The Tom Sullivan Show

Trump promised a $5,000 "Trump Dividend" to every adult American if Republicans hold both the House and Senate in November — but here's the problem. The President has no unilateral authority to issue this; Congress would have to pass a roughly $1.3 trillion bill, on top of $40 trillion in existing national debt. Vance already started walking it back within hours. And dumping that much money into the economy right now would almost certainly be wildly inflationary — just like it was under Biden's big spending, which helped push inflation to 9 percent. Speaking of inflation, PPI jumped 5.4 percent last month, driven largely by oil prices tied to the escalating Iran war. And despite Bessent tripling his bond buyback to try to push rates down, the bond market keeps winning — Treasury yields just hit their highest levels since 2023. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Someone scheduled the GOP's first-ever midterm convention the same night as the NFL season opener — Seahawks vs. Patriots, a Super Bowl rematch on NBC. Vance's keynote goes head to head with kickoff. Bad planning or just bad luck? Trump said today the Iran war will end shortly after the midterms — a specific promise after six months of "almost over." Same day, oil spiked hard — Brent crude hit $101 after U.S. forces struck five Iranian tankers. And Treasury Secretary Bessent tripled a bond buyback to $6 billion specifically to push interest rates down. It backfired completely — yields hit their highest level since 2023, and even his own mentor Stanley Druckenmiller publicly called the move a mistake. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

This Friday is the 25th anniversary of September 11th, and there's a real controversy in New York this year. Mayor Mamdani says he'll attend the Ground Zero ceremony despite nearly 100,000 people signing a petition asking him to stay away, retired Port Authority officers directly asking him not to come, and pushback from George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani — all centered on his appointment of a lawyer with a controversial past client and his own history with a Brooklyn imam named in the 1993 WTC bombing case. We walk through both sides fairly, but more than anything we want to take today to honor what this anniversary is actually about — the 2,977 people we lost and the families still carrying that grief 25 years later. President Trump will be at the Pentagon ceremony this year instead of New York. Meanwhile, more Iran strikes happened over the weekend, and we're still watching to see if the economic pressure campaign actually works. Oil and gas prices keep climbing in the meantime. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Trump posted "LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT," floating a total trade embargo with Canada, Mexico, and others as leverage against the Fed. A Wharton professor called the idea crazy, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh just told Jackson Hole the Fed still has work to do on inflation, not room to cut. We explain why publicly attacking an independent Fed usually backfires. The August jobs report beat expectations at 162,000 added — good news, but after a year of downward revisions, don't get too attached to that number yet. And Mayor Mamdani just banned generative AI tools like chatbots for nearly 600,000 NYC students K-8 for a full year, while high schoolers still get AI literacy lessons. Good instinct on human connection, or a full year behind on the technology that's shaping their future? All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Millions are hitting the road for Labor Day despite high gas prices, but the real inflation threat is diesel, which is climbing fast. Everything you own arrived on a diesel truck, and your food was grown with diesel-powered equipment — so diesel inflation quietly hits everything. Part of the problem is structural — America hasn't built a new major refinery since one went up in Louisiana in 1977, nearly 50 years ago. Refining capacity, not just crude supply, is the real bottleneck. The Clippers just got hammered by the NBA — a $30 million fine, five forfeited first-round draft picks through 2033, and owner Steve Ballmer suspended a full year, after an investigation found the team funneled improper deals to Kawhi Leonard. And Trump says he's personally campaigning in 35 races before the midterms — we ask what that level of hands-on involvement really signals. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Why does it take nearly a year just to decide if there's enough evidence to hold a trial for the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk? We ask directly. The Lindsay Clancy jury is deadlocked, and honestly, we'd be stuck too — prosecutors threw 80 expert witnesses and 300 pieces of evidence at them. That's overload, not clarity. Tiger Woods just had a DUI-related charge reduced to reckless driving again, avoiding jail after refusing a sobriety test with pills in his pocket. If courts keep doing this for people with money and lawyers, why should anyone take drunk driving laws seriously? And in Massachusetts, 80-year-old Ed Markey beat 47-year-old Seth Moulton in the Democratic Senate primary — voters chose the progressive over the generational-change candidate. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

