Wake Up Right - May 5, 2025

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Happy Cinco De Mayo, Wake Up Right fam! I can’t believe this tweet is nine years old. Time flies when you’re having fun.

  • 🏇 Sovereignty won the 2025 Kentucky Derby

  • 💰️ Warren Buffett to step down as Berkshire CEO

  • 🎬️ Trump wants 100% tariff on movies produced overseas

  • 🇨🇳 25% of US: Chinese Americans are a national security threat

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Trump tariffs begin to break China’s back

President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies are beginning to break the back of the Chinese economy, evidenced by Beijing quietly exempting billions in U.S. imports from tariffs.

Set the table: U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods currently stand at 145%. China's tariffs on American goods are 125%.

The details: China recently exempted 131 U.S. goods from tariffs, accounting for roughly $40 billion worth of imports, ranging from pharmaceuticals to industrial chemicals.

  • This represents 24% of all U.S. imports to China.

  • It's worth noting that President Trump recently exempted certain Chinese electronics from tariffs after discussions with U.S. business leaders.

Making matters worse: Economists believe China is at risk of slipping into a deflationary spiral. Due to tariffs, Chinese exporters are redirecting their goods into their domestic market, leading to price wars.

  • Goldman Sachs downgraded China’s GDP forecast to 4% for 2025.

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News last week: “[China is] now seeing very large estimates of job [loss] from 5 to 10 million jobs. So the Chinese economy is slowing down substantially here.”

Perspective: China exported roughly $450 billion to the U.S. in 2024. By contrast, the U.S. exported just $150 billion to China. This gives Trump considerable leverage, as Chinese businesses depend way more on the American consumer.

China signals it wants to deal: Beijing is reportedly considering offering a major crackdown on fentanyl production as an olive branch to begin trade talks with the U.S. China produces most of the chemicals used to fuel the supply that ends up in the U.S.

The last word: Over the weekend, President Trump told NBC News: “They want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.”

[Source: CNBC, Bloomberg]

Trump orders Alcatraz reopened to house illegal aliens

President Donald Trump announced he intends to reopen Alcatraz — the notorious island prison off San Francisco — to house violent illegal aliens.

The details: In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump announced that he was “directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ.”

The target: Trump says the facility will be used “to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”

Zoom out: Recent rulings from leftist federal judges have attempted to kneecap President Trump’s ability to deport violent criminal illegal aliens.

Workaround: A key piece of Trump’s Truth Social post says: “We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally.

  • It appears that Trump sees Alcatraz as an alternative to deportations, while his administration fights to uphold its right to deport.

Back up: Alcatraz once served as a fortress to house America's most dangerous criminals — including Al Capone and 'Machine Gun' Kelly. However, it was shut down in 1963.

Real talk from G: No one understands symbolism like Trump. Reopening Alcatraz isn’t just about policy — it’s about sending a message: law and order is back.

[Source: Daily Wire]

📈 The U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April — well above economists’ expectations — led by 51k in healthcare and 29k in transportation/warehousing. Notably, federal employment dropped by 9k. Read more.

🇺🇸 President Trump named J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio as two potential GOP nominees in 2028. Read more.

🧠 A new book revealed that Joe Biden's team chose not to let him take a cognitive test over fears it would raise questions about his age. Read more.

↔️ The Department of Homeland Security has reunited nearly 5,000 unaccompanied children with a safe relative or guardian. Read more.

🇮🇱 President Trump reportedly dismissed his national security advisor, Mike Waltz, because Waltz was coordinating military strategies with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu behind his back. Read more.

🤡 CBS scored an Emmy nomination for its deceptively edited "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris that is at the center of a lawsuit brought by President Trump. Read more.

🇩🇪 Germany's top intelligence agency officially branded the populist AfD party as an "extremist" group over its anti-immigration stance. Read more. I did Nazi that coming…

⛓️ Three Virginia corrections officers were hospitalized Friday after an alleged coordinated attack by inmates affiliated with the violent MS-13 gang. Read more.

🏴 A member of ISIS was arrested in Iraq, accused of inciting the New Year's Eve terror attack in New Orleans that left 14 dead. Read more.

📊 President Trump released his 2026 budget proposal, which would decrease discretionary spending by $163 billion (22.6%) and increase defense spending to $1 trillion (+13%). Read more. Presidents’ budgets are not official. They’re more of a roadmap for his party in Congress.

❤️ The Trump admin reached a preliminary settlement with the family of Ashli Babbitt, the Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol Police Officer Michael Byrd on J6. Read more.

Redirecting...

🧑‍⚖️ Radical judges are trying to fight Trump as he tries to un-do Biden's border chaos. Please join me and sign the petition to support Trump's deportation plan. We need to show our numbers! Sign the petition TODAY! *

🎥 Trump puts the 2028 rumors to rest. Watch.

🎥 AOC gets heckled by Gaza protestor at NYC town hall. Watch.

🎥 Tim Walz lib daughter suggests running is a white privelage after running influencer visits the White House. Watch.

🎥 Scumbag shoots pellet gun at woman holding a baby. Watch.

🎥 Trump rips "low IQ" left-wing Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Watch.

🎥 Trump turns the tables on NBC host's biased question. Watch.

🎥 CNN asks three black voters if they'd vote for Trump again. Watch.

📸 Leftists lost their minds over this AI photo Trump posted of himself… See it.

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