The Trump/Musk Coup And The Tariffs Bungle

 

Heather Cox Richardson, in her "Letters from an American" substack, summarizing the ongoing Musk/ Trump coup and tariff bungle:

I’m going to start tonight by stating the obvious: the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also control the White House and the Supreme Court. If they wanted to get rid of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, they could introduce a bill, debate it, pass it, and send it on to President Trump for his signature. And there would be very little the Democrats could do to stop that change.

But they are not doing that.

Instead, they are permitting unelected billionaire Elon Musk, whose investment of $290 million in Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election apparently has bought him freedom to run the government, to override Congress and enact whatever his own policies are by rooting around in government agencies and cancelling those programs that he, personally, dislikes.

The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a coup. The U.S. president has no authority to cut programs created and funded by Congress, and a private citizen tapped by a president has even less standing to try anything so radical...

The time for Democrats to have gamed out this worst case scenario was last November.  There is no time now for largely symbolic legislative moves that the lawless fascist regime would ignore just as it's ignoring the U.S. Constitution and established law.  Now that we've all been punched in the face, we'd like to know what's their new plan.  Maybe someone's learned you don't bring norms to a Trump fight?*

____________________

... As soon as [White House Spokesliar Karoline] Leavitt announced the upcoming tariffs, the stock market began to fall, and by last night, stock market futures had fallen 450 points on the expectation of tariffs hitting at midnight tonight. Today, the stock market continued to fall. Even reliable Trump allies began to complain that the tariffs would raise prices. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called Trump’s tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history.”

Today, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced that she and Trump had “reached a series of agreements” that would pause the threatened tariffs for a month. Mexico agreed to “reinforce the northern border with 10,000 elements of the National Guard immediately, to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States,” while the U.S. “commits to work to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”

When Trump announced their conversation shortly afterward, he omitted the part of the agreement that committed the U.S. to try to stop the flow of guns to Mexico. He also did not mention that, in fact, Mexico committed to putting 10,000 troops at the border in 2021. As Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post commented above a record of Mexican troop deployments: “Any news outlet reporting Mexico conceded anything to Trump to get him to delay tariffs has not done its homework. Trump boasts he got Mexico to commit to stationing 10K troops at our border. Apparently he didn’t realize Mexico already has 15K troops deployed there[.]”

The crisis at the northern border worked out in a similar fashion. After conferring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump announced a 30-day pause in the implementation of tariffs. Trudeau agreed to appoint a border czar and to implement a $1.3 billion border plan that Canada had announced in December.

In other words, while Musk was causing a constitutional crisis, Trump created an economic crisis that threatened both domestic and global chaos, then claimed Biden administration achievements as his own and declared victory...

Unlike the real life coup taking place, a lot of us are thinking that the Malignant Fascist's tariffs gambit is prototypical MF:  as a performative exercise to thrill those parts of the MAGAt base that love the faux strongman image, while simply using the threat of tariffs to make bogus advances and then claim victory.  While he has had a lifelong love affair with tariffs, the MF may have been feeling the heat from other parts of his MAGAt base -- i.e., the USCofC and NAM -- and decided now was not the right time to stick it to our friends, allies and, of course, to his mouth- breathing base (if we could only read his mind ... it would be a very short story).  Of course, with this klepto-kakistocracy, chaos is the point.

*h/t Marc Elias.

Targeting The Red States With Tariffs [UPDATED]

 

As Canada, Mexico and, to a lesser extent, China prepare tariffs on U.S. goods in retaliation for the Malignant Fascist's moronic tariffs on their products, a counter strategy is to apply tariffs to products manufactured in red states to maximize the impact and pain on the MF's supporters.  For example, tariffs on Kentucky and Tennessee whiskey, on Florida oranges, and on machinery and equipment made in Texas, and other red states.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced their tariffs would target red states Saturday night, and their list of items subject to tariffs is lengthy, amounting to roughly $100 billion in trade. 

Mexico is expected to announce its list of items subject to retaliatory tariffs today, and we trust that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will also targeted the states that are most supportive of the MF. Once they see not only have the price of eggs not come down, but other food items and manufactured goods are going up by 25%, perhaps they might have second thoughts about the MF's management of the economy. 

The MF, not content to rip up trade agreements with our neighbors, is also suggesting that our allies in the European Union will face tariffs "pretty soon," claiming that EU members don't buy our automobiles, farm produce, etc. For its part, EU members have sided with Canada and Mexico, and have said they'll respond firmly if tariffs are imposed, hopefully against red state products to send the right message.

UPDATE: Mexico agrees to send 10,000 troops to the border in exchange for a one month pause on tariffs. Not the way to negotiate with a bully who will only demand more later.  Plus, it's been done before and it doesn't work.

UPDATE II:  The MF has now backed away from applying tariffs to Canadian products for 30 days also.  He's undoubtedly a genius playing multi-dimensional chess!

(photo: Making America Pay More. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

 

Trump's Tariffs Alarm Business Pals (UPDATED)

 

The Malignant Fascist's latest bungle -- tariffs on certain Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese goods and products -- is getting bad reviews from many of his supporters in the business community, who chose not to believe what he has said he would do many times (i.e., take him seriously but not literally), instead believing he would only burn the regulatory state down for them in a return to unbridled predatory capitalism. Well, caveat emptor (or in modern parlance, FAFO)!

John Murphy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior vice president

“The President is right to focus on major problems like our broken border and the scourge of fentanyl, but the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA is unprecedented, won’t solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains. The Chamber will consult with our members, including main street businesses across the country impacted by this move, to determine next steps to prevent economic harm to Americans. We will continue to work with Congress and the administration on solutions to address the fentanyl and border crisis.”

