God Loves the Trinity, But Trump Loves Tariffs and Tantrums

From rage posts to exploding bridges, the week’s chaos reveals just how unfit this government is to handle reality, never mind hurricane season.

Good morning! As storm season barrels in with increasing fury (both meteorological and political), the United States is somehow less prepared than ever, while overseas, the Ukrainians continue to teach a masterclass in resilience, innovation, and the strategic use of well-timed explosions. Let’s begin with the latest blow dealt not by nature, but by government dysfunction, cruelty, and hubris.

In California, residents of San Diego decided they’ve had enough of ICE’s theatrical fascism. A tactical ICE unit in military-style gear raided the popular Italian restaurant Buona Forchetta, detaining workers just before the dinner rush. Agents used flash-bang grenades, typically reserved for hostage rescues or combat zones, while rounding up cooks and servers. But as word spread, neighbors surrounded the agents, shouting “Shame!” and physically blocking their vehicles from leaving. No injuries resulted, but the message was clear: this community will no longer tolerate federal stormtrooper cosplay. Mayor Todd Gloria condemned the raid as reckless and terrorizing, while Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera called it “state-sponsored terrorism.” ICE has yet to explain why it believed flash-bangs were necessary to arrest kitchen staff. Somewhere, Stephen Miller is probably drafting a commendation.

Across the Atlantic, the Dutch government collapsed as far-right leader Geert Wilders yanked his PVV party from the ruling coalition after failing to ram through what he dubbed “the strictest-ever immigration policy.” Wilders, often referred to as the “Dutch Trump” (blond bouffant and all), blamed his partners for being too soft. His walkout, just weeks before the Netherlands hosts the NATO summit, has plunged the EU’s fifth-largest economy into chaos and opened the door to snap elections. His coalition partners, notably VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz, accused him of sabotaging the country out of political ego. Wilders, naturally, blamed immigrants.

Back in the States, FEMA is unraveling in real time under Trump’s new appointee David Richardson, a man who recently admitted he didn’t know hurricane season was a season. Internal reports and a devastating Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Richardson announced the agency would abandon its new hurricane response plan because of its incompletion and revert to last year's plan. Unfortunately, last year’s plan no longer exists, thanks to Trump’s workforce cuts and dismantling of key programs. The head of FEMA’s door-to-door survivor assistance program? Gone. Regional leaders with decades of experience? Resigned. One of them, MaryAnn Tierney, left with a blistering note: “Everyone has a line. I have reached mine.” FEMA’s new guiding metaphor? Fruit. “Some of these tasks are orange-like,” Richardson told staff. “But they might be tangerines, they might be blood oranges…” If your disaster response plan sounds like a fruit salad, you’re probably not ready for hurricane season.

While FEMA burns through metaphorical fruit baskets and emergency plans that never materialized, Donald Trump spent the weekend doing what he does best: golfing, rage-posting, and letting the world pass him by. Over the course of 72 hours, Trump unloaded a torrent of social media outbursts, alternating between tariff-fueled paranoia, imaginary Harvard rejection trauma, and congratulating Kid Rock (“I call him Bob”) on the launch of his MAGA restaurant The Detroit Cowboy. In between tirades, he declared his “One Big Beautiful Bill” to be the largest spending cut in history—while also claiming it somehow saves Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Spoiler: it doesn’t. He ranted about “economic ruination” if courts rule against his tariffs, accused foreign nations of “holding America hostage,” and insisted critics of his trade war simply “don’t get it.” Meanwhile, Trump’s actual record is clearer: U.S. markets are underperforming global peers, international tourism is down, credit card and student loan delinquencies are surging, and manufacturing activity has cratered to post-2008 levels.

Through it all, Trump continues to beg for $5 donations in deranged fundraising emails promising Trump-branded gold golf balls and a spot on “JD Vance’s White House list.” At this point, the man seems less like a president and more like a particularly sweaty timeshare salesman at the end of a very long bender.

Meanwhile, the real emergency isn’t weather, it’s economics. The OECD has slashed its U.S. growth forecast to just 1.6%, citing Trump’s whiplash tariffs, workforce shrinkage, and the collapse of immigration-fueled productivity. Global growth is expected to decline as well, thanks to Trump's “reciprocal” tariffs that ricochet like a drunk boomerang across Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Inflation in the U.S. is now forecast to reach 3.2% this year, and possibly 4% in 2026, while consumer confidence and private investment continue to wither under policy uncertainty. The OECD’s chief economist put it bluntly: “Trade uncertainty has reached unprecedented levels.” So has the level of self-delusion inside Mar-a-Lago.

But nowhere is that delusion more dangerous than in the Supreme Court’s latest shadow docket maneuver. At the request of the Trump administration, the Court overturned a lower court’s stay and greenlit the immediate deportation of hundreds of thousands of migrants previously paroled under Biden’s CHNV humanitarian program (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela). These are people who passed vetting, secured financial sponsors, and came here under a 70-year-old bipartisan legal framework. Stephen Miller, frothing at the microphone, declared their presence illegal and demanded they be deported by plane, because, in his words, “airplanes travel in two directions.” What he failed to mention is that the parole program has existed since Eisenhower, and was used to welcome Hungarian refugees, Vietnamese families, and medical professionals fleeing war.

The Court’s decision included no reasoning, just a one-paragraph blessing of executive cruelty. The dissent by Justices Jackson and Sotomayor was scathing, warning that the Court is transforming from a court of last resort into a court of only resort, sidelining due process in favor of political expediency. What’s really happening is a transformation of law into ideology: humanitarian relief rebranded as criminal conspiracy. The erasure of precedent. The weaponization of emergency power. It’s terrifying because it’s being done casually, and with the full backing of a president who sees empathy as weakness.

And yet, in the darkness, a little light, if you’re looking skyward. National Geographic reports that the long-assumed collision between our galaxy and Andromeda might not happen after all. Thanks to updated gravitational data and the unexpected mass of the Large Magellanic Cloud (surprise! it’s chunky), there’s now a 50/50 chance the two galaxies will miss each other in five billion years. This is, of course, no help to us now, Earth will have been incinerated by the Sun long before, but it’s somehow comforting. We may not get a galactic cataclysm. Just a near-miss. And maybe a chance for future stars to be born.

Naturally, Elon Musk will probably try to monetize the whole thing with a “StarArk” escape plan priced in Dogecoin. That is, if he can make it through a week without crashing a rocket, blaming his five-year-old for a black eye, or turning Memphis into a methane plume.

Finally, we close with a salute, not to American leadership, but to Ukrainian ingenuity. Just two days after launching Operation Spiderweb, which reportedly took out a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, Ukraine’s SBU has struck again. This time with an underwater bomb that damaged the Crimean Bridge for the third time in as many years. “God loves the Trinity,” said SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk. “And the SBU always finishes what it starts.” Over 1,100 kilograms of explosives were used to shatter the bridge’s underwater supports. The symbolism is sharp, the timing deliberate. While Trump complains he wasn’t briefed and continues to golf through global crises, Ukraine is doing the work of defending sovereignty, decisively, strategically, and without asking for permission.

God may love the Trinity. But we love competence.