Letters from an American - Made in the U.S.A.*

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

In 2025, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump launched "Trump Mobile," a smartphone designed and built entirely in America. Costumers could pre-order the phone by putting down a $100 deposit for the $499 phone. Since, the product dropped its "American made" promise, the phone did not ship on schedule, and the terms have redefined the $100 deposits as a "conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale.” The company wants to use T-Mobile's network which is subject to federal government regulations, a conflict of interest. Trump complains that the Supreme Court is not loyal to him over tariffs. Trump posts AI images about the Iran war and his political rivals. Tension between Trump and Netanyahu.Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

May 11, 2006. The story of the Trump mobile phone seems a microcosm of the Trump administration. As Jud Legham of Popular Information explains, on June 16, 2025, Trump's sons, Donald Jr. and Eric announced the launch of a new gold-plated Trump smartphone, proudly designed and built in the United States. It would be available in August, 2025, for 490s. Its website urged customers to pre-order the phone by depositing $100 toward it. Don Jr. said the phone would be American hardware, built in America, without the potential of a backdoor into the hardware that some of our adversaries have installed in there. And yet, a disclaimer on the website said the Trumps and the Trump organization were involved

only in the branding of the phone. They had nothing to do with the design, development, manufacture, distribution, or sales of the item. As Legham notes, the idea of a superior U.S.-made phone was always a fantasy, and within two weeks the phone's description changed from Made in the USA to Design with American Values in Mind. The phone never shipped, and on April 6th, Trump Mobile updated its terms to say the $100 deposit. was not actually a deposit for a pre-order, but rather a conditional opportunity, if Trump Mobile later exists, in its sole discretion, to offer the device for sale. It went on to say the deposit does not lock in pricing, promotions, service plans, taxes, fees, shipping costs,

or other commercial terms, and that estimated ship dates, launch timelines, or anticipated production schedule are non-binding estimates only. A new phone has recently gotten clearance from the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, and Trump Mobile executives say they are waiting for approval from T-Mobile, the company whose network Trump Mobile wants to use. Legum points out that T-Mobile, relies on the federal government for approval for business activities, creating an enormous conflict of interest. Donald Trump has always ridden to power by projecting an image of dominance. He could maintain

that image thanks to the people who covered for him, his father, Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Alan Wieselberg, and in his first presidential term, as Sidney Blumenthal reminded readers and the Guardian today. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who filtered the options Trump received, Chief of Staff General John Kelly, who made a pact with Mattis that one of them would always stay in the country to stand in the way of Trump's impulses, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, who stopped Trump from signing disastrous executive orders, sometimes going so far as to steal them off his desk. In Trump's second term, though, those people who curbed his worst impulses have been replaced with yes men,

and there is no one to protect him from the fallout. Over the weekend, Trump took to social media to complain bitterly about the demise of his tariffs, about Iran, and about political opponents, to boast about his changes to the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and about the ultimate fighting championship, or UFC, Mixed martial arts event he plans to host in front of the White House on his 80th birthday, and to try, once again, to project dominance. Trump complained twice that in its decision declaring his Liberation Day tariffs of April 2025 unconstitutional, the Supreme Court had not included a sentence saying,

any money paid to the United States of America does not have to be paid back. That sentence, he insisted, would have saved America $159 billion. He complained about his Supreme Court appointees Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney-Barratt and suggested he should pack the court. I'm working so hard to make America great again, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our country and its people. What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it's really. really okay for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to almost the highest position

in the land, that is, a justice of the United States Supreme Court. He warned them to vote his way on the question of birthright citizenship, because a negative ruling on birthright citizenship on top of the recent Supreme Court tariff catastrophe is not economically sustainable for the United States of America. On Saturday morning, the president's social media account posted AI images of exploding Iranian drones beside an image of blue butterflies with the caption, drones dropping like butterflies. Then it posted another AI image of a U.S. vessel shooting down drones with the caption, Bye-bye drones. Then it showed a flotilla of ships with Iranian flags on the surface of the surface of ocean under the caption Obama Biden beside an image of those ships on the bottom of the ocean

under the caption Trump. Then it showed an AI image of Trump on the bridge of a ship watching Iranian ships exploding. Then it showed another image of Iran's navy on the ocean floor. The account posted a long screed about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the 2015 agreement between Iran and the U.S., United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the European Union, to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA in 2018, and this weekend Trump rehashed false right-wing talking points about the deal to claim that former President Barack Obama was a weak and stupid American president who worked for Iran. Trump's account posted an AI image of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, gorging on junk food under the caption,