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers

″[W]ith essential tax reforms left on the cutting room floor by the last Congress and the Biden administration, manufacturers are already facing mounting cost pressures. A 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico threatens to upend the very supply chains that have made U.S. manufacturing more competitive globally.

“The ripple effects will be severe, particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers that lack the flexibility and capital to rapidly find alternative suppliers or absorb skyrocketing energy costs. These businesses — employing millions of American workers — will face significant disruptions. Ultimately, manufacturers will bear the brunt of these tariffs, undermining our ability to sell our products at a competitive price and putting American jobs at risk.”

Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders

“On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order directing departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief by pursuing actions to lower the cost of housing and increase housing supply. This move to raise tariffs by 25% on Canadian and Mexican goods will have the opposite effect. More than 70% of the imports of two essential materials that home builders rely on — softwood lumber and gypsum (used for drywall) — come from Canada and Mexico, respectively.

“Tariffs on lumber and other building materials increase the cost of construction and discourage new development, and consumers end up paying for the tariffs in the form of higher home prices. NAHB urges the administration to reconsider this action on tariffs and we will continue to work with policymakers to eliminate barriers that make housing more costly and prevent builders from boosting housing production.”

Tom Madrecki, Consumer Brands Association's vice president of supply chain resiliency

“Tariffs on all imported goods from Mexico and Canada – especially on ingredients and inputs that aren’t available in the U.S. – could lead to higher consumer prices and retaliation against U.S. exporters. Despite sourcing the vast majority of ingredients and inputs from U.S. farms and domestic suppliers, CPG companies depend on global supply chains for certain imports due to unique growing conditions and other limiting factors around the world.

“We urge leaders in Mexico and Canada to work with President Trump to protect consumers’ access to affordable products and remove tariffs that could contribute to grocery inflation.”

Too bad your boy went off the leash (at least for now).  You didn't mind putting profits before people, until it became your people getting burned.  Fools never learn.

UPDATE:  "Red states" =womp womp= )

 

"I have directed BC liquor sales to immediately stop buying American liquor from red states. Liquor store employees will be removing the most popular of these brands from government store shelves." -BC Premier David Eby

[image or embed]

— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 7:47 PM

 

UPDATE II: This bulbous, brainless lunatic.

(Photo:  Oh, he'll fix it, and you, real good! / Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

 

 

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

We'll have more on the impeachment inquiry report that was released early this morning, but meanwhile, this is an intriguing idea:

A private campaign is underway to draft Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Trump, a bid to diversify House Democrats’ appeal to voters with a rare conservative voice.

A group of 30 freshman Democrats, led by Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), has asked House leaders to consider the libertarian, who left the Republican Party earlier this year, for the small group tasked with arguing its case for removing Trump in the upper chamber, according to several Democratic officials.

The thinking, according to these people, is that Amash would reach conservative voters in a way Democrats can’t, potentially bolstering their case to the public. He also would provide Democrats cover from GOP accusations that they’re pursuing a partisan impeachment; Amash is one of the most conservative members of the House and a vocal Trump critic.

We can't see a downside to this idea.  He's an articulate libertarian conservative who's already proven he stands by his political convictions, unlike his cowardly former caucus members.  Let him be one of the faces of impeachment in the Senate.

On the other hand you have little putz Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who plans to switch to the Republican Party before casting a "no" vote on impeaching malignant moron Donald "Impeachable Me" Trump this week.  What were this turncoat's convictions?

Van Drew didn’t just oppose the impeachment effort. He repeatedly touted his position on Fox News, winning direct praise from Trump on Twitter. “Thank you,” the president wrote in one tweet in September.

In turn, Democrats saw his support implode in polling and party leaders began distancing themselves from the congressman. This week the Democratic chairman of Atlantic County warned in a public letter that Van Drew would infuriate Democratic voters and could cost the party down ballot next year if he opposed impeachment. State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D., Gloucester), a longtime Van Drew ally, pointedly refused to endorse the congressman.  [snip]

With activists furious about Van Drew’s stand, one New Jersey Democrat said that there was no way the congressman from Cape May County could win a primary and that party leaders would not have backed his reelection in 2020. (our emphasis)

Five of his staffers have now resigned, saying Van Drew's decision doesn't align with their values. So, the little putz, afraid that supporting impeachment would cost him his seat in his Republican- leaning district, carefully took aim at his feet and unloaded with both barrels.  Now an outcast from the Democratic Party, he's not welcome in his new party either (his Republican "friends" are calling him "desperate" and a "weasel").  Well played, asshole!

The partial China trade deal announced by the White (Supremacist) House on Friday likely exposed "(sh)art of the deal" Trump as the chaos- spreading, ineffectual buffoon that he is:

The White House called the deal a win. It said China had agreed to buy large quantities of American agricultural goods, giving farmers hit by the trade war some needed relief. It also means the United States economy will not suffer from new tariffs threatened for Sunday on Chinese-made goods that Americans love to buy, like toys and smartphones.

But the deal may be seen by Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, and his hard-line supporters as vindication of the intransigent stance they have taken since the spring, when a previous pact struck by Chinese moderates fell apart. Since then, China has asked that even a partial deal include tariff rollbacks. American officials resisted, debated, then relented.

In essence, a year and a half into the trade war, China seems to have hit on a winning strategy: Stay tough and let the Trump administration negotiate with itself.  (our emphasis)

Again, well played asshole!

