Trump’s approach to just about everything: He’s so crazy, he just might do it. Most of the time, it works.
Capitulation Writ Large:
Trump promises to punish people for disagreeing with him. Lately, he’s found that such threats are sufficient to bring many of his perceived enemies in line. This was certainly the case when the leaders at Disney rolled over after Trump sued ABC for alleged defamation by George Stephanopoulos, in a case that First Amendment lawyers widely believed Disney would have won. This is one way that institutions fail: not because they are forced into submission, but because people in positions of power collapse all on their own.
Today, the three richest men in America are Bezos, Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. These new robber barons have proclaimed their commitment to free speech. When Trump, in his second term, makes good on his promises to seek revenge against the American citizens who work as journalists, we will see whether they choose to back up that commitment. Like the robber barons who preceded them, Musk and Zuckerberg seem less interested in the public good than in their own personal enrichment. Musk, in particular, has built a platform designed to advance his political goals and discredit his opponents. But Bezos, too, has gone so far as to write a column in his own newspaper blaming its journalists for public distrust in them. Somehow, he managed to leave out any mention of Trump’s years-long campaign to cast them as “enemies of the people.”
Trump Tries To Take Over Cali’s Water Supply. You know, because of ‘disastrous California policies’:
Sec. 2. Overriding Disastrous California Policies. (a) The Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture shall expeditiously take all measures, consistent with all applicable authorities, to ensure adequate water resources in Southern California. Each shall report to me within 15 days on all authorities, including emergency authorities, available to ensure, require, maintain, or use infrastructure necessary to fight and prevent massive wildfires in Southern California.
(b) In particular, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall immediately take actions to override existing activities that unduly burden efforts to maximize water deliveries. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall consider actions including those consistent with the “No Action Alternative” in the Final Environmental Impact Statement issued November 15, 2024, by the Bureau of Reclamation on Long-term Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.
Musk To Germans: ‘Embrace Your Inner Nazi’:
Because Elon Musk apparently did not create enough controversy for his liking this week, the tech billionaire also made a virtual appearance on Saturday at a rally for the extremist, right-wing, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party ahead of the country’s snap elections next month.
Musk told the crowd that he considers the party to be the “best hope” for Germany. The rally reportedly consisted of about 4,500 people, including the party leader, Alice Weidel, in the city of Halle.
“It’s okay to be proud to be German,” Musk said. “This is a very important principle. It’s okay, it’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”
He also said that the country needed to “move on” from “past guilt,” interpreted by many as referring to the Holocaust. “Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents,” Musk said. Confusingly, Musk—a South African tech billionaire—also lamented “too much control from, sort of, global elite” in German affairs, adding, “There should be more determination by individual countries.”
RW Multi-Billionaire Launches $20 Mill Campaign For More Tax Breaks For Multi-Billionaires:
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the flagship political arm of the rightwing network formed by the fossil fuels billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David, is launching a multimillion-dollar campaign backing Donald Trump’s plans to extend tax cuts and roll back federal regulations.
A private fundraising letter from AFP to its secretive list of donors, seen by the Guardian, outlines the organization’s strategy for the first six months of the new Trump administration.
The eight-page document, made public here for the first time, promises a “herculean undertaking” in which AFP says it will press for renewed and deepened tax cuts and an “unwinding [of] as many of the growth and innovation killing regulations as possible”.
The group, which has played a significant role in shifting the Republican party to the right in recent years, has announced a $20m campaign to extend the tax cuts introduced by Trump during his first presidency that are due to expire at the end of this year. The donor appeal calls for even bolder tax cuts for corporations that would directly benefit Koch Industries, the energy and chemicals giant from which most of AFP’s funding derives.
Finally, Delaware Legislators Move To End Pension Grab. Allegedly caused by a ‘clerical error in 1997’:
Eight months after the former Carney administration decided to boost legislators’ pension payments as a result of a 28-year-old legal error in the Delaware Code, the state is now working to rectify that error, which would lower payments for future retired legislators.
Among their recommendations was a motion to properly revise the Delaware legal code, so that lawmakers’ pension payments are no longer tied to the highest compensated lawmaker, and are instead tied to their own salaries.
The issue regarding Delaware lawmakers’ pension calculations came up early last year after it was discovered that a 1997 legislative change had not been correctly codified into state law.
Although Delaware’s pension office adopted the more standardized system, where lawmakers’ payments were based on a percentage of their own highest years’ earnings, the commission’s recommendation was never officially codified into law due to a clerical oversight that left it out.
Last March, the Carney administration recognized the error and addressed the situation by reverting to the pre-1997 rules. Retired legislators received letters from Delaware Pension Administrator Joanna Adams that outlined a forthcoming boost in their monthly pension payments.
The letter stated that the change was happening because Delaware’s legal code “was never updated” following the apparent passage of a law in 1997 that altered how legislative pensions were calculated.
Carney, of course, never shared his decision in advance with legislators. I mean, he didn’t have to do this, but he did. Worst. Governor. Ever.
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