2 months ago
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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Former President Donald Trump weighed in on Marine Le Pen’s legal troubles, comparing her prosecution to the lawfare campaigns he says have targeted him in the United States.
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Who’s Involved: Trump, French opposition leader Marine Le Pen, and American legal figures Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco.
Key Quote: “The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech.”
Fallout: Trump says Le Pen is being politically targeted just ahead of a likely electoral victory, calling the charges against her a “bookkeeping error” and denouncing the prosecution as a blow to all of France—regardless of politics.
Significance: Trump’s statement aligns Le Pen’s situation with the global populist struggle against what he calls corrupt legal and political elites. He ends the post with a rallying cry: “FREE MARINE LE PEN!”
IN FULL:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has condemned what he calls a politically motivated prosecution of French opposition leader Marine Le Pen, accusing European leftists of using “lawfare” to suppress dissent and sabotage electoral outcomes.
“The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “This time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison.”
Trump compared Le Pen’s prosecution to the years-long efforts by U.S. legal operatives like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco to entangle him in criminal cases. He described their efforts as a “playbook” of political persecution that ultimately failed due to public awareness of what he calls widespread corruption.
“I don’t know Marine Le Pen,” Trump wrote, “but do appreciate how hard she worked for so many years. She suffered losses, but kept on going, and now, just before what would be a Big Victory, they get her on a minor charge that she probably knew nothing about – Sounds like a ‘bookkeeping’ error to me.”
Trump ended the message with a blunt message to French authorities and global onlookers alike: “FREE MARINE LE PEN!”
The move comes amid a broader wave of Western populist leaders facing legal trouble as they gain electoral momentum—raising questions about the coordinated use of state power to silence opposition, i.e. lawfare.
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is pushing the GOP to reembrace unpopular globalist economic policies, is criticizing President Donald J. Trump’s imposition of extensive global tariffs, claiming they represent the largest peacetime tax increase in U.S. history.
👥 Who’s Involved: Mike Pence, Donald Trump, and America First conservatives, including Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro.
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📍 Where & When: Pence posted criticism to X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday evening following President Trump’s “Liberation Day” event.
💬 Key Quote: “The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” claims Pence.
⚠️ Impact: Critics like Pence claim the tariffs could cost American families over $3,500 per year, destroy jobs, and weaken conservative political standing. Additionally, the Pence-led Advancing American Freedom PAC contends the tariffs will counteract the benefits of previous tax cuts.
IN FULL:
Former Vice President Mike Pence publicly criticized President J. Donald Trump’s imposition of a 10 percent blanket global tariff and additional targeted tariffs in response to pre-existing foreign trade barriers, claiming the new import duties will result in significant economic burdens for American families. Additionally, in a Wednesday night post on X (formerly Twitter), Pence asserted the tariffs represent the most substantial peacetime tax increase in U.S. history.
“The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history,” Pence claimed, adding: “These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year.” Attached to Pence’s X post was a screenshot of anti-Trump tariff talking points pushed by his Advancing American Freedom PAC.
Advancing American Freedom PAC’s claim that the tariffs will cost American families over $3,500 per year is based on a Goldman Sachs estimate, which pegs the total tariff revenue at around $300 billion annually. However, Pence and his Advancing American Freedom PAC appear to assume that American families will bear the bulk of the tax burden imposed by the tariffs—a fairly unlikely scenario—and not foreign companies attempting to maintain their market share in the United States.
Meanwhile, Pence’s assertion that Trump’s tariffs are “the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history” is on equally shaky ground. While tariffs are technically taxes, they are not entirely borne by Americans, with at least part of the import duty paid by foreign companies. Additionally, Advancing American Freedom PAC states that Trump’s tariffs are the highest imposed since the 1800s, claiming the imposed rate is higher than the Smoot-Hawley tariffs from the Great Depression.
The first claim is dubious at best, though the assertion that the Trump tariff rate is higher than those imposed under Smoot-Hawley is patently false. Pence and Advancing American Freedom PAC are playing fast and loose with what they consider the average tariff rate to make the claim. The Smoot-Hawley tariffs imposed a 59.1 percent rate on dutiable goods, though around 63 percent of foreign imports were not considered dutiable under the law. This places the average tariff rate under Smoot-Hawley at just under 20 percent.
President Trump’s tariffs include a blanket 10 percent tariff on all imports with additional target tariffs on specific countries with pre-existing trade barriers against American exports. Estimates regarding the average rate range from around 15 percent to 20 percent, though the lower side of the range appears more likely.
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