On the petty grifting front, we have Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Seema Verma, who doesn't seem to know what it means to "pack light":

The government on Monday defended a top Trump administration health official who sought a reimbursement from taxpayers of $47,000, reportedly including a $5,900 Ivanka Trump-brand pendant, for items stolen during a work-related trip.

Seema Verma, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ultimately received only $2,852.40, according to the Health and Human Services Department. [snip]

Verma also requested reimbursement for about $2,000 worth of stolen clothes, and another $2,000 to cover the cost of other lost possessions, including $325 for moisturizer and $349 for noise-cancelling headphones.  (our emphasis)

That $5,900 Ivanka Trump- brand pendant is just the thing for the brown- nosed climber this season.

In lieu of sending you to Infidel 753's link round-up for now, we'll detour you to Fair and Unbalanced for some items you may have missed this week.

Tweets Of The Day -- Trump's Trade War Killing Manufacturing Activity

More winning!

U.S. factory activity sinks to 10-year low in September https://t.co/cVHKf4BmUG pic.twitter.com/uDcQDEZ3qM

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 1, 2019

OK, that's not good. ISM manufacturing index. Important contrast with 2015-16 slump, which was due to nonpolicy factors (mainly slump in oil prices and hence energy investment). This is all about Trump's trade war pic.twitter.com/Riy6T0aHR2

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 1, 2019

I remember when the trade war was going to help bring a revival of American manufacturing... https://t.co/phGXWQ0FEG

— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) October 1, 2019

This grim ISM manufacturing number has been coming down the pike for a while. And things are worst in some very important states for Trump's re-election: Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

My Bloomberg @BW story from last month: https://t.co/u4z8lT19oT pic.twitter.com/LnqLea1isv

— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) October 1, 2019

QOTD -- Lost

"A win for farmers would be to get the markets back but listen, and I'll tell you, I don't think we get China back. I think China is a lost market for agriculture and there's just too much damage done there." --  National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson, in a radio interview yesterday with KFGO's Joel Heitkamp (yes, Heidi's brother), Fargo, ND.  China already has new markets identified that it will access in the future (e.g., Brazil, which is burning up parts of the Amazon rain forest to accommodate China's soybean demand that once was met by American farmers -- a sick, ironic outcome of the idiocy of Donald "The Chosen One" Trump's trade war).  "...China is a lost market for agriculture" -- thanks, Trump!

Shocker: Yes, Trump Lied To Juice The Markets

If you're surprised, you're not paying attention.

A few days ago, we posed the question, "did Trump lie to juice the markets?" as his trade war with China was sending the stock market diving?

Well of course he lied:

... Trump flashed signs of optimism this week that the trade war could be resolved, saying he's received calls from Chinese officials saying they wanted to restart talks. Though Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin insisted there had been "communication," aides privately conceded the phone calls Trump described didn't happen they way he said they did.

Instead, two officials said Trump was eager to project optimism that might boost markets, and conflated comments from China's vice premier with direct communication from the Chinese.  (our emphasis)

If any statement offered as "fact" by the pathological liar in the Oval Office is taken at face value, shame on the enabler/ sucker who's taken in.  How many craven lies over how many dystopian years does it take before it dawns on them that we have a deeply disturbed, dangerous lunatic making a shambles of everything?

BONUS:

What this describes is, quite literally, market manipulation that constitutes criminal violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: https://t.co/xiit4yl7xv pic.twitter.com/aVMl9f88Zp

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 29, 2019

A Day In The Life

A brief, incomplete digest of just one day's worth of Trump's dystopian, brainless authoritarianism.

"Break the law! Take the land!":

President Trump is so eager to complete hundreds of miles of border fence ahead of the 2020 presidential election that he has directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules, according to current and former officials involved with the project.

He also has told worried subordinates that he will pardon them of any potential wrongdoing should they have to break laws to get the barriers built quickly, those officials said.  (our emphasis)

"Suck on it, hurricane victims!":

The Trump administration is pulling $271 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum-seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico, according to department officials and a letter sent to the agency by a California congresswoman.

To fund temporary locations for court hearings for asylum-seekers along the southern border, ICE would gain $155 million, all from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, according to the letter from Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., which was seen by NBC News. (our emphasis)

"Clear-cut the motherf*cker!":

President Trump has instructed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exempt Alaska’s 16.7-million-acre Tongass National Forest from logging restrictions imposed nearly 20 years ago, according to three people briefed on the issue, after privately discussing the matter with the state’s governor aboard Air Force One.

The move would affect more than half of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest, opening it to potential logging, energy and mining projects. It would undercut a sweeping Clinton administration policy known as the “roadless rule,” which has survived a decades-long legal assault.

Trump has taken a personal interest in “forest management,” a term he told a group of lawmakers last year he has “redefined” since taking office. (Ed.: by "forest management," he means "raking.")  (our emphasis)

"I'm the best negotiator!":

BEIJING - President Trump may think he’s keeping Chinese negotiators guessing with his whiplash-inducing remarks about the U.S.-China trade war.

But he’s not fooling anyone here.

More than a year into the deepening commercial conflict, Chinese officials and analysts say they’ve got a handle on the tweeter-in-chief and are no longer fazed by his unpredictable initiatives.

“There is a lot of fatigue with President Trump’s ‘art of the deal,’ ” said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization and an adviser to China’s cabinet. [snip]

Trump’s claim to have the upper hand at the negotiating table does not appear to have convinced the Chinese.

“They’ve decided Trump is a vacillating guy who can’t figure out what he wants and gets spooked every time the stock market goes down or someone accuses him of not being tough,” said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Gavekal Dragonomics, a consultancy in Beijing. “Although there are problems in China, they believe they have their economy under control, more so than Trump. They think he is more vulnerable to a slowdown and that they can afford to wait him out.”  (our emphasis)

Rest assured, tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, there'll be more because this is the worst reality TV show we've ever lived through.

