Monday, April 14, 2025
The Trump Regime: Cruel, Vicious, Heartless, And Brutal
The following is just part of a post by Robert Reich:
Several of you have asked me how to live in a nation whose leader has embraced cruelty as public policy.
Molly watched Trump sign the executive order initiating criminal investigations of Miles Taylor (who wrote an anonymous 2018 New York Times op-ed describing internal resistance to Trump in his first term) and Christopher Krebs (who played a major role in undercutting Trump’s false claims about 2020 election fraud).
Others of you are thunderstruck by Trump’s cruelty toward refugees who fled violence and have been living in the United States legally but are now being forced to return to their home countries and face more violence.
And the Trump regime’s cruelty toward people here on temporary visas who are deported arbitrarily, without a hearing — some sent to a gruesome prison in El Salvador even after the regime has admitted error in sending them.
And children in poor countries who are in desperate need of vaccines but are now doing without them because Trump has ended USAID.
The cruelty toward vulnerable people in Gaza, in Ukraine, and in Yemen who are being bombed, wounded, or killed because the Trump regime is doing nothing to stop these bloodbaths or is contributing to them.
Cruelty toward tens of thousands of public servants who are suddenly and without warning fired — some just months away from retirement and a pension.
Revoking security protection for Biden’s son and daughter. And for General Mark Milley and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Revoking security protection for other former members of his first administration despite warnings of ongoing threats from Iran because of actions they took on Trump’s behalf.
Firing more than a dozen prosecutors who worked for the special counsel Jack Smith on criminal investigations of Trump.
Revoking security clearances of 51 people who merely signed a letter suggesting that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop could be Russian disinformation.
Targeting law firms that employ or have employed lawyers who worked on investigations into Trump or on causes Trump objects to.
Targeting universities that have allowed international students freedom of speech.
And on it goes, day after day — the Trump regime’s abject cruelty, viciousness, heartlessness, brutality.
How does a moral person live with this?
Sunday, April 13, 2025
Most Voters Say Musk Has Too Much Power In Government Decisions
The chart above reflects the results of the Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between April 3rd and 7th of a nationwide sample of 1,407 registered voters, with a 2.6 point margin of error.
Trump Blinks First In His Stare-Down With China
The orange bully in the White House thought he could bully China into doing what he wants. Although backing down on his "reciprocal" tariffs for other countries, he imposed a huge tariff on Chinese goods imported into the United States. And when China did not back down, he raised that tariff to a ridiculous 145%.
That means an import costing $10 would cost $24.50, and one costing $100 would cost $245. Trump thought the huge tariff would force China to beg for relief. They did NOT! Instead, they put a tariff of 125% on any American goods entering their country - making most American goods too expensive for Chinese consumers. It effectively cuts of the huge Chinese market for American producers.
The trade war stare-down was set. Who would blink first? It was DONALD TRUMP!
It turns out that nearly all of the electronics purchased in the United States are made in Asia - most of them in China. Those electronics (smart phones, TV's, computers, etc.) would be hit with the 145% tariff. And there would be no way for American consumers to avoid the massive price hike. They would have to pay the huge price tag, or do without!
It doesn't take a genius to figure out this was going to make Americans very angry. The U.S. public is already angry over continuing inflation (which Trump had promised to fix during the campaign). Such huge price hikes on electronics is guaranteed to hasten Trump's already declining approval with voters.
Realizing he has badly miscalculated, Trump backed down. He exempted electronics and computer chips from any tariff.
Meanwhile, China is holding firm - and it doesn't look like they will back down anytime soon. Knowing they could be selling less of many things to the United States, they are shifting their view to other countries - especially the European Union. Other things China could do - refuse to buy any goods from U.S. farmers, restrict what targeted U.S. corporations could export from (or into) China, cut off the supply of rare earth minerals to the U.S., and devalue the Yuan.
It looks like China is in this for the long haul, and willing to accept some economic pain. Trump is not. He's already shown he'll back down when things get too hot.
Trump can't win this trade war. The only question is how much damage will he do to the U.S. economy before he realizes that.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Trump's Tariffs Are Very Unpopular With Voters
The charts above are from the Global Strategy Group / Navigator Poll -- done between April 3rd and 7th of a nationwide sample of 1,000 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)