"Even as Republicans denounce President Biden for the inflation that occurred on his watch, Trump’s advisers have been floating policy ideas that could be far more inflationary than anything that has happened so far...There are also reports that Trump advisers, obsessed with the trade deficit, want to devalue the dollar, which would indeed help exports but would also be clearly inflationary — raising import prices and overheating a U.S. economy that is already running hot. (In fact, our economic strength is probably the main reason the dollar has been rising.)
And even as they talk about weakening the dollar, Trump advisers are reportedly discussing punishing other countries that reduce their use of the greenback — which seems both contradictory and to involve a delusional view of how much economic power even America possesses." - Paul Krugman, 'Trump Is Flirting With Quack Economics', April 29, NY Times
“How catastrophic would a second Trump presidency be? Worse than you think. Worse, even, than I had feared — before I read his recent Time magazine interview in which Donald Trump lays out his plans. They are, in a word, insane. Imagine the National Guard, perhaps aided by active-duty military units, fanning out across the country to round up and deport all undocumented migrants, believed to number roughly 11 million.
Imagine these men, women and children being held pending deportation in vast detention camps. That’s what Trump told Time he would do. .. Imagine the National Guard also being sent into cities to fight crime, whether or not governors request such assistance.” - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post yesterday, ‘(Trump keeps warning us about his second term. Are you listening?’)
The Wall Street Journal front page story from last weekend ('Trump Allies Draw Up Plans To Blunt Fed's Independence') didn't mince words, noting:
"Donald Trump's allies are quietly drafting proposals to erode the Federal Reserve's independence if the former president wins a second term....Former Trump administration officials and other supporters have in recent months discussed a range of proposals from incremental policy changes to assertions the president himself should play a role in setting interest rates.....The 10-page document also includes a plan for devaluing the dollar."
Seriously? These forlorn MAGA maniacs are actually considering devaluing the buck as well as setting interest rates to suit Trump? Do any of his munchkins have any idea how much more misery they will be in if he goes through with it? How much more they will pay at the grocery, given how much less their greenbacks will be worth - not to mention the hurt from the 10 percent tariffs the twit plans to impose on all foreign goods (which is really a tax on Americans.)
I mean, just consider the sheer chutzpah entailed in going public with such a plan six months before a general election. And with the orange-hued standard bearer of the cult having to appear in court each day for a trial over his sleazy sexual hijinks, and using go-betweens to try to conceal them using fraudulent transactions.
Given how much this Turd sleeps during the proceedings e.g.
it is a wonder he has anyone with two brain cells ready to vote for his sorry ass. But there are, including many in the key swing states. They believe they are so much worse off now with Joe Biden, that they are prepared to put a traitor maggot rapist back into power, as well as doing so indirectly. This in reference to the young voters who are now bailing on Biden because of Gaza, believing a Trump term will be better. Think again, kiddies! Trump will pick up where he left off in 2017 with Muslim deportations.
But none of this should be surprising, given the Trump MAGA cult is now so confident they will have enough goobers to pull the levers for Dotard Nov. 5 they even allowed an interview with TIME magazine on his extremist plans, e.g.
Which include: carrying out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, construction of migrant detention camps, deploying the U.S. military (in violation of Posse Comitatus) to herd immigrants into camps and have deployments at the border and inland.
Trump will also: let red states (i.e. the former Confederacy) monitor women's pregnancies (using GPS on cells) and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.
He also plans to: gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, e.g. to shoot protestors, and oh by the way - close the White House pandemic preparedness office and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his assertion the 2020 election was stolen.
The closing of the pandemic preparedness office is especially noisome and short sighted given we may be in store for an avian flu pandemic. Are his minions really ready for truck loads of corpses in body bags to be piled up like cordwood?
It isn't at all perplexing that the Trump blueprint was first laid out by paleo-conservative icon Edmund Burke. He believed the great mass of humans were incapable of reason and maintained "their base inclinations should be frequently thwarted, their will controlled, their passions brought into subjection."
This could only be accomplished by "subjecting them to a power outside themselves." Sick sociopathic narcissist that he is, Trump fancies himself grabbing that power and he yearns to wield it. He just needs to hope enough unreasoning cretins are lurking in the battleground states to vote him back in.
Back to the plans for the Federal Reserve. Most worrisome aspect, according to the WSJ:
"Trump former advisers with more traditional views worry of consequences if political interference leads investors to conclude the central bank is willing to tolerate higher inflation. These could include: raising long term interest rates on mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student debt - especially when the government has to roll over trillions of dollars in debt annually."
One former Trump administration official described the prospect of Trump influencing interest rates as horrifying."
We also learn from the piece that Sen. Thom Tillis (R, NC) "wouldn't condone efforts to interfere with fed policy." Also, "lawyers studying the issue believe the president lacks the power to fire Fed governors over a policy disagreement."
But this stuff is emanating from people unacquainted with the ways of autocrats and wannabe dictators. Because, for sure, if Trump manages to sneak in again he will extend his reach and power to all federal agencies as well as purported "independent" ones like the Federal Reserve. They also forget Trump had no trouble firing former attorneys general, and those in other high places.
Again, people need to wake the hell up and crawl out of the news cycle aggravation pit. The one focusing on Gaza, Pro-Palestinian college protests, inflation or whatever other hobgoblin is currently fucking up so many brains as evidenced in polls showing the orange maggot even or ahead of Biden. None of which makes sense given the orange fungal roach admitted days ago he'd only accept the election results if he won.
See Also:
Trump keeps warning us about his second term. Are you listening?
And:
by Thom Hartmann | May 2, 2024 - 6:27am | permalink
TIME magazine reporter Eric Cortellessa spent hours interviewing Donald Trump, producing a shocking cover story this week. Converting one of his opening paragraphs into bullet points for readability, he summarized that Trump fully plans:
— “To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland.
— “He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.
— “He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers.
— “He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding.
— “He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury.
— “He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense.
— “He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.”