Trump's Trade War Helped Light The Amazon Fires

While nitwit negotiator Donald "The Chosen One" Trump's trade war with China is costing America's soybean farmers untold millions of dollars and future markets, there's another, more catastrophic consequence of his blundering idiocy:

As unsold U.S. soybeans are stored in silos across the farm belt, Brazilian farmers and corporations scramble to satisfy the voracious Chinese market. The push to break new ground amid President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is putting increasing pressure on the Amazon rainforest and is likely linked to the region’s devastating fires, according to experts. [snip]

Brazil is America’s biggest soybean competitor and has stepped up its production now that China has slashed its purchases of U.S. crops in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports. Soy shipments from Brazil jumped 27% from 2017 to 2018. Chinese imports from Brazil in the 12 months through April amounted to 71 million tons — nearly as much as China imported from the entire world in 2014, according to Bloomberg.

Amid increasing demands for farm products from China, Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has pledged to open up the 2 million-square-mile Amazon forest — including inside protected indigenous areas — to more farming and mining...  [snip]

“Citizens around the world should be concerned by the global environmental and individual health impact of the devastating fires in Brazil, potentially started to clear land for crops and cattle,” said a statement to HuffPost from the American Soybean Association. “Meanwhile, U.S. crops remain unsold.”

Trump and the right- wing nationalist mini- Trumps around the world (like Bolsonaro) are civilization's arsonists.  Ignorance, cupidity and power for the sake of power are the coins of their realms, damn the consequences to their people or to humanity in general.  Blundering into an unnecessary trade war, triggering deforestation of the Amazon rain forest, leading to accelerating global climate change -- it's a perfect symbol of the folly of the Age of Trump and his imitators.

Tweet Of The Day -- Now You Tariff, Now You Don't

News item:

The White House on Tuesday said it would delay imposing tariffs on Chinese imports of cellphones, laptop computers, video game consoles, and certain types of footwear and clothing until Dec. 15, significantly later than the Sept. 1 deadline President Trump had repeatedly threatened.

The announcement, which came from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, ensures that Apple products and other major consumer goods would be shielded from the import tax until at least December, potentially keeping costs on these products down during the holiday shopping season.

Seriously though, is there any way to know how Trump is profiting off of his nonsensical “now you tariff, now you don’t” moves? pic.twitter.com/Js2Uon0vwd

— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 13, 2019

He'll be stealing, cheating, grifting and lying until his final breath.

BONUS:  Robert Kuttner has a good read on the topic.

China Stops Buying U.S. Agricultural Goods

 

As expected,

China confirmed reports that it was pulling out of U.S. agriculture as a weapon in the ongoing trade war.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Chinese companies have stopped purchasing U.S. agricultural products in response to President Trump’s new 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods. [snip]

China is one of the largest buyers of U.S. agriculture. Bloomberg News reported that Beijing may stop importing them completely in response to new tariffs by the United States. According to reports by Chinese State media, it would also consider slapping tariffs on U.S. agricultural products that it already bought.

So much winning by nitwit "negotiator" Donald "Tariff Man" Trump!

(Photo: E-i-e-i- uh-oh.)

Recession Predicted If Trump's China Trade War Continues

We noted this morning that clothing retailers are expecting a big hit to consumers from the trade war brought on by nitwit "negotiator" Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump.  Today, one firm is predicting dire consequences from Trump's brinksmanship:

If the U.S. continues to raise a wall of tariffs on Chinese goods in the coming months and China responds, expect a global recession in three quarters, Morgan Stanley said Monday.

“As we view the risk of further escalation as high, the risks to the global outlook are decidedly skewed to the downside,” Morgan Stanley chief economist Chetan Ahya said.

The firm believes a global recession will come in about nine months if the trade war further escalates through the U.S. raising tariffs to 25% “on all imports from China for 4-6 months,” Ahya said. “We would see the global economy entering recession in three quarters,” he said in a note to investors.  (our emphasis)

The markets are in a tailspin after China announced the first countermeasure to the new tariffs:

Stocks fell sharply on Monday as China hit back at President Donald Trump's move to accelerate tariffs on China-made goods by allowing the yuan to slip to the lowest levels against the dollar in more than a decade.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 695 points, or 2.6%, to 25,789. The S&P 500, which last week had its worst week of the year, fell 2.62%, and the Nasdaq dropped 3.21%. 

The decline Monday was the Dow's biggest single day decline of the year and the most since Dec. 4, 2018, when it fell 799.36 points.  (our emphasis)

Take time to reflect that we have a dimbulb, narcissistic reality show host who parlayed a false image of business success into fame and power, who is also unqualified in every intellectual, moral and emotional way to run a shoeshine stand, who is now largely responsible for the fate of the biggest economy in the world.  For starters. 

Is it cocktail hour yet?

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Phil Rucker on the front page of today's Washington Post on the racist- in- chief's deliberately stoking hatred and violence: 

President Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as “an invasion of our country.” He has demonized undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals.” He has defended the detention of migrant children, hundreds of whom have been held in squalor. And he has warned that without a wall to prevent people from crossing the border from Mexico, America would no longer be America.

“How do you stop these people? You can’t,” Trump lamented at a May rally in Panama City Beach, Fla. Someone in the crowd yelled back one idea: “Shoot them.” The audience of thousands cheered and Trump smiled. Shrugging off the suggestion, he quipped, “Only in the Panhandle can you get away with that statement.”