The on-off-on-off war with Iran is on again, and right on schedule, oil prices are climbing and inflation is set to follow. Trump wants the Fed to cut rates, insisting "other things" besides his own policies are driving prices up — he never says what those things are, and we call that out directly. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has resigned after 18 months, following months of clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has now fired or forced out more than a dozen senior military leaders across every branch since taking office. When an organization keeps losing its best people one after another, the problem usually traces back to whoever's in charge. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Trump announced a massive oil deal with Venezuela, claiming U.S. control over 65 billion barrels and promising lower gas prices. Reality check — it's a 25-year deal, not 100 years, the legal authority behind it is genuinely unclear since the full terms have never been published, and Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company actually willing to expand there. Aging ports and power outages mean production won't ramp up fast either. Still, strategically, reducing dependence on Canada and Mexico while locking down Western Hemisphere oil looks like a smart long-term bet even with the near-term hype overblown. Meanwhile Iran's economy is genuinely buckling under the sanctions pressure campaign — the IRGC hasn't caved yet, but the numbers inside Iran are getting ugly. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Trump says "we won" and Iran is "close to over" — he's been saying versions of this since March. Does he believe it, or is it just managing the narrative? Meanwhile, shifting to economic pressure instead of more strikes actually looks like the smarter play at this point. A federal judge blocked the Postal Service's new mail-in ballot rules for the midterms, ruling compliance is basically impossible this close to November. More rulings are coming, but time has essentially run out to change how we vote. And remember — states run elections, Congress has a say over federal races, the President has none. Plus Marine One had another close call with a passenger jet, this time blamed on flight pattern changes from the new helipad construction. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Tomorrow is six months since the Iran war began, and it's not the anniversary anyone planned for. The current strategy is economic pressure alone — no more active strikes. We ask honestly whether sanctions can actually win this on their own. In Nepal, a glacier collapse triggered catastrophic flooding that has killed over 360 people with more than 1,300 still missing, many buried under feet of mud. A dangerous barrier lake is now forming and threatens a second flood before rescue crews can even finish. Nature remains more powerful than us. And the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has revealed she was given more than 30 prescriptions for 13 different psychiatric medications in just four months before she killed her three children. That doesn't excuse what happened — she's responsible. But the psychiatric and pharmaceutical systems that let this happen need real reform. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Darline Graham just won the South Carolina Senate runoff, beating Ralph Norman with Trump's full backing, to take her late brother Lindsey Graham's old seat. Washington pundits said her honest "I don't know" answer on a Taiwan debate question would end her campaign. We said it would help her, and it did. Authenticity beat polish. She now faces Democrat Annie Andrews in November. Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle a lawsuit over designing addictive platforms for kids, with new guardrails like daily time limits for teens. Good headline number — but who actually gets that money, and does it change anything for a company built on exactly the engagement this lawsuit targeted? All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Dolly Parton has died at 80. We don't usually dwell on celebrity news, but she was never just a celebrity — singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and somehow always genuinely happy in a way that made everyone around her feel it too. Born in a one-room cabin with eleven siblings, she never forgot where she came from and gave back on an extraordinary scale her whole life. We take today to properly honor her. Then California's Attorney General has canceled settlement talks and stands nearly alone trying to block the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. And Treasury Secretary Bessent is getting pushback on his bond market plan from his own mentor, legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Bessent launched "Operation Economic Outcast" against Iran, promising to cut off every economic lifeline the regime has. Big talk — but will we actually sanction Chinese, Russian, and North Korean banks? When CBS asked directly, Bessent wouldn't give a straight yes. I don't believe it's coming, and history says most sanctions programs like this don't achieve their stated goal, even when I hope this one does. Meanwhile the Canada trade war just escalated — 50 percent tariffs are live, Canada's hitting back dollar for dollar, and it's an odd time to drive up consumer prices when affordability is the biggest political issue in the country. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

