Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

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“… On Iran, Trump told The Post: “I would like a deal done with Iran on non-nuclear. I would prefer that to bombing the hell out of it. . . . They don’t want to die. Nobody wants to die.”

“If we made the deal, Israel wouldn’t bomb them.”

… “I could tell what I have to tell them, and I hope they decide that they’re not going to do what they’re currently thinking of doing. And I think they’ll really be happy.”

“I’d tell them I’d make a deal.”

As for what he would offer Iran in return, he said, “I can’t say that because it’s too nasty. I won’t bomb them.” …”
 

Trump administration cuts teams that fight foreign election interference​

“This is an invitation for more foreign interference,” one expert told The Washington Post.


“The Trump administration this week eliminated much of the federal government’s front line of defense against foreign interference in U.S. elections.

The move, which follows years of Trump and his allies disputing the role that Russian influence campaigns played in his first successful bid for president, alarmed state election officials and election security experts, who warned that safeguarding Americans from foreign disinformation campaigns will be difficult if no one at the federal level is doing that work.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolved an FBI task force formed in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections that worked to uncover covert efforts by Russia, China, Iran and other foreign adversaries to manipulate U.S. voters.

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter Wednesday placing at least seven federal employees who work on teams combating foreign disinformation within the election security arm of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, on administrative leave, according to a recipient who shared a copy of the letter with The Washington Post.

“This is an invitation for more foreign interference,” said Lawrence Norden, vice president of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. …”
 

As Trump and Musk Upend Washington, Congressional Phones Can’t Keep Up​

In the three weeks since President Trump took office and gave Elon Musk free rein inside the federal government, millions of calls have poured in to members of Congress, jamming the system.

www.nytimes.com

As Trump and Musk Upend Washington, Congressional Phones Can’t Keep Up

In the three weeks since President Trump took office and gave Elon Musk free rein inside the federal government, millions of calls have poured in to members of Congress, jamming the system.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… a system that usually handles a few dozen calls per minute is straining to keep up with more than 1,500.

… Congressional phone lines have been jammed to the point of failure, according to lawmakers and officials on Capitol Hill, in a stark reflection of a political system buckling to a breaking point under an emboldened and unbound Mr. Trump.

Calls are pouring in from constituents outraged about Mr. Trump’s unilateral moves and how he has allowed Mr. Musk to gain access to and begin dismantling critical parts of the federal bureaucracy, and demanding that members of Congress take a stand against them.

Others are calling Republican senators incessantly to either demand that they fall in line behind Mr. Trump and his cabinet nominees, or plead with them to break ranks and challenge the president.

… An aide for Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah, estimated that about 60 percent of the calls coming into his office were critical of Mr. Musk, while the other 40 percent concerned Mr. Trump’s nominees. The ratio of favorable to unfavorable calls varied by the day, the aide said.

For example, before Mr. Curtis came out in support of Pete Hegseth, now the defense secretary, a majority of the callers were urging the senator to fall in line behind him. But afterward, more calls came in urging Mr. Curtis to change course, defy Mr. Trump and vote against Mr. Hegseth.

… On the other side of the Capitol, Representative Becca Balint, Democrat of Vermont, said she normally has two aides monitoring the office phones, enough to handle the handful of calls they typically receive each hour. But since Jan. 20, she has reassigned at least six additional staff members to keep up with a nonstop flood of calls. Most are from constituents outraged that Mr. Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency gained access to personal and private financial information through the Treasury Department’s federal payment system. …”
 
www.nytimes.com

Hegseth Uses His First Town Hall to Attack Diversity

The defense secretary, speaking to the Pentagon work force, defended his “unconventional approaches” to an audience that included women and people of color.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… On Friday, Mr. Hegseth touched on some matters of national security, promising “accountability” for “what occurred in Afghanistan” without explaining what that meant.

He also pledged the same for the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as for “the war that was unleashed in Ukraine,” a military invasion ordered by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

But in his view, Mr. Hegseth told the attendees, military deterrence begins “with our own southern border.” …”
 
Continued

“… “It starts with the basic stuff, right?” Mr. Hegseth said. “It’s grooming standards and uniform standards and training standards, fitness standards, all of that matters.”

As a civilian, he is often seen wearing an American flag pocket square in his suit coat, as he was during his Senate confirmation hearinglast month, and sporting a full-color American flag belt buckle, as he did when Vice President JD Vance swore him into office as defense secretary and again onstage at the Pentagon on Friday.