On Saturday, a 21-year-old white man entered a shopping center in El Paso, according to police, and allegedly decided to “shoot them.” Inside a crowded Walmart in a vibrant border city visited daily by thousands of Mexicans, a late-morning back-to-school shopping scene turned into a pool of blood. Twenty people died, and dozens were wounded. [snip]

Regardless of the El Paso shooter’s motivations, Trump throughout his presidency has stoked fear and hatred of the other, whether Latino immigrants or black people living in cities or Muslims.

Although he has not directly espoused the “great replacement” theory of white supremacists, Trump has openly questioned America’s identity as a multiethnic nation, such as by encouraging migration from Nordic states as opposed to Latin America.

In speeches and on social media, the president has capitalized on divisions of race, religion and identity as a political strategy to galvanize support among his white followers...

In the same paper, E.J. Dionne, Jr., defines the right and wrong side:

When one side proposes ways that human beings might begin to solve a deadly problem while the other side leaves it up to God, you know which side is right.

When one side proposes solution after solution to contain gun violence — and offers compromise after compromise to get something done — while the other side blocks action every time, you know which side is right.

When the president of the United States and his most incendiary media allies fuel hatred of those who are not white while his opponents say we should stand in solidarity with one another, you know which side is right.

When one side brushes aside the dangers of racist and white nationalist terrorism while the other side says we need to be vigilant against all forms of terrorism, you know which side is right. 

And when Americans are gunned down in incident after incident, when we are numbed by repeating the same sorrowful words every time, when we move within a news cycle from “something must be done” to “the Senate will block action” or “the politics are too complicated,” you know America’s democracy is failing and its moral compass is broken.

Dionne calls out Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whose unctuous subservience to NRA gun humpers was on full display when speaking to the media:

The wrong side in this debate does not want us to come together. On the contrary, its goal after every mass shooting is to deflect and divide. Here’s what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said when asked by reporters what we should do about gun violence. “Listen, there are bodies that have not yet been recovered,” Abbott replied. “I think we need to focus more on memorials before we start the politics.”

No, Abbott, reading from the NRA’s script, started “the politics” right at that moment, and it is an insidious form of politics. Simultaneously, he deflected by pretending it’s impolite to answer substantive questions and divided by saying that those who raise them disrespect the dead.

Nothing disrespects those who are slaughtered more than the political paralysis Abbott and those like him are encouraging.

Nothing will be done as long as the wrong side is in control of the White (Supremacist) House and the Senate, where when Moscow Mitch isn't doing favors for Putin, he's blocking gun control legislation:

After the Democrats took over the House earlier this year, they passed the most significant gun legislation in a generation, requiring background checks on all firearm sales in the country, and another bill extending the background check review period from three days to 10 days.

The Senate has yet to consider the bills. 

After this weekend's mass shootings, Democratic leaders blamed Republicans controlling the Senate for blocking them.

They began demanding that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell take action this week, arguing they could help prevent the next large-scale tragedy. McConnell's office did not say whether the Republican leader is open to dealing with gun violence with new legislation.  [Spoiler alert:  of course he isn't]

Well, let's amend that last comment.  Republicans might be willing to deal with gun violence by attacking it at the root cause... video games!

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took to Fox News on Sunday in the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH, to suggest that blame could lie at least partially with video games.  [snip]

McCarthy’s comments echo ones made by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on Fox & Friends Sunday morning. “How long are we going to ignore — at the federal level particularly — where they can do something about the video game industry,” Patrick said. “In this manifesto that we believe is from the shooter, this manifesto where he talks about living out his super soldier fantasy on Call of Duty.” 

Lie, deflect, delay, repeat.  The cowardly, sociopath Republican playbook.

This comes a bit late:

A San Francisco-based Web company announced Sunday it would no longer provide services to 8chan, a website notorious for hosting lawless message boards where manifestos have appeared before mass shootings.

The move came after a screed against immigrants was posted to 8chan shortly before a mass shooter killed 20 and wounded 26 at an El Paso Walmart and shopping center. Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, a firm that protects sites from cyber attacks, said he decided to drop 8chan because it “has repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate.”

Changing topics, the trade war with China is settling in for a prolonged duration.  Here's the immediate impact on retail clothing sales alone:

The new tariffs will jack up prices for consumers at the start of the back-to-school buying season, four large retail trade associations said on Thursday.

"President Trump is, in effect, using American families as a hostage in his trade war negotiations," said Matt Priest, president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America.

Stephen Lamar, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said his group's members were shocked that Trump had not allowed the resumed U.S.-China trade talks to proceed further before acting.

The measure will hit U.S. consumers far harder than Chinese manufacturers, who produce 42% of apparel and 69% of footwear purchased in the United States, Lamar said.

Finally, please check out Infidel 753's link round- up (where we found that last piece on the trade war).  It seems every week he finds even more interesting links to share.  Impressive.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

The National Rifle Rampage Association's multi- year grift continues to show signs of collapse:

The National Rifle Association spent growing sums on overhead in 2018 even as it cut money for core activities such as gun training and political efforts, ending the year deeper in debt, new financial documents show.

The gun rights group’s 2018 financial report, which was obtained by The Washington Post, portrays the longtime political powerhouse as spending faster than its revenue rose.

The records show that the NRA froze its pension plan for employees at the end of last year, a move that saved it close to $13 million, and obtained a $28 million line of credit by borrowing against its Virginia headquarters.

Despite that, the nonprofit group, four affiliated charities and its political committee together ended the year $10.8 million in the red. In 2017, the six groups ended the year with a $1.1 million shortfall.

