Tag Archives: china

New York Magazine: Playing Secretary — Could These Be Pete Hegseth’s Last Days in the Pentagon?

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As war looms, Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is beset by infighting over leaks, drugs, and socks. How long will Trump stand by his man?

In the drama of Hegseth’s January confirmation hearings, it was easy to get distracted by the financial settlement for an assault allegation, by the multitudinous accounts of heavy drinking on the job, by claims of misogyny from both his mother and his sister-in-law, by the fact that Hegseth, while married with three small children, had fathered a child with a Fox News producer who was also married with small children, during which pregnancy he had slept with the woman who later accused him of assault, and thereby miss some straightforward information about his managerial experience.

Pete Hegseth had run a nonprofit called Veterans for Freedom for several years, an organization that employed fewer than 20 people, and resigned after alleged financial mismanagement nearly bankrupted the organization. He had run a group called Concerned Veterans for America, which employed around 160 people, and resigned amid allegations of misconduct and, once again, financial mismanagement.

In choosing Hegseth, Donald Trump did not choose from the large set of people who had never managed an organization, or the considerably smaller set of people who had managed an organization without incident, but from a smaller still set of people who had managed multiple bureaucracies and resigned multiple times under complex circumstances.

It’s a good read but a bit long. Click the link below to read the entire article:

Could These Be Pete Hegseth’s Last Days in the Pentagon?
archived 13 Jun 2025 19:07:18 UTC

https://archive.is/xG4FF#selection-1205.0-1209.128

From Los Angeles to Washington, Trump leans in as commander in chief

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On one coast, military forces are arriving by the thousands to defend federal buildings and agents. On the other, they’re readying a celebration of American military might.

President Donald Trump loves displays of military force. He’s parading two very different kinds this week.

On one coast, military forces are arriving by the thousands to defend federal buildings and agents, facing off with civilians protesting the president’s immigration agenda. On the other, they’re readying a celebration of American military might in a parade held on the Army’s — and Trump’s — birthday.

…

Trump has wanted to hold a military parade in Washington since he accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron to a 2017 Bastille Day parade, where troops marched down the Champs-Élysées while fighter jets flew overhead, leaving trails of red, white, and blue smoke behind them. Trump later called it “one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” but aides advised him against throwing a similar affair.

Trump seems to forget that Bastille Day largely marked the end of French royalty. King Donald, too, shall pass.

‘He does love being commander in chief’: Trump leans in on the military
On one coast, military forces are arriving by the thousands to defend federal buildings and agents. On the other, they’re readying a celebration of American military might.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/11/trump-military-parade-protests-00398716

Bloomberg: Unrestrained Trump Turns to Military in Second-Term Power Play

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President Donald Trump’s moves to deploy US troops to Los Angeles and hold a splashy parade on the Army’s 250th birthday fulfills his longtime goal of leaning on the military for a show of force and political power.

Stymied in his first term by cabinet members who resisted the use of soldiers on American soil, Trump has a more compliant team around him this time. After sending in the National Guard this weekend, he escalated his showdown with California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday by mobilizing 700 active-duty Marines, a decision that Newsom called a “provocation.”

Late Monday, Trump went even further, authorizing an additional 2,000 National Guard members to deploy there, bringing the total to 4,000, not including the Marines.

…

David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the presence of the National Guard and Marines was a “shocking” development meant to deliberately spread chaos, confusion and fear. “What we’ve seen is people exercising their First Amendment rights,” Leopold told Bloomberg Television. “That is what these troops are being sent out to suppress.”

Unrestrained Trump Turns to Military in Second-Term Power Play

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-10/unrestrained-trump-turns-to-military-in-second-term-power-play

Also here (no paywall):

Unrestrained Trump Turns to Military in Second-Term Power Play

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/unrestrained-trump-turns-to-military-in-second-term-power-play/ar-AA1Gq3xN

AFP: China Tells Citizens In LA To Boost Personal Security Over Unrest

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China’s consulate in Los Angeles told its citizens in the area on Monday to strengthen personal security, after unrest in America’s second-biggest city.

“Chinese citizens in the region (should) strengthen personal security measures, stay away from gatherings, crowded areas, or places with poor public security, and avoid going out at night or travelling alone,” the consulate said in a statement.

