Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Trump Admin Hands Mega-Deal to Company Backed by Jared Kushner’s War-Profiteer Brother

Joshua Kushner looks set to cash in on Trump’s wars even as the president leans on Kushner’s brother, who’s married to Trump’s daughter, to help end them.

The Trump administration just handed a huge deal to a defense firm backed by the brother of the president’s son-in-law.

The Defense Department has announced a new contract with Anduril Industries, Inc.—which counts Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Jared Kushner, among its major funders—to provide up to $20 billion in military equipment and systems.

Large portions of the full contract notice, reviewed by the Daily Beast, are redacted. It nevertheless shows the Pentagon has now effectively agreed to treat Anduril as a go-to resource for computer systems, military hardware, and data infrastructure, as well as support and training for those services, over the next decade.

Joshua Kushner, who at 40 is five years younger than his elder brother Jared, is one of the wealthiest venture capitalists of his generation, boasting an estimated net worth of $5.2 billion. He is married to supermodel Karlie Kloss, with whom he has three children. They share space in at least three luxury properties in Manhattan, Miami, and Malibu.

Joshua holds stakes in Anduril, a private tech company valued at upward of $60 billion, through his New York venture capital firm, Thrive Capital, which he founded in 2009. Thrive has not publicly disclosed its exact holding in Anduril, but co-led a $4 billion funding round for the group just days before the Pentagon announced the new deal earlier in March.

Jared, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, previously held a stake in Thrive, but sold his shares following the 2016 election to avoid potential conflicts of interest while serving as a senior adviser during the president’s first stint in the White House.

The elder Kushner holds no official position in the second Trump administration. Trump has, nevertheless, repeatedly tapped him to help with negotiations in areas related to defense, including the wars between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, and the U.S. and Iran.

At the heart of the deal appears to be the group’s Lattice OS, a cutting-edge AI command system that works at high speed to detect and respond to real-world threats without requiring any human input. Other products manufactured by the company include interceptor and surveillance drones, sentry towers, and loitering munitions, capable of autonomously hunting down and eliminating targets across hundreds of miles.

The Pentagon awarded the contract to the Kushner-backed group under what’s known as a “sole source” framework, allowing the department to sidestep normal requirements for open competition among potential contractors if it determines that only one company can do the job.

Officials did post a public notice in December, inviting vendors to come forward and discuss the opportunity, but gave them just three weeks to respond over the holiday period. Only one of the four companies that got in touch replied to the DOD’s follow-up queries, confirming it could not match Anduril’s offerings. The Pentagon says it took silence from the remaining three, one of which turned out not to be a defense contractor at all, as a sign they couldn’t either.

The Kushners are not Anduril’s only link to the White House. Palmer Luckey, who co-founded the group in 2017, has hosted high-value fundraisers for Trump, one of which charged $100,000 per ticket, and donated to dozens of Republican candidates and committees. His co-founder, Trae Stephens, served on Trump’s transition team ahead of the president’s first term, and was reportedly being considered for a top Pentagon job in the run-up to his second.

Trump’s son-in-law, in addition to his informal role as the president’s mediator in war negotiations, has also been keenly involved in broader diplomatic talks across the Middle East. His sizable interests in the region have raised alarm among critics, given that he is not subject to the transparency or oversight requirements typically applied to formal government roles.

Jared Kushner is currently facing a congressional inquiry after Democrats accused him of soliciting billions from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and other Gulf monarchies while leading diplomatic negotiations with both Russia and Iran. The White House has called that probe the “same, tired narrative,” and said the extended Trump family member was “generously volunteering his time to advance the president’s agenda.”

It follows reports that officials in Qatar, whose royal family gifted Trump a $400 million Boeing 747 jetliner last year, feared they would receive unfavorable treatment from any future MAGA administration if they did not invest in Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners. Qatar had initially declined when the firm launched in 2021, but ultimately poured in around $200 million ahead of Trump’s re-election.

Trump’s own sons, Eric and Donald Jr., have also significantly expanded their footprint in the region during the president’s second term. Dar Global, a London firm with ties to the Saudi royal family, has pumped more than $20 million into the Trump Organization over the past year in licensing fees alone for two Trump towers in Saudi Arabia.

