Trump this.

[KaraBulut]

Mango Mussolini has been braying on his little Twitterette platform because Democrats are busy affirming Biden's judicial nominees.

The Republican Senators have been absent from the chamber which allowed the Democrats to get them confirmed.

Where were they?

Little Marco Rubio [R-FL] is MIA.
JD Vance [R-OH] and VP-elect has been busy trying to shuttle Matt Gaetz around Washington DC in the lost cause to get him confirmed at AG.
Ted Cruz [R-TX} was hanging out with Elonia and Donald at the SpaceX launch in Texas.

In one vote, only 44 Republican Senators showed up.

In another vote, Mister "Presidents should be able to have the nominees they want" retiring Senator Joe Manchin [D-WV] voted against one of Biden's nominees but the confirmation still passed 49-45 without Manchin.

GOP No-Shows Help Dems Push Through Biden Judicial Nominees

Trump also helped Democrats by taking a few Republicans on a field trip to see the SpaceX rocket launch.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[rareboy]

Whatever it takes.

I suspect that most of the GQP don't care because they are counting on TrumpCo. finding a way to dismiss or recall any liberal federal judges.

I would if I were in their shoes.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

btw Trumpies. This will never change.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

Unsurprisingly, as predicted months ago, Trump will never be sentenced for his convictions. Sentencing is now stayed indefinitely.

He was given a cloak of invincibility and I predict that with an appeal to overturn his convictions, it will take all of about 10 minutes for the court to dismiss his crimes

Trump hush-money case sentencing postponed indefinitely

President-elect spokesperson hails ‘decisive win’ as Judge Juan Merchan declines to provide new sentencing date

www.theguardian.com

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

All over again.

 

[rareboy]

Never let anyone tell you that no one saw this coming. From Hiding in PlainSight (2020)

 

[rareboy]

We knew it was coming. The motion to dismiss is filed 'Without Prejudice' meaning it could be re-opened after Trump leaves office.

But we all know it won't be.

It does prevent Trump from pardoning himself pre-emptively although the SC basically did that for him.

 

[rareboy]

And remember this hit from the past?

The US presidency is a joke.

 

[rareboy]

I suppose the only thing this will do, along with the tariffs on China, is make every fucking thing that Americans buy more expensive.

I don't get this bizarre theatre.

WE DON"T PAY THE TARIFFS.

AMERICANS DO.

This just seems like a way to enpty the pockets of American consumers with a consumption tax that apparently, the vast majority won't understand.

This is why the US looks ridiculous in the eyes of its neighbours and the world.

 

[smokeshadow]

What happens when one eats like the Donald for a week

I ate like Trump for a week. I don’t understand how the man is still alive

It was a picture that revealed more than just Donald Trump’s inner circle. Following the jubilation of the US election, the grinning president-elect was pictured on board Trump Force One tucking into a McDonald’s with Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr. Donald Trump Jr, seated to his right, would...

www.yahoo.com

 

[KaraBulut]

The Orange Supremacist apparently doesn't remember that he renamed renegotiated NAFTA to be called the USMCA in 2018. By imposing tariffs, he would be violating his own trade agreement that he insisted upon renegotiating.

Since many component parts and assembly happens in Mexican and Canadian factories, tariffs are just going to raise the prices on things like automobiles. It would also cause automobile insurance rates to skyrocket since parts for repair would be 25% more expensive.

Tariffs on Mexico would also trigger more migration across the border as maquiladora workers would cross the border looking for work.

Fun fact: most drug seizures are a) on border checkpoints and b) involve couriers who are American citizens.

In 2021, U.S. citizens were 86.3 percent of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers—ten times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense.

The man is an idiot.

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/25/g-s1-35842/trump-tariffs-threat

President-elect Donald Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with a 25% across-the-board tariff on all goods unless the countries controlled the flow of illegal drugs, especially fentanyl, and illegal migrants across the border.

Trump, on Truth Social[/URL], said the tariffs would go into effect Jan. 20 and "will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this invasion of our Country!"

Separately, Trump a 10% tariff on all products from China for the flow of illegal drugs from that country.

 

[rareboy]

There is some trepidation in Canada that Trump means to gut the auto pact as well.

This would effectively be the end of USMCA (NAFTA 2.0).

The North American continent would become a tariff based economy again, eroding the purchasing ability of many consumers and thereby gutting corporate profits.

There is no way at this point that Trump and TrumpCo. don't understand how tariffs work. This is cynical and dishonest. But to what end?

To mainpulate the stock market? To pick winners and losers among the cronies?

To simply add taxes to Americans in order to fund tax cuts and subsidies to his friends?

I wonder what the reaction will be when Canada slaps a 25% countervailing duty on Tesla and Starlink? As well as oil and minerals.

 

[rareboy]

Robert Reich notes on B:

"A recent analysis found that when Trump imposed tariffs during his first term, companies who contributed to Republicans were more likely to be granted tariff exemptions. Trump's corporate donors won't shoulder the cost of his trade wars, but the rest of us will."

So in many ways it is just another shakedown scheme.

It is so simple that it makes sense.

 

[KaraBulut]

...There is no way at this point that Trump and TrumpCo. don't understand how tariffs work. This is cynical and dishonest. But to what end?

To mainpulate the stock market? To pick winners and losers among the cronies?

To simply add taxes to Americans in order to fund tax cuts and subsidies to his friends?

The confounding thing about our current "service economy" is that public interest and the stock market work in opposite directions sometimes (e.g. unemployment). Tariffs are one of the things that damages both the market and the overall economy by raising the cost of everything. If you walk into any Walmart or Target, pretty much everything on the shelves is made outside the US, so a 20% tariff might as well be a national sales tax on everything.

Ask anyone who is building a house how the cost of materials has escalated since tariffs were imposed and post-pandemic inflation drove up the price of everything. That makes homes less affordable- whether it be new construction or a fixer-upper.

There's speculation that the goal is to devalue the dollar but since that is the world's reserve currency, it has downstream impacts.

This just looks like Trump puffing up his chest and pretending to be the Great Negotiator that he thinks he is. The guy could barely get through business school. His sister did his homework for him- and he hinted that Trump can or doesn't read. What his ill-educated minions don't get is that they have turned their economic future over to a businessman who has a long history of running his businesses into the ground, putting others on the constant brink of failure.