Crooked Media - What A Day: Sticker shock wave

BY MATT BERG
& CROOKED MEDIA

TUESDAY
MARCH 4, 2025

Mr. Trump is whacking friends, not adversaries.”

— The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board, roasting Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico in particular.

BERRY BAD NEWS

Tank the stock market and hike food prices, right before your first big speech to the nation? Political genius, Mr. President!

Strawberries, bananas, avocados. Those are just some of the fresh foods that Americans will likely be paying more for within the next few days, thanks to President Donald Trump’s spiraling trade war with Mexico, Canada and China, according to Target’s CEO. Need a new iPhone? Electronics will cost more than usual, Best Buy’s CEO warned. Car prices could shoot up $12,000, Bloomberg reports. The S&P 500 has tanked on the news that Trump hit Mexico and Canada with 25 percent tariffs, and China with 10 percent tariffs. Trump’s tariffs have now erased all the market’s gains since he was sworn in. How is Wall Street still taking this guy seriously?

Trump, who likes to call himself “Tariff Man,” must now reap the whirlwind: All three countries promise payback. China is targeting products sold by American farmers, which hits Trump’s rural, red state base hardest. If Trump “insists on launching a tariff war, a trade war or any other war, China will fight to the end,” a Chinese ministry spokesperson said. (Woah woah woah, what do you mean “any other war”?!)

You know things are bad when Canadians start promising revenge. Parts of Canada will cut off electricity exports to the U.S. because “they need to feel the pain,” vowed Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Ontario is also pulling all American booze from its shelves. Canada will implement 25 percent tariffs against $155 billion of American products in March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced. Mexico will unveil its plans for retaliation on Sunday.

Virtually all economists across the political spectrum agree that the tariffs fall on average people — and some warn Trump is “steering the economy toward a recession.” It’s not a good sign when people start using the word Trumpcession. “The stock market is tanking so badly it almost feels like we are being governed by someone who went bankrupt six tim— oh,” liberal commentator Bryan Tyler Cohen wrote on Threads. The Wall Street Journal’s arch-conservative editorial board slammed Trump for “the dumbest tariff plunge.” I guess this guy can bring liberals and conservatives together!

Which brings us to tonight’s spectacle! Trump will tout his “accomplishments” over the past month in an address to Congress at 9 p.m. Eastern. Grab your popcorn… while you can still afford it.

Democrats are preparing to make noise at the address in some, uh, creative ways. They may wave signs, pocket Constitutions, empty egg cartons (to symbolize the high price of eggs), or even use hand clappers, Axios reports. Not everyone backs these stunts. “Democrats: PLEASE do not do dumb shit like this during Trump’s speech,” said Ian Sams, who was former Vice President Kamala Harris’s spokesperson.

Don’t expect too much from the Dems, though, one House Democratic aide told What A Day. “The issue is that there’s so many [issues] that nothing is going to really stick,” the aide wrote in a text.

Some Democrats will boycott. Trump’s last State of the Union speech was “a MAGA pep rally,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), one of the lawmakers skipping the event, told the What A Day podcast.“I don’t need to be an extra in a Donald Trump political event.”

It’s a recipe for a weird night. Join my bosses, aka “The Guys,” on the Pod Save America YouTube channel at 8 p.m. Eastern, where they will pre-game the address with some very special guests. Submit your questions by joining Friends of the Pod!

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WHAT ELSE?

Business leaders are paying upwards of $5 million for one-on-one candlelit dinners with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Wired reports. Shelling out millions to secure influence in Trumpworld is, surely, what the Founding Fathers had in mind! Man of the people!

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) engaged in romantic relationships with top military officers who lobbied her committee, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest, ProPublica reported, citing sources familiar with the details of an inspector general’s investigation. This story is insane, especially considering Ernst was considered a top contender to be Trump’s defense secretary.

Trump halted all U.S. military assistance to Ukraine in the latest fallout from his contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. Now, the European Union is scrambling to gather the money to boost support for Kyiv.

HHS Secretary and brainworm survivor Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is touting vitamin A as an effective way to fight the measles — worrying experts who say that it’s not a replacement for being vaccinated. “Relying on vitamin A instead of the vaccine is not only dangerous and ineffective, but it puts children at serious risk,” a top health expert told the Washington Post.

DHS Secretary and known dog killer Kristi Noem taunted Canadians during a recent trip to the northern border: “She stood on the American side and said, ‘USA No. 1.’ Then she crossed the line and said, ‘The 51st state.’ She did it at least three times and was very clear in saying, ‘USA No. 1,’ and didn’t even say ‘Canada.’ Just, ‘The 51st state,’” a bystander told the Boston Globe. Keep it classy, Kristi!

More than 6,100 Americans applied for U.K. citizenship last year, the highest number since application records began being kept two decades ago. I mean… we get it.

The viral $19 strawberry from Erewhon, the ridiculously expensive supermarket, isn’t worth the hype, according to a Washington Post review. Could a strawberry ever be worth $19? Give these new tariffs a month or two, and I guess all we’ll find out!

WE'RE ALL FRIENDS HERE

TONIGHT, Trump is giving his first Joint Address to Congress, and we’re sure it’ll be super normal! The good news? You don’t have to endure it alone. Join Jon, Jon, Tommy, and Dan at 5 PM pacific / 8 PM eastern on the Pod Save America YouTube channel for a livestream preview of the speech, where they'll break down what to expect and take questions from Friends of the Pod subscribers.

Then, at 6 PM pacific / 9 PM eastern, head over to the Friends of the Pod Discord for a subscriber-only live chat — where you can process this freak show in real time with people who truly get it. No deranged Facebook uncles, no screaming into the void — just a space to vent, fact-check, and remind each other that reality still matters. Let’s get through this together. Sign up for Friends of the Pod now at crooked.com/friends - it's the best way to support Crooked and everything we do!

Senate Democrats stood united against a House bill that would’ve aimed to ban transgender athletes from participating in competitive school sports, causing the legislation to fail. “What Republicans are doing today is inventing a problem to stir up a culture war and divide people against each other,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said. Out of 510,000 college athletes, fewer than 10 identify as trans.

Researchers are working on better understanding why screaming profanities when you stub your toe on the coffee table increases pain tolerance. Does it help with the pain when I read the news, too?

A Texas man saved an adorable dog after it fell into a 12-foot-deep well last week. When the dog saw the man, he immediately stopped barking and began wagging his tail. That’s a good boy! After the dog was rescued, “we had five firemen laughing all of a sudden because he was short and stumpy,” the man told the Washington Post. “He was cute. Really sweet, too.”

Here’s the dog, Timmy, with one of the firefighters: