A WORLD GONE MAD
A Progressive Liberal News Podcast
Veteran Television, and Radio Broadcaster Jeff Alan Wolf offers his Observations on the issues (many issues) of the week with a fearless liberal bent. His solid delivery, and dry common sense approach sets him apart from other liberals that populate Talk and Commentary Podcasts”
Jeff Does NOT Pull Punches.
He does NOT Make comments that are “SAFE”.
He tells the Truth.
(He Tells It As He Sees It)
He Is Very OPINIONATED!
He says the things Out Loud YOU’RE
already thinking.
Jeff is Unfiltered, Unspun, A little Unhinged, but offers a lot of Common Sense.
This Podcast could make you MAD.
This Podcast could make you SMILE.
Regardless, it WILL make you THINK!
A WORLD GONE MAD
Recession Coming?, Wall Street Fed Up, Trump Against Putin?, Europe Wakes Up!, Trump Wants 3rd Term!
The economic storm clouds are gathering as Trump's "Liberation Day" approaches. Goldman Sachs has sounded the alarm with a sobering update - recession probability has jumped to 35%, up from 20%, directly linked to the administration's escalating trade war policies. Consumer confidence is in freefall, with University of Michigan surveys showing Americans more worried about unemployment than any time since the Great Recession. Wall Street investors are clearly anxious, pushing the S&P 500 down 5% this year toward its worst quarterly performance since 2022.
Beyond domestic economic concerns, Trump's erratic foreign policy continues generating international whiplash. He claims to be "pissed off" at Putin over comments about Ukrainian President Zelensky, threatening secondary sanctions on Russian oil if peace negotiations fail. This posturing stands in stark contrast to his previously warm relationship with Putin and his own harsh treatment of Zelensky at the White House. The inconsistency leaves allies and adversaries alike questioning America's dependability.
Perhaps most consequential is Europe's dramatic military awakening. Faced with diminishing confidence in American security guarantees, European nations are reimagining their defense postures. Germany has broken its constitutional debt ceiling to unlock $652 billion for defense, France is discussing extending nuclear protection to allies, and even traditionally neutral countries are reconsidering their positions. Meanwhile, Trump continues suggesting he might pursue a third presidential term, insisting he's "not joking" about finding "methods" to circumvent the 22nd Amendment's clear prohibition. This convergence of economic uncertainty, international realignment, and constitutional challenges paints a concerning picture of American governance and global stability in the months ahead.
Join the conversation by emailing wolfpacklistener@gmail.com, calling 833-399-9653, or finding me on Blue Sky. Your engagement makes this podcast possible!
AWorldGoneMadPodcast@gmail.com
There is chaos in the world, can't you see? And we need to stand up and preserve our democracy. Well, this is a world gone mad. This is a World Gone Mad. It's Season 2, episode 83.
Speaker 1:I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe and I give my commentary on national and world news and politics. I have a lot to discuss today, so let's get right to it. Recession odds are rising as Trump's trade war escalates, goldman Sachs says. Now the US economy faces a growing risk of a recession as surging tariffs threaten to stunt growth, reignite inflation, lift unemployment. According to Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street Bank warned clients Sunday night that it now sees a 35% chance of a recession in the next 12 months, up from 20% previously. 1% bumped up its year-end unemployment rate outlook by 0.3 percentage points to 4.5% for unemployment Now. While Goldman Sachs still expects the US economy to avoid a downturn, other forecasters think it's more of a 50-50 call. Now. This is Goldman's highest recession probability since the regional banking crisis two years ago.
Speaker 1:The catalyst now is the shock from President Donald Trump's trade war, which is set to intensify this week. Goldman Sachs blamed the sharp recent deterioration in household and business confidence and statements from White House officials indicating greater willingness to tolerate near-term economic weakness in pursuit of these policies, the bank economist wrote in the report. Now, consumer confidence has plunged in recent months. The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Survey Friday showed the highest percentage of Americans expecting unemployment to rise since the Great Recession, as inflation expectations hit 32-year highs. Look, trump's trade war pressures are pushing against American confidence and the economy in general. It obviously won't be a smooth ride, according to Goldman Sachs, and any additional pressure from Donald Trump will create more chaos in America. I go back to what I said earlier to all the listeners concentrate on yourself, concentrate on your family, take it one day at a time, but keep an eye on how you know all this will play out. Pay attention to it and add to the mix.
