[RD] Trump in Charge: The MAGA Presidency
- Thread starter Birdjaguar
- Start date
Trump grants one-month exemption for US automakers from new tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada.
President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the “big 3” automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Asked if 30 days was enough for the auto sector to prepare for the new taxes, Leavitt said Trump was blunt with the automakers seeking an exemption: “He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff.”
Trump had long promised to impose tariffs, but his opening weeks in the White House involved aggressive threats and surprise suspensions, leaving allies unclear at what the U.S. president is actually trying to achieve.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-ta...hina-lutnick-2b269614084027a4894aa14f3dc16227
"Any chance the three of you can set up some new auto plants, a workforce, logistics and supply lines in the US in just 30 days, just so that I don't look like a complete idiot?"
It's blindingly obvious that at this point, there are no responsible adults left in the room, and this backtracking has only happened because a staffer or other adviser has finally pinned down Trump long enough to explain the oncoming catastrophe in a way that appeals to Trump, i.e. something that hurts his vanity or his pocket.
Verbose
Deity
30 days seems a more appropriate time frame for their businesses to just conk, than to successfully set up a supply line outside of this tariff BS.Trump grants one-month exemption for US automakers from new tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada.
President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.
The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the “big 3” automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Asked if 30 days was enough for the auto sector to prepare for the new taxes, Leavitt said Trump was blunt with the automakers seeking an exemption: “He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff.”
Trump had long promised to impose tariffs, but his opening weeks in the White House involved aggressive threats and surprise suspensions, leaving allies unclear at what the U.S. president is actually trying to achieve.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-ta...hina-lutnick-2b269614084027a4894aa14f3dc16227
"Any chance the three of you can set up some new auto plants, a workforce, logistics and supply lines in the US in just 30 days, just so that I don't look like a complete idiot?"
The people of Lesotho have reacted with some consternation after Trump's comments that no one (i.e him) has heard of their country. The best part of the article is right at the end:
Klaus Hergersheimer
Emperor
The first part underlined I can understand. The last is a matter of one's interpretation.
If former-president Biden was paying people up until Trump's tenure, Trump should continue to make sure that particular work gets paid. However I see no reason why he's obligated to pay for any new work during his tenure without reviewing it.
Now if the review period is considered too arbitrary and foot-dragging, I will leave it up to others to demonstrate why. But the notion that "we had an agreement with the last guy who's not the boss anymore" I imagine is not very well-rounded.
I can agree to that. I won't agree that it implies paychecks to USAID or whomever are always to be issued immediately.
Trump grants one-month exemption for US automakers from new tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada.
President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.
The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the “big 3” automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Asked if 30 days was enough for the auto sector to prepare for the new taxes, Leavitt said Trump was blunt with the automakers seeking an exemption: “He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff.”
Trump had long promised to impose tariffs, but his opening weeks in the White House involved aggressive threats and surprise suspensions, leaving allies unclear at what the U.S. president is actually trying to achieve.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-ta...hina-lutnick-2b269614084027a4894aa14f3dc16227
"Any chance the three of you can set up some new auto plants, a workforce, logistics and supply lines in the US in just 30 days, just so that I don't look like a complete idiot?"
Maybe Trump wants every industry and every country to come hat-in-hand and beg him for an extension each and every month to scratch his 'deal' itch?
Between the US government forcefully pushing EV, then pulling back on it, then on-again and off-again steep tariffs, the US Car Industry is going to lose a lot of money trying to keep up with the policy of the day.
Do they make a mobile-home or R.V. version of factories?
EnglishEdward
Deity
My perception of Donald Trump is likely very different from many US citizens.
However I am caught by my foreboding statement that electing Donald Trump
President once was comic, but electing him again is going to be tragic.
The logical consequences of him constantly changing his mind is that
it will likely result in POTUS authority being discredited and ignored.
Afterall why comply with him when he will likely change his mind again.
And I have watched the expression on recent pictures with Vlad Putin's
face; he appears quite perplexed by the Donald.
However I am caught by my foreboding statement that electing Donald Trump
President once was comic, but electing him again is going to be tragic.