A government ethics watchdog noted in February that the family’s foreign property income now looks set to “explode,” potentially doubling in Trump’s second term alone the more than $430 million already earned from overseas developments over the prior decade, with much of that income from real estate developments in the Gulf region.

The Anduril deal also comes amid a string of accusations that figures close to the Trump administration have sought to profit from the president’s increasing aggression on the world stage, such as reports that Trump’s sons have made hefty investments in the drone industry over the past few weeks as his war in the Middle East ramps up demand in the sector.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced allegations last month that one of his financial brokers had inquired about defense sector investments in the weeks before Trump launched his attacks on Iran, raising concerns of possible insider trading. The Pentagon dismissed those reports as “entirely false and fabricated.”

The Daily Beast has further revealed that Senator Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s pick to replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary, purchased substantial stocks in defense contractors and oil giants just five days before the president’s lightning invasion of Venezuela earlier in January.

Mullin was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time, which receives classified briefings on U.S. military operations. He is likely to have made up to $35,000 from those investments, which will only have climbed further following the outbreak of war with Iran.

More broadly, multiple reports suggest patterns of suspicious trading activity around Trump’s war-related decisions, including $580 million in oil futures flooding the market roughly 16 minutes before the president announced a pause in strikes on Iranian power plants, as well as unusual surges in wagers on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency betting platform, ahead of attacks against both the Islamic regime and Venezuela.

A spokesperson for the Trump administration previously denied that there was anything untoward behind those bets, stating “the only special interest guiding the Trump Administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people.”

The White House declined to comment on the Anduril deal. Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said the department “awards contracts based on merit, partnering with U.S.-based companies to equip our warfighters with the world’s most advanced and reliable capabilities.”

Anduril, Thrive Capital, and Jared Kushner’s representatives have been approached for comment, but did not respond in advance of this story’s publication.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-admin-hands-20b-contract-to-weapons-group-backed-by-jared-kushners-little-brother/?

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Trump Uses Secret Billionaire Meeting to Plot Next Egomaniacal Move

The legacy-obsessed president is pushing to put his name on everything.

President Donald Trump’s constant urge to etch his name on everything under the sun shows no signs of abating.

The legacy-obsessed Trump, 79, pushed for his name to be slapped on New York City’s Penn Station during a secret meeting with billionaire New York Knicks owner James Dolan last week, Page Six reports.

The New York real estate mogul-turned president is apparently itching to stamp his name onto yet another corner of public life, after already getting it plastered across the Kennedy Center, Navy battleships, the Institute of Peace, the Palm Beach airport, and more.

It’s unclear what Dolan, who owns the Madison Square Garden arena above Penn Station, said in response to Trump’s egomaniacal pitch to rename the nation’s busiest railway station after himself.

Trump, who took control of long-planned efforts to revamp Penn Station from the MTA last year and handed them over to Amtrak and the Department of Transportation, is weighing one proposal to move Madison Square Garden and build a fountain in its place, Gothamist reported last month. The plan can only move forward with approval from Dolan, who has previously rejected the idea.

When reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a statement, “President Trump is focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition.”

“While we don’t comment on private meetings that may or may not have happened, President Trump undoubtedly supports a strong and revitalized Penn Station that can better serve New York and New Yorkers,” Ingle added.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Dolan’s Madison Square Garden Company for comment.

Trump previously sought to make the renaming happen through another backroom deal, offering New York Senator Chuck Schumer the release of funds for major infrastructure projects that he has withheld in return for having Washington-Dulles International Airport and the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station renamed after himself, according to reports.

The president later insisted that Schumer had offered the renaming, a claim the Senate minority leader quickly shot down as an “absolute lie.”

Trump then pivoted to dismissing reports that he sought to attach his name to the station as “FAKE NEWS.”

“The naming of PENN Station (I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and “eating New York’s lunch!”) to TRUMP STATION, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me - IT IS JUST MORE FAKE NEWS!” he wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 16.

The Trump administration suspended $18 billion in funds for New York City infrastructure projects last October amid the government shutdown—though some of the money has since started flowing again following legal challenges.

Asked about a potential renaming of the Midtown transit hub, which honors the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the state’s Governor Kathy Hochul said last month, “It will over my dead body.”