They should also “closely monitor official announcements” and “raise their safety awareness”, it added.

Security forces faced off with protesters in the city on Sunday, as unruly protests over federal immigration raids continued for a third day, with President Donald Trump deploying National Guard troops.

Trump, who has made clamping down on illegal migration a key plank of his second term, vowed the troops would ensure “very strong law and order”.

The deployment in California — the first over the head of a state governor since the Civil Rights era — was “purposefully inflammatory,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.

The National Guard — a reserve military — is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in instances of civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.

China Tells Citizens In LA To Boost Personal Security Over Unrest
China’s consulate in Los Angeles told its citizens in the area on Monday to strengthen personal security, after unrest in America’s second-biggest city.

https://www.barrons.com/news/china-tells-citizens-in-la-to-boost-personal-security-over-unrest-5c3b3118

Daily Beast: Pentagon Reporter Calls Out Hegseth on Fox News Over Media Crackdown: ‘He’s Embarrassed’

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A veteran Pentagon correspondent used a Fox News appearance to savage Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for attempting to restrict media access at his department.

Barbara Starr, who spent more than 20 years as CNN’s Pentagon correspondent, claimed Hegseth is ending journalists’ access to certain areas at the Pentagon because he’s “embarrassed” by the chaos engulfing his time in the Trump administration.

“Hegseth is embarrassed,” Starr said on Fox’s MediaBuzz Sunday. “He’s embarrassed by this—so much exposure to information, classified by all accounts, that he posted on Signal about that air attack in Yemen. He’s embarrassed that information came out that he was going to meet with Elon Musk and brief him on China.”

Pentagon Reporter Calls Out Hegseth on Fox News Over Media Crackdown: ‘He’s Embarrassed’
Barbara Starr says the defense secretary should be more focused on other areas other than his “PR structure.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-reporter-barbara-starr-calls-out-hegseth-on-fox-news-over-media-crackdown-hes-embarrassed

Style on Main: Target And Walmart Sound Alarm Over Retail ‘Collapse’ As Shelves Go Empty

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For years, “retail apocalypse” headlines have cried wolf. Many blamed Amazon, others warned of overbuilt malls, but most claims fizzled. What’s happening now is different. Target just slashed its 2025 outlook after a brutal quarter, projecting a “low-single digit decline” in annual sales. Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon has gone straight to President Trump with warnings that store shelves may soon run dry. 

These aren’t fringe forecasts, they’re direct signals from America’s largest retailers. For the first time, retail’s titans are sounding the same alarm. The collapse isn’t theoretical anymore. Behind the aisles, a perfect storm of tariffs, supply chain chaos, and consumer panic is brewing.

Target And Walmart Sound Alarm Over Retail ‘Collapse’ As Shelves Go Empty
WWD Instagram For years, “retail apocalypse” headlines have cried wolf. Many blamed Amazon, others warned of overbuilt malls, but most claims fizzled. What’s happening now is different. Target just slashed its 2025 outlook after a
https://styleonmain.net/target-and-walmart-sound-alarm-over-retail-collapse-as-shelves-go-empty/

USA Today: Manufacturing down, food expensive and ICE is deporting moms. Happy now, MAGA? | Opinion

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If performative cruelty is the only thing that mattered to you, things are working out great under President Trump. Otherwise, things stink.

Look at Trump’s empty promises. Cruelty is all that matters.

If you voted for President Donald Trump and hoped something good would happen to you, feel free to say: “Oops.” If you voted for him out of a thirst to see immigrants who have committed no crimes suffer and live in fear, then feel free to say: “Yes!”

Because that’s where we are at the start of June 2025. Trump’s promises of a better life for Americans are proving to be empty.

And his promise to round up “millions” of “criminals” and deport them hasn’t materialized, because the claim that there are millions of criminal immigrants in America was a lie in the first place.

Instead, the administration has resorted to grabbing immigrants at courthouses where they’re appearing for hearings – in other words, following the rules – or snatching up and deporting working moms and high school kids.

