Setchfield Asset Management

Creative Investment Solutions for People Over 50

[il Donaldo Trumpo @PapiTrumpo]

STOP IT!!!😂😂😂

[Overton @overton_news]

This is one of the most important moments ever aired on CNBC.

Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says the media lied to millions of Americans about President Trump, and that after going back to the original source material, he realized he had been completely misled about Trump’s character.

PALIHAPITIYA: “The reality is that most of us were lied to by the media about President Trump.”

“And if you just go back to the source material, you should take away two things.”

“One, he didn’t say half the things he said, and two, why did these other people just fabricate what they wanted to say so that they could essentially assassinate his character?”

“I think that that second thing is completely unacceptable in America, and there’s still been no repercussions, really.”

“I took the time to learn about it. I admitted where…you know, the way that I met him was, I admitted on the pod, which, you know, has millions of viewers.”

“And I said, I got it totally wrong because I went and I watched Charlottesville.”

“And, you know, the first person to call me? President Trump.”

“And I got to know him and I put the phone down, I called my wife, and I said, we got it TOTALLY, totally wrong. We were lied to.”

“And then I got to know him and he is fantastic!”

@chamath

[Joey Jones @Johnny_Joey]

🤣

[Texas 🇺🇸 @MustangMan_TX]

Oh my word! I laughed way too hard! 🤣🤣🤣

This is just brilliant!

Any tweaks you would make?
I love that Trump is number 45/47! 😆

[con2sweet @con2sweet4life]

@MAGAVoice How I feel too

[sherri @Reform_West]

@DonaldJTrumpJr

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

American has been paying cash price for her medication, it’s $45

She just got “Great insurance — I just went to pick it up, and it's $300 with insurance”

She now has to pay $300

“So I looked at the guy, I said, excuse me, what? He said, yeah, now that we ran your insurance, it's $300 for a generic. So I'm like, so without insurance, I was paying 45, but with insurance, I'm paying $300.”

“Make it make sense, please.”

“This country is so ass backwards.”

This is a scam.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇺🇸 HONDA SHIFTS GEARS: 90% OF U.S. CARS TO BE MADE IN AMERICA

Honda is moving CR-V and HR-V production from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. to dodge Trump’s 25% import tariff.

The goal? Build 90% of U.S.-sold cars locally within 2–3 years — up to 30% more production on American soil.

They’re cranking up production — think more hiring, weekend shifts, and a whole lot of made-in-America Civics rolling out of Indiana.

RIP to brunch plans for future Honda factory workers.

Source: Reuters

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

A thought experiment.

Imagine if:

Within the next 89 days, the US, Europe, and Japan agree to go zero/zero on tariffs and remove all trade barriers.

Then Europe and Japan join the US in raising tariffs on China to 145%.

Then the US, Europe and Japan as a united front negotiate with China to remove tariffs and trade barriers, and put in place strong structural protections for IP.

[EndGame Macro @onechancefreedm]

Here’s a full-spectrum analysis on the Trump tariff pivot from 125% to 10% viewed not just as erratic policy, but as a deliberate strategic maneuver embedded in a multipolar great-power game:

⸻

1. Chaos as a Weapon: The Psychological Warfare Angle

What many are interpreting as “instability” or “pathology” may actually be a deliberate projection of unpredictability a key element of Nixon’s “Madman Theory.” If adversaries believe you might do anything, they’re less likely to test you directly. Trump, consciously or not, is weaponizing uncertainty to shift the negotiation framework from a rules-based economic order (which China dominates) to one ruled by fear and instability (which favors the U.S. military-financial complex).

Key insight: When the system favors your adversary, your unpredictability becomes your leverage.

⸻

2. The “Pause” as Coercive Signaling, Not Concession

The 90-day pause is not a softening; it’s a conditional deterrent:
•Trump gives global supply chains 90 days to adjust and reconsider their alignments.
•He signals to foreign governments: “Work with us or brace for chaos.”
•He creates a “decision fork” in China’s export system forward buyers, shipping insurers, logistics planners, and FX hedgers must now price in regime change risk.

This isn’t instability for its own sake it’s destabilization used to re-architect global dependency chains.

⸻

3. Currency War Meta-Play: Weaponizing Trade to Undermine Peg Systems

China’s FX system is anchored to a managed float against the dollar, and the yuan has historically depended on consistent export surpluses to maintain its peg. By introducing erratic tariffs, the U.S. disrupts:
•Yuan inflows (export receipts),
•Interest rate arbitrage (demand for U.S. Treasuries from Chinese reserve managers),
•Investor confidence in Chinese liquidity management.

