Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

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Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr has ordered investigations into NPR and PBS with the goal of slashing the money given to the government-funded organizations, The New York Times reports.
The investigations are ostensibly about PBS and NPR’s member stations’ sponsorships, according to a letter from Carr obtained by the Times. “I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” the letter reads. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.” Both PBS and NPR’s chief executives told the Times that their advertising complies with the FCC’s underwriting regulations.
“To the extent that taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements,” the letter continues, “then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars.”
Carr is already facing pushback. In an emailed statement to The Verge, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says the investigation is “yet another Administration effort to weaponize the power of the FCC. The FCC has no business intimidating and silencing broadcast media.”
 
^ worth the read. gives a good sense of what about the US is about to fuck up in its trade relations with Canada.
60% of oil, 90% of potash, 66% of aluminum etc etc
 
Trump 2017 inauguration:

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Trump today:

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Inauguration Day 2025:

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Growing up there were always television shows which featured a neighborhood blowhard who thought he knew everything and had the solution to every national problem and was very loud and obnoxious about it, but who in actuality didn't know shit outside their chosen field of work. And in real life I've met plenty of people like that over the years, unfortunately. It seems to me as if the whole phenomenon of Trumpism has been the process of allowing these people to take over the Republican Party and eventually the country. The chubby guy who used to sit at the end of the bar bitching about everything and had simple solutions to every problem are now the guys running the country.
 
Growing up there were always television shows which featured a neighborhood blowhard who thought he knew everything and had the solution to every national problem and was very loud and obnoxious about it, but who in actuality didn't know shit outside their chosen field of work. And in real life I've met plenty of people like that over the years, unfortunately. It seems to me as if the whole phenomenon of Trumpism has been the process of allowing these people to take over the Republican Party and eventually the country. The chubby guy who used to sit at the end of the bar bitching about everything and had simple solutions to every problem are now the guys running the country.
I remember two blowhards on WRAL-Channel 5 - Cousin Chubb and Jesse Helms.
 
The irony is that the dollar losing reserve status would be better for US trade than tariffs. Of course Trump doesn't know the first thing about economics, but it's funny because his own treasury secretary has been calling for the dollar to lose reserve status.

There's a view among economists -- including Bessent! -- that reserve currency status keeps the dollar permanently higher than its equilibrium value, and that this overvaluation hurts American competitiveness. I'm unsure whether I buy this story (there's much to recommend it, but I also see multiple problems and I'm far from the only one), but if it's true, that means losing reserve currency status would do much of the work Trump wants from tariffs, and mostly inflation-free.

Of course, when you're calling Mike Flynn to ask him whether a strong dollar is good, this point will not be understood. Far too subtle and complex.
 
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