April 11, 2025

Tariffs, Investigations, and a Not-So-Pink Moon"

Show Notes
Transcript

The latest episode where Patrick Gutfield takes aim at the political circus surrounding Trump's tariff reversal as Democrats call for insider trading investigations. Plus, YouTube star Mr. Beast challenges the economics of "America First" tariffs, and a breakdown of this weekend's misleadingly-named "pink micromoon" that promises to be slightly less impressive than advertised. Cutting commentary on Wall Street's armchair psychology, political pearl-clutching, and celestial non-events that somehow still make headlines.

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Callaroga shark media from Washington, DC, where nobody is insider trading.

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This is ballot. That's right, everything is on the up

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and up. Let's hit this.

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Democratic senators are clutching their pearls again, demanding investigations because

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the stock market actually went up for once.

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Can you believe it? So here's the setup.

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President Trump rolled back some tariffs Wednesday, and the market skyrocketed.

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Before that.

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He posted on truth social saying be cool and this

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is a great time to buy now. Adam Schiff and

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Reuben Galago won an investigation into possible insider trading. You know,

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I haven't seen Democrats this concerned about stocks since they

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discovered their investment portfolios were funding the very corporations they

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pretend to hate. Also apropos of nothing. You know who

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historically has seemed to be really good at the stock.

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Market, the police family. But I digress.

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Trump drops some tariffs to ten percent on every country

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except China, and suddenly the Nasdaq jumps twelve point one percent,

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its biggest single day gain since twenty twenty one. The

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Dow up seven point eight percent.

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That's the kind of.

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Number that makes Elizabeth Warren develop a sudden interest in capitalism.

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So what's the Democrat's evidence of wrongdoing? Trump posted be

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cool on social media.

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That's it. That's their smoking gun.

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I haven't seen a weaker case since my cousin tried

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to sue a water park because he got wet, and

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Senator Dick Durbin says this deserves closer scrutiny. You know

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what deserves closer scrutiny the fact that Durbin can still

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act surprised when politicians try to improve their bottom line.

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That's like being shocked when you find out water's wet

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or that Tim Wall snores during cabinet meetings. Meanwhile, John

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Cornyn called the whole thing ridiculous, saying Democrats are just

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trying to take a dig at Trump. I haven't seen

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Republicans and Democrats this divided since well yesterday. The truth is,

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if you're shocked that someone in Washington might be using

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inside information, I've got a bridge to sell you, and

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unlike this investigation, that bridge actually leads somewhere. Trump has

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managed to create such chaos with his trade policies that

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some Wall Street big wigs are questioning his mental state.

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I'm not making this up.

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Thomas Lee from Funstrike Global Advisors wrote in a memo

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that he's been chatting with fund managers who are genuinely

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concerned the White House might not be operating on all cylinders.

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And get this, some are quietly wondering if the President

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might be insane. When financial analysts start playing armchair psychiatrist,

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you know things have gone off the rails. The stock

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market is now officially more unpredictable than a season finale

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of The Bachelor, At least with The Bachelor, you know

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someone's getting a rose with these tariffs. The only thing

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we know for sure is that drama is guaranteed now.

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The YouTube Chocolate King Mister Beast is taking aim at

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President Trump's tariffs. You know, when a guy who buries

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himself alive for views starts talking economic policy, we.

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Should probably listen.

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Beast has criticized Trump's Liberation Day policies that economists say

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will raise inflation, halt business growth, slow hiring, and likely

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lead to a recession. These tariffs have already wiped out

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trillions from the stock market, affecting retirement accounts everywhere.

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And here's where it gets interesting.

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Mister Beast says it's now cheaper to make his Feastable's

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chocolate bars outside America because other countries don't have a

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twenty percent plus tariff on his cost of goods. You

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know you've messed up when it's more economical to ship

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chocolate across oceans than make it in your own backyard.

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That's not America first, that's America. Take a number and

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wait outside. Beast is particularly concerned about small businesses, saying

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the tariffs could really be a nail in the coffin

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for them. So this Saturday night, we've got what they're

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calling a pink moon coming up. I want to be clear,

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the moon will not actually be pink, which seems like

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false advertising, but apparently that's just what we call April's

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full moon. This is the fourth full moon of the year,

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in the first of astronomical spring. But wait, there's more.

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It's also what they're calling a micro moon, which is

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the opposite of a super moon.

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That's right.

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This moon will be at its farthest point from Earth,

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making it look smaller than usual. The moon will reach

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peak fullness at exactly eight twenty two in the evening

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Eastern time. I love how precise astronomers are about this stuff. Oh,

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the moon will be at its fullest at eight twenty

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two and seventeen seconds, and at a twenty three day

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from accounting, will suddenly realize his marriage is falling apart.

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According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, which I assume is

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written by a guy with a really long beard who

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keeps saying, mark my words, they call it the pink

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moon because of flocks flowers. These mossy plants produce a

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carpet of pastel colored flowers in early spring, including pink ones.

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So essentially we named a celestial body after groundcover. That's

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like naming a hurricane after your doormat. This full moon

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also goes by Pascal or Lentin, depending on when Easter falls.

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The Royal Museum's Greenwich explains that Easter is the first

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Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after

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the spring equinox. I don't know about you, but I

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definitely needed a flow chart to follow that explanation. Now,

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about this whole micro moon business. The moon orbits Earth

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in an elliptical path, not a perfect circle. When it's

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at its farthest point, called apogee, it appears slightly smaller.

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This will be the second and most distant micromoon of

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three consecutive ones from March through May.

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But here's the thing.

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The difference in size is barely noticed to the naked eye.

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We're talking about a seven to fourteen percent difference. That's

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like the difference between a large and extra large coffee

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when the barista isn't paying attention. If you want to

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catch this underwhelming celestial event, your best viewing will be

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across the south, southeast, and portions of the West. If

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you're in the northeast or mid Atlantic, tough luck. There's

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a slow moving storm coming through that'll block your view.

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It's like the weather heard there was a slightly smaller

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moon and said, don't worry, I got you covered. Literally,

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the next supermoons won't come until fall, with October, November,

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and December full moons, so mark your calendars for when

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the moon will look slightly larger than normal.

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Or don't.

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I mean, we've got streaming services now you can watch

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something way more interesting. I'm Patrick Gutfield and that's the

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scoop on Tariffs, weird moons, and Trump Urst the Beast,

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And no, that's not the title of the next Monster

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Truck Rally, though I definitely watch that Portions of today's

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show were made with the help of AI. We're going

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to try to take the weekend off, but you know

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how that tends to go