If the yuan weakens significantly, China faces either:
•Capital outflows and reserve depletion (à la 2015),
•Or tighter capital controls and inflation pressures.

Strategic objective: Force China into a corner either absorb inflation domestically or risk dollar-funding instability.

⸻

4. Shock-and-Awe Messaging to Global South + Allies

The reference to “75 countries calling” isn’t accidental. It is:
•A warning shot to allies reliant on U.S. markets: “Don’t assume neutrality protects you.”
•A debt trap counterplay aimed at Belt and Road countries: “Your trade flows depend on my tariffs, not Xi’s bridges.”
•A dollar system loyalty test: play by Washington’s rules or be collateral damage in a trade-driven liquidity crisis.

The world is trapped in a dollarized framework and Trump’s style weaponizes that dependency.

⸻

5. Trump’s Erraticism as Reflection of the Empire’s Structural Fracture

Critics aren’t wrong to say this is a symptom of American decline. But they miss the strategic adaptation happening in real time:
•The U.S. is no longer the predictable hegemon because predictability helped competitors grow.
•Trump’s administration reflects the transition from hegemonic stability to multipolar contest. In that environment, chaos becomes the currency of deterrence.

He’s not playing by WTO rules. He’s playing by geopolitical resource extraction rules.

⸻

6. Domestic Political Utility: Aligning Geopolitical Strategy with Electoral Psychology

This aggressive stance also feeds the electoral base by:
•Externalizing decline (“They ripped us off”),
•Promising redemption via reindustrialization (tariffs as re-shoring tools),
•Framing volatility as dominance (“Only strength explains why no one retaliates”).

Narrative construction: You’re not witnessing incoherence. You’re witnessing a shift from liberal empire to defensive empire.

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

NEVER BET AGAINST DONALD J. TRUMP. 🇺🇸

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

The formula used by the administration to calculate tariffs made other nations’ tariffs appear four times larger than they actually are.

President @realDonaldTrump is not an economist and therefore relies on his advisors to do these calculations so he can determine policy.

The global economy is being taken down because of bad math.

This short piece by @AEI explains it succinctly. A must read.

The President’s advisors need to acknowledge their error before April 9th and make a course correction before the President makes a big mistake based on bad math.

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

.@VDHanson makes a compelling case for the @realDonaldTrump tariff strategy, but gets one issue incorrect. He describes the Trump tariffs as reciprocal and proportional to those other nations have assessed on us.

In actuality, the Trump tariffs were set at levels substantially above, and in many cases, at a multiple of the counterparty country’s tariff levels.

Initially, the market responded favorably, up more than one percent when Trump referred to ‘reciprocal tariffs’ in his Rose Garden speech. It was only when he put up a chart showing the actual tariffs that the markets plunged.

We can divine from this response that market participants are supportive of the administration using tariffs as a tool to lower the asymmetrical tariffs of our trading partners, but are highly concerned with tariff levels set well in excess of a corresponding country’s levels.

So why did Trump take this approach?

The answer goes back to ‘The Art of the Deal.’ Trump’s negotiating style is to ask for the moon and then settle somewhere in between. It has worked well for him in the past so he is using the same approach here.

The market’s response is due to the fear that if this strategy fails and the tariffs stay in place, they will plunge our economy into a recession. And we don’t need to wait for failure as it doesn’t take long for a high degree of uncertainty to cause economic activity to slow.

Press reports today have said that all deals are now on hold. This is not surprising. Capitalism is a confidence game. Uncertainty is the enemy of business confidence.

The good news is that a number of countries have already approached the negotiating table to make tariff deals, which suggests that Trump’s strategy is beginning to work. Whether this is enough to settle markets next week is unknowable, but we will find out soon.

The idea that Wall Street and investors are opposed to the President’s efforts to bring back our industrial base by leveling the tariff playing field is false. Our trading partners have taken advantage of us for decades after tariffs were no longer needed to help them rebuild their economies after WWII.

The market is simply responding to Trump’s shock and awe negotiating strategy and factoring in some probability that it will fail or otherwise lead to an extended period of uncertainty that will sink us into a recession.

The market decline has been compounded by losses incurred at so-called pod shops and other highly levered market participants that have been forced to liquidate positions as markets have declined.

Stocks of even the best companies are now trading at the cheapest valuations we have seen since Covid. If the President makes continued progress on tariff deals, uncertainty will be reduced, and the market will begin to recover.