The logical consequences of him constantly changing his mind is that
it will likely result in POTUS authority being discredited and ignored.
Afterall why comply with him when he will likely change his mind again.
And I have watched the expression on recent pictures with Vlad Putin's
face; he appears quite perplexed by the Donald.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
Tariff! >>>> Dow Jones down >>>> Trump buys >>>> one month exemption! >>>> Dow Jones up >>>>Trump sells
Pretty straightforward.
Pretty straightforward.
He's not paying. The United States is per our elected Congress. It is up to Congress to review. Trump has some limited discretion on spending but not wholesale stop of contracts while he "reviews" while tweeting away on his golden throne.
Maybe Trump will go after ActBlue next?
www.pressdemocrat.com
$16 billion is a lot, even if over 20 years.
ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising powerhouse, faces internal chaos
At least seven senior officials have left the group, setting off deep concerns about its future as it confronts scrutiny from congressional Republicans.
www.pressdemocrat.com
$16 billion is a lot, even if over 20 years.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
i think, personally, that overtly & deliberately annulling all spending and not doing any more falls somewhere within the realm of "foot-dragging".
If the work being done was allocated by law by congress and signed by the president, then it is not within a new president's authority to undo that statute in whole or in part. To think otherwise is to not understand how the US government works.
Inside the White House’s new media strategy to promote Trump as ‘KING’
The Trump administration has transformed its traditional press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation, and “they’re all offense, all the time.”When actress Selena Gomez posted an Instagram video in January in which she cried about the Trump administration’s deportations of children, the viral clip threatened to stoke nationwide unease over the policy’s human impact.
But the White House digital strategy team had a plan. They dispatched videographers to interview the mothers of children killed by undocumented immigrants. They put President Donald Trump’s face on a Valentine’s Day card reading: “Roses are red, violets are blue, come here illegally and we’ll deport you.”
And they mimicked a style of video popular for its meditative soundscapes, known as ASMR, with a presentation that featured the rattling handcuff chains of a deportation flight. Gomez deleted her video shortly after posting, without specifying why. The Trump team’s video has been viewed more than 100 million times.
The effort was part of a new administration strategy to transform the traditional White House press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation, disseminating messages directly to Americans through the memes, TikToks and podcasts where millions now get their news.
After years of working to undermine mainstream outlets and neutralize critical reporting, Trump’s allies are now pushing a parallel information universe of social media feeds and right-wing firebrands to sell the country on his expansionist approach to presidential power.
For the Trump team, that has involved aggressively confronting critics like Gomez, not just to “reframe the narrative” but to drown them out, said Kaelan Dorr, a deputy assistant to the president who runs the digital team.
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media inside the Oval Office on February 3. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
“We thought it was necessary to provide pushback in the harshest, most forceful way possible,” he said. “And through that, we had a viral hit on our hands.”
Stephen K. Bannon, a senior White House aide during Trump’s first term and the host of the “War Room” podcast, said the White House has reimagined itself as a “major information content provider.” What Trump does “is the action, and we just happen to be one of the distributors,” he said.
“Rapid-response communications are normally defensive,” he said. “They’re all offense, all the time.”
The White House’s rapid-response account posted 207 times to X on Tuesday, the day of Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, or nearly nine posts an hour, including Trump sound bites, supporter interviews and Democrat-slamming memes and attack lines. When a Fox News analyst called Trump “the political colossus of our time,” the team got the clip cut, captioned and posted online within 11 minutes.
In press rooms, the administration is welcoming friendly “new media” podcasters, X users and YouTubers to deliver what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calls “news-related content” to their millions of followers.
And on social media, the White House is firing off talking points across every platform in a bid to win online attention and reach viewers who have tuned out the traditional press. In an X post, communications director Steven Cheung described their goal: “FULL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE.”
The administration has produced news-style reports trumpeting Trump’s successes and put them in email newsletters and Leavitt-narrated “MAGA Minute” video segments; soon, they’ll be delivered via text.
