Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

Daily Beast: Zuckerberg’s Suck-Up to Trump Does Him No Good at All

Posted on by
Reply

Mark Zuckerberg thought he’d done everything in his power to make the government’s antitrust case against Meta go away.

He’d paid $1 million into Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. He’d settled a lawsuit the president launched over being blackballed by Facebook for a whopping $25 million. He sat in Trump’s box at the inauguration and shuttled between the White House and Mar-a-Lago to ingratiate himself with his new friend.

And what did he get for all his trouble? A deafening silence from the one person who could help him as the days ticked down to the antitrust trial that threatens to tear his company apart.

King Donald must have lost track of where all the payola was coming from — guess it sucks to be Zuck!

Zuckerberg’s Suck-Up to Trump Does Him No Good at All
Mark Zuckerberg thought he’d done everything in his power to make the government’s antitrust case against Meta go away. He’d paid $1 million into Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. He’d settled a lawsuit the president launched over being blackballed by Facebook for a whopping $25 million. He sat in Trump’s box at the inauguration and shuttled between the White House and Mar-a-Lago to ingratiate himself with his new friend. And what did he get for…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/zuckerberg-s-suck-up-to-trump-does-him-no-good-at-all/ar-AA1D36oh

Raw Story: ‘The president is in a hell of a pickle right now’ with little way out: Axios founder

Posted on by
Reply

During a break from discussing the Donald Trump administration’s growing battle with the judiciary, Axios founder Jim VandeHei reminded the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the president has a lot on his plate right now with problems of his own making.

According to the Washington insider, Trump’s tariff war has done what appears to be irreparable damage to the reputation of the U.S. and he has put himself into a box he can’t escape from to get the economy back on track.

All I can say is, “Stupid is as stupid does!”

‘The president is in a hell of a pickle right now’ with little way out: Axios founder
During a break from discussing the Donald Trump administration’s growing battle with the judiciary, Axios founder Jim VandeHei reminded the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the president has a lot on his plate right now with problems of his own making. According to the Washington insider, Trump’s tariff war has done what appears to be irreparabl…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-president-is-in-a-hell-of-a-pickle-right-now-with-little-way-out-axios-founder/ar-AA1D2lBw

CNBC: Trump tariffs on China will soon bring ‘irreversible’ damage to many American businesses

Posted on by
Reply
  • On Saturday, the Trump administration said it would exempt technology products like the iPhone, PCs and chips from much of the recently imposed Chinese tariffs.
  • But for most businesses in the U.S., orders from China are being canceled and Chinese freight being shipped could be abandoned.
  • Without a wider pause in the trade war with China, the damage will soon be “irreversible” for U.S. businesses, according to a retail expert, including furniture, toys, apparel, footwear, and sports equipment.

Apple’s iPhone and other technology hardware, from chips to PCs, received a China tariff reprieve from President Trump on Saturday, but for much of the U.S. economy and small business owners, the damage will soon be irreversible from the 145% tariffs being imposed on Chinese imports.

Canceled freight orders and abandoned freight from China are quickly becoming the norm in the trade war between the U.S. and China, according to supply chain executives, as businesses across U.S. industries put a full stop on container exports, with the tariffs hitting like a ton of bricks.

“Furniture producers in China have seen a complete halt in orders from U.S. importers, and we’re hearing the same across toys, apparel, footwear, and sports equipment,” said Alan Murphy, founder and CEO of Sea-Intelligence.

“We had the same across Southeast Asia, but after the 90-day reprieve those bookings have restarted,” said Brian Bourke, chief commercial officer for SEKO Logistics, while the cancelled bookings for containers out of China continue. 

“Almost everything is on hold as it relates to China business,” said Alan Baer, CEO of OL USA.

“Trump’s 145% total tariff on Chinese imports would stop most trade between the U.S. and China,” economist Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy, said on Thursday on CNBC’s “The Exchange.”

“There may still be some things without any substitutes that companies just have to foot the bill, but for the most part, that cuts it off,” York said.

How can Americans possibly benefit from this?

