The Donald Trump Score Card

Musk’s turn as a Trump diplomat raises conflict of interest concerns

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Musk’s interactions with world leaders alongside Trump are raising questions about the tech leader’s potential influence on U.S. foreign policy over the next four years and the potential for conflicts of interest, Washington insiders say. Musk maintains extensive worldwide investments, especially in China, America’s most powerful adversary, and has openly supported far-right political movements around the world.

“It’s on a level that is so foreign to me I can’t get my head around it,” a former national security official in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet said. “Being in these meetings alone or with Trump, who knows what ethics violations are taking place.”

 

Trump files amicus brief to 'immediately' stop Biden sale of border wall, says conduct is 'possibly criminal'

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Trump’s amicus brief states that if officials in the Biden administration are "deliberately selling off border-wall materials at a major financial loss to the Government to obstruct the pro-wall policy of Congress and President Trump, such conduct likely constitutes a criminal act, such as a conspiracy to defraud the United States."

 

Trump reportedly reconsidering Brown.


Trump rethinks firing Joint Chiefs chairman after one-on-one meeting, sources say

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"For months, Trump and his close associates have vowed to immediately fire U.S. military leaders whom they deem too focused on diversity initiatives, often referring to Brown specifically. But the meeting went well, according to the two people with knowledge of the conversation.

Trump and Brown met during the second quarter of the annual military grudge match at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, on Saturday, the two people said. Trump and Brown spoke one-on-one for about 20 minutes in the owner’s box.

They got along well, and Trump is “changing his tone” on Brown, the two people said, and it now appears Trump will not fire him right away. "

 

Clearwater man arrested for allegedly striking police officer with bat at Capitol riot.

Tampa, FL area again.


Clearwater man struck police officer with bat during Capitol riot, prosecutors say

 

NY Post runs another article apologetic to Trump's rioters.


Jacob Sullum: Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 rioters will reverse true abuses

 

Trump is still confused about tariffs.


In recent comments, Trump talks history of U.S. tariffs. Here's a fact check.

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This week, Trump also cited McKinley's 1890 tariff hikes as evidence that these customs taxes can enrich the U.S.

"You go back and look at the 1890s, 1880s, McKinley, and you take a look at tariffs, that was when we were proportionately the richest," Trump said.

In 1890, tariff hikes raised the average duties on foreign imports from 38% to nearly 50%. McKinley, a representative for Ohio at the time, pushed for the taxes to protect his state's steelworkers from foreign competition, according to Dartmouth College economics professor Doug Irwin.

However, the decade that followed these hikes was marked by economic trouble.

"The U.S. went into a depression in 1893, and we didn't really emerge out of it until the mid-1890s. So in general the 1890s was not a great decade for the U.S. economy," Irwin said.

Additionally, McKinley's tariff bill raised prices of goods like shoes and clothes, leading to voter backlash that cost Republicans 93 seats in the next election, according to the House of Representatives Office of the Historian.

 

Somebody gonna get they ass whooped - or feelings hurt at a minimum…..

 

The potential for a Trump pardon of the J-6 rioters should be balanced off against pardons being issued by Joe Biden as he closes out his Presidency. A lot of pardons issued this week.

 

So, ....... What was Lauren wearing?

 

Rod Rosenstein is on Kash Patel's retribution list.

Trump nominated Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General. The Senate confirmed it 94-6.

Rosenstein appointed Mueller special counsel to investigate Trump's possible illegal links with Russia and Trump's campaign.


‘Curious if I’m on that list?’: Kash Patel’s potential targets fear his tenure as FBI director

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"Rod Rosenstein, who served as deputy attorney general during Trump’s first term and who is on Patel’s list, noted that senior DOJ officials, including the FBI director, are supposed to follow longtime Justice Department procedures that call for the facts and the law to drive criminal investigations, not politics.

“When I was deputy attorney general, President Trump regularly expressed his opinion about who should be fired or prosecuted,” Rosenstein said. “I didn’t treat his opinions as orders. Lawyers who take leadership positions at the Department of Justice know they need to base prosecution decisions on the facts and the law.”"