The team has worked to humanize the president with picturesque postcards of a White House snowfall and behind-the-scenes videos from the Oval Office — where a New York Post showing the president’s mug shot hangs framed just outside the door. But the digital team has also gone for shock factor, posting a photo of chained men shuffling onto a transport jet (“Deportation Flights Have Begun”) and a portrait of Trump with a golden crown (“LONG LIVE THE KING”).
Lord Shadow
Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2005
- Messages
- 2,177
Frankly demoralizing. Post-Truth 2.0: it doesn't matter what you say, as long as it's delivered promptly and well-packaged.
Mike Johnson's Chief Of Staff Arrested For Drunken Driving After Trump's Speech
The House speaker threw his full support behind Hayden Haynes on Wednesday.
Mike Johnson's Chief Of Staff Arrested For Drunken Driving After Trump's Speech
The House speaker threw his full support behind Hayden Haynes on Wednesday.
Between the Secretary of Defense and this guy, I guess Jack Daniels will know how to make up for the lost sales to Canada.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Trump Press Sec Accidentally Blurts Out Real Goal of His Tariff Scam
As press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the quiet part out loud about Trump’s tariffs, a reporter who covers Trumpworld explains why his vile bullying of our allies should be taken a lot more seriously.
In his speech to Congress, President Trump kept lying about his tariffs, falsely claiming that Canada is letting huge amounts of fentanyl into our country and suggesting the trade wars will only get worse. Then press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters directly that if Canada wants to avoid tariffs in the future, it should become the fifty-first U.S. state. She revealed it: Trump’s tariffs aren’t about fentanyl or any supposed unfair treatment of the U.S. They’re about forcing Canada, with no justification whatsoever, to submit to his will. Newsflash: It’s not OK for the American president to lie relentlessly about our allies and threaten them with economic Armageddon to bend them to his deranged, passing whims. We talked to Rolling Stone senior political reporter Asawin Suebsaeng, who’s been forcefully making that argument. He explains why Trump’s vile bullying of our allies deserves to be taken much more seriously, as a clear sign of Trump’s very real imperialist intentions.https://newrepublic.com/article/192...eveals-ugly-scam-behind-tariffs?ICID=ref_fark
President Trump on Truth Social a couple of hours ago:
After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114116432894994278
After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl. Thank you to President Sheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114116432894994278
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
President Trump preps executive order to dismantle Education Department
The order would direct Linda McMahon, the newly installed education secretary, to dismantle the agency she oversees. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on X that Trump won't sign an order Thursday, as some media outlets have reported, but she did not rule out action coming later.
A White House official told USA TODAY Trump is still examining his next steps toward a potential executive action and addressing the future of the Department of Education.
Since only Congress can abolish federal agencies, the decree would set up a new test for the bounds of presidential authority. And it has the potential to create a new wave of anxiety about the billions of congressionally appropriated dollars that regularly flow through the Education Department to schools and students.
A copy of a draft order directs McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities."
It was unclear whether this draft of the executive order, which has been in the works for weeks, is the version that Trump is now contemplating.
Trump campaigned to eliminate the Department of Education, which Republicans have long accused of holding too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curriculum. Trump told reporters last month that he hopes McMahon eventually puts herself "out of a job."
The potential decree – which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Public Radio – comes after McMahon, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Monday, laid out what she called the "final mission" of the agency. That vision, she said in a message to staffers, is to "end the overreach from Washington."
"This restoration will profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department," she wrote. "In coming months, we will partner with Congress and other federal agencies to determine the best path forward to fulfill the expectations of the President and the American people."
McMahon did not, however, explicitly call on Monday for the total abolition of the Education Department. In her public statements on the subject, she has walked a fine line since Trump tapped her to manage the agency. Her boss has repeatedly signaled he intends to shutter the department. A few weeks ago, he said he wanted it "closed immediately."
But McMahon admitted during her Senate confirmation hearing last month that the agency "clearly could not be shut down without" congressional approval.
She also stressed that key funding streams – such as Pell Grants, federal student loans and Title I financial assistance for low-income schools – would not be affected by the Trump administration's efforts to downsize.
