Given what the government's been doing and this administration's been doing, it would not shock me. And I hate to speculate if we were to find out that a whole bunch of people who work in Washington as our elected leaders, one way or the other, ultimately sold stocks last week, or potentially worse [00:00:16] than that, shorted the market. CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin may have been onto something when he shared his suspicion that government officials and elected politicians might have been gaming the stock market or gaming a stock market crash in order to, [00:00:34] you know, cash in. Doing it to their advantage. Because new reporting from sludge has found that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been making some pretty fishy trades. - Jake. - Interesting. And the timing of the trades are also very curious. [00:00:50] Yes. So I'm going to tell you how they what scenario those trades might make sense and what scenario they don't make sense. And then we'll see which one Marjorie Taylor Greene fits into. So, look, you probably won't be surprised to find that publicly. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been very supportive [00:01:06] of Donald Trump's trade policies. She posts about it on X. She's done so repeatedly. I'll give you a taste of just a few of her posts. In one example, she writes, America First means American workers first. These tariffs are Liberation Day for steelworkers, auto workers, [00:01:24] and every forgotten small town. Empty factories will be full again. President Trump is bringing our economic independence back. Now, that's a common message that you'll hear from Trump supporters, certainly those closest to him and elected lawmakers as well. [00:01:40] I'll give you some more examples, she writes. The Covid vaccine experts and couch. Stock traders need to take a look at the history of the stock market. They didn't care when the stock market was down big under Joe Biden's America Last policies. [00:01:55] This is a short lived correction that will end up paying dividends for American workers and manufacturers across the country. Now, let me just pause and say I. I'm still very skeptical that the real intent here by the Trump administration is to bring manufacturing jobs back. [00:02:10] In fact, we're getting a little more clarity from his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, about how this is really just an effort to renegotiate trade deals. But I digress. So all of that that I just shared with you in regard to her post are noteworthy because between March 17th and March 25th, Marjorie Taylor Greene bought [00:02:29] up to $750,000 worth of Treasury bonds. Now, Jake, why would anyone buy Treasury bonds? Because when the market crashes, people take their money out. That's why they're selling the stocks. That's why the stocks are going down. [00:02:45] Then they have cash. Where do they put that cash? They usually put it in Treasury bonds because they're safer. That's where you want to go in times that are volatile like this. So the value of those treasury bonds then go up. And we've now found out, thanks to Bill Ackman, a billionaire donor of Trump, [00:03:03] that Howard Lutnick, his former firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, heavily in bonds and are probably making a killing from this. So when they went into bonds is a different question than this story. But it's another example of, well, if you know, the market's going to crash, [00:03:20] you'd go into Treasury bonds. - That's exactly right. - And that's exactly what she did. And that's what she did ahead of Trump's tariffs announcement on Liberation Day. Okay. So she moves a ton of money up to that amount right. $750,000. The reason why we don't know the exact amount is because members of Congress, [00:03:37] while they have to disclose what they're trading, they don't have to disclose the exact amount. They disclose a range. Or they say that they've, you know, invested a range of of money. Now, with that said, she invests in bonds right before [00:03:52] the Liberation Day announcement, but then something else happens. So let's go to unusual whales. My favorite X account. They write this is unusual yesterday, meaning on April 7th, politician Marjorie Taylor Greene said that people panicking over tariffs [00:04:11] are losers and failures today. She disclosed over a dozen stock purchases, purchasing 100 of 100 of 100 $100,000 or, I'm sorry, purchasing hundred of thousands of numerous stocks. [00:04:26] There we go. So she bought when the market was deeply red. So what kind of stocks did she buy? She bought a stock in Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Lululemon, Apple, and many, many more. And she bought up to $1.5 million worth of stock year to date. [00:04:42] Now, all of this is especially concerning. You know, when you consider that last week, the president himself reposted a video essentially stating that he crashed the stock market on purpose. I'm not kidding. He posted this. Take a look. Trump is crashing the stock market by 20% this month, but he's doing it on purpose. [00:05:01] And this is why Warren Buffett just said Trump is making the best economic moves he's