J.B. is too busy to keep Chicago safe. It posted two clips of former FBI director James Comey, whom the Department of Justice under Trump has criminally charged for posting a photograph of seashells, spelling out 8647. Trump called him a dirty cop. He went after California Representative Roe Kana and warned, The radical left Democrats must fail. Our country is at stake. Trump's account posted two AI images of a UFC fight,

surrounded by a stadium-style audience in front of the White House. Then it posted five. images of the Washington D.C. reflecting pool colored electric blue, one of which claimed Trump had renovated it in a week for just $2 million. A number of posts championed his proposed ballroom on the site where he bulldozed the east wing of the White House. But by far the most frequent postings on the Trump social media account over the weekend were praise for Trump himself. In addition to posting, Excellent poll numbers. Thank you. He reposted stories saying that he had delivered remarkable leadership and is master of the deal, that he is one of the top three presidents in U.S. history, or without a doubt, the greatest president we have ever known. A number of posts called him the greatest of all time. But, just as with Trump Mobile, the clock is running out, and the advertising is, isn't working. On May 7th, Catherine Rampal of the bulwark called Trump an economic serial killer,

whacking firms left and right. She noted that Trump's tariffs, along with deportations of farm workers and canceling of foreign food aid programs, led farm bankruptcies to rise 46 percent in 2025 from the previous year. And now, higher costs for diesel, fertilizer, and other products because of the Iran War, are putting farmers under even more pressure. Similarly, tariffs have cut into manufacturing jobs, and corporate bankruptcies last year were at their highest level in more than a decade. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is paying almost $2 billion to stop wind projects and has canceled or stalled dozens of other renewable energy products. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to issue tariff refunds beginning on May 12th,

but the money will not go to consumers, it will go to the trade community. Trump's war on Iran, undertaken alongside Israel, has not delivered the fast regime change Trump promised either. Instead, it is mired Trump in a war Iran appears to have little interest in permitting the U.S. to leave, at least not without confirming a new global order that benefits Iran. In the Atlantic yesterday, neo-conservative foreign policy scholar Robert Kagan ranked the Iran debacle as worse than Vietnam. There will be no going back to a world in which the Strait of Hormuz is open, he writes. Iran is now a key player in the region, China and Russia are strengthened,

and the U.S. is substantially diminished. Anyone can see that just a few weeks of war with a second-ranked power drastically reduced American weapon stocks, opening the way for aggression from China or Russia, while the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. Last week, the U.S. proposed a one-page memorandum,

to establish a framework for later talks on Iran's nuclear ambitions, offering to lift sanctions and release billions in Iranian funds in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians responded over the weekend, reiterating their determination to control the strait and calling for reparations for damages caused by the war, in addition to an end to the naval blockade and the unfreezing of Iranian assets. On Sunday afternoon, Trump posted, I have just read the response from Iran's so-called representatives. I don't like it.

Totally unacceptable. Today, Trump told reporters the Iran proposal was a piece of garbage and warned that the ceasefire is on massive life support where the doctor walks in and says, Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living. And yet, Trump is relying on that ceasefire to justify his refusal to ask Congress for authority to continue his war on Iran. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, Trump had 60 days to get congressional approval after informing Congress of the attack, and that period ran out on May 1st. gas prices have jumped more than 50% since the war began, and now average more than $4.50 a gallon.

Although Trump has downplayed concerns about higher prices, today Nancy Cordes of CBS News reported that he is planning to suspend the federal gas tax to bring down the cost of gasoline. But, Cordes notes, doing so would require Congress to agree and would cost. the federal government about a half a billion dollars a week in revenue, at a time when the national debt is skyrocketing. It crossed 39 trillion dollars in March, just five months after hitting 38 trillion and is on track to hit 40 trillion before the midterm elections. On Saturday, Julian Borgor reported in The Guardian that tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are high. Former Israeli diplomat, Alan Pinkus, noted that Trump stopped mentioning Netanyahu by the end of March and left Israel out of the loop on ceasefire negotiations

in April. Pinkus noted that if Trump lashes out at Netanyahu, he will look like he was manipulated into going to war, while Netanyahu has tied himself to Trump at a time when the prime minister must told an election before October. This affects Netanyahu politically, and this affects Trump politically, Pinkus told Borgier. In other words, they have screwed each other pretty badly. Philip Kennecott of the Washington Post noted last week that, apparently determined to convince Americans all is going well, Trump is putting words in our mouths. Around Washington, D.C., signs are appearing that show Trump in a hard hat near construction scaffolding

and read, thank you, President Trump. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.