Yet the president's broader rapid-fire agenda has already disrupted major segments of the American education system.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has terminated millions of dollars in education research contracts, effectively decimating the Education Department's data-collecting branch. Universities are in a holding pattern amid a court battle over proposed cuts to money on which they rely heavily. Grant funding for researchers has separately been frozen, jeopardizing graduate admissions and posing a major threat to college budgets.
The Education Department itself, meanwhile, has been beset with layoffs, buyouts and administrative turnover, which has caused frustrations internally and is already hampering its functions. Another "very significant" reduction in workforce is coming, the agency's human resources chief warned employees late last week, before urging them to take a $25,000 offer to quit or resign within days.
Three weeks ago, Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, pressed McMahon at her confirmation hearing about whether gutting the agency responsible for overseeing important federal programs for schools would have wider implications.
"How do we maintain the administration and oversight of these programs if we abolish or substantially reorganize the Department of Education?" she asked.
McMahon promised that money flowing from Congress wouldn't be disrupted. Democrats weren't convinced.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news.../80540008007/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
By law, only Congress can fully close federal agencies. But the department is already facing another 'very significant' workforce reduction, according to an email to staff sent last week.
WASHINGTON – A preliminary executive order prepared for President Donald Trump seeks to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education to "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law," according to a draft reviewed by USA TODAY.The order would direct Linda McMahon, the newly installed education secretary, to dismantle the agency she oversees. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on X that Trump won't sign an order Thursday, as some media outlets have reported, but she did not rule out action coming later.
A White House official told USA TODAY Trump is still examining his next steps toward a potential executive action and addressing the future of the Department of Education.
Since only Congress can abolish federal agencies, the decree would set up a new test for the bounds of presidential authority. And it has the potential to create a new wave of anxiety about the billions of congressionally appropriated dollars that regularly flow through the Education Department to schools and students.
A copy of a draft order directs McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities."
It was unclear whether this draft of the executive order, which has been in the works for weeks, is the version that Trump is now contemplating.
Trump campaigned to eliminate the Department of Education, which Republicans have long accused of holding too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curriculum. Trump told reporters last month that he hopes McMahon eventually puts herself "out of a job."
The potential decree – which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Public Radio – comes after McMahon, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Monday, laid out what she called the "final mission" of the agency. That vision, she said in a message to staffers, is to "end the overreach from Washington."
"This restoration will profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department," she wrote. "In coming months, we will partner with Congress and other federal agencies to determine the best path forward to fulfill the expectations of the President and the American people."
McMahon did not, however, explicitly call on Monday for the total abolition of the Education Department. In her public statements on the subject, she has walked a fine line since Trump tapped her to manage the agency. Her boss has repeatedly signaled he intends to shutter the department. A few weeks ago, he said he wanted it "closed immediately."
But McMahon admitted during her Senate confirmation hearing last month that the agency "clearly could not be shut down without" congressional approval.
She also stressed that key funding streams – such as Pell Grants, federal student loans and Title I financial assistance for low-income schools – would not be affected by the Trump administration's efforts to downsize.
Yet the president's broader rapid-fire agenda has already disrupted major segments of the American education system.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has terminated millions of dollars in education research contracts, effectively decimating the Education Department's data-collecting branch. Universities are in a holding pattern amid a court battle over proposed cuts to money on which they rely heavily. Grant funding for researchers has separately been frozen, jeopardizing graduate admissions and posing a major threat to college budgets.
The Education Department itself, meanwhile, has been beset with layoffs, buyouts and administrative turnover, which has caused frustrations internally and is already hampering its functions. Another "very significant" reduction in workforce is coming, the agency's human resources chief warned employees late last week, before urging them to take a $25,000 offer to quit or resign within days.
Three weeks ago, Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, pressed McMahon at her confirmation hearing about whether gutting the agency responsible for overseeing important federal programs for schools would have wider implications.
"How do we maintain the administration and oversight of these programs if we abolish or substantially reorganize the Department of Education?" she asked.
McMahon promised that money flowing from Congress wouldn't be disrupted. Democrats weren't convinced.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news.../80540008007/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us