F**king Mondays: Trump's Unprecedented Corruption, Canada's Sneak Attack, and Russia's Tanking Economy

Trump sells access for crypto, Mark Carney hits Trump where it hurts, and Putin has a very, very big problem.

Welcome to a brand-spanking new edition of F**king Mondays! Here’s what we’re diving into today:

The remarkable Mark Carney

The Hillbilly Machiavellis thumping their chests over Trump’s bullying tactics are learning a sobering lesson in the law of unintended consequences. Apparently, trying to intimidate, alienate, and punish your allies simply to assert dominance does, shock-horror, come with a cost. Just look at what’s happened between Canada and the U.S.

Here’s a brief timeline of how Trump’s belligerence toward Canada has blown up in his face:

• Trump gets elected and immediately starts insulting Canada, calling it the “51st state.”

• He proposes new cross-border tariffs and tightens border restrictions under the pretext of "national interest," hammering tourism and trade.

• He accuses Canadian leadership — and implicitly Mark Carney — of being “globalist puppets.”

• Mark Carney becomes Prime Minister after Justin Trudeau resigns. Trump mocks him as the “governor” of Canada and calls him a “globalist banker,” suggesting Canada under Carney would become a “proxy of the Davos elite.”

• Carney ignores the U.S. entirely and visits Europe after being elected.

• Carney announces that warm relations between Canada and the U.S. are over, declaring the start of a far more dangerous era.

• Business investment between the two countries collapses amid tariff threats and rising political uncertainty.

• Carney speaks to Trump by phone; shortly afterward, Trump suddenly starts referring to him as Prime Minister (more on that below).

• Canadians head to the polls in a general election where Carney — whose party once trailed the Conservatives by 25 points — is now the favorite.

While Carney hasn’t revealed exactly what he said to Trump during their call in late March, a recent appearance on a Canadian comedy show suggests he may have threatened to sell Canada’s holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds. Rumors have swirled for weeks that Carney orchestrated an international bond sell-off, but nothing has been confirmed. Still, Carney’s non-denial here is telling (skip to the 2-minute mark):

Given Carney’s experience running not just Canada’s central bank but also the Bank of England, it’s not a stretch. He understands economics in a way Trump simply isn’t capable of — and he knows exactly where Canada’s leverage lies.

“You’ve got to take him [Trump] seriously,” Carney says in the interview. “Take him literally and seriously.”

Given Trump was threatening Canada's sovereignty, Carney would have been well within his rights to respond with severe threats of his own. Had the bond sell-off continued, it could have wrecked the U.S. economy for generations. Like all bullies, Trump backed down when someone finally called his bluff.

The result? Trump grievously insulted Canada. The Canadian Liberal Party surged in popularity. Mark Carney stood up to Trump, (allegedly) rallied the international community to sell U.S. bonds — and now stands on the cusp of an extraordinary electoral comeback.

The most openly corrupt president in US history

Because the public so immune to Trump’s obvious criminality and corruption, Trump can now operate a criminal enterprise from the White House without any fear of repercussion. Consider the following (from CNBC):

President Donald Trump and his allies have raked in nearly $900,000 in trading fees over the past two days from the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency token, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain data company.

The surge came after a Wednesday announcement in which the top 220 holders of the token were promised dinner with the president.

“Have Dinner in Washington, D.C. With President Trump,” reads a message on the front page of the Trump coin’s website. The event, which is black tie optional and hosted at the president’s private club in the Washington area, is scheduled for May 22, with a reception for the top 25 holders. A “VIP White House Tour” will take place the following day, the site says. The website also hosts an active leaderboard displaying the usernames of top buyers.

Why waste time with lobbyists, foreign agents, or backdoor deals when you can just buy Trumpcoin, win yourself a dinner with Trump, and tell him what you want directly?

Trump is now quite literally selling access to the White House in exchange for pumping the price of his meme coin. The token surged more than 50% after the dinner announcement — and the door is now wide open to any nation, corporation, or organized criminal enterprise willing to pay.

Russia’s economy is in serious trouble

The Economist has a fascinating piece on the dramatic slowdown of the Russian economy — and why it spells serious trouble for Vladimir Putin. The article cites three major reasons for the faltering economy:

1. The war economy has peaked:
   Russia’s wartime boom, driven by massive military spending and new trade ties with China and India, has effectively run out of steam. Military expenditures, which surged by 53% in 2024, are projected to grow by just 3.4% this year, leaving behind bloated industries and diminishing returns.

2. Crippling inflation and high interest rates:
   Wartime spending and a shrinking labor force have pushed inflation above 10%, forcing the central bank to hike interest rates to a punishing 21%. Inflation is easing slightly, but the high rates are choking investment, crushing consumer spending, and stalling economic growth.

3. External pressures — especially falling oil prices:
   Trump’s trade wars have slowed global growth and hammered oil prices, gutting Russia’s vital energy exports. China’s demand for Russian oil is weakening, the MOEX index (which tracks the performance of Russia’s 50 largest companies) is down 10%, and oil-and-gas revenues fell 17% year-on-year, with internal forecasts predicting a sharp and sustained decline.

This is yet another example of strongman hubris on both Putin’s and Trump’s behalf. Trump’s trade war has unintentionally weakened his ally, while Putin’s grave miscalculation about Ukraine has destroyed his labor force and burdened the state with unsustainable military spending.

Russia’s economic woes could be one of the reasons Putin has ordered a three day truce with Ukraine in May, and seems more amenable to some sort of negotiated settlement. Ukraine, for its part, has signaled its intent to continue fighting irrespective of whether the US continues to back them. With Europe arming itself rapidly and pledging concrete support for Ukraine, perhaps Putin finally sees the writing on the wall.

We’ll know more once the ceasefire takes effect. If Russia uncharacteristically sticks to the truce, it would be a strong signal that Ukraine’s position is strengthening.

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