“We are not messing with that man’s memory,” she added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-uses-secret-james-dolan-meeting-to-plot-next-egomaniacal-move/?

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Here Are the Real Sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome

Trump supporters need to look closer than they think.

If anybody suffers from a derangement linked to President Donald Trump, it is not the opponents who viscerally object to our current president’s malignant narcissism, unending lies and determined manipulation of what is un-American in us.

Actual Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is among those who so blindly support our current president. They imagine that opposition to him arises not from simple decency but from conspiracies hatched against him simply because he is Trump.

In one manifestation of real TDS, Trumpers discerned a sinister plot at work when longtime Obama strategist 71-year-old David Axelrod was granted an April 9 audience with Pope Loe XIV at the Vatican.

Axelrod is Jewish, but he feels a bond with the Pope as a fellow son of Chicago and dedicated White Sox fan.

Axelrod is also the father of a developmentally disabled daughter who found secular salvation and happiness in a remarkable residential facility founded by a nun on the city’s North Side and run under the auspices of Catholic Charities.

“For the first time, her days were rife with activities and her life was filled with friends,” Axelrod wrote in The New York Times in 2021. “While she has the care and supervision she continues to need — and always will — she also is more independent than we ever could have hoped.”

Axelrod added, “Most of all, she is happy. Genuinely happy.”

Axelrod’s daughter celebrates her birthday every year by going with her friends to a White Sox game. He and his wife, Susan Landau Axelrod, marked last year’s outing by presenting each in the group with a memento honoring the team’s new number one fan, the recently elevated Pope XIV.

“We gave them all Sox jerseys they were selling with Pope Leo and the number 14 on the back,” Axelrod told the Daily Beast.

Axelrod and his wife took pictures of their happy daughter along with her buddies and arrived at the Vatican with a perfect gift.

“We have him photos of them with their backs to the camera and facing,” Axelrod said.

In more recent days, some Catholic sufferers of real TDS suggested online that there was something suspect about a Jewish Democratic political strategist getting a papal audience even a lifelong Catholic would have trouble securing. But the difference in faiths may have actually helped Axelrod. Leo is proving to be a pope who embraces the Latin origin of pontiff. Pontifex means bridge builder.

The real TDS sufferers further suggest that Axelrod traveled to Rome to prepare for an Obama sitdown with Pope Leo to further a Democrat scheme.

“Barack Obama doesn’t need me. If he wants to visit with the Pope," Axelrod told The Daily Beast on Thursday, “I suspect he would be received. He doesn’t need any intermediary.”

Axelrod says it is equally silly to propose that his papal audience had anything to do with the Pope’s criticism of Trump’s bombing of Iran.

“For the longest time, I’d been trying to find a way to get to see him,” Axelrod told the Daily Beast on Wednesday. “Finally, a couple months ago, I got a date, an audience... I sure didn’t know when, when I got that date, that we would be at war.”

Axelrod played no role in the Pope’s opposition to war and advocacy for peace. But real TDS sufferers such as Republican analyst Hal Lambert saw a sinister plot.

“This is 100% political, ok? This is all about trying to hurt President Trump’s Catholic vote during the midterms and Republicans in the midterms,” Lambert said on CNN on Monday. “If you look at what... play out the dots here. David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week. They’re talking about Obama going to visit Pope Leo. Pope Leo is from Chicago. All of a sudden, now, Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel.”

Lambert further noted that three cardinals had voiced opposition to Trump’s immigration policies.

‘Hal, there are just a lot of flaws in this argument,” CNN host Abby Phillip told him.

“There’s no flaws,” Lambert insisted.”Axelrod is the chief strategist for Obama. The pope is saying he’s not political. Why is he meeting with the chief strategist for both Obama’s campaigns and in the White House?’

Lambert told the Daily Beast on Thursday, “[Axelrod’s] not Catholic, he’s not Protestant. He was born Jewish…They’re not talking theology.“

He continued, “Within days, you have three Cardinals, come out and do a 60 Minutes interview. And then you have the Pope ratchet up his attacks on Trump. So, I mean, I’m just laying out the facts of what happened.”

The Trump administration continued to dismiss Pope Leo’s pronouncements. Vice President JD Vance, a recent Catholic convert, said the pope “should be careful” when talking about theology.