Brian Mittendorf, an Ohio State University accounting professor who has studied nonprofits, including the NRA, and examined the 2018 report for The Post, said it depicted “a bad year for them financially.” He compared the NRA to a person living paycheck to paycheck, leaning on credit cards with very little cushion.

In addition to lavish spending on its scumbag chief executive Wayne LaPierre and some of its board of directors, the gun humper grifters were also spending a lot of time and money in court:

From 2017 to 2018, legal and audit spending jumped from $12.9 million to $33.5 million. Legal expenses for administrative purposes rose nearly 400 percent, accounting for the largest increase, from $4.6 million to $21.9 million, the records show.

The rise in legal fees came as the NRA was contending with congressional inquiries into its ties with Russia, as well as various state investigations.

Who could have imagined an organization so closely lashed to fraudster incompetent Donald "Rump" Trump and the rotted out Republican Party would be so full of incompetent fraudsters?

Spoiler alert: Trump still has no clue how trade works:

India will impose higher retaliatory tariffs on 28 U.S. products including almonds, apples and walnuts from Sunday, following Washington's withdrawal of key trade privileges for New Delhi.

The new duties take effect from Sunday, a government notification said, in the latest trade dispute since President Donald Trump took office in 2017 vowing to act against countries with which Washington has a large trade deficit.

From June 5, President Trump scrapped trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for India, the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.

India termed that "unfortunate" and vowed to uphold its national interests.

It's almost as if he's working for a hostile foreign government to tank the U.S. economy.  Oh, wait...

The Trump regime's "Gulf of Trumpkin" (h/t Paul Krugman) incident is being received by our major allies with a large dose of skepticism:

While President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been unequivocal in their assertion that Iran was responsible for the attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week, some of America’s closest allies are demanding more proof.

Both Japan and Germany have requested more concrete evidence to support the Trump administration’s insistence that Iran was behind the twin attacks on the Norwegian-owned Front Altar and the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.

They try so hard, bless their shriveled, war- mongering, wag- the- dog hearts.

Back atcha:

I think the Democrats should incorporate this pledge from the 2016 Republican platform into their 2020 platform. pic.twitter.com/qaw54xZujb

— Steve Metz (@steven_metz) June 15, 2019

Following days of massive protests in Hong Kong, the pro- Beijing leadership backs down, a little.

Hong Kong's embattled leader on Saturday said a divisive bill that would allow extraditions to China would be "suspended" in a major climbdown from her government after a week of unprecedented protests.

The city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam has come under huge pressure to abandon the controversial legislation, including from her own political allies and advisers.

"The government has decided to suspend the legislative amendment exercise, restart our communication with all sectors of society, do more... work and listen to different views of society," Lam told reporters Saturday.

"Suspension" doesn't mean it's all good for residents of Hong Kong, who vow to continue to protest en masse until the bill is withdrawn.

We found the last piece in Infidel 753's link round- up, which could easily form the basis for our entire Monday reading -- but we're not that craven, yet!  Always worthwhile to see what he's found.

Trump Threatens Tariffs On Mexico

Extremely Stable Genius Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump once again takes dead aim at his foot:

Trump announced Thursday his intentions to levy 5 percent tariffs on Mexican imports starting June 10, penance for what he sees as a failure to stop the flow of Central American migrants through the southern border. With every month that passes without action from Mexico, the tariff would jump in 5 percent increments until they hit 25 percent on Oct. 1, according to a White House statement. They’d stay at that threshold until Mexico substantially stops the inflow of illegal immigration, the statement said.

Needless to say this has some otherwise compliant and complicit Republicans howling about the harm this would do to the farmers in their states.  But it would also gravely impact the auto and other manufacturing industries and derail Trump's own tweaked version of NAFTA, the USMCA.  And the US and European stock markets and business community reacted negatively to the news that, once again, the Extremely Stable Genius was playing chicken with the world economy.

Well, as they say, when you elect a clown, expect a circus.

BONUS: 

I’m shocked that the guy who bankrupted all the businesses is terrible at business  https://t.co/GqTqLixvKd

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) May 31, 2019

"I am raising taxes on all of you until this unsolvable nonproblem solves itself." https://t.co/vsriSEHdhO

— Jason P. Steed (@5thCircAppeals) May 31, 2019

Grassley will frown extra hard next time he goes on Fox News to talk about how awesome Trump is https://t.co/GlP0Out1hH

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 31, 2019

Trump just announced a 5% tariff on all goods from Mexico, to stop migrants!

To reiterate, there is no need for Dems to shy away from the trade debate. The key is to reframe it against Trump's reckless, impulsive America Firstism, which is a failure and deeply unpopular: https://t.co/7cnT7zPVza

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 30, 2019

BONUS II:  And dolts like this are standing with him even at the expense of their livelihood.  Clearly, it's not a case of "economic anxiety."

QOTD

“Basically, Trump is saying is, rather than having our farmers sell soybeans to China, let’s borrow from China to pay farmers to not sell soybeans to China. That is effectively what is happening here because we are transferring from the U.S. Treasury.” -- Catherine Rampell, on the effect of nitwit loser Donald "Rump" Trump's trade war, yesterday on CNN.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

If you take time to read nothing else today, read Jane Meyer's deep dive into the incestuous, deep and continuing relationship between Russian asset Donald "Rump" Trump and Fox "News."  Here's one example concerning the Stormy Daniels episode, which broke just before the election, and Fox's catch and kill:

After the Journal story broke, Oliver Darcy, a senior media reporter for CNN, published a piece revealing that Fox had killed a Stormy Daniels story. [Fox executive Ken] LaCorte, who by then had left Fox but was still being paid by the company, told Mediaite that he’d made the call without talking to superiors. The story simply hadn’t “passed muster,” he claimed, adding, “I didn’t do it to protect Donald Trump.” Nik Richie, a blogger who had broken the first story about Daniels, tweeted, “This is complete bullshit. Ken you are such a LIAR. This story got killed by @FoxNews at the highest level. I know, because I was one of your sources.”