 

A partial list of Patel's enemies:

Bill Barr, Rod Rosenstein, Pat Cipollone, Patrick Philbin, Robert Hur, Christopher Wray

 

The economic, political, and social climate of the 1890's.


How Today Is Like the 1890s

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"Presidential elections drew the highest turnouts ever reached, were decided by the closest margins, and witnessed the most political violence.…The nation experienced one impeachment, two presidential elections “won” by the loser of the popular vote, and three presidential assassinations. Control of Congress rocketed back and forth, but neither party seemed capable of tackling the systemic issues disrupting Americans’ lives. Driving it all, a tribal partisanship captivated the public, folding racial, ethnic, and religious identities into two warring hosts….Republicans tended to support an active federal government, while Democrats denounced “centralism,” but mostly, each side just opposed what the other stood for."

 

The 1890's wasn't a tariff-spurred, great economy decade like Trump claims.


Banking Panics of the Gilded Age | Federal Reserve History

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"In the fall, the banking panic ended. Gold inflows from Europe lowered interest rates. Banks resumed operations. Cash and credit resumed lubricating the wheels of commerce and industry. Nevertheless, the economy remained in recession until the following summer. According to estimates by Andrew Jalil and Charles Hoffman, industrial production fell by 15.3 percent between 1892 and 1894, and unemployment rose to between 17 and 19 percent.1 After a brief pause, the economy slumped into recession again in late 1895 and did not fully recover until mid-1897."

 

The sad reality of Trump pal Giuliani.


The Sad Reality Of Trump Pal Rudy Giuliani's Life Today - Nicki Swift

 

'President-elect' Musk says only the right-wing AfD party can save Germany.

He also called the German chancellor an incompetent fool.


Outrage as Elon Musk claims ‘only AfD can save Germany’

 

Musk is using the Christmas market attack in Germany that killed people to insult the current leadership and promote a right-wing group (the types who foster mindsets that can lead to such attacks).

Musk could do the same as Trump did at Arlington by organizing a photo-op with relatives of the victims at a cemetery to promote the election of a far-right party. And maybe complain about grocery prices too.

Musk could also do another one of his 'sweepstakes' ploy in Germany that give a million dollars each day to people with the intention that they will vote for a far-right party.

Musk can add that the Christmas market attack in Germany would have never happened if Trump had been president at the time and that Trump will solve such problems by building a wall.

 

The Senate passed the stopgap funding bill Saturday and Biden signed it into law.

Musk (and Trump) didn't get what they wanted.

Technically a government shutdown occurred because the Friday midnight deadline was missed, but pragmatically there wasn't a fiscal shutdown because it lasted less than a day, which is the duration needed to be recorded officially in a ledger.

 

Trump reportedly considering Alan Dershowitz as anti-semitism envoy.


Exclusive | Alan Dershowitz, ex-RHONY star could be Trump's antisemitism envoy

 

Patel has been highly vocal about his retribution campaign and has written a string of children's book expressing it.

It's evidence that can be used in court to dismiss Patel's quest to incriminate people he doesn't like. He would have to present evidence to a grand jury, secure an indictment, and go through a lengthy court process to try to dispose of people. The prosecution of Trump and his associates has shown that it's a lengthly process even with some of them eventually admitting to crimes by plea bargaining. Trump's cohorts being convicted in the GA election subversion case is an example.

An easier route for Patel in the FBI would be to try to fire people he doesn't like, scare them out of office, or demote them to other positions. Bogging them down with civil suits would be another approach.

 

Trump said to see Elon Musk as useful activist after spending deal showdown

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"It appears to mark a shift in approach for Trump and could suggest he has become more savvy about the political process since his first presidency, when he routinely ran into legislative and optics hurdles as he pursued his agenda.

In 2018, Trump said he would be proud to shut down the federal government if he could not reach a deal with Democrats to include the funding that he wanted for his proposed wall along the US southern border.

“I’ll be the one to shut it down,” Trump boasted to reporters at the time, to the bemusement of then House speaker Nancy Pelosi and then Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. “I will take the mantle. And I will shut it down for border security.”

The partial government shutdown that followed was the longest in US history, and Trump was caught off guard by the negative public reaction directed at him and his gambit, according to a former Trump White House official. Trump later backtracked on his border-wall funding demand."