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/12/trump-tariffs-on-china-mean-irreversible-damage-for-most-businesses.html

Financial Times: EU issues US-bound staff with burner phones over spying fears

Posted on by
Reply

European Commission officials heading to IMF and World Bank spring meetings advised to travel with basic devices

The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage, a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China.

Commissioners and senior officials travelling to the IMF and World Bank spring meetings next week have been given the new guidance, according to four people familiar with the situation.

They said the measures replicate those used on trips to Ukraine and China, where standard IT kit cannot be brought into the countries for fear of Russian or Chinese surveillance.

“They are worried about the US getting into the commission systems,” said one official.

The treatment of the US as a potential security risk highlights how relations have deteriorated since the return of Donald Trump as US president in January. 

…

Officials said the guidance for all staff travelling to the US included a recommendation that they should turn off phones at the border and place them in special sleeves to protect them from spying if left unattended.

The advice was unsurprising, according to Luuk van Middelaar, director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, a think-tank.

“Washington is not Beijing or Moscow, but it is an adversary that is prone to use extra-legal methods to further its interests and power.”

https://archive.is/8HLcg#selection-2229.0-2240.0

Daily Mail: RFK Jr. drops slur in 40-minute tirade that made staffers leave

Posted on by
Reply

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a 40-minute off-the-cuff speech where he nonchalantly dropped the word ‘retarded’.

His unexpected remarks during his visit to the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, which were meant to be a welcome from the new FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, got several staffers to walk out of the room, two anonymous employees told Politico.

Perhaps his brainworms are flaring up again?

RFK Jr. drops slur in 40-minute tirade that made staffers leave
During his visit to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a 40-minute off-the-cuff speech where he said a slur.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rfk-jr-drops-slur-in-40-minute-tirade-that-made-staffers-leave/ar-AA1CNE8S

Gay Venezuelan stylist sent to Salvadoran prison after a disgraced cop’s report

Posted on by
Reply

The imprisoned man sought shelter in the U.S. after he told authorities he was persecuted as a gay man, one of the “particular social groups” allowed to claim asylum.

  • A former Milwaukee police officer with credibility issues played a key role in the deportation of a Venezuelan migrant to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
  • Charles Cross, Jr., a CoreCivic employee, signed a report alleging the migrant’s affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang based on his tattoos.

A disgraced former Milwaukee cop with credibility issues helped seal the fate of a gay Venezuelan makeup artist sent to El Salvador’s notorious prison, according to documents reviewed by USA TODAY. 

A report approved by the police-officer-turned-prison-contractor claimed the Venezuelan man was a member of the notorious gang Tren de Aragua. 

But the credibility of Charles Cross Jr., who signed the report, was so bad, prosecutors flagged him on a list of police who had been accused of lying, breaking the law or acting in a way that erodes their credibility to testify in Milwaukee County.

Cross was fired from his position as a Milwaukee police sergeant in 2012 after driving his car into a family’s home while intoxicated. He appealed the decision and resigned in the process, according to the department.

…

Earlier misdeeds had landed him on the Milwaukee County Brady List, a compilation of law enforcement officers deemed by county prosecutors to have credibility problems. 

Being on a Brady List is a kiss of death for most cops. Apparently immigration judges, ICE, and King Donald think that habitual liars are just fine.

Gay Venezuelan stylist sent to Salvadoran prison after a disgraced cop’s report
Now a contractor for ICE, the officer was on a list of disgraced cops in Milwaukee. His report helped send a man to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2025/04/10/fired-milwaukee-police-officer-report-gay-stylist-salvadoran-prison/83005721007

Mediaite: ‘So-Called Secretary of Defense’: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rips Pete Hegseth as ‘Dumb Effing Individual’

Posted on by
Reply

New York Democrat House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries posted a video on his official House account on X attacking Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as an “extremist” over book removals at the U.S. Naval Academy and promising to “keep the pressure” on until Hegseth is fired from his post.

…

The New York Times on Friday reported that, while Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” remains on the shelves, but “Memorializing the Holocaust” by Janet Jacobs on female victims of the Holocaust has been removed.