Speaker 1:Wall Street is also fed up with Trump's tariffs. Stocks are on track for their worst quarter in years. As Wall Street heads into a new quarter, a flurry of President Donald Trump's tariffs are set to go into effect. That has traders on edge has helped put US stocks on track for their worst quarter in years. Wall Street has been rocked with volatility this year as Trump's tariff proposals have kept investors in a cloud of uncertainty. The benchmark S&P 500 index is down more than 5% this year, on track for its first losing quarter since September 2023, and its worst quarter since September 2022. Stocks around the globe were lower Monday, ahead of Trump's so-called Liberation Day this Wednesday, when reciprocal tariffs in addition to others are set to go into effect. Economists anticipate the sweeping tariffs could spur inflation and drag on economic growth.
Speaker 1:Several listeners wrote to me, texted me and said they find it hard to listen to my podcast lately because of all the negative news. Now, look, I certainly understand this, but I'm again urging everyone, all the listeners, not to tune out, not to avoid what's happening and certainly not to give up. I try to bring you the news without dramatic theater, like some other podcast people that you listen to, and I don't believe in bullshit. I believe in straightforward facts and honest commentary. I hope that's appreciated because I don't want you, the listeners, to think I enjoy bringing you negative news each episode. Unfortunately, we got Donald the delusional one in the White House and it's hard to avoid news like that.
Speaker 1:Trump criticizes Putin, threatens adversaries with new tariffs as he barrels toward April 2nd deadline. President Donald Trump is barreling toward a self-imposed April 2nd deadline for sweeping tariffs and is threatening additional ones on foreign adversaries this weekend, even as he's expressed openness to making deals. To making deals, trump has cast April 2nd as the Liberation Day, promising reciprocal tariffs on an unspecified number of countries as well as 25% tariffs on automobiles and car parts. But he also warned of additional tariffs on US adversaries, russia and Iran. In a phone interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker over the weekend Now, the president openly aired grievances toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 1:In the interview, I was very angry, pissed off when Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right direction, you understand. Trump told Welker, referring to the Russian leader's comments last week suggesting Ukraine be put under a temporary administration while the two nations, russia and the United States, work toward a deal. Now, he continued but new leadership means you're not going to have a deal for a long time. Right, but I was pissed off about it. Trump said but if a deal isn't made and if I think it was Russia's fault, I'm going to put secondary sanctions on Russia. Trump's sharply critical tone on Putin stands in stark contrast to his own words on Ukrainian President Zelensky and Trump's calls for elections in the war-torn country. He told Welker that Putin is aware he is angry. Putin is aware he is angry If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine and if I think it was Russia's fault which it might not be, he says, but I think if it was Russia's fault, I'm going to put secondary tariffs on oil on all oil coming out of Russia, he said. Trump didn't provide further explanations on how he would implement those secondary tariffs. The White House announced an agreement last week for Russia to stop using force in the Black Sea when sanctions on its banks and exports over its invasion of Ukraine are lifted. That fell far short of a 30-day full ceasefire initially proposed by the White House. In the same interview, trump indicated he's considering putting on secondary tariffs on Iran until such time as a deal is signed.
Speaker 1:During his first term, trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, a pact that imposed strict limitations on Tehran's contentious nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief program. In exchange for sanctions relief. Now, on Sunday, iranian President Massoud Pesheshkin said the Islamic Republic rejected direct negotiations with the US on its nuclear program. Still, the US has already imposed steep sanctions on Iran and does minimal trade with the country. So supposedly Trump is pissed at Putin. Do you buy this, anyone? My belief is that this is all smoke and mirrors for Trump on what he's saying about Putin. I don't have inside information to counter what I'm saying, but I can't believe that Donald is mad at Putin by any stretch of the imagination. He's saying these things to placate his base and sound tough. And remember he says if it thinks it's Russia's fault which it might not be and he's mad that Putin is saying bad things about Zelensky, when Trump already did this in the meeting a while back, undressing Zelensky in the ambush Unbelievable. None of us intelligent people buy for a moment that Trump is against Putin.
Speaker 1:Pathetic Europe may finally be waking up from its military slumber. It was a televised ambush that I said that many in Europe hope will stop a war. Donald Trump's dressing down of Ukraine's Zelensky at the White House was a lightning strike that a transatlantic alliance, dispelling lingering illusions in Europe about whether their American cousin will stand with them to counter Russian aggression. Reeling, perhaps even fearful, europe may have finally come to its senses over its self-defense needs in the era of Trump. It is as if Roosevelt welcomed Churchill to the White House and started bullying him. European lawmaker Raphael Glucksmann told CNN. In a month when US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Europe pathetic for freeloading on defense in a group chat with administration officials, which, of course, inadvertently included a journalist from the Atlantic magazine, the continent has been shattering decades-old taboos on defense. Now, policies are on the table that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago.