Wearing the American flag as an article of clothing is prohibited by the U.S. Flag Code, which establishes proper and improper ways of respecting the national ensign. The Defense Department’s own website reiterates that in a 2019 article posted during the first Trump administration. …”
 
“… As soon as the question-and-answer portion of the event began, the Pentagon cut the video feed.“

White Noise Television GIF by Four Rest Films
 

US and China teeter on edge of trade war as tariff deadline looms​

Donald Trump’s shock tactics may have pushed Beijing away from negotiating table, experts say

www.ft.com

US and China teeter on edge of trade war as tariff deadline looms

Donald Trump’s shock tactics may have pushed Beijing away from negotiating table, experts say
www.ft.com www.ft.com


“… When the US duties took effect three days later, Beijing immediately hit back, announcing additional 10 to 15 per cent duties on US energy exports and farm equipment. China’s duties are due to take effect on Monday.

“This could be just the beginning of this phase of the trade war,” said Zhang Yanshen, an expert at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

“This could become a very, very bad situation.”

Some analysts had expected the US and China to hold talks to avert major trade hostilities. Trump initially said he expected to talk to President Xi Jinping, but after China retaliated, he said he was in “no rush” and the tariffs were an “opening salvo” with “very substantial” measures to come.

…. Experts in Beijing said Trump’s shock tactics, aimed at forcing Xi to reach a deal quickly, might have backfired. The US president provided only two days between announcing and implementing the tariffs — a timeline that was probably unacceptable to Xi.

… But analysts noted that the limited scope of China’s retaliation — which included antitrust investigations into Google and Nvidia but hit a narrower range of goods than the US levies — suggested room for negotiations. …”
 
nycfan said:
Do you use Venmo? If you don’t mark info private anyone using it can see who you are doing business with.
Click to expand...
Awhile back my son was getting close to graduating from college and was starting to seriously look for a job. I was just starting to use Venmo and noticed his transactions. They were mostly with his buddies but full of stupid early 20 male with no frontal lobe comments. I was like dude….you have to quit doing this but at the minimum make it private.
 
www.ft.com

Canada’s trade minister visits Brussels in bid to boost mutual commerce

Move comes after Donald Trump threatened both with tariffs
www.ft.com www.ft.com

Canada’s trade minister visits Brussels in bid to boost mutual commerce​

Move comes after Donald Trump threatened both with tariffs

Canada wants to boost trade with the EU, its trade minister has said, as tensions with the US persist over President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.Mary Ng visited Brussels this weekend to hold talks with EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.Ng said that the two sides could better exploit their existing trade deal. Since it came into force in 2017, EU-Canada trade has grown by two-thirds but the pair discussed how to boost it further.“Do I think we could do better? Certainly,” Ng said. Both sides should seek to “enable our businesses to get into each other’s markets” and “always find ways of doing more of” that.

...

EU countries want Ottawa to build pipelines to move oil and gas to Canada’s east coast where it could be exported to Europe, after Europe banned most Russian supplies.Objections from provinces and indigenous communities have held up projects. But Ng said that Trump’s tariff threats could change that. “Canadians are really looking at what are the kinds of things we can do to help us be more resilient,” she said.There was “much consensus now among the provincial and territorial leaders that we will remove barriers within our country so that we truly can have free trade within Canada. That is something that has eluded us.”But she said consultation with indigenous people, who own some of the land which mining and energy projects would exploit, would continue.
 
Bitcoin, emissions credits and promises about artificial intelligence can only do so much. Like it or not, Tesla is still a car company. And Tesla's sales are not off to a great start in 2025.

In recent days, full-year and January sales results from various markets around the world indicate a bleak picture for the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle company. Even as it added the Cybertruck to its lineup in large volumes last year—which should have unlocked more buyers in America's expansive pickup truck field—Tesla is seeing serious declines in places where it once had a near-lock on electric sales. Let's take a look at some of the areas taking the hardest hits.
As various outlets covered this week, the California New Car Dealers Association's (CADA) latest data indicates that EV sales leveled off in the Golden State last year, holding steady at 25.3% of new-car sales and just slightly up from 2023's result of 25%. Granted, while it's quite impressive for one in four new cars sold in California to be entirely electric, a slowdown in once-rapid EV growth has coincided with a big decline in Tesla sales.

Their report doesn't mince words. "All of the decrease in the state market last year was attributable to Tesla, which had an 11.6% decline," it said. "Registrations for all other brands increased 1.4%." And that's for all new passenger vehicle registrations in California, not just EVs.

...

The story gets worse in other parts of the world. In Germany, where Tesla was the longtime EV sales leader even as new entries from Volkswagen, BMW, Audi and various Chinese brands started showing up, sales declined a whole 60% in January—just 1,277 registrations in Europe's biggest car market, according to Fortune. Tesla’s sales were also down 63% in France in January, another large car market, from a year earlier. They also dropped 8% in the UK year-over-year in January even as all-electric vehicle sales rose to 21% of the British new car market, a seven-point increase from 2024. "No Tesla cracked the UK's top 10 best-seller list last month, something that has regularly happened in the past," Ars Technica reported this week.