seen in over 50 years. Now here's the secret game he's playing, and it could make you rich. So why is he doing this? To push cash into treasuries, which forces the fed to slash interest rates in May. [00:05:18] And those lower rates give the fed the ability to refinance trillions of debt very inexpensively. It also weakens the dollar and drops mortgage rates. Now it's a wild chess move, but it's working. Now you're probably wondering what about his tariffs? Well, I'll tell you, it's a genius play. [00:05:34] It actually forces companies to build here, to dodge them. It also forces farmers to sell more of their products here in the U.S., to bring grocery prices way down. We've already seen this with eggs. Now, remember, 94% of all stocks are owned only by 8% of Americans. [00:05:52] So Trump he's taking from the rich short term and handing it to the middle class through lower prices. Okay. Warren Buffett said no such thing. That was totally made up. And there were all sorts of inaccuracies in that video, but. Can I just say, point out a couple of those and then we'll get to the point? [00:06:08] So he's not handing anything to the middle class. He's yeah, he's taking from the rich, but he's also taking from the middle class because this is going to not lead to lower prices, going to lead to higher prices. That's the problem. If it was leading to lower prices, would be thrilled. And bragging about how you're weakening. [00:06:24] The dollar is not the bride you think it is. And that could be a huge problem for America. So this guy is playing with fire. That video had so many things that were wrong with it and just simply not true. And of course, Trump retweets it. And so it's frustrating that they're not bothering to get any of the details right. [00:06:40] You could make a real case for tariffs, as we've said before. Because look, this whole attempt to implement or impose tariffs isn't real okay. Like it's become very clear to me. We're going to get to that. And I'm going to make my argument in regard to that in just a minute. [00:06:55] But before I do, I just want to stay on this topic of Marjorie Taylor Greene's stock and bond trades, because the timing is, in fact, fishy. This is the reason why I personally have a huge problem with members of Congress trading individual stocks. And it's not just about Marjorie Taylor Greene. [00:07:10] I want to be clear. There are plenty of Democrats in Congress who have also made all sorts of fishy stock trades at fishy times of the year when they're, you know, negotiating legislation or they're having closed door briefings. There were all sorts of stories that were coming out during the Covid pandemic where, you know, [00:07:27] they had all those closed door briefings prior to the rest of the public knowing about this global pandemic. And they were making stock trades before the rest of the public was privy to the shutdowns that were about to come. So this is not a Democrat versus Republican thing. This is a corruption thing that is rooted deeply in [00:07:45] in the halls of Congress right now. This is a big problem, in my opinion. And I remember you and I, after the show yesterday, looked at how the stock market had rebounded a little bit. And I remember we looked at each other and said, they know something that we don't know yet. [00:08:01] Yeah, but to be fair, it's gone up and down so much now that that it's possible that they don't know either. Look, guys, there's always there's there is no single day. There's a lot of different factors. And there are people who sometimes drive the market up and down based on giant, options, trades, long positions, short positions. [00:08:20] That's when you bet in favor of something or bet against something. And so but I want to break it down to things that are super simple and accurate. So Warren Buffett, was mentioned in that video. So he's a good example. So he didn't say this was a brilliant move. In fact, he said the opposite. He's like, look, this is. [00:08:35] He's like Trump is playing around with tariffs. That's playing with fire. So I think it will hurt the stock market. So I'm going to get out get in cash. And then when the market's low I'm going to buy again. And that's classic Warren Buffett. Buy low sell high right. And no one else has the foresight to do it and the temperament to do it. [00:08:52] And that's why he's been so successful. So there's nothing wrong with that. That's just anticipating Trump and being right. Okay. So that's what Marjorie Taylor Greene did. Hey you know what I'm seeing everything that Warren Buffett is seeing and everybody else is seeing publicly. And I think this is the direction it might go. [00:09:08] And I'm going to go and go in that direction. Now there's a second scenario, which is no, she was in a meeting at the white House, and she knew that Trump was going to do tariffs that were super steep. She walks out of that meeting and goes straight to buying Treasury bonds. Right. So I don't know which one of those it is. [00:09:25] And it didn't have to be at the white House. She could get insider information. That goes to the main point that Ann is making. We've been making on the show for a long time. That's why it's problematic for members