ICE isn’t just going after criminals. Moms and kids are easy targets.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official interviewed by the conservative Washington Examiner said Trump adviser Stephen Miller has been demoralizing the agency with unrealistic deportation demands: “Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’ ”

So much for going after the “bad guys.”

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old high school junior was recently arrested by ICE agents as he drove with friends to volleyball practice in Milford, Massachusetts.

A school administrator told the Boston Globe the teenager was well-known in the community and had attended Milford Public Schools since kindergarten: “It’s just horrendous. These are babies. They’re kids. I don’t care that they’re 18 – he’s just a kid.”

Communities are watching people they love get rounded up

In the small Pennsylvania town of Honesdale, ICE agents recently raided a pizzeria and detained three employees, rattling the community. Resident Connor Simon told WNEP-TV: “It’s really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and a terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor comes to take him away is somehow the good guy.”

And the recent ICE arrest in Kennett, Missouri, of a mother – an immigrant from Hong Kong – has led residents to denounce what happened to the longtime resident who works at a diner.

“I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,” Vanessa Cowart told The New York Times. “But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.”

These actions by the Trump administration benefit only the most sadistic among us.

But it’s part and parcel of the harm Trump’s MAGA policies have already caused.

Manufacturing down, food expensive and ICE is deporting moms. Happy now, MAGA? | Opinion
If you voted for President Donald Trump and hoped something good would happen to you, feel free to say: ‘Oops.’

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/06/03/trump-deportations-construction-spending-down-economy/83995322007

Independent: Musk tried to block massive Trump-backed Mideast AI deal unless he was included: report

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Elon Musk rushed to the Mideast to hold up a massive Trump-endorsed American AI operation in Abu Dhabi unless it included him, according to a new report

Retiring DOGE hatchet man Elon Musk rushed to the Middle East during Donald Trump’s visit there earlier this month to block a massive American AI partnership with the United Arab Emirates backed by the president – unless it included him, according to a new report. That apparently explains the tech billionaire’s sudden appearance at a Trump meeting with Saudi Arabia officials during the president’s three-country Middle East tour.

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Trump’s team scrambled to soothe an irritated Musk so the president could announce the deal while he was in the Middle East, the Journal reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear if some kind of accommodation was worked out for the tech boss who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the campaigns of Trump and other Republicans, or if he is now part of the deal. He could not immediately be reached for comment. His company has not been named as a participant in the business by any announcement of the deal.

Poor F’Elon!

Musk tried to block Trump-backed Mideast AI deal unless he was included: report
Elon Musk rushed to the Mideast to hold up a massive Trump-endorsed American AI operation in Abu Dhabi unless it included him, according to a new report

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/musk-trump-middle-east-ai-deal-b2759700.html

India Today: So much for being Mr Nice Guy: Trump slams China for violating trade deal with US

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Trump claimed that by sealing a trade deal with Beijing in order to save China from what was going to be a very bad situation after he imposed unprecedented 145 per cent tariffs on imports from Asia’s largest economy.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “Two weeks ago China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace which is, by far, number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, “civil unrest.” I saw what was happening and didn’t like it, for them, not for us. I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”

Executive summary: I was an *ssh*l*, but now I’m a good guy because I saved you from myself when I was being a really big *ssh*l*.

So much for being Mr Nice Guy: Trump claims China violated trade deal with US
Trump claimed that by sealing a trade deal with Beijing in order to save China from what was going to be a very bad situation after he imposed unprecedented 145 per cent tariffs on imports from Asia’s largest economy.

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/so-much-for-being-mr-nice-guy-us-president-donald-trump-claims-china-violated-trade-deal-with-us-2733300-2025-05-30

Newsweek: White House is “full of lunatics” says economist

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A leading economist has said the White House is “full of lunatics” as debates over the legality of President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariff plans have resulted in a federal court showdown.

On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit paused a previous ruling from the Court of International Trade (CIT) in Manhattan, which argued that Trump had overstepped his executive authority in imposing the majority of his tariffs.

Commenting on the muted market reaction to these two developments, Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, said investors had already reconciled themselves to the fact that the current administration is “out of control.”

White House is “full of lunatics” says economist
Professor Justin Wolfers said investors had already grown numb to the actions of the “out of control” administration.