And one trend that's especially worth watching is what's happening in China, which makes up more than a third of Tesla's global sales. In China, which leads the world in total all-electric and hybrid sales, Tesla dropped 11.5% in January.
 
altmin said:
www.ft.com

Canada’s trade minister visits Brussels in bid to boost mutual commerce

Move comes after Donald Trump threatened both with tariffs
www.ft.com www.ft.com

Canada’s trade minister visits Brussels in bid to boost mutual commerce​

Move comes after Donald Trump threatened both with tariffs

Canada wants to boost trade with the EU, its trade minister has said, as tensions with the US persist over President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.Mary Ng visited Brussels this weekend to hold talks with EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.Ng said that the two sides could better exploit their existing trade deal. Since it came into force in 2017, EU-Canada trade has grown by two-thirds but the pair discussed how to boost it further.“Do I think we could do better? Certainly,” Ng said. Both sides should seek to “enable our businesses to get into each other’s markets” and “always find ways of doing more of” that.

...

EU countries want Ottawa to build pipelines to move oil and gas to Canada’s east coast where it could be exported to Europe, after Europe banned most Russian supplies.Objections from provinces and indigenous communities have held up projects. But Ng said that Trump’s tariff threats could change that. “Canadians are really looking at what are the kinds of things we can do to help us be more resilient,” she said.There was “much consensus now among the provincial and territorial leaders that we will remove barriers within our country so that we truly can have free trade within Canada. That is something that has eluded us.”But she said consultation with indigenous people, who own some of the land which mining and energy projects would exploit, would continue.
Click to expand...
So Trump is unifying Canada now.
 
Tesla not only benefits from various tax credits offered BEV buyers, but they are not subject to the dealer franchise laws of various states. All legacy car manufacturers are not permitted to sell directly to consumers but must sell through franchised dealers, which means splitting their margin. Tesla enjoys the ability of direct-to-consumer sales cutting dealers out of the picture. They keep all their margin.
 
President Donald Trump's Department of Transportation just dealt a blow to a key federal program that funds the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the U.S.

In a letter to state transportation departments titled "Suspending Approval of State Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans," the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) notified states that their previously approved plans to deploy charging infrastructure under the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program were no longer valid.

Under the NEVI program, states need to submit plans to the FHWA ahead of each fiscal year, outlining how they plan to use the funds they're entitled to for that year. During the Biden administration, the FHWA approved the first four (out of five) years of state plans, for fiscal years 2022 through 2025. Although that roughly $3.3 billion in funding was essentially unlocked by states, much of it has not yet been spent or committed ("obligated," in government speak) to projects.

...

The DOT's latest move could end up getting sorted out by the courts as well. NEVI funding was appropriated by Congress through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the program can't be wiped away or indefinitely paused with the stroke of a pen. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 says a president can't stand in the way of funding appropriated by Congress.
 
superrific said:
Can you explain something that's been bugging me for a little while?

Do you see yourself as the OG of "truthhurts" prophecy? Or is it the OGtruth that hurts?
Click to expand...
the better question would be to ask yourself why something so trivial and insignificant would bug you any at all
 
When will there be an executive order demanding larger tanks on toliets?
 
www.nytimes.com

Early Crypto Traders Had Speedy Profit on Trump Coin as Others Suffered Losses

Some traders made tens of millions off a new cryptocurrency launched by President Trump and his sons. Many others lost out.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Early Crypto Traders Had Speedy Profit on Trump Coin as Others Suffered Losses​

Some traders made tens of millions off a new cryptocurrency launched by President Trump and his sons. Many others lost out.

"The curious trade came a little past 9 p.m. on Jan. 17 — a $1,096,109 bet less than two minutes after the soon-to-be president of the United States posted on his social media account that his family had issued a cryptocurrency called $Trump.

In those first minutes, a crypto wallet with a unique identification code beginning 6QSc2Cx secured a giant load of these new tokens — 5,971,750 of them — at the opening sale price of just 18 cents each, starting a surge in the $Trump price that would soon reach $75 per token.

This early trader, whose identity is not known, walked away with a two-day profit of as much as $109 million, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times.

But the fast profits for early traders, whose names are unknown but some of whom appear to be based in China, came at the expense of a far larger number of slower investors who have cumulatively suffered more than $2 billion in losses after the price of the token crashed.

...As of the middle of this week, more than 810,000 wallets had lost money on the bet, according to an examination that the crypto forensics firm Chainalysis performed for The New York Times. The total losses are almost certainly much larger: The data does not include transactions that took place on a series of popular crypto marketplaces that started offering the coin only after its price had already surged.

The price of $Trump hovered around $17 this week, less than a quarter of its $75 peak value. ..."
 
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