“’The Bell Curve,’ which argues that Black men and women are genetically less intelligent than white people, is still there,” the paper reports. “But a critique of the book was pulled.”

…

“The outrageous Naval Academy book ban targets Maya Angelou and the Holocaust, but excludes Adolf Hitler,” the Democratic leader said in his post of the video. “This must be reversed immediately.”

‘So-Called Secretary of Defense’: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rips Pete Hegseth as ‘Dumb Effing Individual’
A purge of books at the U.S. Naval Academy for being “DEI” content prompted a furious video from the Democratic leader calling for Hegseth’s ouster.
‘So-Called Secretary of Defense’: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rips Pete Hegseth as ‘Dumb Effing Individual’

CNBC: CBP says latest tariffs have generated $500 million, well below Trump’s estimate

Posted on by
Reply
  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection told CNBC the department has collected more than $500 million under Trump’s latest tariffs.
  • Trump has repeatedly said the United States is taking in $2 billion per day from tariffs.
  • CBP says the average $250 million a day was collected even during the glitch that impacted freight already on the water.

“Even during the brief glitch, CBP’s average $250 million/day revenue stream remained uninterrupted,” CBP said in its statement.

Trump has repeatedly said the United States is taking in $2 billion per day from tariffs, including revenues directly resulting from his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs.

$250 million/day vs. $2 billion/day: King Donald has been lying by a factor of eight!

We also need to remember that tariffs are paid by the BUYERS, so any income comes out of OUR OWN pockets.

CBP says latest tariffs have generated $500 million, well below Trump’s estimate
Trump has repeatedly said the United States is taking in $2 billion per day from tariffs.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/16/us-customs-tariffs-revenue-generated-since-april-5.html

LA Times: California is first state to sue Trump on tariffs

Posted on by
Reply

It’s Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most direct move against Trump since the president retook office.

Newsom’s lawsuit, announced Wednesday morning with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, is the first challenge from a U.S. state against Trump’s signature foreign policy cudgel.

California, the world’s fifth largest economy, stands to lose billions to tariffs with major state industries from Silicon Valley to agriculture heavily dependent on global trade.

“President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy — driving up prices and threatening jobs,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue.”

The lawsuit is Newsom’s most direct legal challenge to Trump’s agenda since the president retook office in January. The move instantly reignites California’s war with Trump and cements its place atop the resistance, after Newsom spent months appealing to the president for federal disaster relief.

It’s also notable as a unilateral challenge, underscoring the singular importance of the issue in California. Bonta has worked closely with other blue states on previous lawsuits challenging Trump’s immigration policies and federal funding cuts.

Meanwhile from Trump’s mindless sycophants:

“Instead of focusing on California’s rampant crime, homelessness, and unaffordability, Gavin Newsom is spending his time trying to block President Trump’s historic efforts to finally address the national emergency of our country’s persistent goods trade deficits,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told POLITICO in a statement Wednesday.

California is first state to sue Trump on tariffs
It’s Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most direct move against Trump since the president retook office.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/16/california-is-first-state-to-sue-trump-on-tariffs-00292637

Politico: Military contractors pitch unprecedented prison plan for detained immigrants

Posted on by
Reply

Erik Prince wants to cut a deal to transport detainees from the US to El Salvador.

If you think things can’t get much worse, think again!

Former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and a team of defense contractors are pitching the White House on a plan to vastly expand deportations to El Salvador — transporting thousands of immigrants from U.S. holding facilities to a sprawling maximum security prison in Central America.

The proposal, exclusively obtained by POLITICO, says it would target “criminal illegal aliens” and would attempt to avoid legal challenges by designating part of the prison — which has drawn accusations of violence and overcrowding from human rights groups — as American territory.

…

The proposal would ultimately put Prince in charge of an extraordinary privatization effort that would use his company to handle logistics, including ferrying tens of thousands of detainees from American holding cells to El Salvador’s prison.

Military contractors pitch unprecedented prison plan for detained immigrants
Erik Prince wants to cut a deal to transport detainees from the US to El Salvador.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/military-contractors-prison-plan-detained-immigrants-erik-prince-00287208