As more countries come to the table, those that have held out or have reciprocated with higher tariffs will have growing concerns about being left behind. This should cause more countries to negotiate deals until we reach a tipping point where it is clear that the strategy will succeed. When this occurs, stocks will soar.

Trump’s strategy is not without risk, but I wouldn’t bet against him. The more that markets support the President and his strategy, the higher the probability that he succeeds, so a stable hand on the trading wheel is a patriotic one.

An important characteristic of a great leader is a willingness to change course when the facts change or when the initial strategy is not working. We have seen Trump do this before. Two days in, however, it is much too early to form a view about his tariff strategy.

Trump cares enormously about our economy and the stock market as a measure of his performance. If the current strategy works, he will continue to execute on it. If it needs to be tweaked or changed, I expect he will make the necessary changes. Based on the early read, his strategy appears to be working.

Let’s help him succeed. It’s the least we can do.

[KanekoaTheGreat @KanekoaTheGreat]

🔥MUST WATCH: In 2008, Obama fiercely attacked free trade deals, labeling NAFTA as a Wall Street scam designed to enrich corporations at the expense of American workers.

He called these deals an “enormous problem” that "shut down factories" and "devastated entire American cities."

Yet, after winning office, Obama swiftly reversed his stance, aggressively promoting lobbyist-crafted agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership—deals specifically designed to boost Wall Street profits.

Since 1997, America lost over 90,000 factories and 5 million manufacturing jobs, as Clinton, Bush, and Obama all backed trade deals that sent American jobs overseas.

President Trump is the first leader in decades to directly confront this bipartisan betrayal, renegotiating trade agreements to finally protect American workers—exactly what Democrats cheered Obama for promising back in 2008.

[The Patriot Oasis™ @ThePatriotOasis]

HOLY SHI*T 🚨 Nancy Pelosi in 1996 speaking on tariffs and the trade deficit with China...

It's almost like ALL Democrats are hypocrites?

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🚨🇮🇱 NETANYAHU: I AM ANNOUNCING THE CANCELLATION OF CUSTOMS DUTIES ON US PRODUCTS

“Today, we canceled all of the customs duties levied on products from the US, Israel’s largest trading partner.

Cancelling the customs duties on American goods is an additional step in the policy that my government has led for a decade in opening up the market to competition, introducing variety to the economy, and lowering the cost of living.

In addition to the advantages for the market and citizens of Israel, the current effort will allow us to further strengthen the alliance and ties between Israel and the US.

We will continue to work to reduce barriers and customs, and bolster our special relationship with the US.”

Source: @netanyahu

[E X X ➠A L E R T S @ExxAlerts]

BREAKING: 🚨 India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi now considering cutting $23 billion worth of tariffs on United States imports.

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

Kash Patel CONFIRMS Judge Juan Merchan should have never been assigned to Donald Trump’s case

Kash Patel “I'm calling for the subpoenas to be issued to Judge Merchant's Daughter's company who made $15+ million dollars from the illicit information pouring out of her father's courtroom

- I wanna know the bank records because money doesn't lie
- I wanna know how deep it is and how much of it went to the family and how much of it is going to the family after this false conviction
- Then we need to investigate the FEC actual violations that this judge and his family conducted

Judge Juan Merchan should never have been overseeing this trial to begin with because of the illicit campaign money that was flowing through there and the unconstitutional due process violations are only the beginning.“

That’s not all, here’s more reasons why he should have NEVER been assigned Donald Trump’s case from The Older Millennial:

‘For these type of cases, the way it's supposed to work is that there is a panel of 24 judges, and they are all put in rotation and randomly assigned these types of cases. Judge Merchan is not on that panel. That's because he's not a judge. He's an acting judge.

The only way he could have caught this case was to be specifically assigned to it. There was no chance of him being randomly selected.

The wild thing is that according to the left and the department of justice, judge Merchan was not only randomly selected to be the judge in this trial, but he was also randomly selected to be the judge in the Trump Organization case, and he was randomly selected to be the judge in the Steve Bannon case.

So judge Merchan, a judge that is not in the pool of 24 judges that is supposed to catch these cases, a judge that is not an actual judge, but an acting judge caught all 3 Trump related cases randomly. This is a judge who gives heavily to an organization very plainly named Stop Trump, and a judge whose daughter makes tens of millions of dollars every year promoting Democrats.’

Insane corruption.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

This is why the Democrats want to destroy me
https://t.co/6kreKPNPbf