“In some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality,” Vance advised, as if that did not include war and social justice.

Down in Miami, the Trump administration canceled $11 million contract for a Catholic Charities program that had tended to unaccompanied migrant children for decades. The move raised the specter that other Catholic programs might be targeted.

On Thursday morning, the news site Catholic Arena posted on X photos of Axelrod and his wife meeting with the Pope. They are presenting him with the birthday photos of their daughter and her friends in the White Sox jerseys with Leo and 14 on the back.

Numerous sufferers of real TDS posted comments.

One read, “So, doesn’t take long to have a private few minutes with the Holy father and pass private messages from prominent democrats or coordinate strategy.”

Another read, “LOL, a Jewish man who has never met Leo and yet gets a private meeting with Leo to give him baseball photos….OMG! Nice AI generated pictures as well! You liars are going to burn in Hades.”

And another, “So this non-Catholic private citizen gets over an hour with the Pope just because his daughter is in a Catholic run home? When do the parents of the other children there get an audience? Nothing at all to see here!”

And another, “If I was planning to meet and recruit the Poope (sic) into a conspiracy to overthrow a sitting US president, I’d want to make that meeting appear like it was no big deal. Maybe even exchange a few benign souvenirs in a photo op.”

And yet another, “Sure thing: a notorious political operative (and non-Catholic) like Axelrod travelled all the way from the U.S. to Italy and went through all the necessary hassle to get a private audience with the Pope, just to give him a couple photos of the White Sox. Seems legit.”

Or maybe just deranged.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/here-are-the-real-sufferers-of-trump-derangement-syndrome/?

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Trump challenges Pope Leo’s critique of Iran war amid the pontiff’s African peace tour  Pope Leo XIV began his papacy nearly a year ago seemingly content to stay out of the headlines. This past week, however, he has been constantly in the media spotlight, embarking on an ambitious four-nation trip to Africa while engaging in a dramatic exchange of words with U.S. President Donald Trump. It has changed the world’s perception of Leo and his mission. Read more.

Why this matters: The pope, who had customarily avoided singling out world leaders for criticism, made clear that he considered aspects of Trump’s approach to the war with Iran “unacceptable.” Leo held firm, even as Trump assailed him as “weak” and soft on crime.     In Algeria, Leo highlighted themes of peace and unity, promoting Christian-Muslim coexistence in the majority Muslim nation at a time of global conflict, and honoring the locally born inspiration of his spirituality, St. Augustine.    In Cameroon, Leo blasted the “handful of tyrants” who are ravaging Earth with war and exploitation, preaching a message of peace in the epicenter of a separatist conflict that's considered one of the world’s most neglected crises.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ A dispatch from inside the Vatican bubble during a remarkable exchange between pope and president  Pope blasts ‘tyrants’ ravaging the planet during his visit to Cameroon Pope urges young people to resist temptation of corruption in big Mass in Cameroon Pope Leo in Algeria walks in footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine  Many US Catholics are dismayed by Trump’s unprecedented broadside at the first American pope  A country-by-country glance at Pope Leo’s trip to Africa

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FISA Section 702: Will Congress Let Trump Keep Spying On Americans? (With Ken Klippenstein)

David Sirota speaks with independent investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein about the FBI’s new NSPM-7 “pre-crime” center — and the upcoming vote in Congress that would allow President Trump to keep spying on Americans without a warrant.

https://www.youtube.com/live/AcV1Ol0M9yg?

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Families Fume Over Pathetic Meals for American Forces in Trump’s War

A picture of a gray slab of mystery meat has sparked outrage.

U.S. Navy families have spoken out about the state of the food being served to their sons and daughters amid President Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East.

Food stocks, along with morale, have plummeted in the region following the U.S. Postal Service’s temporary suspension of mail delivery to 27 military ZIP codes. Packages already in transit are reportedly being held without a clear delivery timeline.

Crew on board aircraft carriers the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Gerald R. Ford are beginning to feel the effects. Pictures obtained by the Center on Conscience & War and published by USA Today show the grim meals the sailors and Marines are being served.

One sailor on the USS Abraham Lincoln said, “The food is tasteless, and there’s not nearly enough, and they’re hungry all the time,” one community organizer trying to get packages to the afflicted fighters reported.