of Congress to trade stocks. - Yeah. - Individual stocks. Yeah. Yeah. And so look, I can find exceptions. I could do like, you know, we could have a reasonable conversation [00:09:43] about what are the parameters of that. But what we have now is wild wild West. They they're privy to information we are not privy to. And then they can just go trade on that and make millions, sometimes billions of dollars depending on how much money they have and resources they have. So here's why. [00:09:59] Like Elon got killed on this tariff deal and so many others did, because it actually was not easy to predict because the question was the how steep are the tariffs going to be? Because if the tariffs were relatively light, the market had already priced that in, and it might have even bounced up a little bit if they were light. [00:10:17] But instead of maybe it being light or moderate, they were too drastic. And so if you knew they were going to be that drastic, then you could make a killing like Marjorie Taylor Greene did, whether she knew or not. We just don't know yet. [00:10:34] But are these the actions of a person who knew? Yes, but she just might have guessed and been right. Now, look, there's another point of evidence that I want to bring up, because there's what the Trump administration was saying publicly and the conversations that they were having privately, [00:10:49] obviously, privately, you're going to get more clarity on what the intentions are here. Are these actual tariffs that the Trump administration plans to not only implement, but keep in place? And it appears that no. According to Scott Bessent, who is, of course, the Treasury secretary in the [00:11:07] Trump administration, they didn't really intend to keep these tariffs in place. There was a point to the threat of imposing these tariffs. Take a look. We did see what was welcomed yesterday. And that is a bounce from some of the lows and even a higher close on the Nasdaq. [00:11:26] Coincidentally, it coincided with your trip to Florida over the weekend where reportedly you were stressing that the market needed to hear that negotiations about these tariffs were in play. Lo and behold, we did see a bounce. [00:11:41] It's not a fair assessment of what happened over the weekend. I went down to see President Trump, as I do many weekends. And I can tell you it's all President Trump's decision. And he had a view on after Liberation Day [00:11:58] that we should go into quiet mode and let our partners think about the kind of the shock and awe that he presented. And over those. Following few days from April 2nd, we had the I think we're up to 70 countries. [00:12:16] Contact the white House for how to come and negotiate. So I would say that the negotiations are the result of the massive inflow of inbound calls to come and negotiate had nothing to do with the market. [00:12:32] So these astronomical tariffs that Trump announced on Liberation Day was meant to inspire so much shock and awe that dozens of countries, 70 countries have now turned around and, you know, reached out to the Trump administration to renegotiate trade deals. [00:12:48] And that was the intention all along? Clearly. Why else would Trump tell him? Let's just keep things hush hush for the weekend. Have these various countries that we do trade with freak out? So they come to us and we can negotiate better trade deals. And by the way, if that's the case, fine. That's the case. [00:13:04] My question is, how many Republicans in Congress were privy to that information? Yeah. So look, guys, I'll tell you my thoughts on what's going to happen next, but, there's some really important questions in there. So which one is it? [00:13:19] Is it we're staying in for a long time to rebuild manufacturing. And these tariffs are going to last, for years and years or it's a negotiating ploy, and we're going to just get some reductions in tariffs from other countries. And we're going to take these tariffs off. It can't be both. [00:13:38] I know that people supporting Trump keep saying no. It could be both. It could be both. No it can't. Like theoretically he could leave in strategic tariffs and take away the tariffs that were just for negotiation, but he's shown no indication that he's doing that. [00:13:54] There's no plan. There's been no talk of a plan. And what most of the critics are talking about, including Trump supporters, are where's the freaking plan? Which industries are you protecting? What? Which ones are you going to keep? Which ones aren't? He doesn't have a plan. He doesn't have one. [00:14:11] So, look, here's my actual assessment. And I understand what you're saying about Besson. And Besson definitely wants them to be temporary. He wants them to be temporary. It's very clear. Look, he says, oh, that's a mischaracterization of what happened over the weekend. I don't believe him at all. I think Besson, he's kind of like me. [00:14:27] He has difficulty not wearing his heart on his sleeve. Right. He's just too obvious that he doesn't like the tariffs. Okay. Can I say I'd love to play poker with Besson? I mean, he's a great investor and all that stuff. But you're right. The guy is the worst poker face. [00:14:43] And to me, the most telling