Richie told me, “Fox News was culpable. I voted for Trump, and I like Fox, but they did their own ‘catch and kill’ on the story to protect him.” He said that he’d worked closely with [Fox reporter Diana] Falzone on the article, and that “she did her homework—she had it.” He says he warned her that Fox would never run it, but “when they killed it she was devastated.” Richie believes that the story “would have swayed the election.”

That's just a tiny morsel;  Meyers has the receipts on how this loathsome excuse for a "news" network became a mouthpiece for Rump and the ugly pathologies of the Republican Party.

The Booman discusses the Stupid Party (but has cautions for "too smart" Democrats):

The Republicans are losing the suburbs because they’ve become the stupid party.

If you think about this for two seconds, it makes sense. The Democrats appealed to working folks because they supported labor unions and stood up for worker’s rights. They defended people against predatory employers and exploitative industries that prey on people facing economic hardship. The Republicans don’t defend working folks at all, so the appeal has to be based on feeling. It’s values-based, but the values are populist primarily in an anti-intellectual, anti-elite sense. It’s no longer about class resentment related to poor pay, poor housing and poor working conditions. It’s about cultural resentment against people who think they’re better because they’re smarter, better-educated, more cosmopolitan, more “enlightened.”

Republicans can’t remain with one foot rooted in Wall Street and the other foot rooted in the coal and oil fields and still be a worker’s party unless they work overtime to fuel and exploit this resentment. The difficulty is that this makes suburbanites want to Clorox their cerebral cortex whenever they see an Oklahoma senator take a snowball onto the Senate floor to explain that climate change is a myth.

Add another count/ article:

President Trump sent out a predawn tweet Saturday boasting about Trump International Golf Links, constructed near Aberdeen, Scotland, among the high, wind-raked dunes along the North Sea.

“Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!” Trump tweeted.

The comment sparked immediate consternation from critics of the president, who suggested he was using his powerful office to advance his financial interests. The U.S. Constitution has two clauses designed to prevent a national leader from using power in such a manner.

“There it is. The president is using an official statement as an ad for his business and making sure everyone knows he ties his business to US relationships with foreign countries,” tweeted Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is suing the president over these issues.

Paul Krugman looks at the consequences of Rump's trade wars.  It's not a pretty picture.

Say this for Donald Trump: He’s provided us with many iconic quotations, which will surely be repeated in histories and textbooks for decades if not generations to come.

Unfortunately, they’ll be repeated because they are extremely clear examples of bad ideas.

In economics, the line you hear most is Trump’s declaration that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” Coming in second is his assertion that “I am a Tariff Man,” coupled with the claim that foreigners pay the tariffs he has been imposing.

Now, that last claim is something you can test. Over the course of 2018 Trump imposed tariffs on about 12 percent of total U.S. imports, and many of those tariffs have been in effect long enough that we can get a first read on their consequences.

Finally, Infidel 753 is back with another heapin' helpin' of interesting links from around the internet. Always enjoyable to take some time and browse.

Twit Tweet, Thwap

Twit tweet:

The United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly. In the meantime we are doing well in various Trade Negotiations currently going on. At some point this had to be done!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2019

Thwap:

The money collected on tariffs is FROM Americans buying Chinese products. The trade war with China is hurting Americans who export TO China. It's also hurting our economy and theirs which is why Apple's bad news tanked the markets Thursday.

UR LITERALLY too dumb 2 do your job.

— The Liberal Voice of Reason (@TheLiberalVOR) January 5, 2019

The malicious birdbrain (no offense to birds intended) repeated his nonsense a day later in his "fact checking nightmare" Rose Garden "news conference," so clearly he's just addressing his clueless base who'll be paying more but not connecting the dots. So much winning!

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Yesterday, we noted the determination of simpleton Donald "Rump" Trump to escalate his trade war with China.  It seems the public mood in China is to fight back hard:

A dock worker from the eastern port city of Ningbo said he wants China to stand unflinchingly against President Trump’s demands.  

A salesman in Beijing hopes his country will keep punching back in the commercial ring — even if it hurts his wallet. 

And a coffee shop owner in the Chinese capital said Trump’s tariffs have inspired her to retaliate at the store: She’s swapping U.S. products for Chinese brands. 

As the trade war between the world’s two largest economies unfolds on the international stage, analysts say Trump’s brash approach to try to win concessions from Beijing has provoked a public fury that could ultimately thwart his efforts.  (our emphasis)

The damage the malignant fool causes in every sphere he touches will last long after he's gone.

Keep digging, you irredeemable, hypocritical bastards:

President Donald Trump’s team plans to attack the credibility of professor Christine Blasey Ford, who came forward with her account of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assault on Sunday, by emphasizing that the accusation has surfaced at the end of the confirmation process and that Ford didn’t tell anyone about the alleged attack at the time, according to a Sunday Bloomberg report. [snip]

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley has already laid the foundation for the White House’s plan, saying through his spokeswoman in a statement that is is “disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations” have come to light just before the planned committee vote on Thursday. 

The allegation is corroborated, both with detailed notes from Ford’s therapy session years ago and with a passed polygraph test administered by the FBI.

It's the go- to Republican playbook: smear attacks on the victim to "win" at any cost.  Let's make sure the cost is the House and Senate this year.