A 35-year-old Albany woman pledged allegiance to ISIS and plotted to bomb the New York State Capitol and kill state senators — the FBI caught her buying bomb supplies and arrested her this week. Investigators used surveillance including Flock license plate cameras to help build the case — the same technology cities keep canceling contracts for over privacy concerns. We ask if this changes that debate. Then Treasury Secretary Bessent says the U.S. will unveil "the toughest sanctions in history" against Iran at a press conference Monday, calling it an "Economic D-Day." Shouldn't a plan meant to crush an enemy's economy stay secret instead of being previewed days in advance? All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former Soros currency trader, surprised markets by doubling Treasury's bond buyback program to push interest rates down. It worked for about 24 hours — yields dropped sharply Wednesday. By Thursday, Wall Street had figured it out and rates bounced right back up, essentially erasing the whole intervention. Total failure, and it puts Bessent at odds with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. More people are leaving California, no surprise there. And yes, apparently Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moving back to the UK is today's big headline. We ask — who cares? — but cover it anyway since it's everywhere. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Another DSA win in Florida, another round of headlines treating it like an unstoppable wave — but nobody's reporting the growing list of DSA candidates who have actually lost this cycle. We put the real numbers on the table. Congressional candidate Darline Graham admitted on a debate stage she didn't know the answer on Taiwan policy because she's not a foreign policy expert. Refreshing honesty or a disqualifying moment? And how many members of Congress actually know more than she does? The US and Canada just landed a full free trade deal — zero tariffs, after months of fighting. And Moderna and Merck announced their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine succeeded in a major melanoma trial, sending the stock soaring. Would vaccine skeptics actually take this one? All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Primaries today in Florida, Alaska, Wyoming, and California's 14th District to replace Eric Swalwell — all playing out under newly redrawn maps with DSA candidates thrown into the mix, making these races genuinely hard to call. A polling company called Median Strategies just admitted its widely shared polls showing huge leads for Karen Bass and Francesca Hong were completely fake, created as a social experiment to see if bogus numbers could spread unchecked. It worked — Bass's own campaign shared it. And the bond market is sending a warning — 30-year Treasury yields just hit 5.27%, the highest since 2007, driven by inflation, the Iran war, tariffs, and government spending. We break down what that means for your mortgage. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

The DNC officially ended Iowa's decades-long run as the first Democratic primary state, replacing it with South Carolina for 2028, followed by Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia. The stated reason is better representing Black and Latino voters — but let's not forget Iowa is the state that launched Barack Obama, and he never forgot it. Here's the interesting wrinkle — the DSA's base is heavily white and highly educated, a group that's a much smaller slice of South Carolina's Black-majority primary electorate. Could this calendar shift quietly weaken the socialist movement's national path? And Iran's 60-day window to reach a full peace agreement expired over the weekend with no deal. Now it looks like economic pressure is the only real lever still being worked. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court Friday, admitting in his own words that he shot Brian Thompson and knew exactly what he was doing. Sentencing is set for December 18th. Within hours his lawyers filed to have the state murder case dismissed on double jeopardy grounds — we explain what that means and why prosecutors say they'll fight it. Then a difficult but important story — sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln, now on the longest carrier deployment on record, have attempted to go overboard amid reports of exhaustion and mental health struggles during this extended Iran deployment. We talk about it honestly, and note that if you or someone you love is struggling, the 988 Lifeline is there. The good news — the USS George Washington is finally on its way to bring them home. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed

Wholesale inflation came in at 4.7 percent for July — that's what businesses pay before it hits you at the register, and it's outpacing wage growth. We break down what that means for your budget. A surprise federal hearing tomorrow has everyone talking — Luigi Mangione may plead guilty to stalking charges, which could set up a major double jeopardy fight to try to kill the pending state murder case. We walk through how that legal argument actually works. Flock cameras have helped solve millions of crimes, and some cities are canceling contracts over privacy worries — I say they catch criminals and don't violate anyone's rights. And General Jack Keane thinks Iran is simply running out the clock, stretching this standoff all the way to the midterms. All of it today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tom-sullivan-show--6632619/support . Remember to call with your money and investing questions 855-295-6600 for the Financial Friday podcast. https://www.spreaker.com/show/7102919/episodes/feed