Speaker 1:The biggest change came in Germany, europe's biggest economy. After the federal election, chancellor-in-waiting Frederick Merz wrote or rather won a vote in Parliament to scrap Germany's constitutional debt break. That's a mechanism to limit government borrowing In principle. The law change allows for unlimited spending on defense and security. Experts expect the move to unlock as much as $652 billion in Germany over the next decade. This is a game changer in Europe because Germany was the laggard, especially among the big countries, when it comes to defense. Pyotr Boros, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and International Think Tank, told CNN Now getting over its phobia of debt. Boros said that Germany has finally acted as though Europe really had passed a turning point, as described by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in February 2022, just three days after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although the invasion jolted Germany, only the Trump shock made them take this really fundamental decision of suspending the debt break in Germany, said Baras. So this is a new shift in policy about defense of Europe. Let me give you the breakdown, because this has long-term ramifications.
Speaker 1:In neighboring France, president Emmanuel Macron, who has long called for European strategic autonomy from the US, has said he is considering extending the protection of its nuclear arsenal to its allies, already ostensibly sheltered by American bombs. Macron's comments early this month came after MERS advocated for talks with France and the United Kingdom, europe's two nuclear powers, over extending their nuclear protection. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed the idea and even called for Poland to consider getting nuclear weapons itself. See what Donald started. Meanwhile, poland and Baltic states Estonia, lithuania and Latvia all neighbors to Russia have pulled out of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty on landmines, long considered a key milestone in the end to mass warfare. Lithuania has already announced the purchase of 85,000 landmines. Poland is eyeing producing 1 million landmines domestically. Lithuania also withdrew from the international treaty against cluster munitions this month, becoming the first signatory ever to do so.
Speaker 1:Military conscription has also made a comeback on the continent. Denmark made women eligible for obligatory conscription from 2026 and lowered health requirements for some roles as part of a bolstering of the country's armed forces. Poland has also announced plans for every adult male to undergo military training. Even famously neutral countries are reconsidering their positions. Amid discussions about how to keep the peace in Ukraine in the event of a settlement, the government in Ireland, a military minnow compared to other big countries focused on peacekeeping operations, put forward legislation to allow Ireland's troops to be deployed without UN approval, skirting a possible Russian or American veto.
Speaker 1:It's long been the uncomfortable and often unspoken truth in Europe that its protection from invasion was ultimately dependent on the American cavalry riding over the horizon. That support, because of Donald Trump, no longer looks so sure. The pivot goes beyond who will do the fighting to who will provide the arms. Some have begun to question future purchases of the astronomically expensive US-made F-35 jets that several European air forces had planned to acquire. Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Melo said his country was re-evaluating the expected purchases of the jets in preference for European alternatives over concerns of the US-controlled supply of spare parts. It's the first time such concerns were aired publicly at such a high level, especially in favor of jets that on paper, don't offer the same capabilities. But although Europe seems to have gotten the message, talk of a unified approach is premature when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan to spend billions more on defense called Rearm Europe. Spain and Italy Bought. The plan has since been renamed Readiness 2030. Italy's Prime Minister, giorgia Maloney, has also ruled out sending Italian troops as part of a European contingent to keep the peace in Ukraine if a negotiated settlement.
Speaker 1:Another key issue on which the continent is split the rebranding indicates a dividing line in Europe. The further away from Russia a country is, the less likely it's to put guns before butter. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this month that our threat is not Russia bringing its troops across the Pyrenees. He called on Brussels to take into account that the challenges we face in the southern neighborhood are a bit different to the ones that the eastern flank faces. Gabrielis Landsbergis, lithuania's former foreign minister, told CNN he was upset by the Spanish statements and that a recent trip to Kiev, where air raid sirens blast most nights, made it all too easy to imagine similar scenes occurring in Vilnius in the future. The further west you go, the more difficult it is to imagine that sort of thing. All the problems, all the decisions. They're relative, landsberger said.