One image shows a dry patty, plastic-looking carrots, and a slab of processed meat on a plastic tray. Another now-viral image shows shredded meat and a single tortilla on a mostly empty tray.

“We have the strongest military in the world. You shouldn’t be running out of food, and you shouldn’t not be able to get mail on the ship,” Dan, 63, the father of a service member struggling with the situation told USA Today.

“The one thing we had over our adversaries [was] we fed our people,” Dan, who also served in the Marines and asked the paper to identify him only by his first name to shield his child from potential retaliation, added.

MAGA Rep. Randy Fine pledged to fix the issue in an X post laden with his regular dose of Islamophobia. “This is what we’re feeding our brave men and women overseas as they fight Muslim terror in Iran. I know everyone is trying, but our servicemembers deserve so much better than this. I’m going to work with our military to get this fixed ASAP,” he posted, sharing the images.

Dan’s daughter is aboard the USS Tripoli. The warships are tasked with enforcing the U.S. blockade of ships leaving Iranian ports, according to the U.S. Central Command, though they may be receiving new orders after President Donald Trump announced Friday morning that the Strait of Hormuz had reopened.

A Texas mother whose son, a Navy sailor, is also aboard the Tripoli, said her son has complained about hunger. Her family has spent at least $2,000 on care packages, she said, but none have reached her son due to the postal issues. She told USA Today that her son told her that he and his colleagues ration and share food.

Supplies “are going to get really low,” the sailor told his mother in messages seen by USA Today. He added that he doesn’t anticipate a restock until the ship returns from its mission.

“Morale is going to be at an all-time low,” he wrote.

Things are no better on the USS Gerald R. Ford, which, on April 15, broke the record for the longest deployment of any aircraft carrier since the Cold War, at 295 days.

It docked in Crete in the Mediterranean on March 23 after a laundry fire ravaged the ship. It is also reportedly plagued with plumbing problems.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon and the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/families-fume-over-pathetic-meals-for-american-forces-in-trumps-war/?

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Trump expects Iran deal this weekend

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Image U.S. and Iranian negotiators will probably meet this weekend to hammer out a final peace deal, President Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid today. Trump said over the phone: "The Iranians want to meet. They want to make a deal. I think a meeting will probably take place over the weekend. I think we will get a deal in the next day or two." Multiple U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the negotiations have told Axios that significant progress has been made. Yet gaps still remain on critical issues. 💸 One proposal under discussion: The U.S. would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds if Iran gives up its stockpile of enriched uranium. (Axios scoop.) The plan also involves a moratorium on Iranian enrichment. ⚓️ Trump told Barak that he's not going to lift his Strait of Hormuz blockade until a deal is reached, and stressed he wants the strait open for everybody. Iran announced today that it would open Hormuz for the rest of the ceasefire, which expires next Tuesday. It's unclear if ships will brave the narrow waterway, given the uncertain conditions and threat of Iranian mines. Two of President Trump's posts this morning. Screenshot: Truth Social 🇮🇱 Trump also said the deal will "make Israel safe" and stressed that "Israel is going to come out great" at the end of the war. At the same time, he made clear he wants Israeli strikes on Lebanon to end: "Israel has to stop. They can't continue to blow buildings up. I'm not gonna allow it." Some in the Israeli government oppose a deal and want to continue the wars in Iran and in Lebanon — though that likely won't be possible without Trump's approval. Go deeper.

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Grimm and Grimmer

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Donald Trump, as even some of his fiercest admirers will admit, is not always a paragon of personal virtue. Although the president’s aides sometimes treat him like he is a toddler, as the political scientist Daniel Drezner has observed, he’s not an especially well-behaved one. Trump often acts in ways that would result in detention or other punishment for an elementary-school student: bald-faced dishonesty, name-calling, unkindness, refusal to share, and an inability to use an inside voice. Put another way, Trump sometimes seems as though he missed out on all of the lessons that children are supposed to learn from fables and fairy tales. (Meanwhile, his administration is seeking to evict some lessons about tolerance from classrooms.) But perhaps that’s uncharitable: Trump isn’t ignoring those fables; he’s just taking different lessons away from them than the familiar ones. Here’s a set of classic stories and their morals, reinterpreted for MAGA political correctness.

