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https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/ad-bellum-trump-parare-podcast

The Macro Butler just had a ‘tariff-ically’ good chat with Asharq Bloomberg TV Dubai, spilling the tea on how “tariffying” the world might inflate the world right into a bust. Meanwhile, China and the BRICS are happily turning tariffs and sanctions into a game of “you trade with me, I trade with you”—because, let’s face it, Uncle Sam’s not exactly winning any “Most Reliable Trading Partner” awards these days.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-asharq-bloomberg-tv-989

While Donald Copperfield crows about the "booming" U.S. economy and grovels for rate cuts from the “Chief Banker In Chief’, retailers are boarding up shops faster than you can say "bankruptcy." Over 120 million square feet of retail space has been shuttered in 2025—making the pandemic-era closings look like a warm-up. Coresight Research reports a whopping 5,822 stores closed by June 27, blowing past last year’s 3,496 for the same period.

https://www.newsweek.com/store-closures-exceed-2024-levels-2096509

The so-called “retail apocalypse” isn’t just back—it’s breaking pandemic records with a smug grin.
July saw Chapter 11 commercial bankruptcies leap 78% year-over-year to 911, with total commercial filings hitting 2,997—up 26%—according to Epiq’s Aug. 5 report. Month-over-month, Chapter 11s spiked another 46%, because apparently bankruptcy court is the new hot spot. Even the freight sector joined in—20 carriers went belly-up in Q2 alone—leaving lenders stuck with over $1 million in unsecured IOUs. And in the grand tradition of political theater, lawmakers are busy squabbling over tweaks to Subchapter V and Chapter 13 debt limits, as if rearranging deck chairs will stop this ship from sinking.

In a nusthell, retail’s in free fall—stores are shuttering and bankruptcies are soaring, but D.C. is too busy fiddling with forever bankers' wars while the mall burns.

Anyone who’s read a history book knows August is when emperors flex, markets panic, and sanity takes a holiday—so forgive the “peace talks” fluff about the Alaska summit while the real show unfolds in Asia, where dramatic footage shows two Chinese navy ships colliding while chasing a Philippine patrol boat near Scarborough Shoal, the latest flare-up in one of the region’s hottest geopolitical flashpoints.

The clash is just the latest in a string of high-stakes confrontations in the South China Sea, a powder keg hissing ever louder as the West deploys proxy states like the Philippines and Japan to needle the Middle Kingdom’s mercantilist rise.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250811-chinese-vessels-collide-while-pursuing-philippine-boat-in-south-china-sea-manila

The Philippines, ever the loyal puppet of the American empire in Asia, now looks set to become the first Asian member of the North Atlantic “Terror” Organization #NATO —just in time for its pivot from trying to depopulate Russia to setting its sights on China.

https://www.news18.com/videos/world/us-pitches-anti-china-shield-with-manila-china-preps-military-city-shadows-nato-warship-4k-9456637.html

Because nothing says “solving homelessness and crime” like turning the nation’s capital into a military playground, the Manipulator In Chief has decided to deploy the National Guard—because, of course, what else could possibly fix things?

This “national security” move isn’t about protecting the people—it’s about shielding the political elite. Just like ancient Rome’s Praetorian Guard, now the National Guard’s loyalty lies with whoever’s in power, not the public.
History shows us how this ends: rulers replaced by those wielding real muscle, while democracy becomes a mere performance.

https://www.dailyhistory.org/What_was_the_role_of_the_Praetorian_Guard_in_Roman_History

A similar scenario unfolded in America’s early days. In late 1860 and early 1861, fears ran high that secessionist militias or Confederate sympathizers might attack Washington, seize federal buildings, or even capture Lincoln before his inauguration. To counter this, federal troops were discreetly deployed to guard the Capitol, the White House, and key bridges. When Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861, his administration took office under the watch of a heavily militarized capital. Following the November 1860 election, several Southern states declared secession, rejecting Lincoln’s leadership. The Battle of Fort Sumter in April, just a month after the inauguration, ignited the Civil War.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-sumter

The U.S. is so divided that both sides see each other as existential enemies—not just politicians. Governors are openly defying Washington.

So what’s the solution? Militarize the capital—because nothing says “stable democracy” like tanks on the streets.

Foreign investors see this as a red flag, but hey, for now, the U.S. still looks safer than Europe’s mess. Longer-term investors will seek safer havens in tangible assets and more stable regions.

This move conveniently comes amid outrage over the unreleased Epstein list and bipartisan trips to Israel.

The real reason? Protecting the political elite from the chaos they helped create.

Militarizing your capital is a confession of weakness. Once that Rubicon is crossed, only a political reset can restore balance.

While Donald Copperfield parades his delusions of economic glory and pressures the ‘Central Banker In Chief’ to slash rates, even exploiting homelessness as a pretext to militarize the U.S. capital, the unyielding verdict of the numbers—unlike the lies of politicians—declares a harsher reality: the homeless epidemic is not merely persisting, it is growing.

On any given night, 771,700 Americans—23 out of every 10,000—sleep on the streets, a number surging over the past three years. Seventy percent carry criminal records, two-thirds have used illegal drugs, nearly half battle mental illness, and 13% are veterans. This is not a crisis to pity—it is a disorder to control.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/02/living-in-shelters.html

Getting a job without an address is hard; getting one with a criminal record in America is nearly impossible—and when you do, it rarely pays enough to cover basic needs. The deeper crisis is rent: 74% of extremely low-income renters spend more than half their income just to keep a roof overhead. The 2023 census shows this is no fringe problem—over a quarter of Americans now hand more than half their paycheck to landlords, nearly half spend over 30%, and costs keep climbing.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9762769/

Naturally, the deployment of troops in D.C. has little to do with the homeless. This is about power, not compassion. History is unambiguous: when rulers no longer trust the governed, they place soldiers at the gates.

What we now see mirrors the twilight of Rome, when the Praetorian Guard ceased guarding the empire and began guarding its rulers from the people.

The act is not merely practical—it is symbolic. To militarize your own capital is to cross the Rubicon, trading the pretense of democracy for the machinery of control.

🤵 The Macro Butler Special Service 🤵

🌐 Prices jacking up ahead thanks to war and solar-flared chaos, and paychecks? Just roadkill on the ‘tariffied’ way to ‘Make America Great Again.’ 🌐

Read more here: https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/from-paycheck-to-pinch-the-trumpflation

As anyone not blinded by the usual propaganda can see, the ‘Trump Reflation’ circus has already rolled into the second inflation wave of the decade. Meanwhile, Donald Copperfield—freshly inspired by banana republic antics he once mocked—has now threatened to sue the ‘Central Banker In Chief,’ proving he’s learned absolutely nothing about meddling with monetary policy.

If The Manipulator In Chief spent less time tweeting fake truths and more time reading history, he’d know inflation isn’t some magic trick—it’s just scarcity, raging demand, and a collective loss of faith in government.

Toss in tariffs, trade wars, and Uncle Sam’s usual chest-thumping, and voilà: prices soar and confidence crashes. If ‘Donald Copperfield’ conjures up another inflation spiral or global fiasco, his political clout will disappear faster than his campaign promises.

A day after militarizing the capital, the Warmonger-in-Chief rolled out his shiny new “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force”—600 National Guard troops split into two 300-man teams, ready to squash dissent faster than you can say “First Amendment.” Arizona and Alabama get the bases, commercial airlines get the troop transport gig, and taxpayers get the bill—hundreds of millions by 2027, just in time for the 2028 show.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5448885-quick-reaction-force-proposal/