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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The U.S. economy shrank unexpectedly by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025, following trade tensions and recession fears. However, consumer spending and business investment data suggests that while growth slowed, the Trump economy remains fundamentally strong.
👥 Who’s Involved: The Trump administration’s Commerce Department, President Donald J. Trump, economic analysts, and the American people.
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📍 Where & When: The changes occurred across the United States in the first quarter of 2025, while the Commerce Department released the GDP data on Wednesday, April 30.
💬 Key Quote: “GDP is a backward-looking indicator,” said the White House. “Today’s headline figure reflects the end of the Biden economic disaster, not the beginning of the economic boom that President Trump is delivering.”
⚠️ Impact: Growth in core GDP and gross domestic investment suggests the economy is poised to rebound, despite the lingering effects of Biden-era policies, a series of winter storms that depressed consumer demand across the southern U.S. in January, and some tariff jitters.
IN FULL:
The beginning of 2025 saw an unanticipated contraction of the U.S. economy, with the gross domestic product (GDP) declining by 0.3 percent in the year’s first quarter. The GDP, an economic indicator measuring the value of all goods and services produced in the country, showed a drop compared to the previous quarter’s 2.4 percent growth, according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data.
This downturn was unforeseen by financial experts, who predicted a modest increase of 0.4 percent. The economic dip has been attributed by some to escalating trade disputes over U.S. tariffs on foreign goods, although the White House argues, “GDP is a backward-looking indicator,” insisting: “Today’s headline figure reflects the end of the Biden economic disaster, not the beginning of the economic boom that President Trump is delivering.”
Import tariffs, notably President Donald J. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs implemented in April but partially withdrawn soon after, have played a part in reshaping economic dynamics. However, the tariffs’ total impact on GDP contraction is not entirely evident. The contraction in consumer spending likely does not stem from tariffs at all, with economists noting that a series of winter storms that hit the southern U.S. in January and disrupted retail shopping. Notably, despite flagging consumer sentiment, economic data has yet to show an actual drop-off in Americans’ spending.
The underlying data shows core GDP growth at three percent, and gross domestic investment is up 22 percent, which is the highest rate in four years. The White House notes, “Private employment gains, consumer spending, capital investment, and aggregate hours worked have all accelerated since January, while inflation has decelerated.”
Jack Montgomery contributed to this report.
A biologically male swimmer identifying as female swept gold in five individual events at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championships.
The details: Ana Caldas, who has also competed under the names Hannah and Hugo Caldas, competed in the 45–49 women’s division and won every event he entered.
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- He won by margins as wide as four seconds—which is considered a blowout in elite short-distance swimming.
The rules: The U.S. Masters Swimming competition allows biological men to compete against women as long as they can show proof that they’ve received hormone therapy to reduce their testosterone levels.
Reality check: We know that there is no level of testosterone suppression that can undo the physical biological advantages that a man naturally has in sports — bone density, lung capacity, muscle fiber density, skeletal structure—especially for a man his age.
What Americans think: A poll from earlier this year found that 79 percent of Americans oppose letting biological men compete against women—including 67 percent of Democrats.
The last word goes to comedian Rob Schneider, who wrote on X: “Michael Jordan at 60 years old could suit up today and be the best ‘WOMAN’ in the [WNBA] and maybe THEN the stupid people in the U.S. Masters Swimming National Championship would SEE THEIR OWN INSANITY!”
🚨Breaking🚨
4/25 – A male athlete has taken 1st in the women’s 50 yard breast stroke at the U.S. Masters Spring National Championships.
Earlier today, Ana C. Caldas (formerly Hugo Caldas) took first in the 45-49 masters category of the women’s breast stroke at the U.S. Masters… pic.twitter.com/fO3YwwzUhB
— HeCheated.org (@hecheateddotorg) April 26, 2025
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Image by Oriel Frankie Ashcroft.
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A biologically male swimmer identifying as female swept gold in five individual events at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championships. show more
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles evaluated President Donald J. Trump’s first 100 days in office, highlighting various achievements and acknowledging areas needing improvement. Wiles specifically expressed frustration with Russian and Ukrainian resistance to peace talks, stating, “If peace is not achieved, it will be because it can’t be achieved. It just cannot.”
👥 Who’s Involved: Susie Wiles, President Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and members of Trump’s administration.
Your free, daily feed from The National Pulse.
📍 Where & When: The White House in Washington, D.C., during an interview with the New York Post on Tuesday, April 29.
💬 Key Quote: Wiles stated, “The president has devoted 100 days and his very top people to Russia and Ukraine, and if peace is not achieved, it will be because it can’t be achieved. It just cannot.”
⚠️ Impact: Wiles outlined ongoing initiatives and future goals for Trump’s administration, including potential trade deals, legislative objectives, and the prospects of the U.S. government’s ongoing mediation of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
IN FULL:
Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff, says President Donald J. Trump‘s first 100 days in office have been notably productive. Speaking to the New York Post on Tuesday, Wiles noted the America First leader has signed 142 executive orders since January 20 and mentioned the administration’s focus on trade agreements and curbing illegal immigration.
However, the first-ever female White House Chief of Staff did express consternation regarding the lack of progress in reaching a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, suggesting peace may not be achievable in the time frame President Trump wants. “The President has devoted 100 days and his very top people to Russia and Ukraine, and if peace is not achieved, it will be because it can’t be achieved. It just cannot,” Wiles said. She continued: “I don’t know whether that will be the case or not. I mean, it may well be that we can make some headway in the next couple of weeks, but nobody would have tried it but Donald Trump.”
“Nobody would have gotten these people to the table but Donald Trump. And if they want to continue to kill people, while it’s abhorrent, you know, he can’t stop that,” she added.
Despite the setbacks in ending the Russia-Ukraine war, Wiles still praised the administration’s productivity and credited President Trump’s decisive actions for the speed at which the White House agenda has been implemented. However, Wiles did acknowledge that the Trump White House has faced more resistance than anticipated in rolling back the expanded federal government left by former President Joe Biden.
“Where I would say there was not just sort of great, amazing success is perhaps our underestimation of the size and scope of the government that Joe Biden left us,” Wiles acknowledged, adding: “The economy, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the budget, the taxes writ large, which I consider to be different than the budget, the sort of institutional resistance to even recognizing that we’ve been ripped off by foreign nations that require us to do tariffs.”
The National Pulse reported on Tuesday that President Trump is “increasingly growing frustrated” with the Russian and Ukrainian governments’ resistance to peace talks. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The National Pulse that Trump is increasingly concerned about “the amount of time” the administration is spending on Ukraine, implicitly at the cost of domestic priorities including federal government reforms, economic revival, and mass deportations.
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