part, when he was like, this was all Trump's idea. - Yeah, 100%. - Now remember, Trump makes the decision. Trump makes the decisions. Not me, not me. Okay. And I hope to God these are temporary. I mean, we'll see how it goes. [00:14:58] So look. So Bessett wants him to be temporary. And remember, this is my theory, right? My theory was that everybody was in on this, and it was all good to go. You do some light to moderate tariffs, pretend they're going to raise $6 trillion, meanwhile beat up the other countries and then say, oh, [00:15:17] there's a little dip in the stock market. Oh it's a perfect time for tax cuts because we don't need the 6 trillion. Anyway the tariffs are going to raise it. And look the markets took a little bit of a downturn. Oh those corporations they need a picker upper. So let's cut their taxes from 21 to 15%. Except there was one flaw in that. [00:15:35] Otherwise really good plan to trick us to trick MAGA and to rob us blind. - They ain't going to trick us, okay? - No, I mean us as an American people. Of course not us. So, the flaw was Donald J. Trump because he actually believes in the tariffs and he believes in both of those things. [00:15:54] And you say, well, you can't have both at the same time. But in Trump's head you can. So if you ask him short term or long term, he'd like both. Both. They're going to negotiate. We're going to get zero tariffs. We're going to get 6 trillion in tax cuts. Most of it is going to go to me. Okay. But then afterwards we're going to keep them forever anyway. [00:16:12] Well that's contradictory. But he he doesn't have a plan. That's why the best sense of the world are so frustrated. They think, well, I mean, he won the presidency twice. Obviously he's going to have a plan. And they go inside and he's like, let's say 104% on China. [00:16:28] And I was like, what? 104% on China. Are you okay? It is Trump's plan. Only Trump's plan. Right. So that's the monkey wrench is how stupid Donald Trump is. Like they they almost had this. It was kind of a great plan to rob us blind. [00:16:45] But he ruined it with these mega tariffs. Yeah. Well look I think that he and I have a little bit of a different perspective on this because he was under the impression that if he threatens our trade partners [00:17:00] with these astronomical, insane reciprocal tariffs, which I think we've adjudicated, that they're not really reciprocal. Right. The numbers are insane and they're not really based on anything that makes any sense. But nonetheless, the idea was, let's scare the crap out of them. [00:17:17] Right. That's what Trump does. He acts crazy, he freaks others out, and others are so scared they're like, let's just try to work something out here before things devolve. You get what I'm saying? And it appears that's what's been happening. If you take what Trump is saying about the 70 countries coming to him [00:17:33] to renegotiate at face value. - Well, that's what I was going to say. - Yeah. And I question that. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's the other thing I wrote down as Benson was talking. He's like 70 countries have reached out to us. And some countries have to be clear. Japan has, for instance. Obviously Israel has. They can't handle 17% tariff even though. [00:17:51] Yeah, yeah go ahead. So no and as you said that I was like have they and the stock market bounced up maybe on news that we were going to get these deals. I don't think they have. I'm not even sure about China and Japan because China is saying, hey, man, let's roll all day. [00:18:07] - All night. - Yeah. China. Now I'm going to block American movies. And you want to roll it 54% and threaten 104%. I'll threaten the same exact thing. China doesn't look like they're moving at all. You're right. And based on the stock market, why would they? Like, I think if your p I want your to give us 0% tariffs. [00:18:24] If it's a negotiation ploy even with this giant terrible thing etc.. And he withdraws all of them and us and Europe go to 0%. Great. I actually agree with Elon on that. Okay. But if I'm Europe, why would I do that? Why don't I just join China BRICs that's India, Brazil, etc.. [00:18:43] - And Russia. - And Japan and South Korea. Why don't we all squeeze America until they give in instead of the rest of the world? Their stock markets down, the price are about to skyrocket. People are going to be super mad. His poll is going to go in the tank like they'd be nuts to negotiate. [00:19:00] Now they have us exactly where they want us. I know because Trump went nuclear for no damn reason. Yeah, we'll see how it plays out. But long story short, I don't believe that this is actually done in an effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. [00:19:17] - No way. - And no chance of that. And later in the show, I want to talk a little bit about how liberals are totally taking the bait and trashing manufacturing workers because they think that's the best way to handle this situation. Oh, no, Americans would never want to do these terrible, lowly jobs [00:19:33] that we look at our noses down on. Don't do that. If you want to stop losing the working class. Stop trashing workers. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.