Speaking of irredeemable bastards:

.@DonaldJTrumpJr is making fun of an alleged sexual assault victim. The next time a Republican friend asks me why their party is having trouble with women right now, I may direct them to this Instagram post. pic.twitter.com/9tXjUUajaD

— Nick LaFave (@NickLaFave) September 17, 2018

The greasy f*ckwad didn't fall far from the tree.

The WaPo has a visual story on the absolute devastation in the Carolinas from Hurricane Florence, with still pictures, video and text.  Please take a few minutes to click through, and remember, whether it's the Carolinas or Puerto Rico, we have to be all our brother's keepers.

Protests involving national anthems isn't just an American phenomenon.  In this case, it's someone you might not expect in a place you might not expect (found via Infidel 753):

Now new headlines are made by someone who refuses to stand when an anthem is played, but this time it’s a nine-year-old girl in Australia who protests against the content of the anthem itself. The schoolgirl was given detention last week for “blatant disrespect” over her failure to participate with classmates during assembly when the song was rendered at Kenmore South State School in Brisbane. 

Harper Nielsen has stirred controversy after refusing to stand for Australia’s national anthem in protest to “institutional racism”; she claimed the song “Advance Australia Fair” ignored the nation’s indigenous people, taking issue with the opening lyrics to the anthem, which read: “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free. “When it says ‘we are young’ it completely disregards the Indigenous Australians who were here before us for over 50,000 years,” she said. “When it was originally written, Advance Australia Fair meant advance the white people of Australia,” she added.

The Aussie national anthem was written by Peter Dodds McCormick in 1878, so you can believe young Nielsen's interpretation as being on the money.  Her stance has, of course, agitated the local loons on the Aussie right.  ("F*ck your feelings.")

Speaking of Infidel 753, we would again refer you to his comprehensive link round-up, where you can find "various interesting stuff" he came across over the past week, like the item above.  Always a good destination.

Trump's Trade War With China Begins

That sound you hear is dominoes falling.

The Man Baby plays with matches:

The United States imposed the first duties on $34 billion in Chinese goods early Friday and China immediately retaliated, launching a commercial battle that analysts fear could shake markets and cramp global business. 

As Beijing fired back with tariffs of its own, it accused the U.S. of violating WTO rules and setting off “the largest trade war in economic history to date.”   

“In order to defend the core interests of the country and the interests of the people, we are forced to retaliate,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement.  

The Asian nation slapped levies on an equal amount of American goods, including heartland staples like soybeans, corn, pork and poultry — a move President Trump said would compel him to hit China with another round of duties on up to $500 billion in products.

Surprise!  The Man Baby and his crime family won't personally get burned:

As the Trump administration initiates a possible trade war with China, the president’s businesses continue to benefit from partnerships involving the Chinese government, via state-backed companies and investors. 

Chinese government-backed firms are slated to work on parts of two large developments — in Dubai and Indonesia — that will include Trump-branded properties. 

The Trumps are the landlord to one of China’s top state-owned banks, which has occupied the 20th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan since 2008. The bank’s lease is worth close to $2 million annually, according to industry estimates and a bank filing. 

And despite the Trump administration’s focus on American manufacturing, assembly-line workers in China still produce blouses, shoes and handbags for the clothing line created by Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a White House adviser. 

The tariffs that were set to kick in at 12:01 a.m. Friday are not expected to affect the Trumps’ financial interests...

Surprise II!  China is using The Man Baby's trade wars as leverage the U.S. once had in containing China to contain the U.S.:

... [O]ur unilateralism and contempt for international trade rules have given China an opening that should never have existed in the first place, especially since Europe has virtually the same complaints about Chinese trade practices that we do. 

Meanwhile, Trump’s temper tantrum seems to have driven China closer to other countries it has had strained relationships with, such as  India and Japan. 

Trump has also unwittingly given a shot of adrenaline to the 16-party Asian regional trade deal that would cover half the world’s economy. Unlike the TPP, the United States is not a party to these negotiations — but China is.

The Man Baby was so desperate to kill our involvement in President Obama's Trans Pacific Partnership that, in doing so, he handed China, with its own 16- member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a massive geo- economic boost and leadership in the powerhouse east Asian market. 

We also have the reality of big business, who positively slavered at the prospect of the Republican tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy that the Man Baby would sign, reaping what they've been (and still are) sowing:

The imminent prospect of a trade war, it seems, concentrates the mind. Until very recently, big business and the institutions that represent its interests didn’t seem to be taking President Trump’s protectionist rhetoric very seriously. After all, corporations have invested trillions based on the belief that world markets would remain open, that U.S. industry would retain access to both foreign customers and foreign suppliers.
Trump wouldn’t put all those investments at risk, would he? 

Yes, he would ... [snip]  

The thing is, big business is reaping what it sowed. No single cause brought us to this terrible moment in American history, but decades of cynical politics on the part of corporate America certainly played an important role. 

What do I mean by cynical politics? Partly I mean the tacit alliance between businesses and the wealthy, on one side, and racists on the other, that is the essence of the modern conservative movement. 

For a long time business seemed to have this game under control: win elections with racial dog whistles, then turn to an agenda of tax cuts and deregulation. But sooner or later something like Trump was going to happen: a candidate who meant the racism seriously, with the enthusiastic support of the Republican base, and couldn’t be controlled.

As the Man Baby's trade wars with the rest of the planet proceed, more jobs will be lost, more farms will fail, and the test of whether white nationalist nativism or self- preservation will win out among the Man Baby's cultists will be upon us.  We're not betting on self- preservation.