Beneath the Surface
The Presidential Pack, The Occupation and Why Your Grey Swan Inbox Is Going to DEFCON 1
March 28, 2025 • 6 minute, 46 second read
“History is written by the victors.”
— Winston Churchill
March 28, 2025 – In January, Moosehead Breweries unleashed their now-sold-out Presidential Pack—a 1,461-can beer crate engineered to last exactly one U.S. presidential term.
That’s one beer a day from Inauguration to eviction notice. For $3,490, a mere $2.39 per day, you too could have emotionally coped with every policy pivot, press conference, and tweet-induced market swing.
The message to Canadians? Buckle up. It’s going to be a long four years.
In a feeble nightly attempt to bolster the democratic base on MSNBC, Stephanie Ruhle starts each one of her shows with a deadpan countdown: how many days America has endured under the “Trump occupation,” like it’s some dystopian mini-series that ends with the globalists reclaiming the keys to the swamp and getting back to the business of fleecing taxpayers while flying private to COP34.
Meanwhile, Donald J. Trump is declaring next Wednesday, April 2, “Liberation Day” — the day reciprocal tariffs go into effect against America’s trade partners, starting with Canadian auto parts.
The message is clear: this isn’t just economic policy; it’s ideological war.
And the clock’s ticking.
The real timer? July 4, 2026. That’s when the DOGE mandate — Trump’s emergency executive power coalition — expires.
That gives him and his “Band of Brothers” just 463 days (and counting) to rewrite the tax code, decapitate the regulatory state, reroute trade, and make the nationalist reboot irreversible.
It’s a race against time.
In today’s episode, we’ve got two champions pitted against one another.
On one side: Carney, Trudeau’s WEF-anointed successor, wielding global ESG capital like a sword.
On the other: Trump, with a cabinet full of Marvel-esque characters, hellbent on restoring “sovereignty” before the timer runs out.
And just over the horizon: the 2026 midterms — a clash for control of Congress and, more importantly, the national purse strings (er, credit card).
If you caught our Grey Swan episode framing Trump as the hero of his own mythic narrative, you know this isn’t politics — it’s political myth-making in real-time.
Markets will feel it. Consumers will feel it. The story will play out in economic data, at the midterm ballot box… and in your bank account. More than it already has.
Which brings us to the announcement we alluded to yesterday.
And why we’re not just watching from the sidelines.
Your Grey Swan Inbox Goes to Defcon 1
We’re leveling up our game, launching a three-part daily publishing schedule so you can stay ahead of the fisticuffs, policy flips, and fiscal fireworks:
Swan Dive — Hits your inbox at 8:45 a.m. ET
Your morning guide to one risk and one opportunity from each of the major Grey Swan events we’re tracking in real-time. It’ll be short, sharp, and ready before your coffee brews… or the market opens.
Ripple Effect — Arrives at 12:30 p.m. ET
One chart. One shockwave. One crisp insight. Delivered mid-day. A simple idea that’ll make you go, “hmmm…”
Beneath the Surface — Wraps your day at 4:45 p.m. ET
An end-of-day deep dive where history meets hot takes. This one will include longer-form essays similar to the daily email you’re accustomed to getting.
As per our usual M.O., we tear through the headlines and give you the story behind the story. These will be longer insights from myself, Portfolio Strategist Andrew Packer, and the full lineup of Grey Swan’s regular contributors.
This isn’t just expanding our coverage to better serve you. It’s about ensuring you have a survival guide for navigating the global realignment happening in plain sight.
Pick your side. If our inbox is any indication, you most likely already have.
A better strategy, in our humble opinion? Stay informed enough to keep your money safe and growing in spite of either side making decisions on your behalf.
Let’s get to it,
Addison Wiggin,
Grey Swan
P.S. Here’s what’s really at stake:
If the current trajectory of Debt-to-GDP continues, we’ll be hitting the point of no return (130%) tout suite.
Even if DOGE is 100% successful in its goal of cutting $1 trillion of annual government spending, that’ll only reduce the deficit by half, and still put us on track to hitting this trajectory.
So, as we near this critical crossroads, the economy is experiencing high stakes, and we’re upping our game to match.
Your first installment of Swan Dive will arrive at 8:45 Monday morning.
P.P.S. “Yesterday,” John B. responds, “You published commentary from a reader exhorting the world to right itself and rededicate itself to enduring principles.” John goes on at some length:
Eons ago, we had a radio talk show around here [Southern California]. The moderator, Joe Pyne used to amuse his audiences by letting a caller speak his/her piece and replying, “Why don’t you go gargle with razor blade!”
Yeah, this was when Orange County, California, was being invaded by old-guard and old-money Republicans who wanted to remake the place in their image of how things should be run.
And that was certainly not the way that the new African American mayor of Los Angeles proposed doing it. Turns out time equalizes or reverses all fortunes. Orange County is overrun with nests of militant trannies and gays and crooked minorities, and They Have Dough.
Today, LA County would welcome Tom Bradley back with open arms, were he able to make the trip and boot what’s her name Karen Bass out of the chair.
I have become fearful of those who espouse the principles of goodness, fairness, uprightness and reasonableness. For others. It might be interesting to get a glimpse of their tax returns. I recall the Democrats taking the high road with the rhetoric of principles as they attempted to annihilate their enemy.
I would like to congratulate you on your adroit refusal to take the bait of the principled writer and not become his puppet of righteousness, punishing the rest of us for having traces of human weakness.
A little greed here, a little perfidy there, but all in all, a desire to live privately and correctly to the extent it doesn’t cost a premium.
After almost two generations of subscriptions to investment newsletters, some readers want to have a go at the writer and challenge their assumptions or conclusions or both.
Some readers like to comment to kick the can down the road of discourse a little.
Some can’t resist the chance to display their righteousness and their system of beliefs, which the world should follow if only it were enlightened enough to follow. I think most commenters are motivated by narcissism about their beliefs and learning and love to use the platform someone else built to display them.
Me? I like to string together a few declarative and compound sentences on various topics from time to time and confirm that I can still write in English.
Fewer and fewer can claim that today.
We do want to thank you, if we haven’t done so already, for contributing following yesterday’s email. We got responses from all over the globe and are going to continue reading them through the weekend.
And let’s not fret.
With the new email format, we’ll still have plenty of time to comment wittily to one another in the Grey Swan reader inbox. If you have something you’d like to contribute, please use the customary: addison@greyswanfraternity.com
P.P.P.S. Since it’s Friday, we’re also going to pass this note along from Andrew:
If readers have time this weekend, we recommend they check out the interview Musk and the DOGE team did yesterday: Watch Full Video: Elon Musk And DOGE Team Interview With FNC’s Bret Baier | Video | RealClearPolitics
“The key takeaway,” says Andrew, “if we don’t make big changes now, it’ll be too late.”
How did we get here? Find out in these riveting reads: Demise of the Dollar, Financial Reckoning Day, and Empire of Debt — all three books are now available in their third post-pandemic editions. You might enjoy one or all three.
