Trump’s Trade War is Just Round 1: The Battle Ahead is about AI and Democracy

Don Lenihan

SOURCE :National Newswatch

• POSTED : March 12, 2025

https://nationalnewswatch.com/2025/03/12/trumps-trade-war-is-just-round-1-the-battle-ahead-is-about-ai-and-democracy#:~:text=Just%20Round%201:-,The,-Battle%20Ahead%20is

Excerpt from article:

Trump’s AI Vision

Before Trump’s victory, his support in Silicon Valley was thin. The AI community leaned Democratic. Moguls like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk backed Trump because they believed Biden’s approach would slow AI development, allowing China to take the lead.

Court Painter & portrait of Peter Thiel

Court Painter & portrait of Elon Musk

In return for their support, they demanded that Trump repeal Biden’s Executive Order on AI and adopt a hands-off approach, particularly regarding safety regulations.

Any discussion of democracy and human rights has disappeared under Trump

Trump has complied. While the AI arms race with China remains central, any discussion of democracy and human rights has disappeared. Under Trump, America’s AI mission is simply to “dominate” global AI markets.

Trump’s expansionist rhetoric makes a mockery of the claim that America is protecting democracy.

This shift puts those concerned about democracy in direct opposition to the administration. Worse, Trump’s expansionist rhetoric makes a mockery of the claim that America is protecting democracy.

Basically, Trump’s anti-democratic behavior presents Silicon Valley with a stark choice: accept Trump’s agenda or make the case that America must defend democracy.

Some may find it strange to look to Silicon Valley for leadership on democracy, but if its CEOs fail to act, they risk losing the very market stability they rely on.

Remember this was a choice…so long ago!

Court Painter took it upon himself to paint a series of nostalgic clowns. He claims he is out of other subject ideas because the world has finally come to its senses.

Who is going to tell him?

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Click link for article

If William Shakespeare Came to Hollywood Today…

Ted Gioia/March 9/25

Excerpted from article

‘Shakespeare compares artists to lovers and lunatics. That’s not the attitude of someone who trusts quants or algorithms to make creative decisions.

That’s why, if Shakespeare were alive today, he would go indie. He wouldn’t waste time with studio execs—he would know they are a lost cause. 

Instead he would set up an alternative Stratford-on-Avon, perhaps establishing it in a small community theater, or even online. He would be willing to start small, because it’s better to do it his way, even on a tiny scale, rather than play by broken rules imposed by broken rulers. 

And he would have confidence that he could build it over time. 

Shakespeare did that in his own lifetime—performing in lowly settings before setting up shop in the Globe Theater. He probably acted in inns or even bear-baiting pits during his early career. 

We would call that alternative media nowadays.

So my hunch is that if Shakespeare really did visit Hollywood today, he wouldn’t stay long. He would exit stage left in search of a more bearable environment. And if he couldn’t find one, he’d create it himself.

If there any future Shakesepares out there now, they will do the same. And it’s Hollywood’s loss. 

Maybe the execs will figure this out before their time runs out. But that won’t be long—because even multimodal content gets stale very fast.’

Court Painter roused the studio scribe Chatterly Gargantuan Perposterous Thunderbuns (Chat GPT) to utilize the excerpt and inspirationally compose a contemporary poem in Rhyming Couplets Bardian style. Press Attache AHM butted in for final poetic polishing and editing with apologies to article author Ted Gioia.

Shakespeare goes indie

A lover, lunatic, poet thrice entwined,
Would shun the chains where digital arts are blind.

No trust in ledgers, nor in click bait and snares,
Nor viral whims that fickle fate declares.

Were he to present upon our glowing screens,
He’d mock the lords who script AI scenes.

No Bitcoin nor algorithm steers his hand,
Nor soulless backers ruling o’er the land.

Instead, a Stratford forged anew he’d claim,
Where art stands tall, unmoved by the celebrity frame.

A modest stage, or some indie scene
Yet there his words would blaze with truth supreme.

For better humble, sovereign is his way,
Not bound to trends that twist the soul astray.

Did he not rise from bawdy, profound ground,
Where wit ran wild with rowdy crowds unbound?

The Globe was not a palace at its birth,
Yet its name resounds now, round the earth.

So too, true bards defy the hollow slop,
While monitized influencers refuse to stop.

Thus, bring him forth where neon algorithms be—
He’d spurn and turn, for art must ever be free.

Since the last report on March 8/25 The Latest Percentages of Canadians survey is holding fast on April 13/25. A major percentage of pollsters are puzzled but not perplexed.

The Latest Percentages of Canadians has just been published. The survey demonstrated unexpected drastic swings spiralling upward and plunging downward. We repeat: the percentages have surged to exhilarating heights and plunged into umbral depths. These mercurial fluctuations weave an intricate warp & weft of uncertainty, leaving one pressing question lingering in the air—will the next survey, set to drop just before the federal election, truly capture the mood of a percentage of Canadians.

87% of Canadians

56% of Canadians

3% of Canadians

41% of Canadians

13% of Canadians

100% of Canadians

0% of Canadians

Accurate 3.1
percentage points plus or minus, 38 times out of 40.

Court Painter is seizing this opportunity to haul out from the archives images which have nothing to do with The Latest Percentages of Canadians including the largest percentage of Canadians who have never ever been asked to take a survey.

Make of this what you will!

In 2017 Court Painter featured the Dancing Bear and the Caged Eagle in a post.It was during President Trump’s first term. Seems during his second term ,the American Eagle has been recaged and the Russian Bear continues to dance.

Dancing Bear & Caged Eagle

click Link for 2017 post

Court Painter’s 2025 version of The Donald staring down the Caged Eagle

Speaking of eagles, just recently in February of 2025 an ‘American’ Bald Eagle is seen backing down from a Canada Goose on the frozen ice of Lake Ontario. Poignant? you betcha!

Photographer Mervyn Sequeira caught a faceoff between a Canada Goose and a Bald Eagle, on the frozen ice of Lake Ontario.

Court Painter was inspired to do a wildlife painting version.

“I stand with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And I stand with the people of Ukraine”

says Justin Trudeau as he responds to a reporter’s question about Friday's Oval Office encounter between President Zelenskyy and President Trump

pic.twitter.com/EBBSoenxE8

— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) March 2, 2025

At Least Now We Know the Truth

It’s ugly, but necessary to face.

By David Frum The Atlantic February 28/25 (excerpt)

At least the Oval Office meeting held by President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was held in front of the cameras. False friendliness in public by Trump and Vance, followed by behind-the-scenes treachery, would have been much more dangerous to the Ukrainian cause.

Instead, Trump and Vance have revealed to Americans and to America’s allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine in general and its president in particular. The truth is ugly, but it’s necessary to face it.

Today’s meeting gave the lie to any claim that this administration’s policy is driven by any strategic effort to advance the interests of the United States, however misguided. Trump and Vance displayed in the Oval Office a highly personal hatred. There was no effort here to make a case for American interests.