just admit the binders are propaganda?” influencer Laura Loomer wrote on X.

Bondi was fit to be tied. Feeling sandbagged, she wrote to new FBI director Kash Patel and told him “by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, February 28, the FBI will deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office, including all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how such information was obtained.”

Bondi also demanded a “full investigation” into the papers originally sent to her.

While we await the next moves by the administration, the score as it stands now on the transparency front is: Swamp 1, Trump 0.

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CATHOLIC INFLUENCE IN U.S. POLTICS

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STOCK: FALLING

As this week’s index was being edited, Pope Francis remained in critical condition in a Rome hospital. There have been many ups and downs related to his nearly month-long respiratory infection – the latest being the onset of two “acute respiratory crises” which forced him to go back on a ventilator.

Francis has our prayers and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery. At the same time, whatever happens with this health scare the fact remains a change in leadership at the top of the Roman Catholic Church will likely come at some point in the not-too-distant future. That’s important because with over 1.3 billion baptized Catholics around the globe, it is the world’s largest Christian denomination.

The church has also been a powerful presence in the United States on many levels for centuries. The selection of Pope Francis’s successor may come at an opportune time. A survey from the Pew Research Center released just last week shows Christianity’s recent decline in this country has noticeably slowed and perhaps even leveled off.

Back in 2007, Pew’s polling found that 78% of American adults identified as Christian. By 2019, it had sunk to 63%, a whopping 15-point plunge.

While Protestants remain the country’s largest Christian group at 40%, Catholics also remain the nation’s largest individual denomination – comprising 19% of all Americans who identify as Christian. 

More importantly, at least 25% of registered U.S. voters are Catholic. Once a Democrat powerhouse, the church’s influence has been waning – while Trump flipped conventional wisdom and obliterated Kamala Harris among Catholic voters.

It’s widely acknowledged Pope Francis oversaw a distinctly leftward lurch in the church’s social and theological views since his ascension to the papacy in 2013. In fact, even as he fought for life Francis issued a new political missive lamenting a global “polycrisis” caused by “wars, climate changes, energy problems, epidemics, the migratory phenomenon and technological innovation.”

Francis went on to lament a global failure “to listen carefully to the contribution of areas of scientific knowledge,” and specifically referred to the Covid-19 fiasco as a “squandered” opportunity for leaders to work “more deeply in the transformation of consciences and social practices.”

Such left-of-center views don’t seem to have resonated with American voters, especially given their shift to the right in last year’s elections.

This raises intriguing questions about the church’s post-Francis direction – whenever the next puff of white smoke emerge. Will it continue down the progressive path Francis charted? Or will it return to its more traditional views, thus inducing many traditional Catholics to return to the fold — and perhaps to the ballot box as well?

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