Speaker 1:Although this geographical split could deepen divisions, boris of the ECFR said total European unity would always be an illusion. What really matters is what the key countries do, he said, pointing to Germany, france, the UK and Poland. I want to be cautiously optimistic, but I think we are on the right track. Now, asked whether March would be remembered as the month that Europe woke up, boris said yes, we have woken up, but we now need to get dressed. Look, this is the same thing I see from American citizens here. They don't see this war between Ukraine and Russia affecting us in America. So that's the problem. As it was stated, the further away from Russia you are, the less impact you visualize it would have on you. That's a serious mistake, people, and the Russia-Ukraine war needs to be resolved because it does not only affect them, it affects us in the long run. And, of course, I believe most of my listeners, if not all of them, understand this. It's the 70 million plus for Trump who don't understand how important this is. That's why Europe is up in arms, trying to expand their defensive capabilities.
Speaker 1:And finally, trump says there are methods for seeking a third term of office, adding that he's not joking. Well, I guess no one saw this coming right. Well, president, donald Trump on Sunday did not dismiss the idea of pursuing a third term in the White House, despite the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution prohibiting it. Claiming that there are methods to achieving this and emphasizing Trump said that he was not joking. A lot of people want me to do it, but my thinking is we have a long way to go. I'm focused on the current, trump said in a phone interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker on Sunday. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1951, states no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice. There are methods which you could do it, king, trump said. When asked whether there are strategies on the table to allow him to seek another term, welker mentioned to Trump a possible plan in which Vice President JD Vance would run in 2028, then pass the baton to Trump. Well, that's one way, trump said, but there are others too, before refusing to elaborate on what they are.
Speaker 1:The term limited president has frequently teased a third presidency, but clarified Sunday that he's not joking this time. Not joking, he said to Welker, reiterating, but it's far too early to think about it. Trump has frequently teased a third term, saying at a rally in Nevada in January that it will be the greatest honor of my life to serve not once, but twice, or three times or four times. Apparently joking, he later clarified to the audience no, it will be to serve twice for the next four years. I will not rest. Weeks later, trump asked supporters during a Black History Month event at the White House whether he should run again, prompting chants of four more years. My head is breaking. All of us can't take four more days, let alone four more years of Donald delusional. But Steve Bannon, a top outside ally to the president, suggests that Trump is eligible, since the amendment doesn't specify consecutive terms.
Speaker 1:Another crazy. Another crazy In the House. Representative Andy Olgless, where do you hear this? A Tennessee Republican has introduced legislation to begin the long process of tweaking the text of the 22nd Amendment and allowing a president who serves non-consecutive terms to serve a third four-year term. Okay, great, barack Obama. Hey, there you go, donald. He wants to do that. Terrific. Wait. The wording of Ogle's proposal to change the 22nd Amendment would exclude two-term former presidents such as Barack Obama from coming out of retirement. What the hell are these people drinking?
Speaker 1:Repealing or changing the 22nd Amendment would require two-thirds votes in both the House and the Senate and the ratification by three-quarters of the states. The only president to serve more than two terms was, of course, franklin Delano Roosevelt. The 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951, in the years following Roosevelt's death in office. It's illegal. He has no chance. That's all there is to say. Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York's University Law School, told CNN last month At the end of his second term in January 2029, trump will be the oldest person to ever hold the presidency, at 82 years old in seven months, topping his predecessor Joe Biden's record. Biden was 82 years old in two months when he left office. Okay, well, like the 22nd Amendment says, it's illegal, although it's worded loosely.
Speaker 1:According to the Trump people, this notion of Trump wanting to run a third term or a fourth term is ludicrous, and the first thing I thought about was calling Barack Obama. They want to change the law, then Barack Obama can run, but the proposal to rewrite the 22nd Amendment? They're going to exclude Obama. What the hell? You can't have a rewording of the 22nd Amendment to favor you 100%, but not any other person or any other president? Think about this chilling thought about Trump in a third term, and in the background you hear the Looney Tunes theme song playing.
Speaker 1:If you care to comment about this or anything in this episode, or just to say hello, I'm getting crickets out there. It would be nice to hear from some of you. Wolfpack listener at gmailcom. 833-399-9653, toll free voicemail box, or leave me a comment on blue sky. If you're over there, please check out my sub stack. I just started that again. You can find it on sub stack under Jeff Allen Wolf, under the wolf stem, or you can contact me and I'll send you a direct link to the sub stack to make it easier for you. I'll be back again in two days. This is A World Gone Mad. I'm Jeff Allen Wolfe and without your comments, your feedback and your engagement, I'm sitting in a room talking to myself. Stay hopeful. This is a world gone mad. Mad, mad, mad. Yeah.
