Hartmann Report

Manufacturing jobs alone didn’t build postwar prosperity — organized labor did. And Trump is killing it... Donald Trump is selling his economic chaos with a simple story: “In the years 1945-1981, before Reagan and Clinton (and pretty much all of both parties) embraced ‘free trade’ neoliberalism, a single worker in an American factory could buy a house, take a nice vacation every year, get a new car every two or three years, put his kids through college, and retire with a comfortable pension. All because we made things in America. “When the Free Trade era began, it took 90,000 factories and 40 million high-paying jobs with it to China and other low-wage countries, which kicked off the immiseration of the middle class. To get back to that prosperity, all we need to do is use tariffs to force manufacturing back to the US.” It’s a story that makes a lot of sense to those who’d lived through that “golden age of manufacturing” era, and the younger workers who see it portrayed in movies and on TV or hear the stories from their grandparents. But it overlooks one massive reality: it wasn’t the factories that created the middle class, it was the unions.

Trump, Musk, and the GOP have hotwired our democracy, stripped it for parts, and are selling the pieces to the highest bidder while telling us to enjoy the ride. What happens when a country stops pretending to care about democracy and just lets the billionaires run wild? Look no further than Putin's Russia — a place where wealth buys protection, loyalty buys power, and corruption isn't hidden, it's institutionalized. Now, under Donald Trump's return to power, Elon Musk's tightening grip on federal spending, and a GOP entirely beholden to dark money, America is no longer just flirting with that model — we're fast becoming it. This is the story of how the U.S. is being hollowed out from the inside, not by foreign enemies, but by our own billionaire oligarchs.

April 20 was Hitler's holiday. Now it may mark the day Trump declares martial law, suspends the Constitution, and finishes the job he started on January 6… April 20th has a special significance for Nazis and neo-Nazis around the world. Neo-Nazi groups in states like Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina have organized events specifically to commemorate Hitler's 4/20 birthday. These include "Adolf Hitler Celebrations" and gatherings marketed as "family-friendly" to indoctrinate children into white supremacist ideology. In Georgia, a neo-Nazi shared a photo of a swastika-decorated cake baked by his girlfriend in honor of Hitler's birthday; at the Federal Correctional Facility in Florence, Colorado, a Hitler birthday celebration among white supremacist inmates escalated into a race riot involving over 200 prisoners, resulting in deaths and injuries. This year, though, the celebration of Hitler's 136th birthday may be a bigger deal than any year before. Because that may be the day Trump's plan to end American democracy is finally, fully put into place.

Some readers may despair, seeing the figures in this book and learning how billionaires and the Republicans have disenfranchised millions. Although the solutions here have focused on fundamental ways that we can restore the vote and strengthen our democracy, most change happens locally. Individuals can help every step of the way—from asking neighbors whether they are registered to driving neighbors to the polls and acting as a poll watcher. The situation will not change without Americans participating. No individual politician will change the trend toward oligarchy. The seeds for change in American politics are scattered in towns, boroughs, and counties across the country.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — What to know about today's nationwide “Hands Off!” protests. — The tariff war begins...as Trump promises a new gilded age. He wrecked America in 74 days. — Voters Revolt: AOC Crushes Schumer in Shocking Primary Poll. — Rightwing conspiracy-nut blogger Laura Loomer ordered Trump to gut the senior ranks of our national security apparatus, and he did it! — World News: Trump says, “Free Marine Le Pen,” is using your tax dollars to set up refugee centers in South Africa for white people who want to “flee” to the US, and Pussy Riot warns Americans. — Gilded Age Alert! Trump wrecked the economy with his trade wars — then went golfing while America burned and our dead soldiers were returned! — Hunter in a Farmer’s World: Do the fun stuff last — Wisdom School: When the Universe Guides You

The Trump presidency is the most corrupt in American history — and now it's openly breaking laws, ignoring judges, and threatening us all with the power of the state… Criminals always gonna crime. The Trump administration is the most corrupt in, arguably, the entire history of the United States. Never before has a president charged $1 million a head for people to have dinner with him, openly catered to campaign donors or offered to gut regulations in exchange for a big donation, and ran a scam crypto operation out of the White House. He's also the first convicted felon and accused rapist to serve as president. And now he's threatening to put people like you and me in prison or even deport us to a foreign torture chamber. The highest levels of the Trump administration are embracing their boss's criminality full-on right now, refusing to acknowledge a legal court order to not deport people to El Salvador. Judge Boasberg has scheduled a hearing for next week to determine if he's going to hold any of Trump's lawyers in contempt, a process that could see them incarcerated, fined, and/or facing the loss of their law licenses.

A nuanced look at real trade policy vs. political cosplay with global stakes… Are we liberated yet? People of a certain age will remember Yosemite Sam chasing Bugs Bunny around with a shotgun, blasting holes in walls, ceilings, and windows while completely missing his target. It's the perfect metaphor for Trump's tariff policy announced yesterday. Trump is acting as if tariffs were a form of warfare, and he's "fighting back" against the countries that have "taken advantage of us." This is how he's behaving like Yosemite Sam with his blunderbuss, shooting everywhere and just making a mess while missing the target altogether. He's not only throwing wild tariffs on every country that trades with America (except Russia), but he also put a flat 10% tariff on every product imported into the United States (except from Russia).

Last night, the richest man on Earth lost his first high-profile political test — and the American people won a small but significant victory for democracy. Elon Musk poured money into Wisconsin in an effort to handpick a state Supreme Court justice, but voters rejected his candidate and, with that, sent a clear signal: the morbidly rich don’t own us. Not yet, anyway. But the fight has only just begun.

The GOP Built a Propaganda Empire. Democrats Built a Consultancy Firm. For at least a few decades, Republicans and Democrats have been following two very different strategies when it comes to political messaging. And the GOP is doing it effectively — making big, bold statements — while cautious Democrats are getting wiped out. Republicans are leading public opinion while Democrats are trying to chase it. That does not work. The essence of the problem is that the corporate wing of the Democratic Party tells their politicians and ad people that they need to pay careful attention to public polling and calibrate their positions around "where the public is at." And, of course, don't take positions (like Medicare for All) that would offend donors (insurance companies, in this case). The results are "safe," focus-grouped policies that fail to inspire or move voters. And, even more importantly, don't change public opinion itself.

Undermine democracy. Destroy institutions. Divide the people. Loot the country. Collapse it from the inside out… If Putin wanted to kill America, how would he best do it? Exactly like this: — Install a puppet or ally inside the government; as Lincoln foresaw, a tyrant doesn’t need to invade. He just needs to rise from within. Trump has repeatedly echoed Kremlin talking points, undermined NATO, attacked Ukraine, praised autocrats, and created chaos at home. If Putin picked a candidate, it would be Trump — and the intelligence community has confirmed Russian efforts to help him win in both 2016 and 2020...