“The Three Billy Goats Gruff”

Plot: Three brother goats must cross a bridge guarded by a malicious troll who wants to eat them. Walking in succession, they are able to trick the greedy troll into waiting for the third and largest brother, who throws the troll into the water, killing him. With the troll slain, the bridge is free for all to pass.

Moral: The goats could have saved time and made money by threatening to destroy the bridge and kill the troll, then proposing a joint venture with the troll to split the proceeds paid by those wishing to cross the bridge.

The Rainbow Fish

Plot: A fish is covered in beautiful iridescent scales. The scales make him very proud, but they also make him isolated in society, because other fish envy them and resent the Rainbow Fish for not sharing. After giving a single scale away, he makes his first friend. Soon, he has given away all of the scales except for one, and has created a tight-knit social group with the other fish.

Moral: Friendships are fundamentally transactional.

“Goldilocks and the Three Bears”

Plot: A family of three bears, upon preparing their breakfast, find it too hot to eat and decide to take a walk. When they return, they discover that a girl named Goldilocks has sampled their breakfast, sat in (and broken one of) their chairs, and is now sleeping in one of their beds. Goldilocks, startled by the bears’ arrival, jumps out the window and is never heard from again.

Moral: People with golden hair are entitled to whatever they want and must not face consequences for their actions, especially if those are official acts.

“The Pied Piper of Hamelin”

Plot: The burghers of a small German town beset with a rat infestation hire a man with a magical pipe to lure the rodents away, which he does, coaxing them to their death in a nearby river. But when he comes to collect his reward, the local authorities refuse to pay him. In retaliation, the piper uses his instrument to lure away the town’s children, who are never seen again.

Moral: Always pay vendors what they are owed. Charismatic European leaders are a threat to the future of your society.

“The Ant and the Grasshopper”

Plot: An industrious ant spends all summer gathering food for the cold months, while a lazy grasshopper dances and sings. Once winter hits, the grasshopper is cold and hungry, and goes begging for food from the ant, who refuses to share any of its bounty, upbraiding the grasshopper for failing to plan.

Moral: Ants are small and weak, and the grasshopper is entitled to destroy them and take the food he needs. He might also consider levying tariffs.

“Hansel and Gretel”

Plot: Two young children are abandoned in the wilderness by their parents, who cannot afford to feed them. They come to the house of a witch, who locks them up and plans to cook and eat them. But when the witch tries to put Hansel into the oven, Gretel pushes her in instead, burning her to death. The children, freed, take the witch’s treasure and return home with a means to live.
Moral: Unaccompanied minors are a violent danger and must be expelled.

“Rumpelstiltskin”

Plot: After a foolish miller falsely asserts that his daughter can spin straw into gold, the king imprisons her and says that he will marry her if the story is true and kill her if it is not. Weeping in her cell, she is visited by a magical imp who offers to turn straw into gold for her in return for her firstborn. The ruse works, and she marries the king and bears a child. The imp returns for the baby, and the queen is bereft. The imp agrees to give up his claim if she can guess his name, the wildly implausible “Rumpelstiltskin.” Although she cannot guess the name, she overhears him saying it to himself and is able to keep her child.

Moral: If you’re in the business of turning things into gold, trying to keep a low profile is counterproductive. Just plaster your name all over everything.

“Cinderella”

Plot: A girl is mistreated by her stepsisters, who call her Cinderella. One day, an invitation comes for all young women to come to a ball so that the prince can choose a wife. The wicked stepsisters force Cinderella to stay home working, but her fairy godmother provides a magical gown and carriage—with a warning that she must leave by midnight, when she will revert to her normal appearance. At the ball, the prince is smitten but cannot get her name before she dashes out just before midnight, leaving behind one glass slipper. The following day, he canvasses the kingdom until he finds the woman who fits the slipper and marries her. They live happily ever after.

Moral: This story’s message is perplexing, riddled with mysteries and contradictions. Why would it matter whether the shoe fits, and why would a wealthy prince want to stay married to the same person forever? And how big was the prince’s ballroom anyway?

Related:

• David Brooks: Why do so many people think Trump is good?
• The infantilization of President Trump (From 2017)